Finally! A MYSTERY.
How that little gull was able to drag his little feet through the sand to arrive at this lovely pattern is beyond me. Perhaps the gull is actually an extraterritorial. That would explain things nicely.
Just a gull and a chopper, and a sunset. And some reverie.
So, there are some structures at Venice beach where spray painters (graffiti artists) are legally allowed to do their thing. There was a long time in which no permit was required, then that changed. So, they put up a sign saying that you need a permit to paint on the provided walls.
Thing is, the sign itself would naturally be a target for graffiti and it wouldn't take long for taggers to completely cover up the message. So, the friendly folks at Venice Beach did something really smart. The words on the sign pictured above are actually cut-outs. It is impossible to paint over this message. Although that didn't stop someone from painting the sign the same color as the surrounding sand rendering it almost invisible.
For more, see: VeniceArtWalls.com
Just a sunset with a coming storm, which ended up loudly drizzling on Santa Monica for about three minutes and that was it for us.
They come from everywhere to enjoy the sunshine and sea breeze.
Kites from every race, creed, and color come to wave in the wind at Santa Monica.
A close-up of some of the kites in the air. They're located just south of a California historical marker that points out the location of the formally-named "Ink Well" which was the segregated location of the beach where blacks were allowed to swim. All of this is about a mile south of the pier.
The Annenberg foundation purchased the land originally used by Cecil B. Demille for vacationing. On this property has been built a great public pool and social space. Adjacent, (shown here) is the Marion Davies Guest House. Nice archetecture, seems to have been inspired by the same style as a local baptist church.
It's easy to take a nice picture of the little sand dunes created when the onshore flow hits the sand at Santa Monica.
What isn't easy is riding against the wind. When it really kicks up, it stings the skin and hurts.
A draft of smoke arises from a fire near Malibu, while the rest of the Santa Monica bay remains picturesque.
The clouds slowly roll in, giving the water an almost indoor eeriness.
There's actually a relationship between fires in nearby hills and calm waters in the Santa Monica bay. Fires spread with hot dry winds. Hot dry winds come from the northeast, high pressure in Utah generally. The hot dry winds blow the wave energy away from the California coast giving rise to darkened orange skies and an almost silky smooth character to the ocean.
The image above may not have been taken on the same day as the fire, but when the fires really get going, I'm telling you, the ocean's appearance is amazing. Someday my batteries will be charged when I'm around to see it.
It's fun to consider nature's patterns. Water returning to the ocean in the Santa Monica bay, branches of a tree, river deltas, mountain erosion and glacier flows.
Chinese medicine's original insights remain shrouded in an unknowable past who's scholarly roots continue to nourish new branches, tributaries, schools of thought, and therapeutic insights.
Even the branch that describes Chinese medicine observations in biomedical terms is just one more branch that can flourish or die on the tree depending on culture and market forces. But is it right for a branch to be embarrassed by the tree from which it grows, to demand that we no longer explore that tree, that we banish what is not yet proven by biomedical thinking because "modern science has it all figured out"?
Will this new branch of Chinese medicine become like the Prussian forest so regulated by science that the resultant lack of biodiversity led to the death of entire forests that continues to impact Germany even a hundred years later?
Had some good rains in early 2008 in Southern California. While they did little to alter the long-term drought we're experiencing, they did have a positive effect on the potency of the wildflowers this spring. Sorry I don't know what these flowers are called, but they smelled like a candy store.
A coastal eddy weather pattern results in a thick fog that
blankets the pier with cotton candy romance.
These guys were testing themselves,
to see who could dress the most uniquely.
Two skaters emerge from the time tunnel
conveniently located beneath the Santa Monica pier.
During May it's gray.
In June, there's gloom.
In July, there's sky!
Shot from the Venice drumming circle, a weekly groove-on-the-sand where humanity of all stripes come to throw-down. No visit to Southern California is complete without seeing this remnant of the hippy era infused by Latino and Afro-Caribbean traditions.
The Venice Drumming Circle can be found on the sands roughly in the middle of the commercial boardwalk strip of Venice.
But try and keep the cameras down to a minimum, local custom frowns on buzz-kill individuals who get in the faces of the dancers or drummers. Try a telephoto lens. Sunday afternoons are generally when the critical mass develops on the sand for the big dance that celebrates the end of the weekend as the sun sets.
Check out this video from the same evening as my picture was taken.
This is where I live. Santa Monica, California.
This is what I look like taking a picture of the beach.
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