FrogBlog | Translating Los Angeles

Nobody knows whether it was a (mild) earthquake or a cat – one morning our favorite teapot was broken. We found a replacement, carried it home, made some tea in it and discovered that it was one of those pots: Beautiful to look at in its round and sturdy teapot-ness and dripping at the spout. Not good!

On the other hand, we were planning to go on a trip to Germany anyway and I knew that in Germany I would find something called a “Tropfenfänger” or drip-catcher in plain English. Available in any store over there, I told the other half of the household, no problem at all. It’s just one of those little secrets of Europe only the natives know about, I said.

So the Tropfenfänger went on the list of things to bring back home, right besides Rouladennadeln (for keeping beef-olives in shape during cooking) and 80 x 80 cm pillowcases (the largest pillowcases in the USA measure 62 x 62 cm) and other essentials and off we went: Los Angeles, Paris, Hannover, no problem. Getting the stuff on the shopping list too was a breeze… with one exception: Tropfenfänger seemed to have ended up on the list of “extinct creatures”.

Like the Dodo. Oh dear. Doomed to a life with a dripping teapot?

No, the story does have a happy ending: I told my story of woe at the family table and everybody was just as astonished as I was that something we all remembered from our youth had simply disappeared. Until my sister-in-law stood up and left the room, to reappear a short while later with three of the elusive thingies still in their original packaging. She vaguely remembered that they ended up on a storage shelf after clearing out some kitchen… anyway, who cares? I triumphantly carried them home and believe me – that was the end of any dripping from the teapot.

Care to take a look at this magnificent piece of German efficiency?

Not the latest in sleek design, but VERY effective.

Or: “All you humans are belong to me.”

First price for cuteness at the Hannover Zoo goes to the Red Panda:

Yes, after a nice two mile run around Echo Park Lake in the morning, I crave fish tacos.

Like these:

Then it is time for Rodeo Grill on Sunset, because they deliver!

Tasty, yummy fish tacos at 8AM – a runner’s breakfast!

And he did – all three of them. In Burbank. While on the phone.

P.S.: The “hands off the phone” rule does not apply to horseback riders.

With one of us still limping with a broken fibula and the other one not shod quite right for extensive hiking, we spent only about an hour in Deukmejian Park, which has been opened bit by bit again after the Station Fire in 2009.

Nature does try to regain what was lost and burned; at least the scrub, grasses and wildflowers are back up this year.

To replace the trees lost new ones have been planted. Photos of those will follow in ten years in this blog – right now they are just wee little saplings, protected by mesh and marked by little flags.

What’s an elephant to do when it is really hot outside?

Take a bath, of course!

Well, why not?

Do you know this feeling – you are driving past a place and it just hits you… you have to stop and go in and try it out…

Boy, we were lucky that we did! Señor Fish rocks! Big Time.

Both the Fish Taco Sampler

(Halibut, Tuna & Salmon) and the Sopes

made us swear to come back next weekend to Eagle Rock to investigate the menu further.

General impression: Superior food and laid back premises – what’s not to like?

While the Canada Geese are already taking their offspring for a walk,

the Great Blue Herons are still busy getting the nest ready.

Of course they are not the only ones – in the trees left and right other couples are preparing to start a family.

Why this guy is still up and about, nobody knows. It’s a Night Heron – he should be hanging out in a tree, waiting for nightfall.

You want to know in which secret corner of California one can discover all these birds and many, many more?

Two miles from Downtown Los Angeles, at Echo Park Lake.

Give it a try any morning at around 8 AM – you will be amazed.