Dog Days of Summer

The remaining days of summer in LA, at least on the westside, are glorious with warm, breezy, cloudless skies. It's lovely to just meander our coastal towns and explore some of the unique and treasured offerings. The Venice canals, once reviled, have been cleaned and preserved by insistent neighbors paying a ghastly penny to live on them. I think the canals are part of the Ballona Wetlands conservancy and home to a multitude of birds such as geese, egrets and herons. Other wildlife species are attracted too like butterflies, lizards, and small fish as a result of the abundant food supply, no doubt. The dirt pedestrian path is maybe a couple of miles round trip from the jetty in Marina del Rey where you can gaze upon million dollar yachts, chartered fishing boats and small sailboat rentals alike cruising out to the open sea. Likewise, you'll pass multimillion dollar mansions and beachy cottages along the edges of a marshy estuary. The history of the canals is sordid beginning with a dream of one man to emulate the legendary Italian canals in this similarly Mediterranean climate but then as funding became scarce and the Beatniks and hippies became enamored with the area it just became overrun with algae and derelicts until the gentrification of the 1990's. Now it truly is one of the hidden LA treasures unifying birders, sun-worshipers and real estate developers. It's just far enough off the beaten track that it's mostly locals and their leashed friends which makes it a really nice experience, presuming you scored parking - not an easy task near the shore in summer. We even snooped around a 6 level house being built that looked like it had an elevator shaft going through the middle of it and then got in the dirt to rub the belly's of a couple of wanton basset hound pups. It's a lovely way to get a little exercise, a little vitamin D and an education in what lurks in your own back yard.

ATT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

With great regret my ISP and wireless phone services are both with ATT. I have been a customer for roughly 20 years in one capacity or another. Serious consideration as to my loyalty has come into question as I'm continuously sucked into their vortex of horrific service. I've had spotty internet service for the last 3 weeks and have called as many times to get the issue resolved. I am currently on hold now for 42 minutes and 49 seconds. I keep getting transferred around and told to call back Monday because they cannot locate my account record. I would gladly provide my account number if I could access my email to get it off the electronic statement. Finally after an hour on the line they are dispatching a technician to hopefully correct the problem once and for all.

Mid-day Reset

Atop a bustling, frenetic Los Angeles rise countless hundreds of hills and canyons, creeks and crevices to which one can easily retreat to find quiet and solitude. Today at lunchtime I left the cacophony of LaLa land behind and took a hike.

Only 15 minutes drive from my office I shed high heels in favor of Keens and started a gentle ascent up Rustic Canyon in the Topanga Canyon State Park. I've decided I'm going to climb Mount Whitney next summer, which is the highest peak in the Continental US at 14, 496 ' so it's going to take some training. While local canyon hikes alone aren't enough to accomplish the job it's a nice respite from work and every little bit of effort counts. In addition to strength conditioning I'm going to have to ramp up my endurance and aerobic threshold. Though gentle enough it was still a climb and had me sporadically winded. I can't say exactly how much distance I covered because I forgot to turn on the nifty pedometer app I just put on my phone but I was walking for 1 1/2 hours. Part of that time was spend descending 504 steps to get to the creek bed. My car was parked at the top and we all know the laws of gravity.

It's amazing what you notice when you step away from the distractions of city life. The first thing that hit me was the fragrance of fennel. That distinctive smell of black licorice mixed with underlying hints of pine and the wet hayish smell of late summer grasses. Simply fresh. Padding along the path, alternating composites of dirt and pavement, I followed the trajectory of butterflies storing up what's left of summers nectar. I swear I was even followed by a lizard because everywhere I turned there it was. I even spotted him or one of his cousins doing push-ups on a tree trunk. I wondered if it was some kind of machismo mating exercise or maybe he was just telling me to buzz off. Other than oodles of song birds the only other noise I could detect was the faint hum of single engine airplanes swooshing the clear sunny sky. The majesty of coast live oak trees high above the path along with welcoming ocean breezes made most of the hike a considerably pleasant one.

I even stumbled upon an old compound no longer inhabited but I read that it was owned by Nazi sympathizers back in the '30's. It was surrounded by 3 layers of barbed wire and hidden behind a crumbling wrought iron and stone gate. Once inside the parameters there was a huge deep concrete cylinder, now gutted, burned out and riddled with graffiti. I was totally creeped out wondering what it was used for and even more so when the wind kicked up and made the eucalyptus trees sway, creaking as if someone was there. Chilling! But even the weirdness is beautiful. And the fact that I only encountered 4 other souls, mountain bikers, was even more blissful.

I realize I've been remiss with keeping up this journal of sorts. I am backlogged with months of material and drafts that I couldn't find the interest to complete. So forgive me if I go backwards in time to catch up now that I've found my voice again.