Saturday, June 7, 2008

Another day in L.A.

So, this morning I had a gig in Claremont, which is near Pomona, which is where the County Fair is held. I explain it in this way because it is the only way I know how - my internal map has one thing situated in Pomona and that is the fairground, and under "Claremont" the entry in its entirety reads "near Pomona". As for how far away these are, these locations all read "about an hour". Thanks for visiting the inside of RDB's brain.

As I was saying, this morning I had a gig in Claremont, and on my way home I passed signs for the L.A. Arboretum, which signs I have passed before (probably on my way home from the County Fair - which is in Pomona, have I mentioned that? I love County Fairs). I didn't have anywhere to be for a while and I had a book with me, so of course I got off the highway and followed the signs and decided to explore. This is what I do, what I love to do.

I may have snuck in without paying. I say "may have" because I'm not actually sure that's what I did and it's certainly not what I meant to do, but when I got there I reallllly needed to pee, so I sort of ran into the visitor center and asked where the restrooms were, and when the girl pointed the way I just went. I never really stopped to take note of the ticket prices, but it did register that there were ticket prices posted... maybe they were just for tram rides and things. If I accidentally used this ruse to slip in without paying, I hereby apologize. My mistake.

As I was saying, the first view of these unbelievably beautiful grounds (after the restrooms) was breathtaking: a peacock in full spread. Now, I have lived with peacocks for months on end, and either the ones I know are never in the mood or I was never around during the right week or I don't know what, but I have never seen even one tail display like the one that greeted me in the Arboretum today and in fact, as I walked around, I saw peacock after peacock all fully laid out. It was amazing. For example, here is my friend in a little back-side-front action (click to biggen, of course):



This may be my favorite shot of him (pretty good for cellphone pics, no?):



I had a lovely time wandering around and checking out the waterfall, the rose garden, the ponds and trees...



...the sun's rays warming the ducks:



and on my way out, yet another peacock in full regalia, but a mini-version:



Lovely, lovely, lovely.

6 comments:

neonspecs said...

awwww, I've always wanted to go there!

Briane said...

Great pics! If I lived near there, I would spend as much time as possible there... now that I know how to sneak in without paying.

Anonymous said...

Wait just a minute.... you and I have NEVER gone driving around aimlessly and found random things... that's TOTALLY uncharacteristic of you.

Did you at least call your Dad to get directions?

Anonymous said...

Awesome pictures!


Also:
Oh come on, RDB!
There is a grammatical error in line two of paragraph two. Which signs I have passed before? I guess you meant to get rid of 'signs.'

ReadDanceBliss said...

Ohhhhh Aidan. Expand your horizons, my young friend. Just because this is a structure you have not yet met does not make it an ungrammatical structure. I will admit it's more common in English English than in American English, but it is indeed perfectly correct.

David Foster Wallace uses it a lot... but I think he's Canadian. If I can find a good famous example in print, I will point you to it!

ReadDanceBliss said...

(Yes yes, ok, he's American. AND we share the same birthday. AND I have curious hair.)

Ok, how about this: in a famous and fabulous essay ABOUT correct grammar (Tense Present) DFW uses this construct at least three times. Check it out and search for "which latter usage" and "which term" and "which fact". It's the best I can do for the moment. :)