Paul Lester Photo

Ibarionex Perello
Well, folks, it’s almost time to go home. My flight leaves in a few hours. It’s been a fantastic trip. It was my intention to meet 3 fellow bloggers and that I did, along with the mysterious “The Husband”, a big bonus!

Yesterday, I had breakfast at The Alcove Cafe with Ibarionex. It was a great way to spend 2 hours sitting in an outdoor cafe with the temperature in the lower 70′s. We talked, of course, about photography, blogging, his podcast, interviewing, reviewing cameras, you name it, it seems that we covered it. Many of you might know him from his podcast, The Candid Frame, where he interviews one photographer each week. If you’ve not checked out, give it a listen! We traded ideas about blogging. I got the inside view on how much time it takes to produce a podcast. I asked him if he ever went back to listen to some of the podcasts that he did in the beginning, some 5 years ago. He admitted that he and that it was painful to listen to. LOL – We all know that feeling. Some of my older photography stuff, I just shake my head, smile, and sometimes laugh, knowing that it was a learning experience.

We discussed the places that we’ve lived. He’s lived here most of his life and had considered moving to NYC, and at one time, Dallas, TX, but when he visited Dallas, he’d come to the conclusion that there was nothing there for him, nothing but concrete and strip malls. My feelings exactly!

It was a fantastic visit, if not much too short, but he had things to do. Just because I’m on vacation, doesn’t mean that everyone else’s life stops.

I headed back to LA to meet up with my cousin. She took me on a sightseeing tour around the city. I drove. She doesn’t have a car. LOL – I’m not much of a tourist, nor sightseer – I couldn’t care less about The Forum, Hollyweird, The Walk of Fame, etc. So, we just drove through various neighborhoods, historical places. She’s an extrovert supreme, so she was ready to go, go, go, but I had to put a limit on it at 4 hours because I was tired! Time to get back to the cave. Oh, yeah! But, we still had a good time.

This morning, about 3:00 AM, I got a text. I thought that it was from someone on the east coast and decided to read it later. When I awoke, I discovered that it was from my cousin asking me if I “felt that”. Felt what? She said: I think that it was an earthquake, maybe about 3.2. Hmmmm. I checked the news and yes, there was an earthquake last night, with the epicenter near Inglewood, CA, which is where my hotel is located. It was a 3.8 and did no damage. I slept right through it and, as far as I could tell, there was nothing out of place in the hotel room. So much for my powers of observation.

It’s been fun! 3 bloggers, my cousin, one earthquake! Who could ask for more???

Now, I’m tired, ready to get home and settle for just a bit before escorting Mr. Tony to Nebraska in just about a month.