’10 September

I had to keep them both because of the tooo adorable smiley face, reachy hand, and the pointy toe.

Twelve days later, when I got back from Seattle she was taking many consecutive steps on her own. Yesterday she walked towards me for 7 steps, sat down, stood up from her sitting down, and walked on for several more steps. Pretty soon she’ll be preping for her sat!

It’s Rome on her Fifth Birthday!

Rome got to choose her favorite restaurant for her birthday dinner. She rode her big girl birthday bike over there. Happy Birthday sweetie!

September 18

My little niece Erica, dubbed RikiTik by my mother, and Mike, her husband of something like 30 years. I know, she hardly looks 30 years old.

They were down south in San Diego visiting family, from up north in the Bay Area where they live, and stopped by LA for a deeelightful afternoon and evening. We walked, we ate, we chatted for hours. Thank you for making the time!

Ten days early I got my first very own cell phone. That’s right, my very own, and I went with the Big Boys, a Droid X and a thing of beauty it is.

(I’ve just got back from Las Vegas (photos coming tomorrow) and have been reading, soo easily, War Of The Worlds on-my-phone! If you remember anything about War Of The Worlds you will see the amusing symmetry of reading WotW on my (now say it like the phone does) ~Droid~.)

September 17

Susie and I had a cool tour of the California State University at Long Beach today. It was interesting and entertaining as well.

This is at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, a modest yet perfectly lovely Japanese garden with all the elements one expects – water features, raked garden, shaped trees, koi pond, bridges and paths, small tea house, very nice indeed. Anyone on campus is welcome to wander through.

This is a huge pyramid that you can see from all around campus, a “5,000-seat, indoor multi-purpose stadium.”

wiki: “Each side of the perimeter of Walter Pyramid measures 345 feet (105 m), making it a mathematically true pyramid. It is one of only three true pyramid-style buildings in the United States, the others being Luxor in Las Vegas and Pyramid Arena in Memphis. Walter Pyramid rises 18 stories above the Long Beach skyline and its exterior is uniformly clad in sheets of dark-blue corrugated aluminum.”

It also has the “largest hydraulic operated stadium seating in the world.”

We ate a delicious Happy Birthday Susie lunch at a Thai place across from the campus, and then we went back to look at the exhibit at the University Art Museum.

The exhibit was a retrospective of Michael Goldberg’s work. Neither of us had heard of Michael Goldberg (1924-2007) and except for three small pieces, we weren’t too hot for his work either. They change exhibits about once per quarter and it’s worth it to stop by.

(internet pix)

September 16

Sharon had a lovely garden party this afternoon in honor of Brigitte’s return and her first tour of the garden. We enjoyed some food and beverage, we watched Brigitte’s slide show from her recent time in Europe, and generally caught up with our doings. Thanks to all!

September 15

I have GOT to find me a photo-face and a photo-pose. How did I put myself where I ended up? Great dinner though, and lots of fun as usual.

September 14

Rome! It’s her second day of school. Real big girl neighborhood school. And we walked to pick her up. Wow.

Lilly, meeting her big sister at big girl School!

And it was Lilly’s actual birthday today. One Year Old. WHAT a cutie pie.

Angela took this one of Lilly eating her first piece of cake. Happy Birthday DEAR Lilly, Happy Happy Birthday!

ak.

September 12

Happy HAPPY Birthday! Rome is FIVE and Lilly is ONE!!

We had a big Fairy Princess Party here. ‘We’ meaning Angela and Darryl did everything.

I did make some origami cranes for a little decoration, pink ones Of Course.

Hannah, Aidan. Fabulous birthday dessert, isn’t it.

Jack, Rome. Don’t miss Jack’s little finger. They totally set up this photo op themselves, really, it wasn’t me.

Jed, Lila, Katie, Anya

Sarah, Ashley, Emma

Sydney C, Claudia, Isabelle, Charlotte. One of the dads picked up child after child to sit in the tree. That was nice.

