The Architecture

The first time I visited The Getty Center, I spent the majority of my hours there gazing at the buildings, their structure and material composition.


I was enthralled with the travertine marble which was quarried in Italy and transported to Los Angeles. In the shadows, the marble looks pearly white, but when the sun shines on the rough exterior, the marble takes on a creamy yellow color.

As the stone was cut, fossilized leaves were revealed. You can see many of the leaf images on the buildings' walls.

The architecture so fascinated me that I walked around staring up at the arches, corners and overhangs designed by Richard Meier. I was distracted from the exhibits by the extraordinary beauty of the museum buildings.

Even after several trips to the Getty, I still love strolling along the hallways and balconies, gazing at the pavilions, admiring their size, structure and setting!

This link gives more information about Meier and the Getty Center's architecture.

Friday Fave Five, Fifth of November

Welcome to Friday Fave Five! Susanne hosts this weekly event at her blog Living To Tell The Story. Do check it out and leave a message to share in celebrating the blessings in our lives.

1. Friends! Like Ellen who loaned me one of her cameras when we visited The Getty Center last week.

2. The Professor's technology magic was applied to my computer to fix the problem I was having uploading the Getty Center photos. I love being married to a computer magician.

3. The Getty Center is one of the most beautiful museums I've ever seen. The white travertine marble buildings are gorgeous inside and out, and they also contain incredible treasures. I cannot possibly post at one time all the photos I took. I plan to do that over the next few days.

4. Sour Cream Cinnamon Rolls. I was going to write Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Walnut Cookies again because I baked more of them for our weekday lunches, but I decided to mention the cinnamon rolls because I made those for our weekday breakfasts.

5. Echinacea tea. Daily doses this week for a cold that has been plaguing me since Tuesday.

This was Willow's Week. How was yours?

In The Dark

Having been in communication with the camera repair magicians, I am hopeful that sometime in the near future I will have my third eye back. I look around and observe scenes that I know would make fabulous photos. I am impatient, but the repair people are working as fast as they can. I hope.

Ellen and I met Sara, another Southern California blogger, at The Getty Center in Los Angeles on Friday. While at The Getty, I took photos with one of Ellen's camera, which she very graciously loaned to me, but for some reason blogger will not recognize that those photographs are on my hard drive. Both The Professor and I have tried everything we know to fix the problem, which for me was a little bit and for the Professor was a lot. But we are both baffled. I can promise you that The Getty Center is a photographer's paradise. Until we can diagnose and fix the problem and I can post my photos, you can visit their blogs and see what I saw.

On Sunday afternoon, we drove down Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu and Santa Monica to Los Angeles, where we popped in to the Southern California Weavers Guild Fiber Festival in Torrance. Again, because I was camera-less, I can only tell you in words that the array of fibers for sale was fabulous. The trend seems to be moving to brighter and more variegated fibers for spinning, knitting, and weaving. The Professor found the perfect black, deep blue and turquoise handpainted wool and insisted that I buy it and spin it, just for me. I happily and graciously complied. It is important to please our husbands and support our local fiber artists, isn't it?

After a much too quick visit with my former walking buddy and friend from The Beach Cities (mama of the kitty we cat sit for), I met up with The Professor and The Grad Student, who was in LA for two days. The hours spent with TGS flew by, and we were back in the car and on the way home. You'll have to believe me when I tell you that the white travertine marble walls of The Getty Center were shining brightly in the late afternoon sun as we drove along the 405 Freeway through Sepulveda Pass. I wish I could show you because 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. I want my eye back.

FFF, End of October Edition

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Friday's Fave Five, that delightful weekly review of daily blessings, large and small, hosted by Susanne at Living To Tell The Story.

Willow's Weekly Blessings

1. Our Sunday afternoon walk was a repeat of last week's visit to Ventura Beach.

I took this photo of a school of surfers a year ago. It looked exactly the same this year, another repeating theme.

2. Like many Southern Californians, The Professor and I are wondering if the predictions of heavy rainfall this winter will be fufilled. A hillside area in our back garden needs additional coverage in order to keep the soil from sliding down to a lower level. Ellen sent me this photo to let me know that a new California Native Plants nursery, Nopalito, has just opened.

We stopped by there on Sunday and talked with the owners. Asking their advice on the best plants for stabilizing our back bank, we chose two buckwheat plants and three penstemons to start our own little native plant hillside garden.

3. Knitting on a shawl. Unfortunately, I have no photos. Details are Sampler Shawl in the Folk Shawls pattern book, knitted with Naturally Caron's Spa bamboo and rayon blend yarn in Taupe.

4. Cream of Potato Soup.

5. Chocolate chip oatmeal walnut cookies.

It was a quiet week of working, cooking, and relaxing. If you would like to join the thankful people posting their FFFs this week, go to Susanne's blog.

Slip N Slide

In my neighborhood, autumn has not stormed in like a gale. It has not marched in like a lion. Fall isn't even sauntering in to my community. Actually, autumn is barely slipping and sliding in, even though it is Halloween week.

