thankful thursday - beauty amidst the beast

This summer we visited the Watts Towers in south central Los Angeles. I have been to the LA area numerous times and had never heard of these towers until our 10-year old grandson, Nick, found them in a travel book and wanted to see them.

While I hadn't heard of the Watts Towers, I do remember the Watts Riots of 1965. During the DUI arrest of an African-American woman by a white California Highway Patrolman, the already strained relationship between the community and the police exploded and the crowd became violent which ignited a large-scale riot in the community of Watts. For six days rioters overturned and burned cars and damaged property. The National Guard was mobilized and curfews were established to restore order. Thirty-four people died, over a thousand were injured and nearly four thousand were arrested. An investigation showed that the Watts neighborhood residents had a long-standing discontentment with substandard schools, inadequate housing and unemployment which officials believed were the real reasons for the riots. Ironically, nothing was ever done to correct those situations.

But back to the Watts Towers. They are located on a residential street in the community of Watts. As we exited the freeway and drove to the address of the towers, the neighborhood... declined... and became scarier-looking. The actual street the towers are located on has several small homes with beautifully maintained yards and friendly people - all African-American. And in the distance, we could hear gun fire. It was one of the very few times I've been aware of my skin color.

Since we had just missed the last tour (blame the LA traffic! ;-)), we spent some time in the visitor's center when we got there. They have a short movie and an interesting civil rights museum.

We thought the towers on the dead tree were pretty interesting!

The towers are just a short walk from the Visitor's Center and are surrounded by a wire fence. We couldn't go in the fenced area (it was after the tour time) but could see quite well through the fence.

From a distance they don't look all that special.

The Watts Towers, which are really nine major sculptures constructed of structural steel and covered with mortar, are the work of one man - Simon Rodia. He was born around 1875 in Rivottoli, Italy. His family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1890's and settled in Pennsylvania where Rodia worked in the coal mines. He later ventured west, working along the way in rock quarries, logging and railroad camps, as a construction worker and sometimes as a tile setter.

In 1921, he purchased the triangular lot at 1765 East 107th Street in Los Angeles. The neighborhood was a thriving working-class community of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Later, WWII changed the demographics as his Japanese neighbors were sent to internment camps and their homes bought up for cheap housing for labor and defense industries. The end of the war brought high unemployment and poverty to the largely unskilled, black neighborhood.  

As soon as he moved in to his new house in the early 1920's, Rodia immediately began constructing his masterpiece which he called "Nuestro Pueblo" - Spanish for "our town." Working by himself, without machine equipment, scaffolding, bolts, rivets, welds or even drawing board designs he built his towers using his own creativity, tile setter's tools, and a window washer's belt.

His day job was construction but on his off-time Rodia was an artist adorning his towers with an elaborate mosaic of broken glass, sea shells, rocks,broken pieces of mirror, generic pottery, tile, marble and ceramics. He was the original "up-cycler" creating something new out of discarded, unwanted items.

The three tallest towers are 55-feet tall, 97-feet 10-inches tall and 99-feet 6-inches tall. These towers all contain a large center column extending from the base to the top. Remember that he built these without scaffolding, using a window-washer's belt to hold his tools as he climbed up the tower. He tied his reinforcements together with wire and then painstakingly wrapped them with steel mesh before covering them with his special mortar mixture and quickly adding the mosaic pieces. 

It was fun to look for familiar objects (the green 7-Up bottles, sea shells, a broken tea cup) in the mosaic along the wall and arches. His initials (SR) and address number (1765) are embedded in the mosaic every so often, like an artist signing his masterpiece.

Do you think it sounds a little rickety? The City of Los Angeles thought so and in 1957 issued an order to remove the towers calling them "unsafe." However, a 10,000-pound pressure stress test in 1959 proved the towers were safe and could withstand a force equal to that of an 80 mph wind. It wasn't until the Northridge earthquake in 1994 that the towers were damaged and then repaired.

In 1955, Rodia gave the deed to his home (and the towers) to his neighbor and moved to Martinez, California to be near his family. He died there in 1965. In 1959, while the City of Los Angeles was trying to tear the towers down, William Cartwright and Nicholas King bought the property and formed the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts. In 1963, the Watts Towers were designated a Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Monument and in 1975, the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts deeded the property to the City of Los Angeles. In 1977, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1990, was designated a National Historic Landmark.

