’04 March

Here’s pretty much the whole wisteria story. During the first week in March the lower branches on the right are thick with blooms, the blooms move up the stalk and by the end of the week all the blooms are out and the leaves are starting to fill in.

As the leaves appear on the right the blooms start at the bottom left and this is what we’ve got by the end of the second week.

By the fourth week in March the whole arc will be just the leaves and stay that way for the rest of the year. Then the leaves drop and we’ve got sticks for December-February and then like magic, March will bring another explosion of color.

Mom, from the last week in March and the wisteria from the first week in March. Mom can walk on her own in her own apartment but outside, she can’t. She is Very tired 100% of the time, too tired even to flirt for more than a few minutes. Now you know that’s bad news.

Hilda and Merlyn, sitting in front of their gigantic and georgous fireplace.

This was my first visit to their new home and let-me-tell-you that place is a knock-out. A hacienda for the ruling class, up off Mulhulland, vista views of the valley, with soaring ceilings, arches and alcoves and tile like you wouldn’t believe, gorgeous furnishings Hilda brought back from Iran and around the world, and floors and paint and windows of style and panache. They don’t know it yet but I’m coming back during the day next time!

And I won’t even tell you about the dinner because you’ll just go and get all jealous.

Roger and Sandy at the Culver Hotel. We met for wine and cheese in the lobby, a delicious and entertaining dinner in the hotel dining room and a walk to their favorite Italian place for dessert. They are becoming quite the connoisseurs of their new neighborhood!

Following is a brief description of the essential rituals surrounding my participation in the LA Marathon. This was the tenth year – I missed last year and maybe another time or two but otherwise, I’m so there!

Many have participated over the years, from time to time, but the one constant, the one person who has hung in through the good times and the pouring rain and whipping wind and freezing cold, is Bill.

Here’s the drill:

On Saturday morning we go to The Original Pantry downtown where we stand in line for forever and then eat a ridiculously huge breakfast…

…followed by a walk over to the Convention Center (you have to go here to get your number, t-shirt and a bag full of promotional giveaways. Pain relief medication and bandages for example. And the opportunity to Go Shopping for sports gear.)

We buy a shirt for Ken.

If Bill doesn’t have his bike in LA, we rent one for him.

Then it’s Saturday night pasta dinner at Ken’s where we leave early and the rest of them play games and whoop it up into the night.

Mel, Carol and Dan.

Thank you Ken!

So then I get up in the dark, Bill comes over and we load the bikes, hit the freeway, scavenge a parking place, and ride to where the other 16,998 bikers are gathered.

The ride is supposed to start at 6am but the crowds are so huge that once you reach the start you’ve been walking for several blocks and you’ll walk a bit more until the people in front of you have spread out.

From when you can mount-up though, your just ride ride ride through the streets of LA unobstructed by cars or signals or stop signs or pedestrians. Way WAY too cool. And it’s easy.

This year was about perfect. The weather was glorious and all the riders around me were so admirable I want to thank them. Thank You! The little kids kept their attention on the road and didn’t cause accidents. The big guys weren’t trying to weave and race through the crowds and cause accidents. The large groups didn’t act stupid like 12 people holding hands to cause accidents. No Accidents! It makes such a difference not to have to be pulling up short for reckless riders causing accidents.

Bill added a 6 mile run just because (he ran to the 5k, did the 5k and then ran back to the car). I waited with the bikes and enjoyed the first hour or so of the runners as they passed our parking place. There are more than 23,000 of them and what we are seeing here is after 45 minutes of thick crowds passing.

We love LA!

It was Lona’s birthday and we girls went over there to Clean The House. We worked from 9am to 11pm and couldn’t have been happier to do it because Lona was sooo happy.

We’re here practicing our chin-covering moves. Cynthia was going like all ‘huh?’ ‘what?’ ‘I don’t get it’. We didn’t yell at her or anything. As is so often the case, I forgot to stand in back and my enormous head dominates the entire picture.

Richard and Emilia stopped by on Sunday and we enjoyed a lovely walk-path walk, sand-side lunch and since it was surprisingly cold, we topped off the afternoon at Casa del Mar for an Irish Coffee.

This picture and the next look a little like Richard and Emilia but are actually me goofing around.

