Daily Life 2011

More.

And my favorite Walking Flower that I’ve written of often, from Fernand Leger.

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.

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.

The kids put on a fine affair and all the guests enjoyed themselves entirely.

October 20

Happy Birthday Susie! We went to the Getty Villa (great day…THIS shot, free of milling crowds)…

My collection of favorite photos from the Getty Villa.

There are several ponds around the property with these lovely plants.

…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.

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 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.

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 11

Lilly and Rome, sooo Cute!

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 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 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…