What you can see in the picture below is about 1/4 of the building. There were five Mexican restaurants, including the Michelin starred Holbox, and Komal, “an artisanal craft molino specializing in fresh, heirloom masa and traditional, corn-focused Oaxaca-influenced Mexican dishes”. The food was indeed spectacular and worth the drive, if you can drive when it’s not rush hour and if you want to eat at Holbox, prepare to Wait In Line.
Holbox. We also had a fanTAStic taco, and something else.. what was it..
Komal. The best tamale I ever ate.
They have shops too with handmade and imported good.
All the types of corn used at Komal.
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We ate our fill and then had a walk over to the Exposition Park Rose Garden. It was both beautiful and fun.
Rome is graduating from Santa Monica College this month, heading for Sonoma State University in the fall. Rome was honored for their participation in a service organization and for academic excellence. The graduation ceremony isn’t until later in the month.
Rome wrote this for the family and I’m sharing it here!
For anyone who may not be all the way caught up, I want to share a little bit about my next steps: I am committed to transferring to Sonoma State University in the fall, where I will continue to study education. Go Seawolves!
I will be working towards earning a Bachelor of the Arts in Liberal Studies. My concentration will be in Elementary Education Pre-Credential, meaning I will continue schooling after graduating from Sonoma to earn my teaching credential. My school at Sonoma is called Hutchins School of Liberal Studies. All classes in this school are seminar based and have no tests (YAY). If you are interested in learning more about Hutchins, their website is here. Before moving north for school in the fall, I will move back in with the Kanouse House for the Summer. Move in day at Sonoma is August 19th, so I will be heading up north around then!
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We have lunch together pretty regularly and that makes me happy, happy like this fruit salad is happy.
It’s the last couple weeks for our Gustavo at the Disney Concert Hall.
The first show, our usual Sunday matinee, was so emotional, it shook me up (the first time I’ve gone with my hearing aids in and I have to wonder), I had wet eyes many times!
Sierra, Strauss, Dudamel
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Here’s the LA Phil write-up of the Thursday show. You can click here to read the program.
For 17 years, the musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic have been close collaborators with Gustavo Dudamel in countless performances. To celebrate Gustavo’s tenure as Music & Artistic Director, principal musicians of the LA Phil take center stage for an evening of symphonic favorites.
The first half of the evening presents a range of “classic” showpieces for bassoon, oboe, horn, flute, violin, piano, cello, and harp. After intermission, all eyes and ears are on percussion, clarinet, trombone, bass, and trumpet during a showcase of contemporary music.
The program is bookended by world-premiere pieces by two dear friends of the LA Phil, John Williams and Gabriela Ortiz. Williams’ Bravo Gustavo! takes its name from the commemoration of Dudamel’s first 10 years with the LA Phil, highlighting the valiant energy of the trumpet section, while Ortiz’s Mujer Arena celebrates the entire ensemble.
Christa had the day off and Zack had some free time too so we had a delightful breakfast together. Later in the afternoon I went over to Christa’s place and hung out there while she and Zack got ready for the ENGAGEMENT photos! And then we had a very fun CONGRATULATIONS dinner at a nice place whose name I can’t recall right now.
The two pictures below are from the professional’s album.
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The dinner spot was fun and look at all the treats they brought in honor of the occasion including a beverage for a fancy sparkling toast.
I stopped by for a short visit on my way up to The Ranch. I’ve taken a lot of pictures other times of their off-grid house and property that they built with their own hands. It’s an amazing accomplishment.
I just took a few pictures looking out one of the massive view windows of the feeding platform for the neighborhood birds, above and below.
It was Susan’s 75th birthday recently and a friend made her this card out of her own watercolors.
Not only did they build their own off-grid house, they make all kinds of things. Susan makes butter for example, and Fred brought home this new electric butter churn. We tried it while I was there and it fun although Susan makes better butter by hand.
I’m already a week behind in pictures and it has been a fantastic picture-o-rama. I’ve visited Susan and Fred in Paso Robles and then gone on to The Ranch with so very much fun, food, and festivities galore. Pictures forthcoming!
Regarding a question I’ve been asking myself: what the HECK is wrong with my back? I got a CT scan just before I left and a few days later the results were in. Two of the doctors here at The Ranch and my oncologist all agreed, what you have is a manifestation of old age and everyone who lives long enough will, to some extent, have it: Multilevel degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine and it definitely has nothing to do with cancer. You can take ibuprofen, muscle relaxers, appropriate PT, lifestyle modifications, and if none of that works you can get a shot. FINE!
below: Rome made a cool container in their pottery class for all the moms. (Rome’s picture)
below: Gary, Liz, Lilly, Rome
ooops, no picture of Darryl. I got such cool gifts! Liz, Gary, and Dev gave me a big box of chocolates and 2 beautiful rose bushes. DAR&L got an oh-so-cool Rattlesnake potted plant and this fabulous collapsible stool that I can imagine using often.