Rome, Nora, Isabelle, Sydney S, Claudia, Cole, Ashley, Sydney C, Hannah

The Fairy Princess when she did finally arrive, about 45 minutes late, was a big hit with the kids and managed the crowd easily.

Rome

Gabriel, Jack, Aiden, Isabelle

Nice!

The following are from Heidi’s collection (1 of 4). That’s her on the left holding her daughter Sydney.

Heidi’s (2 of 4). My stories of events that Heidi attends are so much more complete. .

Sydney S, Rome, Ashley, Sydney C, Sarah, Charlotte, Isabelle, Rome, Nora, Hannah, Sydney C, Charlotte, Ashley, Cole, Sarah, Claudia, Emma, Isabelle, Nora, Rome in the middle, Rome, Nora, Zoe, Sydney S, Sydney C, Cole, Charlotte, Sarah

(3 of 4)

Nora, Lilly

(4 of 4) Happy HAPPY Birthday Dear Rome and Lilly!

The fam.

September 10

It’s my little sister’s birthday. That gorgeous woman in the middle is SIXTY years old. Of course our older sister is gorgeous too and waay more than sixty. That’s Lona’s husband Hartley on the right and we have gathered here to C*ELL*O*BRATE!

We started early and ended late. First, picnic at the estuary in the Malibu Lagoon. Second. .

. .tour of the Adamson House.

Third, lunch at Duke’s. Fourth, the Whole Big Wow at the Korean Spa. Fifth, dinner at Guido’s. And gifts and songs all along the way. Wow! Happy Birthday Windy!!

September 9

A view out the window at my dentist’s office. They were able to slap that tooth right back into its place for which I am very grateful.

I guess they got a permit for that full-building ad. They certainly do catch your eye.

September 7

Both the girls had a cold today, on the moving towards the better side of the having-a-cold arc. I’m sure they’ll be perfectly fine very very soon.

September 4

I went with Nancy today to see a live latin band play over by LACMA which drew a nice crowd of dancers. My tooth has fallen out again, Saturday of a long weekend sounds about the time for it, so I ate kefir through a straw while Nancy ate her birthday Cherry Pie.

September 3

I want Aaron Sorkin to write a new television series and I want him to write it Now. Pleeese! (I just watched all the episodes of Studio 60 (sadly it did deteriorate as the one season went on), had previously watched all his episodes of West Wing and Sports Night, and now I do want MORE.)

(internet pic)

September 2

What a great LA evening – I went to a screening at the Director’s Guild of America thanks to my friend Gina from waaaay back when we were both much (Much!) younger.

The piece they were screening is going to be on HBO next week and it was interesting to watch but the most fun was the discussion after. They had the subject of the documentary, Lawrence Wright, there as well as the director Alex Gibney, and the moderator was Chuck Workman. Thank you Gina!

(internet pix)

In my email today I got a note (in Spanish! which I Could read) and these pictures from Jose, father of my fabulous homestay family in Patzcuaro Mexico. Muchas MUCHAS Gracias Jose!

It’s Jose, Sandra, Katia, Luis, and missing from the photos is Tommy, ‘the best loved dog in Mexico’. These are links to my first week in Patzcuaro and then the second week. Here you will find more pictures of my Patzcuaro family including a few shots of Tommy, ‘the best loved dog in Mexico’.

My intention is to combine those two chapters into one story. . someday, pretty soon I hope.

It’s time to clear off ‘the refrigerator door’ and start fresh. I fear the last time I did the big fresh start I forgot to take a picture.

Out my back door window the new view is so much more entertaining than the blank white wall. (Thanks again Bill – it’s still hanging straight!)

September 1

I nabbed this off my old pal Michael’s site. That’s him, front left. Oh Michael, you go. We haven’t seen each other in something like 30 years. But one of these days we might find ourselves in the same city again.

ls.