The great Thank You month.
All the Sequoia pictures are finally put together and I already want to go back again!
You can click here if you want to see the story from this trip to Sequoia and this link will take you to a selected collection from many trips to Sequoia.
November 30
Kim and Ross are in town from Kansas City along with Cheryl and Bill, and Mindy is here from DC, and it’s my first visit with The Amazing Addie Rose.
Kim and Ross are so sweet, they share, I got to hold that adorable baby as much as I wanted, which was, like, you know, the whole time.
bill
…and playing and sleeping and waking up. Sooo much fun. And the Grandma and the Grandpa? Why they’re grinning so hard their faces must hurt.
kim
November 29
Windy’s oldest son Lucas and his wife Betsy have two children, these two, as adorable and sweet as they look.
Here’s what Betsy said about these pictures: 1) Xander made the maille coif on his head, and Anya sewed her dress and the vests that Xander is wearing. Now Xander is making steam punk type masks. And 2) This one was from a play they did this summer. Xander was Captain Hook, and Anya was a mermaid.
I’m so looking forward to seeing all these kids together in August!
November 28
My last chance to have a few minutes with the Hawaii Brown clan. Trevor and Caleb were both feeling a possible cold coming on so they weren’t here but all the girls were, six of them, putting together, from Thanksgiving leftovers, airplane food for the trip back to Hawaii tomorrow before the dawn.
Nice kitchen in Lona and Hartley’s vacation apartment.
Christa, Beth, Hannah (a friend in LA for collage), Charis, Lona, Janice (Beth’s mom)
Celina and Steve had a great Thanksgiving dinner leftovers festivity including real cocktails, just like in the olden days. I got the martini picture from Celina’s facebook.
That’s Celina’s new business center and the heart of Paper Bag Bakery, soon to be licensed as a home business. You go Celina!
So….on Wednesday evening I spent a silly amount of time trying to get the membrane off the orange segments for the fennel and orange salad. The segments looked such a mess but oh well, and then when I took them out of the refrigerator Thursday morning – frozen. I cut new oranges a different way with the membrane still on.
Look at THIS salad. Oh Celina. She taught me how to get those beautiful segments so fast, so perfect. Just now, to remind myself, I looked at youtube and there are 500 videos but in the most watched ones there is a subtle difference.
I need to segment some oranges very soon. I think my mother never did it because there is some waste involved and that would have hurt her heart.
November 27
Welcome to a beautifully set table for a Thanksgiving Day Holiday Feast!
ak.
Hor d’oeuvres (not all out yet): pumpkin cuties and berries, crackers and cheese, vegies and dip, and nuts.
Dinner (going around from the top): fennel and orange salad, quinoa salad, stuffed acorn squash, beets, pretty water, mashed potatoes, carrots, mushroom casserole, Brussels sprouts.
YUM! and then pumpkin pie, apple crisp, brownies, and ice cream for dessert.
Yes indeed, a Holiday FEAST. Thanks to Darryl and Angela for hosting, and Liz and Gary for their contributions.
I just looked at this on two computers other than my own and faces are too bright depending on the angle of view. I’ll have to fix that when I get home?!
November 25
The girls and I worked on their holiday card today. This isn’t it. This is just me messing around trying to be a total copy-cat of 10,000 other riffs way too much like this one. But the 10,0000 others don’t have Rome and Lilly!
November 24
The Shangri-La hotel café, a fine place to stop off for a refreshing breakfast after a rousing walk at the beach.
November 23
IngaLill and I went out today to see what the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights was like thanks to a recommendation from Lilly’s friend Roxi’s grandma Pauli.
It was huge and dense and so interesting!
(internet pic)
The back side of the welcome gate. We parked one level below here but didn’t get around to having some pictures of the front side.
We couldn’t take any pictures inside any of the many fabulous rooms full of statuary and icons which included the big temple where a few hundred people were chanting a service.
Golden painted statues…
…everywhere, including this garden, and there were several others, all symmetrically arranged on both sides of the complex.
This style of sculpture was prominently featured. I notice I don’t have any examples of the colorful Chinese ceramic style of statuary which is also on display.
One of the signs at the entrance read as follows:
“Children should be grateful and praise life.
Youths should awaken to the value of faith.
Adults should have the diligence of a gushing fountain.
The elderly should enjoy the tranquility of life.”
You know I like that part about the elderly who have no assignment but to enjoy.
The chanting service starts at 10:30 every Sunday and there was a full house today.
Everyone was welcome to place an incense stick here before entering the temple.
il.
Lill bought this candle to place in the temple in memory of her (father? grandfather?) who had an anniversary of his passing yesterday. They lit the candle with an incense stick.
If you’re interested in this complex of buildings and in their particular brand of Buddhism you can check it all out online.
On the website we read: Hsi Lai Temple “practices Humanistic Buddhism, an integration of Ch’an Buddhism (self-power) and Pure Land Buddhism (other-power).”
It was a beautiful day, and then we went to have dim sum at a Chinese restaurant in Rosemead. It was a lot of fun but I’m sorry Lill, not the best dim sum around…still we enjoyed every bite!
