I don’t associate with brands as such. Today, brands are no longer consistent in their quality. That is because corporations are about money, not customer satisfaction.
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Category Archives: southern california
Energy
That’s a typical young person’s question. Despite my advanced age (LXXX), I am energetic at all times except the late afternoon, when I tend to nap with an open book in my lap. With dinner, my energy level rebounds.
Miami on the Pacific
If It Gets Any More Humid …
Thanks, Mario! The Mexican storm of this name has, upon dissipating flooded California with moist, tropical air and the threat of thunderstorms. As I went downtown today for my weekly Mindful Meditation session at the L.A. Central Library, I suddenly felt many of my joints protesting—from my formerly broken shoulders (both of them) to my left hip (replaced a quarter of a century ago).
Somehow, I made it, even though the elevator down to the Metro Rail station at Seventh Street was closed for repairs. Back when it was built, the architects decided they didn’t need a down escalator: Stairs should do nicely. Hah!
The humidity will probably last through the weekend, regardless what the weather forecaster say. What do they know?
Holidays
Holidays have meaning only if you’re working: It’s time off. If you’re retired, they are a pain because of increased traffic, crowds, etc. In a word, I don’t really celebrate holidays.
Cooking Flop
My biggest cooking failures are in not properly judging my sweetheart’s taste. Basically, she can’t eat anything that has a vowel in its name (or so it seems). Once I find something she’ll eat, I keep using the same recipe … without any changes whatsoever.
I also have cooking failures when I cook for myself, but they are no big deal.
Foods
My brother and I are chile-heads, so I would have to say my favorite type of foods involves cooking with hot chiles. Tomorrow I will make my favorite Spanish Rice, which includes two fire-roasted Hatch chiles. My mouth is watering even as I think about it.
The La Brea Tar Pits
The Lake Pit, Largest of the La Brea Tar Pits
It’s one of those redundant names: brea in Spanish means tar, so the La Brea Tar Pits are literally the Tar Tar pits. (Similarly, Torpenhow Hill in Britain means Hillhillhill Hill.)
Martine and I haven’t visited the tar pits for almost a decade, so we drove down to Hancock Park and took a good look at what the area looked like ten thousand plus years ago. Based on the skeletons that have been fished out of the pits, there were giant sloths, mammoths, lions, camels, sabertooth tigers, and many, many dire wolves.
Skeleton of Columbian Mammoth
The archeological record shows that there were humans living in the area during the Ice Age. It couldn’t have been much fun for them to contend with their primitive weapons against so many gigantic mammals.
Visiting the pits, I am reminded of a famous line in Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, when Marlowe points to the shore of the Thames and says: “And this also,” said Marlow suddenly, “has been one of the dark places of the earth.”
The La Brea Tar Pits Museum is a fascinating place to visit. In addition to all the skeletons of giant mammals who perished by drowning in the pits, there is a lab which allows you to watch volunteers cleaning bones recently pulled from the pits. (There are a number of them on the grounds.)
Martine got into the spirit of the occasion by donning a dire wolf headdress:
Martine with Wolfish Smile
Leader
No, not a leader; nor a follower either!
My Word!
Since I am multi-lingual, here are my favorite words in my four languages:
- Spanish: pendejo, literally “pubic hair,” describing someone you really don’t like.
- French: débrouillir, literally “de-fog” or “unravel,” how Inspector Maigret solves crimes.
- Hungarian: lófasz, literally “horse’s dick,” used regularly to describe something insignificant or non-existent.
- English: septemfluous, literally “flowing in seven streams,” a word with very limited applicability, like medioxumous, rotl, or crwth.
Doings
I’m writing this blog post.
Tarnmoor 
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