Around The Garden

Good morning everyone! I'm off to work a few hours on my backyard Hummingbird painting today. I got a few snaps around the garden this morning. It's not a fancy camera but oh well...

The grapes are doing well up above:


The apple is starting to get bigger:


There's a lonely Echinacea bloom in between the Wallflower Leaves, how'd that happen?:


And there's this purple blossom in front of the Elephant Ears whose name I completely forgot. Does anyone know the name of this plant? No, it is not the Sea Lavender either, this one is smaller and more fragile:

Wotta Wednesday!

USA beats Spain in a FIFA qualifier! What the...? Spain is amazing and gets shut out 2-0!? Que paso Torres? Puyol? David Villa? Casillas??

Texas loses to LSU!!?

Dodgers, although winning yesterday, end up losing today.

Yes, 3 of my favorite teams for that particular sport end up LOSING today.

Oh, and the Cleveland Cavs get Shaq from the Suns. Well, that one is not as bad, but still it's official now.

Oh, and Pomona will be getting some opera at the Fox? That is very impressive.

Just a crazy day, I'm sure there's more.

Friday it is...

Whew... what a drive. Traffic was almost as bad as Wednesday's Lakers CarFlag Rush Hour. Almost 2 hours after the drive, I got off Indian Hill and headed straight to StarBucks for that caffeine rush. Ahhh... I'm home with a Mocha Frap and Air Conditioning.

I'd like to mention a big Happy Birthday to A.S. Ashley, an artist who resides in the cool Arts Colony of Pomona. I'm a day late but I'm sure he can't wait for his Mexican Mudslide tonight (It's a drink, not a trip to baja & vendor tacos). You can visit his Myspace page by Clicking Here.

If I don't head out to Montclair for a late night movie, I will more than likely be at the DBA256. I've got a long weekend starting tomorrow morning... sports, parties, and more parties.

Take care all and GO LAKERS! You did it!

I Wanna Blog, But Da Wine Keeps Pouring...

I've been getting home tired and beat all week... I intend to post something, but somehow, it doesn't happen. While at work, ideas run through my head. But once I arrive, I see my wine collection of 40+ bottles and I decide to pour a glass... and you know what happens next, there goes that bottle. It's nice to have the wife back after her 2nd trip to China I must say. She sets up some great cheese, crackers and sausage combinations that take you to another world.


Tomorrow's Friday and it's time to PAR-TAY!! Probably at the...

DBA 256 Wine/Bar:

As usual...

Oh yeah, the DBA 256 feautures:

Wine tasting every day
Name you own flight - Pick any four of our wines by the glass for only $12

Cool Downtown Los Angeles Photos

I ran across an old friend in Facebook recently and he seems to really enjoy photography. He took these 4 cool fisheye washed out pics of some random Downtown L.A. area. I think he did an awesome job. He photographs for fun and gave me the okay to post them. Here ya go:





Credit: Eddie Ruvalcaba

It's Pomona ArtWalk Time, Baby!

As usual, and once again proudly... The official 2nd Saturday ArtWalk in Downtown Pomona is here tonight!

Pomona Arts Colony: More information on a few of the art exhibits can be found by Clicking Here.

You can also visit the gorgeous Metro Pomona website for more info.

Get out of the house for once tonight and head on over here! 6pm until whenever your feel like leaving. Come see the work of many Artists, it's a buffet of Art! Speaking of, stay and have a nice dinner at Joeys, 2nd St Bistro, Aladdin jr, and other venues. Have a drink over at the posh DBA256 WineBar and/or Acerogami (Glass House bar).

Just get to the 10 freeway in any direction. Exit on Garey Avenue and head south. Once you go under the train bridge the next street is 2nd street. Make a right and you're here!

Get your online printable .PDF map by Clicking Here.

Also, there's an area of the ArtWalk that always gets left out, and its 1/4th of the whole ArtWalk! Read more about it at the Daily Bulletin.

Too Late To Save The Atwater Village Farmer's Market?

