’03 October

Messing around with the tripod. Horrifyingly, for several minutes I blanked on how to operate the self timer. Let us recognize the danger here…

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Roger, Sandy and Nancy were over for dins and a yack.

Ken! Teeth!

Tired of the pier yet? Not me.

David, 70, and William, 62, re**TIRED. But hey, don’t they look just too darn happy? HappyHappyJoyJoy.

Have you not been calculating your own count-down?

Veronika and Yuri. Yuri asked me ‘so, how’s Veronika doing? Do you like her?’. I replied ‘we might like her even more than you do’. He said ‘no, that isn’t possible’. DingDingDing. A winner! 5-Husband-Points for Yuri. With a young child just starting school, retirement is far from their minds.

Marylou and the youngest, Monica, and the oldest, Michelle, of her five children. Monica, the youngest, is 17. Marylou is in her own kind of retirement count-down!

Bobette has been retired for two years already. And loving it.

Bill, who announced that we would be having his retirement party in 8 years 10 months and 22 days. Bernie, who is 40 years younger than David will be paying our Social Security.

Alex and Mirah. They took retirement first and working second, having already been around-the-world and a year off here and there. I’m wondering if doing it this way will defer one’s retirement on the other end. We’ll have to keep track!

The Family Oziel. Sweet as sugar candy with no retirement in sight.

Bill just started a few weeks ago so he doesn’t get to Mention retirement.

Windy has Alan’s daughter here from Texas for several days and they have been on a whirlwind tour of Southern California. I played tour-guide Sunday afternoon. First we did a stroll down Rodeo Drive and then I took them to Melrose, for a change of pace.

These guys are awfully smiley face themselves considering the show they were enjoying – next picture…

Howling angry profane punkers on the roof.

That’s what his mama is thinking.

Decorations…

An example of the refurbisments from rundown abandonded buildings into a thriving commercial community. Even edgy, gritty young rebels have to eat.

A shop window. The punk-i-fi-cation of Carmen Meranda.

Me in a ‘pipe’ shop. All perfectly legal.

Then we drove down Sunset, drove along the coast and up the incline to Santa Monica where we strolled the Promenade.

These guys were fab and the crowd responded with cash aplenty.

A walk down to the pier for dinner.

It’s so hard to say without equivocation how my mother is doing. In one respect she is doing fine – she isn’t in pain, she can get around with help, she can be amused and is loving to her family and friends.

On the other hand her memory is so erratic you can’t really have a conversation – just go with her flow. And she can’t be left alone at all even for one minute. She has fallen a few times recently (nothing broke, thankfully) and if you turn your back you can find her out the door or rifling through drawers looking for she doesn’t know what, or maybe calling Saudi Arabia.

Check out that adorable pixie haircut!

From the plaza of my building. The second the shutter snapped on this pic the lobby security guy burst out the doors to tell me ‘NO no pictures!’. Fine. Ha! I got it already.

That’s real fog. I wish the tree was higher in the frame, up by the corner, but, since ‘NO no Pictures!’ I didn’t have a chance to work on it. It’ll probably end up gone.

A clip from a wall to wall mural at a hotel lobby bar nearby work, that I have been admiring for years.

Here is another lovely walk 12 minutes by car from my house. As we were driving along PCH to the trailhead on a glorious Saturday afternoon we repeated to each other, humbly, and to think, we live here.

I’ll get the directions from Nancy.

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A scene from out the side door of the Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas, your splendid dining opportunity presided over by the heads of dozens of dead animals strategically mounted on every Single wall.

‘Joanie by Candlelight’. Another title could be ‘Champagne Cocktail’.

I didn’t take this picture. Some guy at the restaurant did. You’d think a camera as perfect as the d100 would be incapable of such a shot. Except that I had it set for ‘fill flash’ and so it is my fault and the guy And the camera are innocent.

I cut myself out of it.

And I can do that because it’s my website, yes – although Bill’s coat does look plenty dang FunKeY – I might put myself back in. We’ll see. You guys all look cute though, festive actually despite the fill-flashed-foto and the funky coat.

Me at Marsha’s candle party. This is it for pictures.

David and Schatzi who are, in less than one month, moving to a seaside apartment in Ventura, right on the walkpath that edges the sand that meets the sea. Cool!

Sandy and Nancy as we’ve gathered for Sandy’s birthday outing.

Afternoon Tea at the Bel-Air Hotel for lovely ladies who lunch.

Nancy…

and Sandy.

That’s us.

This picture cracks me up. Without the least subtlety our individual World Face is right out there, pure and without intention, and it seems to me like one of those Girl Groups with ‘one of each’ – whatever those are. I can’t stop looking at it.

The stroll around the grounds at the Bel-Air Hotel.

Along the creek…

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In front of the neighbor’s door that leads down the walkway leading to R&S’s place.

Roger doing his hour-and-a-half-twice-a-week constitutional. The tree hedge is coming in nicely.

Monday Night… And the chick in the crown? That’s Maryanne, the Birthday Girl.

This is the only picture from a long and pleasant Saturday. Windy slept over on Friday night and on Saturday first off, we went shopping. We bought cool shorts and funky shirts at the Salvation Army. Then we went up to Chico’s for some more traditional wear. So far so good.

Then we were just going to stroll around Montana for a while. We bought coffee. We sat outside Starbucks to enjoy our coffee. That’s where these birds come in. You can just guess from there, but suffice to say it was a good thing we had some new shirts.

Angela came with us to see the very wonderful Pieces of April. We ate over at D&A’s and were in bed by 10.

I have made great strides in solving my close-up dilemma. How to make close-up pictures without a new lens? Using the tripod is the answer. It was sunset, the light very dim and low in the sky, when I took these pictures, just to test the situation at its potentially most difficult. Very fun!

More from a different stalk on the same plant.

Fire! A view out my window at work.

Happy Birthday Ruthie! Maxine, you are the bomb!! And BOO to you too.

Dress-up around the office. Barbara asked me to take this picture so she could send it to American Airlines.

Leslie, here for business, and a chance to hang out for a few hours between the exigencies of The Law.