’03 June (debut of the d100)

Y!E!S. The soon-to-be mother of my grandchildren! Here is Angela’s email to family and friends:

“We went to Chez Mimi for dinner, then we went and walked on the beach, where it could be said that we had one of our first memorable romantic nights, which is where he proposed.

For those romantics, yes he got down on one knee and said “When I look back and think of those two people that were here that night and look at us now, it is hard to even recognize those people. We have both come so far and changed so much, I was not really myself or who I should be. I know that it is because of you that I was able to be me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

Then I said yes! Do that again!! Then we went to look at the ring in the light, and off to the Radisson where we enjoyed a beautiful view.”

Oh lucky lucky ME! Happy son, happy daughter-in-law, happyhappy joy joy!

Yes, yes it is true, he is adorable. (This is a 1/32 clip out of the full picture. I’m likin’ this camera.)

Goofing around at the mall.

Just a quick snap in my office without a single adjustment. (oh yea, I’m likin’ this camera.)

A Venice Blvd in Venice cottage compound. I admire it every time I drive by – this is an out-the-window shot. Why is it that when you look at this exact picture in photoshop the color is so much richer?

I was going to meet Joy and Yukiko, and maybe a few others from one of my UCLA classes, in the area of San Gabriel that contains blocks and blocks of parking lots everywhere but no parking places, and low rise Asian strip malls.

I say strip malls because that’s how it feels when you’re in there but don’t imagine your corner strip mall. Take that strip mall and spread it over a giant block anchored by mega-Mega grocery stores like ’99 Ranch Market’. Absolutley everyone agrees. There is Nothing related to Chinese cookery that you can’t get around here.

This entire aisle, on Both Sides of the aisle, are loaded with prepackaged noodles All Different. After I took this picture I got busted ‘No Cameras Allowed’ so I didn’t get to the floor to ceiling stacks of every kind of rice or the huge section of live fish.

And walking up and down the aisles I became obsessed with thinking about and testing and re-testing if I could again and again generate the fizzy buzz of discovery that makes me so happy. How would I live in a place where I couldn’t always find something I’d never heard of before?

And I loved the old men shopping so carefully for one perfect fish or the grandsons with patient and kind expressions pushing grandma’s cart.

Lunch at the Nice Time Deli, according to Joy a typical Taiwanese cafe.

Goofy Goooofy picture of me, like what’s with the lip-pucker and what is With that hair, but cute of the other two.

Jack and Becky put on a festivo in honor of their Kelly’s college graduation.

The Chorale Crowd.

Lourdes and Marija pretty and sweet.

Dale and Joann – I made then sit still for this. That white thing between their heads is a rose. A nice idea at the time but now I’m thinking it needs to get gone.

I never actually met this kid so I don’t know his name or who among the guests were his parents but seeing him standing there for many minutes, long enough to chase up the camera and frame the shot, all I could think then and now is ‘golden boy’.

Tommy and his Sweet Baby Girl.

The next day at Tom and Marsha’s. Here we have John and his girlfriend Jenn.

Yeah, yeah, boring but real.

They have f*i*v*e cats. There is this one (actually, my favorite because if it were not for the fact that Uni is still alive I would say this cat is the reincarnation of Uni)and another one that looks just like him only whiter.

And then there is this one and another one that looks just like her only blacker. And then there is a tiger cat left over from the previous generation of cats.

How does one family end up with five cats? Are we talking some sort of pathology going on here? Time will tell.

Hi Les. I was over at Dale’s wine locker and we were thinking of you and I thought you’d enjoy this. That’s right. All of them. 1945.

At Bob’s.

Su-ckerrr. That’s me. Sucker for a palm tree.

It is early evening. The lights are dim. The room is large. But no problem for me and my new Camera – nothing a little slow-flash-fill can’t handle! I guess you probably have to care to appreciate the glory of this ordinary (boring?) photo. And handheld no less. Can you even Imagine if I haul a tripod around? Look at those chairs in the very foreground – no hot spots – and you can see pattern in the rug all the way to the end. GaGa.

more. This is all Casa del Mar in Santa Monica.

Sigh.

