Posts Tagged ‘bakersfield CA’

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Limos, lights- a Christmas visit to CALM (California Living Museum)


2010
12.23

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Here in Bakersfield, CA we have a place called CALM - California Living Museum.  Each year for the holidays, CALM is decorated with millions of lights.  Josh Barnett, whose company is Lightasmic, designs the show, which is a fundraiser for the museum.  Josh started doing lights as a teenager here in Bakersfield and now his company does displays all over the country.  It’s just stunning, and I hope everyone in Bakersfield has been at least once.

We’ve been going for many years, taking the grandkids.  Now the Bakersfield Seven are teenagers – all but one, but we still go.  This year I had a surprise in mind.

Yep, I rented a limo.

We tried to go in the limo and really enjoyed it for the first five minutes, until the limo broke down.  You know, those things happen, and we went ahead and took our cars.

We spent a little while just sitting in the limo, though, as we parked and waited near a cleaners.  This led to lots of joking about being on a stake-out looking for laundered money.

We got the limo from The Limousine Scene – I had it reserved, then it rained for three days and three nights, CALM was closed, I canceled the limo, and the rain stopped and CALM opened.  I tried to rebook and it was so last minute  – but these folks worked like crazy to get us a limo and driver.  It was a beautiful limo even if it broke down – that could happen to anyone anywhere.  Next time we hire a limo (like we do this all the time, right?) we will call Limousine Scene again.  I think they’re even making it good by giving us credit even though we didn’t have to pay.

So we got to CALM.

The dinosaurs were first, as well they should be.

I was sorry the Colorado Four weren’t here.  Jackson loves dinosaurs.  We’ve taken them before, but since Sam is brand new (almost two months old) the Colorado group didn’t come out for Christmas.  The T-rex was animated by the way.

Stegosaurus is my favorite dino, and then triceratops.  Why do I like those two?  I have no idea.

I am really truncating the exhibit – I have so many more photos than I’m showing but this ought to be enough to get folks out there before Jan. 31.  So into the Congo Safari…

Many of the exhibits are animated.  For example, this monkey climbs the tree and drops the coconut.

It really is a wonderland out there.

This was the most important place. Ali was bathed in purple light but we’re not calling her Purple Ali. (I never did figure out why Kelly on Survivor was called Purple Kelly.)

Jen took the obligatory group photo.

At least Jen made it into a picture, here with Sarah.  Martians.  Actually, I was happy with the photos since I didn’t take my tripod.

Xavier wanted his photo with the penguin.

So that’s our CALM journey.  Bako folks, get yourself out there before it closes.

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The Big Rain: Riverlakes Golf Course lives up to its name


2010
12.20

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Somewhere around 6.4 inches is our annual rainfall in Bakersfield, CA.  We might hit that in one week at this rate – it’s been raining steadily for three days and three nights and no one can remember that happening before.  We’ve had almost 4 inches.  We might get a break of 30 minutes or so, but for us, this is an incredible amount of water.

We live on the Riverlakes Golf Course, and it finally is living up to its name.  Both the river and the lake part.

There is a small lake that belongs here somewhere, but it’s obliterated by the larger lake that’s formed.

Everyone jokes (I think they’re joking) that people in Bakersfield will have ocean-front property when the Big One (earthquake) comes and the current coastline drops off into the sea.  Well, we don’t have to wait for that because the people in those houses back there found they now have waterfront property.

I know people are thinking, big deal.  She thinks that’s a lot of water?  For us, it really is.  The section of the Kern River that runs through town actually has water in it!

This is where the river part comes in.  See all that water meandering through the golf course as if it’s a river that is always there, thank you very much?

For some reason, watching these ducks walk across their new lake cracked me up.

Before we moved to the golf course we did live on an actual lake in Riverlakes.  We’re renting the house out  but we drove by to see how it was faring in the deluge.  The water is up to our docks and this was yesterday.  Didn’t look today.  Actually, maybe we looked day before yesterday.  It’s hard to recall as all these rainy days run one into another.

Glancing at this, you might think it’s swift current running over rocks in a river.  But it’s the lake water rushing over the drain.  The water is so full today that the lake manager called us to warn the renter to loosen the lines, and as the water recedes, make sure the boat isn’t on the dock!

