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.
Angela took this one of Lilly eating her first piece of cake. Happy Birthday DEAR Lilly, Happy Happy Birthday!
ak.
We had a big Fairy Princess Party here. ‘We’ meaning Angela and Darryl did everything.
Jack, Rome. Don’t miss Jack’s little finger. They totally set up this photo op themselves, really, it wasn’t me.
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.
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
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. .
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.
August 31
With the kids today I took a picture of one of the activity boards in the kitchen. Oh man it is Birthday Party Season!
Rome’s first playgroup crowd were mostly all born within a month of each other and now we’ve got parties. A lot of the kids double up on a party. We’ve got a Mermaid party, a Color Me Mine party, a Jungle party, a Gymnasium party. . and Rome’s Fairy Princess party. There are no doubt more invitations to come.
It wasn’t like this when WE were kids. And our kids might have gotten the occasional clown or a neighborhood magician. These kids get Parties.
This was a BIG day of news and festivo.
From the top left: Happy Birthday Becky!, Marsha is going to be a Grandma!, Ann’s son is off to Afghanistan with all our love, one part of Alicia’s extended family are totally feuding, Maxine is feeling great after her two knee replacements, then comes me. Next row: Maryanne just had her foot surgery and is coming along, Lourdes is awesomely dating one hunky gorgeous dude, Welcome Home Marija and Ljubicia we Missed you!
August 28
My little sister could find a massage place in the Amazon Jungle or the Arabian Desert. This place is down the hill from her house in Topanga, on the valley side, and she took me here today.
Feelin’ mighty Lucky, like my Lucky Feet!
August 27
Beach fog for our beach walk, and it never really lifted. It wasn’t cold though, just cool and damp, and nice for walking.
Burt and Charlene are raising their grandboys John and Bradley, and here they are in their brand newly painted and reorganized bedrooms, painted and reorganized by Burt and Charlene themselves, ready for the new school year. So Awesome. You go you guys.
Then we had a yummy lunch at Yolanda’s. Then I buzzed over to Ann’s to get my forgotten phone and have a quick swim with Ann and one of her friends. Then I had the grandgirls while Angela went to yoga.
What a GREAT day!
August 25
We had gone together before, but today we went again, Charlene and I, to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley (quite a gorgeous setting). .
. .to see the new White House miniature. It was very fabulous and entirely worth the trip and the nine bucks. Go if you can and you won’t be sorry.
August 23
These are Sharon’s pictures from Nancy’s birthday fete at the Bowl on the 20th. Happy Birthday Nancy! with Love from Carol, Nancy, Sandra, Sharon, and me too.
sp.
August 22
Nancy, Sharon, and I took the train up to Santa Barbara today. It was a very smooth journey and we all enjoyed the adventure.
Nancy picked us up at the train station and drove us around for the day. And Michi met us for lunch. Lovely!
August 21
Bill came over to ‘help’ me hang this street banner from the Getty. I’m very happy with the result. THANK YOU Bill!
In the evening Nancy treated her friends to a great evening at the Hollywood Bowl in honor of her 64th birthday. We still need her AND we will feed her!
The program was really great. The conductor was a kick, the soloist made you find yourself with your mouth open, the sound quality at the Bowl is a marvel, and to top it off – Fireworks!
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Baiba Skride, violin
USC Trojan Marching Band
Tchaikovsky: Festival Coronation March; Violin Concerto, Op. 35; Capriccio italien; Waltz from Swan Lake, Op. 20 No. 2; 1812 Overture
August 19
Sharon and I went to check out the newly re-opened Santa Monica Place – it’s the mall at the south end of the Promenade. This is a view from one of the patios on the Dining Deck. The whole top floor is open with a ton of outdoor lounging opportunities, views of the sea and the surrounding town, and restaurants up the kazooly.
As well as a decent looking food court there are six or eight huge basically not-yet-a-total-chain themed sit-down restaurants with surprisingly (to me), entertaining decor, very comfortable, open, and welcoming seating, and tasty looking menus.
