Yikes, Claes Oldenburg from…
Yikes, Claes Oldenburg from 1961, the same guy who did the big Cherry On a Spoon, and the Typewriter Eraser, and the Shuttlecocks.
Daily Life 2010
Then we walked to…
Then we walked to LACMA for the BCAM John Baldessari show. I always especially like those big retrospectives.
And of course when at LACMA one Must have a photo with the lamp posts.
Yes that is my…
July 6
Yes that is my foot, and the unmistakably sisters Rome and Lilly. Are they not as adorable as two little girls need to be?!
Brigitte and I enjoyed…
July 16
Brigitte and I enjoyed quite the evening in downtown. We both really Like downtown. First stop: ‘A Selection Of Works From MOCA’S Permanent Collection’. It’s great to see again some old favorites.
Brigitte, and all within…
Brigitte, and all within one block, after visiting MOCA we had a very delicious dinner in a very delightful location – Noe at the Omni.
On our way out…
On our way out of the Omni to the Water Court to see a Grand Performance. . we find these guys.
Whooo, what’s going Here?!
They are off to a costume ball: “An Amazing Weekend of Elaborate Costumes and Entertainment The Labyrinth of Jareth 2010 – The Fantasy Masquerade Ball XIII July 16th & 17th, 2010.” This night the theme was Steam Boy, the next night the theme was Pixies.
There are worlds within worlds out there and we don’t live in them all.
Here’s the promotional pitch…
Here’s the promotional pitch for the group we saw. We liked them!
“Parisian sensation Caravan Palace is one of the few groups that the phrase “unique sound” truly epitomizes. 1920’s flapper swing, Django Reinhardt-style Gypsy/jazz arrangements and generous scoops of electro pop wrapped with wacky, energetic lyrics are all held together with virtuosic performances on guitar, violin, double bass, trombone, clarinet and electronics. It’s festive, frantic music, just perfect for our Bastille Day week celebration.”
Today I crossed a…
July 15
Today I crossed a nice chunk of chores off my to-do list and that is really fun. Tick Tick.
We all know the problem though. So many of those chores just keep coming back. But even if I’ve got 20 items on the list and only do one, it’s still satisfying. I am so easily entertained.
She can almost float…
She can almost float on her back and she can keep her face underwater for the loooongest time while she glides along, arms and legs out straight. What FUN!
Rome’s swimming lesson got…
July 13
Rome’s swimming lesson got switched around this week so I got to join. You GO girl!
Lilly was enjoying herself…
Lilly was enjoying herself too. Today was the first day of real summer in that it was hundreds of degrees out in the valley and I was h.o.T.
Susie took me to…
July 12
Susie took me to Pizzeria Mozza today, for my birthday. Thank you Susie! I’d never been before and was pleased to give it a try. Basically, YUM.
This is the exact type of pizza we got but I got the (nice sharp) picture off the internet.
Date night! I…
July 11
Date night! I stayed with the grandkids while the kids had a chance to go play. I snagged these pix from Darryl.
dj/ak.
Here’s what I’ve been…
July 9
Here’s what I’ve been doing eleven days out of the last fourteen. That’s right. Exercise.
And not just exercise. This is Gyrotonics and I LOVE it. LoveLoveLove it. The owner is amazing and fantastic, and I feel taller and more flexible already.
It’s a new studio about 100 steps from my front door and they are offering a Grand Opening Summer Sale where for a month you can pay once and go as many times as you want. So I’ve been going Every Day I can!
We gather in celebration…
July 5
We gather in celebration of Happy Birthday ANN!
Other party highlights include: Bon Voyage Marija and Ljubica. Congratulations Becky on your new kitchen. Hurray clean-bill-of-health Alicia. Hurray Maxine can WALK.
front left-Ljubica, Maryanne, Alicia, me, Maxine, Lourdes
back left-Marija, Marsha, Ann, Becky
Look what I grabbed…
July 4
Look what I grabbed off Cynthia’s facebook! It’s sweet Cynth and her beau Mike. Hi Mike…Look forward to meeting you soon!
cc/m
At Sharon’s we watched…
At Sharon’s we watched the Pacific Palisades fireworks peeking up over the trees in her back yard.
Then we watched the DC and NY fireworks on TV. Definitely, those amazing displays are art projects, a melding of design and technology, like Dancing Waters with fire, colors, rhythm, and Noise.
(internet pix)
I got to spend…
July 3
I got to spend this night with Nancy at her marvelous (and giGANtic) rented home in Hope Ranch.
Just as a for…
Just as a for example, here is all the furniture that used to fill her living room in Cheviot Hills and this place leaves room for a grand piano considering all the space behind me.
We went for a…
We went for a fine walk around the ‘hood.
Thank you ladies for all your time and attention and generous hospitality these last couple days!
