Rice Canyon + Water + Oscars

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope your day was good and all projects coming along well. We had our second sunny day in a row (temp about 65), so I headed out to Rice Canyon at 3pm for an hour's hike. I hadn't been to Rice for quite a while, probably last September, and it looked quite a bit different. The trail itself was a bit beat up from the rains, which cut channels in it and left debris, rocks and sticks, strewn about. The trail itself must have become a stream bed during the big storm two weeks ago. But the main difference was in all the growth. The whole place looks "filled in" with shrubs and underbrush, and the trees are full of leaves for the first time since I've been hiking there. Also, the creek is running, and in this place the water is moving a bit faster than at Aliso Canyon and the other revitalised Valley creeks I've mentioned since the rains began. Maybe because Rice Canyon is on the side of a mountain, and all that water is coming down. And it's interesting, too, because the last big rain was two weeks ago - and it was one of our biggest storms ever - but the water is still coming down the hillsides and causing the creeks to run, and at Rice Canyon at a fair degree of force.

So as I was hiking, and watching the water, I wondered : where is it all coming from? The rain ended two weeks ago. Did it soak into the mountain? Well, obviously. But you would think it would just keep going down until it turned into groundwater. But maybe because the ground was so saturated, runoff was created. And it's still running off, two weeks later. So the mountain is like a gigantic sponge that soaked up literally tons of water, and it's been running downhill 24/7 ever since.

A geologist would say "elementary my dear Watson", but to me it's really fascinating to see it happen, just because we rarely get to see it! And it kinda blows your mind just how much water comes down in a rainstorm.

I took some pix at Rice, but alas, the light wasn't that great, so no postable ones. I'll keep shooting, however, and thereby taking my own advice which I am always passing on to you, lol. "Keep Shooting" is my photographic motto.

The rest of the day was Usual Stuff. This evening I watched an episode of "Fear The Walking Dead" on dvd, from the Libe. It's a pretty good show, not great, but better than the original nowdays.

I saw a couple of posts today, one was a pic of your friend at the Oscars. That's pretty cool, and it would be a blast to go. My parents got to go a couple times, back in about 1965, 66, when my Dad had some Hollywood clout, and one time my sister Vickie got to go. But the coolest thing of all is that, when you get there, you discover that all the Hollywood Movie Stars are Just Like You. They are people too, and most of 'em are pretty cool, because they started out as artists with a dream, just like we all have done.

Hollywood is great because it is all about building people up to Dream Status, making them bigger than life. That can be looked at from a cynical point of view, but I've always seen it as magic, just like I see Disneyland as pure magic, a place of dreams.

I also saw a post via your friend and client Betty, from Fall II Rise. That was a heartfelt post, and if in any way directed at me, then thanks. It means a lot.  :):)

Well anyhow, that's all I know for tonight. Tomorrow should be sunny again.

See you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)