Le Pain Quotidien in Studio City

After walking about 5.5 miles I decided that I was in need of a little lunch.  It is always hard for me to decide where to got for lunch when I am out because there are so many great places to go.  I had passed this small restaurant on my walk and decided that I would go back and check it out. The bakery and communal table is esthetically pleasing for sure, but the food was also great.  I asked the waiter to tell me what the place was famous for. The first thing that he pointed out was the Quiche Végétarienne, which is  the one  thing that I was considering after looking over the menu.  The next thing he suggested, which was his absolute favorite was this fabulous spinach salad with baked goat cheese, thinly sliced apples and caramelized nuts.     This is served with two different slices of their famous breads.   It was incredible.

I was equally as pleased with the service.

Le Pain Quotidien in Studio City

After walking about 5.5 miles I decided that I was in need of a little lunch.  It is always hard for me to decide where to got for lunch when I am out because there are so many great places to go.  I had passed this small restaurant on my walk and decided that I would go back and check it out. The bakery and communal table is esthetically pleasing for sure, but the food was also great.  I asked the waiter to tell me what the place was famous for. The first thing that he pointed out was the Quiche Végétarienne, which is  the one  thing that I was considering after looking over the menu.  The next thing he suggested, which was his absolute favorite was this fabulous spinach salad with baked goat cheese, thinly sliced apples and caramelized nuts.     This is served with two different slices of their famous breads.   It was incredible.

I was equally as pleased with the service.

Those Red Doors-The Jack Stacey House

  I often think of returning to Savannah, Georgia to live.  First because it is where I grew up and still have family, and secondly because I still think there is still so much that can and need  to be done in the African American Community.  I still have some fight left in me and I want to contribute to my home town.  I don’t know when or if this will ever come about, but I decided to look into homes for sale specifically in the Historic District, preferably downtown, and I came across a familiar place.

A house that I had frequented quite a bit as a teenager.  It was where my good friend and partner in crime grew up, Mary Stacey.  I have not seen Mary in over 30 years, but this house I recognized immediately.   Yes, the Jack Stacy House was a full house for sure.  As I read through the realtors ad, I realize for the first time that there were only 4 bedrooms in this house, because they had ten kids. I guess Mr. Stacey redeemed himself with the five bathrooms because at least half of the kids were girls.  I remember there being at least four girls. They had an older sister Hollis Stacey that became quite famous in the female glf circuit of female golfers.  Later Martha married a golf pro, because she too had taken up the sport. She and her husband was running the pro shop at the Savannah Inn and Country Club, which was torn down in the 1980s.

Things are just not what they seem

When I took this photo at the Occupy99LA last weekend, I had noticed this guy about thirty minutes prior to taking this shot. I do remember taking it at this time as well I just thought that it was interesting that he was covered in this way. This is a look that many Americans would be slightly fearful of, but the way this photo shows something that was not actually happening, it really got me to thinking. This photo would definitely instill fear in many people.
Then I realize that there are probably photographers out there that intentionally take photos that would give a mixed message, hence we have the tabloids. So I decided to add this video of Marc Anthony who I absolutely love, and it relates to exactly the same thing.

Protest Expectations – What are they?

Occupy 99 started out as Occupy Wall Street.  It was born on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square within Manhattan”s financial district.  This is a protest that is all about the people pushing back against the destructive power of major banks, large corporations, and Wall Street’s responsibility in what has become the greatest economic decline in decades. I could not begin to explain all that has been going on with Ocoupy99 all over the world, as the working class people speak out. This declaration explains more about the movement.

Tents of protestors on City Hall's lawn.

Here in Los Angeles, Occupy99LA is set up near city hall and has been quite peaceful. These protestors were initially welcomed by the local politicians as well as the mayor, but they are beginning to tire of it all.  Duh, …being sick and tired is what this whole thing is about.

October 1, 2011 was the day that Angeleons decided to stand with Occupy Wall Street and occupy Los Angeles at City Hall on Spring Street. Thirty-Six days later, on Saturday November 5, 2011, I decided that I was going to head downtown and witness this for myself.

Sorry to say,I was pretty disappointed.  There were not near as many people as I expected.  I probably should not have too much to say in reference to the turnout, when I am not out there myself.  It just didn’t feel like what I expected a protest to be.  I have never experienced any sort of organized protest, therefore I don’t have a point of reference.  This was the reason why I went down to city hall, to get a feel for it all.  I know the main reason for my going should have been to stand with the protestors.  I do support their efforts and their reasons for sure, but I no longer have that kind of fight in my heart.  At this stage in my life, I can just decided not to participate and live with that decision.

Young people need to be out there in massive numbers, scattered with some veterans, because they are the future, and at the rate things are going now, that future  is not looking too bright.  There are so many of our young people graduating from college, because we made them believe that without education life will be hard, and hell, now with education life is hard.  I know many are pissed not because they could have been working and possibly have a little savings at this point, but instead they are coming out of college still depending on their parents, with mounds of debt and no jobs.

