’06 June

July 2

At Wilshire and 21st. Mighty dang cool.

June 29

It was Roger’s birthday last night and we ate yummy spilling over bowls of delicious pasta. I have been on a feeding frenzy for two weeks at least now. I won’t be able to weigh myself again for a very very long time.

In honor of Roger’s birtday here are links to his projects: First the Voice of Humanity blog (Roger you updated this ONCE since May 2005(!?). Second InterMix Community Middleware for the Web. Roger this guy hasn’t been updated since June 2004(!?) ROGER! Where is the new stuff?!

There’s this cool new search feature up there in the left top of this screen. It is the coolest search feature on the planet although I haven’t got to all the old stuff yet so not every photo is revealed. A search for xo the dog did not reveal this photo. I love this photo so I’m putting it here even if it is somewhere else and even though it is hardly appropriate for a summer month.

It is from years ago, maybe xo’s first holiday season with Darryl and Angela, I think, and maybe among my first Photoshop efforts, or so I seem to remember (since I see such ratty edges, which would be so much better if I did it today!) It wasn’t from yesterday anyway. Of that I can attest.

June 28

A visit to the Getty! Rome and her friend Nora, and the moms Angela and Katie and me too, we all went to enjoy a few hours at the Getty and it was a total delight. Eeeverybody had fun.

Click here for an UPDATED ‘Visits to the Getty Center’ story. I’m in the midst of reorganizing this website (when Darryl has a minute…) so stay tuned.

OMG too much cuteness. You hardly know where to look they are so cute and your eyes twitch. Don’t miss Rome’s foot.

It’s the hats.

Catch the rest here at an UPDATED ‘Visits to the Getty Center’ story.

June 27

Happy Birthday to ME! Thanks guys, a great pleasure as always!!

June 26

Happy Birthday ANN! Ann being the sugar, here’s Marija too, adding spice to the picture.

June 25

Burt and I went out to the Port Hueneme SeaBee Days event (that’s their official website.)

In the distance you can see these huge pieces of machinery that are the trademark tools of the SeaBees whose job it is to quick like a bunny build stuff so the fighters can get where they’re going.

The kids(?) had a great time because all these huge machines were available for climbing. It seemed to be mostly military families there and the kids were the parent’s responsibility as attendants were not present.

I didn’t see any children actually fall from great heights onto their sweet little heads but not for their lack of trying.

There was a model camp…

…and food stands and a carnival. I am entirely certain that the SeaBees asked the carnival people to be sure and bring all (and only) those rides that were guaranteed to make you puke. Except for this one. This one looked like fun.

Here are a couple of Burt’s shots from SeaBee Days. This bike was surround by yellow police tape. When Burt sent the file he noted ‘yellow police tape? what yellow police tape?’

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Among the many rides that gave me the woozies just to look at it. Nice woozie effect Burt.

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June 24

One of Cynthia’s coffee guys – the morning man. It seems she knows every coffee guy in her neighborhood of Laguna Beach and they all adore her. There is not a chain place for a mile around and how cool is that.

June 23

Melisse. Go there. But first arrange for a second mortgage or, better, go with someone who has a lot more money than you do and plenty of cash on hand.

Like Valentino, to get the full effect you need to go for the ‘Chef’s Carte Blanche’ which is not on the menu in either place and means that course by course small portions of extraordinary food just keeps coming.

I do think a classic kaiseki/omakase meal from a top chef is beyond comparison, but these two places, Valentino and Melisse, offer a similar gasping experience and Western cuisine.

June 22

Hurray! Hana-san in her New Gorgeous this >< close to finished Kitchen! Omedetoo Hana-san!

They’ve been ‘camping out’ right there in the Marina. Having no kitchen at all makes you truly appreciate a nice bowl of hot fresh homemade miso soup! So far it’s been about a month. I have heard from many who would be Happy if their kitchen was out of service for only a month!

Thank you Thank you! We had such a Festivo over here on Sharon’s patio! Nancy brought wine and dessert, Sharon cooked a dee-licious dinner and we ate and drank amd made merry. Lucky Me!

It’s The Happy Birthday Song!

June 21

La Pergola! Around the corner from Darryl and Angela’s place is an incredible garden. A farm really. And across the street and up the block from the farm is the restaurant that features its produce. The owner of both lives between them.

Eating there is like going to a gorgeous country home for dinner where Momma cooks up all the specialities of the season.

Yummy! Thank you sooo much for the treat! (Lordy those kids are cute.)

Wheee. Thanks Angela!

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June 20

Ooooh YEAH, Kids Today! Really, what a couple’a cuties. ‘Can I take your picture, huh pleeease ok ok?’ ‘Hey, sure.’ Spiky-hair-guy had to work on that expression too. I think he said ‘for the tourists.’

If I just could have convinced them to take down that boat. (Thanks Heather and Otto at REI.)

June 19

A Spa Day and Massage! Fifty-nine more years of Massage! Roger told me recently that the actuarial tables are now reaching potential age 120. (Was it Roger? Was it 120? Who cares.) So there you go. Middle age.

(Background pic ND)

June 18

Hilda’s Mom in the Middle! She’s come to stay, and here she is with her two good friends. Their kids grew up together in Iran, including Hilda. The other two have been in LA for years making the transition for Hilda’s mom eased by their presence, and a bit of a walk down memory lane.

June 17

My precious little sister Windy took me out for a Birthday Hike, made Birthday Lunch, and let me stick her in this Birthday Picture because her shirt matches the flowers. Now is that generous or what?!

We went up to Temescal Canyon and strolled happily and then hurled-hauled ourselves up trail-steps that were about a foot and a half tall, and skidded down past slippery leaves and loose stones. Success! That feels good despite my aching calves.

