No Idle hands here

Vacation has been amazing, but WiFi hasn’t. Patagonia is incredible, now back in Buenos Aires. Tomorrow we go on to Igassu falls. If any of you are still checking out this blog, there will be long amazing posts in the future

This is Ushuaia, summer in Ushuaia Even for them this snow on the mountains is rare in summer.

I haven’t downloaded all the pictures I took, which is another reason not to be writing posts.

We were in the southernmost city in the world. Yes in Chile there is a small community called Port Williams that is a little further south. Ushuaia is a real city. 80,000 people tourism isn’t the largest industry, it’s only busy with tourists 5 months out of the year v

More of the surrounding snow covered mountains.

We were hosted for lunch by a lovely local family, great experience. Great lentil stew. Look st their view! So many days here are grey. A week before our arrival, they had 80 degree weather, people actually went into the water

Further north, in Porto Natales Chile, we saw this in action. It was raining, but there was no wind that day….

This is us, only tourists would use an umbrella, the kids gave us a high five.

And in the harbor, the Stella Australis, our home for the next five days. In about five days from now we will be on our way home. We should have a few hours and the I hope to share more of the journey

I have a big birthday this year. 60. So an impressive trip was planned. Once again we signed up with OAT. My birthday, my choice. So it’s off to Argentina and Chile. Most of the trip will be in Patagonia, some of it will be aboard a small ship, sailing through southern fjords.

Although I’m turning 60, I’m the youngest one in our group. I’m a little surprised, seeing that this is a rigorous trip.

We are spending two days in Buenos Aires, and yes Tango is everywhere. We were taught the basic steps, but no way could I dance like this. This was just out on the street, right as the rain started. We have seen other dancers, so beautiful.

We visited La Boca, us and hundreds of other people in the rain. It is an adorable tourist area. But 45 minutes was enough. When I was younger I loved picking up souvenirs. Not saying I won’t buy anything, but I’m enjoying my photos as souvenirs. Of course, if I come across real handmade items, I might purchase, especially if it is textile related.

Originally these haphazard buildings were built out of found materials. This area was by the old port, so not only did some of the materials come as ballast on ships. The residents would pick up the leftover paints as well, these days the buildings are kept bright and colorful because it makes the area recognizable.

Many cities try to create fun tourist areas. It’s nice when the unique characteristics are based in the history of the area. It’s also nice that tourism is keeping these traditions alive. Otherwise they would have bulldozed these buildings long ago and built bland office or apartments in their place.

Loving the details!

We went to Tortino cafe. An Art nouveau cafe that is 160 years old. We waited about 40 minutes to get inside. It was beautiful, the food was meh. I’ve had much better empanadas in Los Angeles. Often the experience isn’t about 5e quality of food.

We have been having some very interesting history lessons, the mothers of May Square. These are the brave mothers of the 30,000 Argentinians who were murdered and disappeared under the dictatorship from 1976-84. Originally they wore a cloth diaper on their heads as they marched around the square, this became their symbol. It is fascinating to get historical context, of high Argentina has plenty!

I discovered this place over 20 years ago. At the time the area was pretty sketchy, there was no walk way on Chandler, there were now pretty murals.

They own two large buildings right across the street from one another. This one is a great example of industrial Art Deco. The curved glass window. The wooden shutters. Btw, that glass is back.

I only took a few pictures inside, this place is heaven for those who love over the top dramatic furnishings, and lights.

I tried to concentrate on the simpler items. I really love this, it is something I’d even buy. For now, I just took a picture.

There are all kind of horses here, big, little. Unfortunately, this is the only picture of a horse that came out any good.

Here is something I love about this new camera – this could pass for a Still Life piece of art. Complete with fake flower.

In all the years that I have been aware of this place, I have yet to buy anything here, one of these days, that will change.

I have been watching a lot of You Tube videos about my camera and about how to use the Macro lens. One suggestion is to go to a Botanic garden and take pictures of flowers. One of the blessings of SoCal is that all I have to do is walk around my neighborhood. Pretty good shot of this Brugmansia, otherwise known as Devil’s Trumpet.

What a beauty.

A yellow one, slightly different variety. What I love so much about this is first of all, the little curlicues on the ends of the flower. Second, Joel held it upright for me and unbeknownst to both of us – I caught a bee in action! I guess he felt that Joel was there to help him as well.

Overview of a bright yellow succulent flower.

A wonderful close up, why I know I’ll have a lot of fun with this macro lens.

Just for fun, a little orange.

After a lot of trial and error, it is done. Like most of my quilts, this one isn’t bed size, it’s great for wrapping up on the couch. Of course it works very well on a bed as well, just not as a bed spread that covers everything.

The final border is 4.5″ wide. Once I quilt and bind it, it will be more like 3.75″. I’m deliberately making it wider so that when I quilt it, I’ll have that extra room to square up the quilt.

And here we are – finished. I am very pleased.

