Catalina

...just some quick pics;

Dirt and stress

What a day! I spent the morning working for the Aurora Theater, and then snuck out at 2pm. I washed and vacuumed my car for the first time in over a month (ick!) and then I set to work on my "garden". I did not take a "before" picture because I hadn't initially set out to accomplish quite as much as I did.
It began with the lavendar bush. The shrub had taken over half the sidewalk so I initially set out to reduce it. I started cutting and found that the branches were all full of leaves and weeds. I ripped out dead sweet peas and an errant blackberry sprig. I raked out dead lavendar and grass. Then I began clearing away the grasses along the base of the bush, which lead to ripping out clumps of grass from what once was a flower bed. Then I decided that the rose bush right next to the lavendar had become too unrully. I trimmed it away from the hose spigot and then I trimmed the branches that had taken to growing along the ground.

Meanwhile the ants began to swarm and spiders tried escaping up the front wall of my house, I almost felt a bit squeamish thinking about them all retreating to the inside of my house. I treated the wall with some Chinese "death chalk" and continued.

I trimmed back the mint that had grown to weed status where it all bears thick stems and rough unuseable leaves. I continued to clear almost all the way to the place where you can see in the picture what looks like a hot mess of weeds. Then I planted the sweet basil plant that had been gifted to me over three weeks ago. It should be much happier in its big oak barrell than it was sitting in a small pot in the midst of our weeds.
The physical labor that did not resemble theater work and the final product that came from it actually improved my mood threefold. Which is a good thing because despite the fact that this was my "day off" even CalShakes insisted on sending me emails that had to be answered "immediatley"... eye twitching here... back spasiming just a bit... I think I have to go back outside and spend some time staring at the front of my house again. When I get a little more time off I'm going to plant something new in there and finish the job.

A Day Off?

What better way to spend your day off than at a company picnic with all the people you work with...
Here's Coeli (pronounced Chay-lee) out of the costume dungeon;


The man in this picture is shouting at me "Hi Alexae! Hi! Hi!" Yes. This is my boss. Our artistic Director. Endearing at times.


Nichole and Renee making "pretty faces"

...and now mugging for the camera

Our chef for the day; Eric... The picture looks like it's just a guy grilling up some chicken, when in fact it is chipotle chicken, teriyaki chicken, blue cheese and carmelized onion burgers and chipotle burgers... Yum! He's cooking for everybody because it's fun.

... his charcoal-black griller's hands...


Sorry I forgot to get a picture of myself but I swear I was there behind the camera. No great insight to post today but I feel a need to post Something at least once a week. Hopefully something of more universal interest to come...

Redwoods

I may be in a bit of a creative funk but I went to the Redwoods again for the third Monday in a row. On the other hand it did make me want to come back again but with pastels next time. I found a new trail called "Madrone" that was particularly beautiful and climbed at a Very steep angle both directions. At some points I was crawling up the canyon using my arms to pull me up along the hill.




I think that next Monday I will either go back again but with art supplies instead of an impatient dog, or I will go somewhere I can actually meet people. It was at least quite calming to be in the woods after a trying tech week that seemed like it would never end.

Monday! (the "weekend")

So today was my day off and I decided to play tourist. I took the N- train all the way to the ocean on the far side of San Francisco. I've never seen SF's beach so I thought today would be a good day for it.


The beach was wicked windy (as the Bostonians would say). Posted at the entraces of the beach were these signs and others that read; "dangerous surf". No kidding! It was like a storm coming in and so much sand was blowing that sitting to read a book was not an option.

While walking the beach I did find a few dead seagulls (not pictured) a dead crab (big), dead jellyfish (my bare feet avoided them) and some cool plants that had been blown out of where ever they were growing...also dead




Then I saw this cool metal-looking windmill and let myself get blown back in away from the sea... this windmill is apparently a San Francisco landmark (I have never heard of) that was "lovingly restored" back when Diane Feinstine was SF's mayor (something else I learned today)...


Then I just walked back half the distance of Golden Gate Park through parts I've never seen before... enjoyed new music on my ipod and about the time my sandals were making it a little too cold to be out in San Francisco I took the train back...







Good way to spend the day off.