It’s still a mall, you can’t escape that, but rather like the behemoth that got built next door, I can’t complain.
One of the out-of-the-way corners at the new mall. It’s good.
Jonathan Gold, on the other hand, is cranky. . and complaining. I understand. It’s a mall. But for that, at least in summer, it’s going to be packed.
August 18
An interior view of The Water Garden office complex just a few blocks from my house. I can stroll here. Imagine what it would be like to work just a nice stroll from your house. What a beautiful concept, and Darryl does it, walk to work that is!
Thanks Brigitte for coming out.
August 13
It was so bad I even went to the doctor. That’s how bad it was, all these miserable itches in too too many places.
The doctor said ‘hmmm, these look like spider bites, but these, these look like heat rash, but these, these look like possibly inflamed hair folicles but anyway we treat them all the same – steroid cream and lots of benedryl.’
One problem – benedryl makes you sleepy so no driving. It’s either going out and itching like a crazy person or staying home with the drowsies. The first ones are fading and New Ones (oh nooo) are appearing. Today I got a few new ones that are acting like mosquito bites. Yuck.
(internet pic)
August 12
The Ventura County Fair with Burt and Charlene and yes indeed-y that would be our Burt whishing down the slide with the other kids. Yipeeee.
What a treat to get to have an afternoon with J&J. owww, we could call them JJ. Cynthia (or was it Darryl?) called Jonathan’s father Benbonnie and Jonathan’s mother Benbonnie, so there is an excellent precedent.
August 11
I went today with Jonathan and Judy to the Annenberg Space for Photography where we met Brigitte to enjoy the current show: “”The Year” — a collection of the best documentary photography of 2009, recognized by Pictures of the Year International (POYi), the oldest and most prestigious photojournalism competition in the world.”
August 10
Mighty Cute Music Class. The kids really do have a great time, all credit to the very impressive teacher.
August 9
Sharon’s back – Welcome home Sharon!
We had our first walk in weeks and weeks. Instead of our normal beach trail we strolled along the Venice canals. Lovely!
In the evening I had dinner with Steven, Celina, and Gideon.
I got to thinking. .what with Marija and Ljubica gone in Croatia what was Brian doing with the yield from his tomato farm? So I called and Brian said “Com’on Down!” so we went. Now Celina is going to cook up a few jars of YUM.
August 8
Ben and Bonnie hosted a beautiful reception for the newlyweds Jonathan and Judy, in LA from Israel for a few weeks with the fam.
Check them out here in my visit in Jerusalem and here in my time in Northern Israel.
August 7
Me and the kids and The Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and the Butterfly House which you can see behind the green fence.
…and then saw butterflies gaLore. These are the only times I’m tempted to get another lens and then change to it, to catch a close-up. That’s Angela – she can get Close.
Here’s a picture of Cynthia’s boyfriend Mike’s son Kieran in Cynthia’s back yard in Wisconsin. It’s the midwest in summer, it’s hot and it’s green, and it’s Fun.
cc.
August 3
I don’t have a tv but I watch waaay too much tv. How? You too can watch anything you want, from your laptop on your lap lounging in your bed. And usually a 60 minute show is only 45 minutes because of the very few, short commercials.
These are just some of the better tv series of which I have recently watched every episode, and there are, I regret to say, many many more.
August 2
Right outside my front door! She hatched two of them last month and here we are now with two more.
I think that at least one and maybe both of the first batch fell to the neighborhood cats. I say this because of the mass of small dove feathers that littered the lawn. Then she just settled back into her nest and made two more.
I wonder if that’s what happened, that she had two sets because the first set didn’t make it. I wonder.
July 31
Happy Birthday Liz! It’s Liz’s son Dev, her husband Gary, and the honoree herself.
Dee and Kelly and their young dog Bodey, a rescue Border Collie. He’s a good dog. I will though mention that one or the other of them was very often off on a little walk to keep him happy.
