Wildlife in the City

Take a walk in Griffith Park and this is the view:

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One gets a very good impression of how this huge area of unchanged natural habitat nestles right here into the city. One can observe a wide variety of wildlife – from woodpeckers to Red-Tailed Hawks, from lizards to snakes, from bunny rabbits and deer to – yes, coyotes.

Coyotes have been here forever. It’s their land, so to say. They live and thrive and multiply. That’s what coyotes do. They also leave the park now and then and wander down into residential regions. First of all, it is their land and second, food is quite easy to find. The odd small pet gets caught and taken away. Ever since I saw the spectacle of two coyotes trying to round up a cat in a residential street, I know. Granted, the coyotes were young and somewhat inexperienced and the cat was a true city cat, thus thumbing its nose at the intruders while making a clean getaway. Interesting was that this happenend on a Thanksgiving afternoon. Maybe the two young coyotes wanted to have a barbeque – and there are more cats in LA than turkeys.

So, yes, they do come down from the park for food. Lately however, they seem to become more sophisticated. Coyotes have been seen on Melrose. For a spot of shopping? Where would they go? To “Aardvark” for some retro fashion or to “Urban Outfitter” for the latest in city chic?

A Luxury Commodity?

Will the tasty but quite humble orange

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soon become a fruit affordable on the income of the more affluent only?

The recent cold wave had some devastating effects on the California citrus industry in the San Joaquin Valley. Temperatures dropped as low as the middle teens to near 20 degree F for three nights running. According to reports there was close to 1 Billion dollars of fruit on the trees before the frost hit (on 1/12/2007) with 70 % of the crop damaged now. Lemons with their thin skins and low sugar content are even worst hit than oranges, the strawberry crop is badly affected, as are the flowers and avocados being grown in the valley.

The effects of this loss will soon be felt in the stores. Grocery stores, that is. Maybe some clever entrepeneurial spirit will come up with the idea of a device to wear an orange like a brooch and make a killing of another kind with this:

“Orange, the New Platinum.”

Strange and Lovely

The desert is strange. One knows that there is an abundance of life out there and wonders how flora and fauna survive. Because survive they certainly do, have done so and will forever.

The desert is lovely. One only has to become atuned to the different scale of climate, distance and color. That might take a while, or happen rather swiftly. For me, it was love at first sight.

How can it not, with vistas like this:

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Here are some more informations about Joshua Trees and Joshua Tree National Park.

A Sandstorm

That’s what it looks like:

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Quite fascinating.

Maybe not so much for the drivers of the RVs and trucks getting blown off the freeway.
And yes, this photo was taken here, on the way from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree NP. It is definitely not a still from “Lawrence of Arabia”, as can be easily detected by the absence of any camels. Also there was no music to accompany the descent into the desert. But apart from that – one got a good dose of desert feeling and sand, driven by the storm.

Is the Future Streamlined?

Yes. Definitely. At least that was the opinion in the ’60s, when Space Age architecture and design was all the rage. One perfect example

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of this style is
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the Encounter at LAX.

You can read more about this icon of Space Age design here.

From the present viewpoint, the first day of the year 2007, it is easy to say that maybe they were a bit optimistic way back then to predict that this would be the future. One might even chuckle or raise an eyebrow, because today “good” style does not include lava lamps, bordering-on-the ridiculous colors and shapes more related to amoebas than anything else. Not to mention the music, which is… oh, well… a bit spacy… But then, what might the next generations think about our “style” today? There might be some chuckles too.

So, for a full immersion into the ’60s view of what the future would be like, the Encounter is the perfect spot to go. It is fun, it is weird in a lovely way, and for some it might even be a very welcome trip “back to the Future.” After all, the timemaschine (aka Encounter) was build only a little over 40 years ago.

Venice

One of the big advantages of Christmas is that Los Angeles empties out. Everybody goes somewhere else, to visit, for a holiday trip, and those choosing to stay behind enjoy uncongested freeways and beautiful parts of the city minus the usual throngs of people milling around.

An especially pleasant place to visit on Christmas Day is Venice to take a stroll along the canals

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with only these guys around:

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Yes, that’s something you’ll experience only at Christmas.

Of course one has to go down to the beach too, to enjoy the sun, the wind, the waves. At a pleasant 73 degree F not a bad way to spend Christmas.

Snow?

Bah humbug.

40.000 Years Ago…

the area of and around Los Angeles did look a bit different than today and slightly different animals wandered around, eating each other on occasion. Like these two guys.

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A wonderful place for those interested in extinct Ice Age plants and animals is the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits. These pits are a cornucopia of fossils for paleontologists and a fascinating place to visit for both adults and children. Nobody will be bored, because the whole place manages to give adults an interesting insight and overview of this period without leaving the kids bored to tears. Far from it. For kids this place is Heaven. Once there, one should not forget to visit one of the actual excavation sites and to spend some time in the atrium rainforest garden, which is a little hidden gem.

Demon Teeth

Squirrels – lovely and innocent, cute and cuddly, right? Delightful to watch, always making one smile? Sure. But there’s a dark side to the furry critters too – they are greedy and destructive when it comes to getting at food. This is what a bird feeder looks like after a squirrel had a go at it:

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The wood is chomped away, even the plastic has been gnawed at in a desperate attempt to get at the bird food.

Well, there is help available. By now the birds here get fed from the Yankee Whipper, 100 % squirrel proof. Don’t forget to watch the video. Big fun!

By the way, the squirrels get fed, too. Their favourite tree is now decorated with dried ears of corn for them to chomp at.