Los Angeles River

Here are pictures of the Los Angeles River that named the city from my Tuesday 14 April day off outing, along with a handful more from 2017, 2018, and 2019. Just as you enjoy a piece of music or a culinary specialty over and over again, visuals are just as good the second, third, and multiple times. The first two groups come from Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park in the spring. All these photos are from a soft bottom area that supports wildlife and wild plants, and not from a concrete storm drain section.

From Tuesday

From Previous Years

Lewis MacAdams quote: "If it's not impossible, I'm not interested."

Around the Frog Spot in Late September 2017

Five Minute Friday :: Schedule

World Communion Sunday Welcome Table Bread and Cup
• Five Minute Friday :: Schedule Linkup

Whether it's skeddule or sheddule, it's an essential for staying organized and productive. Schedules help planes and trains take off and arrive on time. They let employees, suppliers, vendors, customers, and everyone else know what hours they can shop. Etc. Etc. Society necessarily runs on multiple interdependent schedules, as do families. For the tulips in Kate's FMF "schedule" illustration square, experiencing winter is a necessary part of their schedule if they're going to flower in the spring.

Then there's Kate's reminder not to get so engrossed in making a living (overscheduled) that you neglect getting a life.

Aside from daily details for home, work, school, or various appointments, have you noticed how your week eases into a schedule that includes work, play, rest, recreation, and worship? These days I work second shift 2 to 11, Wednesday through Monday, a schedule I never thought I'd like. Although I don't exactly love it, aside from being grateful for a reasonable job in this crazy economy, I've discovered my body, mind, and spirit have achieved a comfortable rhythm, at least for the medium term (if not forever).

The Sunday assembly centers the rest of my week around Word and Sacrament. You might say Word and Sacrament schedule my week with constant awareness of God with me.

There you have my reflective considerations about "schedule." Then there's the schedule I'd choose if I had the choice…

What's your current schedule? And your ideal?

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Five Minute Friday :: Remnant

• So, too, at this present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. Romans 11:5

• Five Minute Friday : Remnant Linkup

You may know Elijah and his contest with the Ba'als as the scriptural and historic context of "remnant" that the Apostle Paul refers to in order to make his point of God choosing us:

• 1 Kings 18:20-40

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life."

But what is the divine reply to Elijah? "I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:1-6

If you've sewn or quilted, or had quilting or sewing family members or friends, you know about fabric remnants. They're typically the tail end of a bolt of fabric that's not big enough to sell by the yard. Or sometimes it's a discontinued pattern they cut into sellable sizes. I used to sew a lot until I no longer did. I'm not sure why I quit, but I wonder… is remnant the same as leftover? Please let me know!

Instead of attempting some heavy-duty theology of gracious election that more than a few have done over the centuries, I'll go more in the direction Kate took. She wrote about her offspring leaving behind remnants of their visits, but I'm considering…

Last Sunday was the Day of Resurrection, Easter Sunday. Especially Orthodox churches celebrate the seven days from Easter Sunday through Easter Saturday as Bright Week; they consider the entire week a single day—the first day of the new creation. We sometimes talk about Eighth Day Theology. Some baptismal fonts have eight sides (octagonal) to help demonstrate our baptism into the new creation, our baptism as a new creation Into Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

Remnant is this week's prompt, so why am I saying so much about Easter? Jesus had scars in his post-resurrection appearances. It's important to remember the new creation is not pristine; it carries scars and leftovers from our old, deadly pasts. And because the New Creation is the rebirth, the transformation of the old, it contains remnants of what used to be.

What aspects of your past has God already resurrected? What's going on – or not – in your life and world that needs to experience death and resurrection? We look forward to the reality Revelation 21:1-3 describes:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

See, the home of God is among mortals.
God will dwell with them;
they will be God's peoples,
and God will be with them and be their God;

God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.

But right now?

A remnant of hope will carry us home.

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Vincent Price Museum

• The Vincent Price Museum is on the East Los Angeles College campus in the Monterey Park neighborhood and it's not creepy (as a person might think).

• Only one of the third floor galleries was open: Form and Function in the Ancient Americas.

from the website:
"Form and Function in the Ancient Americas highlights the wide range of cultures represented in our Ancient American collection. Cultures from the Nayarit-Jalisco-Colima region of West Mexico (2000–1000 BCE) to the Chimú of Peru (900–1500 CE) are featured.

• A retrospective of art by Ofelia Esparza was the highlight of my visit. At 94 years old, she still is is active as an artist and teacher! Ofelia is yet another denizen of LA (and elsewhere, too, of course) influenced by Corita Kent.

• Since I've been including my lunches/meals on these Tuesdays blogs, I'll mention I went to the Panda Place for the first time in eighteen months. Orange Chicken and Beijing Beef was a good choice because I'd been wanting to go there for a while, but I still prefer something with more veggies and more variety. The watermelon-mango crafted drink was delicious.

MOCA on Tuesday

• Tuesday I visited MOCA – The Museum of Contemporary Art – again.

I love this picture I got of the museum's location and position on Grand Avenue.

• My first exhibit was Star-Crossed Rendezvous by Haegue Yang that "Brings together two major installations executed using customized Venetian blinds … made nearly a decade apart."

• From the MOCA website: "Haegue Yang (born in Seoul in 1971) is known for large-scale installations that employ utilitarian objects." I understand how intriguing the interplay of shadows and light often is, but I don't get this Venetian blind art at all.

• Haegue Yang is on Instagram

• My notes weren't careful enough to separate what I enjoyed from Gifts of Michael Asher and Good on Paper: Works from the Gene J. and Betye M. Burton Acquisitions Endowment. Here's three I liked a lot:

• BUS by Mason Williams

• I didn't record the artist of this lovely scene.

• This large imaginative piece is by Ree Morton who didn't get serious about art until her early 30s, and then earned an MFA.

• The book store is exciting and packed with color; here's a display of mostly cat books.

• After Tuna Tuesday at the Subway across the street from MOCA and beside The Broad, I went to FIGat7th because I've long loved the name for the complex at (South) Figueroa Street and (West) 7th Street, and mainly because I needed a few things from Target the very small format Target near me didn't have. I hadn't been there since long before Covid, and the entire area hasn't aged well. It was a little depressing.

• McDonald's frappés are so good! Even though they don't have hazelnut, choosing between Caramel and Mocha is tough. Didn't they used to have chocolate chip and maybe another flavor?