’11 December

Walk 9

The Alex Baum Bicycle Bridge connecting two legs of the river walk.

December 31

Happy HAPPY New YEAR!

December 30, evening

Darryl and Angela went out in celebration of their SEVENTH wedding anniversary and the girls and I had some fun. These are all Rome’s ideas for pictures with cupcakes in their matching cupcake pjs.

Cupcake Rock!

Sweet Dreams!

December 29

Rosie and her dad (a delightful character of the first order), walking down the aisle, Here Comes The BRIDE!

Rosie and Len held their wedding at the historic Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes also known as The Glass Church (not to be confused with The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove).

These are all pictures from the internet, and what Ms Wiki has to say: “The church was designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, in the late 1940s and was built between 1949 and 1951. Additions were built in later years, including a tower and a visitor center.”

(internet pix)

Standing outside, looking through the chapel, surrounded by redwoods on all sides.

Marsha, The Wedding Singer. (No more pictures allowed after the ceremony started.)

MARRIED. YAY!

December 28

School is out and we had the whole day to PLAY! We played games, read books, made a monster, made food, sang songs and danced…

…and went for a walk!

Gabriel from next-next door came by and we made another monster. Then it was dinner-bath-snack-bedtime routine, and then it was 8pm and I was thinking hmm, bedtime, sounds pretty good!

(I forgot to flip up the bounce on my flash for this shot and am reminded how nice it is by the chin shadows on this one without it.)

December 27

YOSSI! Judy took this one with my camera. I was so off today. In every pictures there’s someone who won’t like themself…which is why I can only do this for myself and hope for the best.

jp.

From our own DotGov, it doesn’t look so confusing now.

Choose Original Medicare and you can have any doctor that takes Medicare. Choose Advantage and you can have any doctor in the Advantage provider’s plan.

How much you pay for the coverage depends on all those particulars like co-pays, percentages, etc. and both the MediGap and the Advantage providers (as well as Part D) have plans with multiple levels of coverage.

Six months and counting!

December 26

Sandy’s sister Julie and Julie’s husband Mel.

Sandy and Roger were passing through town from Christmas in Palm Springs back to San Francisco. We met up at Julie’s place where they were having a feast of left-overs – all this food and a kitchen full of bubbling pots and cooling pans.

from the left: a friend, Sandy, Roger, Colin, Devinn, another friend, Julie, Mel

December 24 and 25

Marija and Brian’s Annual Christmas Eve festivity and the first for their new grandbaby Ben, brother of Alex. I got good turns to play with sweet snuggle bear Baby Ben. AWWW!

Following are pictures of the folks, those whom I could corral anyway.

Brian, Marija, Maryanne, Alicia, Chris, Becky, Jack, Nathan, Carol, Walt

More!

Jeff, Tracy, Jerry, Becky, Maryanne, Christopher, Marija, Jamie, Melinda, Steve

Alicia, Maryanne, Lauren, Andrew, Shelby, Ljubica, Carolyn, Darryl, Rhonda, Goldie, Cheryl, Bill

mmmm, I just noticed, Melissa, you evaded me…I would have liked to show you Melissa and her BOYFRIEND of almost one year. And Louise, my ex-next-door neighbor was here which was great. Marsha left sick which was not great.

Christmas Morning!

Santa thought these girls had been very very good. Santa brought all of us plenty of delightful treats. Their goodness must have rubbed off.

And the kids hauled in another load from this crowd. The adults drew names for a gift exchange (thank goodness) and a grand time was had by all.

Starting in back: James, Robin, Liz, Darryl, Kent, Gary, Angela, Rome, Dev, Lilly

(ps D&A – THANK YOU. You guys are the bomb.)

Rome made one of these for every person and they looked Just Like US! Such a precious family!

Then for the sixth night of Hanukkah I met up with Ben and Bonnie…and YOSSI! and Jonathan and Judy visiting from Israel.

Oh yes indeed-y. .we had fun.

Jonathan lighting the lights and saying the prayers. B&B are having a party for them on Tuesday so probably more pictures coming.

December 23

I’ve got a favorite ‘new’ tv show called ‘Have I Got News For You’, a BBC production that first aired in 1990 and has been going every since.

