Fear of heights

Today we had a couple of pine trees removed from our property. They were tall - at least 50 feet high. Since I'm afraid of heights, I was impressed by the way the trimmer climbed the tree, wizzed through the branches with his trusty chain saw and dropped them branch by branch to the ground. At one point, though, the tree was swaying enough I had to look away. All around, it was pretty impressive to watch.

I must admit, it's all a little bittersweet. I have wanted these trees (and others) gone for years. Now that they are gone, it looks so barren, it seems a little sad.

Budding graffitist?

When we checked out the Banksy-like graffiti last weekend (see Did Banksy leave his mark in Downey?), I noticed this young man studying the painting—with a piece of chalk in his hand. Was he thinking, "I could do this"? Or just "She'd look good with a moustache."

Where the wild things are

One of the advantages to living in the Los Angeles suburbs is the nearness to big city attractions. Today I went to the Los Angeles Zoo, which is located on the north side of Los Angeles, about 20 miles from Downey.

My favorite exhibits are the cats. The two snow leopards, named Tom and Jerry, are usually well hidden in the tall grasses and trees. Today, only one was hidden, and the other one reluctantly opened his eyes and raised his head to check us out.

For more pictures of my morning at the zoo, see The benefits of membership at the LA Zoo.

Did Banksy leave his mark in Downey?

I couldn't resist seeking out these pictures after reading about them in the Patriot . Banksy, a British street artist (read tagger) has been around since the early 90's. He's known for his distinctive stencil artwork which he has painted in cities around the world. We don't know if this is his work in Downey, but it was fun to search for  different paintings today and to discover we weren't alone in our quest. It seems quite a few of our Downey neighbors read the paper and had the same idea. There was a small crowd already gathered as we arrived at the first sight.

At the last sight, after spending several minutes maneuvering my car around so we could climb up to take a picture above the chain link, I looked down to notice a significant opening in the corner section of the fence- big enough to climb through easily...I always consider that an invitation.

Postscript: Further Googling indicates that the graffiti is the work of Los Angeles street artist Bumblebee. See this interview for more information.

Where the deer play

We have lots of wildlife in Downey. I've seen squirrels, possums, and raccoons. But the only deer I've ever seen here are these two stationary ones in my neighbor's yard.

Not always good

This morning in a "security" guarded parking lot my dad's bike, his main mode of transportation, was stolen. Sadly, even in great towns such as this, we can never fully trust others. In this case, someone assumed that a locked bike on a secured bike rack meant that they only had to work harder, cutting off the lock, to take what wasn't theirs. A premeditated act of vandalism. Maybe we can work with these sad people to put all that hard work into something that they can actually claim as their own instead of having to steal what isn't.

To continue...

Bouncing off of Joan and her history with a mystery theme, I took a picture of the alley right behind my house. I love the old alleys in Downey because so many of them (like this one) used to be long driveways of estates long ago split up into smaller properties.

Urban decay

I am so drawn to Rancho Los Amigos. There is history here and mystery too. I heard it aptly described this past week as urban decay. It is accurate, but it seems so odd because it is right here, in Downey, middle class America.

It feels like such a waste. It was once this thriving city within a city. Hundreds of polio patients were treated and housed here. Now, it is empty, silent and fenced off. There are acres of abandoned buildings falling apart as we look on. I read stories of asbestos and other improper building materials. I'm not sure what the resolve will eventually be, but it feels like it is dying right in front of us.