Art Deco

If you haven't visited my blog lately (as I haven't written much lately), you'll notice that it looks a little different. I got bored of the standard Blogger template I was using, so I put together this Art Deco-inspired background.

Art Deco is one of my favorite architectural styles and I spend a lot of time scoping out Art Deco buildings and objects. In fact, in addition to living in an Art Deco building, I lead an Art Deco walking tour of downtown L.A. for the L.A. Conservancy. My next tour is scheduled for Saturday, September 22 at 10 a.m. If you are interested in walking through downtown with me, visit the Conservancy's Web site and reserve a spot.

Art Deco exterior molding from my building.

Shark Obsession

Hello, my name is Annabel and I'm a shark-aholic...

Most people who know me know that I'm pretty obsessed with sharks. You know those little boys who go around spouting random facts about dinosaurs, insects or cars? I'm like that with sharks, except I'm a 30-year-old adult woman. I can identify most species of sharks, tell you what the Ampullae of Lorenzini are, locate primary feeding and spawning grounds, etc.

I go to aquariums with one primary objective... to see the shark tank. I've seen zebra and other carpet sharks in the petting tank, ragged tooth/sand tiger sharks (the scariest-looking shark, but fairly benign), a bull shark, numerous types of reef sharks, and some hammerheads. But next week, I get to see a (knock on wood) great white!!!!!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has had several great whites in the past, but eventually they would have to return them to the ocean because the sharks get too big. They are usually housed in the Outer Bay exhibit, which is one of my favorite tanks in the world. I could spend hours in front of the glass there, watching the sharks, tuna and other large fish whizz around.

Last Monday, they introduced a young great white into the tank and will keep him there as long as things go smoothly (in other words, as long as he doesn't eat the other fish or get really depressed). Hopefully, he'll still be there when K & I go to visit. If so, I promise to post pictures.

I do have a feeling that this little viewing will have me wanting more. Perhaps, one day, I'll get to go on a tour of Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa and see this:

Testing out Mobile Blogging

Most of the time when I'm out and about, I see things that I think warrant a blog post, but then I get home or back to work and I forget or I just don't have the time. So in order to possibly (hopefully) increase my blogging productivity, here's my first attempt at mobile blogging. After this post, a flood of new posts should follow (crossing my fingers)

National Parks Passport

After our Thanksgiving break in Palm Springs, K and I visited Joshua Tree National Park. I am generally not a huge fan of the desert, but certain desert landscapes have managed to enchant me over the years: the plentiful saguaro cacti at Saguaro National Park in Arizona, the red rocks outside of Santa Fe, and now the joshua trees and massive rockpiles at Joshua Tree.

We didn't spend too much time at the park since we got there as the day was fast losing light. (Did I mention I hate daylight savings time?) We did have the chance to hike the Hidden Valley trail loop and check out Keys View:

After that, we headed back to Highway 10 to return to L.A. However, earlier in the day, we stopped by the Joshua Tree Visitors Center, where I was able to complete my part of a chain that has been going on for awhile.
I have a National Parks Passport, which lists all of the National Parks and has designated pages for you to get a stamp at each visitor center. It's pretty fun, and while I doubt I'll ever collect every stamp, it's cool to see the stamps from each park you've visited. Anyway, I don't know where this started, but if you have one already and you visit a park with someone who doesn't, then you have to buy one for them. I got mine from my ex, who in turn got his from my friend, and this trip, I was able to buy one for Kip. Obviously, you can always just buy one, but it's much more fun this way.

Stoned

While I love going to cemetaries during the day for the serenity, you'd be hard-pressed to get me to go to one alone after nightfall for obvious reasons...decomposing bodies just six feet below, too many screenings of Night of the Living Dead, etc. At Recoleta Cemetary, I would think that it would be even more creepy, because it resembles a housing tract for the dead, where a zombie could just open the door of its fabulous crypt, without having to dig its way through compacted dirt. Add to that the multitude of gorgeous-during-the-day, but eerie-at-night statues that decorate many of the masoleums:

I can just imagine any one of these statues coming to life with a turn of the head in a not so charming Pygmalion kind of way. To be honest, though, while I was actually walking through the grounds (with the full strength of the sun), all I could do was take in the beauty around me.

Amidst the dead stone, there were wonderful little signs of life moving on:


And there were unexpected things, like a faucet that became much more:

Recoleta Cemetary was one of the highs of my trip. I was anticipating an overhyped tourist trap, and I'm glad I decided to visit anyway, because it truly is a special place. And to cap off my postings on it, I'd like to share my favorite tomb embellishment:

Her lips are sealed, indeed. Though, to me, it looks as if she's concealing an oh-so-sweet secret. Perhaps a different kind of death...

For the full set of my Recoleta Cemetary photos, click here.

Stained

The exteriors at Recoleta Cemetary can be quite grand, and if you take a closer look, you can find some exquisite detailing. Stained glass, for example:




The luminosity of stained glass makes it one of my favorite architectural details and is probably one of the reasons why I love religious architecture. The stained glass in this skylight cast an ethereal blue glow over the sculpture below that you could see from a far distance:


I wish I could have been able to see the inside of this more modern one:


The downside to using glass:

Still, it's gorgeous in a Miss Havisham riches in ruin kind of way.

And, perhaps, my favorite shot:

Perfect symmetry in all things is what I strive for.

Cemetario de Recoleta: Death of Humility

(This is a family crypt...not a church!!!)

Recoleta is Buenos Aires' ritziest barrio for both the living and the dead, as evidenced by its cemetary, which displays the most extreme version of keeping up with the Joneses (or Los Garcia, if you will) ever. As the city's top tourist attraction, the Cemetario de Recoleta is packed with gorgeously overwrought crypts and mausoleums and is a photographer's (and necrophile's) dream location. I spent about an hour and a half there, taking more than 50 photos and wishing I had more time and room on my memory card. It is definitely one of those places where you could take snapshots blindfolded and come up with something interesting and possibly beautiful.

However, despite the wealth of photo opps, most visitors come to the cemetary to shoot one thing...

the grave of the most famous portena, Eva Peron:

Evita's remains rest inside the Duarte (her maiden name) family crypt,


which is very modest when compared with these amazing shrines:







I suppose that if you're going to spend eternity in one place, you should probably pour all the money you can into it. Still, I don't know about you, but I think I'd like a little bit more space around me. The last thing I want to do is end up in a McCrypt development...

A patch of green grass might be nice...

or a shady spot under a tree...

(Note: These were the only graves I could find that were somewhat low-key)

More to come...