The Atwater Village Newbie blog has a small write up on what seems to be the eviction of a local farmers market. In this economy, it is very important to help our local farmers and businesses, and really ourselves, in order to survive. We've helped the corporations enough, especially the last 8 years and see where that's gotten us.

"According to a reliable source, the Wells Fargo's Atwater Branch Office gave the market notice this week, without prior warning or time to adequately research, execute or promote a move to a suitable new location. Without a proper transition, the market and all of the work establishing this community event and its service to the community over the last few years will be lost.

The Sunday morning market serves Atwater Village and the surrounding neighborhoods of Echo Park, Glassell Park, Glendale, Los Feliz and Silverlake.

The OurSilverlake.com Forums has more info on this.

Oh Goddess, Where Are You?

The last several days I wasn't able to visit her site... and just now, I've learned from David Allen's Blog that the Goddess of Pomona has temporarily shut down her blog due to anonymous comment attacks or something of the sort. I'm sure this was regarding the recent Downtown Pomona / City Council / P-Bid event of the last 2 weeks.

I saw some of these comments and didn't think they were that bad. It's easy to delete an anonymous rude comment. Heck, even easier, you can post your article and choose NOT to have comments activated. Those of you who know how to get a hold of her, please let her know that she needs to get back online ASAP. She's been blogging for years and was one of my inspirations.

The Claremont Insider also posted a little story on this.

School's Out... So Am I

Last Day of School for the kids! Hooray! No more driving everyday to work and picking them up on the way. It's tough when your kids do not attend school in the city you live or work in (like alot of my neighbors). But, the good thing is now I can take the MetroLink to work finally! I can read, sleep, think, daydream and all that on my way to and from work. Traffic can really change your personality.

My contract government work is almost up, and they are talking about extending it another 120 days or til the end of the year. I don't think I will do this though... I need to find something closer to this side of L.A. county. I also have been spoiled the last 8 years of actually having my summer off. I need to hit the beach weekly this summer! Not to mention the crazy pool parties all over the place!

I am also thankful for this June Gloom, isn't it just lovely? Don't forget it's ArtWalk time this Saturday in Pomona. If you haven't been to it, you MUST!

Around The Garden

Well, it's been a while since I've posted about anything 'Gardening' the last few weeks. Work and life has been a busy one. I woke up really early this morning and took the dog for a walk around the block. Came back, made some coffee and sat in my backyard. Then it occurred, "OH! Take pictures!". Got some pretty cool shots with my cool little crappy camera:

I caught a "house finch" through the bamboo ready to dive in and eat seeds/nuts:


And the 'Lion's Tail' plant is blooming with orange color now:


Where does this mysterious path lead to?



Impatient 'Impatiens' & The Wallflowers...
no, they're not a rock band:



That's enough for today of "Skrip's Garden" for you all to see. Have a great rest of the weekend...

oh and GO LAKERS! (Purple Basil & Yellow Wallflower):

Happy Wednesday all & Good Luck Thursday DPOA!

Amidst the freak thunderstorm of last night and a gloomy day (YAY!), it's frickin' Wednesday once again. I missed the Pomona City Council meeting Monday night (L.A. traffic BABY!), but it looks like we were over 100 people strong in support of the DPOA. Metro Pomona's Blog, Pomona Art's Colonists Blog, and M-M-M-My Pomona Blog all have more info and updates on all the happenings regarding the DPOA and the City Council. Looks like they've moved it to Thursday, when one councilmember who couldn't attend Monday and is likely to be against the DPOA will be there, and another councilmember who WAS THERE Monday and supports the DPOA will not. I've given the new mayor the benefit of the doubt, although I have a gift of reading people and he doesnt seem 'right' for us, I still hope he understands what is happening downtown. That's all I'm going to say, and if needed, I'm ready to help the people of the Art's Colony and DPOA at full force if the same stinkiness of Norma Torres's bullshit continues.

That aside, I hope this little raindrop tease and cool weather continues, April and May of no rain is just insane. And now in June we get something, very tiny, but SOMETHING.