And now we’re all just going to get covid?
And totally excited! Cynthia did it all. She sent me tickets, rented our gorgeous accommodation in Mexico City, researched activities, restaurants, etc., she’s making it all so easy and comfortable for me. Thank you Thank you!
1 = Meeting Cynthia in Mexico City for an extended visit, with enough time to do whatever we want.
2 = Spending a nice chunk of time at Cynthia’s Home Sweet HOME in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
3 = At Lake Chapala to kick around with Michi for a week.
I was meeting Hilda for lunch and there’s a mall about half-way between us and a Chinese restaurant at the mall that is different and fun. There are three big windows like this with four people at each station making dumplings of various shapes and fillings. And Hilda had some shopping to do. But parking?! Noooo. I finally paid for valet which just meant that I got a parking spot, and it was worth it. That said, the parking lot was well and truly packed although the mall was definitely not.
There was a line though, of people waiting for their chance to get a 1,000 calorie Cinnabon.
I’m going to be with Cynthia on Christmas this year so DAR&L made a nice Early Christmas for us to celebrate before I left. So timely it was for carolers to come by and they did a couple delightful songs.
We had Christmas Breakfast for dinner! It was Rome’s idea and So Much Fun. And to top it off Angela made really good churros and Mexican hot chocolate. What a wonderful Adiós!
We exchanged gifts (that’s my pile!), played a game, and then it was time for vaya con dios hugs and kisses.
See you next year my darlings!
Some walks, the kitchen when the winter sun gives us rainbows, with thanks to my walkin’ pals.
me, Alicia, Lourdes, Ljubica, Maxine, Becky, Marija, Ann (Marsha was out of town on a mission of mercy)
Tonight was our annual Holiday Extravaganza. Alicia hosts and cooks most of the food with the rest of us contributing side dishes. We exchange little gifts for everyone and a Secret Santa gift too. It’s been our event of the year for soo many years.
Based on my pictures it looks like we started holding this particular party at Alicia’s in 2007, or this is my first evidence of it anyway:
This is an office complex in Santa Monica, a prime location pre-covid and now it feels like there is more than plenty of space available.
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This is an aerial from the internet, looking west to the blue Pacific.
Jo Ann has a show up at the Rose Gallery in Bergamot Station and among many wonderful pieces there was an entire series that I don’t think I had ever seen before.
The invitation to a fine fete put on by Burt’s wife Char, son David, and daughter-in-law Ann, widely attended by family and friends!
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I just went around annoying people left and right…
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Three pictures follow which should include everyone as we’d gather here to watch the video that the family put together.
CHEERS!
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And a view from the front of this charming house.
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From BURT
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Family Theater in Hermosa Beach, Lilly played Tiger Lily in their production of Peter Pan, and she was WONDERFUL.
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Some pictures from Angela!
Lilly was in the ensemble in one of the other (of the 7!) performances, here with her cutie-pie friend Cody.
Sunday, on the way back from Steve and Celina’s I stopped off to go to the movies with Marsha. We saw She Said and it was very good. Then we went back to their house where Tom had our cocktails ready on the counter. We each have a different preference of glass and the shape of our ice. It was so charming, and for dinner we ate Tom’s annual turkey soup that was the best EVER.
I don’t take a picture every day, I often go days without taking a picture, but this has been an especially fun-filled Thanksgiving season.
Wednesday I had some phone calls and otherwise did Nothing EXCEPT with these words I’m caught up!
Sam and Gideon
Every year for ages I’ve spent some part of Thanksgiving Weekend with Steve and Celina, often Gideon is around, and these days Gideon and his financée Sam come to enjoy Celina’s Thanksgiving leftovers feast too. It used to always be leftovers but these days Celina is cooking us fresh dishes too!
I didn’t take pictures of all the food, and this hors d’oeuvres plate wasn’t finished yet either. I slept over and got another gourmet treat for breakfast. Oh Celina!