I was tempted to run out and buy cat food! But then I remembered I was leaving town in a few days, my house is so small, someone else must be feeding this sleek huntress of the ‘hood, and the first thing she does is head to the couch to claw at the upholstery.
From Olivia:
It was a busy and mighty tasty day – Cecilia come by to finish cleaning the rental after the bathroom construction, Windy came by with homemade brownies, and Hilda came by with Nazook, a to-die-for pastry from Armenia.
This is from another day, a walk to the park with Windy.
I couldn’t make it to the festivities, I got the above picture from the streaming ceremony, and Lucas took the pictures below live at the events.
USC conferred 18,982 degrees, 583 degrees in Xander’s School of Cinematic Arts. Xander has connections through his family and family friends with a good chance of getting a job in his field, but Cinematic Arts feels like a tough one.
Think of it, one school, USC, loosed almost 19,000 college graduates into the job market. UCLA will graduate about 15,000 students, and that’s just two schools in one city. Good luck you guys!
Below, graduates from the whole university at the Coliseum. They didn’t read the names! Dudamel gave the Commencement speech and I’m looking forward to finding a copy on youtube.
And this is the Commencement Ceremony for the School of Cinematic Arts at the Shrine, where the students walked across the stage and were conferred their diplomas.
..a delightful piano recital performed by Alan, a master of the Great American Songbook. And this handsome piano is now happily settled in Jo Ann’s recently reorganized living room.
Rome came over on Wednesday for some lunch and to help me get Meriellen’s leopard to the framers. Below are examples of the different kinds of acrylic and glass you can get. I really want to know what glass LACMA used in the new building, what with all that annoying glare.
On Thursday I went out to Redondo Beach to have a nice walk with Angela and a sweet treat with Lilly.
I thought I would never live to see the day but this guy was so fabulous, he compared favorably with our Gustavo. Yes, for my first time ever. He is 48 from Columbia and Dudamel is 45 from Venezuela. We’re not going to get Orozco-Estrada because it looks like he is fully committed for years but if you ever see him around your town do take advantage of the opportunity.
This program was made ages ago, so it was a coincidence that Michael Tilson Thomas died April 22, 2026. They dedicated the program to Tilson Thomas and wrote a lovely obituary that they slipped into the program. The conductor and the orchestra were giving it 110%.
Marsha and I had seen/heard the Korngold piece at the Hollywood Bowl last year and I was interested to hear a comparison. Remarkably, and maybe I just don’t remember right, but the Hollywood Bowl experience was thrilling.
I attended the Sunset Sip, a charity banquet hosted by The Guidance Center in Long Beach. You can click on the link to learn about everything they do for the community.
It’s set in a lovely venue at the Maya Hotel.
It seems all charity banquets have a silent auction and this one was big.
Hilda took a nice selfie – Hilda, Merlyn, Jim, Karen, me.
The band for the early reception was very good.
This is the auctioneer for the after dinner entertainment selling off the most desirable items and generating action for donations.
Before the auction they played a game called Heads Or Tails. You pay $25 for a necklace, and you can wear a maximum of two. Then you stand up and put your hands on your head or your tail. If you get it right you keep on playing. If you get it wrong you remove one necklace until you lose bare necked, and then you’re out.
I lasted the longest at my table and was two away from winning. People did get a kick out of it. Since I was a first-timer people at the table gave me theirs so it would have been a nice group win, but no. Hilda took this picture.
The show was called “Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials features twenty-two artists from North, Central, and South America who embrace the unpredictable nature of living materials.” We found a lot to look at here, some examples below:
Every inch of the very large mural below was packed with detail.
Avocado skins are involved in those two large figures.
The restaurant was closed for a private event. I always enjoy this view from the second floor of the museum.
I went to the Century City Mall in hopes of finding something to wear to an event in two days where the recommended dress code is “Cocktail Party”. Can you imagine I have anything in the least suitable to meet the criteria? NO is the only answer! So I got a skirt with my fingers crossed and then I was going to see Ben and Bonnie who live nearby.
Lilly and Sierra. We went out for our favorite, Yogurtland!
I’ve been back for 8 days which should put me well adjusted to my 9 hour time change LA-Spain-LA and I did sleep well last night. I’m pretty much on a normal schedule of Book Group Zoom, Monday in the Valley, monthly lunch with the gang, hangin’ with the kids, meals with friends, checking in with my sisters, tenant ‘situations’, etc etc.
It took me up until yesterday to catch up with my trip pictures and the LACMA visit. So now I’m home sweet home, all caught up, ready to move on!