I cannot imagine climbing to the top of those towers without being attached to a safety harness or having scaffolding to stand on! 

So what am I thankful for? Several things, actually. First, that one man wanted to beautify his "not so posh" neighborhood and created an artistic masterpiece everyone, regardless of economic status, could enjoy. It was something that united the neighborhood rather than causing more divisiveness. Remember the Watts Riots? Despite the violence and destruction in Watts, the Towers were untouched. Secondly, that even 60 years later, the Towers have inspired others in the neighborhood to beautify their yards, to create their own "masterpieces." Walking down the street we admired beautiful rose gardens, intricately paved walkways, a beautiful "up-cycled" bird bath, ivy-covered arches. And it all started with one person. And lastly, that the Towers bring more affluent people into this mostly poverty-stricken neighborhood. It's easy to stay in your own neighborhood and pretend that poverty and brokenness don't exist in your town. 

But the truth is they exist everywhere. And so does beauty.

thankful thursday - beauty & the heat

Living in the desert southwest, we are used to prolonged periods of extreme heat that would fry much of the rest of the country. While it is true that ours is "a dry heat," what that really means is that nearly every drop of moisture is sucked out of just about every living thing.

(Death Valley National Park, August 2014)

The hottest day on record in Phoenix, Arizona was June 26, 1990 when the mercury reached 122 degrees Fahrenheit. I could feel my lips cracking and skin drying out when I walked outside to get the mail. Asphalt became sticky, adhering to the soles of shoes. It was miserable. But fortunately, it is rarely that hot.

We had a heat wave this past week with the highest temperature reaching 117 degrees Fahrenheit last Friday. The sun is blazingly bright as it reflects off sidewalks, pools, light poles, cars and other metallic objects in the summertime making it seem even hotter. 

So what is there to be thankful for?

I am thankful that even in the scorching heat of summer, God has given us plants with beautiful flowers that are both heat-resistant and require little water. 

They are a feast for the birds and insects that drink their sweet nectar as well as a welcome respite for our eyes (and minds!) from the dazzlingly brilliant sun. We feel a good ten degrees cooler just looking at them - and more than that if there is a breeze (something else to be thankful for in the summertime!

thankful thursday - random acts of kindness

Earlier this week a storm hit our neighborhood bringing rain and strong winds. Our big black trash can, full of trash, was on the curb waiting for trash pick-up when the wind blew it over while I was out doing errands. I arrived home in time to see my "older" neighbor, a man with mobility disabilities, right my trash can and ensure the lid was closed. He didn't know if I was home or not - he just took care of it so my trash would get picked up. What a blessing that random act of kindness was to me!

According to several online sources, the phrase "random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" first appeared in our culture in the early 1980's and has been attributed to various people. But I think the concept began much, much earlier in history.

The Bible tells us we are to "be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32). It also says "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8). And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Some Bible scholars make a distinction between "random" acts of of kindness and those that are "intentional" with the implication that, as Christians, ours should be intentional. Hmmm.

I think they can be both.

Intentional is defined as "something done with intent (the act of determining mentally upon some action)" and random is defined as "unpredictable." As Christians, being kind should be intentional. But the actual act of kindness as well as the situation is often random. I could give money to the homeless person I encounter on the street, or buy him a meal or give him my coat or direct him to a shelter or pray with him. My neighbor could have righted my trash can (as he did) or called me to let me know it had blown over or, because of his mobility issues, he could have asked another neighbor to remedy the situation. All of these would demonstrate kindness but which one you do is random.

Maybe the more important thing is to be looking for opportunities to demonstrate kindness - randomly and intentionally.

thankful thursday - one at a time

We have six grandchildren, five of whom live across the country from us. We are blessed to be able to see them three or maybe four times a year. Most often we fly to North Carolina and visit them because it's easier with school schedules and less expensive for two people to travel than it is for seven.

But when each grandchild turns ten, they get to come to our house by themselves for two weeks. It's become a rite of passage separating the little kids from the big kids. It's something they look forward to for years - as do we. And this summer it was Nick's turn to come.

Nick came out to Arizona with his whole family in a cross-country road trip. The rest of the family left from Flagstaff to go back home but Nick stayed with us and we did a little more sight-seeing in the high country.