Rome and I went to the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park especially to see the Spider Pavilion before it closes and while we were at it we looked around the Museum itself, ate at the cafe there, and admired the Rose Garden.
Another entirely recognizable part of the Natural History Museum although the displays are updated since my elementary school years oh so very very long ago.
Wow, what a fabulous Thanksgiving.
A Thanksgiving FEAST! Lilly made labels for everything with the name of the dish, the name of the cook, and if it was gluten free-vegetarian-vegan. We had it all and plenty for Everyone!
Vegetable salad, beet salad, and orange and fennel salad. Mac and Cheese. Green beans almandine, maple butternut squash, and baked Brussel sprouts. Mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and fried tofu. Sliced Honey Baked ham and turkey, and spiced crabapples. Cornbread stuffing in Delicata squash.
And THEN…
My thought was to get everyone to do a selfie but I obviously failed.
It was a beautiful time full of Thanksgiving and THANKS to be together.
For the day before Thanksgiving and the day of, and the day after and the day after that and the day after that, I do have some cute pictures but no time yet to choose them. I see a little free time coming up on Monday…
Happy Birthday Dear Sister, only two months and 10 days late but we all got to be there and have the delightful activity of Windy’s choice. We saw 9 to 5 put on by the Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse. It’s a definite Community Theater production but since they have access to all the out-of-work Hollywood actors, the programs are very well done.
Jo Ann is part of this show, and a shining star I might add.
Rome and I went to the Manhattan Beach Pier this time for a change of pace and I liked it!
Before and After, under my kitchen sink.
“Oh this is all wrong, we’ll have to change everything.”
I spent some quality time this week with the appliance fixer-person and the (different) dripping pipe fixer-person – find someone, get them to show up… All is well now, but you know, it’s always something. (btw The washing machine works when you wedge some nail clippers in front of the start/stop button “just right”.)
The Skirball up on Mulholland, near the Getty Center, has a lovely patio where they offer delightful programs throughout the summer. It’s winter now and much to my surprise, they’ve brought the programs inside where they’ve set up a stage and a temporary supper club with round tables and electric candles and the very entertaining Guy Mintus Trio.
Thanks to Jim and Rick for getting tickets and inviting me to join them.
We had a full house today on our Persian Poetry zoom call.
And speaking of zoom calls, Roger, Sandy, Nancy, and I enjoyed an e-visit recently and it was so lovely to be able to get together.
Rome and I did this walk after lunch and it was great. There are so many more murals than in the pictures here.
Lona’s picture.
I spent a lot of the last several days keeping my sister Lona company while she was under observation at the ever so comfortable and right-down-the-street St John’s hospital. It turned out they could not find the source of the trouble but everything is fine now.
This is Lona’s friend Jennifer who one afternoon and evening did Lona a great service. No need for the gory details. You too have probably drunk that gallon of disgusting liquid…
There we are in the shadows..Ingalill got a new camera! And may I say “it’s about dang time.” She got an old hand-me-down camera years ago and that camera stopped performing well even before the pandemic. And now she has a wonderful new camera and we went to the Santa Monica Pier for sunset to test out some of her newly acquired features. I of course clicked away too, photophoto!
I snagged the Ferris Wheel idea off Lill. ClickClickClick.
Trevor and Beth are in town and I popped over for a nice dinner and an excellent walk on the jetty.
All these pictures are from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Oh my goodness, the ride, YIKES, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I screamed and laughed and howled the entire ride without a moment’s break. Lilly held my hand. I had no idea such a thing as this ‘ride’ was even possible.
We also enjoyed (I screamed non-stop..Lilly held my hand) the Simpsons ride. It was both gross and terrifying at the same exact time, a Virtual Reality roller coaster. It felt so realistic, not real, just realistic, that my body thought it was riding a crazy Crazy roller coaster.
We also did the Tram which has a few thrill ride components, not at all like the olden days! And we particularly enjoyed Jurassic World too.