I must be in some sorta’ mood – me leaning on the counter in the pounded copper looking funky smoky glass mirror behind the bar.

Gwen and Al. Gwen’s mother is Japanese and her father is Chinese. She was born in Peru and carries a Peruvian passport, lived in Japan and Taiwan, went to college in Switzerland at a UK based school, worked here and there around the world and now she is in LA, working at Crystal, married to this kid from the midwest who hadn’t been out of the US when they met. Fun!

I left the car for service and walked home, just a couple of blocks. Snap snap.

more.

and more.

I was shopping for shoes. Not surprisingly, I didn’t buy any shoes but took some pictures instead.

Linda is SIXTY. She put on an entirely lovely festivity – formal wear, cocktails, dinner, demonstrations and a great opportunity for Linda and her friends to go out Dancing.

Linda is my dancing idol you know. When I first saw her look-turn-look I about melted with desire. Oh me too, I want to do that toooo, show me show me show me and endless instructions to Ken ‘I want to do it like Linda does it’. That was always good for a laugh.

An ‘A’ Team. Happy Linda and Ken in his silk suit.

That’s me giving it the old college try.

Here’s the thing about that whole ballroom dancing scene. When you’re dancing and it’s going well it’s like you’re in a dream of a movie, two layers abstracted from real life, and yet entirely ‘in the moment’. Your calculating, analyzing, scrutinizing brain gets to just take a break (for the woman anyway, the man has to do the choreography and the woman just pretty much goes with the flow).

LuckyLuckyYou is what I say to myself.

“The critics are raving: ‘A marvelous opportunity to enjoy Cinema at its best, in a charming, relaxed yet attentive, down-home environment.’ ‘You couldn’t imagine a more comfortable venue.’ ‘A Total Delight!'”

Darryl and Angela got a honkin’ new TV. Here is Angela’s email:

“Welcome to Queen Dork Cinema!

Tomorrow our feature film will be selected by Penny and approved by Angela.

Here at Dork Queen Cinema we ask that you be comfortable and enjoy yourself as if you were completely relaxing at your own home. If that means that you stink and wear your pajamas, that is o.k. with us. We will be providing pillows and blankets for acquiring the maximum comfort level. Shoes are not allowed, but comfort is required.

We will be serving Water, Tea, Coffee, and of course food. (popcorn, snacks and other)

We hope you will enjoy your time tomorrow at Queen Dork Cinema as we look forward to sharing our cinema with YOU!”

We all knew Alex was off for a holiday with his pregnant girlfriend Mirah. They were going to Yosemite to stay at the Ahwahnee. They were going to do easy hikes and relax before Baby Time.

Alex comes back to the office and of course I insist on seeing his vacation pictures. Whhhhhhy that looks exactly like Here Comes The Bride! ‘Oh,’ says Alex, ‘I got married. We eloped.’

‘But your mother!’ say I. ‘Oh, my mother and father eloped too, so what could they say?’

Mazel Tov! Congratulations! Here’s to a Long and Joyful life!

Jesse James Fannan and his sister Annalee. No person with hand to touch could resist that hair.

And Jesse’s delightful girlfriend Andrea. An Internet Love Story. Cool!

One of my dinos on the Promenade.

We went to see ‘Menopause, The Musical’. The show had been running for months but still the theater was packed to the rafters with huge noisy groups Just Like Us. The four men in the audience couldn’t use their bathroom because women were always in there.

We howled and whistled and slapped our knee. Not to say it was even good but it was a Great night out.

Pictures from Xander’s 2nd birthday party. And I didn’t take Any of them. It’s all Angela all the time!! Enjoy more pictures at Angelaspics.org.

What is it? An electric ride-around police style motorcycle, that’s what it is. Two years old. Wow!

Since it took a good fifteen minutes to walk with Mom to the toilet Lona and I decided to get her into her walker’s seat and push her back. Good thing it all worked out ok, we didn’t tip her over or cause her to go into cardiac arrest or anything, because we would have been in so much trouble with our sister.

Me and my mom. You know that thing about how you look in the mirror and you see your mom?

SQUAWK SQUAAAAAWKSQUAWK. The only time my sister’s bird isn’t SQUAAA AAAWKKKKing is when he’s cleaning himself, or eating maybe, or biting someone.