Imagine being kissed by that!

When I was driving for Uber earlier this year, I would get up at 3:30 a.m. and start driving at 4:00. That allowed for some significant long drives from where I live in La Mesa to coastal places like the 32nd Street Naval Station, downtown San Diego, and the airport, all popular places to go at that hour of the morning. I would drive for 5 hours and then go home. One day, though, as I was about to head home a little early, I got a ride request. I thought, “Sure, why not? They might be going my way anyway.”

Well, they were from Nebraska and going to the San Diego Zoo. Perfect opportunity for me to stop at the Zoo, too. That day was May 27, 2016. I don’t remember it specifically, but I have a few billion pictures which I took that day, including those in the immediate posts preceding this one.

What I find interesting about a lot of these pictures is that they are the best pictures I have gotten of certain animals over the 23 years that I have been going to the Zoo on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Including this one of a 3-month-old giraffe:

That giraffe must really love that twig.

Imagine being kissed by that tongue!

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I saw my first devil (other than Trump)

It only took 23 years of going regularly to the San Diego Zoo before I finally saw the Tasmanian Devil. It just doesn’t like people, or maybe it knows when I’m coming by and scurries into its hiding places. Nonetheless, on May 27 this year, it was all out and about, scurrying here and there, mocking the people standing around oohing and aahing, and generally being a devil.

It doesn’t look too happy but maybe that’s because it was too early in the morning. Or maybe it knew that I was going to put its picture in my blog….

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Yes, yes I am

Now that I’m back to WordPress, I can catalog all of the pictures I have taken over the last year, and share some of them, too.

Whenever I go to the San Diego Zoo, I always make sure that I visit Flamingo Lagoon, right inside the entrance so it’s impossible to miss, and the Australian Outback, where the largest colony of koalas exist outside of Australia.

The koalas are not photogenic because they prefer to hide in eucalyptus trees and eat or sleep. Earlier this year, on May 27, many of the koalas were very active, and that allowed me to get several very good pictures. Here’s my favorite:

Those eyes and that face seem to know exactly what I plan to do: “You’re going to put me in your WordPress blog, aren’t you?”

Yes, yes I am.

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It changed my life

In 1979, at the age of 24, I discovered that my juvenile record in the State of Utah was long, very long.

My juvenile problems resulted in the State, in 1965, removing me from the care of my mom and stepdad, and placing me in the Thomas D. Dee Memorial Hospital in Ogden. It was at “The Dee” where I met Barbara Hunt, an 18-year-old woman, also a resident, from Bakersfield, California. She befriended me and helped me write a letter to my paternal grandmother in Kingsville, Texas. A month later, my grandmother arrived at The Dee to tell me that she was going to adopt me and take me back to Kingsville. All she needed was my approval. Although it took more than just my approval, by Christmas 1965 I was living with my wise old grandmother.

As we walked in the front door of her home in Kingsville, I noticed a huge picture hanging over the sofa. Elements of the picture included the corner of a house, an elderly couple sitting on lawn chairs under an old oak tree, a dog at their feet, and flowers blooming in the gardens. That picture has stayed with me although it took me many years to figure out why. I now know that it showed what I wanted—a love of life, a love of flora, a love of fauna. When my grandmother died in 2003, my oldest uncle asked me if I wanted the picture. I did. Sadly, he never sent it to me.

A few years ago, during my career as a home inspector, the house I was inspecting reminded me of my grandmother’s picture. My camera captured it:

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My favorite movies

My wise old grandmother instilled in me a passion for movies. Her favorites were musicals, and my list of favorite films includes many musicals from my youth, as well as films with great musical scores by such people as John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith.