It was all quite fabulous. Even the lines were good arriving as we did early on a Tuesday morning because Lilly’s school had an off-day. And when we did have some waiting to do Universal did a good job entertaining us while we waited.
Sophie, Kaitlyn, Coco, Amandine, Audrey, Lilly
Sorting and Trading, 1/2 the Fun.
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What Angela Made!
For Bill’s first time at the Getty Center, we went on the last day of the Cy Twombly exhibit and although I’m not such a big fan I’m still really glad to have seen it. Above is a photo of Twombly with statues in front of the photo to give a cool 3-d effect.
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Cheryl didn’t come to LA this time and since I didn’t get a picture of Bill while he was here, I snagged this off their facebook.
There’s a long street full of these murals off PCH where Rome and I walked today after lunch.
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And then it was time for Rome’s haircut. This is a before. I forgot to get an after of the very cool result!
Then I went with Lilly to a Haunted House at the high school that was a Ton of fun.
Kelly and Kris bought a house together and it’s Great!
Here are a just a few random pictures.
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Alex and Carol are leaving in a week or two with Paul and Karyn on P&K’s boat for a couple months sailing to Mexico. Paul and Karyn quit their jobs, sold up, and fitted their boat for an open-ended sail for as long as it’s fun. Alex and Carol are going to offer encouragement and experience as P&K begin their adventure. You go guys!
Lilly and Rome, and Rome’s friend Link is on the screen.
The Hammer Museum has two shows on right now that I particularly enjoyed.
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“Joan Didion: What She Means is an exhibition as portrait, a narration of the life of one artist by another. Organized by .. Hilton Als.” The exhibition includes works from about 50 artists, on until mid-February.
You can see a small quote from one of Joan Didion’s works in the center of the photo above. The quote is from a story she wrote about when she left New York and came back to California. On the right are paintings that reflect life in New York and on the left are photographs from California. All the walls have this form, with a quote and selected art works, not all of the relationships quite as obvious as this one.
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There is also an exhibition of Picasso’s ‘Cut Papers’. I think they are wonderful! What a prolific guy. During my last trip I saw big Picasso shows in two different cities.
Here we are, me and Susie, now both Seventy-Five Years Old. Happy Birthday Susie!
Here’s a bit of the trail we enjoyed in Palos Verdes followed by lunch and a stroll around town.
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Disney Concert Hall .. LA Philharmonic Orchestra .. Gustavo Dudamel
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I and Marsha have tickets for two more performances. Lucky Dog Me!
Late lunch and a lovely visit, thank you sister!
Lona took the picture on the wall from right where we are sittling, looking out her living room windows. It looks just like that so often!
Surf the clouds.
And the pier, always the pier is in view.
I’m back to Monday lunch in the valley. Becky hosted this week, thanks Becky. Ann couldn’t make it though because she was recovering from bunion surgery. Ann bemoaned missing Becky’s dessert with the gang so I took the opportunity to stop by with a box of donuts!
I wanted to replace the two 3/4 dead white roses and I went with 3 different lavender plants. When I got home only one of them was in good shape and the other two were, again, like it’s my fate, 3/4 dead. So, more alive than dead, which is good?
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The left is from before my trip and the fruit on the right is when I got back. That red persimmon was Done.
The Meyer Lemons before and after. It’s losing leaves but the fruit is hanging on.
Flying over Amsterdam it was interesting to see all the windmills. We expect windmills but there were more than I expected. moreMore. And oh my goodness the Amsterdam Airport. Yikes. These were the longest lines I had ever experienced in an airport. It wasn’t Quite as frustrating as others though, because up until the last 10-15 minutes they had one longLong switch-backed line that shuffled along. At the end the one line broke into several lines and then you (me), of course, will get in the worst line.
As of Saturday I’ve been home for 4-5 days, slept off and on, did a little of this and that, saw a few people briefly, Cecilia came to clean the house, and I just had a normal night’s sleep, so YAY!
The whole family was testing positive in turns for a couple weeks and I was getting nervous I might not to get to say goodbye but a window of opportunity opened up on Sunday. YAY my darlings!
