signs, signs, everywhere a sign

the last day of july and "june gloom" is still hanging out this morning.  i will walk to the beach whilst it is still gray, still cool and still so very still.

before i go, here is a photo from Rose Street in Edinburgh that caught my eye.

not sure if the two signs were meant to be read together but i found it a bit amusing.

here is my old friend keeping a close eye on me as i start my walk to the beach.

i did look for him as i made my way to the beach. . . i think he might have had too much of a head start.

when i arrived at the beach the "june gloom" was almost gone as the blue sky was waiting to take over.  

i remember this car as the Thing.  i found out it is called the Trekker in the UK and the Safari in Mexico.  officially it was a Volkswagen 181

a few seconds of summer at the beach 

today's coincidence is the bike rider in the photo.  i just had a nice talk with him before he started his ride back home and i started my walk back home.  his name is John and he is a retired police detective.  hopefully someday i will be in good enough shape to ride with him.

i think he said he has ridden 7000 miles this year... which is approximately 7000 more miles than i have ridden.  he has also ridden down to San Diego five or six times this year.  it brought back memories of my 1998 ride down to Tijuana, Mexico.  i really must get a new bike.

last sign for the day.                                                                                                                             

i am waiting for my first bus to start my public transportation adventure back home after the Culver City concert.  i am listening to my iPod and there beside me at the bus stop is . . .

and about 20 minutes later i am sitting at the bus stop at the corner of Venice and Lincoln around 10pm hoping the Big Blue Bus would be arriving soon so i could catch my third bus to get back home and not have to wait another hour to catch the last bus of the evening from the LAX transportation center.  i was listening to Venice (i downloaded three of their songs from iTunes before my bus adventure to the Culver City thursday night concert series) on my iPod and right above me is. . .

"Signs"  by the Five Man Electrical Band.

the keyword for tonite is . . . VENICE . . .more tomorrow on. . . VENICE.

guess who's coming to dinner, or is it supper, or tea?

that was one of the topics of conversation on today's Tom Morton Show on the BBC Scotland. which is which and which do we call which. thinking back to my childhood, i think supper was our everyday evening meal.  dinner was more formal or for special occasions such as Sunday dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner. we never did "tea" in south Texas but we drank a lot of it, sweet tea that is.  i did learn from Tom's show that those in the United Kingdom have many different versions of what we (i) always called "tea time".  i thought it was always "tea with a dessert" sometime in the mid-afternoon. i learned that "tea" could be supper followed by dinner later in the evening.  and don't get me (or them) started on "high tea".  there was some good music today including a new Counting Crows song called "sunday" and the album of the week is by Bob's son Jakob.  i heard the song on Clyde 1 on monday morning in Glasgow.  

before i continue with more photos/videos from Scotland, here is one sweet smellin' foto from my walk to the market this morning. . . ALOHA

here's a little "jazz on a summer's day" music and dance video from this past sunday. 

going home . . . i hope

"and hope is a good thing".  (Shawshank Redemption reference). i am trying for the 730a flight home to LA. it is full so i might be "riding the jumpseat" but if that is what it takes . . .

more about Edinburgh and the music festivals and the Piper's Trail and the bonny Scottish weather and Kelvingrove and my all-male crew when i get home. and of course, many photos and video too.

Home Again

and what a homecoming.  within 15 minutes of stepping in my front door we had a nice little earthquake.  i think i heard it was around a 5.8 something and centered somewhere in the valley.  no damage here in the south bay.  the water in the pool was swaying.  and inside my apartment my windchimes were chiming.  i grabbed my camera and was ready for "the big one" but all i got on film was a few seconds of the sounds of windchimes. i have always been pro-windchime so . . . " i've got that going for me".

no, i had no kiss waiting for me at home. i took this on saturday in Edinburgh near the Royal Mile after the Mardi Gras/ Blues Festival at The Grassmarket.  more photos and videos to follow (my nap).

girl on the train from Waverly to Queen Street

Scotland . . .somewhere near Falkirk High or Linlithgow or was it Croy

Lyndon Anderson.  wait to you hear him sing and play the harmonica.

and what was the umbrella for?  sun?  rain?  no. . . for dancing with the Criterion Brass Band

The Grassmarket runneth over

cheeseburgers, chips and a castle

for a few hours more

soon i will be on my way back to Philadelphia.  and then "if all goes as planned", i will be on my way to Glasgow, Scotland and if things continue to go as planned, i will be in Edinburgh on saturday for the Mardi Gras at the Grassmarket and then at the "jazz on a summer's day" on sunday.  and then back to Philly on monday.

  

a peaceful moment from this past tuesday morning in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland

home . . . soon . . . and then . . . not home . . . again

if all goes well, i will be home tonite. it is always nice to get home and even nicer to get paid to go home.