It’s a dang funny cross between Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and The Daily Show, funny in that droll, complicated, throw-away way of the clever Brit.

December 22

Rome and I made holiday cards today with each person’s name written on it. It was fun! Here’s the one from last year: Rome’s card!

December 21

Kathleen’s party from last year, and here we are again!

Sitting: Kathleen w/ Duke, Kathleen, Janette
Standing: Marsha, Emily, Mimi, Jon, Ruben, James

I came home and immediately wanted to update my calorie count since I had eaten So Much and I didn’t want to forget. But then I punked out and quit at 2170. There’s nothing like slabs of brie and crackers and wine, and lasagna, and cheesecake! to pack ’em on.

December 20

Sunset at the pier from outside Il Fornaio…

…where I met up with Bill (father of Mindy in Lusaka) and Ken for our end-of-the-year festivity.

Then after dinner Ken and I took a short walk around the Promenade and Ta-DA they were having an open dance at the studio on 4th so we got to do a few turns to add to the fun.

December 19

It’s my Valley Girls, gathered for our Annual Evening of Holiday FABulous.

Marsha, Alicia, Lourdes, Maxine, me, Ljubica, Becky, Maryanne, Marija, Ann

December 18

After stopping by at Windy and Jeff’s to admire their wedding album which turned out very nicely I am happy to report, Sharon and I went for a stroll to the bluffs…

…where this model airplane flyer was getting ready for a launching.

He had that baby buzzing every which way.

December 17, evening

Here we are at Liz and Gary’s annual pilgrimage to see the lights at Naples Island in Long Beach.

Liz, Gary, Darryl, Angela, Rome, Lilly

It’s like a rule or something, in that every house puts up something…

…even pink winged angel pigs.

It was particularly crowded this night because…

…it was Boat Parade night. There were massive parties all along the walkways with live entertainment, carolers, and festivities of every description.

The kids spent the evening with saucer eyes and we all had a great time, crowds and traffic notwithstanding.

December 17, afternoon

I had lunch with Muriel and then went by her place to look at her art work recently delivered from storage. The giant cases entirely filled the guest room with fabulous things. The pieces are so huge and so complex a little webshot just doesn’t do it.

Muriel’s calendar caught my eye though.

December 16

Happy Birthday Sharon! (I deleted the faceless picture…) The residents of Pacific Palisades are quite simply Nuts for decorating their houses. This is one of the more modest efforts but I really like how it looks.

December 15

Me and my friend Susie…we ARE adorable aren’t we.

(phone photo)

We headed down south for some Pacific Standard Time in Orange County. First we went to the Orange County Museum of Art where their show is called ‘State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970’.

It was great, one of the most entertaining collections so far focusing on performance art of the whimsical variety. The period represented was the same as the Geffin’s but showed a totally different spectrum, one without all the confusion and rage. Not so surprising that you’d find this one in the OC?

Next we went to the Laguna Art Museum where their show was a retrospective of the work generated out of UC Irvine in its first few years of existence “Best Kept Secret: UCI and the Development of Contemporary Art in Southern California, 1964-1971”.

And the cool thing is that Susie was in the very first class accepted into UC Irvine, attended for two years before going to France for junior year abroad, met Ken in France and then they came back to Berkeley together and it’s been Happily Ever After ever since.

(phone photo)

December 14

I met Elaina and Liz today in Pasadena for some early lunch and a visit to the Norton Simon.

The Norton Simon contribution to Pacifc Standard Time is called ‘Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California’. We all enjoyed the show as well as enjoying a buzz through a part of their excellent permanent collection.

The outside is nice too.

But wait, what’s this?! What’s she doing here?! Doesn’t she live up at the Getty?! Ok fine, they made more than one.

It’s Aristide Maillol’s Air. From something I read on the internet I think there are six of her around but how can I confirm and where are they all? Ms Google doesn’t seem willing to give it up…

Here’s what we think she’s thinking: “Ohhh , I wonder if he’ll call. Maybe I should just text?”

December 13

The Story of Our Walk. Rome had a play date today so Lilly and I went for a walk just we two and we saw so many interesting things.

Here is Lilly’s story: “We saw a big tall palm tree and It’s Lilly! and HI, that’s a lemon tree and that’s a shadow, Lilly’s shadow and Granny’s shadow, and yellow leaves.”

