Day 67, The End, Pulled Groves, Corona, CA

Day 68, The End The End, Pulled Groves, Corona, CA, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This is becoming a common sight.  One of the beauties of where we live is that there are still a lot of Orange groves, or at least there were.  They are starting to meet this fate at a startling rate.  This is happening a lot lately.  Partly for land development, and partly for a disease that has hit some of these trees.  I will tell you, one of the smells that makes me think home is orange blossoms.  Growing up in Riverside, it is a part of my blood.  My mothers family grew oranges and lemons in the area.  I wish that I had some of the crate labels.  My daughter hears about it in elementary school as part of her history.  We live by a California State Park that celebrates the Citrus industry in the area.  

It is hard to complain too loudly, our housing track was orange groves before they plowed it under to build houses.  But the striking image of the uprooted trees, in uniform rows does something on a deeper level.  I guess it is all of those years of hearing about the great citrus industry, it is hard to see it really gone.

Thanks for Looking.

EXIF Data,

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Day 66, Stay Out, Corona, CA

Day 67, Stay Out, Corona, CA, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

There has been a lot of change in the area in the last few years.  When we moved here the shopping off of Cajalco was just up and running.  Across from the Crossings in Corona, as it is called, there was scrap metal facility, they are closed and gone with just the fence and the cement pad left.  I was told it was Imminent Domain.  But I can't confirm that.  Right by there was a grove of orange trees.  Tomorrow, I will post their fate.

Thanks for looking.

EXIF Data,

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Day 41 Fender Guitar Factory, Corona, CA

Day 41 Fender Guitar Factory, Corona, CA, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Since I checked out the Fender Museum, I was curious about the factory. The woman at the counter for the museum was nice when I asked her a couple of questions. I just wanted to know why would Fender put a museum in Corona. It turns out that one of their factories is in Corona. She said that she used to work there, and that it is a pity that they don't do tours since so many people would love to see that. She is right, I know that I would.

The Museum is a non profit that gets sponsorship from Fender. They do not own the museum, but they do have a factory in Corona. Weird to think that Clapton maybe playing a product of the Inland Empire. So I went to find the museum. They are on 311 Cessena Cir, Corona, CA 92880. I found them with a quick online yellow pages search. The other address that you may find if you do the same, 2621 Research Dr, Corona, CA 92882, is vacant. I think that they moved from the one to the other.

Now I am curious if I should be staking out the building for views of Stevie Vai or Avril Lavigne, maybe even Clapton himself has graced the IE....

Thanks for looking.

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Day 40, Johnny Cash's Guild Guitar

Day 40, Johnny Cash's Guild Guitar, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." for many years, that is what Johnny would say while playing this guitar. It is a Guild D605BE. It was a gift from Johnny to his good friend Bill Miller. This guitar was given to him in Feb of 1993 and the letter that Johnny sent to Bill with it said that he had played this guitar in every concert for more then 10 years.

For curiosity, I wondered, was it really more then 10 years? On the letter that Johnny sent to Bill with the guitar, he scratched out the word "more" and then put "more" in anyways. Why would he do that? It is possible that Johnny mistakenly put more then 10 years. The Guild website does not list the D60 until 1987. The serial number that Johnny notes in his letter to Bill would place the instrument to 1987.

It is important to note that Guild on their website mentions that unfortunately, some of the serial number documentation has been lost over the years resulting in holes. I am also not an expert in Guild Guitars. Certainly, It is Johnny's Guitar, but it was probably not played by Johnny for more then 10 years. It was a fantastic gesture to his good friend Bill. Bill also has the duster that was used for some of the photo shoots with the guitar and the case for the guitar.

The museum is worth a stop if you are in the area and are a Johnny Cash fan as there is not another Cash museum anywhere else. A pity if you think about it. Johnny was part of the quartet that came from Sun records and changed music. Elvis has Graceland, but Johnny is in a small museum in Corona.  A Big Thanks to Mr Bill Miller for placing all that great Johnny Cash memorabilia in the museum.  

Thanks for looking.

