Zowie, From Before

November 22

The landscaper is talking about lavender for the ‘base layer’ in front and there are so many kinds. I spent an hour down in the internet’s rabbit hole of lavender.

My oranges are going…

…quite NUTS again this year which is wonderful. When I get back from Minnesota I have to get someone out to tend to it or half of the delicious fruit will rot as has happened before.

November 21

Rome did a big project for school and Great Aunt Lona was her subject, her Elder. They did a big interview and Rome wrote a report and letters, did research, and finally prepared an oral presentation for this wonderful reception.

The class did these welcome posters too. Lona was out with Christa today in Oregon so I got to be the stand-in Elder and it was delightful. Rome did a marvelous job on her presentation and as the moderator of her group.

They broke all the 8th grade classes into smaller groups so that we could hear other presentations too. A few of our people had already left by the time I could take this picture.

You know I loved it!

From the stairs, it seems Oliver found my shoes a new fragrant treat. He licked them soaking wet but didn’t tear at anything so all is well.

It does look like he knows he’s up to something…and he didn’t budge for a very long time.

November 19-20

Good morning! We, being me, Windy, Liz, and Gary, hung around the house for a while, had coffee, admired the yard, and then…

…went to eat at a lovely café and ended up here at the Joshua Tree Coffee Company.

Fond farewells were exchanged and then we were off to…

More.

I panoed while they walked.

Then we went into Palm Springs for the night. Our room is a huge suite including amazing of amazing that is our private deck.

We had a massage and dinner. This is a good day!

November 18

Windy and I went to Hesperia for the second time to find a real estate agent we like since the first one felt a little weak. We want to sell our small plot of land out there, the proceeds of which will fund our family reunion. We are so happy because this agent we think is going to do the trick.

We got into Yucca Valley to visit Liz, Gary, and Dev just in time to enjoy the lovely dinner they made for us and then have an after dinner stroll around the ‘hood.

Night Sight and the holiday season.

Good Morning…let’s visit and enjoy our coffee!

And then in the evening I got to invite Jo Ann to join me at the Geffen thanks to Ken and Susie who weren’t going to use their tickets – absolute center five rows from the stage. It was great!

November 17

Lill and Sharon had never seen the Watts Towers and I wanted them to. They still haven’t!

You could get a little idea from the smaller structures. The museum was closed too but we did get a little conversation with a guy who worked at the art center.

November 16

My ears have been bugging me off and on, as they often do, and I had heard about this Minute Clinic on the radio. Many of the CVS pharmacies have this little walk in service staffed by a Nurse Practitioner. So I went in there, she looked in my ears and didn’t see anything so that was good. I’d go here again.

We all went off to Palmdale to have lunch with Louise who is doing great. You go Louise!

Marija, Louise, Lucy, Ljubica

November 15

Pretty, and there’s a garden full of them in Palisades Park.

They’re wearing wetsuits. Wetsuits are magic.

November 14

I like the feeling of this fence. A small fence set back from the sidewalk is in my mind for me too.

Some of the ways to grow groceries in your driveway.

I do so enjoy eavesdropping on kids chatting in the back seat.

Lilly, Tessa, Jeanne

We ate at the Lakeside Café in a mini-State Park I Encino. It is hiding behind Ventura Blvd which was so much fun to find. You can tour the buildings in this picture and the lake looks exactly the same.

November 13

Finally I remembered to take a picture during a lunch with Boban. We get together twice a year – my birthday and his birthday and I’m so glad for it. It makes me smile even after all these years.

November 11-12

Monday in the valley, Tuesday at the beach.

Muriel and I had a good walk and then a late lunch/early dinner at Uovo. The timing was excellent since it wasn’t crowded hence not so noisy as usual, and the owner was testing a dish, asking the few gathered around for their opinions. That was fun!

November 10

Happy Birthday Arlene, Big Seven OHH! Terry put on quite the festivity with a sit-down dinner for 50, tables laid out around the house. Arlene is on the right with her school-days friend who shares a birthday. Too fun!