We went to Meteor Crater - it was MUCH larger than Nick thought it would be! Then we enjoyed the view out this fabulous "window!"

We also spent a weekend exploring southern Arizona. Nick was surprised to learn that Arizona has both cool pine forests and scorching deserts.

Our first stop was the top of Mount Lemmon where the ski lift was a big hit. We stopped at some of the hoodoos and other rock formations as we drove down the mountain. The next day we stopped at the Titan Missile Museum where Nick got to turn the key to "launch" the missile. Then we drove through Saguaro National Park on our way back to the valley. Nick's favorite cactus is the prickly pear although he was intrigued with the saguaro skeletons.

While we were out traveling we introduced Nick to the wonderful world of geocaching. He caught on very quickly and talked Grandpa into giving him his old GPS so he could geocache at home! 

Before Nick left Arizona, he used his GPS to find a geocache near our house all by himself - well, I drove to the site but he told me which way to go and then he found it. He was soooo excited to put his own username in the log!

Nick likes breakfast... a lot! He learned to make pancakes at his great-grandma's house in California and wanted to practice while he was here. And then he wanted to learn to make waffles. But Nick also likes to experiment so we added cinnamon chips... or chocolate syrup and cocoa... or bacon. Every day was a new adventure! I think he may be a chef one day!

His favorite creation was a chocolate waffle topped with red velvet ice cream, chocolate syrup and a cherry on top. I was out of whipped cream or he would have had that on it, too! He got pretty good at making Mickey pancakes and thinks I should buy a Mickey waffle iron for the next time he comes to visit. Sadly, he had never had Jell-o Jigglers so we made Minion ones - which he proclaimed good and fun.

Some days we worked on projects. 

Nick wanted to learn how to crochet. He is left-handed and I am right-handed. Although he is left-handed (and I am not), he learned pretty quickly how to make a chain and then braid them into a friendship bracelet. 

We got a kit for making bouncy balls. He loved making them and then explaining how they were made from polymers and other geeky stuff. Another day he wanted to put blue food coloring on a piece of watermelon to see if it would turn purple. It did not.

And other days we went out to do errands or something more fun.

Movies are a great way to escape the heat! While we were at Chick-fil-A for lunch one day, Nick arranged a kitchen tour for the following week. It was really very interesting (and clean!) and they feed you! We got ice cream cones since our tour was in the afternoon - and Nick got a stuffed cow!

And, of course, almost every day we went swimming!

Snorkeling was great fun but Nick REALLY liked talking through his snorkel! He quickly learned to hold his breath when Grandpa flipped him!

We had a lot of fun. I laughed a lot!

And I learned a lot about Nick. He is interested in current events. We had a long and involved discussion in the pool one day about illegal immigration. He has a soft heart and cares about God's creatures. A bird hit the living room window and fell to the kool deck, dead. Nick was very concerned about the bird and his family. Nick doesn't like to be alone but can work or play independently without interacting with someone. And he still isn't too old for a big hug and a smooch!

Before we knew it, it was time for Nick to go home. The house was once again quiet (not necessarily a good thing!) and I didn't have to go grocery shopping every other day (growing boys eat a LOT!). And I missed the ten-year old conversation and doing things on the spur of the moment. I am thankful we have the opportunity to hang out with our grandchildren one-on-one and really get to know them. And I am thankful they want to come visit us!

wacky wednesday - pin mania

(This will be my last regular "Wacky Wednesday" post. I have been posting them for a year and a half and am ready for something different. Starting tomorrow you will find a "Thankful Thursday" post every Thursday. I will still write the occasional Wacky Wednesday post because... well, there are just so many wacky things to contemplate!)

Mickey Mouse ears, the popular black hat with the iconic ears attached, are the most popular Disneyland souvenir of all time. More than 84 MILLION have been sold at the park since it opened 60 years ago. I admit I have bought a pair.. or two... or more... myself. After all, embroidering your name on the back is included for "free" and they are just so... festive.

We used to see hundreds of people at Disneyland wearing their Mickey Mouse ears but in the past decade or so we have noticed a new trend gaining momentum - pin lanyards. You know, a fabric lanyard with Disney character pins attached. At first it was primarily the kids - pins were available soon after Disneyland opened in 1955 and they were a very affordable souvenir.  But pretty soon the adults got caught up in it and the real fun began as Disney realized they had a gold mine.