I spent the night…
July 2
I spent the night last night at Michi’s and she spent from 9am this morning making dish after picnic dish for our picnic outing this afternoon. The hatted ladies Michi and Nancy…
…and the Food, all…
…and the Food, all of it mind bogglingly delicious. We blathered on and on about all the deliciousness, and then we went back to Michi’s place for just made mouth watering nectarine tart.
Carrot, cashew, and ginger soup; green salad (to say ‘green salad’ does not do it justice); a yam noodle, stir fried vegetables, and pork salad; soy and flaxseed chips with tomatillo guacamole; faabulous beet salad; faabulous fresh corn salad; faabulous bean salad.
Out Michi’s front door,…
Out Michi’s front door, her private garden space that she has developed from dirt and dead bushes when she moved in into this flowering eden.
I have TWO friends…
July 1
I have TWO friends in Santa Barbara now. I introduced them, they adore each other, and I’m visiting them both!
Michi and Nancy, Michi holding the tart she made us for dessert and that caused us all to bless life.
Before leaving for Santa…
Before leaving for Santa Barbara I thought to get this picture quick. For the last three years momma bird here has built her nest right outside my front door. I try to keep it quiet going in and out and coo at her in gentle tones. The baby looks very much ready to take wing.
Christa and I had…
June 30 (here in July…)
Christa and I had our birthday day together and it was Excellent fun.
First we went to the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo after which we enjoyed a delicious shabu shabu dinner, Christa’s first. She ate the whole complicated meal with excellent use of her chopsticks.
We topped off the evening at the Ahmanson where South Pacific was playing. What great music. What a great time!
The gang on a…
June 28
The gang on a tour inside Disney Hall. I took Lona, Hartley, Christa, and Melia for a buzz through downtown.
We were like little gophers, popping up from the Red Line to visit 1) Union Station, Phillipe’s, Olvera Street 2) Cathedral, Music Center, Disney Hall 3) Angel’s Flight, Biltmore Hotel 4) Mac Arthur Park, Langer’s.
City Hall reflected in…
City Hall reflected in Disney Hall – I hope everyone else enjoyed themselves as much as I did!
A couple collections of…
June 26
A couple collections of Sharon’s pictures from Christa’s Sweet Sixteen and my 16×4-1. That’s sixteen sweets for our sweet sixteen and sixty three candles on my cake.
sp.
Isn’t this fun! …
Isn’t this fun! Happy Birthday Christa – Sweet Sixteen! And when we are together anywhere near our birthdays (June 19 and 20) Christa and I celebrate together which is my all time favorite thing!
Now why am I sitting all slumped over in my witch-hair, could someone explain me that?
I got to take…
June 25
I got to take my (very) great-nephew Caleb out for breakfast this morning and we enjoyed ourselves entirely watching the Brazil-Portugal soccer match, full of excitment ending 0-0 after 98 minutes.
You might wonder how a game would go 98 minutes. I know! I know a lot more now about soccer than I did before. Caleb told me about off-sides and free kicks and various other details using sugar packets and a salt shaker. Cool!
THEN I got to…
THEN I got to take my (very) great-niece Charis to lunch! (I just love it when they let me take the kids.)
For lunch we ate delicious mountains of yogurt and toppings. We ate the yogurt first so as not to get too full with lunch to enjoy our dessert. But then we were too full with dessert for lunch.
So instead we went to Michael’s and got a really neat craft to make. More fun!
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!…
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! They sing a song between each of the five or six books which adds interactivity to the event. Nicely done Storyopolis.
Another Tuesday swing by…
June 22
Another Tuesday swing by Storyopolis. Lilly is our little Go Go Girl these days. She wants to GO.
I got to help…
June 20
I got to help Marsha with the last stage of cleaning out her garage which was the last stage of Moving In. It was SO satisfying. (Except for the 10,000 framed pictures still about, but no one can help her with that. (This is an internet garage… their garage looks great too!))
Then I got to have dinner with, among others, my son’s family. Oh JOY.
This isn’t him though. I got distracted by all the fun and didn’t take any pictures. Sent by their daughter, this is Marija and Brian’s son-in-law Steve and his son Alex enjoying a Father’s Day outing.
I did totally KNOW how great all this Granny business would be but wow, how amazing it is to experience your kids with their kids. FanTAStic.
Not Marsha and Tom’s garage, not my son, not my grandchild. hmmm, I’m getting a bit lax it seems with the photophoto.
Happy Birthday to ME!My…
June 19
Happy Birthday to ME!
My little sister (who will be SIXTY in a couple months and That makes me know my age) took me to a Korean Spa for several hours including the full body scrub and massage, three kinds of sauna, a great steam room, a supersuper hot Jacuzzi, a cold plunge, showers and all the rest. What A Treat!
Later we ate. Dang fabulous for sure.
