(Dudamel wasn’t there btw, Leonard Slatkin was conducting.)
Marsha asked our neighbors if they knew why the flag was at half-mast and one of them replied “our democracy?”. Yes friends, our democracy.
Marsha called the office a few days before the show and asked if there was an upgrade available. There was, and we got to move down a section for about $20. What a deal. We hoped we wouldn’t like it, that we would like our regular section better. Nope, this was better.
It was a particularly easy-to-like program. Leonard’s son Daniel’s piece had blockbuster cinematic flare, a favorite, the concertmaster Martin Chalifour was delightful, and The Planets was a joy. Burt and his family was there too.
On July 15 I wrote about how, in the previous two days, three new ‘situations’ involving three different medical professions had presented themselves. There was 1) 3 weeks of pain in my “cancer arm” requiring a CT scan and an ultrasound 2) red blood cells in my urine requiring a cystoscopy and 3) the dentist popped off a crown while cleaning my teeth.
I am so very pleased to be able to report that as of today all three ‘situations’ proved to be benign and everything related to these three ‘situations’ is resolved. What a relief!
(p.s. if you can avoid getting a cystoscopy I would recommend it…)
And a massage! Betsy, our family physical therapist, gave me a most welcome full on neck and shoulder massage. What a treat! Then we went to The Huntington where I got another treat of a tasty dinner at the restaurant there. And then we walked. I’ve been saying that I can do anything I want, but that’s not entirely true in that I walked 5k steps with only a few minutes break, not too bad, but not enough. 5k steps doesn’t get you far at The Huntington!
I’m still carrying my camera as well as the phone so I can try for the occasional bird.
I thought they put up the rainbow steps just for Pride Month in June but here it is July and the steps shine on as well as the photography exhibit called Queer Lens and $3 Bill: Evidence of Queer Lives. Queer Lens and $3 Bill are going to be up until late September.
Welcome to the Getty Center.
Interestingly, all the building materials are basically the same color and the differences we see are all about the lighting.
The photography exhibit was very good, mostly portraits and scenes of family life.
Shadows of the setting sun.
Look at the AWEsome picnic Lill brought! We sat here for a long time, eating and watching people and the setting sun.
I’ve always called this guy “Mr Stuck Bug” (he’s been here since 2000, exhibited in 2 or 3 different venues). Notice the door in the lower right to get an idea of the scale. What google has to say: “John Baldessari’s “Specimen (After Durer)” features a giant enlargement of Albrecht Durer’s famous “Stag Beetle” drawing, mounted on the wall with a large metal T-pin. Baldessari’s work reimagines Dürer’s original drawing by scaling it up and adding the oversized pin, creating a striking visual impact.” You can look down on him from one of the balconies in the Entrance Hall.
Our de rigueur outing reflect-o. This one, on the tram, was Lill’s clever idea!
Lilly and I tried out a new ramen place where they had two different kinds of vegetarian ramen, and all my favorite condiments without asking. We liked it and look forward to taking Rome soon.
I put this picture here to remind me of all the fun I’ve had over the years going shopping with the kids.
My cancer arm, charting all the ins and outs, red blood cells in my urine, and the last straw, while cleaning my teeth the dentist popped off a crown.
.
Since I wrote last, I’ve still been splashing around in pee-world. Remember the three courses of antibiotics it took to clear a UTI? Added to the medications to stave off UTIs, recently the urologist had me measuring my pee and keeping a log of when and how much I peed and when and how much fluid I drank. It’s annoying, but interesting since I would have guessed wrong on every metric.
What is much more annoying is that my last urine test pointed up too many red blood cells, not enough to see with your eyes but enough to warrant a cystoscopy since red blood cells in urine can be an indication of bladder cancer. And when can the urologist do this test? In three weeks. The PA says three weeks out isn’t bad to schedule a procedure, but I just kept calling around and got an appointment at Cedars instead of St John’s for one week out which is a major relief, having the test before I go to Kansas.
I found out about the cystoscopy while I was waiting to see the oncology PA because my ‘cancer arm’, the one with lymph node involvement, has been bothering me. He feels 99.9% sure it’s muscular, from when I tried to get back to exercising with weights, but under the circumstances of me being anxious about it I think, he wants me to get this “93971 (CPT®) – PR DUP-SCAN XTR VEINS UNILATERAL/LIMITED STUDY” and this “71250 (CPT®) – CHG DIAGNOSTIC COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY THORAX W/O CNTRST”, tests I was able to schedule for the 17th.
All this happened yesterday. And then could it be over? No it could not be over. I went to the dentist today and while cleaning my teeth with the pointy tool he popped off a crown. Bam. I’m hypersensitive about getting infections, so I’ll be back to the dentist tomorrow, but a different one because this one didn’t handle the situation very well.
I’m writing this having calmed myself, mostly because why not, nothing to be gained by feeling anxious, say I to me, deep breaths.
I’m enamored of this walk and thanks to my friends who will go with me, and walk slowly as I am so very very slow these days. But I get to start physical therapy in August and I’m very excited for that!
Here’s one of many. With one click Photoshop will apply its “Distraction Removal” to Reflections. A lot of times I like the reflections but this is a crazy touch of one-click-magic alright.
I had a lovely overnight with Steve and Celina. We had dinner at a Chinese place, entirely full, we being the only white people there. It was fun, lots of things we’d never had before. Then in the morning we met up with Gideon, Sam, and Dean for brunch at a local airport restaurant. Thanks guys for coming out!
.
Here are some pictures of Celina in her community garden plot overflowing with yummy groceries warm from the vine.
From LAist: “After traveling more than 5,000 miles across the United States, the Great Elephant Migration is ending its journey in Beverly Hills.
“The 100 elephant sculptures — signifying a peaceful coexistence between animals and humans — were hauled in on pickup trucks along Santa Monica Boulevard. The last three elephants crossed a ceremonial finish line outside the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Friday.
“The project is intended to inspire others to care more for nature.
““It’s meant to show communities in the U.S. what it’s like to live with wildlife, how to coexist with it, in a way where we are able to have a relationship, as opposed to seeing it as something distant,” said Feh Tarty, chairperson of Elephant Family USA, the nonprofit behind the exhibit. “We want people to start to think of the wildlife in their own communities and have a different perspective on what is their purpose here.””
Ben and Bonnie met me there and we enjoyed a nice visit and some breakfast.