November 22
On my way to Disney Hall, here’s a phone shot out the car’s window of downtown looking particularly colorful.
Marsha invited me to join her for the Happy Birthday Hurricane Mama concert in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Disney Hall organ’s installation.
That guy in the leather pants is Cameron Carpenter, the guest organ soloist with our own Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic. Oh my goodness it was awesome. AWEsome.
The program:
Barber: Toccata Festiva
Scriabin (arr. Carpenter): Sonata No. 4
Hartke: Symphony No. 4
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3, “Organ”
internet pix
November 21
I’m 50 pages or so into this book and it is wonderful so far. The author is the current (very idiosyncratic) mayor of London and this guy can string together words near worthy of Churchill himself.
Oh Kindle, you and your ‘one click to buy’…will I ever finish Proust? Yes! Yes, I will! Someday.
November 20
The La Brea Tar Pits and the George C. Page Museum. Alex and Carol had never visited the Page Museum and hadn’t been to the Tar Pits since Elementary School. We went on a tour and had a lovely day.
And Of Course Levitated Mass, along with Urban Light also new to A&C. I’ll have to get a quote from them after they’ve had a chance to absorb the experience.
November 19
Lilly’s expression when she caught sight of me as she came around for the first lap at her school’s fund-raiser – The Great Turkey Trot.
Here she comes again on her seventh or eighth lap. You go Lilly! Don’t miss her shoes and the turkey’s shoes.
Roxi was running the Turkey Trot too. Her mom Lauretta was there and her grandma Pauli.
After the Great Turkey Trot Pauli and I had a coffee break back at Angela’s house and later…
…we all met up at Rome’s school where Roxi’s sister Lola is in the same grade with Rome. Xander, her brother, is in the first grade.
November 18
No, I haven’t dyed my hair, in case you were wondering, that’s just an example of one of the 10s of things I can’t do in my Pilates class, but I go anyway, not so faithfully I should add, but I go because what’s exercise without a challenge.
I’ll let you know should the day ever (ever!) come when I can actually do this.
November 17
Ahhh 73 and sunny and I enjoyed a many miles beach walk with Sharon in the morning and the second to the last session to finish putting Lona’s office together in the afternoon.
An overall very satisfying day especially as my dinos are in particularly fine form.
November 16
Happy Birthday JoAnn! and a fine group gathered at A.O.C. in celebration. We passed around Nancy’s camera: David and JoAnn, JoAnn and me, Nancy and Muriel, Muriel and David.
various
November 15
Dawn out my window where I spent the night in Ventura after my happy visit with Nancy and Michi in Santa Barbara.
Also out the window, greeting the day, waiting for people to toss him their leftover breakfast bagels.
I met up with the Monday Nighters at the Channel Islands Harbor where Maryanne’s daughter and son-in-law took us all out on their yacht, La Bella Vita!
Becky, Maryanne, Ann, Maxine, Alicia; me, Lourdes (unfortunately Ljubica, Marija, and Marsha couldn’t make it and are missing from all these pictures)
le.
We cruised on out to Channel Islands National Park.
Here are some quotes from the National Park Service website:
“Channel Islands National Park encompasses five remarkable islands and their ocean environment, preserving and protecting a wealth of natural and cultural resources. Isolation over thousands of years has created unique animals, plants, and archeological resources found nowhere else on Earth and helped preserve a place where visitors can experience coastal southern California as it once was.”
This is Anacapa Island.
Becky and Alicia.
There are no accommodations at all in Channel Islands National Park. You can get a permit to camp though, so go for it! You can also drop anchor or attach to one of the many offshore buoys if you are able to overnight on a boat.
Lourdes.
More from the NPS: “The northern Channel Islands were home to many native Chumash communities who are believed to have inhabited the islands for thousands of years.
“When Europeans first reached the islands in the 16th century, they discovered a rich culture dependent upon the resources of the land and the sea for sustenance and survival. By the nineteenth century, the islands were fulfilling different purposes: vast sheep and cattle ranches occupied Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel islands and the channel waters were aggressively harvested for fish and marine mammals. The remains of ancient Chumash villages are intermingled with historic ranch complexes and later military structures, testifying to the diverse heritage of human experience on these offshore islands.”
Sitting out there on the bow on this glorious day as we slowly made our way around the island was just plain TOO MUCH FUN.
le.
The Anacapa Island Lighthouse.
This is about how close to the island we were cruising so the shore pictures that follow are small sections of full telephoto shots. I’m not lusting for more telephoto though because I can’t even hold this 120mm one still.
Lighthouse Wiki Facts: An earlier model was installed in 1912. This lighthouse was erected in 1932, the last major lighthouse built on the west coast, and it was manned by the Coast Guard until 1966 when it was totally automated.
…so many pelicans.
A tour company out of Ventura will bring you to the islands on a motor boat and drop you off to kayak for several hours which sounds totally cool if I had a big young island boy to do the paddling.
Oh my goodness we were gapping and squealing and cheering at all the bottle-nosed dolphins. There must have been hundreds including the most adorable babies.