In my dreams of a lovely life I imagine a place eXActly like this one. A comfortable lounge, a jazz combo, cool and warm and at the perfect volumn, a fabulous view and right down the street from home, to share with a dear friend – I’m weakened.

Love those shots in the toilet mirror. Thanks Marsha for a dear-friend happy birthday. No, I am not all crunched down. No, Marsha is not standing on a ladder.

Another hotel down the road from Casa. I just keep making these pictures bigger and bigger. Very Soon Darryl will hook-me-up with a Bigger and Better way to do all this. TickTock.

1988 DRC La Tache.

Tanaka-san and his (female!) assistant.

Happy Birthday to the MOM! Breakfast! A cake and a card and a gorgeous glittering crystal for the window! And a sweet visit, help in the garage and a SONG (‘from your son and the future mother of your grandchildren’).

I hope D remembers the technique he used to make this picture (take four or five or something…): head down, eyes closed, exhale and sigh on one, inhale and smile on two, and on three – look up-eyes open-click. Perfect.

Angela’s got her own method down already. I should ask what it is. Lona’s got this thing where she makes a wad of spit bubbles and then sticks her tongue and the spit bubbles behind the space between her front teeth. I need to get me a trick too.

One view from out my back door.

So it’s midnight and we ate a yummy dinner (thanks Roger and Sandy!) and we drank my delicious birthday 1993 Simi Reserve Cabernet wine (thanks Nancy!), then we went to the thee-a-ta to see a Moliere play that was a total kick, came back for a hand or two of poker.

Sandy gave me one of my favorite of her watercolors (thanks Sandy!). And I got elegant tequilla (according to Roger according to the market ‘Don’t Buy Patron’) and sunflowers with wishes for a happy sunny year ahead (thanks Roger!).

ThankYou!ThankYou!ThankYou! I am beyond luck to have such loving friends.

My new tripod make this pic possible. I need to get the name of Aunt Hillad’s condition because it is baaaad. She seemed pretty perky though, considering the circumstances.

That’s Darice and Jeffery too. I like my hair in this picture.

Everywhere you look, shapes with colors on them. (So it’s Tue-Mom, Wed-Brigitte, Thr-CC.)

I got home Thursday night to a few messages from Roger. Bad! Sandy was in a car crash and they were over at St John’s Emergency. She had a spinal injury and was going to be immobilized until tomorrow’s mri after which they would decide about surgery. Awwwwo.

DiMori – fine dining. Cao Bella!

On Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. Really.

Awwwwwooo. In two weeks she gets to sleep free of The Collar. Can you just imagine? But she’s home, no surgery required, and the whole healing process is supposed to be done in 2-3 months. I can’t imagine!

Christa and I went to scout out a location for our Fire Pit birthday party and then had some lunch at Encounter. Christa thought all the lava lamps and oozy decor was real neat.

The ladies room is such a great place for portraits even though the light is invariably Bad and you can’t flash because of the mirror and they all look over-processed, I still like the feeling. I should call them Potty Portraits. Maybe someone will pay me?

Happy Birthday Roger! Roger, Sandy (awwwwo), Randy, Charley (Charlie? probably some far more exotic spelling!) and Fred, at Shanghai Reds.

Here we are at our Fire Pit birthday party. Yes, we are as cute as we look.

So the gang saw this honkin’ slab of wood over by the parking lot. That thing was so huge we just Had to have it. So the guys do some serious confabulating and work out this method involving a rope and extended discussion and encouragement, and coordinated pushing and sustained pulling.

‘Hey HEY’ these guys call out. ‘That’s Not Yours’ they say. ‘Oh, ok ok’ we say. So our guys offer to help these guys haul it to their spot. No problem, they say, and just pick up the thing.

We did get some small satisfaction noting they did not make it to their campsite without several put-it-down pick-it-up stops along the way.

This little boy was wondering around our area whimpering like a lost little puppy, which he pretty much was. So Angela gathered him up, wiped his eyes, helped him blow his nose, told him not to worry and everything would be fine and generally stayed with him at the life guard station until, a loooong time later, his mother noticed he was missing. We all nodded knowingly. TickTock.

The Scene from the life guard station. And at the end of the day we toasted marshmellows and made sa’mors. Happy Birthday Christa! Happy Birthday Granty!