’26 January

Above, Darryl brought his team from around the US to Santa Monica for meetings, and some FUN!

Yup, I still haven’t put away the tree! I got it up so late, I didn’t do it for a few years, and I still haven’t got a picture that feels right.

Muriel and her favorite helper Allie. I took Muriel to see some assisted living places just to get a feel for what’s available.

One of the dining rooms.

All my curls are gone from the 100 hairs that I still have on my head. The hair cutter was doing her best.

The students of Redondo Union High School staged a walkout this morning in support of the anti-ICE movement. You go kids!

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.

Thank you Ken for the picture!

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.

Meriellen’s cover shot.

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.

Calligraphy Westwood Village

Belmont Village Westwood

me, Lona, Windy

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.

Nakissa, me, Judy, Maniya, Marzi, Luna, Susan, Victoria, Hilda

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)

Rome and Juno came around for a visit and they got to meet the new tenant and it turned out they all had a lot in common. It was fun!

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!

The family came out on Sunday for yummy brunch with Rome and I got to go too. And then the Monday Ladies had a lovely lunch.

(At this rate fingers seem not Nearly enough.)

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!