New Orleans, overview

P1130264Joel celebrated a big birthday so we went for a long weekend to NOLA, wow! What a city. This is just the overview, I’ll be sharing more in depth photos and observations.  First day, having lunch on Bourbon street. Taking pictures of the roof tops.  Worst meal of the trip, least favorite street, but it is a must to go see.P1130229All the  wrought iron, cast-iron railings, balconies and fences!  Incredible iron work, none of which was made in NOLA.  When you are a busy port city, it’s easy to bring in whatever you want. This is a legacy of the Spanish control of the city but of course has become a symbol of the French quarter.  Notice the beads hanging on the side?IMG_4140Little did we know that Mardi Gras season starts right after Epiphany and ratchets up to Fat Tuesday that will be early February this year. So there we were on Bourbon Street at night and music trucks rolled in. Noisy, happy, fun. Yes we got a haul of beads, glad to have experienced this without the complete mayhem of the season.P1130367Mardi Gras decorations are all over!  Christmas comes down and these go up. Our guide mentioned that the color combination of green, gold and purple is awful, but it does make Mardi Gras very recognizable and is the one time a year where the fashion challenged are the norm.

We heard great music on Frenchmen’s Street as well as the street musicians, so many styles of music. This is one of the things that make the French quarter so much fun.

P1130436Taking the ferry, I looked back and got this great photo of St. Louis Cathedral with Jackson Square in the foreground.P1130243Here he is on his horse, saluting the crowds below him.P1130274I bet traffic was always bad here, today it’s cars, but in the 18 and 19th centuries it would have been horses.  P1130261The mighty Mississippi is running very high, even flooding up north. New Orleans are worried as they should be. Hopefully the river will subside. P1130285The cemeteries are a big tourist draw, cities of the dead.P1130308Food is extremely important here. Yes, friends recommended Commador’s Palace. We didn’t make reservations long enough in advance and we didn’t bring fancy clothes. So this is it, a view from outside.IMG_4138We ate extremely well, so no complaints here. Obligatory beignets at Cafe du Monde.IMG_4144It was cold!!  I’m glad I brought my warm coat, what I forgot was a hat for the sun. So we popped into one of the many souvenir shops, Joel got a real souvenir hat, me, I found this great red hat that will be very useful here in LA. People even commented about it on the street.

That’s it for now,  I have so many pictures and stories, I’ll be spreading it out over time.

Leah

Abandoned Gold Mine

History is very fickle, we learn one thing and any other information that doesn’t fit that narrative simply isn’t true. It doesn’t occur to us that the truth can encompass our original knowledge plus more.

Case in point, gold mines.  The existed in Northern CA and maybe parts of Nevada, but certainly not in Southern California. This weekend I had the opportunity to hike to a local mine and learn a lot, not only about gold but also about the old fashioned way of mining.

Kudos to The Los Angeles Obscura Society for organizing  a hike in the Angeles Forest to The Big Horn Mine with expert Eric aka Xavier Drenfold, a twenty year old kid with a passion for old mines.P1110281The mine was discovered in 1895. What we see here is the active, rapid decay of the mill. The Mine itself is tunneled into the mountain, this structure was the mill, where the gold was extracted from the rock. By the time it left the mountain, about 98% of the gold had been extracted – a very high rate. The work was done onsite – simply because it was more cost effective.P1110284The structure is rapidly falling apart, in 20 years it will be completely gone. These mountains erode very quickly as we found on our hike out, the July rainstorm caused a lot of erosion that hadn’t been there just a month before. Mills are always built at the exit of the mine, right on the slope, so of course, the structure is collapsing. P1110300A massive iron hook to hold the cablesP1110286Flowers grow among the steal cables.P1110285Pilings that held the ore-carts.

