Fine, just smoky

Just a quick update for everyone who hasn't called us. The fires have not reached us, and it's not likely they would! We can see the enormous wall of smoke from our place, and we can certainly smell it, but no fires are putting us in danger. We're just trying to keep our breathing healthy since the air quality is terrible right now. We will be helping with recovery efforts as soon as things are under control. But we are doing fine.

Venice Blvd. Farmers Market

One of our favorite things about living in Los Angeles is the ready access to local farmer's markets. Because California is mostly abundant farm land that supplies much of the agricultural needs of the U. S., we can get almost anything grown locally. One of the nearest farmer's markets to our apartment is held each Sunday on Venice Blvd. Pictured above is the scene this morning after we biked there from our apartment.


Jay is very careful about selecting our produce. He does a lot of the cooking for us, and he loves the fresh ingredients. We usually have to eat our goodies pretty quickly so they don't spoil, so Sunday evenings often finds us making casseroles, soups, and other dishes to eat during the week. Our food doesn't spoil, and we have something healthy waiting for us when we get home from work during our busy weeks.


I love how colorful all the vegetables are; it makes eating healthfully that much more fun! We try to make our dishes as colorful as possible, and often when something catches our eye we will try to find a way to incorporate that food into our dinner. The peppers and eggplants above were so beautiful we had to bring some home with us. We will be having a stir fry with those lovely peppers this week! Jay also brought home some fresh green beans that we steamed tonight with carrots to go with our Ahi tuna steaks. (Meow approved of the tuna; not so much the veggies.) Another fun thing is the number of new vegetables and even fruits we have tried. I have no idea what those things above are; they didn't make it home with us. But we will often be adventurous when we spot some new and interesting food. I'm not showing the entire market; there's a D.J., nut vendor, flower sellers, and fresh food stands dotting the entire street. We enjoyed a fresh-squeezed lemonade while we wandered the stalls and debated what we would have this week. It's a fun way to spend our Sunday mornings, and the bike ride there and home ensures we get some exercise! Now remember, eat your vegetables this week! We certainly will.

Glacier pictures, days two and three

The second day of our trip we started out by going fly-fishing on the Flathead river. Our guide's name was Rob. Luckily for us he was a very patient and knowledgeable guy! He showed us the ropes, and then took us to the best fishing spots. Jay managed to hook both me and a fish, so he was obviously getting the hang of setting his hook (Rob had to use the pliers to get the hook out of my hand, luckily it was NOT barbed). I, however, while getting plenty of nibbles, did not catch anything. But I really loved being out on the river and trying! Below is Jay about to back cast.


After spending the morning on the river, we headed into the west entrance of the park for more hiking. This time we headed down the Trail of the Cedars to Avalanche Lake. Below is a shot I took during the hike through the forest. The views were amazing, with enormous trees and mountains, and Avalanche Creek running busily next to us. On this hike we ran into a mule deer - almost literally!
We reached Avalanche Lake after about 3 miles or so. The lake is crystal clear with the beautiful green color provided by glacier flour carried by the melting snow from above. The lake is surrounded on all sides by steep mountains carved by a Pleistocene glacier long ago. Stunning. Jay took a panoramic of this one, maybe I can convince him to post it! We met a little chipmunk who found a bit of cracker at Jay's foot, decided he must be a god, and followed him around the lake while we explored. Cute little bugger. Jay got his picture, he was too fast for me! Below is the lake:
We headed east along Going to the Sun road this time, and stayed at the Rising Sun Motor Inn that night. The next morning, sadly, was our last in the park before we headed back to Great Falls for the wedding. We took a morning boat tour of St. Mary's Lake. Below is one of the pictures I took from the boat window:

Our boat captain was an avid hiker, and described many longer hikes we would like to take when we return one day. I highly recommend Glacier. Besides Yosemite, it is almost indescribable, and is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I'm a big National Park fan though, and I guess it shows!

Glacier pictures, day one

I finally got around to downloading the pictures from my Canon powershot SD790 IS. These are not nearly as good as the pictures that Jay takes with his Nikon D300 (he has a lot more resolution and skill than I do) but I thought they could convey some of the beauty of the park. The only problem I had with this particular trip was lack of time. I love long hikes and camping, and we didn't get to do either. Just short day hikes (5 - 10 miles) and fly fishing. The fly fishing was awesome, even though I didn't actually get any fish on my hook! Lots of nibbles, but setting the hook was something I was having trouble with. Here are a few shots below:

Jay at St. Mary's Lake just after we entered the park. We took a short 3 mile hike to Baring Falls, pictured below:
From there we took Going to the Sun road to Logan Pass. Here we hiked all the way through the alpine meadow to Hidden Lake. We hiked through the snow (Jay is below) and saw plenty of animals, including big horn sheep and mountain goats. The goats you could usually smell before you saw! That was a full day, and we headed back to Glacier Park Lodge where we stayed.

Another busy L. A. weekend

I had meant this weekend to be one where I got caught up on long-neglected housework and just rested, but that just doesn't seem to be a possibility in our lives! As soon as Friday approaches, about a dozen plans present themselves to us and the next thing I know our quiet weekend at home has turned into circus trips, museum visits, afternoons with friends, and enjoying a new restaurant. What a wonderful life! We really live a charmed life, and have made so many cool friends.

So, on to our weekend: Jay finally got a replacement printer for his photography work. He had an enormous wide-format high-quality photo printer that got trashed in the wreck. Our insurance was enough to cover a computer and our furniture, but that was it. Since we also had to buy a new car, there was no way we were going to be able to replace the printer. Now, 2 years later and after much hard work and planning, Jay has his new baby! It's so large (30 inch by 12 inch footprint) that we had to move our computer into the spare bedroom. We spent most of Saturday cleaning out and reorganizing, and now we have a functional office. We got rid of a lot of clutter in the process, and that makes me so happy! We even got to squeeze in a trip to the Container Store, and now my gift wrap and all my cards are perfectly organized. It's enough to give a girl with OCD like myself an organization orgasm. So happpyyyyy! Not that any of you were probably interested in hearing that, but darn it I just cannot contain my joy.

That evening we had dinner with several of Jay's friends from Ikon. Stephanie Wong, a sales rep that Jay often spent time with, is going to graduate school to become a high school guidance counselor. We wanted to give her a good send-off, and I think we succeeded. We met at their former boss's apartment off Le Brea Ave. The building was built in the 1920's, just before the depression hit. The architecture and art deco touches were conserved by the building's current owner, and the apartment is stunning with wood paneling, old tile work, preseved hard woods, even the old ice box is intact and used as storage in the kitchen. We walked from there to a restaurant called Amalfi. Another great restaurant here in L.A. We had shots there called chocolate cake (so yummy) and they had my favorite wine, a riesling from Gainey Vineyards. Jay had the gnocchi and I had smoked salmon fettucini. We had a lot of fun, and didn't get home until 3 am.

That meant we slept in, and got up just in time to make it to the 1 pm start of the Dodgers vs. Braves. Jay got to attend two of the Braves games here, which made his week. We enjoyed Dodger dogs and caramel popcorn, and I got sunburned BIG TIME. Good game, with the Braves winning the third out of four games. We ended our evening back home where we ordered in Indian food, watched True Blood, and swore to finally have a quiet weekend, "next week." Yeah, I'll believe it when it happens!