One of the north-south streets through East Pasadena is Michillinda—it starts up in Sierra Madre, near where my sister lives, and descends into San Marino.

Something I never knew (I always assumed it was just a corruption of an Indian or Spanish name) was that Michillinda was named by the original families that settled in the area in 1873-1874—some of whom were from Indiana, but others of whom were from Illinois and Michigan. (Mich ….. Ill ….. Ind[ian]a.)

Probably inspired by Charles Nordhoff’s accounts of the curative powers of Southern California’s dry climate (not the same Charles Nordhoff who co-wrote Mutiny on the Bounty, but an earlier one), all of the “Indiana Colony” families had fled from those three states to Southern California and the San Gabriel Valley to escape the harsh Midwestern winters.

Things are beginning to look up; I should be able to get back to posting soon … and lord knows there’s plenty to post about.

Unfortunately, LunarPages has officially trashed my MovableType installation and it’s all dead. The other sections of this site which I controlled with MT are temporarily dead until I get TextPattern installations up and running for them.

I hereby officially withdraw any recommendations I made for LunarPages. Their actions and lack of communication are bad business. Too bad. Things had been going very well.

In the meantime, enjoy the new Dayley Bayley section. And thanks for stopping by. We appreciate your bidness.

I had no earthly idea that I was living with a closeted “Love Will Keep Us Together” fan. Good lord, you think you know someone …

But having said that, I suppose I am forced to disclose myself. I’m more comfortable, as mentioned before, with movies; I’m a real Homer Simpson when it comes to music (“We Built This City” is kinda catchy) and I know next to nothing about it. But oh well …

• ABBA “When I Kissed the Teacher”
• Ace of Base “Beautiful Life”
• Bananarama “Cruel Summer”
• Bette Midler “From a Distance”
• Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear the Reaper”
• Bread “Everything I Own”
• Charlene “I’ve Never Been To Me”
• Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Come On Eileen”
• Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle”
• Men Without Hats “Safety Dance”
• Mr. Mister “Kyrie”
• Partridge Family “Come On Get Happy”
• Paul McCartney and Wings “Live and Let Die”
• Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”
• Robert John “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
• Scott McKenzie “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”
• Terry Jacks “Seasons in the Sun”
• Toto “Africa”

Also, some old Southern Gospel standards. And that “Tarzan” song. And the one where the guys sings “I Wanna Be A Cowboy.” And one to drive Frank really nuts:

• Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds “Don’t Give Your Love Up On Me Baby”

I’m such a music idiot, I don’t even really know if any of the above are cool or not. I just plead guilty to having them in my iTunes library.

And I’m sorry, but I have to be unrepentent about Madonna “Ray of Light”—’Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder …’

(In my defense, I usually have XM Radio tuned to the Blues, Traditional Jazz, 40s or Classical stations, and my iTunes is full of kd lang, Harry Connick Jr., Ottmar Liebert, Miss Ella Fitzgerald and Doris Day, so I’m not a total music lackwit/philistine.)

Now can we talk about movies?

Meanwhile, record-breaking temperatures back on the left coast. Pasadena, my hometown, hit 99 degrees (breaking a record set in 1992 by 7 degrees). The weather station at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, near where my friends Kit and Erin now live, recorded a temperature of 103. Normally temperate Santa Barbara hit an intemperate high of 98.

Up north, San Francisco hit a high of 82, Oakland hit 84, and the nasty, unfriendly, xenophobic town of Livermore, probably the single most scary place in the nine-county region (and that includes the East Oakland flatlands, Cloverdale, North Fair Oaks, and the outskirts of Novato), became even nastier at a temperature of 92.

srah said it was snowing this morning ….. and sure enough, when I took the dog out, there were unmistakable flakes in the air. I never thought I’d see the stuff this late. Amazing.