Spring is sprung

I enjoy Spring. I enjoy all the seasons, but i love spring flowers greatly. My mom planted sections of the backyard by color (some annuals, some perennials, some things in pots).

We vigourously trimmed the wisteria and it finally bloomed! My mom thinks threatening to dig them out makes plants cooperate. :)

One of my favorite flowers: gerbera daisies. I love them in all colors but especially yellow. This guy grows in a pot with a native daisy thing.

An old-fashioned miniature rose also in a pot on the patio. A blooming Rosa Banks is there too--blooming, according to my mother's theory, because she announced it had one last chance.

The orange section: there's an heirloom tomato, red salvia, and golden lilies planted nearby.

Willy-nilly lack of reason

Between taking classes and teaching classes, i drive nearly 300 miles a week. I hate that about my lifestyle, especially at $3.53/gallon, but it can't be helped for the moment and i make recompense by walking to church, the library, the grocery store, and the post office.

Driving that many miles and hours without a cd player or functioning tape deck in my car, the radio is on a lot. Usually it's tuned to stations with few commercials: public radio, e.g. but even that has blurbs and sponsors and senseless adverts.

If i hear one more blurb from Flex Your Power (and i'm so miffed, i won't deign to hyperlink) about how much energy we'd save if Californians replaced all their inefficient washing machines, dish washers, dryers, and water heaters, i'll scream. Better yet, i'll write my favorite radio stations and Flex Your Power, although i doubt it will accomplish much. IT WILL NOT SAVE THE WORLD to chance your water heater. Sure, it'll save some energy. It will not, however, address the energy used to make the new whatever, the energy to ship the new whatever to the store and then transport it to your house, or the energy to haul away your old whatever. Worst of all, where on earth do they propose to put 16 million old water heaters, dryers, washing machines, and dish washers? Throw the thing out when its useful life is completed, wrap insulation around it, only run full loads--there are better ways to save water and energy. We don't have enough planet to dump old things just because there's a new and improved thing. Prime agricultural land in California has already been paved over. We shouldn't waste any more.

This lack of logic also goes into the marketing of hybrid cars. They do, in certain driving conditions, use less gas. That's no excuse to ship older models overseas or to Mexico, or to dumps or scrap lots. Then there's the whole issue of their toxic batteries.

We could have a grand standard of living--people did in the 1920's and 1950s and thought they were at the height of consumerism--while consuming much less, and that includes so-called eco-friendly stuff too. Just because it's called "green" by the manufacturer does not make it green, and using more than one needs is far from green.

Rant over.

Except, oh, did i mention hearing news about a California legislator's brilliant idea to raise oil taxes by 8%? As if gas, and everything transported by gas (= almost everything), hasn't increased in price enough? Close the loopholes about yachts already, and give us better public transit, and then i might re-elect someone who proposes an increased oil tax. Over my dead body if i'd vote for him before that.

Fullerton

These are from my self-directed field trip yesterday afternoon. As i walked around taking photos i was sure someone was going to ask me what i was doing: one of my classmates nearly got arrested while measuring Pershing Square. Alas, i must look harmless. No one asked me anything.

This is the North-bound side of the Santa Fe Depot. Many a time i've scampered here to take the metro or train into Los Angeles! The depot was built c. 1930 to replace the Victorian Depot, which was built in 1888. That one was wooden and looked a lot like the station where Anne of Green Gables waits for the Cuthberts. This one is Spanish Revival. I like it. The benches, ceiling, and lighting fixtures inside are grand, even if it's just a small station.

This is the Chapman building, one of the tallest in downtown Fullerton. I've read that it's supposed to echo the style of Chicago's sky scrapers, since Chapman hailed from that city. Note how the building is only 5-storeys--apparently, that's a Fullerton historic area ordinance currently being challenged. This and the Landmark Plaza building are two of my favorites on Harbor Boulevard. I also really like the Villa del Sol building, which used to be the California Hotel.

This was the Union Pacific Railroad Depot. It used to be at a different site but was moved here around 1980 and became the Old Spaghetti Factory. The structure is largely intact, although many of the furnishings are different. An evening manager nicely showed me around a few weeks ago and he knew a lot about the building.

Fullerton has spiffy modern architecture too, like a Streamline Moderne home and a futuristic car wash. I like well-done buildings from that era, like Neutra, but i must admit a weakness for Spanish Revival.