My phone can only take moon pictures when the sky is blue. Once it gets dark out the moon becomes a glowing ball, without detail or interest.
Jim and Rick stopped by after the nearby CycLAvia. Thanks guys!
They’re having member visits for a few weeks before opening to the public on May 4, 2026.
Just outside the elevator doors.
Above we’ve got Standing Warrior, a slip-painted earthenware figure from the Jalisco culture of ancient West Mexico, dated between 200 BCE and 400 CE.
And almost around the corner is this guy below, Vikatonarva (2024), a monumental 12-foot-tall terracotta work by the Indian contemporary artist Manjunath Kamath. I like that they’re pals here.
There we are, Susie, me, Cynthia. too bad I didn’t find a better reflecting surface especially considering all the reflections from the glass.
Entertainment! The violin wasn’t playing a song, more like free-form sound, and we had soccer players and then a bicyclist rolled in.
Oh goodie, Levitated Mass. And down there you can see the Weiwei Chinese zodiac. You’ve probably noticed by now that the entire cladding of the museum is windows and all the views are worth a look.
Above are some of the tags available identifying the work. Every tag I saw was ‘A gift of..’ or ‘Purchased with funds provided by..’. Pieces that the museum bought for itself don’t seem to be identified.
There were a very few explanatory panels and that was it. You could use QR Codes to find information but basically it is in the intention of the museum and the curators that you get lost, wander to the next space, find yourself wondering what the heck you’re looking at. The organization, the juxtapositions, they’re all designed to intrigue. I actually liked it but in that I might be in the minority.
Below, the four pictures straight ahead all have tags and were all gifts.
Another view from another wing of Levitated Mass.
A LACMA commission, Jagyeong Hall, Gyeongbok Palace by artist Do Ho Suh. “The installation is a life-size, translucent fabric recreation of a section of the Cheongyeonru pavilion from Seoul’s Gyeongbok Palace.”
Notice how great the tapestry looks on the burgundy wall.
You can’t see this picture so well and neither could I until I was nose to nose. I really like this, it pulled me straight in to its story. It had a tag too: Louis-Jean Desprez, France, 1743-1804, active Sweden The Funeral Procession of Agamemnon 1787. Pen and ink, watercolor, and gray and brown washes heightened with gouache on paper. Purchased with funds provided by the Joseph B. Gould Foundation. (We get a tag because it was ‘Purchased with funds..’.)
What a joy, our Calder is back! It was commissioned for the opening of LACMA in 1964 and delightfully called “Three Quintains (Hello Girls)”. The Café is going there by the fountain, looks like some tables are out already, so that should be lovely. The wonderful Pavilion for Japanese Art is reflected in the windows.
The 2000 Jeff Koons piece called Split-Rocker will dominate it’s place on the south side of Wilshire.
Tlalli is a 2026 sculpture of an Indigenous woman by Mexican contemporary artist Pedro Reyes.
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Cynthia took this picture to illustrate how the reflections are so dang annoying, and they are my only real complaint.
We saw probably less than half of the objects available to look at and I need to go back to solidify my feelings of the experience in general but as of this moment, I love it, reflections and all.
After lunch we went to check out Still Life Studio so Rome could buy supplies for their pottery class at SMC. Still Life Studio is an admirable place indeed. It’s Huge with 25+ wheels, 14 hand-building tables, firing, glazing, and 24/7 access.
The space is 6,000 square feet so what you see below is just a corner.
He comes to rake the garden once a week and he told us about what the patterns mean. I learned something, so I asked AI for more, and I’ve copied the whole rap at the end of the pictures.
It’s a small garden, you can walk all around the pond in 10 minutes. We meandered in one direction and the again in the opposite direction making for a pleasant easy-going stroll.
And then we went out for lunch. What a fine, welcome word, lunch.
In a Japanese dry landscape garden (karesansui), the raking patterns—known as samon—are not static; they are traditionally changed to reflect the shifting seasons and the natural flow of water they represent.
Seasonal Meanings and Patterns
While practitioners have individual latitude, traditional shifts include:
Spring & Summer (Vitality and Flow):
Curvy Lines: Used to represent rushing or active water, such as a Ryūsui (flowing stream) or Kyokusen-mon (meandering stream) pattern.
Vortices & Ripples: Patterns like Uzumaki-mon (vortices) or Mizumon (concentric ripples) evoke the energy of rain or the active movement of water around “islands” (stones).
Autumn (Transition and Harvest):
Ichimatsu (Checkerboard): A special checkered pattern often raked around the time of the Harvest Moon (O-Tsukimi) in September/October. It is inspired by the historical designs at the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto.
Ryūsui with Leaf Motifs: At temples like Hōnen-in, autumnal patterns might feature a “maple leaf floating along a river” raked directly into the sand.