An alphabetical list of my favorite films:

• Any Clint Eastwood movie, either as actor or director. I like his style. Don’t like his politics but as long as I separate his politics from his work, I’m okay.
• Dystopian movies that cause me to think about the future and the past. Some of my favorites are “12 Monkeys,” “Colossus: The Forbin Project,” “Elysium,” “Fahrenheit 451,” “The Hunger Games” series, “Logan’s Run,” “The Matrix” series, “Planet of the Apes” series, “The Purge” series, “The Terminator” series, “Total Recall,” and “WarGames.”
• Any “Star Trek” movie but “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” is my favorite. The music by Jerry Goldsmith was awesome, and Vger made me wonder. While I was creating this list, I discovered the two “Star Trek” fan movies, “Star Trek: Renegades” and “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.” Both were excellent.
• Any “Star Wars” movie. The original “Star Wars” from 1977 still is my favorite. I was just out of college and in a strange town. All my friends had gone back to their hometowns for the Memorial Day weekend, so I went to the movie. By myself.
• “Babes in Toyland” (1961 version)
• “Ben-Hur”—Probably my all-time favorite.
• “Braveheart”
• “The Bridge on the River Kwai”
• “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
• “Dances with Wolves”
• “The Exorcist”
• “Gladiator”
• “Mary Poppins”
• “Oklahoma”
• “The Pianist”
• “Psycho”
• “Raiders of the Lost Ark” series
• “Rain Man”
• “The Red Violin”
• “Schindler’s List”
• “The Shawshank Redemption”
• “The Silence of the Lambs”
• “The Sound of Music”
• “South Pacific”
• “Titanic”

As an aside, not only am I back, but I’m visiting blogs again. It’s so wonderful! I look forward to visiting YOURS to see what you’ve been up to these past twelve months.

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My favorite novels from 55+ years of reading

The first school I attended was Lake View Elementary School in Brigham City, Utah (picture below, ca. 2011, from Google Street View).

The school library was separated into grade sections. I had read the complete Grade 1 section by Christmas of my first year and had to get the Principal’s approval to start reading the Grade 2 section. By the end of Grade 3, I had read the complete collection in the school library, except for the encyclopedias and atlases.

Part of my reading success was my reading speed. The other part was my willingness to read anywhere, and that I still do. I have reading material with me whenever and wherever I go. Waiting on car maintenance at the shop? I read. Standing in line at the post office or grocery store? I read. Sitting in the doctor or dentist’s office? I read. Riding the Trolley? I read.

Currently, I am reading Time and Again, a 1970 work by Jack Finney about time travel. Being quite an interesting book with an interesting premise and plot, it is a good read, but my senior English teacher in high school would be appalled by his love of the dangling participle. (Oh, how I had fun writing that sentence….)

I chose it because of Stephen King’s recommendation on the last page of his book, 11/22/63, which now ranks as my favorite Stephen King book of all time.

At the request of an unknown person from a craiglist advertisement, here is a list of my favorite novels, books that I specifically remember from my life of reading, in alphabetical order:

• Any book by Stephen King (or Richard Bachman). Stephen King has never failed to immerse me in his writing, to take me to other places, to make me think about the known and unknown, to wonder. The books that particularly stand out for me are 11/22/63, The Dark Tower series, The Stand, and Under the Dome.
• The Box-Car Children by Gertrude C. Warner. When I read this at the age of 9, I already had it in my mind that my mom and stepdad didn’t love me. I could identify with these orphans.
• Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. This book taught me an appreciation  for all life, regardless of how small (and some might say, “icky”) it might be. As my wise old grandmother told me when I was reading this book: “All life has a right to live.” To this day, when I find a spider visiting me inside, I capture it in a cup and simply move it outside so it can go on living, perhaps even becoming part of the food chain for life that is bigger than it.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. This is the only book that I have read multiple times—1973 as a high school senior, 1984 (to see how close Orwell came), and in 2013 after watching “The Hunger Games.”
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I wanted my own secret garden, a place where I could go to get away from the bullies at school and parents who did not love me. This book was the start of my lifelong interest in gardening, an interest that continued to develop under the tutelage of my wise old grandmother after she adopted me.
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I did not read this book until 1995 after I had left Texas and moved to California. I was in the process of changing my life, and this book helped me change my perspective and understanding of the many different people around me.

As an aside, I do believe I’m back!

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