General – Page 8 – FrogBlog | Translating Los Angeles

Small Is Beautiful

This is the second Smart I have seen in our neighborhood within one week. Two minutes later a Mini Cooper passed by.

The next 2 1/2 hours I spent counting Mini Coopers. The total came to 10.

This ties in with what I have noticed for months now: parking lots, especially at supermarkets, used to be filled with big bad cars – Explorers, Tahoes, Hummers, trucks large enough to transport whole households from one coasts to the other. Oftentimes I also saw the drivers of those big boats – women, obviously very pleased with the fact that they did not have to squish their three bags of groceries into a tiny car. I, on the other hand, was very often not pleased with the fact that said ladies, after having climbed on board, did seem to have some difficulties to navigate their whopping huge heaps of metal off the parking lot.

Today the big boats are gone. Where are they? Have they all been shipped off to some secret island, where they stand under a palm tree, dreaming of those days when gas was cheap and they could proudly display themselves on parking lots in between runs to the school two blocks away to drop off Junior or the little Princess?

I bet they would love to run over anybody who dares to proclaim “small is beautiful.”

Could We Have Some Rain, Please?

Last year the rainy season started on September 23rd.

Today, on September 30th, we had 95° F (35° C) at 5:30 PM; in the Valley it was even hotter. These temperatures are supposed to last until the weekend. Whether there will be any rain later is still somewhat doubtful.

On the upside: the mornings are wonderful. It is cool and dark and quiet. No rain, but a wonderful waning moon hanging over the tree tops. Daylight and the heat are still a bit away (as it is only right and proper at 6:00 AM).

Lament Of A Siamese Cat On The First Day Of Autumn

It’s 8:20 AM.

Where is the sun?

What do you mean,

Autumn has begun?

Do I care what date it is?

Turn on the sun, if you please.

P.S.: The demands of the Siamese cat were answered at 10:14 AM.

BYOB

Yes, in California that means “Bring Your Own Bag.” Julchen (aka “The Beach Bum”) was kind enough to pose in front of the bags to give an idea of the scale of these reusable shopping bags. They are not tiny, they are sturdy and one can stuff them with an amazing load of groceries. Instead of using up 10 plastic bags, two bags do the trick – again and again and again.

These bags are available at IKEA. For the whopping price of $1.99 each. A bargain, I would say – and good for the environment.

Two Newcomers

Los Angeles is home to a surprisingly large number of newcomers to the bird world – wild parrots ( parrots and parakeets, to be more precise). According to some ornithologists nearly 5,000 of these birds live in the urban landscape. As parrots do not occur naturally in California, this population arose from birds who either escaped captivity or were thrown out by their owners.

Interestingly enough these parrots are confirmed city dwellers. The reason why they have not (yet) moved out into less populated landscapes is quite simple: Parrots are not native birds, they are used to fruits, trees and shrubs of their native tropical home, which have been planted in large numbers in our urban and residential areas. So they stay where the food is, which is definitely not out there in the countryside.

One tree these birds particularly like is the Floss Silk Tree (Chorisia speciosa):

This tree itself, a native of the tropical forests of South America, is quite a newcomer to the city; it has been planted only since about 30 to 40 years. The flowers are very beautiful, the trunk and branches look a bit forbidding once they reach maturity, because they are covered with thick conical prickles, used to store water. The fruit looks like huge avocados or gigantic pears and the parrots just love them.

A fruit-bearing Floss Silk tree can be detected by the noise of the parrots having a meal, digging into the pods and gobbling up the seeds, while telling each other in between bites in loud parrot screeches: “It’s just like back home, isn’t it?!”

R.I.P.

To give birth, to nourish,

to bear and not to own,

to act and not lay claim,

to lead and not to rule:

this is mysterious power.

(Lao Tzu)

White & Blue

Even with summer not having started officially yet (6/21), the sun and the light are fabulous.

Perfect Service

This parking space comes with your choice of carts.

Aztec Kitchen Secrets & Other Facts

This is not a California scrub oak in full bloom – this is a California scrub oak chosen by a Cup-of-Gold Vine (Solandra maxima) as a perfect climbing place.

The old Aztecs knew their Solandra quite well, albeit under the name ‘Tecomaxochitl’. They used the leaves to cook them up with cocoa; the resulting brew was then drunk as a love potion. I can just imagine the novice in the kitchen listening to Granny mumbling: “Be careful, dear, don’t give him too much of it – his body will dry out and he will die of too vigorous lovemaking.” Hmm… what a way to go.

Actually, the members of the Solandra family are an interesting bunch – they range from the Deadly Nightshade to the potatoes, including tomatoes, eggplant, paprika, chili peppers and tobacco.

And yes, the flowers and leaves of the potato plant are quite toxic, too, as the poor farmers in Germany learned when Frederick the Great (1712 – 1786) decreed that they had to plant this newfangled crop on their fields. Frederick needed food for his people, and even more so for his army – plenty of food, and cheap to boot. The potato was perfect. Unfortunately somehow nobody explained to the farmers which part of the plant was edible, so they cooked the green parts. Bon appetit – not. Once the initial confusion about the edible parts of these new crops was sorted out, the potato thrived and the people with it.

Actually, I met both members of the family in one day on Catalina Island: The strikingly beautiful bloom (diameter 4 inches) in the morning in the Botanical Garden, the rather more humble but tasty potato in the evening on my dinner plate. I enjoyed both very much.

The Importance Of Having Water

A rather rare sight – the temporarily drained Silver Lake Reservoir – reminded me once again how important water is to Los Angeles.

It is true that water is important to all regions and everyone, but Los Angeles could only become what it is today because of an engineering feat: The 233 m long Los Angeles Aqueduct, projected and overseen by William Mulholland (1855 – 1935).

Once the water came to the city, from 1913 on, the city started to grow at a fast pace. So fast, that Owens Lake, where the water came from, was completely drained by 1928. This fact led to the legendary Los Angeles Water Wars, upon which the movie “Chinatown” is based.

Mr. Mulholland continued on to find new sources for water to bring to the city. He was a highly esteemed and revered character, who once was even considered to become the mayor of Los Angeles. However, when asked whether he would run for office, he reportedly said: “I’d rather give birth to a porcupine backward.” Smart guy.

Sadly his career ended rather abruptly with the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam. After this catastrophe he lived the few remaining years of his life in self-imposed isolation.

Today Mulholland Drive and the fountain at the corner of Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside serve as a reminder of the man who played a major part in shaping the city of Los Angeles.