Rome, Lilly, me
And it’s going to be hotter tomorrow. We’ve got a steady heat wave until I leave on Tuesday. What have I been doing for several days? Visiting, eating, chores, reading up for the trip, watching stuff on tv, forgetting to take a picture… regular life.
The computer thinks it’s going to be 93 in Santa Monica on Sunday. Will I drag in the portable bedroom A/C for just the few days I’m still here? Alex has always done it in the past. I don’t know!
Long Beach Marina and the Queen Mary.
Alex and Carol invited me out for a Saturday BBQ and sleepover aboard Red Sky, their new boat that is ready to go to Catalina in a few days. They have been working since March to get the boat into shape for a safe and comfy Maiden Voyage. Bon Voyage my friends!
For walking dates I like to meet at the dinos on Wilshire and 3rd because there’s a place to sit in case someone is late. Here’s the view looking into the window of the Barnes and Noble that closed in early 2018 and there’s still no replacement business. The Sur La Table across Wilshire closed, and the Banana Republic across 3rd closed too. Oddly it doesn’t look as derelict as you’d imagine I guess because of all the people buzzing around and because the restaurants extended their outdoor dining into the spaces in front of the closed stores.
This is LACMA’s catalogue picture of Richard Serra’s monumental work “Band” (2003) that has been sitting here at LACMA since the BCAM building opened in 2008. It’s 12 ft high and more than 70 ft long and made of steel.
From the LA Times: “The installation alone — finessed while the building was under construction — was a highly synchronized, 10-day effort by a trusted crew that works 12-hour days. The work consists of enormous panels that must be aligned within a 32nd of an inch.”
Sharon and Nancy and I visited LACMA, where Nancy is a docent, in honor of Nancy’s birthday and where we enjoyed lunch at the ever lovely Ray’s and Stark.
I wanted to see this new piece and I’ll tell you it was odd for sure.
“A kinetic sculptural work by Yassi Mazandi, Language of the Birds takes its name and theme from an epic 12th-century Persian poem by Farid al-Din ‘Attar, a parable about a mystical quest for God, a spiritual home, or even our own highest good. The mission is undertaken by 100 birds seeking a worldly ruler—the mythical Simurgh. Many birds perish along the way until 30 remain, only to realize they themselves are the Simurgh (literally “30 birds” in Persian). The stark, abstract bronze sculptures are suspended from the north side of the Resnick Pavilion. Stripped of feathers, Mazandi’s dramatic birds evoke ‘Attar’s powerful mystical poem universalizing the quest for meaning. They also call to mind today’s key issue—climate change—and the ways in which it imperils many avian species and contributes to human migration, often accompanied by dangerous journeys and inhospitable reception.”
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Lynn and Lydia put on a beautiful party – a handsome patio setting, delicious food, beverages of every variety, and the best part, so many heartfelt and touching testimonials from their many friends and family members. Followed by dancing!
Someone else’s picture and very adorable it is.
Rome and I went for lunch at the dim sum place in the Del Amo mall and then we went to this surprising place there just behind the mall. Susie found it and we were thinking of going but chose another place instead. In all this time I’ve kept my eye out for things to do with Rome and Lilly and this was right here all along. Thank you Susie!
Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center.
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Lilly and her friends gathered after school for a mug cake extravaganza and Monopoly.
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These pictures below are from Angela with Rome taken at the Vedanta Society Hollywood Temple, before and now.
We enjoyed a wonderful meal at Manchego on Main Street and then walked to the beach.
..in September.. I’ll leave for a week in Corsica with The Gang and three weeks in Switzerland on my own, never having visited either place. Oh boy oh boy! I’m just waiting now for a few things from amazon dot com and then Bon Voyage. The biggest question on my mind – do I bring my fabulous new travel coat, the one I got for Iceland? Which I wore once. It compacts into the size of a neck pillow, but it’s also super warm and another thing to schlep. Hmmmm.