Actually, there’s been quite a bit of flooding around town.  You can see images here.  I’m sure you can find other images of flooding all over the area, including into homes.  This just never happens here!

The adventure continues as it’s still raining and more predicted throughout the week.  Wow.  I don’t know how much more water the ground can absorb.  Our yard is just mush right now, the pond is overflowing, and I bet the frogs are drowning.

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The Streets of Bakersfield – in the fall


2010
11.23

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Just an art every day entry of trees cloaked in their fall clothes.  Yes, even dry, dusty, hot Bakersfield, CA can have beauty in fall.  A few posts ago I was leaving Colorado and I said I left at the end of their fall colors, but would get to Bakersfield for the start of ours.  All these photos were taken on Coffee Road between Stockdale Highway and White Lane.  If you’re a Bako resident and want to see colors, get out now because they won’t last.

I like the way the white on the above photo falls off the page.

And finally, seed pods.  Because what would fall be without the promise of spring?

Don’t forget that in the photo galleries – tabs at the top of the page – I have many more gorgeous nature photos, including fall colors.

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The Bellmore – Bakersfield’s new uber-cool art gallery. Plus, another camera mishap.


2010
04.25

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The Bakersfield art scene is exploding!  Artists Deon Bell and John Moore have opened The Bellmore, a gallery with a cool vibe.  It’s underground – literally, in the basement of a turn-of-the-century building that once was a bakery.  Check out what Deon and John have to say about their new venture in this vimeo by Gabriel Briano.

Mark and I went to the opening last night, and being us, we went early and left early.  Something about getting older I guess.

The entrance is suitably cryptic – and the stairs are very steep.  VERY steep.

Caught a musician scurrying down.

DISCLAIMER: If these photos don’t look too good, it’s because I’ve had another camera mishap.  Remember the last one?  I dropped my purse in the driveway and we ran over it – twice?  And my favorite little Canon Power Shot SD550 was inside?  This time it’s not quite so bad, but I took my new Canon Elph last night instead of the 5D – thank goodness! – and almost before I took a single photo (I took these as we exited) I tripped on a raised part of the floor and dropped the camera.  With the lens out.  And that’s where it landed.  I could take photos, as you can see, but the lens is a little crooked and won’t extend or shut properly, so it’ll be off to Canon tomorrow.  I just love to spend money on technology repair.  You might think it’s my fault and not the gallery’s, and you’d probably be right.  I just thought those little white lights outlining the sitting area were to be pretty, not to mark a change in floor level. But then again, I’ve been known to trip on nothing.

So.  Into the gallery.  It has a cool, cement-like basement vibe.   D’oh, it’s in a basement.  But it feels good.

That’s John on the left, and Deon.  I’m not familiar with John’s work, but Deon is brilliant.  Such an impressive artist with a determination and hunger to make art available to everyone and raise Bakersfield’s art IQ a few notches.  He has grand plans.  I’m too tired for grand plans but Deon will probably achieve his.  Cool guy.

This is a studio area and I believe they’re going to rent out space.  In fact, I think space is already rented out.

Fantastic space.  Wish we’d been able to stay for the music.  I can only imagine the sound.  There will be lots of chances, however, and moving fatigue will have left us and I’ll be up to the challenge of later nights.  Right?  At least I’m ever-hopeful.

On the way in, we passed a couple on a bus bench.  They said, “You going in there? Don’t bother.  It’s not worth it.”  I wanted to go grab those guys and say, “Are you crazy? This is so worth it.  One of the coolest spaces in town!” I guess they were too cool for themselves even, her with her blue hair and him all in black.

Even had a nod to American Idol but I’m pretty sure there was another meaning here.  I liked this painting.

This was another dramatic painting.  Those brick walls are a brilliant background.

I remember when the trend began to leave pipes exposed and give an industrial feel to a space.  Everyone was very impressed with this out-of-the-box ultra-modern thinking.  Of course, when you set up shop in a basement, it comes that way already.

The poster for the show made a nice contrasting statement to the space.

Splendid Life.  The all-American Cleavers would have been horrified to set foot in The Bellmore, this basement art gallery.  But I hope Bakersfield embraces this venue and keeps things percolating downtown.  We have arrived.  We’ve come a long way since Ward, June, Wally and the Beave.