We thought it was kind of funny when we first started noticing adults with lanyards full of pins clanging as they walked. And sometimes it was hard not to stare at all the pins. I found myself chatting with people about their pins while we were waiting in line together. And I discovered that "pin people" were really friendly and enjoyed sharing stories about their pins. I learned it was about collecting pins but also trading them.

After the Millennial Celebration at Disneyland, cast members began trading pins with guests. Each day certain cast members were issued lanyards loaded with pins to trade. And, of course, guests can trade with each other. However, within the park, there are some rules: 1) Cast members MUST trade if a guest asks to trade a pin 2) Guests are not required to trade 3) Money or gifts cannot be used in trade for a pin.

My sweet hubby got his first lanyard last year and began collecting Toy Story pins. And Pluto pins. And then ride attraction pins. And a Monorail series. It's a fun hobby - talking to people, trying to complete a set, and looking at them when you get home and remembering the good times all over again.

A few of his favorite pins - mostly "keepers!"

Soon after he began collecting pins, we went to a D23 (the official Disney Fan Club) Mickey's of Glendale Shopping Event. It's where the employee store for the imagineers is located and they have official Disney merchandise (including pins!) you can't get at the parks. We arrived two and a half hours before the store opened to get in line. People were friendly and the time went by fast. 

After we got in line we learned that they were releasing a very limited edition (300) Frozen pin set (one giant pin and nine regular pins) priced at $200. For comparison, the most expensive regular pin at Disneyland is $15.99. The first 450 people in line got a ticket that enabled them to draw a piece of paper out of a bowl. If your paper had Elsa on it, you were allowed to buy one pin set, if it was blank, you got nothing. So you could have been the first person in line and not been able to buy one, or the 450th person in line and able to get one of the 300 pin sets. If you drew an Elsa paper, your name was written down and only you could buy it - you couldn't give the paper to someone else. 

To the amazement of the people in line around us, we had absolutely no intention of buying a Frozen pin set for $200. We quickly realized these were not the average pin traders at the park but were professional pin traders and sellers. They buy/trade for pins they like but they also buy/trade for pins they think will increase in value. It is almost a full-time job to constantly monitor pin-trading websites and groups to know when pin values peak. Several people told us they have made as much as $750 on a pin sale. Crazy, huh? 

The women behind us in line was friendly and answered my many questions.  She and I quickly became friends. She told us that these Frozen pins were predicted to skyrocket in value because of the popularity of anything Frozen, the exquisite workmanship of the pins and the very limited edition number. She was hoping to buy two sets (her daughter was with her so she got two chances for the Elsa paper). Since we weren't buying any, I told her she could have ours - or rather, we would buy it since we had to and then sell it to her for $200. 

We finally got to the head of the line to draw our papers. We drew one Elsa and one blank. My new friend drew two Elsa's. And she bought my pin set (yes, she came with cash!) - so she had a total of three. When I asked what she would do with them, she said she'd keep one for her daughter who loves Frozen and sell the other two.

Once we were inside the walled-off patio area, there were places to sit and relax. This was when the real fun began. We had another two and a half hours to kill before our time to go in the store (they limited the number of people allowed in since the store is relatively small). Suddenly pin binders opened up everywhere, white gloves came out and people were ready to trade. 

The professional pin traders keep their pins in their original packaging and only handle them with gloves. They all seemed to know (and like!) each other. It's not a competition and they don't try to undercut each other. Rather, they help one another find the pins they want, jointly find accurate values and build relationships. 

We learned about "scrappers" (pins that are flawed or don't make the cut in production and are scrapped) and "fakes" (knock-off pins usually made in China, where, incidentally, the official Disney pins are also made) and how to spot them since unscrupulous people will buy them to sell or trade. We learned the history behind some of the older pins. We learned some of the short-hand they all seem to speak. It was a fascinating experience!

We finally got inside the store, found some cute gifts and several pins that will be keepers, not traders but will not be worth any more than what we paid for them. As one of the professional pin traders told us, it's not about how many pins you have or how valuable monetarily they are. It's about enjoying the experience, the people and the pins you like.

Remember the Frozen pin set that originally sold for $200? Less than a year later it's listed on eBay for $900! Really crazy, huh?