The strange weather month and the opening of Pacific Standard Time.
October 9
Now that Stephanie is staying in the littlest cottage at least until January I’m going to (try) to be ready to rent the place I’m living in if that’s what I decide to do…just be ready.
It’s hard to take pictures in such itty-bitty rooms!
October 30, morning
All the evenings have been full of delightful Halloween festivities which I’ll put in their own chapter.
For now, it’s a morning around town. Ahh, my dinos, lookin’ good.
And lastly the view that never fails to make me smile. You are always welcome at the Santa Monica Pier.
October 29, morning
I wanted to see the MOCA contribution to Pacific Standard Time and got Ben and Bonnie to go with me. I told them to go to the MOCA on Grand…this place.
But no…
…the exhibit was at the MOCA/Geffin on 1st. But no problem, on the weekends they run a free shuttle between the two museums, so off we went not having to re-park, thankfully.
The Geffin is a huge open space especially for giant works. The show, Under The Big Black Sun, is meant as a survey of California Art from 1974-1981, according to the catalog a disillusioned, dystopian time. I found several things to look at but B&B couldn’t find even one piece to ponder. They really didn’t like it! I’m hoping they might find the earlier years of other PST exhibits more interesting.
October 28
Ken and I had a fun time at the Promenade today checking out the restaurants. We ate in three of them.
Then we went dancing at Monsoon. We were the only ones there…it’s a late-night place and we were first in, not being such late-night people. We danced for an hour or so and it was tooo much fun.
October 27
Muriel at LACMA. We went tonight to see Accattone, an arty old black and white movie made in 1961, among the first in the ‘gritty Italian realism’ genre, written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It was a two hour effort, and pretty much what you would expect from the description above.
And since we’re at LACMA, gotta go see the lamp posts.
These folks came in from Fontana to take pictures for this pretty young girl’s quinceanera.
This might be my first time to admire the lamp posts at night…this is my first picture anyway.
Octoberr 26
With Liz I went to visit Jean in the nursing home this morning and then we decided to see what’s up with geocaching.
We never actually got the whole thing to work…but it was fun to try! Next time we’ll know all about it.
On the way home I stopped off at the Farmer’s Market where Nancy joined me and we had a tasty and pleasant dinner.
Nancy tried her darnedest to help me buy an outfit for the wedding but BUT there was nothing I liked better than the outfit I’ve been wearing (ok, yes, wearing for 10 years) so I didn’t see any reason to buy anything that’s not at least as good.
October 25
A-B-C-D E-F-G H-I-J-K LMNOP…Rome and Lilly singing The Alphabet song Together. Being the second child IS different!
October 24
Oh Maxine, you GO. When Max has us over she always does everything and we just show up to all this holiday extravaganza.
BOO!
Marsha, Maryanne, Lourdes, Ann, Ljubica, Lorraine (Marsha’s out-of-town friend), Maxine, Marija, and me. (My hat fell off…boo…but my painted on eyebrows still show.)
Thanks to Shirley for taking the picture.
October 23
Sharon and I took an early morning spin up to the Getty Center and the first thing I saw made me gasp out loud.
Oh Look! A new addition to the tram plaza! It’s a naked little boy in painted fiberglass holding a frog by the leg. I think he is a lovely complement to our balancing lady.
Here’s my collection of favorite photos from many…many… visits to the Getty Center.
As always, I canNot resist even once to have more pictures of the bougainvillea rebar trees.
See how quiet it is first thing in the morning, first tram up. You can catch a few peaceful moments with no people in the garden!
A place in the Getty Center I have never visited. How can this BE?!
The Jousters, by Alexander Calder, the same artist who did the Eagle I’m so fond of in Seattle. These guys make me smile.
And my favorite Walking Flower that I’ve written of often, from Fernand Leger.
The Pacific Standard Time exhibit was great too – many well-known pieces in the Crosscurrents show including works from Edward Kienholtz, Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, and Judy Chicago, a couple of the Ocean Park series by Richard Diebenkorn, a crazy Tap Dancer sculpture by Stephan von Huene, etc etc.
Then we took a chance to swing by the Westside Pavilion to see if we could catch a screening of Moneyball and as if they arranged it for us, it was starting in five minutes.
We both liked it very much and I especially loved the pace, slow and deliberate yet suspenseful, like a baseball game, and not at all what you’d expect from Aaron Sorkin who did a co-write on the script.
(internet pic from the movie)
October 22
Venice was packed today, and socked in with fog. I went for a good walk with Bob (CPA Bob) for a couple of miles…
…along the Boardwalk, past the dozens of craft vendors, t-shirt and pot shops…
…to LA Louvre to see the exhibits there and to have a nice lunch at James Beach, and then we walked back to Bob’s office. Cool!
Then this evening it was Happy 80th Birthday Maryanne! That’s right, Maryanne is EIGHTY.
Eighty isn’t old.
October 20
Happy Birthday Susie! We went to the Getty Villa (great day…THIS shot, free of milling crowds)…
…specifically to see the glass exhibit which was quite fantastic, just one small room of gorgeous pieces, glass works that have survived for 2-3 thousand years. Behind is a quince plant from the herb garden.
