Juiced

It's time to make Ed's limoncello again. I will add a sprig of rosemary just like Ed suggested.



Juicing lemons by makes for good hand exercise. But bad for paper cuts. Ouch.

Woody emissions

Just when I thought I was being all cool with my woody wagon paneled Honda, this VW puts my car to shame with it's total and complete woodiness. And only a few blocks away no less. I'm feeling inadequate in the woody department now.



And wonderfully preserved factory made wood paneled Jeeps puts my roll of $7 wood grain shelf paper to shame too.



Spring cleaning time means many hidden vintage Ferraris see the light of day.



And eco-conscious electric golf cart hippies emerge in droves.



To balance out the RV's and gas guzzling modified trucks.



What the heck is a "Hanbag?" And why are there two of them?



And we're awash in VW buses around here. This one is beautifully restored and likely will cost more than some of those vintage Ferraris.



This one not so restored, but I covet it just the same.



And even more VW buses too numerous to post. Some of them even have creative aftermarket touches like rivoting half a Rubbermaid Roughneck container to the side of the engine compartment to increase airflow.



Mayhaps one day, collectors will seek out Chevy Sprints like they do VW buses.



Or Powder Blue Ford Fairmonts.



This motor home is bigger than my house. And it gets even bigger when it does the Transformer thing and extend out all of the moveable walls. 



I think they're going to go to Home Depot to bring back some steer manure.



In front of the bright yellow house is a matching bright yellow Fiat Cinquecento. I want to give it a hug.

New tricks

Unagi is exhibiting some very un-fish-like behaviors.

International travel

Our neck of the woods is a very popular spot for filming commercials, tv shows, and movies. The little auto mechanic shop around the corner is the site of many many car commercials. The most recent ones were for Saturn and Kia.



Our local middle school served as the location for the poor inner city school that Hayden Pannetiere transfered to in Bring It On 3: All or Nothing. Hayden didn't know she was welcome to stop by my house for a spot of tea and finger sandwiches. She's just being shy.



The old Altadena Library sports a filming notice sign today. It's long since decommissioned and now serves as a residence. I would love to see what it's like to live in an old library. Their mailbox is the old book return slot. How cool is that?



Down the street, this was the house in Old School where they filmed the infamous scene where Andy Dick taught ladies how to give blow jobs by demonstrating on a carrot. Will Ferrel also showed his butt crack in this driveway.



>This church around the corner is the standby location for pretty much any movie set in Boston. When Reese Witherspoon went to Harvard in Legally Blonde, she actually didn't leave California for most of those scenes.



And across the street from Boston, we have have film location for many scenes of rural Mexico. It's kind like the Epcot World Showcase around here. Not coincidentally, many of Epcot's designers live in our neighborhood.

Retaining water

New toy! Old toy is now nearly useless for work purposes and will be demoted to recipe lookup duty in the kitchen.



Preston is pondering how the heck did they strap the old telephone pole to the new telephone pole without everything toppling over when they popped it in.



Gnarly. Thankfully, not my sidewalk.



Sometimes spray paint on public property isn't graffiti. These neighbors have street lamps shining into their bedrooms.



We have patriotic fountains. I can't figure out is where the water flows out from the statue. Hopefully not anything like those peeing cherub fountains.



New fire hydrant around the corner. Yay safety.



Delicious pomegranate molasses braised short ribs and celery root puree. Meltingly meaty goodness.

Signs of the Messiah

Visiting the giant new 2 story Whole Foods that opened up a few miles away. It's opening had been treated like the second coming of Christ around here. I'm still a bit bummed that they replaced my favorite tire shop to build the largest Whole Foods west of the Mississippi. No amount of $19.95 champagne brunch can replace the funny little old man that would patch my tires for a nominal fee (or free depending on his mood.)

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Some of us like to leave our holiday decorations up year round.



And fake trees too.



And we still have giant snowflakes up.



And garland. We pretty much keep the holiday spirit year round.



I love the person getting squooshed graphic.



Very old olive tree. I'm trying to get my neighbors together and press olive oil from our trees. CalTech nearby now harvests the olives on campus and presses the oil for their rich donating alumni.



And because CalTech and JPL and NASA are nearby, we have strange secret Area 51 spots here and there. Totally unmarked aside from the warning signs.



This place is like totally Graceland.



Inspired by our ridiculously upscale Whole Foods, I splurged at the Food4Less and spent 50 cents on the Premium version of Cup O'Noodle. It wasn't 17 cents better than the 33 cent kind. So save your money.

Hard sour balls

Today's tour includes one of my favorite streets. 



As you can see, Boulder Road is named after boulders.

The houses on Boulder Rd trend toward tudor and english styles. Very 1950's Disney.

"I'm Gorgeous Inside" too.

And every once in a while on our Preston walkies, we find surprises. Not only do we have goats and sheeps in the neighborhood, some of us have vineyards. Which really shouldn't surprise me since the Altadena area was famous for it's vineyards and sanitariums in the late 19th, early 20th centuries. And we've been kooky drunks ever since then.

Pretty amazing stonework still around.



The boulders and stones likely from the natural wash coming down from the mountains. Now that the wash has been boxed in, it's a great highway for cougars to travel undetected to eat goats and sheep.

Preston and I find a lot of stray tennis balls just outside of the Altadena Town & Country Club. Tennis balls are one of his most favorite things. I'm pretty neutral about tennis balls.

Blood oranges ripe! These are Gorgeous Inside too. There will be vampire juice soon. I wish I could train Preston to climb the tree to fetch these like he does tennis balls.

And I'm taking advantage of this incredible 80's weather to re-season my cast iron grill grates.