Getting all this equipment up the mountain was probably achieved by using mules. We hiked a long what is left of a road that was built out to the mine. The man who found the mine, Thomas Vincent never had the money to invest -so he sold to someone else and worked for them.P1110289This mine was never very profitable, because of how the gold is embedded in other minerals, it is simply very hard to extract – especially with the old techniques of one hundred years ago. The Mine changed hands at least 7 times, no one made much of a profit. In 2006 the Forest service bought it since it is surrounded by National Forest land, so whatever gold is there – will remain.mineYes, it is a little scary standing in here, who knows when something will give way and fall.P1110283I’m sorry to see that graffiti is now the norm even out in the wilderness. Yes I hold the Art world somewhat responsible – they decided that graffiti is art and even have exhibitions of it in museums – all this does is encourage more people to go out and tag.  As cities have gotten better at controlling graffiti, people simply go out and destroy nature – because they can. Also because they have been told that it is ‘art’ and is valuable. No it isn’t, it’s ugly, it’s destructive and its harmful.P1110298At least they haven’t gotten to this side yet.P1110291These rickety stairs were placed here in the 1970s’  not a safe way to get up to the actual mine. But You know me, old man made materials are often very beautiful to me, especially as they age and decay.P1110294Like here, the confluence of  materials.  Once the mine is no longer operational, no one is going to spend any money removing the structures and much of the equipment. Which is what makes the mines so fascinating. The Forest service does not like this and they have been destroying and closing up mines where ever they can. They are about the forest and the safety of hikers, not about preserving mines – even if they are an important part of our heritage.P1110293Massive bolt.P1110297Part of the stamp process that still remains.P1110267This is the entrance to a smaller mine we passed along the way, but this is what the Forest service has done to many of these mines. The only reason they haven’t blasted this shut is because of the bats that live here.P1110301Most of the group went in to explore, sorry, I get very nervous in dark closed spaces, a few flash lights won’t make it easier for me.P1110302So I snapped a few images at the entrance and went back down.  If you are interested in images from inside the mine, got to Xavier’s Flicker page.  I must say I was extremely impressed with Eric. 20 years old, has found a passion in life, yet he recognizes that exploring old mines is no way to make a living, so he is studying nursing. That way he will have a good solid career as well as a fascinating hobby.P1110287Nature is right outside the mine.

Leah

Zipper factory

P1090692I am so happy to have discovered The Los Angeles Obscura Society,  I love visiting factories, even more so if it is something close to my heart – like zippers.

U Can is the last remaining zipper factory in the west, only 3 others exist back east. Most zipper production is done in China and to a much smaller extent – Japan.P1090663HIram and his brother Malan now run the factory. Their father Paul got into the business in the mid 1980’s and worked hard to keep this kind of small manufacturing here in America.  I always say, hard working immigrants are the biggest American Patriots.

These spools are the tape, on their way to dying vats to be dyed in whatever color the client wants.P1090655The science of color can fill volumes, what I used to do  by sight when I worked for a fabric converter is now done with computers.UCAN Zippers USANot only is the tape dyed, the sliders start out looking like this.P1090658They too go through a paint process, similar to auto paint. On a good zipper, the slider the color will not chip off.P1090656Pink or red? It’s matters to the client.P1090664In time for the 4th of July, it’s nice to see a patriotic bucket.P1090669Metal or plastic, two materials for the teeth.P1090670This machine has put the teeth on the tape.P1090685Joining the zipper, often a client wants a long continuous zipper that they will then cut down to size.UCAN zippers USAIn other cases, the whole zipper is assembled before being cut.P1090677SlidersP1090688End stoppers.

UCan has survived the move of all other manufactures to China, they do so by making a superior product, working closely with clients as well as being able to get the product into the clients hands as quickly as possible.

I have never used one of their zippers, they aren’t for sale for the home sewer, that is fine, I can use cheap Chinese zippers. I do find it interesting that in small steps, manufacturing is coming back to the US. I’ve seen it with Fabric companies as well. the whole south Eastern part of downtown is made up of small manufacturing,  may it grow and prosper.