It’s very small but you can just see the flower in the middle of the picture on a straw-thin stem?

This is what that flower looks like. I could have stopped every twenty steps for a flower shot as the whole place was a-bloom.

June 15

On the bus I was trying to catch my own face in the driver’s mirror but instead I got hers. She’s thinking ‘whaaa?’

Ocean Avenue Seafood, a restaurant that never fails to delight.

June 14

Angela took these with my camera. Rome is really getting around these days! Watch out!!

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Hands hands fingers thumbs. You can click here and play the delightful tune Hands Hands Fingers Thumb.

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June 13

I had a nice car free Tuesday – walking up to Pico for lunch with Boban and then a slow wander home. (Thanks for the lunch Boban and for the leisurely and attentive visit!)

Boban always insists on paying (‘I’m old school’) and this time it was easy – my first birthday lunch!

The lunch place, Bourbon Street, wants to be down home with the walls covered Covered with stuff like this. This is a modest one. The food actually was down home and mighty tasty. I had a big fresh spicy calamari salad. Turns out a single serving of calamari has about 200% of your daily allotment of cholesterol, who knew, but it was good!

On the way home I took a shortcut from Bergamot Station through the Water Gardens complex on Colorado and Cloverfield. I think I have never been inside before!

It’s just a few blocks from my house! From the street it’s entirely unwelcoming but inside the open space is HUGE. There are tons of trees with comfy tables and chairs, lawns, bridges and rivers, lakes, fountains, it goes on and on. I sat for an hour and read my book waiting for the construction guys to go home. Pretty cool!

Here’s an article about the Santa Monica Water Garden office complex.

June 12

Hello Ladies! It’s obvious why my Monday night dinner adds up to a weeks worth of calories. Everybody brings something. Ya gotta at least taste each delight for sure. Sometimes ya gotta go back and taste it again. Two are missing and Look at all those ladies. That’s a lot of tastes spread out on the buffet table!

June 11

My dinos are blooming! We’ve got three pairs of dinos on the Promenade and as you all know well, I just looove those dinos. Around now, when the ladies are all flirty and the gentlemen are full and attentive, well, it’s just Grand.

You can see her partner in the far distance.

And speaking of extinction, you will not be sorry if you make the time for Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. It really is amazing as both a film and a polemic (although I think you will agree with him that the controversy is not among the scientists). Who would think that a slide show about global warming could be so engrossing, threatening, and optimistic.

Roger Ebert, in his review said that the first thing he did when he got home was go around and shut off all the lights. I walked down and I walked back. I even turned down Sharon’s offer of a ride in her hybrid car.

June 10

It’s fun to go out, don’t you think? And live entertainment is such a treat. Here was a nice evening out – dinner and a show. Thanks Paulette and Nancy!

June 9

After a Killer lunch at Drago I needed a rest. Then I went to UCLA to watch the Chorale rehearsing for the performance tomorrow night. They were great. They filled the room.

Going up to UCLA just about any old time remains a great pleasure. Beautiful buildings, park-like grounds, entertainments of every variety, even of the educational sort. And if you want, you can just read a book. Too bad about the $8 parking though.

June 8

Once a month on a Thursday the downtown art galleries do an open house Art Walk which I just went to for the first time with Nancy A. The gallery here was closed but this hall was an art project.

The buildings are especially worth looking at and you can almost believe there will be a turn-around as soon as they ship all the homeless and ill street people off to the San Fernando Valley.

I was starved and this place was great. We’d both go back. There were a number of entertaining shops and restaurants but still, this is a neighborhood far far from gentrification despite the $800,000 lofts available on every corner.

The thing is, it’s still downtown and as the sky darkened the streets and their residents became more and more forbidding, as if they weren’t unsettling enough during the day. But then since Nancy heard that the street folk will soon be Valley bound maybe downtown will turn into the SOHO it dreams of being and the homeless and the ill will find respite in Northridge.

June 7

The picture D&A bought from Sandy in its new home. A very tasty arrangement I’d say.

The grapes are starting up! And the hydrangea. Those orange things, the name escapes me at the moment no surprise but it’ll come back, are a weed and need to get pulled out before they Rot. My mother claims to make sandwiches with the leaves.

Ah, nasturtiums, courtesy of NA.

June 6

From Sunday, Nancy sent me a couple of her pictures and I smooshed them together. Cute! And waaaay delicious. We were going to go for a long walk but I had a taste for retsina. So we ended up at Sofi’s and had a short walk and a FanTastic meal, and Retsina!

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June 5

Suzy, Brigitte, and Katy! Months ago Brigitte got us all tickets for the Getty Villa and finally the time came!

Click here for an UPDATED! the Getty Villa story.

Monday Night Pot Luck Dinner and Back Surgery Scars. Lourdes on the right: when it’s fresh. And Maryanne on the left: after it’s had a few years to get settled in.

June 4

Maybe this will be the last of them for awhile? The thing is, you can pick literally anything, anything at all, do this copy, flip, move bit and it looks cool. Then you can distort-o these babies and get all sorts of bizarre effects. Sooo entertaining.

June 3

I went to Tom and Marsha’s, swam in their pool and as always indulged my born-omnivore such that I will not be eating again until tonight when I will eat broccoli.

ad photo.

Hello Dragojlovic Girls! My how time Flies. Check this out: the Dragojlovic Girls in September 2005.

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June 2

Sandy’s fridge, an evolving art project following the precepts of the Getty garden: ‘always changing, never twice the same.’

June 1

‘That Granny, she is sooo silly.’

(Just look at Rome’s curly little feet in these two pictures and you will want nothing more than a snorgle Right Now.)

‘Oh you Granny, hanging around at the department store, and Everything is just So dang Funny!’