’14 January

January 9

I’m home from Saint Paul Minnesota and you can see the story at this link: With Cynthia!

January 31

Lilly’s class at the end of Space Week. During Space Week they learned the names of the planets and built crazy cool rocket ships out of various household paper goods. Bummer, I forgot to take its picture.

top left: Reese, Brady, Jaya, Corina
bottom left: Iggy, Lilly, Will, Bailey, Charlie

Rome and Finley. I wasn’t there but isn’t this just TOO adorable.

ak.

The path Cynthia travels every day to get from her back door to her car. And there will certainly be plenty-more-snow before it’s over.

Here’s Kieran at the Climbing Walls where the family Holden enjoyed a lively active outing inside a cozy warm building.

ch.

January 29

Hangin’ at home not 100% but not so bad either. My eyes are ok (not an allergy…) and I can clear the snot with steam, so I’m not crying the blues just now.

I’ve been taking the time to work on a trip to Greece for late-May and June. SO many places to go and things to do.

Here’s ‘hello’ with a copy/paste from the computer: γειά σου (geiá sou) making it seem perhaps possible with some work to sound out the Greek letters. An adventure!

January 27

More on my endless relentless seemingly hopeless struggle with My Face. Feel free to SKIP the rest of this – it’s really just for me.

It was December 13th when I saw the last doctor, the Ear-Nose-Throat guy and got a new regime that I thought was working. Two days ago my face filled up with the yellow goopy ick that is not the same as when I’m always on about my allergies but that phase is probably next. Tomorrow I’m having a CT scan of my sinuses to rule out something dire. What IS this?!

January 26

What a lovely day at the Getty Center with Sharon and her sister-in-law Anne and brother-in-law Richard.

Frog Boy! Actually Charles Ray’s “Boy with Frog” made of painted fiberglass, and I’m so glad he’s here.

You can click on the link for my chapter of Getty Center Favorites.

That piece on the left is a sculpture by Ellsworth Kelly sited in the walk between the West and the South buildings and I don’t remember noticing it before. It’s perfect in its spot. Wow.

And on the right, That Profile by Martin Puryear. I always thought it was here from the opening of the Getty Center in 1997 but I just looked it up again and getty.edu says it was made in 1999. Wrong again.

We went on the Garden Tour and the Architecture Tour which is always interesting and informative.

It was surprisingly cold and we even got a few drops of rain.

The azaleas in the Central Garden were as bloomy as I’ve ever seen them. The white and the pink rings were particularly more full than usual.

Thanks all, it was fun!

Anne, Richard, Sharon

January 25

Happy Birthday Angela! The girls wanted to make a surprise party and that’s what we did. It was too much fun.

Can you guess our theme? FLOWERS! Everyone wrote a poem to Angela that had a flower in the verse. We made a bouquet of vegetables-flowers. We wore clothes with flowers on them and flowers in our hair. We had velvet roses and flower fans for our parting gifts. And we pasted big honkin’ flowers all Over the house.

A view of the vegi-bouquet from Angela, and the Birthday Girl herself after blowing out her candles (sorry, I was all the way across the room…).

These are from Liz showing our vegi-bouquet, our tray of vegan desserts, and The Girls!

ln.

January 23

More ‘like a crazy person’ movie marathon. I think I’m done (since I’m not going to watch 12 Years a Slave until I can fast forward on my computer) and these are my top three: Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, and Frances Ha. I’m happy, it was a good season.

The new ones…Philomena (totally charming); August: Osage County (Meryl Streep is in it).

From before: The Book Thief (don’t bother); Gravity (+=technology, -=everything else); Nebraska (slow, quiet, b&w, it gets you); Francis Ha (indie goodness); Inside Llewyn Davis (good on the cat); Her (slow, uninvolving, but I liked the ending); American Hustle (fun, entertaining, surprisingly light); Captain Phillips (exciting and well done even though you already know what happens); Blue Jasmine (funky and not great); Dallas Buyers Club (WHoo, So Good!); Wolf of Wall Street (mostly boring).

January 22

Holy Cow, I mean have you EVER?!

We had two play dates today – first Lilly’s very-special-friend Reese came over. They have their future worked out these two including their wedding, the names of their two children, and where they will live.

Then Reese went home just as Jaya was arriving. We had a busy day full of delights.

Girl Scout Cookies! Want some? Let me know! That’s Rome in her uniform on the poster that is on the window of Darryl’s office.

What it says: Come by and place your order for Girl Scout Cookies between January 24 – February 5. 1 box $4.00 5 boxes $20.00. You can buy Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Savannah Smiles.

Sure! Have some, In Remembrance of Things Past!

(photos by D&A)

January 21

After a long fast walk on the bluffs Sharon and I like to come to Monsoon on the Promenade where it is cool, quiet, and comfortable, and they have tasty food too.

’65-ish. Promenade pedestrianized
’80-’07. Santa Monica Place designed by Frank Gehry in operation
’96. . . . Monsoon opened (taking up the space of 3 once charming and independent shops joining in with all the other chains that have turned the Promenade into Anywhere USA, except for the beach and for the excellent weather and for my dinos of course)
’98. . . . I moved to Santa Monica
’10. . . . Santa Monica Place redesign opened

January 19

A couple of buildings around the Village area of Pacific Palisades.

