Time to get back in the saddle

Finally got my bike back from being restored.  It was on my porch for a few years, abandoned with no wheels until recently when I decided it was a good time to sink some dough back into her.  A powdercoat job, some wheels from my dad, and some fancy Brooks parts were the fun and easy parts.  Flying Pigeon did the hard work I couldn't do. 

Several months and several hundred dollars later, here she is, good as (or better than) new.

A Proper Solstice

Have you seen this video yet?  It's so dream-like.  If LA weren't so fire prone, I'd be making some lanterns right now (out of biodegradable materials, of course) and sending them on their way over the ocean.

Old LA

Don't let that chicken get too close to those tar pits... (La Brea)

If only this was still here! 

Look at all those trees... I wonder what they are.  This area still intrigues me, although it looks more like
hobo camp woods than anything else these days.  (Arroyo Seco being built)

I just discovered the photo database at the Los Angeles Public Library.   I can't wait to dig deeper into the flora and fauna in these old photos.

Pine Palette

 

Male Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa varipuncta)

Photo by Matthew Field, via Wikipedia

I saw one of these guys in the old garden yesterday, but was cameraless at the time.  I've seen the black female Valley Carpenter Bee, but never the male.  This guy was just so golden, especially in the fading evening light.  These bees are just so big and somewhat awkward, almost like a blimp with a bad engine, bopping down on the flower heads.  I can see how they get their common name of "bumble".

I'll try to catch a photo of him myself this weekend.

More info on Wikipedia and What's That Bug?

Worn out

At the end of his days (7, to be exact).  Such a short lived green ghost.

Thanks for the photo, Mom.

You've got to be kidding me....

Photos Jean-Luc Fournier. Courtesy Art:concept, Paris, and Zero Gallery, Milan.

Jeweled caddis fly larvae cases by Hubert Duprat as featured in CABINET, Issue 25, Spring 2007.

The bugs like the baubles.  

Via evencleveland (one of the most well thought-out blogs I've ever seen). 

Angie Lewin's Prints

Angie Lewin's prints capture what I dream about -- desks covered with remnants of long walks (dried seaweed, feathers, rocks and flowers), graphic plant stalks rustling, and colors that soothe.  I will be treating myself to her book, Garden Wisdom, with my next paycheck, and maybe someday I can afford an original print.  Reproductions in greeting card form found here.

Wooly Friends

Dang.  This one already sold.  He would have looked nice in my new attic office with my other owl friends.  More on them later.

via Erie Basin

The Perfect Wallet

I realize this is not the least bit related to gardens or nature, but I love these wallets.  The little embossed bird, the perfect leather, the multiple pockets (I love pockets), a wallet that can be carried on its own when you don't feel like carrying a purse.  Exactly what I've been looking for!  Too bad they're $395.

From Alder & Co.

Daily Greens

From just over a year ago, as we said goodbye to my grandmother's house and yard in Ohio.  These guys were just pushing up out of the grass down by the marsh.  I love the red stems that glow against the green.

Bought this little vase yesterday from the Mount Washington Outpost for the right price of a dollar.  Had to fill it immediately, so I harvested my posy from the backyard: some chard, heather and another plant I'm embarrassed I do not know.

L.A. Park Planning

 alley behind Figueroa St.

"The Trust for Public Land even dreams of converting inner-city alleys into a recreational green web.

If you’ve ever lived in a property backed by an alley, you might argue that just as L.A.’s streets become default rivers during rains, L.A.’s alleys already serve as parks, if unintended ones."

Great article by the always interesting Emily Green in today's L.A. Times:

The Dry Garden: 'New Park Design in Los Angeles' exhibit dreams of a city turning back the clock

Strewn Leaves Palette

 

Friendly Beasts

Arctic Animals, Boreal Forest and Marine Animals from Banquet.  

New Views

We've just moved to a new house, and traded our views of hillsides and distant clouds for dappled light through a canopy of trees.  I awoke to this golden display on the first morning, and it's been there every morning since.  More to come of the new space and the wonders I've found in the new yard already.

Goodbye to this view

We have watched these two palms out of our kitchen window for the last 3.5 years.  The setting sun circles around them based on the time of year, casting different kinds of light into the kitchen, but their silhouette rarely changed (always accompanied by the friendly dome of the Griffith Observatory in the background).  We just moved this week, and had to leave this vista behind.  Goodbye palms, goodbye Observatory.  New views to come.