The Los Angeles Police Historical Society is located on York Ave. just West of Figueroa St in Highland Park.  It is closer than Dodger Stadium and I didn’t even know it existed.  I never would have heard of it either except that we started to go to Amberwood, a convalescent home, right next door to the police museum.  Looking through the fence I could see that they have a lot of cool stuff in the yard.

a helicopter

an old paddywagon

and what appears to be an urban assault vehicle.

They have been filming a movie there this week and before that it never appeared to be open.  The building appears to be a very old brick school.  It would be interesting to know how it is funded.  Check out their web site they are pretty well organized.  Admission is only $5.00 and they have a gift shop.

I took this picture of a very large moss covered stone at Henninger Flats.  It has a hole in it as if it was used by natives for grinding.

It measures about two feet square and is about a foot and a half high.  During the rainy season it has this very nice look.  In the summer it is just a stone with a hole.

To find the stone hike up to Henninger Flats from Eaton Canyon and look for the water point behind the first building on the left.  You can get more information at the MountWilsonTollRoad Informer web site

“The true antidote of greed is contentment.”

“you can achieve contentment not by having what you want but by appreciating what you have.”

The Dalai Lama

In The Art of Happiness

Sorry for the delay my internet has been running very slowly and I have been busy with progress.  More information to follow soon… Lilli

Posted by Lilli in behalf of Simon who is in the Philippines

Its winter in the USA.

The Pasadena Sandwich Company has this very funny sign in the kitchen:

“What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it’s all about?”

Also they make an excellent grilled cheese sandwich!

This is the avocado tree in my yard.

It is looking a little tatty this year.

Here is a slightly better picture with better light.

I still doesn’t look like much.

But if you look closer…

It is filled with fruit.  Praise for backyard scuba and my green thumb.

Why do people think that it is egregious that a woman chose to have 14 children?  They don’t.  What they are angry about is that they have to pay for her bad behavior.  Obviously part of her decision to have 14 children was because she knew that our society would take care of them.

But lets get some perspective here. The same people who are aghast over Octomom don’t fret about Medicare.  Even though Medicare is roughly the same thing as Octomom.  Medicare takes much more money from working people than Octomom and the gang of 14 ever will and gives it to old people.  Old people who in many cases still have houses cars and assets.  If there is free money people will move towards it and away from work and thrift.  Social Security, Welfare, Food Stamps and all types of social welfare programs that tax money from some to give it to others have the same effect.  Octomom is a visible sign of how corrupting a social welfare system can be but as long as there is a social welfare system there will be people like Octomom.  And as the system gets more generous there will be more people like her.  Octomom should be the poster girl for the Libertarians.

These fungi grew in my front yard a few months ago:

Very interesting.  Unfortunately I don’t know if they are poisonious.  I tried to get a young man in the neighborhood to eat one to check but he wouldn’t go for it.  I even offered to pay.

This photo was taken a few hours ago from my office window.

If you look just to the right of Harold the Heron it appears that he may have a Great Blue girlfriend or boyfriend.  One of Harold’s claims was that he could help to keep the fish eating herons away.  This claim is now suspect.  I did get a great picture though.  Click here to see the last sighting of a Great Blue on January 4, 2009

In the Spring time when you plant you can predict a bumper crop.

In the Summer working in the field you can daydream about bounty

But in the Autumn when the crops come in the truth will be known.

For no matter what you hope or dream “You can’t fake the harvest.”

This is a rewrite of a story first given to me by Mark Z many years ago in Mexicali, Mexico. It might contain a warning for President Obama.