An evening walk

Beautiful weather, later sunsets...it's time again to take walks after work along our Downey riverbeds. My favorite is the Rio Hondo riverbed, which has bike and walking trails along both sides. I wasn't the only one enjoying the time, as this father and son pair of cyclists show.

Holy Week around the world

This is Holy Week in the Christian year. Christians all over the world are celebrating the death and resurrection of their Savior, Jesus. This is the cathedral in Montreal, Canada. Tomorrow, Friday, this sanctuary will be filled with worshippers remembering the sacrifice that Jesus gave for the whole world. On Sunday, Easter, the faithful will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.



This is God the Father giving God the Son His crown after His resurrection and ascension into heaven.



This is the sanctuary of St. George Greek Orthodox Church here in Downey. It too will be filled with worshipers this Friday and Sunday.

Dinner before the theater

This last Sunday, a group of us went to the Cinemark Theater in the Downey Promenade for some afternoon entertainment. We stopped at Ruby's Diner for a delicious hamburger before the show. We ate out on their patio to take in the beautiful sky and to watch the passers-by. Stop by Ruby's and have a leisurely Sunday lunch some time.

"The sky is an infinite movie to me. I never get tired of looking at what's happening up there."
~ K. D. Lang

Perspective

Wilderness Park has electrical power line transmission towers along the border areas of the park.

I think these power towers are so interesting to look at. Looking straight up from below, it almost looks like a spider web. I like the angles and the intersecting lines.

And, when you look up close, you can see the sharp, spiky metal pieces that have been added. I assume they are to keep people from climbing up.

"We believe that electricity exists, because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it, but we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires. " 
~ Dave Barry

Sharrows

The recent resurfacing of Brookshire Ave. introduced bike lanes to Downey. But I've been puzzling about the different options, so I did some googling and learned a new word.

A desigated bike lane is indicated by a solid white line and a bike symbol, like the picture to the right. You can't drive in a designated bike lane. But what about when there is a bike symbol in the middle of what looks like a regular car lane, like the picture at top?

It turns out that these are lanes that are shared by both cars and bikes. Those bike symbols with the chevron-shaped lines on top are called sharrows. Sharrows are used to alert other traffic that bicyclists are allowed to occupy this travel lane. I think this is still a little confusing, because technically bicyclists can share the right lane even if it's not marked with a sharrow. But I guess it serves as a reminder to be especially watchful for bikes on this street.

So, to sum up. You can drive—carefully— in the lanes with the sharrows. In a designated bike lane, follow these rules:

• Do not drive in a bicycle lane unless you are preparing to make a right turn or park.
• Before merging into the bicycle lane, check to see there are no bicyclists.
• If you are passing bicycle traffic, pass with at least 3 feet between your vehicle and the bicyclist, when safe to do so.
• When making a right turn, enter the bicycle lane no more than 200 feet before the corner or other driveway entrance. Do not drive in the bicycle lane at any other time.

 And even if there isn't a bike lane, watch out for bikes.

Wintry landscape

Although Downey is in moderate—normally sunny—southern California, here you can see the trees in the northeast corner of Furman Park looking very naked and wintry. All this fits with the cold, rainy weather we have had in the last couple of weeks.

These trees are part of the Memorial Grove planted here by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). You can see more in this DDP post.

"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”
~ Kahlil Gibran

Coming soon!

They're everywhere! But that doesn't mean I'm not happy to see this Starbucks rising from the parking lot within walking distance of my house. It's just far enough to help me resist the temptation to go too often. And it's just far enough to be a good walk to balance my morning snack.

"I saw a guy at Starbucks yesterday. No iPhone, no tablet, no laptop. He just sat there drinking coffee, like a psychopath."

Today's rain clouds

One of the great advantages of living in Downey is our rain. First, our rain is typically a soft rainfall that's actually fun to walk through. The rain usually soaks into the ground to replenish our city's underground wells or is channeled into the sewer system to be returned to the ocean.

Second, the rain usually only lasts a day or two. Then the sun will break through to give us beautiful blue skies with a few puffy white clouds. My weather app says today's rain will be done by 7 am tomorrow and then we'll have partly cloudy skies for the remainder of the day. What a great place to live.

"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet." 
~ Roger Miller