Winter (Stillness and Cold):
Straight Lines: Simple, long straight lines—known as Chokusen-mon—are used to evoke a frozen, quiet, or dormant winter landscape.
Large Expanses: Broad parallel lines can simulate a calm, open sea under a cold sky.
This lunch we had some great AI fun. Ken loaded his voice into an app that allowed the system to say anything and have it sound exactly (exactly!) like Ken. Then Richard had an example of AI music where AI wrote the words and music and created the singer, and it was great. Believe nothing!
In a week I’m leaving for Barcelona. Ingalill and I are flying first to Copenhagen where Marita will take us to her home in Sweden for the night then the three of us will fly on to Barcelona. Barcelona is a jewel of a city and even having been there a few times before, I’m very excited to go again. We’ll also take a day trip to Montserrat where I’ve never been.
Then the working girls will go back to their respective jobs and I’ll take the train on to Madrid, where I’ve never been, by myself. I’ll probably make a day trip to Toledo. I’ve been hoping to go to Madrid for decades just to see Guernica.
Let’s see how I hold up considering that for ages now, if I’m home, I sleep from 4pm-7. Sigh…
I wanted to appear, just to be counted, and then I hurried off to Sandy’s memorial. Parking being what it is, I had to walk and walk to find my first protester.
I was hurrying along and caught just a couple of shots for the signs.
I wanted to take Merlyn on a photo outing for his birthday and it turned out he took me – had the idea and did all the driving. Thanks Merlyn for your birthday! We went to the La Brea Tar Pits, the Page Museum, and Fanny’s for lunch.
We parked by the Page and walked across the campus to Fanny’s meaning we got to see how far along the construction is to opening the new LACMA building. The Calder fountain is BACK, and I’m so happy for that. Also the new sculpture, Jeff Koons’s Split-Rocker (2000) is going up on the south side of Wilshire.
You have to pass through LACMA to get to Fanny’s at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Back at the Page, Merlyn is 6’2″.
A little diorama.
Merlyn’s car, a big Tesla with the huge windshield and the gull wing back doors. We went on self-driving almost the entire way.
Lilly’s Theater program this Spring was a massive production of the Broadway hit Something Rotten! She was the Assistant Lead of the Lighting Crew. Yes, the lighting was wonderful. It was a great show with an astounding number of massive costume changes. The singers were as good as I’ve heard at these productions, and the dance numbers were bright, lively, and very well rehearsed.
And they had an 18 piece orchestra in the pit who played wonderfully.
Marsha and Becky are singing with this group and they had a great concert in a beautiful church in Koreatown.
Here’s outside the church.
And as is tradition, we have to have our post concert meal. We went to Oh My Crab Louisiana Seafood and it was a lot of fun. You pick what you want from a not-too-extensive menu and they serve it all juiced up in a bag, really. We got shrimp, sausage, corn, and potato in lemon butter sauce. We had eaten about half of it before I took this picture. They serve it with plastic gloves and you eat it with your hands.
There were six guys at a table nearby, all of them having ordered the $39 all-you-can-eat special. Here’s a view of their table.
And here is one guys rubble. He got his money’s worth.
Bonnie has recently finished many months living through cancer treatments – surgery then six rounds of chemo each three weeks apart. What an exhausting ordeal and every day she imagined enjoying the beach with her feet in the sand. And here we are!
It was bright, sunny, and breezy when we got there and then the fog rolled in and we still loved it.
Bonnie is giving herself a foot massage in the sand.
My last round of tests, a PET scan, blood work, and a doctor’s appointment, produced very welcome results. All the tests showed my bone lesions were better than in December and December’s results were better than in September. Now instead of seeing the doctor every month I’ll be going every three months. Better is Great!
There are side effects though, most particularly fatigue and achy hips. If the fatigue or any of the other side effects were so bad as to crush my quality of life, the doctor would change the medications but I’m ok, I might wear out but I can basically do what I need to do. And since what I’ve been doing is working well re the cancer, I’m sticking with the current regime.
Are you following the budget cuts to medical research btw, both proposed and implemented by the Trump administration? Cancer research particularly, women’s health issues particularly.
FROM THE INTERNET (questionably true but you get it):
“I think my favorite thing that’s ever happened to me on the internet is the time a guy said “people change their minds when you show them facts” and I said “actually studies show that’s not true” and I linked Two sources and he said “yea well I still think it works”.
My much older sister is 85. 85. Her plan for her birthday was to walk 8.5 miles down the coast with family and friends. I, although yes I am family, was not among those walking 8.5 miles, nor was my little sister Windy, but we all met up for lunch at a very splendid place called Oceans Cafe and Grill.
