Day 224 - Broken Fence - 12.31.11

I know it isn't very New Years Eve-y. I'm not really one to do much in the way of parties and celebrating on New Years Eve. I did however walk over to 31 Flavors with my daughter this afternoon. Next to our house on the way to the ice cream shop is this fence around some apartments. It got broke a while back. I think it was during a storm or some windy weather. At first it was just leaning slightly into the sidewalk, but as you can see it has become ridiculous. Is is now leaning over almost the entire sidewalk. I wish the land lord would fix it. So that was something I saw today.

Day 223 - Chili John's Chili - 12.30.11

This is at least the third time I've photographed the outside of Chili John's, but the first time it has made the blog. It was something I saw today.

Day 222 - Nativity - 12.29.11

Busy day working on my Nutcracker book. Didn't really leave the house so I took this picture of a Nativity near our front door. It was something I saw today.

Day 221 - The Flying J - 12.28.11

Travel day today. We always stop at this Flying J in Ehrenberg, AZ when traveling to and from Arizona. So before heading back onto the road I snapped this photo of the Flying J sign. It was something I saw today.

Day 220 - Little Pilot - 12.27.11

Visited Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ today. It was a beautiful day as you can see from the clear blue sky. There is a hanger full of vintage restored aircraft. There is another hanger where they are actually working on aircraft restoring them and then just outside there were people taking planes out to show off or fly. We happened to be very lucky to be there when the only two remaining operational F2G Corsairs were there. The two that were there were two of only fifteen that were ever made. This is a link to site with some history on the planes. There are some nice photos of the 2 planes I saw. One is blue and one is red. The docent told us they were worth 8-10 million dollars each. One owner keeps one there during the winter and the other one is kept at another nearby airport. You can kind of see them in the background of this photo. This site has some cool history on the blue plane and its restoration.

There was also this little peddle plane that kids could truck around in. This little boy was taking it for a spin. It was something I saw today.

Day 219 - Everybody Loves Flowers - 12.26.11

Visited Frost a gelato Shoppe here in Glibert, AZ. I really liked the interior design of the place. Very clean lines. Very modern. On the counter was this flower in a vase. I assume the card is a business card for the place that provided the flower. I'm not positive on that, though. I took several photos in the place. A runner up was of a rack of mini ice cream cones, but this won out as something I saw today.

Day 218 - Christmas Balls - 12.25.11 (Christmas Day)

Merry Christmas everyone. We had a nice lazy Christmas and I actually got to take a nap today. I haven't done that it quite a while. These past few months have been crazy busy. Toward the end of the day I took some photos of decorations around my mother's house. This is a basket of Christmas balls. I decided to put this up because it was kind of a way for me to make a cameo on the blog. You can see me reflected in all these many balls. It was something I saw today.

Day 217 - Little Photo Reviewer - 12.24.11 (Christmas Eve)

It was Christmas eve tonight. My mother's house was packed with family and friends. There were plenty of little ones running around and when Santa came to visit the cameras came out. This is my niece and her daughter. Her daughter was fascinated by the images on her mother's camera's screen. Perhaps she is a photographer in the making. This was something I saw today.

Day 216 - Cabazon T-Rex - 12.23.11

Drove to Arizona today. On the drive we pass through Cabazon, CA every time. Cabazon's one claim to fame are a couple of Dinosaurs. One it this T-rex and the other is a Brontosaurus with a gift shop inside. This T-Rex is featured in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. We stop there almost everytime we pass. I have many pictures of my kids in front of this Dino as they've grown up. I shot one of my daughter again today. Another interesting thing is that this stop if right near a huge wind farm. It is usually always gusting through this area. You can see the force of the winds on the palm trees. So this was something I saw today.

Day 215 - Gal Holiday - 12.22.11

Went to Viva Cantina tonight with my daughter and caught Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue for their first set. They were great. Gal sang her heart out. They had a guest guitarist Rick Shea who was great as well. The man on the standup bass was really fantastic. He slapped a fine solo during "Folsom Prison Blues" which I loved. I took a photos. It was hard to get exposure because they didn't really turn on the stage lights. This one came out okay. It was something I saw today.

Day 214 - Delta Kiosk - 12.21.11

Brought my son to the airport this morning. Here he is checking in at the ticket kiosk. It was something I saw today.

Day 213 - Mushroom - 12.20.11

I hadn't been on my morning walk in a while. I brought the camera and took this picture of a mushroom pushing up from the soil. It was something I saw today.

Day 212 - The North Pole - 12.19.11

This evening the family and I drove around Burbank to see some Christmas lights. On Florence there are a few insane houses. This North pole sign is in the front yard of one of the houses.
It was something I saw today.

Day 211 - Nate Playing Zelda - 12.18.11

This is my son lounging on our couch playing the latest Zelda game this afternoon. It was something I saw today.