We, Brigitte, Sharon, and…
We, Brigitte, Sharon, and I meant to go to the Hollywood Bowl for the rehearsal like they Said we could when I called, but nope not today, closed to guests, so we went to the ever satisfying Getty instead and enjoyed a Highlights Tour, a garden walk, and a delicious picnic.
Then I joined the…
Then I joined the entire Brown clan for early dinner at the In ‘n Out Burger…
(front left and around: Caleb, Hartley, Janice, Lona, Trevor, Beth, Melia, Christa, Charis)
…followed by a pre-Father’s…
…followed by a pre-Father’s Day festivity including Hartley getting everyone big sticks to swing around and whack things and poke at crabs in the canals.
Then we went back to their place and ate two pounds of See’s Candy. Oh YEAH.
The guys came Out…
June 16
The guys came Out West this time treating me to a birthday dinner. What an entirely excellent evening! Thank you!!
Storyopolis! Right around…
June 15
Storyopolis! Right around the corner on Ventura from where DAK&L live…
…followed by a luncheon…
…followed by a luncheon party with Claudia, Rome, and Ashley, siblings, and moms, followed later by a yummy dinner and fun with the fam. What a great day!
I had a lovely…
June 14
I had a lovely lunch with Hilda today. Not this place – this is a picture Hilda just sent from when I visited her, Merlyn, Preston, and Cherel in Italy. You can find the story here in my visit to Rome.
Ben, in Ben and…
June 13
Ben, in Ben and Bonnie’s garden, cooking us some dins. Thanks for the evening!
Then, off Angela and…
Then, off Angela and Rome go for orientation and playdate at Rome’s NEW school! It’s all very exciting. And while they were gone Lilly and I had our own playdate. Oh yeah, it’s good to be Home!
Time for a haircut?
ak.
My dinos at the…
June 10
My dinos at the Promenade. The girl on the left has got a little rash but her pal behind her is feeling very well. The girl on the right and her sweetie are in tip-top shape. I didn’t make it down to the end to see how the third pair were faring.
I met Cousins Nancy and Sharon today for a long awaited reunion. How lovely to be home!
Angela picked me up…
June 7
Angela picked me up at the airport. Thank you sweetie! Rome had collected an entire gallon sized baggie of her art work as a welcome home gift. It’s SO sweet, and I’ll be creating a collage soon.
Awww, was I ever Glad to see them!
Technology Is My Friend….
Technology Is My Friend.
I feel so blessed to live now – look what I’ve got! perfect-for-me dslr photography, the genius of photoshop, omg the INTERNET (how did we LIVE without the internet? I should tell you about the first time I saw the pre-internet (what was that called?) and looked up ‘light bulb jokes’ and thought ‘ok, not today but pretty soon, whole new world’…little did I realize that ‘not today’ would be tomorrow), and my son who will make me websites just the way I like ’em.
If you missed anything or are interested in a rerun, click away.
An outing to the…
April 24
An outing to the Page Museum with the kids. Are they so way too cute or What?
I don’t think I’m going to have time to do up the rest of the photos since in twelve short hours I’ll be winging my way to Istanbul. And I still have to pack, and sleep.
Rome, Angela, Darryl, Lilly
I got to see…
April 21
I got to see Brigitte today. She is gone more than I’m gone and our here-time is rarely overlapping these days.
Brigitte recently took this picture of their home. And the back is equally as gorgeous. A garden doesn’t get this lovely without loving and careful attention. My garden doesn’t look like this but Brigitte is always helping and encouraging me in my meager efforts.
I hope that this summer I’ll actually do a little more of what she advises. I hope.
bb.
Here we are, Ladies…
Here we are, Ladies Who Lunch.
Nancy D has moved to Santa Barbara, Sandy has moved to San Francisco, Nancy A moved to NYNY but has returned(!) and we all gathered for Lunch. It’s very noticeable when your good friends move away, by empty calendar squares and long distance phone calls, and really it’s not so easy to find new ones.
AirFrance, due to be…
April 19
AirFrance, due to be back in the air tomorrow. Should give them plenty of time to catch up before my departure on Sunday. Oh yea!
The Annenberg Space for…
April 18
The Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City. 1) free to get in 2) free parking in the mall 3) great shows. Go ahead, you won’t be sorry.
The current show was based on the ‘Water’ issue of National Geographic and was very cool to see. There was the HEY-we’re-killing-ourselves-here element of course, but those National Geo photos are always so wonderful.
Look what Celina made…
Look what Celina made for Steven’s birthday. Hurray Celina! And you can EAT those rose petals, and I certainly did.
Happy Birthday Steven!
Eyjafjallajokull.My flight to Istanbul…
April 16
Eyjafjallajokull.
