Happy Halloween!

This is a rush job. I did it this evening at 6 PM, right away as the idea clicked in my head. It took me less than a half hour. LOL Normally, I would draw something on this 7' x 4.5' black piece of cloth, and it would be of pastel. When I work with pastel, it would take me a couple of days to finish it, as I would be forming the scene as I go along. But I didn't have much time because of so much things going on. I was not going to make any decoration at all, until the idea came to me. So, here it is. Tadaaaaah. LOL

Happy Halloween to all.

7' x 4.5'
pastel on black cloth
Halloween 2005

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Oct. 31, 2007

Note: Since I rushed this post last night, I thought not necessary anymore to put in detail the materials I used in the first photo, however, I think, I need to do that now.

First photo was made of fake spider web, plastic blow-up skeleton and black cloth. All I did was tack the black cloth on the wall, hang the skeleton and drape the spider web over. Nothing was drawn here. I simply put them all together...3 materials and some small spiders not visible in picture.

Second photo was an old Halloween prop I made in 2005; made of same black cloth; and figures and scene were drawn with pastel. This took me a couple of days to finish.

Sorry folks!!!!!

Mari

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The Aftermath

A week after the fire here in the valley, we slowly return to our normal routine. The fire has died down, and we cleaned up our surroundings, as the gusty winds have strewn debris all over the place. I vacuumed and dusted the house; swept the back yard of leaves and ashes; hosed down the patio; put my potted plants back up to their places and watered them. In the early morning hours as the dew drops moisten the ground, the smell of ash permeates the air. It hangs there until the sun warms up and dries everything around.

This lady is back to her usual morning of roller blading with her pet dog.
A family (below) have just visited a haunted house at the civic center.

Sunday morning, my husband and I went out for our weekly meandering. We drove down White Street and found some of the brush burned hills very close to homes. No houses were burned in this area, but it clearly shows that the fire was too close for comfort.

We had lunch and then came back a few hours later. We drove through the back street leading to our place, and we found these houses burned to the ground. There were 5 of them in a row. It's sad to see these homes turn to ashes, even their cars were burned. It's a grim sight to see, and most especially to the homeowners. These houses are a mile away from my place.




Hopefully, the homeowners would get back to rebuilding their homes after everything is worked out by their insurance companies. The federal government have promised to help those who do not have home insurance.

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California fires.

About last week I took the picture of these tall pine trees standing erect on a property across the street from my house. One of it is bent by the weight of a black bird sitting on top as it sways lazily with the gentle breeze.

Last Sunday morning the same pine trees, this time, however, they are bent by the gusty wind going 60 to 70 miles per hour. It was a windy day...very windy.

My husband and I went out that morning and we ended having lunch at the mall. After lunch we walked around the shops to get rid of some of that food we just had. We went around the mall twice. It was so windy outside it was much better to do a bit of walking in the confines of the mall. By perhaps 2:00 pm or a little past that hour we called it a day and we headed home.

As we stepped out of the mall we saw smoke billowing in the sky, and it was coming from the direction of our house, about 6 miles away or 5 - 8 minutes drive. We got in the car and took the road with less traffic. We both were tense, thinking of our house out there, near the fire or in flames already.

The most dreadful sight one could ever see. My home is in that direction where the smoke is coming from.

When we got close to the street where we have to take a right turn we were told by the sheriff we could not go through. The street was blocked. What the #*$q%&g8. We turned back and took the other main road, which made our travel longer. As we drove up to our place we found that the fire was farther from our place. We breathed a sigh of relief, we felt safe. Some of the trees were felled by the gusty winds.

About maybe an hour passed the fire was still on. Later on, the place darken, it's like it's early evening already. I kept looking out the window. The sun was obscured by the thick dark smoke.