Burt and Charlene invited me and Terry and Arlene over for a summer swim and BBQ. It was so nice, Thank You! I’m so sorry I forgot to take a picture of US. However I did catch a quickpik of dessert!
At around midnight last night a huge racket coming from my front door woke me from a light sleep. Some seemingly very large person was pounding on the door and loudly attempting to disassemble the metal covers over the mail slot. It was upsetting! I didn’t imagine it was terribly serious because of all the loud noise but my heart did stop and start a few times. I went to the front door to double-check the lock and to lean against it until I could decide what to do next.
So there I was, past midnight, leaning on my front door while someone was banging away on the other side. I slightly lifted the inside flap for a peek through the slot and BAM some guys fingers were pushing through the flap so without a thought I WHACKED on the flap so hard I thought immediately Oh my goodness I’ve broken this guys hand!
Followed by silence. After a minute or two I called 911 and 5 or 10 minutes later an officer was at the door.
‘Don’t worry’ he said, ‘we’ve got the guy, he’s passed out drunk at the end of the block. 911 has received several calls as he was banging on doors up and down the block asking for help.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘he didn’t ask me for help.’ I asked the officer if he could check the guy’s hand considering my WHACK and the mangled mail slot, to confirm they had the right guy. ‘Oh, you,’ he said, nodding knowingly. Yup, there was blood on the porch by the door.
I felt quite sure then and now that I was not in serious danger but what with all that adrenaline I didn’t get back to sleep until after 4a.
And all day today, when it came to mind how much that hardware for the mail slot costs (oil rubbed antique brass!), and the trouble it’s going to be to get it fixed, I get a rush of 1) regret that I probably hurt that sad drunk man (I don’t regret that I did it though considering his hand was inside my house) and 2) glad it was me and not some stand-your-ground ‘citizen’ with a gun.
I was tempted to walk over to the hospital to learn more about what happened but good sense prevailed and I didn’t. Sadly he threw over the big pots by the porch and hurled my Laughing Buddha across the pathway and broke it. I’ll need another one fast! Did he do these aggressive acts before or after I smashed his hand? I don’t know!
That’s Rome reading one of the cool murals at the Hermosa Beach Pier where we ate at the Puffy Pita Place, and Lilly and Reese posing with the ever-popular wings.
Lilly didn’t do this play but she knows everyone and we, Lilly, Reese, and I, went to cheer them on. It was a good show! I laughed a lot.
from Lilly: “cody is in the suit the orange cat behind him is mickey and the girl in the white is sam pressey”
Jo Ann and Alan treated us to a beautiful evening at the Hollywood Bowl including a 3 course dinner delivered to the box, Thank You Jo Ann and Allan, and to make it even more special it was going to be Muriel’s birthday the next day, Happy Birthday Muriel!
Meet a friend at the dinos and walk along Palisades Park, a regular favorite that I enjoy every single time.
I and my tenants Olivia and Anna having a visit in the yard, a cool, breezy, and lovely early evening.
Trader Joe’s flowers from Kathleen, always welcome! And the frame is on a Whole Foods delivery back in the days of The Incident.
The view looking up.
This is Marsha’s church in Granada Hills, The Episcopal Church of St Andrew and St Charles. My favorite part of this church is the handsome shake siding and that they don’t evangelize too much but rather, it seems, focus on simple good deeds.
The church was having a fundraiser with a bbq meal and a jazz quartet out on the patio. It was lovely.
We walked down the hill for lunch at the Thai place.
Friends from forever.
I know there’s a picture of me somewhere in these exact pants.. a few sizes bigger probably.. but still..
Happy Birthday Hollywood Bowl!
And my house is 100 years old too. I’ve been thinking it was built in 1924 but this 100th birthday of the Hollywood Bowl made me look it up. My house was built in 1922! so I’ve got this inspiration to spruce it up, to repair all the split boards on the siding, give it a nice paint job, clear out all the unused overhead wires, consider doing more than another patch-job on the roof, and what not. Happy Birthday House! (Let’s see how long this inspiration lasts…long enough to actually do anything?)
