Chasing sunset at the Getty Museum

If you live in Los Angeles, the Getty Museum is a must-see place of interest.

L.A. is home to famous historical sites like the Griffith Park Observatory, the movie industry in Hollywood, Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, that's just to mention a few...

I'm spending my day off at the Getty.

 Robert Meier's Travertine Tiles

 

As an Angeleno, one of the "must-do" as an inhabitant of this beloved City of Angels is to visit a museum. We have a lot and the Getty Museum is one of them, a favorite among locals and tourists.

The Getty Center Exhibitions Pavilion

The center has a good collection of paintings, photographs, antiques, sculptures and decorative arts but also includes a garden museum with art installations and water features.

Today I am chasing the sunset at the Robert Irwin's Central Garden at the Getty.

 

 

 

Chasing sunset at the Getty...

Sad to know, if you've lived in L.A. but never been to the Getty...

or at least seen other historical sites.

 

Angelenos should visit the Getty, admission is FREE but there is a fee for parking.


Come visit the Getty, it's worth spending the day...

Chasing Sunset at Joshua Tree National Park

 

Road trip.

A day before my birthday.

Cruising along the High Dessert.

I had to stop and checkout the wind turbines along the way.

These massive structures totaling 2,700 of them 

converts wind energy into electricity

for Palm Springs.

 

 

 

On my way to Joshua Tree National Park for a day tour. 

I'll come back next time to check out the hiking trails

but today I'm chasing the sunset.

 

 

 

According to legends,

 the limbs of the Joshua tree in this desert park

"resembles the upstretched arms of Joshua leading to the promised land"

 

 

 

 

 

This desert park has become a "promised land" for hike trails, bike rides and four-wheel drives in the backcountry roads, horse back riding, and rock climbing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At the Keys View Scenic Lookout...awaiting sunset. A panoramic view of the Coachella Valley, Santa Rosa Mountains, San Jacinto Peak, San Andreas Fault and Mexico.

 

Last time I was here was 2009.

Looking back, lots of things happened since then.

Maybe I've become wiser, more content and at peace...

 

 

 

 

Sunset at Joshua Tree National Park...

 

 

 

 

 

Chasing sunset a day before my birthday...

why? I dunno, maybe I just love sunsets

 or maybe it reminds me to look back

where I've been to and where I'm heading now... 

 

 

or maybe I'm just a dreamer...chasing a dream

 

Cat yoga

"When I'm feeling low,
all I have to do is watch my cats
and my courage returns"

Charles Bukowski

Birds of Paradise

"Birds flying high, you know how I feel...
And I'm feeling good" -

Feeling Good, Anthony Newly & Leslie Bricusse

Flower of Love

"Mama was my greatest teacher,
a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness.
If love is sweet as a flower,
then my mother is that sweet flower of love"

Stevie Wonder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Innocence and friendship

My first bloom of Freesia.

 It's officially Spring in my garden.

Life is short...

"You're only here for a short visit.

Don't hurry, don't worry.

And be sure to smell the

flowers along the way"

 

Walter Hagen

 

 

 

 

 

Medicine for the Soul

"Flowers always make people better,

happier and more helpful;

they are sunshine, food

and medicine for the soul" -

 

Luther Burbank

 

 

 

My Funny Valentine

"Love isn't all sunsets and roses. 

Sometimes it's good old-fashioned stalking and surveillance" 

Jarod Kintz

Whatever life throws at me I'll remember three things

This is my fifteen minute meditation.

I love coming to this place. Top of the hill, just a short hike and the view of the sunset is worth it.

Birthday is almost here. Another year, another three hundred sixty five days that got me thinking of so many things.


1. Count my blessings.

Life is good.

I can still breathe, hear, see and exist.

 I got family, friends, a garden and my kitties.

 It's so easy to take things for granted.

I have to remind myself where I am right now and where it leads me.

2. Life goes on.

The road to life wasn't meant to be travelled backwards.

I don't know what else to do but move on, look forward and keep moving on...

While time flies and change is constant, I still hope for the best.









3. Things always happen for a reason.

Life may not work out as planned and may not be what I asked for but it doesn't mean I can't appreciate it.