What really pleases me is that this was my inspiration. Although I did you the basic block, mine looks nothing like this. This is definitely a case of inspiration, not copying.

Not just because of the center Mariners compass.

Which is quite lovely if I say so myself.

It was a lot of trial and error to get these full stars.

I like how the darkest red is something of a frame, but it doesn’t overwhelm the quilt. You can see here how the border is going about an inch beyond the point of the diamond. My plan is, once this is quilted, I’ll have the binding right at the points of the diamond. That is the plan. It’s going to take a while to get this quilted. I was hoping to get my new Koala tables soon, looks like it will take them longer than expected. I may end up quilting this using the old crummy table.

Since the topic is red, here is a cute owl and a red pomegranate.

As well as some red camellias. They will be gone very soon, I’m enjoying them while I can since soon they will be gone.

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A big birthday lies ahead, in just a few weeks. Yup, the big 6-0. We will be traveling to Argentina and Chile, I am hoping that I will be able to post while I’m gone. But who knows what WiFi will be like. If not, I will flood the blog after the fact.

So most of the family got together to celebrate my birthday. Once branch was out skiing, which they enjoyed thoroughly.

Oh boy did my son love my new camera. He couldn’t get over how sharp the images are in low light. Meanwhile I was having fun with his son doing one of these sticker art mosaics. Notice how the younger boys have other toys that interest them.

Fun with uncle.

And with aunt.

These guys love books and reading.

They are happy with Grandpa reading too! Oh and they both made it very clear that another sleepover is in order! Soon, boys, soon!

It may be pretentious, but we’ve all gotten used to North Hollywood being called Noho. Heck, it was originally called Lankershim after the developer who planted a lot of fruit trees here. Now the only thing named after him is the diagonal street the cuts from south to northwest in the east Valley.

We are going to Argentina and Chile to celebrate my 60th birthday as well as 40th anniversary. I got a recommendation of a specific book, about Darwin and the Beagle (name of his ship), since we will be retracing part of his voyage. Couldn’t find an e-book, and these days, Amazon isn’t that reliable. It wasn’t clear we’d get the book before we leave. So off to our wonderful used bookstore I went.

I didn’t find the book, although Irving Stone’s book on Darwin was there. I read it over 30 years ago. Every morning when they open shop, they pull to boxes of books, these are all free.

The good books go quickly. Of course I browsed here. I did see one excellent book for free – The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara – about the Civil War, thing is I have it as an audio book. So if anyone is interested… Corner of Cahuenga and Chandler. It really is a lovely store to browse, inside and out.

There are store cats, more than one. A beautiful tan cat came up to demand attention. This fellow wasn’t too interested in me.

The trolly car used to run down the middle of Chandler. Today the Orange Line bus takes up part of that space, but in this eastern section of NoHo into Burbank – it is a lovely walkway and bike path. Many people were out enjoying the sun. Me, I couldn’t help but take pictures of peoples gardens.

Someone’s prince has come. Me,I just have a frog, mine doesn’t have a crown.

Day of the dead sculls, used as planters year round.

A sad reminder, that no everyone came home from Vietnam.

Although I haven’t shared it much on this blog. I do love to cook. I don’t bake, I leave that up to my DIL, she brings over great baked goods.

Every time my Dr. makes some comment about health issues, I inform him that this is how my body is reacting. When it comes to what I eat – he’d be thrilled if just a quarter of his patients ate like me.

No, I don’t care about organic foods. The quantity of organic food on the market lets me know – that they have to be using some chemicals, they just aren’t telling us what. But, I am always cooking with fresh fruits and veggies, meat, chicken and fish. I no longer rely on all the prepared food or semi prepared food that is out there. Sure, when I was raising my boys, anything to help in the kitchen was welcome.

Two and a half years ago I bought the instant pot. I LOVE it. I use it all the time. This morning it was a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. You can probably see beyond the pot that it is raining out there. It will be soup tonight.

A caterer friend showed me how when she roasts veggies for a client, she throws all the odds and ends into a pot to make stock. Since I don’t cook in large quantities I have come up with a way that works for me. I collect all my odds and ends of veggies, from the tips of carrots to the parsley stems. As well as veggies that are on the brink of going bad. I throw them into the freezer. Once the bag is full, I’ll add onion, carrots, parsnips, celery root, and I cook it up in the pot.

Then I have stock on hand, salt, other seasonings are added when I actually make soup or cook rice with it.

Immediately after straining the broth, I used it to make lentil soup. My favorite.

As wonderful as the instant pot is, cooking is very much trial and error. After cooking for 30 minutes, the lentil hadn’t broken down enough, so I cooked another 30 minutes. then the soup was nice and thick. At this point I released steam and added celery, mushrooms and zucchini for only 7 minutes. I want these veggies to hold their shape.

