’23 August

Thanks to Alan and Jo Ann we had another wowza evening at the Hollywood Bowl. Me, Alan, Jo Ann, Muriel.

The program included a Jessie Montgomery piece Shift, Change, Turn, and an orchestration of the Tchaikovsky piano pieces call The Seasons, and then the big hit of the night, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

We had another guest conductor, New Zealander Gemma New (audition we assume!) and a startling virtuoso performance by the violin player Nathan Cole, the First Associate Concertmaster with the LA Phil, married to Akiko Tarumoto, the LA Phil’s Assistant Concertmaster.  So First Associate Concertmaster vs Assistant Concertmaster = ‘The associate concertmaster sits next to the concertmaster and is sometimes called “second concertmaster.” The assistant sits third chair’.

The oral surgeon asked to change my followup to this morning from later in the week and I was glad to get to it because the area was still bugging. He took out the stitches, said there was some inflamation, and I should come back next week. He also gave me a prescription for 2 weeks of heavy antibiotics to have on hand in case I get a flare up in Italy.

Then I checked in at the Physical Therapy place where they have a bunch of doctors next door at the University Foot and Ankle Institute for a second opinion since my sprained ankle from 8 months ago is still bothering me too.  They could see me right then and happily for me, they take medicare.  I had another long set of x-rays and the doctor said everything looked good bone-wise but I did have an especially sore tendon so tomorrow I’m getting an mri.  Either the tendon is split or it isn’t.  I can still travel no problem, but I am very glad to know the answer before I leave.

And ANOTHER thing, statins. I’ve not had any regular medications so far, but on my last visit to the doctor they did a test for the genetic marker indicating a vulnerability to heart disease since my father died of a stroke and at the end of her life my mother had heart disease. My number was so high I rushed straight down to the pharmacy. Oh yes please, give me those satins, stat!

The picture is from the bathroom wall at Hoka Hoka Sushi.

Both Rome and Lilly like it when we go to the various sushi places around the South Bay. This time it was me and Rome, sharing a bunch of tasty dishes.

We also went to Michael’s and Joann’s to get supplies for making a flower clip so I could stop wearing that same hibiscus every single day. Rome figured it out so I’m not stressed anymore about losing the one clip I like. Now I have 2 and more can be forthcoming.

Ken and I met up out here in Santa Monica for a little Happy Hour Hopping. First we stopped at Whaler, then moved on to Independence, then..

..we got to join our very long-time friends from the good ol’ days Bill and Cheryl, and their friends Jim and Sally, all four of them visiting from Kansas City, Kansas. We, Ken and I, went together to visit Bill and Cheryl many years ago. We had an excellent time and look forward to going out there again.

We had half-price Happy Hour at Fig. Expensive but fun!

The above picture is from the Skirball website promoting the concert I attended with Rick and Jim. It was good fun! We ate dinner there from the buffet offering, Jim brought wine, and we found a comfortable place to sit. As well as its many museum offerings, the Skirball is a fine venue for free concerts, parking $20 at the door or $15 in advance.

Antibalas is a big 12 piece ensemble based in Brooklyn with a driving afro-beat, playing like one big backing percussion section. Something felt missing, so I looked them up the next day and found what was missing, this guy, Duke Amayo, the lead singer for 20 years who fairly recently left for a solo career.

Below, my picture from the concert and the missing lead singer from the internet.

I always enjoy a nice hang-out with Rick and Jim and they even did all the driving.

There were guys from the Skirball’s Noah’s Ark exhibit carrying around some of the animals.

Emilia took me on a sweet walk through the Arlington Garden in Pasadena, a community maintained space on what was Cal Trans land later donated to the city. There are so many winding paths through the 3 acres possible because the area is so densely planted.

We were all going to go to a club down the street from Richard and Emilia but one of them had to stay home with their new dog. I’m so sorry I didn’t get a picture of Otis the dog! So Emilia and I went for the walk and Richard and I went to the show.

But First, let’s have a look at Richard’s life-long hobby: MUSIC. There used to be walls of vinyl but now Richard is focusing on his CD collection.

I might have missed the hallway… that wooden chest is full too.

Here’s The Lost Parrot, a few blocks away where every Wednesday night there’s great local entertainment. I want a place like this a few blocks from MY house!

Richard and their friend Sandy who joined us for the evening.

The glass building is between 20th and 21st on Wilshire. I’m on 22nd, just off Wilshire. My oral surgeon is in that building, and you can see to the right a bit of Chipotle and Veggie Grill.

