V is for Venice

"V" stands for Venice Beach. And there I was several weekends ago in July helping out with Heal the Bay beach clean up. I have been to Venice twice now. The first time was when Paul, my roommate from Tempe, came to visit me during Easter weekend. This time I did it alone. The part I was in is considered relatively safe because of the number of cops around but there are parts, like where my landlord used to live, where you do not want to be around. But if you are in LA, Venice is a place where one should stop to look around (the Venice Beach boardwalk). My relatives from Brooklyn did that when they breezed through LA.

I came to Venice bright and early that Saturday morning. Even beat the Heal the Bay volunteers. So walked the beach a bit.

This may be deceiving in the sense for seaweed but in reality it is full of garbage. Plastic, clothes, balloons, strings, and other odds and ends that is toxic to the environment come ashore. We are close to Balona Creek which bring out tons of rubbish to sea. While we may consider beach clean ups to be helping. The real need is to clean the streets of LA. It is where it all starts. If there is a cleaner city, cleaner water ways. But I witness people throwing trash on the ground periodically. Like today, a bus driver asks me for a glass of water (at my work when picking up some clients). I go and get her a glass of water. While I am standing there making sure the clients get settled on the bus. I see her finish her glass of water and she tosses the cup just behind me on the ground. I see her face. Not a care in the world, like it is typical to dump unwanted rubbish on the ground. I go and pick it up. It is sad. The street cleaners hardly do a dent but rather congregate the trash elsewhere.

And so I spent the majority of my morning picking up the rubbish. There were a lot of people there helping out. Two groups from Surfriders and a local yoga club were there as well. And I was picking up trash with a group of young Japanese teenagers. All of them were speaking Japanese and I have no idea why they seem to like follow me around... perhaps I found the best places for the mass amount of rubbish? We were all ambitious in filling our bags and getting more.

Now while this is all happening on the beach. Swing 180 degrees to the land and this is the sight you see. I took the tour through the famous Venice Beach boardwalk. It is hard to describe and even capture with a camera. One really needs to be there in person to experience it. And so I leave you with a few photos of snapshots of the infamous boardwalk.

Muscle beach. Where I am told Arnold Swartzengger started it all in America. Is that actually true, who knows.

Street performers. Believe me the cobras are real. There was a two headed turtle being shown at a local "Freak show." Poor animals.

Now, this was an interesting story. The group that was connected with "SAVE OUR MOTHER EARTH, THE POWER OF LOVE" was a group that I would say dressed like those who come from the North African continent and even the middle East. They had their drums and were singing away. The big sign said that they were the lost tribe of Israel. I guess one of the tribes got lost from the 12 that were sent out? But they were proclaiming peace and goodwill to all. That was a theme seen periodically. LOVE. LOVE your neighbor, LOVE nature, Peace. Very hippy. And there were bonafide hippies who i thought looked like had remained in some time capsule. Because of the dress, attitude and such.

And other stuff like this. "MEAT IS MURDER" There was another stand that was anti Bush Administration. Even though I do not exactly favor the Bush administration, there were some downright ugly words being professed in bumper stickers and handouts.

And so this continued for about a mile or so. It really is an odd place. Where everything comes together. Bizarre, cool, and perplexing. I am not sure if there is any place quite like it. At least that I have experienced. Hippies, druggies. There were guys about my age asking for donations so they could buy some much needed marijuana. There were times I was wondering where in hell am I? I felt like I was caught between some time era but confusing. It was like a comedy at times. I am the audience looking around. And indeed at one point I just stopped and started laughing, laughing and laughing. Some passerby probably thought I was part of the "act" too. There are a few stores of interest that I liked and stopped in and ended up chatting with one of the owners of the store. He was trying to get me to buy a hammock. I fancy a hammock but have no place to put one. And so we ended up talking. In itself that was different for me because I am rarely chit chatting with people. This is LA, land of unfriendly people as they say.

And in the midst of all that. I look to the ocean for some grounding as the ocean and water for me is a place of tranquility, and I happen to catch someone doing just the same. It was a rather interesting moment in time as I remembered. Right at the moment when I was thinking everything is so bizarre and crazy, I look for a sense of focus, inner collectiveness. And it is there. So real to me. I see this fellow meditating and all around me everything just seems to disappears, non-exist as it becomes only he, I and the ocean/sand before me. Then as briefly as this moment came, it was gone. The buzz of activity comes back and I am once again in the world that so often we think is they reality of our daily lives.