November 9

I met Alex and Carol here in Pershing Square, to join an L.A. Conservancy walking tour of the surviving Art Deco buildings downtown.

It was very interesting and satisfying because so much restoration is still underway.

Not that it isn’t still ratty and a little stinky on most streets but it does feel alive with people who live there and I never thought I’d see the day.

Lovely isn’t it.

Followed by a visit to a rooftop bar, Perch, for the view over Pershing Square. There are so many rooftop views to enjoy, just ask google.

We ate in a Vietnamese restaurant, Little Sister. It was an excellent experience – comfortable, tasty, and oh so hip.

November 8

Ben and Bonnie and I went to the Annenberg Space for Photography today. I really like this view of the twin towers in Century City where I worked for all those years.

Turn around and there’s the Annenberg.

The show was wonderful. It’s called W/alls and with the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the billions of dollars we are now spending on a wall, it all feels so relevant.

The subject is a Bansky piece. The ladder and the man chipping away at a star are part of the painting.

Then we ate at this place at the Mall called Eataly and I ate so much I didn’t eat the rest of the day. It’s tomorrow morning and I’m still full!

Fun! Marigolds going with a couple of my birds.

November 7

Oliver, waiting for Lilly at school. We enjoyed a good walk and Oliver was SO excited to see Lilly come through the gate.

We did the Secret Santa assignments for the Monday Ladies, something Lilly has been doing for many years. Rome used to participate too but now she’s Grown Up. Yikes.

Trevor and Beth are in Oxford visiting Caleb and they sent this picture of Caleb’s class.

There he is right in the middle of the middle. Check out those ties. I’m waiting for Caleb to tell me what they mean.

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November 6

This is the woman who is going to design my landscape project. She came over today, we went over some stuff, and I gave her money so that’s commitment.

Her online presence is so lame, which we also discussed. Cynthia told me her sister is relentlessly hammering on her, telling her she has to do better. But I hired her anyway and from all evidence so have many others.

November 5

I saw Parasite with Nancy. It was looong, it was in Korean, and I couldn’t look away.

Here’s Nancy granddaughter at her riding lesson and Nancy with her niece. Sometimes I don’t worry about pictures because facebook is there for the taking.

facebook.

November 4

Once a year or so I like to take the Monday Ladies out for something different. This time we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant and then we went to a real old-fashioned bookstore.

7 of the 10 came so yay for everyone who could make it: Marsha, Lourdes, Becky, Marija, Ann, Alicia

At the bookstore, Chevalier’s Books on Larchmont, Ben was ‘in conversation’ with Rabbi Laura Geller about her latest book, “Getting Good at Getting Older”.

It was so interesting and everyone said they were glad to have attended. The internet has plenty to say about Laura and the book but amazon isn’t selling it which I find peculiar. Maybe she’s doing bookstores like a theatrical release before streaming? Ben needs a new promo picture.

November 3

I met Carl and Lynn for Happy Hour which evolved into dinner at a new place in Culver City – Amacita which they write as amá.cita for their own fancy reasons, and that dot they write as a bullet.

Despite the hipster name the food was fabulous. We were all very happy with every bite.

facebook photo in Tenderfoot Mountain

Merlyn and Hilda came over for dinner, actually they brought the dinner, a delicious lasagna. I made some appetizers, a salad, garlic bread, a sweet treat – it was lovely.

I didn’t take a picture so I got this one from a very different event in a different city with different people and I wasn’t even there!

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November 2

Lona and Christa stayed a few nights with Lucas and Betsy while Christa did her interviews. L&C are about mid-way through their three week trip. Anya is there too but Xander is still in Japan.

cb.

November 1

Remember Eri, Christa’s friend who’s staying at Lona’s place for a while, she speaks fluent Japanese! We went together to Little Tokyo to kick around for an afternoon.

We went to the Japanese American History Museum which Eri found particularly interesting not being very familiar with what happened to the US mainland Japanese during WWII.

This is a model of Manzanar.