Without the thick smoke it would be impossible to get a good shot of the sun. It was red-orangey in color. Here it looks more like the moon surrounded by reddish clouds.
By early evening the fire got this close. The brick fence on the lower left hand corner of the picture is my fence. The fire is on a hill just down my street. By this time, we have loaded our cars with clothes, documents, my camera, spare shoes and whatever I could grab. A little later on I remembered my photo albums. I went back in the house and grabbed all of them and dumped them in my car. I have a comforter and my purse in my car, the documents in my husband's car and he grabbed some snacks - biscuits and whatever - and some bottled water.

We were ready to evacuate. All our neighbors nearby have also carted stuff to their cars. The guy across the street have them all in luggage...fancy guy. LOL I just dumped everything in my trunk, no time for organizing or primming. I had my jacket on, as the wind is making me cold and nervous. We talked to the lady across the street. Her husband could not get through the barricaded streets. She was loading her car, as well, and she looked very nervous. We offered our help in case she needed a hand.

Later on a helicopter came over and assessed the fire on the hill. Then another helicopter came and doused the fire. The guy across the street applauded. He was so happy, as all of us are for the help that came. Soon another helicopter came and poured more water. A few minutes later there were just embers left on the hill and soon they died down. We were all relieved. Not one of my neighbors nearby left, we all stayed put.

I warmed left overs and my husband and I had dinner. We stayed up some more and watched TV to see how the fire is going on. There were still flare ups farther down the road.

The next day (Monday) our area was quiet. There were some smoke farther away, but we were out of danger. All schools - kindergarten to college - were closed for the day. My husband went down the hill to take a look at what was left by the fire. Coming back up he drove the back street and found 3 houses burned.

The wind was still gusty, and the fire had gone farther to another part of the city. Farther down south in the Foothills, in San Diego and in other areas, the fire was still raging. Hundreds of people evacuated and hundreds of homes burned to the ground.

I feel for the people who lost their homes; I applaud the firemen who put their lives on the line to save homes and people; for the heroic effort of others who volunteer at the evacuation center; and others who help in any way they can. And, I pray for the lives lost in this catastrophe.

The weather prediction is much better the rest of the week, and a little rain is expected. This will be a welcome sight...a relief to all.

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More on the fire here.

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The wind has stirred the ground and my allergy has flared up. My eyes are itchy, my nose is runny and I have a terrible headache. The medication I took didn't work at all. It must be that cheap one I bought. LOL

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Street Art

On the last Saturday of the month of September, my husband and I headed once more to Redondo Beach, about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Before reaching the place, however, we made a side trip at Manhattan Beach, which is north of Redondo Beach, to check out the latest stuff they have at a computer place. The truth is, this is the main purpose of our trip down south, to browse the computer show. My husband bought some gadgets and other electronic stuff that I don't know what they were for. When we were done, we headed down to Redondo Beach where we'll have our lunch and take a leisurely walk at the pier and the board walk.

We usually have lunch at a Korean restaurant, right on the pier, and our regular fare there is their hot and spicy fish soup. It is so spicy it feels like smoke is coming out of my nostrils, eyes and ears. But I just love it.

As usual there were people fishing along the railing of the pier. On this day, however, there's something that people were gawking at. It's this English artist who's been doing his three dimensional street paintings. Julian Beever has been all over the world painting on pavements and his work has been featured on TV, on the internet, in newspapers and magazines. It is a treat to see him in person and at work on one of his famous paintings.

(click on image to enlarge)
Sign on the pier concrete floor.

View of painting at its lower end.

The artist at work on the edge of the painting.


The painting has to be viewed at a certain angle to make it appear three dimensional.

(click on image to enlarge)

The three dimensional view.

See some of his artworks here (click here).

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Street Painting

"Street Painting" is the activity of rendering artistic designs on pavements such as streets, sidewalks and town squares, by using impermanent materials.

The Origin...click here.

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Love is a many-splendored thing

It's the April rose that only grows in the early spring,
Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living,
The golden crown that makes a man a king. *

....and so on and so forth.