December 12

I went with Sharon today while she did a chore at her son’s house in Brentwood.

It was a rainy day so you can’t see it now, but in that blank sky above the pool, above the trees, is, on a clear day, the Getty Center. Cool!

We had lunch at Guido’s, site of Windy and Jeff’s wedding reception, all decked out for Christmas, by the cozy fireplace that was especially nice coming in from the cold and rain.

December 10

Team Clap. YAY TEAM! A picture for DAK&L’s holiday card, and so Cute.

And later it was time for Maxine’s annual Christmas party Holiday exTravaGANZA. I took these few shots early before the hundreds of people poured in for a lively evening of happy good cheer.

That’s two Christmas trees you see, and sooo sooo many decorations.

December 9

Dinner out with Muriel. It took me 95 minutes to go 6.3 miles. From 4:30 to 6:05, from my house in Santa Monica to a very nice restaurant in Culver City, I was ‘driving’. A medium-fast runner would have got there sooner. It was Friday night, particularly congested, stalled cars along the way, I didn’t cry.

Then we had a lovely evening and I forgot all about driving.

December 8

ok, Enough. I’m entirely bored with coughing. Make sick be over.

Keeping Track, Same Old Same Old
2011 March, late November-mid December
2010 February; June (both rather mild)
2009 December
2007 November
2006 March
2005 April; June; October; (now that was a bad year!)

December 7

Happy Birthday Burt! Needing him and feeding him on his 64th birthday, we all went to eat at Cho Cho San, his favorite Japanese place for lunch and then we went to Bea’s Bakery for his favorite dessert, the Seven Layer Cake.

Thanks for letting me join in – it was fun! and finally you’re back to being my age even though Charlene is still muuuch younger…

(No Tuesday pix of the kids this week, but we were busy having fun and all is well.)

December 5

I read in the NY Times about an online education program called Khan Academy. They had a lot to say about it and according to my nephew Lucas, Bill Gates says Khan is “his favorite teacher” for Gates’ 11-year old son.

And it’s free.

So I tried Algebra I, for the heck of it. Within the first few lessons we are into analyzing the formula of a line. That’s what all this is, the formula that describes a line.

I have no recollection What So Ever of ANY of this…but it was fun to do and I might just do a little more.

December 4

Rosie’s getting married! and Anna arranged a bachelorette party at Hamburger Mary’s, a drag club on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood.

Football is on the tv.

It’s just like in the movies – the male performers dress up as well-known female singers and lip-sync to the hits.

From Ms Wiki: “American drag queen RuPaul once said “I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skintight dresses?” He also said, “I don’t dress like a woman; I dress like a drag queen!”.”

They even have a girl who does boy and he had by far the best songs (’50s rock and rockabilly) so it set off the girls…

…and led to a hot dance number for the bride-to-be.

Everyone in the room was waay into it.

And then they had the three bachelorettes do a booty shaking contest. Rosie rocked. She killed.

Here they are…who’s going to win… oh the excitement… ROSIE! Rosie won! and the crowd went wild!!

left: Rosamina Lowi, Janet Goodwin, Linda Jensen, Diane Davis, Norma Scofield, Marsha Van Valkenburg.
right: Anna Rodriguez, Donna Brinton, Bonnie Harris, Carolyn Lowi, Lauren Mason Carris, Matt de Groot

Norma, Marsha, and Rosie – pals from High School alllll those years ago.

December 3

Holiday Season on the Promenade where I’ve been often these last few days because of all the movies available there.

December 2

Movies I’ve seen recently. The Descendants fabulous setting with a lot of loving on Hawaii, good story and acting, Lots of tear-jerking. Le Havre charming, delightful, and sweet. J. Edgar shockingly bad and totally distracting make-up, long and uncoordinated story, still, it is Leo and he is good.

ps Don’t miss The Artist.

December 1

Birthday lunch with Boban, and delightful it was.

December -1

Reflect-o with me and Muriel at The Getty in Robert Irwin’s sculpture Black On White. It just doesn’t matter how many times you go to The Getty…

…there are always more photos…

…always more.

Then in the evening Windy came by and we worked on putting together a wedding album, and then we went out for dinner with Jeff, my newly minted brother-in-law.