Family times

So here I am again. Overdue with the blogging, quite so. Since I am so far behind, I still need to start from the beginning of my absence. For the Fourth of July weekend/week, I was on the East Coast (Hopkinton, NH and Cape Cod, MA) visiting with family. The primary focus was the celebration of my Great Uncle Larry's birthday (80 years). Above is picture of some of my family. Actually I realized I only took pictures of this circle quite often. How can I not, they are so entertaining. This is my Uncle Pete. You got to love him. Always posing for the perfect shots. I am not sure what he is doing in this picture but always makes me smile. :) It is fun to listen to all of the stories he tells. A storyteller in many sense. Also, shocked that after all of these years, he did not want to take a drive with me. Hmm.... At least a few of my friends have braved the driving with me and came out with no harm, at least none that I know of... and this was driving in LA.This is the reason for my poor representation of the family at large. My cousin, Maya, and I seemed to go on this photo frenzy of each other. My aunt, Priscilla, Maya's mother, is sitting next to her. They are from Brooklyn. And I will be seeing them tomorrow in Maibu! Hurrah!!
This is a better picture of Maya that I have without a camera nearby. She is my youngest cousin in the immediate family not including cousins once, twice, third times removed and so on. Twelve years apart.
The celebration/reunion was spent in Cape Cod. Otherwise I spent the rest of my holiday in the woods of New Hampshire at the family cabin. Very quaint and a perfect place to get away, especially from the crazed scene of LA proper.
I actually got to sleep out on the screened porch on night. The rest of the nights my parents were sleeping out here. I had to really "fight" for the opportunity. Because who would not want to sleep out here being lulled to sleep with the calm waters moving about on Rolph Pond and the bull frogs croaking, and the snakes slithering through the waters. And waking up to the chorus of birds and fishes jumping with the morning or evening sun.
The family cabin sits right on Rolph pond. Amidst the glorious woods that carries their voices around and all over with the breezes blowing through, speaking in the different words of centuries of living and seeing. Sometimes it amazes me what the trees do live through. This is an area that the trees are old enough to talk about the events during the Revolutionary times and war, when this country of America was just beginning. And yet even older to recall earlier times with the existing natives of these lands living with the earth as one. If only I could understand their words; only in my dreams do they truly speak out.
Ah, yes the traditional food of New England. I do not eat these creatures because I have a food reaction to seafood/fish. But they are cute. And of course some vegetarians are probably come after me about animal cruelty. As lobster are cooked rather cruelly if one thinks about it. They are boiled alive which becomes their death. Poor guys. I heard they are yummy.
This is my favorite licence plate in all of the United States. "LIVE FREE OR DIE!" Good motto. And as my dad considers one of its kind. Because the Ol' Man in the Mountain on the plate if one can see it, does not exist anymore. He fell to his demise when the rocks finally gave way. Poor guy. Hint: By the way Ol' Man is the image of a man's face on the side of the granite wall, if you are having a hard time deciphering who Ol' Man is.
Ah, more family time. Did I not tell you, my Uncle Pete is quite the storyteller. What amazing stories he must be telling right now as he points to some object of fascination. Stories are already being created in my mind. My Aunt Barbara is also shown here (the one closest to the photographer, me). She and Pete live in Maine. And the other two are of course my parents. Need I say anything more of my parents who are the wild adventurers of the globe trotters. Distance lands call them all the way from Thailand. Where to next, I often wonder.
The reason for the picnic was because we attended the concert on the green in Manchester Vermont with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. They were playing some incredible pieces. And ended with the 1812 Overture and fireworks going off. Very impressive, especially with the sounds echoing in the valley and off the mountains. (There is a continued debate as to whether the mountains in New England are really mountains anymore but instead hills.) Mountains or no, there is ancient history that lives and breathes through the woods and mountains. One can feel it. And if you listen, you will hear them. Sounds silly? Just go and spend a few days in the wilderness of North New Hampshire or even in Maine. Look at all the books by the New England naturalists. One of their kind.
And so here I spent a few days with much laughter, stories, and adventures that only can be had with family. I now wish I could have stayed longer to soak in the environment of nature some more. I definitely needed it when I returned back to LA. Since my return work has been a bit crazy with low staff ratios that makes work a bit difficult at times among other events of the going ons at work. And then coming down with the nasty cold that is spreading like wildfire around LA. I think I was especially knocked hardest just because I am a foreigner to this part of California and not used to the bugs that go around just yet. Ah well. I still have a few adventures since returning to tell for another time.