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Day 13, Duck

Day 13, Duck, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This duck was not happy with me. He was asleep on the edge of the spill over between the two lake at Dos Lagos. As I was there to shoot the benches that I posted yesterday, I notice this guy asleep with his head tucked into his wing. He did not make for a great shot, so I started talking to him. He turned around and looked at me then he quacked back. (See Below) So then I tossed a pebble that was by my feet into the water close to him. He thought it was food and got all excited as he moved over to investigate. When he did not find something to eat I thought he was goint to fly away. I was hoping that he would fly away so that I could get that as a shot. But he streached out (this picture), tucked his head back into his wing and went back to sleep. I tossed another pebble and another, but he was done and would not budge. Amazing, even the animals around us are a little jaded.

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Camera:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
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Day 12, Benches at Dos Lagos

Day 12, Benches at Dos Lagos, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

I wanted to shoot these cool benches for some time now, but I just finally got around to hitting them. Isn't it amazing that you just can not seem to get to what is close to you, but when you are in New York, you can shoot 2 gigs.

I love the curves and lines that combine with the bamboo backdrop by the lake to make a serene place. The sense of quiet seclusion is only enabled by the fact that the walkway that crosses the spillover between the lakes is lower then the shopping and because of the curve of the path, completely sheilded. The place of a bench, when done well, should invite you to sit and stay. Many times, I see benches that are no good for anything more then tying a shoe. They are in the middle of the bustle and flow of a mall or on a street that is as inviting to sit and pass a few moments as a root canal.

I love to find a place to hide every now and then. As a sales rep, I am on the go all of the time. Some days, when I don't have a business lunch, my favorite thing to do is to go hide for a little bit and think about the world in a bigger way. I have had some of my best ideas for both work and life just learning to let my mind wonder in a place that isn't dominated by messages that overwhelm. I turn off the radio, the phone, get away from the internet and people as much as possible. Then it just happens.

Here is a pic that I wish I took.

Curves, originally uploaded by Durian Surprise.

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Day 11, Amphitheater Backdrop at Dos Lagos

Day 11, Amphitheater Backdrop at Dos Lagos, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

In direct opposition to my post yesterday, this is not old, unless you think a year is old. For Thanksgiving, I thought that I would post some pics that I have been thinking about taking for a year. Last year we were home for thanksgiving with all of my familiy visiting and staying at our house. I come from a family of six kids, so start adding in all our children and it is starting to get big. So I went for a morning ride with one of my best friends (see Day X) and we went on a route that we have never done.

Cajalco is a small, windy, two lane road and we are afraid of due to the traffic. So here we are barreling down the the 800 foot drop in less then 3 miles on Thanksgiving day with the road all to ourselves and we come to the new development, Dos Lagos. It is a retail center with a man made lake. The lake is on two levels with a little 10 foot waterfall right beside a cool walkway that bisects the two little lakes. The developer built a little ampitheater. There is nothing particularly speacial about it, it is an outdoor space with a modernistic backdrop. As I was walking around the new development, The ampitheater is out of place with this backdrop since the shopping complex is built in the "established" or "Main Street" style. The shops and area are built to look like like it has been around for awhile even though it is new.

This is the hard part of living on the West Coast, there is no sense of History. We build developments to look old, when they are new. There are not Civil or Revolutionary war era memorials or buildings. The cities don't have the sense of place that comes from history. This particular development was Orange Groves 5 years ago. Now it one of the places that we spend a lot of our entertainment time. In fact, another development out here that we love to go to is Vicotoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. It has the feel of up scale main street from 50 years ago. Of course it isn't 50 years old, it was a vinyard until they bulldozed it under 3 years ago.

LA is a great big freeway and each city is distinguished by how many off ramps they have. As Southern California has grown, all that has happened is that the gaps in the freeway have come closer together to make the spawl even bigger. Don't get me wrong, I love it out here. I love the weather and the people are great. Life seems to run at a different pace. But it is hard to see the orange groves that I have grown up around disappearing.

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Camera:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
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