Daily Life 2014

September 30

Working on my plans for Jan-Feb 2015. This is going to be a seven week trip.

Friday night I got back from two nights, three days in Vegas and today I got everything put away. When I was in Greece for six weeks in May-Jun I wasn’t back to normal for six weeks after coming home.

Hmmm… Looking like 1 to 1, away to recovery. Not so young anymore…

September 28

A shot from Sunday’s walk on the bluffs in Pacific Palisades. Thanks Sharon, it was fun!

September 27

Ahhh, The Disney Concert Hall. Gotta love it.

Nancy gave me two tickets so I brought Bonnie to the Members’ Preview and it was a ton of fun. Then we went to Little Tokyo for sushi and oh boy that was Fab too.

During the time there I saw three different brides with their photo ops.

September 24-26 2014

Welcome to Viva! Las Vegas…

September 21

Rome and Lilly and their special dolls all dressed up in matching Happy Birthday pjs. Happy Birthday girls!

The shirts say Dream Big and isn’t that cool.

September 21

It’s Rome’s Birthday! She’s having her friends for a sleepover in a couple of weekends but today it’s all about family fun!

First we had a delicious lunch at a beach café followed by Let’s Go BOWLING! Liz’s brother Richie and his wife Carolyn were visiting from up north and able to join in too.

from the left: Angela, Carolyn, Gary, Liz, Darryl, Richie, Rome, Lilly

You go Rome!

And have you ever seen a thing like this? Lilly had so much fun!

Happy Birthday dear Rome, Happy Birthday to YOUUUU.

And then we had snacks and watched all 2+ hours of the first Harry Potter. Rome is up to book four now and lovin’ it.

September 19

From Mike’s mom Phyllis: Mike, Cynthia, Kieran, and Phyllis and Ken’s CATS. Those cats can definitely has cheezburger.

p.

Phyllis’s garden and Kieran in a tree on their big homestead in Frazee Minnesota.

p.

September 17

Friday morning and we’ll know what happened with Scotland’s vote to leave the UK. In anticipation, here’s the travelogue of my 2013 visit to Scotland.

September 16

It was dinner-with-the-boys tonight and instead of the usual picture of us (me and Bill and Ken), here are pictures of Bill, Cheryl, and brand new grandbaby Addie! Rose! Baker!

And that outfit…oh it’s so just the beginning. I had a dozen choices.

September 15

If you like to watch the Ken Burns documentaries you can see all the episodes of the new show The Roosevelts (Teddy, Franklin, Eleanor) on the internet. Here’s the url: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/watch-videos/

It can get confusing with the names but the chart here puts it all in order.

September 14

Happy Birthday LILLY! Five Years Old Today. The party theme: Princess Superheros!

The guests gathered and after playing some games and eating pizza…The Princess Superhero arrived!

Part of the gift bag – Superhero Capes and Princess Crowns.

Sisters Avery and Finley, and a ton of fun.

Some Daddy time.

…putting Lilly in the middle and walking around singing the Happy Birthday song. She Liked it.

The Princess Superhero had a bunch of fun activities involving this parachute including…

Names coming!

standing: Rea, Mya, Finley, Avery, Sofia, Taylor, Rome, Nora, Anya/Lila
sitting: Iggy, Roxi, Bailey, Lilly, the Princess, Kaila, Tessa, Giana, Gia

The Princess had a case full of silliness that kept the girls entirely engaged.

The FAM.

Happy Birthday dear Lilly, Happy Birthday to YOU.

Dessert included a homemade layer cake and two kinds of Sprinkles cupcakes.

A Princess Superhero lollypop parting gift!

Awww.

ak.

September 13

I attended a concert tonight at The First United Methodist Church in Pasadena where, when I arrived at 7:15p the temperature outside was 85 degrees while the temperature inside was 1,000.

This lovely building has No Air Conditioning. As the kids say today ‘oh..wait…what?‘.

Oh brave, devoted singers who really put on a show, a big gospel/spiritual program with the chorale in top form (they sang as one – very impressive) and excellent soloists and instrumentalists, and toward the end a collage group joined in. And no one fainted I don’t know why.

Marsha and Becky are in the back row, long time singers with the Angeles Chorale in this, counting the years they were the Valley Master Chorale, their Fortieth Anniversary year.

September 12

Wow, I loved this performance Big Time. Wow. The Getty puts on an ancient Greek play every September and I hope not to miss the next one because this one was awesome.

(internet pix)

September 10

I didn’t take any pictures for a few days…so here’s something from Cynthia and Mike in Minnesota: Home Improvements!

September 8

That structure is made from wood. It was muggy today for a stroll along Palisades Park with…

…Sharon!