There’s a darkness in the middle of this picture. That’s it for my pictures of dolphins.
…Lisa and Craig treated us to a very fine lunch. Then we had perfectly crispy drool worthy homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream cones as we…
(another diner)
…cruised on back to their slip with Many Thanks for a BEAUTIFUL day.
Maxine, Becky, Maryanne, Lourdes, Alicia, Ann, me
le.
A feeling for Channel Islands National Park, a place that I will have to visit again!
November 14
I drove up to Santa Barbara to spend the day with my Santa Barbara friends Nancy and Michi. It was so nice to just relax together, visit, walk, eat, stroll through the art museum.
That bear itself was worth the drive although now I’m ambivalent, in case it’s one of those circus bears. (Gregori Maiofis, and all the other photos in the exhibit were so charming too.)
November 13
Another day with Lona finalizing the plans for her office. This is their Vacation Rental in the Marina where L&H are staying while they do all the refreshing on their house.
November 12
I went out to Pasadena for a lovely ladies-who-lunch with Pauli at the hotel that used to be The Huntington and then we went to the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
This is the parking garage, apparently unblemished by graffiti for 15 years. Here is just one small corner of the murals that cover every surface.
In the late afternoon I met Muriel for a stroll through Tongva park and an early dinner. Great pose Muriel!
November 11
The kids were off from school for Veteran’s Day so we had a ton of fun All Day Long.
Here they are trying to make google-y eyes like the tree’s. We walked to Big Lots checking in on all our favorite stops (the construction sites, neighborhood dogs, flowers to name, etc.) and got some supplies for a fun craft having to do with all the characters from Frozen.
We also enjoyed a sweet-treat-stop at Yogurtland.
Then we chose a recipe for dinner, made the shopping list, went to the store, and cooked the food. Fun fun fun, and YUM.
November 9
Louise! My ex-next door neighbor sold her house recently and moved to a very cool two bedroom two bathroom apartment in an independent/assisted living complex in Palmdale to be near her daughter. I picked up Ljubica today and we went out there for a visit.
I’m very pleased to report that she is so entirely happy. She says she can’t believe she hung on to the house for so long and that she should have moved ten years ago.
November 8
My older sister sent me these pictures of her office. This is how it looks now after we removed no less than 20 filing boxes full of papers and miscellanea, paper and miscellanea that had been all piled here and there and stashed away in hidden and inaccessible places around this office.
We, Lona and I, spent the day roaming through furniture stores looking for a simple, clean, matchy-matchy replacement plan for all the random desks and plastic drawers in here. We had fun!
lb.
My younger sister sent this shot. She’s in Taos now and called her picture Big Sky. Look at those mountains glow.
wr.
November 7
Two fine events with the cousins today. First a good walk on the beach with Sharon.
Second a snack and a movie with Nancy.
The Nuart was playing The Better Angels, a very unusual/strange piece of work in black and white. I asked the guy selling popcorn if it was a tear-jerker and he said he couldn’t say since it was so ‘arty’.
November 6
From 2003…tonight I’m off to see Alex and Carol and friends and it will be, as it always is, parteeee!
This is what I wrote in 2003 regarding this photo:
“The christening of their dream to sail the world in amazement and wonder and peace and joy.
“Alex got this idea from something he read that christenings, (or is it re-christenings?), must be performed by a female virgin. Now where, he asks himself, can I possibly find such a woman? Ah, these three girls, 10, 8 and 3 – perhaps the only female virgins he knows… “
Alex and Carol are back in Long Beach for a couple of months from their land cruising journeys, taking a break in this perfectly located RV park.
In the front, Heidi and Mike – parents to one of those virgins in the first picture. On the left, Alex and Carol; on the right, Terry and Tammy. I’ve hung out with these folks off and on for what, 20 years? Too fun indeed!
Of Terry Alex wrote: “By the way I love describing Terry as “A cowboy friend of mine from east Texas with a one-eyed dog named Zorro”.”
November 5
Yup. But I didn’t fall. And the computer is still running. And I ate the top layer of food anyway.
(internet pix)
I should mention about Monday’s food since I am once again at an all-time high weight-wise. I met Windy for an early lunch at the Mexican place, met Nancy for a late lunch at Panera, and went to Monday Night potluck dinner where Ann made two different kinds of fabulous pies and I had to have a piece of each, of course. Sigh!
November 4
Chuck E Cheese. We had funnn. We won 60 tickets and got two whistles and a jumping frog.
November 2
Windy’s son Travis and his family Lainee, Cali May, and Jack, the Texas gang. Awesome costumes y’all.
November 1
Usually I do one or two things a day. Not on the 1st when I did so many things. On the 2nd I didn’t go out of the house.
Go shopping for an outfit; get a pedicure; dress-up (and we know That takes time); go to Marsha’s church for a Tea Dance; go to dinner with Ken; see St Vincent which was pretty dang good.
(internet pix)
We got some RAIN last night and my yard sighed in relief but sadly there is no more on the horizon.
(internet pix)