I was pretty excited about experiencing a public protest and left home armed with my camera gear.  I decided to take the Metro from San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles because City Hall is easily accessible from the Civic Center’s Red-line station.

Rather empty Civic Center Red-line Station

As I alighted from the train, I was surprised to see that there were not many people in the station. During the week, this station is rather busy again because of its close proximity to City Hall. I expected it to be busy this Saturday for the exact same reason.

Going up the escalator to the civic center district.

While going up this escalator, I start to feel excited again. I was going to my first protest and definitely a cause that I have been privately fighting for some time. For the past 4+ years I have been downsizing my life so as not to be enslaved any longer by this capitalist society. The hardest thing to adjust was what I wanted for my life, was it really that bill of goods on the “American Dream“, or was it to be able to determine my dream and my desires for my life. Well I chose the latter, knowing that it was going to take some rather painful re-adjustment of my belief and value system. Oh, but this was not about me, oops sorry.  However, it is relevant to the working American wanting to take back their lives.

One of the first things that I noticed as I approached the corner of 1st and Spring streets, was law enforcement sprinkled throughout the area. The second thing that I noticed were the large number of people out there with camera and video equipment, and now as I approach I will be adding to that number since my camera is also strapped to my right hand.

'Many with cameras, a crew w/laptops to the right

As I started to walk through this park, I remembered a news report on how this protest is costing taxpayers money, and my immediate thought was “here we go”, the use of the media to control the minds of the public.  The reason for the possible bill to taxpayers would come from the alleged damage done to the lawn on the side of City Hall that faces 1st Street.

First of all, there is a weekly Farmers Market that is usually held in this exact same spot, on this very same lawn, so do you think the lawn was plush prior to this protest? No it was not, mostly because there are a great deal of large trees that doesn’t allow enough sun to come through for the grass to be plush. On top of that most of these trees have large exposed roots. So you take a look and see if you think that there was once plush grass there.

"What Grass?"

As I walked further in the midst of the people and all of the tents, I started to get a headache. The place was very clean, no trash on the ground, no decaying food, not even the smell of urine. What was immediately causing my sinuses to go bonkers was the strong smell of marijuana. It was coming from the tents as well as those just standing around smoking it as if the police officers were not less than 5o ft away. Only in California would this be possible.
So I walked around and talked with a few people, listened to a couple of people speak, but knew that I would not be able to hang around too long, because now I had a full-blown sinus headache that was not going to let go.
So I wished many good luck, smiled, and walked across Spring street on my way back to the Red-line station. Feeling disappointed in this experience, not having  known what to expect, and obviously expecting too much. I hoped that stopping to get something to eat at the Highland Center on my way home, and taking something for this blazing headache, would help me to put all of this in perspective. So here I am sharing it with you.

More Photos

Digital Music,Books,and Software-Where is the control? Pt.1

I am in love with everything digital these days especially ebooks.  I have been an avid reader since I learned to read and am still in love with books.  Often times I loved the feel of it in my hands.  However I have always been one of those people who totally dislikes it when people turn over the corners of the page in effort to book mark that page or lays a book opened face down so their place will be saved when they pick the book up again; or when they  roll back the covers of a paperback book. Yes the books that I read looks as though they were just purchased from the store, mostly because I depend heavily on bookmarks or anything I can use a book mark.  There was even a time when I just kept every book that I read and bought hundreds that I intended to read, in efforts to one day have this extensively diverse reading room in my house with wall to wall book shelves that reached from floor to ceiling.

When I say extensive I mean just that, with my natural curiosity and insatiable appetite for learning, my various interests, many hobbies, and my proven belief that I could learn anything from a book.   I would have hundreds of books on just  one subject.  Yes I was buried in books and it felt like heaven.

I later got to where I move many times throughout my life and packing and unpacking these books that I so fervently collected became a real chore.  I started to eliminate things like sewing and sold off all of my sewing machines, fabric, and the hundreds of sewing books that I had accumulated, and believe me that was the first hardest decision I ever had to make. I continued to move from place to place and state to state, packing and unpacking books.

When my daughter went off to college and I downsized to a smaller place I had put a great deal of my books in storage and then moved to California leaving the books there,  for over six years now.  Yes I am still paying on that storage unit, crazy, I know, but there are family heirlooms in that unit as well, and those things are priceless to me.  For these past  six years in California, I continued to collect books even re-purchasing books that I knew I already owned, but was in storage in Florida.