Leah

Little birds

I have quite a few hummingbirds in the garden, simple grey ones.  So many that I have two nests, one in front of the house and one in back.P1080814In both cases, right under the eaves on the twinkle lights.  As you can see, the nest is tiny.  So far, no action on the front nest.P1090396The back one is being used.  It isn’t easy getting a picture of mama bird. When I come outside she flies away.P1090401At one point when she was gone, I brought up the ladder and had to maneuver the camera over the nest to get pictures, of course I didn’t want to touch anything.  Two tiny little eggs.

If I am ever able to capture the actual birds, I’ll be happy to share.

Leah

Falcons in action

P1090182P1090193Preparing the falconP1090192Launching. Taking flightP1090208
P1090206P1090203P1090215The bird is coming in right under her arm, but she swings it away.P1090217And he has to go back for another roundP1090221P1090350

In the raptor world, females are much larger than males, apparently the same is true of spidersP1090279Two birds leaving at the same time.

Yes, I have more pictures but I think I’ll stop now.

Leah

Falcon Force

P1090029Saturday was an amazing day. Joel and I got up at 3:45 am and drove over an hour to a remote field in the Antelope Valley.  We were there for a demonstration of the use of falcons and other raptors as bird abatement.  Go check out Falcon Force, I love human ingenuity. Over 4000 years ago the Chinese tamed and trained falcons as hunters to put food on the table, then for years, Falconry was the sport of kings. Today this sport is being turned into a way of controlling pest birds in agriculture, airports and even pigeon removal.  Thank you also to Obscura Society LA for arranging this field trip.P1090031Vahe with Shaman, a peregrine falcon.P1090074Becky, sorry don’t remember the name of this bird.

It takes special people to be falconers – it’s not easy to get a license, and then to care for these birds is a full time job.  Both Vahe and Becky are hunters, their respect and love for these birds is abundantly evident.P1090233There is a lot of training,  the birds learn to come to a lure, which is a tennis ball with pigeon wings attached.  They learn that once they catch the ball, they are immediately rewarded  with food – not much different from training any other animal – like dogs or orcas.P1090241And he takes flight! The birds are outfitted with homing devices. This is very important, Vahe has lost birds and was able to retrieve them because of the homing device. The safest  place is a small backpack which is what you see here. Leg devices can get damaged easily or can kill the bird if he accidentally lands on a electrical wire.P1090242This bird has both homing devices on right now.P1090164Some of the falcons can fly up to speeds of 280 mph,  so the handlers have to be very swift themselves with the ball.  The raptors have an incredible sense of space, their eyesight is like a telescope, one flew right by Joel’s head – without touching him – they are that good.P1090337Once the raptor catches the ball, he is rewarded with pigeon meat.P1090131P1090302When the bird is first released, it flies far and wide. The idea is to have them fly over a vineyard, or orchard and frighten away the birds.  Vahe doesn’t want them to come right back, when he wants them he calls and twirls the pigeon ball.P1090154Two birds at once, notice one is right below Vahe,  meanwhile Becky is photographing the other one in flight.  Yes, photography is another profession of theirs.P1090340P1090151Sometime the bird ignores the ball, hey they all have their own personalities, here he is simply tempting him back with a piece of meat.P1090152P1090178P1090351Training the birds to fly from one spot to another.P1090354This is very important for places like Sea World, pigeon and seagull abatement. There are raptors there full time, flying back and forth and keeping the birds at bay. You probably never even notice them.  A few years ago, we were in Trafalgar Square, a Falconer was walking around with a falcon on his gloved arm.  Never let it go, just walking around movingthe pigeons.  They immediately when a hunter is around.  Most people never saw him, unlike me, who is always looking around carefully at my surroundings.

One of the audience is a woman who runs a little hotel in Hermosa Beach, their pigeon problem in out of control. Falcon Force are not cheap, but they are trying them for abatement. They just started a few days ago, so they have to give it time to see how well it works,  she was extremely impressed by the demonstration.

I’m breaking this into two posts, more birds!

Leah