Thing did not go well. . .  i just got home . . . next day service from Philadelphia to LA.

more later in today's post on why it took over 10 hours to "fly" from PHL to LAX.   think summer storm.  think big summer storm.  think over 5 hours with a plane full of mainly non-English speaking passengers sitting on the plane waiting (patiently?) to fly 5 hours to LA.  think long day and night for many people.  quote of the day "how long can you keep us prisoners on this plane?"

and that was about two hours into the delay. followed by "i will be calling my lawyer when we land."  of course, that person spoke English very well.  most amusing question "how long is it going to rain?"  yes, how long indeed.  

St. Stephen's Green cygnets and Temple Bar rocks

another fun day in Dublin yesterday (monday). more on everything when i have more time. time for a little walk before we fly back to Philly.

homeward bound

another fun time in San Francisco on wednesday. more stories, photos and videos when i get home tonite. . . i think it is friday?

HOME again.  guess who i met in the Philadelphia airport and then talked with on my flight home to LA?  i will give you a hint . . . the World's Greatest Athlete.

hard to believe that was 32 years ago.  i hope i thanked him for taking the time to talk with me.  one of my co-workers asked if had met any other famous people in my 20 years of flight attending (if there is such a word).  yes, i have met a few. here are a few favorites.  hmmm, who is the most famous star i've met?  she is one of the most beautiful and most famous and most recognized woman in the world (not sure if that grammar was correct)(not even sure how to correct whatever it was i was trying to say) but when i met her she was not so famous. i think i will find the photos she autographed and scan them in before revealing her name. then there was that guy who washed up on a deserted island after he had AIDS and after he played the piano in FAO Shwartz and that was a long time after he and his bosom buddy had a tv show.  Batman was nice but which Batman did i meet?  who was that radio DJ in Alaska on his way to his home in West Virginia?

i think he played in movie about a wedding but it is Greek to me what the title was.

i am not sure if it was Wayne or Garth but he and his friends were enjoying their

flight home to Chicago. he told me one of the funniest jokes.  enough for now.

the Big Apple Day

more tonite when i return from NYC . . . hopefully.

Just got back from Manhattan
so much to see, so much seen. so much to do, not enough time. more stories and photos when i get home on friday. i will
say i almost was able to see and probably/maybe meet one of my favorite Japanese pianists/composers/musicians but i could not figure how to get back from Manhatten in time for my 645a check-in tomorrow morning. i thought about staying out
all night (remember Austin) but the first flight back tomorrow from La Guardia would get me here too late. i also checked on a Greyhound bus but problems there too. i did hear some good jazz in two different locations in the big and beautiful Central Park. it was an absolutely gorgeous day. oh, and i almost saw a parade honoring . . . the baseball All-Star game that is now on tv as i type from the lobby on the Days Inn here in Chester, PA. there was red carpet on 6th Avenue for the parade. i did see that after walking from Times Square to Rockefellar Plaza to 5th and then 6th Avenue before continuing on to Central Park. i arrived in New York around 830a. more on how i got there when i get home. i will say it cost less for me to fly from Philadelphia to New York's LaGuardia airport and then take public transportation into the city than it would cost for me to take the train into downtown Philadelphia from the Philadelphia airport.

the sounds of summer . . . and more

this past thursday morning i walked to Japantown in San Francisco on my way to see the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square Park.  i thought the sound of the sprinklers sounded like summer.  and then Marco and Polo showed up . . .

a Tanabata wish from Japantown . . . i'd like a baboon and a boat.

the Painted Ladies.  

that was Day 2 of my 4-day trip.  more photos from Day 1 in San Francisco later.  now i am home in LA on an easy 2-day trip.  tomorrow, i fly back to Philadelphia. still not sure what i will do while waiting to start another 4-day trip on wednesday. i am thinking of going to Manhattan on tuesday just for the day.  it has been awhile since i have been in New York City.

4-day is over, 2-day tomorrow

if all goes well, i will be updating my blog with a story or two and photo or two or three from San Francisco sunday afternoon (my tomorrow). there will be a little video of two Golden Labradors in Alamo Park. it is cute. i think one was named Marco and the other Polo. and hopefully tomorrow my mac.com mail will be working. i haven't been able to access it from the road in a few days. tonikaku, more when i get home tomorrow, sunday.

