Daily Life 2009

This was our set with three more to follow. Like I said, amazing.

May 31

It’s time for Rome’s dance recital! That’s her teacher Miss Meghan gathering her group. One of her groups actually as she has many.

I will say that they ran this huge HUGE recital (with something like 80 performances broken into four ‘sets’ so you only watch your own set) with the precision and efficiency of a swat operation. Amazing amazing on the logistics. And the costumes that each parent bought. Wow. The performances were cool too!

Rome and her friend Claudia just before going on stage.

There are more than four girls in the class but these are the ones that came to the recital.

The trick for the kids is to watch the teacher. For groups of more than four kids they had two teachers, one at each end, doing the routines in broad strokes. You could start to recognize the moves as you would expect but it was very clever of the teachers how each group put the basic moves together differently.

They were each and every one a-DOR-a-ble.

Our *s*t*a*r*!

May 30

It’s Hartley, Lona, and Christa, and we’re out for an afternoon on the pier. Lona convinced me to go for a ride in the Ferris wheel saying she had done it several times before and it was great.

It wasn’t too bad actually because the carts are huge, there are no feet hanging over thin air, and they circle slowly and…

…check out the view. From here you can see the roller coaster that I am having none of…

…but Lona, under some pressure from the fam, thought to give it a try.

On exiting the roller coaster and for an hour or so after she only repeated emphatically ‘never again never never again’.

May 29

First I’m going to Wisconsin (YEA!) and then a quick visit to the Grand Canyon (Oh FUN), and then it’s going to be BABY TIME (HURRAY!)! and after that…what’s next?

I’ve never been to Rome and I reallly want to go. I’ve never been to Greece or Turkey and I reallly want to go. There’s finishing up my trip in New Zealand…and I’ve never been to Australia. And there’s the chance for a crazy adventure to visit Mindy with the Peace Corps in Zambia.

And now I’ve been watching Monarch of the Glen on Netflix ‘watch immediate’ which means I sit up until 1-2-3 in the morning catching up on seven years worth of episodes. And now I want to go there.

(internet photo)

Nancy’s Retirement Day! HURRAY!! So by 2:00 she was outt’a there…

(formal announcement)

…and we went to opening day of the new Pixar movie UP. We love love loved it.

Wow was it ever charming. For me the kid was rendered so perfectly, everything about his body language felt completely spot on. And the dogs. OMG the dogs…the person in charge of the personalities of those dogs, well, you’ll see.

(internet pic)

May 27

Windy had a great birthday celebration for Lona and Hartley at her place out in Toganga. We passed on the sign. Maybe Lonie gets the record…more than 2 months late…but what with business and traveling and cancer and all, this was our first best chance.

Happy Birthday Lona and Hartley and Many Thanks Win.

And Christa caught a lizard!

I wandered into Nordstrom looking to replace the two t-shirts I have worn every day of my life for the last two years (Man those shirts are nasty), and caught sight of these shoes. Hmm, I thought, maybe these could work for dancing because the no-heel but strap around the leg might work for my AAA ankle and C in the toes.

So I put them on. Hey! This is pretty good. This might work. Maybe I should give them a try? Hmm, I thought, how much are these babies going for? Oh. $350.

May 25

Memorial Day and I went to The Grove. What was I thinking again? But actually it wasn’t bad because The Grove is right on the Marathon route and people were staying away.

These guys were hot. Really. They were singing all the ol’ time rock ‘n roll crowd-pleasin’ classics with a constant up-beat and ‘aren’t we all just having Fun’ patter and cheering the little kids doing the twist on the lawn. Good job guys.

May 26

Tuesday, Rome! I went with Angela and Rome to Ikea since Rome is going to get a new bed before the new baby comes and it’s a big decision for sure so research was in order.

Looks like this guy is the winner. The drawers work as drawers and then the whole mechanism can pull out to create a double-twin for sleep-overs. You party on.

May 24

It’s Free! We went to hear the Santa Monica Symphony concert at the Civic Center, and it was Greaaat!

Sharon, Hana, and Tai. Sorry guys. I knew the light was going to kill this picture and I could have used the flash but…but…

Then we walked down to the Casa del Mar for a glass of wine and a visit around the most excellent windows in their gorgeous lounge. What a great evening.