I took him for a trot and he wore me out, twice. It seemed he could have gone on and on for a very very long time.
From the left: Micaela, Neil, Michele, JJ, Elijah-half hidden, and Naliyah.
The sisters in their adorable matching luau outfits that I brought back from my last visit to Kauai because Sharon took me to the store and held my hand while we went shopping. It was Worth it!
Darryl, Rome, and the neighbor kids next door made the YUMmy cake, and Angela did the frosting. That’s Kelly and Sandy in the background.
Lilly saw her Daddy and said ‘DaaDaa’. She did! (Nooo, it’s a piece of banana for Lilly.)
July 30
Nancy and I went to the Getty today and particularly enjoyed the on-loan exhibit ‘The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme’ and Spectacular it was, a full life retrospective.
I’d never even heard of the guy! I was taken with his technical skills, his feelings of his subjects in the portraits, and his ability to tell a whole big complicated story in one visually commanding picture. He’s criticized for his theatricality and I could definitely see why, but I liked it anyway.
From the website: “Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904) was among the most officially honored and financially successful French artists of the second half of the 19th century. His brilliantly painted and often provocative pictures were at the center of heated debates over the present and future of the great French painting tradition.”
July 29
Still, every day I’m going to the Gyrotonic class around the corner. The woman is my teacher Shevi and the man is Juliu Horvath, Gyrotonic’s inventor and guru.
(internet pix)
Today was Bill’s birthday dinner with me and Ken, full of fun but absent a decent picture.
It’s been a quiet few days – a termite inspection (grrr), Tuesday with the kids, lunch with Marsha downtown, a movie and dinner with Nancy. Home sweet home.
July 24
My across the street neighbor Kathleen, on the left, had a lovely soirée last night. Also attending were her New York cousin and the guest of honor, my young next door neighbor, Melissanthi.
Melissanthi was Kathleen’s tenant who just graduated from UCLA and is moving on now. She was an excellent next door neighbor – quiet, sweet, helpful, and kind. Congratulations Melissanthi and all the Best in the next phase of your life!
July 23
Oh yeah, this is going to be . . . something. The “Sepulveda Pass Improvement Project”. Click on the link for status updates and Freeway Detours.
(internet pix)
Me and Bonnie, at Farmer’s Market. Bonnie rode her bike to meet me. You can click on this link to see Bonnie and her bike from the last time we met at Farmer’s Market more than two years ago. I gorged myself going from stand to stand enjoying various delights.
Yesterday I gorged myself eating an early dinner with Nancy. The body-benefits from my daily trips to the Gyrotonic class are suffering from all this gorging. Mostly I’m relatively modest, but two days in a row? Right now I’m going to stop for at least two days!
July 20
Music Class! I’m standing behind the teacher. Notice Rome in the far center-right. She is sitting between her next door neighbors Jack and Cole. Rome always sits between Jack and Cole because the boys will not have it any other way.
We have singing…
…and Lilly (she crawled across the room to visit the little girl whose feet you can just see), and sticks, rattles, drums…
Here’s the sibling of one of Rome’s original play group pals, behind is Rome, sitting between her neighbors (of course).
The majority of the participants were toddlers – that’s Lilly in the back there, in the purple shirt. The little kids found the whole thing quite awesome and the “Mommies and the Daddies and the Nannies” (the expression often used by the teacher) were enjoying themselves entirely.
Then we all went to lunch at the place made out of an old train car.
Jack and Rome. Jack introduces Rome as his girlfriend. “This is my girlfriend.” They hold hands when they walk. Really.
July 17
Yup, out there in my backyard, settled up next to the garage you will find a Washing Machine and a Clothes Dryer, all hooked up and busy making things clean, thanks to L&H for their efforts on behalf of building out this laundry.
For five years I’ve done my laundry here and there, fluff and fold, the sink. Now it’s nice to have machines again. Like when I went a year without a car, and now it’s nice to have a car.