Back to the Hollywood Bowl!
THANK YOU Marsha for the invite.
The concert itself was utterly splendid, it was called The Splendor of Saint-Saëns and so it was. And count my lucky stars, this was my exact view throughout the entire concert. Oh Happy Happy Joy Joy.
Lill and I took a buzz down to Laguna Beach to have a stroll through this year’s Sawdust Festival. They’ve been doing it for 56 years now and I’ve been probably twice. Just down the road from here is the Pageant of the Masters open air theater where the participants dress up to reenact famous paintings, called tableau vivants, and it’s an even longer-running event at 89 years.
The Sawdust Festival is basically an Arts and Crafts fair on the smallish side making for an easy visit and a pretty modest price range. The venue is lovely and the weather for this day was delightfully cool.
New frogs have moved into the frog quarters in Lilly’s room. These two are called Teeny and Tiny. The plan is to get some fish too.
Here’s sunset from the upstairs balcony at their house.
We finished Attar’s Conference of the Birds, there were seven of us who went the distance. Hilda gave me those seven birds for my birthday! And now we’re moving on to read the first volume of Rumi’s Masnavi. I think we’re all having a really good time.
Susan and Michael
Susan is my father’s brother’s son’s daughter. I visited with them a number of times at their home in Canberra when I was in Australia and it was wonderful.
Lona rented us a sailboat ride around Marina del Rey and everyone had an excellent time.
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The previous late-afternoon we all ate Happy Hour at Tony P’s and it was good. As you can see we had mountains of tasty appetizers.
Bob’s dear mom passed recently at age 102, or was it 104, and they held the funeral for her today. Bob did the rabbi’s job and everyone said he was perfect. Family members gathered, Bob and Desda ordered up a deli lunch, and they all met in my yard to tell stories and visit after the service. (This came up at the last minute because they couldn’t find a restaurant that would confirm a reservation outside and happily it was fine weather-wise, fly-wise, etc.) Bob’s brother Always makes a goofy face for pictures, he told me it’s tradition, so I just snapped.
I should have given it a little more thought and arranged a better situation for this picture!
Carl and Lynn invited us over for a visit, a walk, and a meal. It was lovely, thank you. I took that picture of Carl and Bob because of their CAL hats and still-CAL shirts. So sadly, I lost focus and missed getting a picture of Desda and Lynn.
Muriel and Jo Ann took me out for my Big Birthday, 75. Yikes. We had an excellent time and really delicious feast at Manchego on Main Street in Santa Monica. We got mostly the Happy Hour treats and a few dishes off the main menu too. They are all for sharing and so very good we all agreed we’d go back in a heartbeat. There was a sardine dish on the main menu, oh stop my beating heart.
from Lilly: “kennedy: yellow. tori: light blue, idk, me!!”
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Merlyn and Hilda’s place, view from the balcony and from the kitchen. They fed me such a scrumptious dinner.
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First I got to hang out with Alex and Carol on the new boat and admire all the refitting progress. We went to lunch at Claire’s, the restaurant at the Long Beach Museum of Art, and then enjoyed the small but engaging Jawlensky and Kandinsky exhibit there.
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I took Lona to the doctor today and got the car stuck in its parking place. Back and forth side to side back and forth back and forth, finally, time to pull straight out and we are freeee.
This is one of Olivia’s plants, lookin’ good!
Let’s Climb a Tree!
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A few more pictures and links to round out the story
will be coming soon!
UPDATE 7/27…Still Not Done!
We are The Great Aunts! Windy put together two delightful quizzes, and prizes for us to do during Show Time.
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We’re off to the lake. Which reminds me to mention how often Anya drove Cali and Lilly to do our chores. I didn’t leave the place even once for a chore. They picked up food to-go and they went to the store and I don’t remember what else. Cool, thanks Anya!
After dinner
IT’S SHOW TIME!