Web page

I’m going to be putting some new photos on my web page soon, so watch this space!   Plus, I’m getting more up on Etsy.  That’s tomorrow’s task, should I choose to complete it, and I do.  I shipped some photos to Tanzania recently and they arrived just fine, so go ahead and order, folks!  I’ll get gorgeous photos to you wherever you are.

More Bakersfield Galleries

For up-to-date information about another new Bakersfield Gallery, The Micro Gallery, check out  Terry Telford’s article in Bakersfield Express.



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William finds Bakersfield better than he left it


2010
04.13

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Reading yesterday’s post (Make Way for William) will catch you up – if you want to catch up – on who William is and why I’m writing about his visit.  Today I’m starting with Day Two of a three-day visit.

William, like almost every Bakersfield teenager including  my three daughters, vowed to never return to Bakersfield because it is such a crummy city with nothing to do.  Isn’t “nothing to do” the perpetual lament of young people? So William may not return to live like all three of my daughters did (one left again for Colorado), but as long as I’m here, W has to visit me.  And I’m going to be here until I go up in smoke.

I was aiming for a low-key, calming type of visit, although I’m not sure which one of us needed to be calmed.  In the morning we headed out to Hart Park, my favorite peacock-watching spot.

I took grape nuts to feed them but they didn’t seem to be tempted.  W had a good time, though, as we pursued peacocks with our cameras.  I mean, dozens of preening peacocks are pretty impressive, especially when they rattle those feathers on the back, and a tree full of sleeping peacocks is something to behold.

Next we went up to Panorama Park for a view of the oil fields.  The Kern River Field would not be termed beautiful by most people, but it has its own beauty, especially at night when it’s all sparkly.

All that stuff in the distance as far as you can see is oil wells.

William has a sense of style that gets him noticed.  When I was in London with him, a stranger asked if she could take his picture because she liked the way he was dressed.  I don’t understand cool, but W has it.  For instance, I would never wear something sleeveless, implying heat, with a knit cap, implying cold.

While we were up there an interesting guy, spotting my camera, asked if I was a photographer.  Would I take his picture with his mother and send it to him at the Sacred Gypsy Tattoo Parlour? Sure I could, and I did.

Did you know that if you click on a picture, you can see it full size?  Then just use the back arrow to return to the blog.  You may want to do that for this fellow.

Next we went downtown to the Museum of Art, Metro Galleries, an antique store (William is a shopper par excellence), Surface Gallery and the Padre Hotel.  William was suitably impressed.  Bakersfield does have a lively arts district and it’s getting better every day.

Thursday was visiting day.  We went to my daughter Jennifer’s and had a nice visit on the wine patio – a small area Jen and Matt created in their backyard.  I like the idea of a wine patio and want to work that into our landscaping!  Then we went to my parents.

My dad thinks William is amazing – movie-star handsome, brilliant, and poised to succeed in art if that’s what he chooses.  Which he has chosen.  Really, it’s more like art chose him.  I’ve had one other student who was chosen – Ries will be a writer.  I feel blessed to have taught two students who have been truly captured by their muse – William must paint and Ries must write.

Except for a small bit of repetition, W couldn’t tell how different my mom has become.  I marvel at how her lifetime of good manners and ability to comport herself around company has created this pattern of behavior that camouflages her dementia.

We concluded with a late lunch at Moo and our customary self-portrait.

The next morning, sadness at the Greyhound Station as I said goodbye for who knows how long, and William continued his travels across the U.S.  I’m glad he found out that it’s not so bad to visit Bakersfield – it looks like he’ll be visiting me more than I’ll be visiting him.  I would really like to go to London once more next fall, however.  We’ll see.  Depends upon the economy in general and our economy in particular.

I hate goodbyes.  My goodbyes come with abundant tears.  W knows to expect this, but I did pretty darn good this time – at least, until I got back to my car.


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Big Skies of Bakersfield


2010
04.11

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What do you think of when you hear big sky? Texas jumps into my mind, which would probably make Texans happy.  Texas is the land of everything big.  But this year, 2010, I call Bakersfield the land of Big Skies.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it – for February, March, and the beginning of April, we’ve had one beautiful sky after another.