January 18

Darryl took this picture in my backyard a few weeks ago when we were all making oj with the oranges from my tree.

I took Muriel to her chemo treatment and read her Proust until she begged for mercy and shortly thereafter she fell asleep so glad was she to be relieved of Proust. And a few more little things – Lona’s tech support, got my hair cut, starting to work on taxes. Life.

MORE MOVIES: Blue Jasmine (funky and not great); Dallas Buyers Club (WHoo, So Good!); Wolf of Wall Street (mostly boring).

From before: The Book Thief (don’t bother); Gravity (+=technology, -=everything else); Nebraska (slow, quiet, b&w, it gets you); Francis Ha (indie goodness); Inside Llewyn Davis (good on the cat); Her (slow, uninvolving, but I liked the ending); American Hustle (fun, entertaining, surprisingly light); Captain Phillips (exciting and well done even though you already know what happens).

My favorites so far: Nebraska and Francis Ha, both small stories in black and white and now I’m adding Dallas Buyers Club.

dj.

January 16

I went to a shabu-shabu place downtown today with…

…Robert! This is a picture of him from our outing in 2007 set into today’s gorgeous day. He looks exactly the same.

January 15

These girls go to pre-school together four days a week but they’re off on Wednesdays. Bailey’s mom had them over for, yay, a Play Date:

Iggy, Bailey, Lilly.

January 13

Muriel (who is doing very well and has only two more chemo treatments to go) put this up in honor of her guru. I must get his details!

January 12

After a good go at the Pepperdine track Sharon and I went to a place along PCH that isn’t formally open yet but they had a little sign pasted over the sign of the previous restaurant, so we went in, and it was really swell on top of which they were playing The Gypsy Kings for background music. Gotta love that.

It’s a Casa Escobar run by the cousin of the guy who has been running the Santa Monica Casa Escobar for the last 50+ years or so.

January 11

MAJOR recommendation: the LA Conservancy Downtown Walking Tours. Susie and I had been talking about doing one for years and finally we said to each other ‘Let’s Go!’.

They are only on Saturday at 10 and at 2. There is a good selection (we took the Art Deco tour) and I’m looking forward to them all over time.

Everyone, and that’s a lot of folks, meets in Pershing Square at their appointed hour and then breaks into individual groups of what look to be about 6-14.

We were in a big group and I was thinking dang but the guide was fantastic, everyone could hear, and it was all so interesting, and each point he repeated just the right number of times.

I took a few pictures along the way and then decided that I could find better representations on the internet, so here we are, just a few examples of the many interesting buildings we learned about.

(internet pix)

There were plenty more than just these but not so many that the two and a half hour tour seemed rushed. Oh it was great!

(internet pix)

January 10

I really like this one, Levitated Mass, hauled out of a mountain and through the streets for our delight.

Hey big boy.

Bonnie and I met here at LACMA today. She hadn’t seen the Calder or the Terrell exhibits so I happily saw them both again.

I’ve written about this before, ‘Hello Girls!’, Calder’s big project for LACMA’s opening in 1965.

I hadn’t got to see this run yet so that was a big treat – Metropolis II by Chris Burden (check out that reflect-o near the bottom left), the very man who brought us…

…the totally irresistible Urban Light.

January 8

Rome and Lilly, adorable as ever.

January 7

A morning walk before the crowds set in. Yes, crowds, of walkers and bikers and tourists filling up the paths by the time we finished lunch.

Movies! What I’ve seen since .. the last set: The Book Thief (don’t bother); Gravity (+=technology, -=everything else); Nebraska (slow, quiet, b&w, it gets you); Francis Ha (indie goodness); Inside Llewyn Davis (oh the cat), and more recently: Her (slow, uninvolving, but I liked the ending); American Hustle (fun, entertaining, surprisingly light); Captain Phillips (exciting and well done even though you already know what happens).

My favorites so far: Nebraska and Francis Ha, both small stories in black and white.

January 4

I’ve got some dates switched around…this was fun, on the 2nd…

January 3

Between the Santa Monica City Hall and Ocean Avenue, here is Tongva Park opened in October to great acclaim although this is my first visit, Sharon suggesting we track it down.

That’s City Hall in the distance (1939 PWA Moderne building by Donald Parkinson and Joseph Estep, an old favorite from the era of downtown’s Union Station).

With so many handsome walking paths, welcoming benches, fine landscaping, children’s playground, fancy viewing platforms, a picnic grove, water features – it’s wonderful.

From one of the plaques:

“Tongva Park is named for the rich culture and traditions of the indigenous Tongva people who have lived in the Los Angeles area for thousands of years, deeply connected to the original arroyos, native landscape, springs, and the ‘breath of the ocean’ that are symbolically represented here in this park for the enjoyment of the community and its visitors for generations to come.”

“Tongva Park is dominated by a series of winding paths and modest hills thickly planted with a mixture of native and drought-tolerant plants.”

Weather Field No. 1 (2013) by Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle.

January 2

A little Christmas left on the Promenade.

January 1

Happy New Year!

This hedge of bougainvillea reminds me of a New Year’s Day Rose Parade float, if the hedge was six times a big, with ten foot tall hummingbirds buzzing about.