A sign on the way to the park

On my way to Wilderness Park this afternoon, I spotted this electrical box mural. I'm never sure, unless I actually see the artist at work, whether the mural is new or if I've just now noticed it. This one shows a composite of Downey park scenes on three of the sides.

The fourth side is a painting of the "Welcome to Downey" sign that used to be located on Firestone Boulevard. The sign contains the emblems of various Downey organizations. At the bottom is the "Four Way Test," created by Herbert J. Taylor and later adopted by the Rotary International:
1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Sounds like good questions to ask, even if the original sign isn't around anymore.

April showers...not so much

These clouds looked pretty stormy to me on an afternoon last week. Now I have to wonder if they were a result of the work of the LA County Dept. of Public Works. According to an article I read today, contract workers have been attempting to make it rain through "cloud seeding"—sending special flares containing silver iodide into the clouds to increase precipitation. The flares are shot from the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains.

Interestingly, even though cloud seeding has gone on in LA for 50 years, there didn't seem to be solid evidence that it was really effective. Sadly, the predicted El Nino rains have not appeared this year, so the drought remains concerning for LA.

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it." ~ Patrick Young 

The surf pig

The K-Earth 101 Surf Pig was also on hand for last Sunday's Ride and Stride event, where he oversaw the playing of much 70s and 80s music (that is, songs I recognized). The van was parked in the YMCA parking lot, which was one of several locations set up for kids to take a break and play.

Humans of Downey - Angel and Claudia

"I'm looking forward to going to Palm Springs for our first anniversary. We are going to just hang out there. We will be staying at the Hyatt. I've never been there but I've been told that it's very peaceful and quiet. We'll hang out at the pool most of the day."
~ Angel

"I am very curious about the job opportunities in accounting that will be available after I finish my degree. There are lots of different companies and uses for my degree and I want to find one that suits me and my personality."
~ Claudia

"We first met at a Halloween party my friend was throwing for his birthday. They were serving a drink called 'Jungle Juice' where they put a lot of different fruit and several kinds of liquor. By the time I arrived, though, the Jungle Juice had run out so she comes up to me and says, 'You shouldn't have any more to drink, here's a water.' And I was like, 'What?' That was my first impression of her. We talked some more at the party but we were both uninterested in the other. Her friend said we should exchange numbers but we both were thinking, 'I don't know if I want to.' But we did. The only reason we were even talking together was a friend of mine wanted to hook up with one of her friends.

"A couple of weeks went by and my friend asked me, 'Hey, do you still have that number of that girl at the party?' It seems that the girl he wanted to hook up with wasn't returning his texts so he wanted us to go on a double date. Since I hadn't called her in several weeks, I had to come up with a clever and original opening line when I called her. I said, 'Hi, I'm that Angel dressed as a Dodger you met at the Halloween party.' It then took 6 to 8 months before we started to think, 'This could work out. I want to keep it going.' And now it's been a year since we made it an exclusive relationship."
~ Angel

Humans of Downey - Elizabeth

"My family are the most important people in my life. If I were dying, my choice of who I would want to spend those last hours would be my family. I would want to reminiscence about the stories of our lives, share the good times.

"I have four sisters and one brother. I would want to share with my little sister, not to think too much about her future but to enjoy every moment as it comes. Don't think too much about boys, that can come later. Focus on yourself versus about boys. It's like when you are in school, you're not thinking about school but about your latest crush on a boy. I would tell her to focus on school, there's time for everything. There's time for education, there's time to have fun and later there's time for a boyfriend but that should come later.

"My hero is my cousin from Seattle. He always seems to be there when I'm feeling down, feeling depressed. He always knows what encouraging words or words of wisdom to say to lift me up again."
~ Elizabeth

Giant Jenga

One of the fun activities at the Ride and Stride event on Sunday was a lineup of games along 3rd Street. These two were playing with the giant Jenga blocks.



Unfortunately, the tower fell!



Interestingly, the name Jenga is derived from a Swahili word meaning "build."

To each his own

One of the things that made yesterday's Ride and Stride event so interesting was the incredible diversity of the participants—young and old, walkers and bikers, men and women, families and friends, humans and animals. You name it, we saw it.

Riding and striding

For more than four hours today, several miles of Downey streets, roughly between downtown Downey and the Columbia Memorial Space Center, were closed to cars for the first Downey Ride and Stride event. Instead of car traffic, the roads were wide open for walkers, bikers, skateboarders, and any other mode of transportation that didn't involve a motor. Along the way, there were games, music, and plenty of food.

The freedom to walk down the middle of the street, without concern for cars, was surprisingly liberating. We walked probably half the 5.5 mile path that was available before turning around and walking back. (Shuttles were available in case you wanted to walk the entire distance and then get a ride back to your car.) This event was very different from most Downey street events, which are typically confined to a small area. This was an opportunity to walk the city, and it was a lot of fun.

Ride and Stride is one of eight events funded through the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Open Streets Grant Program, which seek to encourage walking, biking, and public transportation.