Malibu Canyon morning picture of the day - Friday, May 15, 2015

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

My employer is having a graduation ceremony today, so between that and an accident on the canyon road, I sat still for an hour in Malibu Canyon. Here's a picture to commemorate that "blessed event."

I decided to get out of the car and take a picture of the golden hills leading into the canyon. We're in a drought here so the wild grasses are all golden yellow. We had a lot of rain last night so the color was darkened just a bit.  Once I got past the next traffic light up ahead, I sat still for an hour. (And here I worried that this stop would make me late into the office.)

You see the fog and low clouds sitting between ridges up ahead. Four minutes later and that scene was all white, no peaks or ridges were visible.

Once we got through the canyon, I took a shot of the clouds over the land looking back into the canyon. It's calmer out over the ocean right now.

There will be more moisture I'm sure, but it'll clear up tomorrow. I certainly hope so since I am reading names at two graduations tomorrow.

Sadly, I have no tongue-twister names to conquer tomorrow. I like a challenge.

What are always interesting are the dual-ethnicity mash-up surnames that show up. They are almost ALWAYS female. American women still observe the custom of changing surnames at marriage, but I guess it's hard to leave the identifying marker of your patrilineal name that defined you so distinctly, especially if you marry into a clan that is more conventional in larger society. Here are a few:

Ramirez-Radabaugh
Schneider-Dotiu
Alquitran Counts
Jorgensen Jang
Ramirez-Holbrook
Puthenveedu George
Fink-Robinson
Weisenthal-Stonefield
Rolan Yeh
Morales-Thomas

The two most unconventional are:
Christiana Onyenaturuchi Ekeke
Cheryl Isis Nefertari Brewer (this one because of the Egyptian goddeses for middle names)

These are always joyous events. I never see unhappy people at graduations. Unlike finals, they're not required attendance, so all the stick-in-the-muds sleep in and stay away. They're fun to be at and to part of. Most everybody is in funny clothes, esp. the hats, and nobody takes it all that seriously.

If this pic makes your gut twinge
even a little, in a bad way,
you know what I mean ...

On the contrary, I always see unhappy people at Disneyland, the self-appointed "happiest place on Earth"--I don't blame Disney though, they try--really hard. It's the competing agendae of parents vs. children, siblings vs. each other, and the incompatibilities of persons in dating relationships--always recipes for strife.

Oops. Hope I didn't jinx your upcoming trip to the Magic Kingdom. You paid nearly a $100 for that ticket, YOU'D BETTER BE HAPPY!

Have a great weekend.
Love,
Pops