Tanabata, Tanzaku and Teriyaki

july 7th . 7/7.  Happy Tanabata Day.  no, i didn't make a wish for teriyaki on a tanzaku, but. . . now it is time for my chicken teriyaki lunch (a late lunch) from Teriyaki Inn near Mitsuwa Market.  more later on Tanabata and why i took two buses to get to Mitsuwa Market today, and of of course, two buses to get back.

oishikatta! おいしかった!

earlier today i found my Japan Rail pass that i bought back in March for my cherry blossom journey to Japan.  it is only good for three months so i needed to get a refund for it.  i only bought the 7 day rail pass but $280 is $280. (with my airline discount my airfare is less than the rail pass but i won't mention that) and since today was Tanabata Day, i thought that Mitsuwa Market might have some decorations and maybe even some kind of event.  the JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) has an office inside the Mitsuwa Market or shall i call it Market Place because it is more than a grocery store.  they have a book store, stationary shop, video/dvd rental shop as well as a food court.  on the #8 Torrance bus i was checking to make sure i didn't forget the rail pass exchange order in my haste to get to the bus stop... i have done things like that before.  the first thing i noticed was that i had the wrong receipt/invoice.  for some reason the exchange order for this year's rail pass was with the receipt for last year's rail pass.  not good.  on the #3 bus, i noticed the last year's receipt said that a refund will only be given with the original receipt.  not good part 2 but i kept going.  i hoped that  the nice people at the JTB office could make a copy from their computer records of this year's receipt.  long story short, they could,they did, minus 10%.

they also checked on a flight to Osaka for me for september.  the best deal is about $1000 on EVA Airlines (from Taiwan).  not good part 3.  i will seriously have to think if i want to try for the 3-month leave-of-absence since i cannot buy a discounted ticket when i am on a leave.  anyways, my refund will be credited to my charge card with a few weeks.  i stopped by the market to buy some tofu, tonkatsu sauce, gogo tea and frozen takoyaki.  on my way to the favorite teriyaki cafe called Teriyaki Inn i passed by another teriyaki cafe.  now is a good time to mention which two Hello Kitty towels i was carrying.  in case you don't know or don't remember, i have a big big collection of the these little towels which are my usual omiyage (souvenir) when traveling around Japan.  i use one HK towel to hold my little digital camera in when i am walking.  and i usually use another to wipe the sweat off my brow when i am walking.  there was a time when i used them on my runs to and along the beach but that is when i was a runner and that was about. . .7 years ago.  everything changes.  tonikaku, i also have quite a few given to me by friends who know i collect these little towels.  well, the two i had today were from Kagoshima and Kyoto.  here is where today's coincidence comes in. 

Tony and Kagoshima Hello Kitty towel.  Kagoshima is where i took a "sand bath" .  

the kitty towel from Kyoto depicted an interesting "special police" samurai from Japanese history and more recently from the drama of the same name . . . Shinsengumi.  the name of the teriyaki take-out cafe is . . .

Hello Kitty was dressed in the power blue "jacket" which the samurai of Shinsengumi wore over their kimono.  well, here is where the today's slight disappointment comes in. somehow, i lost the towel somewhere between getting on the #3 bus and changing to the #8 bus on my return home.  the good news is that since it was from Kyoto, i will be able to get another one on my next visit to Osaka.  it would have been harder to get one from Kagoshima which is in southern Japan. actually, i will look thru my collection as i might have another Shinsengumi one.  

here is another Tanabata photo from Mitsuwa Market. . .

i saw a Japanese comedian/actor on tv last night and he showed how to make a Tanabata decoration.  i will make one later and take a photo of it, if it looks ok, i will add it to this Tanabata post.

i think it was 1992 when i was riding my bicycle from Ibaraki-ken to Hokkaido when i passed thru some town in the Tohoku area of northern Honshu.  i had ridden all day in the rain and was very tired and very wet.  it was one of the few nights in the month-long ride that i slept in a hotel. i think it was July 7th as there were big Tanabata decorations displayed along the town's main shopping street.  if i can find them (sometime before next Tanabata Day), i will add them to this post also.  i should be preparing to fly back east tomorrow for my 4-day trip on wednesday but i think i will turn the pages of my life back 16 years and find those photos.

Via La Selva

my favorite street. ok, one of my favorite streets.  i have been walking on this street since i moved to this area in 1998.  and this morning was no exception.  i walked up Vista Montana to Via Las Tortugas and then a left turn and up another beautiful street called Calle de Arboles before taking a left on Via Colusa.  there is a nice walkway/path/hiking/dog-walking trail which separates two neighborhoods and keeps the traffic to a minimum except for walkers, joggers and bikers who can pass thru an opening at the end of a dead-end street.  i turn right on Via La Selva and start walking thru this botanical-garden of a street in the direction of the ocean.  the word "la selva" in Spanish means forest or jungle, some type of land with lots of trees.  Via la Selva is lined with trees, many trees, all kinds of trees especially eucalyptus.  the tree in the photo above is the jacaranda with a few purple blossoms still in bloom.

flowers and more flowers   花　花　花

and peach trees too

surfboard for sale . . . $300 . . . brand new

"no body rides for free" or at least that is what it says on the back of the van

finally, the beach.  June/July gloom starting to burn off.

time to walk home.

missing but not forgotten

Bonus Video 

a hummingbird having sunday brunch