Greetings from My Parents’ House in West Covina, California, USA!
Photo was taken on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 (CHRISTMAS!).
2007, GOODBYE! The trees in this week’s photo have a holiday story. My parents have had the same fake Christmas tree for over 3 decades but in the late 1980s we bought a living one. For several years the potted tree was brought indoors and decorated in December than outside again for the other 11 months. Eventually we retired (i.e. planted) the tree, which flourished for many years in the front yard. Unfortunately the neighborhood has trees that behave like weeds. One took root next to our tree, which we discovered too late. The dying pine was cut down and later “cremated” in a beach bonfire – truly leaving in a blaze of glory. My dad replaced the old tree with a trio of pines – three Christmas trees instead of one – as shown in the photo (see my car in the background).
Nowadays Christmas is a low-key affair for my family. Long gone are the days when uncles, aunts and their children gather in someone’s house to celebrate the holiday. Now all my cousins are adults, several are married, some have kids and a few live more than a day’s car trip away. My brother and I have neither wives nor kids yet, so it’s just us with our parents, making for a relaxing Christmas Day.
With the year ending, now is a good time to tally up some figures with hopes of finding fun facts about this inaugural year’s 25 photos of the week. Somehow I managed to choose photos that cover every day of the week – Mon: 2, Tues: 3, Wed: 2, Thurs: 1, Fri: 3, Sat: 7, Sun: 7. Weekends dominated, reflecting a comment from a previous email – even without a job taking up my weekdays, I had more activities on weekends. Also on at least three occasions I found myself on a Sunday afternoon without a single picture taken in the past week and hustled to take a shot of anything. From one mad dash came my favorite photo – the beach sunset.
The photos were taken in 10 cities with just one outside the United States. In fact the other nine cities all lay in California, covering the 3 southern counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego. The final count is 6 in Newport Beach, 4 each in Costa Mesa and San Diego, 3 in West Covina, 2 in Irvine and 1 each in Brea, Fountain Valley, Lake Forest, Universal City and Rosarito (Mexico). With a full year ahead, the photos are sure to showcase a greater diversity of cities
Lastly on December 21, we had the second of the biannual solstices, the official start of winter in the Earth’s northern hemisphere (summer in the southern). While I am no fan of cold weather, the winter solstice has at least one positive – the start of longer days and shorter nights. WOOHOO! HELLO, 2008!!!
Angelo
Photo was taken on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 (CHRISTMAS!).
2007, GOODBYE! The trees in this week’s photo have a holiday story. My parents have had the same fake Christmas tree for over 3 decades but in the late 1980s we bought a living one. For several years the potted tree was brought indoors and decorated in December than outside again for the other 11 months. Eventually we retired (i.e. planted) the tree, which flourished for many years in the front yard. Unfortunately the neighborhood has trees that behave like weeds. One took root next to our tree, which we discovered too late. The dying pine was cut down and later “cremated” in a beach bonfire – truly leaving in a blaze of glory. My dad replaced the old tree with a trio of pines – three Christmas trees instead of one – as shown in the photo (see my car in the background).
Nowadays Christmas is a low-key affair for my family. Long gone are the days when uncles, aunts and their children gather in someone’s house to celebrate the holiday. Now all my cousins are adults, several are married, some have kids and a few live more than a day’s car trip away. My brother and I have neither wives nor kids yet, so it’s just us with our parents, making for a relaxing Christmas Day.
With the year ending, now is a good time to tally up some figures with hopes of finding fun facts about this inaugural year’s 25 photos of the week. Somehow I managed to choose photos that cover every day of the week – Mon: 2, Tues: 3, Wed: 2, Thurs: 1, Fri: 3, Sat: 7, Sun: 7. Weekends dominated, reflecting a comment from a previous email – even without a job taking up my weekdays, I had more activities on weekends. Also on at least three occasions I found myself on a Sunday afternoon without a single picture taken in the past week and hustled to take a shot of anything. From one mad dash came my favorite photo – the beach sunset.
The photos were taken in 10 cities with just one outside the United States. In fact the other nine cities all lay in California, covering the 3 southern counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego. The final count is 6 in Newport Beach, 4 each in Costa Mesa and San Diego, 3 in West Covina, 2 in Irvine and 1 each in Brea, Fountain Valley, Lake Forest, Universal City and Rosarito (Mexico). With a full year ahead, the photos are sure to showcase a greater diversity of cities
Lastly on December 21, we had the second of the biannual solstices, the official start of winter in the Earth’s northern hemisphere (summer in the southern). While I am no fan of cold weather, the winter solstice has at least one positive – the start of longer days and shorter nights. WOOHOO! HELLO, 2008!!!
Angelo
