Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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From time to time readers send me stories or poems or other written pieces that they think I might like to pass on, like today's offering. These 12 short-short stories are quite powerful and made me think about everyday happenings and how simple statements or actions can mean so much. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. 1. Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I'm working on for my Psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said,...
I had such a great time on a Sunday drive a few weeks ago that I decided to take another similar one last week. This time I took a different route to the Lake Isabella area – up and back down the canyon – specifically with the idea of visiting the Silver City Ghost Town in Bodfish. And once again, the drive was just as entertaining as the destination. I headed out of Tehachapi on the 58 and took the Comanche exit, turning north toward the 178. A few miles later I turned right onto the 178, follo...
The heat has been getting to me lately, as I'm sure it has gotten to you as well, and while gas prices are going down, they are still relatively high. Both of those factors prompted me to go somewhere close this time, just a short drive and to a mostly indoor, cooled destination. That destination was the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, and it turned out to be a great little quick getaway (call it "half-day" trippin' instead of "day" trippin'). As is my usual modus operandi, I...
If I was doing an out and back hike (as opposed to a circular trail), I learned long ago that even when you take the same path back, when you're going in a different direction the same scenery changes. I got into the habit of looking over my shoulder now and again, especially at forks in the trails, to see what the scenery would look like on my way back. I firmly believe that habit kept me from getting lost on some occasions or, at the very least, momentarily confused on others. When I'm in my...
Back in the day, a long time ago when I was a kid, a Sunday drive was a pretty regular weekly event. As a family we would go to church, then perhaps have a big Sunday dinner, and after that we would take off for a Sunday drive. Sometimes the drives were to favorite places, sometimes they included extended family members. Sometimes they were for parts unknown as we explored every big and little road, paved or dirt, in our surrounding area. The idea of a Sunday drive has stayed with me through...
I used to love to go to the library when I was a kid. I have vivid memories of several libraries, but the one I remember most and best was the one I used as a teenager in Chariton, Iowa. It was an old brick building with lots of oak inside and a polished floor that echoed when a person walked on it or when a wooden chair was scooted around. A sort of reverent silence was closely guarded by the librarian. Today's libraries are typically more modern than those of my youth – and not always as q...
I got another hankering the other day, this time for an authentic old-fashioned chocolate malt. And my favorite get-away place to get such a thing is the General Store in Randsburg, California. So, off I went on one of my favorite day trips – a drive through the desert and up into the mountains to Randsburg, known lovingly as a "living ghost town." 2020 census says the population is now 99 but it is more known for its plethora of old abandoned buildings and artifacts, most of which are left o...
Here's another one of those wonderful little stories that have come to me from friends via the Internet. In researching this anecdote and trying to find the original author, I found out it was once (perhaps originally) of Chinese origin. By the way, it also turns out that there are several different stories that use the premise of a rich father and his son ... but those will perhaps be for another time. Wherever this story came from or whomever first wrote or told it, the tale is worth reading...
I feel fortunate that we have so many small museums in our area, and each museum I go to presents a unique experience, different from the others. Case in point for this time is the Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest. Founded in 1962 with a mission "to preserve, interpret and develop an appreciation for the natural and cultural history of the Northern Mojave Desert through research and education in the natural and physical sciences," the museum also works to promote the arts. In addition to a large...
Sometimes I worry about world peace. I worry that no matter how noble a goal it is, it will never happen. I worry about this because of the constant reminders I see all around me that people can't get along in the smaller bits and pieces of life, never mind the larger picture (i.e. the whole world). And it seems to be getting worse these days as some people seem to be outright embracing and glorifying the ugly side of language and attitude and actions. So often, then, we seem to be living in a...
I'm not very good at making up puns, but I love to hear or read them. Here are some more fun puns I've come across in the last few months: The Black Eyed Peas can sing us a tune but the chick peas can only hummus one. Dad, are we pyromaniacs? Yes, we arson. The man that invented the Ferris Wheel never met the man who invented the merry-go-round. They traveled in different circles. She was only a moonshiner's daughter, but I miss her still. You really gotta hand it to short people ... mainly...
I love day trips, getting away for a few hours and experiencing something different than the ol' home front. Sometimes I go for a learning experience, like when I visit museums or other places of historical interest; sometimes I go for the entertainment, like to ball games or casinos or concerts. Sometimes I go for exercise, like hiking in a pretty place; sometimes I like to go somewhere different just to be in nature and relax. A few people have suggested a great natural relaxing place to me,...
In spite of the heat the day I was there, I was, as usual, enthralled with seeing the various animals, which ranged from reptiles and desert tortoises to raptors, a variety of birds and all sorts of mammals (the coastal room was closed for the day). The good news is, besides the animals there are hundreds of native trees and bushes, identified with placards for education purposes, that make for plenty of shade. Walking on the mildly hilly paved paths is easy and all-accessible, and there are...