Christa and Zack. Awww.
For fun I got these pictures from Christa, of Lona’s GREAT Grandchildren. Caleb and Hannah’s Elliot making himself useful, and Peyton and Charis’s William. That’s Peyton’s baby picture next to William which is so crazy cute.
Rick and Jim got the tickets and invited me to join them to see the current headliner show Robert Therrien: This is a Story (November 22, 2025 to April 5, 2026). Thanks guys, I would have missed it!
If you can make it to The Broad in time you won’t be sorry.
We gathered here at Freda’s on Sunday to enjoy good friends, good food, and a bright windy day.
On Saturday I spent the night with Steve and Celina in Camarillo which means Feast-O-Rama for me because Celina cooks. Look what we have here! Homemade chili rellenos, homemade refried beans, homemade Mexican-style rice, a scrumptious salad, and chips and guacamole. And then homemade heavenly flan.
Dean loves to eat at his Abuela’s and eagerly points for More .. one of his first words = More!
Look what Marsha did. It was hydroplaning Camaro vs highway pole. Marsha was totally fine and now she’s drive “a red car”.
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Ann and I just had our hard-to-schedule New Year’s Sushi but I forgot to take a picture so here she is, back from a couple weeks in Hawaii. This is her daughter-in-law Ashley holding grandkids Isla and Keanu, then Ann, son Noah, and Kat, her college friend.
Noma has reopened across the street and it is very welcoming inside. I went there first with Rome and then with Jo Ann and Alan. Everyone agreed, we should go here again, and we will.
Oliver
This statue has been in the lobby of the Nuart for as long as I can remember, and the theater opened in 1930. There have been remodels and my memory is not 100% (I know I know) so I can’t even remember the first time I came to this Cinema as it was known. Maybe I was a teenager.
I went with my sisters to see Amadeus at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was good, always special to see live entertainment, but if you are really interested, rent the movie.
Fendi is releasing a new line of shoes and purses and our Jo Ann conceived of and is leading the art side of the advertising campaign. Fendi shipped tons (literally, tons) of gear to LA and so many participants – multiples of hair, makeup, costumes, lights, electrical, staging, catering, models, props, costumes, etc etc, and even a seamstress. I got to hang around for a lot of Saturday and some Sunday too and what FUN.
Here come a lot of pictures taken with my phone in not the most favorable light, but I hope you can feel it for the event. Also leafed throughout are the final professional pictures. YOU WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM TELLING THEIRS FROM MINE.
Most of the images are modeled after photos Jo Ann has taken over the years and you can find them in her books available on Amazon.
They had two walls for the order of work, Day 1 and Day 2, including Jo Ann’s drawings and product sheets. Then as they completed a shot they would take off the drawing and put up just a quick sample print.
As you look through the pictures notice all the couches, chairs, tables, chests, backdrops, etc all brought in for this shoot.
I didn’t see any of this one.
Or this one.
They partitioned off a section of the huge room for wardrobe, hair, and makeup, and importantly, for the featured shoes and bags.
Shoes.
A seamstress at the ready.
I wasn’t there for this set-up on Day 1 but Meriellen was there and took this picture. I was around for maybe 6 hours total over the three long days, Prep Day, Shoot Day 1, and Shoot Day 2. They decided to redo this..
..and I got to catch a little of it. The monitor that you see below is an essential part of the effort. Everything that comes out of the camera is instantly available here.
The props guy brought all different sizes of these plants, for choice. You can see how they are used in the monitor above.
Day 1
Day 2
Mariellen and Alan chatting up one of the models.
This is another time I wasn’t there for the first idea (it’s Meriellen’s picture) but..
..I was there when they redid it. They couldn’t get the bag to show right and they used that string for placement which they will spot out in post-production.
Notice everyone gathered around that monitor.
So much involvement on all sides.
I missed the bag in all of these candle pictures but the most fun thing was the smoke. Looks like they’re not going to use the smoke pictures but rather just the model lighting a match, or maybe lighting the candles? I enjoyed the smoke so much I didn’t get a picture without it.
Check out the guy under the table – I don’t know what he’s doing there.
In this image I think they are only going to use the arms and the bag although they did go to the trouble of putting the models in fancy new shoes. Those outlines are just an artifact of telephoto on my phone I’m guessing?
I’ll say it again later, everyone there was delightful and even in moments of stress it didn’t seem to me that anyone was taking it out on anyone else.
I grabbed one last blurry shot on my way out.
It was quite amazing to me that I just hung around in the background trying to stay out of the way and every single person was cheery and kind, offering me a seat or some water or a chat with not a single side-eye among them. There’s a lot of pressure in a situation like this because time-is-money (and a lot of money!) and they’ve got to get it right. I was expecting you might be able to cut the tension with that cake knife that didn’t get used, but it didn’t bleed over to me. Thanks to everyone for letting me enjoy myself entirely!