Lucas tries to teach us a magic trick. Lilly, Anya, Cali performing an awesome song and dance routine. Caleb has a fire story. Christa tells some doctor jokes and reenacts an exciting delivery. Darryl shows us how to snap in two rhythms while Angela stands on her head. Travis shows us a yarn trick he learned from Great Grams. FABULOUS! (Lona’s pictures.)
After which, of course, there’s the pool, the hot tub, the fire, and s’Mores. I, however, am asleep.
This is a photo from their website. Yes, it looks like this and is as fantastic as one might imagine from the picture. And I have SO many pictures, and we were SO busy, I’m hoping to put together the story between tonight and tomorrow.
Lona, who loves the sun.
Getting ready for a happy get-together in Temecula with the family. Remarkably we have so so many drop-outs, all for perfectly understandable reasons…we’re down to about half the number we could accommodate! And that half is going to have a fabulous time.
We sisters, Lona, Windy, and me, came down early to do The Shopping so we rented a smaller place for a couple nights for us to not have to rush, and for anyone who came in early.
On another yet tangentially related note, the internet has been so pleased with itself for a couple days with All James Webb Space Telescope All. The. Time. Cool stuff. They’re also doing side-by-sides with Hubble shots vs JWST of the same area. We’re learning something, and that’s always good.
JWST takes a picture of Jupiter
…and the cosmos.
When I came back into the US from Iceland the Global Entry system had been updated such that you enter nothing, provide nothing, just show your face and Bam here’s your entry card. No stamps, they don’t even look at your passport. Yikes. At the time my Global Entry registration had expired but they gave everyone an extension because of covid.
And this morning I did my renewal process on zoom, so that was creepy and cool too. It took 5 minutes of conversation and 15 minutes of disconnect/reconnect/disconnect/reconnect. I was feeling sorry for the poor agent who says this happens All Day Long. There’s a story here about the time I brought an apple to eat on the plane, forgot to eat it, forgot it entirely, and got stopped by the DOGS at Customs. So apparently it’s on my Permanent Record although the agent waived the fine and let me keep my Global Entry. This was not the breach for which I was expecting to get busted!
Lilly made the adorable felt frogs (I got one for my birthday!), and Lilly Has frogs. There are two African Dwarf Frogs in that tank, Ribbit Downey Jr and Hop. Originally there was Hip and Hop. The story of their mad escape from the first tank and Hip subsequent demise of Hip and Hop’s near death experience…you can imagine…
I drove around with Marsha today, she drove and we survived, so I could check in on what’s happening with the valley kids these days.
First off, we got to visit with Auntie Mary and meet Katherine’s son Evan for the first time. Oh what a couple of cuties! (Katherine had jury duty, so next time Katherine.)
John, Jenn, and Jordan are doing a gorgeous addition to their home adding a primary suite, an office, and remodeling one of the bedrooms. (Notice how we don’t say ‘Master Suite’ any more? Is it the Property Brothers who set the tone? Anyway, I like it.)
So I asked Jordan where we should take a picture since it should be in his favorite place, and he picked his parents’ bathroom because it’s fabulous. We couldn’t go in though because the tile is just down.
(I’m sorry Jordan, I didn’t notice your eyes were closed!)
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At my suggestion Angela looked into refreshing my couch with new pillows. Cool, right?! And below is my shower on an early July morning. I’m counting my blessings and not thinking about..well..you know.
No one sat in front of me to fill that hole so I saw the entire stage the entire time which was a real treat.
Baz Luhrmann is much in the entertainment news these days with this show at the Pantages and his latest work, Elvis, just out. I was reminded today that his first movie is absolutely in the 50 movies on my Top !0 List, Strictly Ballroom.
Just a few quick pix from walking through the lobby.
It seems Bonnie and I always default to the Annenberg for our visits – good food, comfy venue, lovely walk, what’s not to like?!
A fountain in one of the Plazas scattered through Little Tokyo.