My Monday Night Potluck ladies celebrating 3 birthdays. A couple of the ladies brought 2 cards for each Birthday Girl making a total of 33 cards with no duplicates. Wow, Impressive!

Marija, Maryanne, Maxine, Ann (Happy Birthday!), Alicia (thank you for hosting and dessert!), Becky (Happy Birthday!), Lourdes, me (Happy Birthday!), Ljubica, Marsha

Thanks to Maryanne’s daughter Cynthia who took the photos.

September 7

Nothing but green leafy vegetables whirled up with an apple, and a nice spicy Sangria. Which one is mine and which one is Muriel’s? Too easy.

September 6

Perhaps the last event of Nancy’s extended birthday season: lunch at Gulfstream with me and Sharon and a giNORmous and extremely delicious lemon meringue pie followed by an outing to…

…the Hollywood Bowl. This guy was the opening act – Ben Folds and we thought his show was excellent fun.

Then the headliner came on…

…Elvis Costello who was not it seemed in top form but we were glad to be there anyway.

September 5

Out with Liz for a nice long walk. We were exactly under the flight path from LAX but I didn’t get a picture with a jet that turned out, so here’s a helicopter. This beach path (around Dockweiler) is in front of…

…all the industrial installations of El Segundo. This is the LADWP Scattergood Steam Plant.

In 2013 “LADWP Begins Rebuilding Scattergood Power Plant to Eliminate Ocean Water Cooling, Reduce Emissions, and Improve Reliability”.

I’ve been wanting to walk on this path and now I have.

September 4

The Shutman family from 2007 including Steve’s mom Gloria. Gloria passed recently and I went to her funeral today. Here’s the first poem the rabbi read and it reminds me of my own mother. The rabbi didn’t know the source and it seems an adaptation of a common (unattributed?) poem (from my short browse of the internet):

Now That I’m Gone

Now that I’m gone, remember me with a smile and laughter.
And if you need to cry, cry with your brother or sister
who walks in grief beside you.

And when you need me,
put your arms around anyone
and give to them what you need to give to me.

You can love me most by letting your love
reach out to our loved ones,
by embracing them and living in their love.

Loves does not die.
And when all that’s left of me is love,
give me away as best you can.

…oooow here’s me at this very spot 10 years before, taking video which must be why I don’t have too many stills.

September 3

Grand Girl day today but these are pictures from other days. Last week we made a could-have-been-better mango lassi.

On the weekend DAK&L had a great overnighter to the place where they got married. Such a cute picture. Owwww…

September 2

My really adorable Proust readers from Sunday.

Actually…I dropped in on the folks who are going through with the third group whereas I started with the second group. I wanted to join the first group but it was too late, they were already into book five (of seven) so I waited for the second group and read apace for a few months, then left town for six weeks and never did catch up.

So here we are in group three. They have just finished book one and I am in the middle of book four. I wonder if this group will pass me by too?!

Another view from the parking garage roof.

We were walking on meridians and dashing across streets – very few sidewalks anywhere in the area. I was a little concerned by the police presence at the entrance to the airport but we didn’t get bothered at all and other people were doing the same thing.

More…so many more.

September 1

Ingalill and I, yesterday actually, went on another photo expedition, this time for a walk around the LAX pillars (called pylons in the literature).

The view from the roof of a parking garage behind a hotel on Century Blvd.

We parked at the Carls Jr on Century and walked the rest of the way.

Because it was the Sunday in the middle of a three day weekend the traffic was crazy light.

Fun!

Here we are .. I’m too dang old to figure out selfies.

From the LAX website we have: “The 1.5-mile lineup of 11 translucent, tempered glass columns increase in height from 25 to 60 feet along Century Boulevard and culminate with a “Gateway Circle” of 15 100-foot-tall columns at the intersection of Century and Sepulveda Boulevards. The pylons are lit from dusk to dawn daily.”

Check out the moon. We had a fabulous time.

The Wikipedia article:

“In 2000, before Los Angeles hosted the Democratic National Convention, fifteen glass pylons up to ten stories high were placed in a circle around the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Century Boulevard, with more pylons of decreasing height following Century Boulevard eastward, evoking a sense of departure and arrival.

“Conceived by the designers at Selbert Perkins Design, the towers and 30-foot “LAX” letters are a gateway to the airport and offer a welcoming landmark for visitors.

“Illuminated from the inside, the pylons slowly cycle through a rainbow of colors that represents the multicultural makeup of Los Angeles and can be customized to celebrate events, holidays, or a season.

“The LAX pylons underwent improvements in 2006, as stage lighting inside the cylinders was replaced with LED lights to conserve energy, make maintenance easier and enable on-demand cycling through various color effects.”