Even though sycamore trees are dropping their leaves, there are very few other signs of autumn. I'll take little glimspes of fall color where I can find them.

A Promise Kept

I believe in keeping my promises. I stated last month that I would post the recipe for Carrot Top Soup, just for Clarity, because she asked so sweetly and politely. Here it is!

CREAM OF CARROT TOP SOUP

From Edible French Garden by Rosalind Creasy

Ingredients:

1 lg yellow onion, cut into ½ in dice
3 garlic cloves, mashed
2 Tbl butter, plus 2 tsp softened butter, divided
1 tsp whole fresh thyme leaves
4 cups chicken stock
6 lg carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
3 tsp salt, divided
½ tsp ground white pepper
About 1 cup milk or half and half
2 Tbl chopped fresh parsley
3 cups tender young carrot greens
1 ½ c lightly whipped cream

Saute the onion and garlic in 2 Tbl of the butter until golden.

Add the thyme leaves and cook 1 minute more. Add the chicken stock, carrots, potatoes, bay leaf, 1 tsp of the salt, and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and puree the mixture in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (by batches or in a blender) to the desired consistency.

Return the puree to the soup pot. Thin to the preferred consistency by adding the milk or half and half as needed and bring the soup to a simmer. Stir in the 2 Tbl of softened butter and chopped parsley by bits. Keep the soup warm.

Pick over the carrot tops, removing any stems or yellow leaves. Plunge the greens into 1 quart boiling water; when the water reboils, add the remaining 1 tsp of salt. Remove from heat, drain, and puree the greens in the blender or food processor with 2 cups of the pureed carrot soup.
To serve the soup, fill soup bowls two-thirds full with orange carrot soup, then ladle the green carrot soup in the middle to fill the bowl. Top the soup with dollops of whipped cream.
Serves 6-8.

The only changes I made in the recipe were a couple of substitutions. I switched the milk or half and half for nonfat milk and, in the toppings, I served sour cream instead of whipped cream because that's what we had in the fridge.

In September, I made this recipe again and served the soup with my home made Honey Whole Wheat Bread. The Professor ate a bowl and declared it a keeper! This from the man who doesn't eat cooked carrots.

You will love this Carrot Top Soup, even if you don't love carrots or carrot tops.

I promise!

Friday Fave Five

Welcome to Friday Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living To Tell The Story. FFF is a weekly reminder of what we are thankful for each week, what we're loving.

1. This is the third week of October. Autumn has blown in to the Northern Hemisphere and Spring is in full bloom in the South half of our world. Here in Southern California (@35 degrees N latitude), our nights and mornings are cool, but our mid days and afternoons are warm, allowing the pinkish lavender mums growing in my back garden to continue to blossom.

2. October is the beginning of the season of 'winter meals', heartier soups and warm breads. I soaked a pot of anasazi beans and made an old family bean soup recipe called Lumberjack Jumbo, which is made with the beans, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and corn, and seasoned with chili powder. It's a simple recipe but oh, so tasty, especially when it's served with home made corn bread.

3. October is also my sister-in-law's birthday month. When I asked her what she might like for her birthday, she mentioned bunnies! I consulted with Eleanor, and together we decided to ask this little friend if she would like to live on a farm and share a home with cats and dogs, and chickens and goats. Being a very brave and intrepid bunny, Eleanor's best friend agreed. I'm sure she was intrigued with the possibility of walks in the woods, tea parties by the woodstove, and maybe even bus rides! So, after hugging Eleanor good-bye and promising to write often, off she hopped into a mailing box filled with a suitcase stuffed with carrots and lettuces to sustain her for the trip.

4. Instead of having a regular meeting in October, the Ventura County Spinners and Weavers Guild hosts an Open House. Vendors and yarn shop owners gather and show their new fibers, yarns, books and accessories. I wandered back and forth, around and around the booths, chatting with people who, like me, love fiber arts. Because I am a spinner, I am always drawn to the booths that display unspun fibers, like this rainbow painted jumble of wool.

I wish I could share a photo of the two skeins of silk/merino blend fiber I purchased, one in warm brown tones and the other dyed in summer greens and blues. But. Well. Ummm. After I returned home Saturday afternoon and was carrying my knitting bag filled with fiber, phone, camera, and wallet in to the house from the car, I lost my hold on it and it slid to the floor and hit. just. right. No. It hit. just. wrong. My camera took the brunt of the blow. It's heading off tomorrow in a box to a repair place, and we're hoping that it's fixable under the warranty.

5. On Sunday afternoon, The Professor and I drove to Old Town Ventura, grabbed a cuppa to go, and walked out to The Strand (The Ventura Beach Strand, not to be confused with the Manhattan Beach Strand in Los Angeles County). It was not raining, but the sky was covered with dark clouds and ocean was grey. The pelicans were fishing in the deeper waters just beyond the end of the Ventura Pier, circling slowly, then plummeting into the grey depths, sometimes popping up with a fish snack in their beaks. It was perfect beach walking weather.

Thank you for sharing Willow's Week with me! Go on over to Susanne's blog to read other posts written by people who are remembering what they loved about their week.