I have now decided to spend the next few years traveling since my daughter will  graduate from college in about two months.  I find that I no longer dream of this vast reading room, and I no longer dream of owning another house any time soon.  I want to be free of stuff, even books. So  I  started to look into the eReader, which were becoming more and more popular. My first was the Sony Touch and I was hooked.  Then quickly moved on to the Nookcolor by Barnes and Nobles, and I  am so in love with this eReader, especially after hacking into it’s hard drive and now being able to access the android market.  Now I can own as many books as I can purchase sim cards for.   No it is not that wonderful feel of paper, but it is lightweight, and its color screen is the size of most trade paperbacks.  I found that I read even more with this reader and am able to still read 2-3 books a time; whatever I was in the mood for at the time.

One of the hardest things about deciding which eReader you want to buy or should buy, depends on your needs.  I liked the color because I love National Geographic Magazine and I am a photographer and wanted to have the many photography books in color.  If you only read novels and newspapers, the black and white is more than enough, and usually cheaper than the color.  There are several file formats for ebooks that are purchased from the various outlets, the most popular is the epub format that is read on all eReaders Except for the Kindle from Amazon, which has its own format called azw.  Now this azw format is exclusive to the Kindle and cannot be read on any other eReader, and the epub format cannot be read on the Kindle, but the epub can be read on every other eReader available today.

There is one more format that is exclusive to only the devices made by them and that is Apple ‘Mac”, such as the iPad, iPod, and iPhone.  Books for these devices are called iBooks, bought from the iTunes store and they come in the epub format but again they can only be downloaded wirelessly to the said devices. But you can read epub and pdf  formats, bought from stores like Barnes & Nobles, Books-A-Million, Kobo, and many others , because the apps to read these books on the Apple devices can be downloaded from the iTunes store.  So you cannot read any books bought from the iBook store on any device other than iPad, iPod, or iPhone.

If you purchase epub formatted books from any one of the above mentioned online stores other than the iTunes store you can share these books with friends just as you always have.  It can be a bit tricky though. First you have to download you epub formatted books to the various apps available  for reading on your computer and there is usually an accompanied folder where these books are stored on your computers hard drive and you can then attached them in an email to anyone.  Once the person receives these ebooks they have to be opened with a similar applications on their computer or mobile device.

The most popular used application is Adobe’s Digital Editions or one downloaded from the various online book stores. One of my favorites a software called Calibre and you can usually just sync your device with these software programs via the usb  cord that often comes with the device.  Some of the eReader offers other ways to share your books, but they are usually available to share with someone else that own the exact same device, but when you share the books by using you computer and email, the person(s) you are sharing the book with can have any or no device or they can read the ebook on their computers.

I take my eReader everywhere I go and it fits easily into my purse., There are many situations in life where we have to wait, and that gives us a moment to catch up on some reading, places such as, airports, airplanes, trains and buses, and even your doctors offices.   So if you love to read and often times can’t find enough time in you already overwhelming schedule, an eReader makes it easy to do just about anywhere.

Since I like to maintain the control of what I do and those things I tend to buy to make life a little beat easier and more pleasurable, it took me awhile to decide on which eReader to buy that would allow me more flexibility and more options for that control. Every company today seems to want to create things for the consumer but they also want to maintain control of how the consumer uses the product. Well I was not going to stop until I was able to purchase a product that I liked and be in control of how I used it, hence finding a way to share an ebook with someone after I purchased it instead of feeling as though I was merely paying so dearly for the mere right to read the book, I wanted to make sure I felt as though I owned the book just like before.

Our Daughters-Dawn’s Daughters

I am discovering that there is some other responsibility that comes along with being a woman of a certain age, and that is a responsibility to the young girls and women that are younger than you, the responsibility to help them navigate this thing called life.
Here is a young woman that doesn’t have any children of her own, but because of her position in the community she sees a need. She sees that young women are reaching for success as dictated by society. Instead of reaching within and developing who they are and being the best that they can be.

All of the material gains will come as you grow and reach your potential it is only then that you are at peace with what it is to be truly successful. I know most people measure success by how much money you have or the quantity or quality of your material possession, but most people that have these things truly know that the satisfaction that these material things bring is short lived.

It is now our responsibility to teach the younger women that developing self is where you get true satisfaction and true success. Where you find you real purpose in life and when you live in that space positive things will come your way, but when you focus is on material gains then that is all you will acquire and you will still feel empty.

I have recently discovered how many young people have been watching the things I have been doing when I was merely fumbling through life. What I have always tried to do is live life on my terms, and that is what they have noticed. I had no idea that anyone was watching, but now I realize that someone is always watching. Now that I am aware of that, I will consciously live my life knowing that others are watching, hoping that I will touch many in a positive way as I start to spend the second half of my life giving back. Living with an open mind and open heart, in spite of any hurt that I may have experienced.

What the book is about: here

The release date is November 20th,2011 and the ebook will be released at that time as well for those of us that are eReaders.

