He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Perhaps a little late in the day for this ancient Easter greeting, but it is appropriate throughout the year. I used to work for a minister who often said, "We are people of the Resurrection".  I think it's good to remember that in all times of new beginnings.

The picture at left is of a burned oak in Big Tujunga Canyon. A year-and-a-half after the Station Fire, shoots are appearing and the tree is on its way to regenerating.


Whether you celebrated Easter today, Passover last week, or the coming of spring in March, new life was at the center of your festivities. Resurrection--freedom--growth. 

Shalom.

As the fourth in my continuing series of articles on where to go to eat when you're in town for the Rose Parade, I wrote this article on Examiner.com about Burger Continental.  It's a Pasadena icon, one of the first places we went to eat when we moved here in 1978.

I'm told they have karaoke on Monday nights, if that's your thing.

Station Fire reforestation announcement on Friday

I went to a press conference in the Angeles Forest yesterday and got some great pix, videos, and a free lunch from Lovebirds. 

It was a gorgeous day alongside Big Tujunga Creek, sunny, hot but not too, and filled with wonderful shades of green, pink, purple and yellow. 

I even got a photo of Smokey the Bear!

I wrote it up for Altadena Patch.  Here it is.


Forest Service to Start Planting 10,000 Acres of Trees in Station Fire Burn Areas

Altadena gardens showcase native plants

I had a great time doing this story for Altadena Patch!  I visited two gardens in Altadena as part of the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour on Sunday.


These yards are amazing--gorgeous color, lots of quirky ornaments, wonderful secret spots around each corner.  And wicket gates!  My favorite garden feature!


I took lots of photos and picked the best of them.  I hope you enjoy leafing through them.

Here's the link: Photo Gallery: Altadena's Native Plants

Arrgh! A virus!

After finally getting my mom's house fixed up and rented and being mostly done with her finances, I thought I would have a great time writing this week.  No worries, just my desktop and me and an open Tuesday.  Alas! My desktop fell victim to a drive-by virus!

I can't even be sure how it entered--at the time, I was opening five jobsites that I have checked hundreds of times in the past--but evidently this particular virus does not need one to click on anything (hence "drive-by").  So my desktop computer is now infested with this monster and right now, my son is working to uninfest it. With his work schedule, he couldn't get to it until today.

Most of my week has been spent getting files transferred from my backup hard drive to my laptop and updating them.  Thank goodness I had backed up a week earlier.

So here are three recommendations for my readers:

1. The virus masquerades as a Windows virus alert.  It loads a list of viruses that are supposedly on your computer and says you have to pay for an updated virus program.  Do not believe it!  If you load the program, it will open a highway for spyware to enter your computer.
   Since the first thing it does is to disable your anti-virus software, you can't get rid of it that way.  So here is what to do: immediately disconnect from the internet.  Unplug your computer's internet connection. Print out any files you may need for the next week or so and shut off the computer. Call a professional or semi-pro to clean up the computer, but be aware that the hard drive may need to be wiped.

2. Purchase a backup hard drive.  I use HP SimpleSave, which is available at Amazon. It's about $100 and works very well once you get used to a couple quirks.  It saved all my files through the last backup on March 29.

3. Read my latest stories by clicking on the links to the right or some of the best by clicking on the links below.

And to keep up with me, follow my blog by clicking on the "Follow" button!

Space & Roses

This is a fun story--check it out:

Is there LIFE in space? The Planetary Society says, ‘Make it so’

And if you can afford it, $1 will help send a water bear into orbit.

I go to the von Karman Lectures almost every month.  The latest one is about The Space Shuttle Era.

If life on earth is more your concern, check out this article on the Donate Life 2011 Rose Parade float.

To see more of my articles, click on the links to the right--I know you'll enjoy reading them!