I was meant to be here, in the right place, the right time, with the right people and the right situation.

And I still believe in faith or fate and the higher power. Being certain of the things I hope for, knowing that it is real even if I don't see it.



So whatever life throws at me, I'll remember three things...

My soul

"When you photograph people in color,
you photograph their clothes.
But when you photograph people
in black and white,
you photograph their souls" - Ted Grant

Catnap

"Think what a better world it would be if we all,

the whole world, had cookies and milk

about three o'clock every afternoon

and then lay down on our blankets for a nap" -

 

Barbara Jordan

 

 

 

 

 

The spark in you...

"Don't you know that there's still a chance for you
 'cause there's a spark in you" - Katy Perry, Firework

 

 

...Still got the spark?

Lovers and Dreamers

"Deep into that darkness peering,
long I stood there,
wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams
no mortal ever dared to dream before"

Edgar Allan Poe

My 3 Most Important Never...

"Never cut down a tree in the wintertime. 
Never make a negative decision in the low time.
Never make your most important decisions
when you are in your worst moods.

 

 

 

 

Wait.
Be patient.
The storm will pass.
The spring will come" -
Robert H. Schuller



Caturday

Yo!
Whaddup?
Whattya upto bruh? :-)

My cat...Ning-ning :-)

My 3 Favorite Quotes on Clouds and Sunsets

It's Sunday.

The air is fresh and crisp after the rain.
Almost sundown.

Grabbed my gear and went to the park to watch the sunset.

Got me thinking about so many things....

                                                   For every 10 years of my lifetime, I'll get to experience 3,650 sunsets. When I turn 65 or more, that's more or less 24,000 sunset quotes...

Anyway, here's 3 of my favorite quotes on clouds and sunsets...

"Clouds come floating into my life,

 no longer to carry rain or usher storm,

 but to add color to my sunset sky"

Rabindranath Tagore

 

 

 

 

 

 

"One loves the sunset, when one is so sad"

Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now,

from up and down, and still somehow.

It's cloud illusions I recall.

I really don't know clouds at all"

Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell

 

 

Got any favorite clouds and sunset quotes?

 

No One is Alone

"Sometimes people leave you,
halfway through the wood.
Others may deceive you.
You decide what's good
but no one is alone" -
Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

(credit to sakuraban96 for the audio)

Caturday

"Never bend you head.
Hold it high.
Look the world
straight in the eye" - Helen Keller

My 3 Favorite Movie Quotes to start my day

Back to work after the holidays? As they say...back to reality?

I think I've been spending too much time watching the Hallmark Channel during the holidays.

So I started doing non-holiday movie marathons...

Here's 3 of my favorite movie quotes to help me get back to reality...or not?

 "Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles,

live passionately and fully and well.

 Experience new things.

 Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance" -

 One Day, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess  

 

 

 

 "Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is the best.

You have to pay attention.

Slow things way down.

Tune out the rest of the world that really doesn't matter.

Feel what the moment calls for" -

Labor Day, starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "Our lives are not our own.

 We are bound to others, past and present,

and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future"

- Cloud Atlas, starring Halle Berry and Tom Hanks

Got any favorite movie quotes?

 

 

 

 

 

First selfie for 2015

Should I keep the long, curly locks
or maintain a short, clean, barber's cut?

My 3 New Year's Realization...or resolution

It's 2015...

A new year and a good time to start on something...some people call it New Year's resolution.

I've been there, done that when I was younger...but now I'm older and supposedly wiser, they're more realizations rather than resolutions.

So here's 3 of my New Year's Realization...

1. Life is short. One never knows when it's your time. I've seen during my lifetime family and friends gone too soon or get sick, it's a different kind of sadness and loneliness.

Why wait to realize what matters most in life when one is already sick or dying? As long as I can breathe and wake in the morning there's still a second chance...

2. Never too late. To enjoy life, enjoy living and the simple things in life. It sounds cliché but life has a different meaning now, especially after one start losing family and friends.

Last sunset of 2014...

3. Chase a dream. Time to start working on the bucket list. Save money and begin ticking items off the checklist. Something to look forward to and hope for...time to make those dreams a reality.

 

 

Got any New Year's Realization?