Dawns book is now being pre-ordered

A Soft Granny

Today I was on the orange line that runs from San Fernando Valley to Hollywood, and there was this older lady that got on the bus.  I was going to get up and give her my seat, but the gentleman next to me offered her his seat.  When she started to position her self to sit, the bus moved and she was about to fall forward, so I reached out to catch her to keep her from falling.  I proceeded to hold on to her until she was seated. She thanked me and just patted my leg with both hand in gratitude.

At this very moment I was thinking of how soft she felt.  She must have been close to 80 yrs old, not that she looked it, because she was going about her way just as we all were on the bus today.  Her skin was a little wrinkley, in a pleasing sort of way, and her skin felt like a baby’s butt.  It was such a comforting thing when I touched her and felt how soft she was.  I started to think of it is things like that which makes grandmas so special.  Yes we know that is is the cookies they bake, the stories they tell, the way they make bad things go away, but it is also that cushiony smooth touch you get when you put your arms around her, when her face touches your; when her skin touches yours, it is something so comforting and loving in that touch.

And if you want a more soulful version with great commentary, here it is

A Woman with Issues

Many women talk among themselves about other women, and often men do the same.  When we talk about a woman with issues, we are usually referring to the ‘drama queen’,  the woman with a great deal of negative energy, always whining and complaining about anything and everything and to anyone that will listen.  Wel,l when I looked at myself yesterday  I discovered that I too am ‘a woman with issues’.  No, not the kind that was just described, but issues just the same.

You see I am in the throws of menopause. Should I say more.  I didn’t think so.  I have said before that I have never been a moody person, and I am usually of even temperament, but boy has that changed. It is even making me take a step back and look at myself as though I am seeing me for the very first time.  However, since I have to live with myself, I am having to re-learn how to get along with myself.  I know you are thinking that I am starting to sound like a crazy woman, well you have hit the nail on the head, because I so often feel like a crazy woman.

The highs and lows of my moods these days almost feel like there is some split personality going on inside and it is not pretty.  I have recently named that other personality ‘she devil’ because it is almost that evil, at least by my standards.

All jokes aside, there is really no warning out there for the emotional and physical symptoms of menopause.  I am, however, grateful for all of the information that is available and that more and more women are talking about it than before.  It is something that you have to experience first hand to really know

Yes there are other issues. Sometimes I have to stop and think about which one of them I am dealing with at any given moment.  Thanks to the most recent climate changes, my sinuses are going haywire, which causes me to suffer for 2-3 days at  a time. Yet I am also taking Vicodin, because   oftenI have  flare ups from the most recent neck surgery.

I told my mom that I when I wake up most mornings, I have to first figure out what issue I am dealing with in order to know which pill to take, antihistamine, Vicodin, or hormones.

I now know what older people meant when they said, ‘don’t get old girl’.  Yes I am grateful to get older because in my book any day above ground is a good day, but they are definitely challenging ones.

It is said that 50 is the new 30, but hell there are those times when it is just 50.

So as I said in the beginning, I realize that I too am a woman with issues.  So the connotation of the term has definitely changed for me.  Please tell me I am not alone.

Grandmothers- The Lessons

Irene

Esker (Esther)

Did you grow up with your grandmother(s)?  What did you learn?  What have I learned?   Read more.

Homelessness in Los Angeles

Homelessness is something you see in Los Angeles everyday and everywhere. It doesn’t matter the neighborhood, it is there. Of course you see a great deal more of it concentrated in certain areas like downtown LA and Venice Beach. It is a very sad thing to see but I always found myself wondering what were these people doing the moments before finding themselves homeless. I do realize that a great deal of these people suffer from mental illness, some are just down on their luck, and for others it is a lifestyle choice. I know, it is hard to imagine someone choosing to be homeless but it is often the case.

This man is simply looking for recyclable items, but often times they are looking for food. You will see some with more than one shopping cart filled to the brim with stuff, plastic bottles or just personal items.
I use to think that it was awful that these people are on the streets like this, with no where to go and nobody that cared enough to help them. I now realize that this may be a situation that is never eradicated. Capitalism does not breed the kind of care and community necessary for all in this country to have the basic needs; and it is unfortunately but I have come to accept it. I know many would think that acceptance of this is even more sad.

I often give cash or buy a meal, but it is not nearly enough, but I do realize that it does help that person at that moment in time. The most heartbreaking to me other than seeing mothers and children on the street is when I see an elderly lady. We seem to throw them away like the trash.

Now this guy on the scooter was parked near the Starbucks in Brentwood, near UCLA, and besides this scooter being filled with so much stuff that he could hardly ride it, he had an outside table right outside of Starbucks, filled with papers, books and a briefcase. It seems as though he pretending to be a professor or something.  He was wearing a fedora, which he took off and put to his chest, buttoned the jacket over it in the front of him so it would not blow away.  However, he did put the helmet on when he mounted the scooter.