Swallowed Whole in Palm Springs

In the Warm Sands neighborhood near downtown Palm Springs stands a creative mailbox that also has its frightening aspects.



Making it even more sinister is the front yard behind the snakebox that looks like it has swallowed its inhabitants whole.

Palm Springs Teabagging

A small group of white, mostly elderly people stood in downtown Palm Springs in solidarity with other Fox News afficionados around the country to protest taxes and Obama and the financial bailout.



Princess Sparkle Pony is convinced that the entire affair is a brilliant Dada Art stunt (click here).



Beth Spotswood found herself confused by the use of the word "teabagging" and offers a few other suggestions for Republican campaigns at SF Appeal (click here).



I'm just curious where these people think the money comes from for their patriotic military adventures around the world. The mind boggles at their utter cluelessness.

Early-Century Modern Signs of the Times

Leaving the land of death, I continued on the train to Palm Springs where hideously designed new signage was promising that "Life = Fun."



As the psychedelically decorated "A+ Home Health Care" vehicle in front of the St. Baristo condos reminded, Palm Springs is affectionately known as "God's Little Waiting Room."



Across the street from the condo complex is an historic 1935 Protestant church that was never called St. Baristo but which was part of the redevelopment plans of developer John Wessman, who wanted to turn the religious complex into a spa.



This didn't pan out so well so the church property is now up for sale, which was a bizarre sight.



Down the street on Palm Canyon Drive, one of the mid-century modern buildings has emptied out of most of its tenants, including one that pretty much sums up the casino financial structure of the U.S. economy.



The cracking signage spelled out "Pit Boss Empire USA."



Across the street, another mid-century modern masterpiece by E. Stewart Williams is free of ugly commercial signage because until recently it was a Washington Mutual banking branch and the Chase conglomerate hasn't had time to put up its logo yet.



The most unusual signage in Palm Springs, though, is a homemade screed that's been taped to walls and telephone poles all over town by either a speed freak or a schizophrenic who wants you to know you're not alone if you're hearing voices and hate Lisa aka: Victoria, Carmen (but her real name is Sheree). The handbill publisher also advises that "You are not crazy...you are being electronically harassed!!!" And who's to say he/she is wrong?

Sycamores and Nasturtiums

My nephew Marshall showed off his arm muscles...



...before wheeling himself through narrow paths at the southern point of the beach...



...which led to my mother's favorite grove of sycamores surrounded by nasturtiums.



I went inside a mortuary for the first time to collect my mother's ashes and the place was even more grotesque than I'd imagined.



We don't deal with death very well in our culture. Though my mother was a member of a leftist Catholic offshoot organization that holds services in the San Luis Obispo gay and lesbian center, they weren't really part of her family's life. So we did our best to give her a decent sendoff into heaven on our own.



The death of a parent brings out some of the more extreme emotions in children, and though there was a chair throwing argument between a pair of sisters, by the time I'd arrived the four of us were doing our best to be kind and gentle with each other, which has never really been our style.



As my mother's printed obituary put it, "Pat loved many things: her children (usually) and grandchildren (always)."



She lived long enough to have a great-grandchild which for an Earth Mother must be accounted a resounding success.