These last pictures were taken with my phone. You can really see the difference. I made the soup in the morning and at dinner time I took these pictures. I had taken some of the soup to my grandsons – omg did they love it! Spending time and sharing good homemade food are ways to show love.

I no longer set the pot and go, I tinker, a lot. So along with the soup I made salmon and rice. I had tried cooking them together, but the rice didn’t cook well.

So here is my new method, I used brown rice, which takes much longer. I cook the brown rice for about 10 minutes, it’s not fully cooked yet. As it’s cooking I prep the salmon. Lemon juice, spices, a lot of butter, as well as lemon spices and some fresh oregano.

I put this on top of the rice, add some veggies to the rice, in this case chopped green beans and carrots and cook for another 7 minutes.

Here we have it. It was Valentines day, a day I never go to a restaurant. That and mother’s day.

One of the things about cooking and eating at home is the presentation. I learned this from a neighbor in Israel years ago. Alway use nice display items (yes she had a lovely households goods store). So even when it’s just the two of us, I always transfer the food from the cooking utensils to nice platters and bowls. Sometimes I’ll simply do the plating in the kitchen. Like with the soup, but then, the remainder of the meal is on these nice dishes. Food isn’t just sustenance, it feeds the soul as well.

And now, to enjoy a few hours of sunshine before the rain comes back.

I know, not everyone wants to see the learning curve of a new camera. So feel free to skip, although, cute picture of grandson at the end of the post!

So after shooting close ups with my macro lens, I figured it was time to go to You Tube and learn more about this lens. Turns out, I can get some pretty good shots that aren’t macro. It’s pays to educate myself.

My garden sculpture, everything is looking sharp. I’m wondering if I would have gotten those rays of light with the regular lens. I don’t think so.

Moving in closer, but still on F8, (sorry about camera jargon), the totem is in focus, most of the background is as well. I like this.

Went down to the smallest appetite and the background is fading out. But the image is so sharp, you can see the cobwebs.

What the naked eye doesn’t see, the camera captures! You’d think the rain would have washed this clean, I guess not.

Looks like we will have a few more days of rain, I’m hoping to get out with this lens and take both wide shots and macro ones.

Now here is what is really important, my grandson.

There is a feature on this camera that locks the focus point on the eyes, woah! I’m impressed, also, isn’t he the cutest ever??

Years ago, at craft fairs, one could find dolls that looked like this. They didn’t have a head, and you’d lean them against a wall. Eyal just does it on his own, he also does a very good down-dog.

Oldest grandson Aytan, we bought that bear when he was a baby. All the grandkids have loved it.

Some people design quilts on computer programs or just with paper and colored pencils. I design while sewing, which means there are plenty of ripping out sections of blocks and redoing them.

This is where we left off, I had created a large star out of the light red print. I was very pleased with that, but then wasn’t happy with the upper corner, it just felt too dark.

As you can see, I replaced the solid red with a brighter print. Adds more depth and dimension.

I had one center block, I decided to make sure there was more white than red.

On the side I repeated those two blocks.

I don’t know why, but I wasn’t happy with then, bring out the seam ripper again.

Just by narrowing down the center diamonds I feel that there is more interest here. I think I have an outer border that will be mostly white. It short of feels unfinished right here.

Blowing in the wind. I won’t be quilting this until I get my new Koala table, and that could be a while…

The Valley went through it’s big growth spurt right after WWII. During the 50s’ the baby boomers flocked to the new suburbia. Along with housing came office buildings and apartment buildings as well. These days many are being threatened as once again, construction is booming here. So as I go out and about, I’m taking pictures of buildings I pass every day. The ones that are mostly invisible to me.

Here is a typical example, one that no one ever pays any attention to. Painted brick walls, the large curtain windows that are separated by the bricks. An outdoor staircase.

Here we have the flat roof, the columns as well as the protruding supports. Of course what I love bout this one is the Art Deco Style lettering. I think this is rather new. As I always like to say, when a new style emerges, it doesn’t immediately erase the old style, they co-exist for a while. My guess is that this convalescent home was looking at Letter-types and simply like the Art Deco. Without any knowledge of the progression from Art Deco to Mid-Century.

Ok, so the rounded tower isn’t covered in gold mosaic like the May Company building on Wilshire. But we do have the curtain windows as well as the breezeway blocks, probably hiding the parking level.

And now, onto an apartment building. These are beginning to be torn down, bigger taller ones replace them. Once again, flat roof, curtain windows. Ugly astroturf on the entrance stairs. But there is an open courtyard, something that is completely gone from the modern apartment buildings.

This builder really liked the Gothic font and the very grandiose name. To most people these buildings are invisible, which is why I like showcasing them from time to time.

Just a lovely Valley home. Someone took the effort to make this one look especially pleasing.

OK, so the local chamber of commerce has been painting and decorating the big electrical boxes on the streets. Nice job here with the penguins.

It was a lot of fun to continue my walk and come across this address plaque. I’m seeing a theme here.