While going down south on Freeway 5 last Sunday afternoon, I spotted this small man-made cloud in the shape of a heart. Some one out there is expressing his/her love to someone. Or perhaps proposing marriage.

Love truly is a many-splendored thing, that someone would do anything to profess his/her love to the extent of spending hundreds of dollars for a puff of cloud that would disappear in a few minutes.

A few seconds after, we took the interchange to Hollywood Freeway and I never get to see if something else was written after the heart.

Hopefully, she or he gets to see it and responded with a "yes", or a "I love you, too." That would be sweet.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

*Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
Song by The Four Aces
Lyrics by Paul Frances Webster
Music by Sammy Fain

My Desktop Free View

Ghee on the red carpet.

I've been tagged by the beautiful, sexy, wonderful, good looking, smart, bright, talented, great, Ghee. Thank you Ms. Beautiful! Now I know how to print screen through the instruction below. I never knew it could be done.

I chose this desktop (above) for it's simplicity. I abhor clutter. I can't stand them...I sit on them, maybe. (Arh, arh, arh...that's supposed to be a joke.) And besides, I like the cloud formation and those palm trees.

The Desktop Free View Instruction:

A. Upon receiving this tag, perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by:

1. Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
2. Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).
3. If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants people who have already pimped their desktop:iRonnie - I Set No Corner Thess - Thesserie Rebecca - Skippy Heart Knoizki - A Dialogue With K, Beng - Kauderwelch, Vanidosa Marie, , Vanidosa at blogspot , MyGoodFinds with KK, Dom Lawrence, Rebecca, BluePanjeet, ROSE, Girlie the hipncoolmomma, Francine of La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine ,carolyn,Eden, and Ghee.
From Mel Chan`s links,the partcipants are:iRonnie - I Set No Corner ; Thess - Thesserie ; Rebecca - Skippy Heart ; Knoizkie - A Dialogue Wih K ; … Nita @ Nita’s Random Thoughts ; RECEL’s Unsealing My Mind ; Roselle - Roselle’s Blog; redLan’s web of arts ; MeL -Indulging in her Pleasures;Ghee`s Gentle And Compassionate; Mari - Art and Soul; who's NEXT!
Please combine the links above and put your name after.

Okay. Now that most of those I know have been tagged, I'm leaving it to anybody who wishes to do this Desktop Free View. Anybody? You, you and you?

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Stop and Smell the...

...roses? Hold on! This rose is by the wayside and I know that people walk their dogs here. And everyone knows that dogs do their business here, out here. Oh, you know what I mean by business...they poop and pee.

And what is this rose doing here? It should be there in a yard, out there in a well cared for place, where it's watered regularly; where it's beauty can be admired by all. Here it gets nothing but dust, and dogs' businesses.

Now, if I smell this rose, what's going to happen? Would it make this dark clouds above me disappear? Would it bring me tons of money? Or would I just smell pee? Ack!!! Forget it, I am not going to do it...unless, of course, I'd get that tons of money. That...I'm sure will get rid of this gray puff of clouds above me. :-p

I better get going. I bought sardines at the fish store and I'm rushing to have it for lunch. Yes, it's fresh sardines. I love fresh sardines. I grill it, bake it or fry it, and it's umm, umm good.

They were caught in the sea. They can be canned, grilled, baked or fried. Umm, sarap, nagutom tuloy ako. They can be dried or smoked (tinapa) as well. Sardines are our tunsoy in Tagalog. Each time, however that we go to our neighborhood sari-sari store to buy "sardinas" Leung or Akong would give us the canned one. I love the canned Tomi brand that is in oil with a bit of red chili and a tiny slice of carrots in it. Umm...lalo akong ginutom.

I have to go back to that rose. I got this fortune cookie from the last time I had lunch at a Thai restaurant, and it said:

"It's okay to slow down and smell the roses. "

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