Castles

Gusts of wind lashed at the bay windows of the ferry terminal in St-Malo, France. The ground wobbled under my feet. A child whirled at dizzying speed around his parents and a few hapless passengers, contributing to my queasiness. I was headed to the island of Jersey, in the English Channel, for a taste of winter that Southern California does not deliver. This was a treacherous journey over tempestuous seas and across the international boundary that separates France and the largest of the Channel Islands.

In the summer, the sun in Death Valley shows no mercy, pushing the mercury over the 115-degree mark, sucking every drop of moisture from the earth and air. It is a cruel dictator. Winter then stages a coup. Daytime highs average in the 80s, nighttime lows in the 30s. Life returns to the 3-million-acre national park, and visitors will find a flourishing golf course, horseback rides, Jeep rentals, hiking, swimming pools and the historic and highly regarded 1930s-style Furnace Creek Inn. As an added prize, the 5,270 square miles of Death Valley serve up some amazing sunrises and sunsets in winter.

The parking lot guy Re "Bell's Rizzo serving time behind cars," Column, Jan. 13 I had to laugh while reading Steve Lopez's column about Robert "Ratso" Rizzo. First of all, the picture is classic. He doesn't quite fit the image of someone working at a surfing museum. I loved that Lopez asked him if he surfed. I don't believe for a second that Rizzo was there out of the goodness of his heart. He said he was a volunteer. His job there apparently was to make sure nobody parked there improperly.

Finding "Naked Heat" by Richard Castle simmering on the bestseller list wouldn't be unusual ? it's the second in a mystery series, with a sexy cover and a blurb from author Michael Connelly ? but for one thing: There is no Richard Castle. He's a fictional character. Castle is real enough to those who watch ABC Monday nights at 10 p.m., when the television show "Castle" airs. Show creator and executive producer Andrew Marlowe describes Castle, played by cult heartthrob Nathan Fillion, as "a ruggedly handsome New York-based novelist who lives with his mother and daughter.

Location: 770 Hillcrest Drive, Laguna Beach 92651 Asking price: $11.4 million (reduced from $15 million in September) Size: Twelve units (plus four nonconforming units) in various sizes, including studios, one and two bedrooms, with one three-bedroom, three-bathroom penthouse. Main building, 15,000 square feet; accessory building, 3,300 square feet Lot size: 3.7 acres Additional features: Community pool and spa, laundry area, patio and outdoor cooking area, 28 reserved parking spaces, basement.

Go to youtube.com, type in "salonen" and "bluebeard," and you'll get a pretty fair idea of where the L.A. Philharmonic's conductor laureate's heart and mind are these days. The resulting video shows Esa-Pekka Salonen last Wednesday rehearsing the Phil for Saturday's concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The program, a repeat of Friday's bill, opens with the U.S. premiere of "Graffiti" by Salonen's fellow Finn, the composer Magnus Lindberg, followed by Béla Bartók's "Bluebeard's Castle," based on the enigmatic tale of a nobleman whose new wife, Judith, fatefully investigates what happened to her husband's former spouses.

Pyne Castle, Walter Estel Pyne's Normandy Revival creation one mile north of downtown Laguna Beach, is on the market for the first time in 40 years. An eccentric and frugal entrepreneur, Pyne sold player-pianos through his Santa Ana franchise, but it was the discovery of oil on his agricultural land that gave him the resources to build the 62-room mansion he originally named Broadview Villa on 100 lots. Constructed from 1927 to 1935, it has a number of French and British characteristics including two steeply pitched turrets, broken hip roofs, pointed as well as soft arched windows and Gothic interior accents.

A soaring 150-year-old giant sequoia stands sentinel in the courtyard of a contemporary Pasadena home with an urban castle motif. The house, built in 2007 by architectural designer Van-Martin Rowe as his residence, is surrounded by 15-foot-high hedges and features a rooftop garden with rows of Italian cypress trees and succulent-filled planters. "Somebody had to have loved that giant sequoia tree because it belongs up north," says Rowe, who also had a signature line of men's and women's sportswear in the 1970s and 1980s.

Delaware Rep. Michael N. Castle announced late Wednesday that he would not seek to revive his candidacy for U.S. Senate as a write-in candidate. The Republican had been considering the option after his stunning loss to "tea party"-backed candidate Christine O'Donnell in the state's Sept. 14 primary. In a statement, Castle said he was "humbled by the strong encouragement" of many who hoped he would run, but that he did not "believe that seeking office in this manner is in the best interest of all Delawareans.

At a Tea Party Express rally last week, Christine O'Donnell bounded onto the stage and lit up the crowd with the same fiery style that has turned Tuesday's Senate primary into another battle for the future of the Republican Party. O'Donnell, a longtime activist who has made a career of crusading for abstinence-based sex education and other conservative issues, is now within striking distance of beating one of Delaware's best-known public figures: Rep. Michael N. Castle, the tiny state's sole representative in the House for nearly 20 years and before that its governor for two terms.