El Paso, so cold

Winter scenes. I talked to a lady in the hotel gift shop who said it hadn't been this cold in El Paso since the 1960s.

El Paso, TX

The view from the 7th floor. Note the snow on the roof across from us. Dirty icicles on a truck downtown. We saw these on a lot of cars, and even had little ones on our car. They weren't as impressive as these, though. This derelict building was full of stray cats. Someone had left food, but their water was frozen solid, so they were drinking out of puddles. We got to El Paso around 3pm, and then drove around for a while looking for wireless coverage so we could book a hotel. We got a relatively fancy room for relatively cheap... because it was 13 degrees all day, and El Paso was deserted. I mean, people were there, but they were mostly hiding inside, and when we got downtown it kind of looked like the intro to a zombie movie, where the protagonist discovers the streets are mysteriously empty... but the creatures are yet to appear. It's supposed to be much warmer today, though I mean "warmer" in a very Canadian/Alaskan kind of way, as in 30 degrees instead of 13. It's 9am and 11 degrees right now, so I'm glad to be hiding here in this swanky hotel.

Freezing our butts off in Lordsburg, New Mexico

We went to a cave! Colossal Cave, in Vail, AZ. It was pretty cool, but none of my pictures really came out. See? "The Thing?" (which I will not reveal the nature of) was not all that impressive, especially since we had to walk through many windy shivery buildings to reach "The Thing?". But it WAS only a dollar. The view from the visitor's center at Colossal Cave. Today we drove from Buckeye, AZ (just outside of Tucson) to Lordsburg, a little town about 30 miles into New Mexico. Lordsburg is spooky! The skyline is dominated by a motel sign that has burned out except for the neon edging, so it's just a big red glowing hexagon hovering in the sky. We got lost looking for the block-long downtown, and drove through an eerie neighborhood of unlit houses before finding the main road again. The guy at the Econolodge is very nice though, and we had good Mexican food at El Charro (apparently the only place in town still open besides a very scary Appleby's analogue called Kranberry's). California, in the weeks before we left, had been basking in a spell of beautiful, warm, sunny weather. It rained a bit in L.A. over the weekend, but nothing major. Now, though, we're driving right into the bottom of the huge storm that's immobilizing the Midwest. It's freezing here... I mean literally. 8 degrees, minus 8 with windchill. It's so cold! We are tucked up in our motel with TV and pizza and hot toddies.

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.