Some stunning sunrises and sunsets

Small fry

This struck me as funny.....a tiny razor and a rather large helmet.

Tiny efficiencies.....big moves.

Tide Pools at Leo Carrillo State Beach - Malibu

So on a Monday, I was out at the Malibu Beach...and rediscovering tide pools with a bunch of 7-8 yr olds.  But it was a day that brought out a bunch of comers, a Chinese couple, some filmmakers, and
the usual suspects - surfers, pelicans, some hermit crabs and sea anenomes.

But when the kids ran out from the bus, descending onto the sand, and getting ready for some beach time, that's when the fun bagan.

We got them out of their shoes and walked thru some large rocks down and around the myriad sea creatures...

It takes some encouragement to get them to reach in and investigate....and we hoped to open up some new horizons.

 The smiles did tell us they very much enjoyed the day!

LA Marathon

Once a year, the runners flood the streets of LA...starting at Dodger Stadium and ending up in Santa Monica.

Lots of families come out to support the runners....

The first runners make it in within 2 hours.....and this one looked especially fit...and ready to make a call.

Brings out the best of Los Angeles....everyone loves a winner!

Coming into the city

Sometimes downtown LA can look a little like Oz...

On this rainy day, we came down through the cloudy skies into Los Angeles.

Alcatraz and Ai Weiwei

In the middle of San Francisco Bay lies Alcatraz, home to many of the cruelest killers and thugs in the earlier part of 1900's. It sits high on platforms of rock, and although stunning views, it is not the kind of place you'd like to be jammed into if you were a prisoner.

In today's world it has been part of the National Parks system and a hugely successful tourist destination for so many San Francisco visitors.

Life there inside the cells was of course prison....and the ones that escaped (3 successfully) were genius in their forethought to scoop out by spoon a tunnel and escape through the pipes.

Small, cramped, dark, damp...it's an odd and torturous existence....but them's the consequences and society's payback plan.

So what could be a better setting for an art show presented by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei....a man jailed for his beliefs and considered dangerous by the Chinese government.

Kites and dragons fly overhead amidst the rubble that was once a sewing area for the prisoners.

Exhibits for eccentricity

Here's something out of the ordinary....at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA....one of the more intriguing exhibits had to have been Pierre Huyghe  - who selectively lures you into his multi-varietal bits of art experience.....

When I went to look at a tank of water, I noticed a hermit crab inside...and then suddenly a man appeared with mutitple light sources.

This man moved through out the 'show' and ended up here...

WIth a dog resting and with a pink leg....

Huyghe creates films, installations, and events that blur fact and fiction, reinvent rituals of social engagement, and use the exhibition model as a site for playful experimentation...

Call it what you will....but I'd say extra eccentric was a good way to describe the experience~