I’m so happy that there have been a lot of getting-together these days. Here’s a jr high-high school-college crowd, and thanks Richard for making it happen with the plan to keep up meeting the last Tuesday of the month. You know me, I love a plan.
We often stopped breathing so breathtaking was this performance.
COPIED FROM THE DISNEY CONCERT HALL WEBSITE
Gustavo Dudamel brings together the massive choral and orchestral forces and even grander musical ideas of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. “From my heart, may it go to the heart,” Beethoven wrote at the top of his “Solemn Mass,” and privately he told friends he believed it to be his best composition. Yet, the epic, near-90-minute testament of Beethoven’s faith grounded in human and Rationalist spirituality is a rarity in concert halls because of its ambitious scale, leading Beethoven biographer Jan Swafford to call it “one of the greatest pieces never heard.” With a stellar cast of soloists and 125 voices from Barcelona’s Orfeó Català chorus, Dudamel navigates the shifting landscapes of Beethoven’s transcendent and revelatory masterwork.
A note from Gustavo Dudamel
The Missa Solemnis is, for me, the holy grail of the symphonic repertoire. At its core, it is about faith—faith in something greater than ourselves. Beethoven had to invent a new musical architecture for his solemn mass, and each time I look at the score I find a new room. The piece itself is incredibly difficult, with almost impossible requirements for singers, for orchestra, and for chorus, which creates this overwhelming feeling. It makes me believe in another dimension of greatness and beauty.
This weekend marks my first time conducting the Missa Solemnis. Often conductors will wait until they have reached a certain level of maturity and expertise before they perform it. Some are still waiting. After 17 years of this fruitful artistic relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I felt that now was a perfect time to attempt it together, along with our four extremely talented soloists and two choruses.
As musicians, we are often asked which works are our favorite or what is the best. It’s difficult to say. But we do know that Beethoven considered this his greatest accomplishment, and that is remarkable. —Gustavo Dudamel
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After the concert we walked over to the Conrad Hotel bar area across the street from the DCH to take that first picture. We also found a restaurant on the ground level that was tasty, comfortable, and didn’t break the bank. And then leaving the parking structure was a breeze.
What I do every time these days. (“No, you won’t remember”.)
Marsha and I just saw the Live Action Shorts and it was the best collection that either of us could remember after having seen many many years of Academy Award nominated shorts. Go if you can! We’re going to see the Animated Shorts on Wednesday. I don’t know about the Documentary Shorts yet.
And after the show I ate Tom’s Tacos with Tom, Marsha, Kelly, Kris, John, Jen, and Jordan. More fun!
I mentioned yesterday about the chores and eating out. In-between I’ve caught a few more Academy Award nominations.
Hamnet (losing their son to plague, with so much crying.)
Marty Supreme (Chalamet getting to the ping pong tournament, with so much screaming.)
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson, DiCaprio, Penn, del Toro “When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.” I’ll watch it again since I didn’t quite get the charm.)
Train Dreams (slow moving quiet tragic life that many found touching)
Jay Kelly (Clooney, Sandler self-centered movie star and his devoted manager, and me not caring about either of them)
Bugonia (SO odd and violent but I liked it anyway)
Sinners (talk about odd and violent, both genius and horrifying, and far too many vampires)
Sentimental Value (more than half in Swedish, it was touching. Spoiler: the main character did not redeem himself.)
Blue Moon (a sad getting-to-know-you piece, especially good if you like musical theater)
For the last several days I’ve been going out to eat mostly with friends, sometimes not, because I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to get through my To Do list. But I have made a dent. For example I’m putting away the Christmas Tree… and I downloaded TurboTax…
Emilia had never been to the Villa and Richard and Mick last visited decades ago. We had a delightful morning of coffees and some garlic fries, and then a good tour, and then we went off for lunch.
Here are pictures of a few of the classic views.
And Back on the Beach, always a joy. This picture is from their website.
Mid-morning on a Wednesday it’s not so crowded although buses of children did arrive from time to time, it was easy to find a place to stand for as long as you’d like in front of any of the exhibits. Alex and Carol joined me and then Merlyn came by for lunch at Shenanigans.
There’s a Black Rockfish and a Kelp Rockfish. I don’t know which this is, or it could be something else entirely since I’m asking google’s AI so who knows. “Both are species of rockfish (genus Sebastes), which encompasses over 100 species with a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes. They are long-living fishes, with some species living up to 200 years.”
I thought the hand in the back was cool-looking.
Blue-banded Goby (also known as a Catalina Goby). This little guy was one or two inches long.
Purple-striped Jellyfish (Chrysaora colorata), a species primarily found off the coast of California.
