Cheryl Spelts | February 2008 Archive

February 6, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Downtown Fallbrook

So I took a little walk downtown on Main Street today, and did a little documenting…

Diva’s always has the best window displays. Right now they’re featuring dresses made out of tissue paper and these really pretty lamps. It’s very creative – and their windows always are – and they have a lot of windows! My grandparents used to own shoe stores and my Grandma did beautiful displays – it’s definitely an art form.

I love the way the street and the traffic lights are reflected in the window. And you can see through the window, back out to the other side of the street, as well as into the shop. It’s just a really interesting shot with lots of levels.

A view of another window, with yet another lamp and more reflections.

For years Fallbrook didn’t have a place to buy fabric, but it looks like we do again. These bolts of a plastic-y fabric for outdoor use, were sitting outside, and inside there were people happily shopping.

It’s not unusual to see a vintage car like this parked on the street. I think there are more classic cars in the area than anywhere else in California, and the owners like to show them off!

On Main Street some of the buildings are really old, and some are made to look that way, and it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference – which is a good thing.

I love this sign! The Mission Theatre runs a dance school across the street, so their students are often seen darting across. In this case, “Dancer Xing” is accurate.

The Mission Theatre was built in 1948, and the inside still has some great original details. They do mostly children’s theatre now, but in the past they did adult productions, and before that it was all movies.

As I’ve mentioned before, the building my studio is in, Elder House, was a school until only recently – and the traffic signs haven’t been removed yet.

I love to watch leaves fluttering in the breeze. I shot nearly thirty frames of these leaves as they blew wildly, and considered putting together an animation. Maybe…

And of course there are some pretty little plants along Main Street…

These trees are just now blooming – so pretty!

And my favorite shot of the day! Who knew some leaves and stems could be so yummy?

February 5, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Provisional Voting

I had an interesting experience at the polls today. When I first registered to vote, at age 18, I registered with one party – but I haven’t always voted for the candidates put forth by that party. I tend to pick my candidate based on who they are as a person, and what they espouse, and less on what party label they wear. So today, I once again was attracted to a candidate for president in the other party, but I realized it was the first time I’ve ever felt that way in a Primary Election – so I explained to the poll worker what I wanted to do, and asked how best to accomplish that – since obviously if they handed me the ballot for my “official” party, my preferred candidate’s name would not appear on it.

The poll worker told me first it wasn’t possible – that I should have changed my party affiliation before the deadline, and now it was impossible. So then I asked how to write-in a candidate’s name, and she said that I could do that, but it probably wouldn’t count. And I told her that was fine, I might still do it anyway! She was completely kind and helpful, but luckily another poll worker nearby heard the exchange and grabbed the policy book and looked it up and discovered that I could indeed vote under another party, using a Provisional Ballot. Yeah!

So I got my special little peach colored envelope and as they explained it to me, the guy in line behind me said he wanted to do the same thing. And we all kind of laughed over it. Here I was the first person all day with that question – and it was really late in the day – and now they had two of us in a row. So I went over to the little cardboard voting booths and filled in the little bubbles with a pen – no electronic voting in Fallbrook! And when I was done, and waiting to hand over the peach envelope with my provisional ballot, I noticed a bunch of people getting peach envelopes. Now they could have been people from other areas, people who have recently moved – there are lots of reasons to use a provisional ballot. But as I left I smiled at the poll worker who had helped me and said, “Wow, there are lots of us all of a sudden!” and she smiled back and said, “Yeah, you really started something!” and she gave me the OK sign.

It made me feel good to realize that I’m not the only one – and also to know that because I asked the question, it opened the door to other voters getting to vote for the candidate they truly believe in, rather than having to stick to their official party’s candidates. I have no idea who they all voted for – but I think it’s VERY cool they got to make the choice they really wanted to make!