Below is a google picture of that corner and notice half the block is taken up with single story retail space, one block from my corner.

Oh goodness look at what’s coming, the photo is from the developer’s website. Yikes, right? 150 housing units, street level retail, underground parking for 205 cars, some of the parking being stacked spaces. And let’s make it worse, the same developer has two more corners on Wilshire heading west, with the same kind of structure planned. It already takes 30 minutes to get to the ‘freeway’ heading out of Santa Monica during rush hour, and already there is no street parking ever. But it takes forever to get through the Santa Monica planning department and maybe I won’t live to see the day.. but change is inevitable and so there we are.. paradise lost.

This week we all went to Rome’s restaurant for lunch. It was fun! And then Lilly and I had our traditional outing to Yogurtland. Each one of Lilly’s bracelets has a story and it was a delight to hear them all!

I do get it, why that scary-looking chair is in the middle of a mostly empty room. I had to have some dental work that required a crowd of assistants all gathered around. I didn’t have much anesthesia, just a ton of novocaine to get a broken tooth out and a bone graft in for an eventual implant. Interesting, the oral surgeon was talking about how his specialty is teeth at the end of their life and he sees people over 100 years old Every Day.

I would 100% recommend this office and the oral surgeon whose name I can’t remember right now, but I’ll update as soon as I find out. I got an early AM emergency fill-in appointment since this tooth was so badly cracked, in half they said, that my dentist said I should get it out asap to hold off infection. This is the waiting area for the Santa Monica Center for Oral Surgery and Dental Implants, two blocks from my house, just the way I like.

The Hollywood Bowl, always a treat.

Wow, we had a six-seater box all to ourselves although it was at the very edge of the boxes and interrupted our view of the screens.

Marsha ran into a friend, and Jo Ann, Allen, and Mavis were there too.

Marsha bought these new glasses at the gift shop. We’ve been getting the Meal Delivery recently. They set-up the table with linens, silverware, water, and it’s lovely, and the servers are attentive and sweet.

Everyone loved the Dvořák Cello Concerto in B Minor. Jo Ann and Marsha were not so hot on the Shostakovich Symphony no. 5 in D minor but I did like it despite nodding off for a few minutes during a slow part…

Anna Rakitina, might she be our new Dudamel? (Pictures from the Hollywood Bowl website.)

(self-portrait)

Olivia is growing a plant as food for the Monarch butterflies, and here’s one making itself at home. He’s a hungry hungry caterpillar! Olivia and our new tenant Candice enjoyed a lovely get-acquainted Happy Hour in the yard.

From Marija, Christopher was in town but we didn’t get a chance to meet-up. Next Time!

Ann is in Hawaii, in Oahu, not Maui, to lend a hand with her grandkids. This is Noah’s two, and Josh has three living in Washington, so Ann’s on the road often.

Big Story from the Browns – Lona, Trevor, Beth, and Christa are in Switzerland now for several weeks after which they will be in Bali for several weeks. Yes, first Switzerland and then directly to Bali. There’s a reason, friends, and I’m so happy for them!

Our mother had a best friend, Auntie Flo married to Uncle Ed. They were not our aunt or uncle but related to Mom through some distant cousin-ship that I never remember. Spud, the son of Auntie Flo and Uncle Ed is one month younger than I am, and we’ve been cousins since we were born. Michael is Spud and Kathy’s son, married to Christy (daughter Wendy couldn’t make it).

We all met up at Lona’s place for food, a walk, and a Happy Birthday to Spud.

Walking out on the jetty.

Lona’s picture – Michael, Kathy, Christy, Spud, me

Happy Birthday Spud!

(internet pictures)

In honor of Muriel and a big decade birthday we decided to surprise her with a guarantee of what she really wanted, Really Good Pasta. The pizza was really delicious too! And she was surprised and delighted so YAY.

Muriel, Rae, Shep, Allen, Jo Ann

I feel like I’m home now from all those trips although I’m not entirely sure how I got here. One thing though, on Tuesday Rome and I had a nice lunch and then a wander in their town and stopped off in a new place that had been open only two days. The owner in there was lovely selling her own paintings, also crystals, jewelry, tarot cards, greeting cards, etc. She asked us if we wanted her to lay out cards for us and we said “Sure!”.

Rome got New Vision-The Bard-Water and I got Gratitude-The Butterfly-Nest. It was fun for us to work out a story that went with the cards.

On another day I was walking to where I had parked the car in Santa Monica and came up this place with an entire WALL of tarot card decks. Yikes indeed.