Crappy to the Nth degree

Our car got broken into on Saturday night, and almost everything in the back seat was stolen. Our computers, my violin and camera, and our suitcases were safe in the house, but they took our extra clothes, my sewing machine, Eran's power drill and his medications, all our roadside-emergency stuff, and my customized dolls I use for my Etsy site. The cops said the dolls are probably the only thing we might get back (because they're one of a kind, as opposed to my sewing machine). I've having a hard time uploading pics on this connection, but I will soon. Here's what got stolen (as best we can remember) 6 Asian ball-jointed dolls. Four of them are around 22" high, and two are small, 10" high. And there's one doll head wrapped in bubblewrap. Very special and valuable! Pictures forthcoming. But if you're in L.A. at a flea market, and you see big, very realistic dolls with long skinny anime proportions, and the people selling them don't seem to know much about them... they're mine. I checked some forums and stuff, and mine are the ONLY ones ever to be boosted out of a car and not be immediately found. Lucky me. Two were together in a black soft carrying case, and four were in a gray vintage suitcase. *1 black crocodile print case, containing 1 Boss brand Polyphonic Octave pedal, 1 Rat brand distortion pedal, 1 red Danelectro mini-amp, 1 crappy microphone, and assorted patch cords. *1 Necchi Royal Series sewing machine in original box. The foot pedal has a little fairy sticker on it. *1 Bosch cordless power drill in its case--missing various drill bits. *Assorted medications in the name of Eran Haas. *1 red duffle bag full of women's clothes--mostly unremarkable, but there's a vintage blue Chinese-brocade overcoat in there that's distinctive. *1 brown duffle bag full of men's clothes. *1 pillowcase full of emergency stuff, including road flares and a jumper battery. *1 JVC car stereo with an Emily Jane White CD inside it. *1 box of Eran's cords and wires for projects. *Various small loose items: a car phone charger, prescription sunglasses, burned CDs, a map of Arizona, our trail mix and cereal bars. *probably some other stuff we haven't figured out yet. Good wishes are much appreciated. If you wanna put a hex the thieves, I fully support that too.

Chaplin Court, Los Angeles

I got this one by wiggling the camera a LOT on a 30-second exposure. We're staying in the coolest place! Our friends Mark and Lee live in a little cottage that was built in the 1920s as part of an actor's dorm for United Artists Studios, which was nearby (the building is now Henson Studios). The one we're staying in used to belong to Rudolph Valentino. There are five cottages, which I can sort of describe as Tudor Southwest Fairytale style. I took these cool dreamy pictures at night using a tripod Mark lent me.

And... we're off!

Leaving was totally crazy... but we did manage to say goodbye to Ukiah around 3pm on Friday. We are driving our spiffy new (to us) Honda Accord, which we love, though our funds took quite a hit and I am going to probably do some busking to pad out our food budget. Yesterday (Friday) we drove until about 1am, and finally crashed in a small town called Carpenteria, just south of Santa Barbara. I forgot my camera in the car, but Carpenteria is gorgeous--we had breakfast on a little street that ran right to the ocean, and to the east are beautiful high mountains that almost look like the dry parts of Hawaii. Now we are in Hollywood, staying with friends. They have a lovely cottage and some very cool dogs--I shall post some pictures tomorrow. I haven't been to L.A. since I was 15, and I'm finding it much more pleasant this time around, probably partly because it's January and not July. Edit: I forgot I did take a couple of pictures in Carpenteria--they're just of the Motel 6 and environs, but hey, the light was good.

Ukiah is pretty too

Since we were spending an extra week in Ukiah, I went out and took some pictures of it. Above, the power relay station (at least, I think that's what it is) at sunset. Below, a decorated grave at Russian River cemetery. This is one of my favorite houses in Ukiah, and one of the oldest. My friend Henry worked on the restoration, and says it's really cool inside.

My car is dead... long live my car

Okay, so the Subaru is being put out to pasture for the time being. We managed to get a good used car for a reasonable price, so we're taking that. I took advantage of the enforced downtime to take a few pictures of my hometown. There are some very pretty places here, and the weather has been heartbreakingly beautiful for two weeks, sunny and warm and breezy. (January is not normally like this; this is Northern California). Here we are, broken down in Blue Lakes last Friday. Nothin' to do but take picshures while we waited for the tow truck.

Alas, car trouble

So yeah. We got twenty (20) miles outside of Ukiah, and my trusty (but secretly treacherous, apparently) Subaru blew a head gasket. Poor Minnow (that's the car). We're lucky it happened right out of town--family came and helped us. I mean, if you're going to break down, you could do a lot worse than having people come tow you home and then make you omlettes. My Subaru is in distress though--we're taking it to the shop on Monday, and hoping to be out of here by Wednesday or Thursday. Of course we are frustrated and disappointed, but we will be able to do a few things we didn't get to here in Ukiah, so that is a silver lining.

We are moving to New Orleans!

Some of you may remember me threatening to move to New Orleans after visiting there two years ago... well, that threat wasn't idle. After two years in the Mendocino woods, my sweetie and I are heading out to the glamorous, clamorous Crescent City. We're leaving on Thursday, Jan. 20th, and we're road-tripping a bit on the way. Stay tuned for some photos of our trip--we're going via I-10, so expect lots of desert vistas and (hopefully) weird roadside attractions.