Then we did a quick tour at Pepperdine – walking the track, visiting the chapel, going to the Weisman to enjoy their contribution to Pacific Standard Time.
In the evening Nancy came over and we ate the dinner I fixed from recipes out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We liked it!
October 19
Haven’t had one of these pictures in a while – I kept forgetting. Ken, Bill, and me, out for our catch-up and food.
October 16
Steven, Celina, and Gideon came out for a dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant Industry Café & Jazz.
We had a great time! There is a family of 12 brothers and sisters who have something to do with this restaurant but the guy in the lower right is the main 24/7 operations man.
The charming little girl is his niece who wanted more than anything to be our waitress. Two seconds after we walked in: “Hi, I’ll be your waitress…what would you like to order?”. The fellow she’s with is another one of the brothers.
The food was tasty and a kick to eat…no forks, no plates, just scoop up the food with pieces of the torn flat bread. We all agreed, not our most delicious meal ever but a LOT of fun.
October 15
It’s Windy’s Wedding Team! The guy who’s the site coordinator, the photographer, and her friends who will do the decorations and flowers, and who will manage the logistics. YAY!
Then it was date night for the mom and dad and Fun Times for Granny and the grandgirls!
October 14
Oh goodie, it’s Alex and Carol, visiting shoreside for some months and making a welcome stop here for a few hours. Thanks for coming by!
Then I popped down to Bergamot to see the Santa Monica Museum of Art Pacific Standard Time contribution, the Beatrice Wood show. I’m not very experienced in the appreciation of pottery but wow I was really hot for the figurative works and the biographical movie that went with the installation.
(I totally snagged this picture of Beatrice Wood off the internet…)
Shira has been staying at Carl and Lynn’s while Bob is in New Orleans with Richard and Lynn went to see relatives in New York…so we had a night on the town!
October 13
Sharon and I walked off in a new direction today, making our way up Montana, block after block of stores and cafes.
October 12
Heat Wave! Today was a record breaker around LA although fortunately not in Santa Monica, and fortunately with all my windows and doors open, and with the fan for a sweet breeze I was able to sleep just fine.
October 10
Bob and Shira were in town and we had a quick visit. (Desda stayed home this time.) Here is the picture of me and Shira when we met up in ROME back in June 2010.
October 8
I went to LACMA today with Nancy and got to see their current contribution to Pacific Standard Time, the very excellent ‘California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way”‘ which was mostly a collection of high-style items retrieved from your parents’ garage, if your parents had modern taste, very nicely displayed.
We also went into the Tim Burton show which was SO crowded, 4-5-6 people deep standing all along every wall, I couldn’t see anything but the heads of museum goers, but it is a huge effort with rooms and rooms of Tim Burton’s oeuvre so if you’re tall, go ahead, have fun.
I also did a walk around the Edward Kienholz piece, Five Car Stud 1969–1972, Revisited. It’s a fearsome thing and I did not linger.
October 7
Lona and Hartley are looking for a place where everyone can gather for festivities around Windy’s wedding. It’ll be swell if they find something they like since we three sisters will have here all our five children, their significant others, and our collective nine grandchildren. Oh goodie!
October 6
I didn’t take a picture of Bill’s birthday dinner with me and Ken, and I didn’t take one when Bill came by for burgers and brew, but I DID! get my lens back! AND the Nikon factory fixed it for free so that really Good News.
My tenant in the small cottage decided to stay at least through January so I don’t have to deal with a vacancy and that’s especially Good News.
The Bad News, a sad story, you can relate…my backup external hard drive does not want to play nice anymore. She’s messed up to the tune of $1000 if I want the tech folk to get off as much as possible of the data. BOOOHOOO! I’m not going to spend the $1000 yet though. There Must be someone around who will do it for less.
October 5
I had dinner at Merlyn and Hilda’s tonight and enjoyed the pictures of their recent trip to Paris. Ooow La La!
Joining us was Hilda’s cousin Harry, a pilot with SkyWest, partners with Delta and United. Pilots get a Lot of time off which Harry spends flying around the world so we had great fun recommending trips to each other.
Hilda’s back on the project of getting us a tourist visit to Iran for September. I’m hoping she succeeds!
October 4
A great day and a play date too. Rome and Lilly and their cousins Carter, Kylie, and Kaylin. Hi cuties!
October 2
The Southern California Art Extravaganza called ‘Pacific Standard Time’ had several openings this weekend. Check it out online! pacificstandardtime.org, although you can hardly miss it, all over the media as it is, which is very cool.
Muriel and I went to Westwood and enjoyed the Fowler and the Hammer today and I’m optimistic that this project is going to be FUN. There are 60 venues participating for 6 months. Atta boys to The Getty and BofA for their financial support.
Our favorite exhibit was actually not part of ‘Pacific Standard Time’. It was the work of this guy, Jose Bedia. I’d even go look at those pictures again.
Hmmm, I just noticed, I put Jose Bedia whose show is at the Fowler into this courtyard at the Hammer…