"Never," said my mother quite frequently, "did I ever think I would have cats in the house." She usually made this statement as she was lying in bed, scratching my tuxedo cat Amos's ear with her left hand while rubbing my calico cat Tasha's tummy with her right. The cats purred and I laughed every time she said it. I never thought I would be a cat person either, but there we were, a few years ago, both of us finding love and joy and companionship in the company of cats. My family always had...
Every now and then an opportunity arises for me to get out of the comfort zone of our little mountain town and its slower pace and get into the faster pace and sometimes chaotic scene that is Los Angeles. Such was the case a couple of Sundays ago when friend Suzanne Bennet and I headed south. Our destination was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. for an evening lecture by Angela Davis. We left mid-afternoon to allow plenty of time for travel and dinner before the main event;...
As I mentioned before, and as you probably know from countless mentions on television and social media, the month of June is Pride Month. It's a month long focus on LGBTQ+ pride and history, but most of the big celebrations are traditionally held on the last Sunday of the month, to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising in 1969. A little history: In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street in New York City, as they had done countless...
This week's offering is a twofer: the Twenty Mule Team Museum and the Aerospace Museum, both in Boron, California. I went back to Boron a few days ago to check out two little but mighty museums, each offering quite different experiences but both highly significant to the history of the local area. The museums are side by side on the corner of Boron Avenue and Twenty Mule Team Road, and right across the street from the 20 Mule Café (and a block down from Domingo's), making an easy stop to visit...
June is just bustin' out all over. It's a busy time of year – school gets out, summer is starting – clambakes are happening (can you tell I recently watched "Carousel"?) – and lots of special days are set aside in June. We've already acknowledged and celebrated D-Day (June 6). World Bicycle Day and National Egg Day were June 3, and National Hug Your Cat Day was June 4. National Cancer Survivor's Day was June 5, as was National Donut Day. June 8 was National Best Friends Day. Coming up: Flag...
Kern County is home to several worthwhile museums, and one of them is the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History and Science in downtown Bakersfield. I've been meaning to visit this museum for some time now but for one reason or another, I've never gotten around to it. Then one day local historian/artist/friend Helen McAllister suggested I check it out. She spoke so highly and enthusiastically of it that I moved it up on my list. So, friends Jane Baron, Leila Kleiman and I jumped into a car...
This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend, a time for most of us that – never mind the crazy weather we've been having – signals the beginning of summer activities like picnics, parades and vacations. It may be the first weekend of the year that you plan to go camping; it may be the weekend you plant the flower boxes or test ride the chaise lounge with a good summer read. It may signal the last weekend you have to get rid of all those weeds that are a fire hazard. Somehow, though, along with all the...
If you like rocks and rock formations and geological wonders, you'll love visiting the Trona Pinnacles. I took off to see them again on a recent Tuesday. Just about 20 miles east of Ridgecrest on SR 178, a BLM sign marks the turn to the Trona Pinnacles National Landmark, and although you can see them from the highway, at that distance the pinnacles look rather small and relatively uninteresting. Taking the five-mile dirt road (washboard and rocky and sandy) across the desert right up into the...
In "Romeo and Juliet" Shakespeare wrote: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Basically, what that means is that what really matters is what something is, not what it is named or called. I sure hope he was right. To wit: I'm changing my pen name from Mel White to Mel Makaw, and while how I smell is pretty much irrelevant, I hope that how I write will still be as worth reading. My real full name is Marilda Kay White. My folks read the name Marilda...
The last couple of years have been rough around all the holidays, as we haven't been able to get together in large groups due to the pandemic. Thankfully things are a little different/better this year and more people will be able to celebrate things like the upcoming Mother's Day in person. And of course, for a variety of reasons, some won't be able to see mom this year either, as is always true (work schedules, finances, etc.). But even if you can't be together personally, you can always...
When you want to visit an art gallery, the first place that comes to mind usually isn't an outlet mall. But that's changing these days. In the Laughlin Outlet Center in Laughlin, Nevada there is a wonderful gallery called the Florida D. Grecco Fine Art Gallery, named for the owner. On my last trip out that way I met Florida and had a great little visit with her. If it were closer to Tehachapi, I'd go there to check out the art more often than the two or three times a year I get to Laughlin. The...
I was loading groceries into the back of my Escape the other day when a pickup truck pulled into the space beside me. A woman roughly my age stepped out of the cab and just stood there a minute. "I've got to just stand here," she explained, "till my knees settle." Ha! I knew exactly what she meant and told her so. We commiserated a moment or two about how we needed to get our bodies ready to get going after any period of time sitting. I remember those days when I could just get out of the car...
