Do you think of reasons not to do what you say you need to do? Do you belong to a procrastinator’s support group… that never meets? If so, how can you get into gear?
People ask; “Shelley how did you write 24 books?” I feel like a deer in the headlights… because I too am amazed. “How did I do it? After all, I’m naturally a slacker… so laid back that I could easily be like Ferdinand the bull who spends his days sniffing flowers and sleeping under a tree.”
Read MoreMemorial Day 2020
Absent from this year’s Memorial Day observances were the ceremonies held at many of the southland’s cemeteries and other landmarks. However, despite social distancing and other restrictions brought on by COVID-19, this Memorial Day, Southern Californians from Inland Empire to the shores of Orange County and Los Angeles County could share in one common experience.
Read MoreIt seems no novel has been adapted to the motion picture screen more times than The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald's work has been filmed five times. Notable versions include a 1926 silent film starring Warner Baxter and a very young William Powell; a 1949 Golden Age motion picture with Alan Ladd and Shelly Winters; and arguably the most popular adaptation in 1974, featuring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, and Sam Waterston, with a script by Francis Ford Coppola. The most recent epic stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire. Other popular titles that have enjoyed numerous reboots include William “Wild Bill” Wellman’s A Star is Born, and most recently, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
Read MoreSince the medieval times, June has been the month for the wedding season to begin.It’s the beginning of summer, the blooming season, that has allowed the wedding parties to be staged outside, both in the garden or at the seaside.
Read MoreI own a huge collection of over 500 movie costumes worn by the great stars of the golden age Hollywood and have been asked to feature something special befitting the month of June. I also utilize my costumes in a show, Hollywood Revisited (www.hollywoodrevisited.com). Here is the story of one costume from my collection and an aquatic star...actually this is a twofer as you will see.....
Read MoreMention the “Port of Los Angeles”, and the most familiar images that immediately come to mind may include massive container ships, trucks, cars, and an array of work boats all contributing to the Port’s status as a center of international trade.
Read MoreWe find ourselves in Gemini season, which began on the 21st and will continue through June 20th. A mutable Air element sign, Gemini ushers in a period of enhanced communication, learning, mental processing, versatility, spontaneity, and on a deeper level, understanding our own duality and the power of relationship as mirror.
Read MoreEver since the genetic code carried by the DNA double helix was deciphered, it has been the dream of biologists and medical doctors to be able to modify the code for the betterment of humankind.
Read MoreProtect the Poppies!
I want to preface this story with the following:
My goal is to raise awareness on how to enjoy nature without destroying it.
I am a self-proclaimed hippie-crit (I try to be “green” but am a hypocrite in many ways).
I am constantly learning and trying to lessen my impact on our planet.
Every spring, the poppy fields in California bloom in both Antelope Valley and Lake Elsinore. The fields are absolutely gorgeous and everyone should be able to enjoy them if we all make the conscious decision to take our trash back home with us, stay on the trail, and spread awareness!
Read MoreJune is known for Father’s Day, graduations, weddings, and even “busting out all over”!
Hence my first thought for the month was about films featuring fathers in various postures as the pivotal theme, significant to the story, honoring paternity in many different guises and touching on all the sentiments of “dear old dad.” My own darling Father was a “gentleman for all seasons”; smart, suave, stellar athlete, movie star handsome, kind, compassionate, and a Navy veteran of WWII. Am I prejudice, you bet! Even so he was human, not perfect and I miss him every day; and appreciate the fine values he and our equally elegant Mother imparted. Cherish your own parents in life and honor their memories by worthy action.
Read MoreI first met nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) growing wildly in an abandoned park. They had no water and no love but their lily-pad leaves blanketed the ground and their vibrant flowers popped in reds and yellows. There is a saying that goes, “be nasty to nasturtiums.”
Read MoreIn addition to reading your Sun Sign, it is also helpful to read your Rising Sign for further enhancement. ;-)
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Celebrating the beauty of the season, please enjoy some images contributed by some of our talented photographers.
Read MoreUSS R-7 Submarine, launched in 1919, on maneuvers with Palos Verdes Hills in the background.
After construction of the San Pedro breakwater was completed in 1912, Los Angeles outer harbor was used to support U.S. naval operations. As early as 1913, submarines would berth along the San Pedro waterfront. But it was not until 1914 that the Harbor Commission allowed the Navy the use of City Dock No. 1 and part of its transit sheds as a temporary base for submarines.
Read More(Excerpt from Shelley’s book “The MYSTERIES OF YOU.” )
Fruit flies do it. Fish do it. Dogs, cats, and lions do it. YOU do too– and you’re so attached to doing it that you spend a quarter of your life doing it because if you don’t– you die. SLEEP! BEAUTIFUL SLEEP.
But why? Why do you suspend voluntary functions to lie supine in an unconscious state? To relax muscles? Rev-up your brain? Restore energy? To learn? Make memories
Read MoreSince its inception, silk bandanas that are hand painted through the process of Water Marbling have been elemental to Meaning-Full Art, but they never could have anticipated just how sharply their meaning would transform in the wake of COVID-19.
Read MoreWelcome to my neighborhood
Our individual worlds have grown smaller since we have been sheltering at home, there much beauty to be found no matter where you live.
I live in San Pedro, so welcome to my neighborhood.
Let’s go take a look around and we’ll discover that many of my neighbors are excellent gardeners.
Read MoreMarymount California University is a private Catholic four-year university situated on the picturesque bluff on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that once served as an all-girls Catholic high school and a Catholic two-year junior college. MCU embraces is Catholic identity in the tradition of its founding order, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. The chapel on campus conducts weekly services and special holiday masses which the community is welcome to attend.
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