Picnic at Lake Fullmor

One of the most compassionate and caring person I had ever had the pleasure of meeting is moving to Louisiana. I had met Ed through the Patriot Guard Riders, the most patriotic and caring group of people you will ever meet.
Aside from attending the military funerals that the Patriot Guard Riders call missions, Ed initiated his own "missions of the heart" for people "in need" whom others have forgotten or ignored. Waiting for word on his coming move, he hosted a "Going away, end of summer, let's ride picnic at Lake Fullmor.
So...
Ed aka Yosemite Sam


We stopped at the ranger station to get parking permits for the day.


Then saw this sign. Sweet!


Ed shaved!


Ok, Let's get to the picnic area!


"Shining for the camera"


Ed is the only one working.




Group shot


On the way home I saw this on top of a hill. It is off the Pyrite Road exit off the 60 Freeway. Does anyone have the story behind this?




It was a great day for a picnic, the weather was close to perfect. I also met a few more people and had a great time talking to them. I don't have the military background that they all share but I know enough that if it weren't for them and others like them it is doubtful that I would be enjoying many of the things that I do enjoy today. For that I give them the respect that's due to them.

Good luck in Lousiana Ed!

Full moon and Slow Dancing

Full Moon
Last night, Ruth had invited our old bible study group (Orange County Peachpits) for Harvest Moon night and dinner. The standing rule was that only round foods or food with round items were allowed. It was a great looking moon last night. It was clear and low in the horizon, making it appear larger than usual. It was such a nice night out that we set up tables outside in front of their house.




The kids were having a blast and Cindy brought out her rollerblades from her car to let Matthew try them out.


Slow Dancing at the Music Center
Afterwards, I headed out to Los Angeles for the last night of the Slow Dancing Exhibit at the Music Center Plaza.

An outdoor video installation of larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of extraordinary dance artists from around the world. Projected on 16-foot screens...

Basically they filmed 5 seconds of each artist's movement using more than 30 times the speed and then played the films back at the normal rate resulting in almost 10 minutes worth of extreme slow dancing. There were a total of 43 dancers captured for this exhibit. After taking a few pictures, I stayed to watch as many of the dancers as I could. Unfortunately, I did not get to see all. I did not get to the Music Center until well past 10 o'clock and there were too many to see.






As you can see there were still a good number of people still enjoying the exhibit. Some people coming out of a show at the Dorothy Chandler filled the crowd. The Music Center had placed chairs out in the plaza for everyone and others just sat down on the ground to enjoy the exhibit. I'm glad I came out to see this, I wished I had come earlier and more often.

My favorite gymnast

I hadn't gone to one of Rachel's gymnastic meets since last year.


Yesterday I was finally able to attend another one and am I glad I did. Not only did she do well, she did very well. Rachel placed 2nd in one event and first in a couple more, which earned her First Place Overall.

Floor Exercise






And she sticks the landing.




Vault
She is about to launch herself for the vault and she is just having fun with it.






Kind'a looks like a comic book superheroine here.










And just as she sticks the landing some bozo walks in front of my camera! Argh!

Bars




Balance Beam














First Place Overall


It was great seeing Rachel do very well and have a lot of fun doing it. I was glad I was able to be there.

Downtown after the rain

I've been watching Jim and Celia's place since they've been gone, watering their plants and bringing in the mail. They told me that I can have a few people over if I wanted. So, I had some friends from church over Saturday for dinner and to hang out.
The rains were pretty much gone and little drizzling here and there. As I was cooking, I looked out the window because a weird noise caught my ear and there were all these small birds flying all around downtown. They were the usual ugly pigeons, in fact there weren't any in sight. Not sure if you can see them in the small picture you would have to click on the picture to see the larger image.


Then from the roof, there was a double rainbow.


Had to do a panorama shot.


Thi was Tony's first time visiting the penthouse. Even though he has helped Celia and Jim move different times, he always stayed with the truck loading or unloading.


Oh yeah, Sammi and I are practicing for Halloween.

Happy First Birthday Poppy!

Happy Birthday Poppy!!

Shooting planes at the airport

Was going to be spending some time at the airport today. One of those dropping people off and picking people up and had time in between. Jim and Celia were leaving for Europe and the parents were coming back from Florida.
James came along and we took a few shots at planes as they landed.

United


American Eagle


Horizon: I still like the prop planes.


Southwest


Lufthansa


James trying to get a landing shot.


It was fun taking pictures of the planes as they were landing but I also enjoyed just watching them come in.