I just realized while writting this – the ferris wheel is not early for July 4th, it’s doing its Veteran’s Day display. Now I get it. It has dozens of ‘moves’ but this night it was all about one huge flag thing after another.

May 23

This was fun! I met Roger and Sandy at the beach and we ate surprisingly (really!) good food right there on Washington Blvd just below the boardwalk.

I’d even go here agin.

May 22

Wow! It’s Marija and Brian’s grandbaby Alexander! Congratulations Marija and Brian! He is a Prince among babies, we can tell that already. Marija has so happily spent the last several weeks up there on her very own Cloud 9 named Alexander. Yea Marija! Of Course hurray Melinda and Steve too…

May 21

I had a nice long walk first to meet Sharon at B&N and then we walked together to Venice, ate, and walked back. Does all that walking absolve me of my 25 situps? I don’t think so.

It’s Spring and all the girl dinos have on their flower dresses.

In the evening I went with ND Nancy to see Jo Ann speak at the Getty about her exhibition there.

The traffic was a Dee-SAS-ter. It took us more than one hour to go from my house to the Getty. It’s almost impossible to imagine but I was there to see it happen.

It was a very fine evening and the roads were clear by the time we headed home.

May 19

We went out on a shopping expedition to the mall. And where’s the fun in that? The Play Area, there’s fun to be had there.

Rome’s recital is coming up and all the girls got their new tutus and their head bands and could a child BE any cuter? No.

May 18

Happy BIRTHDAY to Maxine and Marsha! The candles? we can’t count that high!!

May 16

A fun snagged internet photo here to tell about what I did today. Except there’s no big steak dinner showing in the picture, which was a real highlight.

I went with Marsha on her expedition to look at houses for sale, and it was fun. I’m quite sure they are going to find Just The Thing. Then we ate a big delicious homemade steak dinner.

May 14

Wellll, first I had to go Back to the dentist since last night my temporary cap came off while I was eating a bowl of Cheerios.

Sharon came to meet me for lunch and then we did a nice long walk in the Palisades. Lovely. And my tooth doesn’t hurt, Hurray.

May 15

Wow, look what’s happening in my neighborhood. This is the jacaranda block. The palm tree block is next. And there’s another block of that tree I don’t know the name of. It’s nice to be home and out for a nice walk.

…a momma sitting on her nest! On top of which…

…here’s another one Exactly outside my Front Door!

Isn’t she soo sweet?! I don’t have any pictures of Rome from yesterday, but she’s gonn’a love these momma birds!

I’m sure momma picked that spot before I got home, thinking she had a quiet refuge and now she’s regretting her choice. I’m trying to be quiet and calm when using the door and I talk to her in soft cooing tones.

May 13

Sandy doing a little painting under the grape arbor along with…

May 11

What do we do after dinner every Monday Night? Yup.

May 10

Happy Mother’s Day!

After Bonnie’s party I watched Rome so D&A could have a night out, and then I just slept over since the next moring was Mother’s Day!

And what an Excellent day it was. Darryl made us a feast-o-breakfast and then we got ready for a great family picnic at Balboa Park.

We did end up under a perfect tree, the only thing being more perfect-er would have been had the tree had a table and benches but then we were not the only people out for a picnic on Happy Mother’s Day…

Rome and Anya, lookin’ cool. Anya insisted on having her sticker on her back because, really, it just didn’t go with her dress.

Then we went to the Japanese Garden also in Balboa Park. Isn’t it a lovely setting?!

That’s Grammy (Liz), Mommy (Angela), and, as Liz likes to note and I nod in silent agreement, The Amazing Rome.

Happy Mother’s Day! Oh I am a lucky dog.

ak.

Liz’s cool earing.

(…still to do, pick one of the Tea House pictures…)

My little sister Windy’s and my beautiful and precious daughters-in-law Betsy and Angela.

Another one of me and Darryl because I want this one too!

ak.

May 9

Home from the land of Aloha just in time to enjoy Bonnie and Ben’s gorgeous newly landscaped garden and farm.

That’s right. Not only is it a most luxurious and delightful garden…

…it’s a farm. Those raised beds are incredibly perfect. You can sit on a nicely padded stool and moving around the beds easily reach every part of the growing surface.

It is wonderful! What a perfect way to settle into the decade of our sixties. Happy Birthday Bonnie!