Day 210 - Punk Rock at Viva Cantina - 12.17.11

My son's leaving the country for a couple years later this week. Tonight was the last show he played with his band. He was one of the opening bands for The Peeks who had their EP release party show at Viva Cantina this evening. It was a great punk rock Saturday night. As I shot photos of the kids moshing this guy saw that I was photographing his way and posed for the camera. I like the direct eye contact. It feels defiant and punk rock. It was something I saw today.

Day 209 - Fair Oaks Pharmacy Soda Fountain - 12.16.11

Way back on July 16th, I first visited Fair Oaks Pharmacy and I posted a picture that day. I told a story about chocolate phosphates and my mother. Since my mother is in town this week I took her there for lunch and a chocolate phosphate. While we sat waiting for our tasty lunch I snapped this photo of a customer and a "soda jerk." It was something i saw today.

Day 208 - Corner Cottage - 12.15.11

I pass the Corner Cottage every morning on the way to work. It is actually a really popular place for breakfast, though it doesn't seem that way in this photo. If I had taken this maybe an hour later there would have been people waiting outside. With that said, I have never gone there in all the years I have lived here. I really need to correct that. Until then it will just be something I saw today.

Day 207 - Leaf in the Grass - 12.14.11

After lunch today I took my camera to a grassy part of the campus at work. Saw this leaf woven into the long wavy grass. It was something I saw today.

Day 206 - El Torito - 12.13.11

Nutcracker wrap party tonight at El Torito. This bull was on the wall near our table. It was something I saw today.

Day 205 - Holiday Pee-Wee - 12.12.11

Pee-Wee has made an appearance on the blog before. Last time for Halloween. He's now dressed up for Christmas. The has was actually a stocking my wife found. She cut off the end and sewed it up to make a hat. Cute, huh? So that was something I saw today.

Day 204 - Marzipan Makeup - 12.11.11

The Nutcracker has finally finished. Today was the the final two performances. I shot photos all day long and was exhausted by the end. I shot lots of photos of girls getting makeup put on. This is my daughter getting her Marzipan makeup on. It was something I saw today.

Day 203 - Bob Hope Airport - 12.10.11

My mom is in town for The Nutcracker. Picked her up at the airport this afternoon. After loading her bags I took a moment to snap this photo of the control tower. It was something I saw today.

Day 202 - Christmas Bear - 12.09.11

Long day at work and I didn't really find a chance to break away for a photo during the day. So when I got home I hit up the Christmas decorations stand by. This little bear statue is on a ledge near our front door. It is something i saw today.

Day 201 - Olive Avenue Bridge at Dawn - 12.08.11

Went into work early this morning and swing by the train station along the way. I took some interesting photos of the station and of the power plant, but it was this shot of Olive Avenue bridge through the trees that won the spot on the blog. I love the silhouette of the van. I also love the interesting shapes of the trees. So that is something I saw today.

Day 200 - Nutcracker Dress Rehearsal - 12.07.11

What a long day. Went in to work at 6AM to get a jump on things because I had to leave work early to go to The Nutcracker dress rehearsal. That ran until about 9:30 and then I ran home and started downloading photos from the camera. I filled two memory cards so that took a long time. I then quickly scanned the thousands of photos for something to post. This one of Jen Bosco giving notes to the cast won the prize as something I saw today.

Day 199 - Roof Top - 12.06.11

This is the view of a roof at DreamWorks from the top of the parking garage. It was something I saw today.

Day 198 - Christmas Tree - 12.05.11

This one doesn't need much explanation. This is our Christmas tree for the year. It was something I saw today.

Day 197 - Russian Nesting Doll - 12.04.11

It's Christmas time which means I've got my house full of decorations which is great when you need to find something new and interesting to photograph. Just point the camera anywhere and there is something special. So this morning I knocked this one out knowing the the day was going to get crazy busy with Nutcracker rehearsals. So besides many, many dancers this Nesting Doll was something I saw today.

Day 196 - Morning Sign Shadows - 12.03.11

As the sun was coming up this morning I thought I'd knock out a picture before I got too busy with everything else I had to do today. Walked a couple blocks over to the 99 cents store and saw these interesting shadows on the wall. It was something I saw today.

Day 195 - Burbank Library Head Sculpture - 12.02.11

One of the branches of the Burbank library is just around the corner from my house. Just within the last week or so two sculpture of heads were unveiled. Not seen here is another identical head, but it is red. It faces this one. You can see the set up if you follow this link. So I saw that they were unveiled just a couple days ago when driving back from dropping my daughter off at school. The vibrant colors really caught my eye and I thought I have to take a picture. Well, I didn't that morning, but today I stopped, jumped out of the car and ran over to take a couple photographs. This close up I thought was interesting because it captured some of the interesting lines and rhythm that of the piece. It was something I saw today.

Day 194 - Happy Holidays Downtown Burbank - 12.01.11

Burbank is really sizing up to be the big theme of the week. Tonight was the annual tree lighting ceremony which Mickey and Minnie Mouse show up for and actually do. Then after that the downtown area is shut down so people can walk around. There are performers and stores and organizations have booths. It is a really nice night. Just off the main strip of San Fernando the Happy Holiday message was projected on the side of a building. It was something I saw today.