Probably another Rockfish.
The lorikeet exhibit is very fun. There’s a huge aviary for dozens of people to wander around in and over a hundred birds flying about. What’s a flock of lorikeets called? A chattering, which is perfect.
It’s included to get in and you can pay $5 for food guaranteeing birds will find you very attractive.
Wow, that’s a shark and the largest ray I’ve ever seen.
It was so delightful to hear all the kids shouting out “It’s Rubber Ducky..Look look at Rubber Ducky!”.
Spot-fin porcupinefish (Diodon hystrix), also commonly known as a spotted porcupinefish. It puffs up with water making spines visible.
We have our pot luck every Monday out in the valley where I used to live and I drive out there most weeks. Birthdays are so much fun and here we have February’s celebrants – Ljubica, Alicia, and Marija. We give each other rude cards and twenty bucks, and once again as is ever the case, we had no card duplicates.
First we had a nice lunch, gotta have lunch, and then we decided to have a swing by Sharon’s neighborhood destroyed by the fire. I thought I’d be able to get better pictures off the internet but none of them looked like what we saw. Above is Sharon’s lot. We could tell because the back side of a fountain survived. Below is more of the lot.
The US Army Corp of Engineers scraped all the burned ground about 6 inches deep removing contaminated soil, ash, and structural debris. A lot of weeds are grown in and every block or two had a couple houses being built. I’m not saying rebuilt because there was nothing left and I expect everything will be coming back bigger.
Here’s an aerial from the internet before the removal project.
Hilda stopped by after taking her son Raffi to visit her mom’s grave, in honor of the 5th year of mom’s passing. On the other side of the frame is a picture in the same pose of Hilda kissing Raffi’s forehead. It’s a beautiful thing.
Hilda brought a Persian sweet treat most often shared at funerals and the anniversary of the passing of a loved one. It’s called halvah and it turns out there are two very different types, the kind you get at the deli made of crushed sesame seeds, and the Persian kind made with toasted flour. I’d never had the flour kind before(!) and it was delicious.
We first saw the Collecting Impressionism at LACMA exhibit which was interesting and I was glad to have seen it and then we saw a real museum highlight, an exhibition of the work of Tavares Strachan called The Day Tomorrow Began that left us slack-jawed. It’s on until March 29 and you won’t be sorry if you can get there. It’s a wowzer for sure.
There’s too much to say about the few objects here and the many more in the show. Here is the LA Times review of the exhibit with plenty of words.
“Some loads are too heavy to carry alone.”
We are a few months late but, you know, it’s always something. Happy Birthday Susie!
Guðbjörg took me around Reykjavík for several days when I was in Iceland in 2022 and now she’s here visiting her boyfriend Albert. The connection is through Hilda – thank you Hilda!
We enjoy lunch at Casa del Mar, one of my favorite spots to relax and visit.
(photo below from Albert)
Then we finished the afternoon with a coffee in my yard and we picked a bag of oranges for Albert to take home.
Let’s try to pronounce Guðbjörg = “Guðbjörg is pronounced GVOÐ-byorg (approximate IPA: /ˈkvʏð.pjœrk/). It is an Icelandic name broken down as “Goo-th” (with a soft, voiced ‘th’ like ‘the’) + “byorg” (with a short ‘o’ sound, often resembling a “u” or “y” sound in English, and a ‘g’ that can sound like a ‘k’).” And here’s what another source says: g-uthbyeurh(is)
Robert treated me to lunch today. I hired him back at Crystal in the early early days, so long ago, and he’s made a wonderful life for himself and his family. It’s a beautiful thing!
We enjoyed a stroll along Palisades Park with a rest for my benefit before the turn-around, and then lunch on the porch of the Georgian Hotel. We were Ladies Who Lunch and by the end of the day I had more than 9,000 steps.
Lynn, Ken, Susie, Shelly, Joyce, Emilia, Carl, me, Richard, Josh, Mick, Dan, Ben
WOW, what a great gathering, everyone was so pleased. Thank you Richard for making it happen in honor of those of us who have passed. Goodness, we’ve know each other for a very long time.
Fendi is releasing a new line of shoes and purses and our Jo Ann conceived of and is leading the art side of the advertising campaign. Fendi shipped tons (literally, tons) of gear to LA and so many participants – multiples of hair, makeup, costumes, lights, electrical, staging, catering, models, props, costumes, etc etc, and even a seamstress. I got to hang around for a lot of Saturday and some Sunday too and what FUN.
I can tell more about it and show so many pictures that you will beg for mercy, but none with product until the release date. I promised!
Meriellen and Alan were there for the Friday setup and all of Saturday then Meriellen went home to Chicago while Alan stuck with it through all of Sunday too. I’m excited to put up the rest of the pictures and to see how the chosen ones turned out.