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Let’s have an outing! A reflect-o at the Japanese American National Museum.
Ingalill invited me to Corsica. So yes, of course, I’m going to Corsica!
The group I met up with in Sweden back in 2019 planned a trip to Corsica for a week in September for 4 couples, then they had a few drop-outs so there was room for me to join too. OK! But I’m not going to go all that way for a week in Corsica so I’m going on my own for almost three weeks in Switzerland. I’ve never been to Switzerland!
More details to follow!
Ann and I, the June birthdays, hosted a Birthday Party at Odyssey, a nice place with a view of the whole San Fernando Valley. It was lovely and not to forget life in the Valley, 101 degrees.
Maxine, Marsha, me, Marija, Ann, Alicia. Unfortunately Becky and Ljubica couldn’t make it.
We had a very nice lunch at True Food on the Promenade and then we went shopping. Lilly went shopping actually and we, Angela and I, were her entourage. It was fun. Lilly spent her own money and she had to choose, because everything looks good on Lilly!
Ann and I had our Happy Birthday to US traditional sushi feast at Musashi
but since I didn’t take any pictures, here are some roses from another day at Palisades Park.
Look what they have at Whole Foods. Two different varieties of plain Skyr! I bought the one with more protean and less sugar and it is delicious, like the ones in Iceland once you stir it up. In Iceland they eat it with pureed fruit for breakfast, dropped into soup at lunch time, and they make various desserts with it at dinner.
Marsha came out West and we ate our favorites at Ye Olde Kings Head, took a walk to Tongva Park, and then watched a very weird movie. Very Weird. It was Everything Everywhere All At Once. I did like it though.
It’s Juneteenth reminding me of good and evil, it’s Father’s Day to celebrate the dads, and it’s My Birthday.
My sisters Lona and Windy put together such a beautiful afternoon. We had massages, Cynthia treated us to a yummy dinner, we played the most clever table games created by my sisters, and then out in the back yard we played ‘let’s scratch All the scratchers!’ which was a ton of fun!
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And before that Darryl and Angela hosted a beautiful brunch with Liz and Gary too.
Second, I went with Hilda, Merlyn, and Susan to see a wonderful production of Conference of the Birds at The Broad Stage. Hilda has been working with the production company since the beginning and due to her efforts they made it happen!
Then we went to Misfits for a celebratory cocktail, and a second celebratory cocktail to my birthday. And the late-night appetizers were Very Delicious. (I haven’t done THAT in a while!) Thanks to Susan for The Book of JOY because who couldn’t use more JOY, and I’ll have a picture of my gift from Hilda later when I’ve figured out its home.
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First though, Lilly and I went to the Bowers Museum for a nice hit of Disney. She was totally thrilled by the Dr Strange pendant and a necklace from Black Panther. The actual favorite thing she found later, was Loci’s Horns. Now That was Exciting!
Susie and I went out and had a great day. We ate a lovely breakfast and then went into Beverly Hills for a tour of the Virginia Robinson Gardens. We both thought it was well worth the trouble to make a reservation, get into their crazy parking lot, etc.. They have a good website, there’s wikipedia, I’ll leave the details to your interest if you want to look it up.
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Look what happened while I was gone? Wow!
It’s been a week since I got back and I’ve been pretty busy but not so busy that I haven’t been, for the most part, Resting! Alex came over for a day of chores so that was super-satisfying. Carol came too and we had some fun. I did laundry, a little grocery shopping, some nice visiting with family and friends. Maybe now I’ll be back to remembering to take a photo!
Here are a few I got with my phone:
All three sisters started with cold and allergy symptoms on the same day, Tuesday May 3 and tested positive for covid at various times. Windy and I are done. I’m basically symptom free, Windy tested negative, Lona is still having symptoms, but we are all past our contagious periods and ..drum roll please.. I am going to Iceland!
It felt a little touch-and-go there and I was pretty sick for a few days, like a bad cold or icky and persistent allergies, but thankfully, all is well!