My flight to Istanbul on the 25th connects through Charles de Gaulle, an airport that at the moment is closed. I’m not stressing really, although it is 3:38 in the morning and I’m awake. Maybe I’m awake trying to pronounce the name of that volcano.
Eyjafjallajokull as told by some guy on the internet: ay-yah-FYAH-plah-yer-kuh-duhl, or according to another guy it’s EYE-a-fyat-la-jo-kutl.
Or here’s a guy who went to a lot of trouble “”AY-yah-fyaht-lah-yook-kutl” with a /t/ sound in the third syllable, a secondary stress in the third syllable, and the fifth syllable rhyming, sort of, with “book”. Double L in Icelandic is pronounced /tl/.”
I’m not going to Iceland this trip. Catching a break on the languages anyway.
(photo from the NYTimes, walk with the cousins, happy bday hb, movie w/marsha)
Mer-hah-bah (that’s hello in…
April 15
Mer-hah-bah (that’s hello in Turkish!) I’m leaving in 10 days now LA-Istanbul-Jerusalem-Rome-LA. I’m getting reeally excited.
No more work to do really except continue to study up on the sites and the languages. I can say hello; please; thank you; excuse me; great!; here please (pointing); I am from America; delicious!; how much?; goodbye (there are two expressions, one for the person leaving and one for the person staying) – in Turkish. Just two more languages to go, or three if I decided to add Arabic.
I’ve got reservations now for the first few days in each city so upon arrival I know where I’m going (I like that), and then I’ve got some go-with-the-flow time too. It’s not such high season that I risk too much in terms of finding accommodation. It’s just that for places both highly regarded and cheap, and to get a private room, you do need to plan ahead.
Can you guess how…
April 14
Can you guess how long it takes to go through everything that’s for sale on craigslist? Hours and HOURS. I was curious to see what all there was and there is sooo much.
And I only got through the ‘furniture – by owner’ part…there is sooo much MORE.
Ann and I got…
April 12
Ann and I got to have a great sushi lunch today…Yum, and then we walked a couple fast miles, and then we went to our Monday Night potluck where we ate a huge and scrumptious dinner…Yum …Again!
Lilly is laughing her…
Lilly is laughing her head off watching Rome do some jumping twisty silly tricks. Just pretty darn too cute.
At Hilda and Merlyn’s…
April 11
At Hilda and Merlyn’s fabulous house, eating more of their delicious food, visiting with Alex and Carol here for some shoretime. Excellent!
The day began with…
April 10
The day began with Sharon – we went to Samy’s so she could buy a camera followed by Sharon’s first visit to Canter’s, for breakfast.
Then I joined Ben and Bonnie at a USC production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods. It was an excellent show and jolly good fun. We ate dinner at a near-by campus joint that served eXcellent food.
It was a day that makes you glad to be alive…and without a toothache.
It’s been a busy…
April 8
It’s been a busy few days and tomorrow I get to go have a root canal. At least my face will stop hurting.
Tuesday: We went for a walk, took this picture, and stopped off at the drugstore to make a print. Like magic.
Thursday: I watched the…
Thursday: I watched the kids for a couple hours while Angela interviewed the local public school. She actually rather liked it. That’s cool.
Then more L&H and then a visit to Saint Marc, my dentist, he saying so-sorry root canal for you, and then a nice dinner with Nancy.
Wednesday: I worked on…
Wednesday: I worked on L&H’s bookkeeping and then had dinner with Bill who was just back from an African safari. This is one of his pictures.
Now I simply must go on an African safari.
br.
Katie and the girls…
April 6
Katie and the girls didn’t make it to the Easter Egg party so to keep track of them I’ve taken these pictures off Katie’s facebook. It looks like a lot of people there doesn’t it.
Katie, Nora, Anya, Lila.
Big D! Happy…
April 5
Big D! Happy Birthday to YOU! Darryl requested vegi sushi rolls for his birthday dinner and Angela and I made vegi sushi rolls!
Oh goodie, it’s Easter…
April 3
Oh goodie, it’s Easter tomorrow so I get to use this again. Cracks me up every time.
Rome’s playgroup and Rome…
April 2
Rome’s playgroup and Rome and Angela’s 3nd Annual Easter Egg Extravaganza…lunch, egg coloring, dessert, Easter egg hunting. What a Party! What Fun! Lucky Me!
(grrr…I took this picture while Angela and Rome were putting Lilly down. Bad Granny…)
The participants included: Andrea-Sam and David; Charlean-Sydne and JoJo; Liza-Marquez and Paloma; Amy-Sydney and Charlotte; Angela-Rome and Lilly; Heidi-Sydney; Emily-Zoe and Zack; Ann-Claudia and Sarah. Regulars who are missing: Katie-Nora and Anya and Lila; Susie-Ellie and Brandon.
The following three are…
The following three are collages I made from Heidi’s pictures. Heidi is GOOD at this!
hs.