A couple pictures from Darryl – Thanks! Angela, Lilly, me, Liz, Gary, Rome, Darryl. Yumm, and then cake and ice cream and gifts, a game, walking the dog, all together a lovely day.
Lilly and I had lunch at Lilly favorite restaurant, Din Tai Fung in the Del Amo Mall. It was tasty and we always have fun. Then Angela met us and we all looked at dresses for Lilly’s high school Winter Dance. Flash from the past!
Below is an internet picture from a high school dance in 1963 when I was 16 as Lilly is today. I’ll add a picture of Lilly in her dress when she decides. It won’t look like this.
But sometimes that’s just not possible or even the best solution for an engaging life. I’m thinking to have a plan already worked out when/if being home is not happening, and many of my aging friends are thinking the same.
Since I have lived modestly and saved money with the intention of being prepared to be comfortable until age 96, and since that is ever so unlikely considering, you know, cancer, I’m ready to pick a really nice place.
There are a couple on Ocean Avenue looking at Palisades Park and the blue Pacific but they are small without many activities. Below are a couple right here in Westwood touting their chefs, facilities, and their relationship with UCLA.
When I say I have a spectacularly large head, you can see it here. We are on the same plane, the camera is the same distance away, and yet my head dominates the scene.
Darryl often joins me for lunch on Fridays and today I walked over to his office at the Water Garden. We went to a nearby restaurant/patio and had a lovely time in the most amazing weather, a warm, sunny, winter’s breeze.
The color is fading – it was purple to start and I suppose it will be purple again. It’s so eye-catching when we’re out for a walk.
Here’s Darryl’s great choice for an electric piano. I think it looks so cool (Angela’s decor of course), it sounds wonderful, and it has every feature.
We had a full house today at our book group get together. We started out with Persian Poetry and now we’re reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. It takes a while for us to get through a book because first we catch up with everyone’s personal stories and then we read the book during the meeting, each person reading a page or so, and then we talk about it.
It’s such a cozy feeling. I’ve mentioned cozy twice now, first when we had all those rainy days and now again. Cozy is a lovely way to feel.
I signed up today and it was easy. Now I’m on the email list and getting ready for the deluge of offers. It’s exciting! I’ve been thinking about, and hoping for, the Olympics ever since LA applied. 1984 was so great! And after I got sick I got even more desirous of making it to the Olympics.
First, I’m feeling dang, (and maybe unrealistically?) optimistic that I’ll make it to 80 in a year and a half, and then the Olympics are not far behind. Oh goodie!
Marsha and I have gone to the movies a few times recently, and a lot of the Golden Globe nominations are already streaming. And I can’t even remember the name of the movie I saw this morning! You can see Marsha there in the middle of the middle of the theater.
Here’s a list of the Golden Globe nominations that I’ve seen:
Hamnet (losing their son to plague, with so much crying.)
Marty Supreme (Chalamet getting to the ping pong tournament, with so much screaming.)
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson, DiCaprio, Penn, del Toro “When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.” I’ll watch it again since I didn’t quite get the charm.)
Train Dreams (slow moving quiet tragic life that many found touching)
Jay Kelly (Clooney, Sandler self-centered movie star and his devoted manager, and me not caring about either of them)
This is Lilly’s first outing behind the wheel (Angela took the picture) and Rome with their car that now has its own parking spot at the Co-op. Rome drove over to help me finish up in the studio doing the chores I can’t/don’t want to do for the new tenant who is settled in for a four month internship at the UCLA Medical Center.
I met up with Angela at 1 for a snack and a beverage and a walk to the ocean and since we had a little time left, we got our cars washed. Then I picked up Lilly at school and we went off in search of a snack and ended up at our favorite place, Yogurtland. Lilly always creates designer bowls of delights.
Black and white Converse are so photogenic and then add Oliver and it’s click click click.
I picked up some lunch for us to eat outside on Ben and Bonnie’s deck. It was a gorgeous day. Above is the mural on the side of the Canter’s building. There are many more panels than shown here, telling the history of the Jewish people in Los Angeles. Yummy bananas – I took one home!
New Year’s morning at Tom and Marsha’s as I have done many times before – come NYEve afternoon, watch movies, eat a delicious dinner, catch the New York New Year’s Eve on TV and get ready for bed. In the morning we have coffee and an early breakfast snack, watch the Rose Parade a few times on rerun, and eat ham sandwiches for lunch. That’s what we do and I look forward to it!
The eagles came by in the worst of the rain but they were everyone’s favorite. This is the 11th time it’s rained on the parade since it started in 1890.
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BTW this year’s wine was SO GOOD. Goodness, I’m going to be wanting more of that!