February 2, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

De Luz Schoolhouse

There’s a little one-room schoolhouse in De Luz – the only other existing one-room schoolhouse that I know of in this area, is in Anza, and it’s the school my great-grandma attended. She was born in 1904, lived to be 100-years-old, and rode a donkey five miles to get to school. But this post isn’t about her, it’s about the schoolhouse in De Luz – which is situated in the prettiest oak grove. It’s peaceful and quiet, the ground is fertile and rich, and the oak trees are the tallest I’ve ever seen. It’s paradise.

De Luz Elementary was built in 1927 and one teacher taught all eight grades. In 1968 the school was closed, and since then the building has been used as De Luz Ecology Center.

De Luz Post Office
The tiny post office may look like someone’s idea of a little joke, but there really are mailboxes in the side of the building.

I’ve shot in the area many times, but today was different. It was a gray cloudy day, and the light was flat except for a few brief moments when the sun broke through. But flat, subdued light can be be quite beautiful if you have the right subject matter. So this time I didn’t shoot the big soaring trees, or try for majestic landscapes – instead I mostly went after the subtle details that usually get lost in stronger light. And I found some wickedly beautiful details…

De Luz
Leaves on an oak tree.

De Luz

De Luz
Have you ever seen grass this pretty?

De Luz
Where they’ve cut off a limb, the tree oozes sap.

De Luz

Sheep in De Luz
These sheep are very lucky – they live in paradise, have plenty of room to roam, and look healthy and happy.

I was the only human in the area, so I thought they were all watching me, but shortly after I shot this image I saw some coyote footprints, and it occurred to me that this was the kind of day when wildlife is more active – and it’s the exact kind of day I’ve seen bobcats and mountain lions in the past, and here I was all by myself, with no other humans around, and I was concentrating on blades of grass and leaves? I’m usually smarter than that… So I decided to call it a day, and got back to my car, and then watched as a nice-looking healthy coyote trotted across the street. I am not afraid of one lone coyote, but a mountain lion is a different matter.

Oak Tree
And finally I shot this image on the way out to De Luz. I shot the same tree in December on a pretty sunny day, and the difference today, just two months later was striking. Where the hill was brown before, today it was green. Where the sky was bright blue in December, today it was gray. Very, very different day, and very different image – but still a really beautiful and striking tree.

De Luz
And the freshest little weed…

For more on the De Luz Schoolhouse, go to:
http://www.fallbrook.org/history/de-luz-school.asp

February 1, 2008 by Cheryl Spelts

Catching up…

Couple of things on mind today! First, it’s been an entire month since I gave up Diet Coke and it feels wonderful to no longer be in the clutches of that monster addiction. Okay, maybe it’s not a monster addiction compared to cigarettes or heroin, but since I’ve never done either of those two things, caffeine was my monster – and it’s official – I’ve slayed it.

So since it’s February first, I figured I was ready for a new goal, but I couldn’t decide which one to go for – so I’m picking two. One is simple, straight-forward and easy to determine if I’m sticking to it or not. The other is a bit more ethereal and harder to define if or when I’ve truly achieved it – but that’s okay, just the attempt is worth doing! So my goals for February are no more junk food unless it’s a special and social occasion. A hot dog at the fair, chips at a party, ice cream at a friends house – all good! Hitting the drive-through window for dinner because I’m so busy? Not so good.

The second, more ethereal goal is to catch more of the opportunities that flutter by… You know, the thought you have and never act on? I want to act on a few more than normal this month. I think as a rule, artists tend to grab more of those slippery little opportunities than the rest of the population – but hey, there’s always more, more, more!

This was in my fortune cookie last night – I’ll take is as a sign I’m on the right track!

On another topic, we named our Ultimate Rock Star at RBL – and the winner is also my personal favorite – Marty Casey. It’s been a fun ride the last few weeks, and the ending was great! David Goffin, executive producer of Rock Star stopped by to let us in some news about his next project – which sounds very cool! And then later, our Ultimate Rock Star himself, Marty Casey, stopped by to give a very funny and yes, heartfelt acceptance speech. Perfect ending to a really fun couple of months!

Edited to Add: Here’s a screenshot of the front of Marty Casey’s official site, with a mention of the win.