Here’s one last photo of the sky from my former backyard.  I just can’t get enough of looking at these clouds.  I exclaim over them all day long, to the point that my granddaughter texted me the other day: Gramser, the sky is beautiful.  She and the others may find it amusing, but I’ll bet they take notice of the sky more often than they might have.

Right now at this very moment, it’s raining.  Our Big Sky season is over, and today we had more typical Bakersfield weather – a rip-roarin’ dust storm.  The wind blasted all day – we kept our power but I know there were power outages throughout the city.  The gale blew over my potted ficus – which is huge – and broke the container.  So tomorrow we’ll be replanting.  It needed a bigger pot anyhow.  But now, after dense dust, we have rain.  It’ll rinse out the sky and leave big blobs of dust-mud on the cars, so ironically we will have to hose everything off after the rain.

For now, however, we can feast our eyes on these whipped-cream skies.  Mashed potato skies.   Marshmallow skies.  Cotton candy skies.

I drove around one day to get the sky just outside of the city.  Over our lush farmland.

You all remember Jim Morrison of the Doors, yes?  Morrison said, “The West is the best.”  I’m sure other people have said that also, but not like Jimbo did.  Looking at these skies brought to mind how I felt when we returned to the West after six years in North Carolina and Virginia.  We loved living in those states, and everything was green, green, green.  Beautiful.  But when we came home to the West, we felt like we could breathe again.  It’s all in what you are used to.  I grew up singing, “Give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above, don’t fence me in.” We may not be able to see the stars from Bakersfield, but we have the land.

Soon we’ll have the oppressive, hot, baked days of summer. Those days that seem as if they will never end.  I’m going to try to remember how lucky we were in the Spring this year, with these beautiful skies.

I started with a photo of the sky from our “old” house on the lake.  I’ll end with a couple from our “new” house on the golf course.  We gave up the water, but we got a 180-degree view.

Clouds and blue skies.  Blue skies, smiling on me, nothing but blue skies do I see. That’ll be my motto as we continue the unpacking and arranging from the move. One week today and it’s looking more hopeful.  Life is returning to normal.


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AEDM Day 21: Art in My Own Backyard


2009
11.21

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This weekend has been busy!  We did a mad last-minute sorting of our closets yesterday for a mammoth yard sale today.  My granddaughter’s AYSO team is going to a tournament in Florida next summer, and one of the requirements is that all funds must be raised (around $50,000 I think).  It’s daunting but a good requirement because the AYSO motto is “Everyone Plays,” and by requiring fundraising, it also means “Everyone Goes.”  So that necessitated lots of running around and moving of heavy things last night and today.

So today we have a short photo essay – My Own Backyard.  Yes, I live in Bakersfield, CA.  Yes, Johnny Carson used to call Bakersfield the armpit of California.  Yes, it’s hot, dry and dusty.  It’s a desert for Pete’s sake (whoever Pete is).  And yes, we have the worst air quality for particulate matter in the United States.  And again, yes, this is the place everyone goes through when getting to somewhere else.

BUT we love it.  And we live on a lake.  Here’s what it looked like from my balcony this afternoon.

backyard 1 rs

The bush in the foreground and the queen palm are in our yard.  This is looking toward the center of the lake, which has five “fingers.”

backyard 2 rs

This is looking at the house across the lake.  That’s our boat, the Go Boldly.   You’ll note those things in the sky – they’re called clouds.  We don’t see them very often.

backyard 3 rs

Here’s something else we only see 5.7 inches of a year – that wet stuff in the puddle on my balcony.  Rain.  It did it overnight so I couldn’t appreciate it, but I think there is no other logical explanation for the wetness other than rain.

backyard 4 rs

Later in the afternoon we even had some wind!  Ok, a heavy breeze.  but it made nice ripples in the water, and the late afternoon sun cast a lovely light on the trees which, yes, are showing signs of fall!

backyard 5 rs

This looks toward the end of our “finger.” People often fish from the grassy area.

So, it was a beautiful day in Bakersfield, CA.  And tonight we’re heading to Valentien’s Restaurant for the Beaujolais Fest.  Have some hygiene kits to donate for the homeless, which gets us free French Onion Soup, and I won a charcuterie place on Twitter Tuesday (something the restaurant does each week).

I’m super tired, but I’m not passing up on the fun!