Daily Life 2016

October 28

Sharon and I were walking at the track in Pepperdine and it was a gorgeous day mostly because we had a little water come out of the sky. We have settled our opinion. That’s Catalina under the arrow and Palos Verdes to the left.

Then we happily ate fish at the fish place.

October 30

Reflections on my living room wall from the front windows.

October 31

Rome and Lilly in their Halloween best, a Water Fairy and Harley Quinn…

…joined by Gary! Ack! He wants to Count One Two Three.

October 27

Ok, from the counter guy when I told him the cabinets were in, and this is not so good for me. The message is copy-paste. He always screams in his email.

Guess I’ll try to find someone who can do it sooner? Maybe I’ll get a date with him anyway just in case? Home Improvements? It’s Always Something.

October 26

I went with Lilly to her Daisy meeting today where they did a really fun pumpkin project and where I was so delighted with the awesomeness of the leaders.

In 90 minutes the girls colored and had a snack, did circle time talking about pumpkin facts and favorite pies, went outside and tested the floatability of various sizes of pumpkins (yes! they all float!), then the parents there helped cut the pumpkins open and the girls Dug In, followed by a discussion of what to carve and a distribution of the pumpkins to make the carving.

There was a moment when more than half the girls had got into a pumpkin-piece throwing shriek-fest and one of the leaders pulled that group aside and then they did several minutes of calisthenics…problem over.

Then more coloring as a quiet time activity before leaving. Phewww!

Rome is playing clarinet in the school band! You go Rome!!

My orange tree is in need of Affordable Care Act coverage in that the oranges are splitting causing an infestation of hungry little bugs. Alex brought a sprayer and we went at it with soap and water. Fingers crossed!

October 25

Some random pictures follow, beginning with a Palisades Park walk sometime recently…I don’t remember…

When I moved into the little place 12+ years ago I thinned out my kitchen of its randomness. But did I? Because look at all this randomness.

And now that sweet little guy is RENTED to a lovely delightful adorable young woman who is coming in on the 1st. Wow. Now I could use a counter, a sink etc., a stove, some living room furniture, and just a few bits and bobs, and I’m d.o.n.e!

The pre-school up on the corner was putting these on their neighbors’ porch. I was there when they came by and first one, then another, then all of them wanted to tell me what they were going to be for Halloween. Awww, soo cute!

A tree from a walk between me and Montana.

October 24

Oh Maxine, another Halloween EXTRAVAGANZA for the Monday Nighters. Thank you!

October 23

From Cynthia in Saint Paul – Good Morning Coffee. I love that room!

Option One.

Option Two. Right now I’m leaning toward Option Two.

No knobs or pulls or sink or refrigerator…

October 22

The big delight of the last few days. They’re h.e.r.e!

I’m planning to put the cool hinges on the doors. They’ll be fake, just for looks, which is cool to have the modern soft close with the more historic reveal on the hinges.

…or stove or range hood or shelves. But drawers with paper pulls where I can Put Things!

October 14

We pretty much lolled around all morning and then ubered over to Commander’s Palace, dressed as we were in our Commander’s Palace finery, for the lunch special of a two course meal and 25 cent martinis.

October 8

Lona had her cataract surgery and hence the raccoon eye, but all is well…

…and always something is happening out their window. You can’t see the pelican but he’s there getting ready for another dive.

Their place is on a corner of the building and they’ve got SUCH a view in every direction. It’s hypnotizing to just stand at the window and be entertained.

I had a nice morning visit with Muriel – we sat on her stoop and drank a coffee and caught up with our stories. I am very successfully avoiding work.

October 7

Sharon and I went walking super early this morning, like at dawn…around 8:30. We had our snack at a completely new place and it was fun.

Then I met Bonnie for another meal and a leisurely visit since she’s cut back on her hours and didn’t feel particularly pressed. Good job Bonnie!

October 6

Happy Birthday Susie! We went for lunch at Rice, the Manhattan Beach vegetarian sushi place that Rome chose for her birthday. Susie was Happy!

Then we took a stroll to the new Manhattan Beach library. Career librarian Susie was Happy again so YAY.

And for the final segment of our Happy Birthday Susie day we walked out to the end of the Manhattan Beach pier to enjoy the small aquarium in the old Roundhouse building.

October 5

Lilly sporting the world’s straightest part in the whole long history of parts.

October 4

Done! except for washing down the walls, and maybe closing up a few cracks, and figuring out about a towel rack and rugs. But basically Done.

October 3

Look what Alex is doing to my bathroom – making it NEW again!

October 2, Afternoon

Marija is getting a brand new grandbaby and here’s the shower for Baby Elliott, soon to be born son of Andrew and Christina.

Remember Christina? She’s the young woman whose family is from Manila and when I was in the Philippians lucky me Christina was there too and she and her Auntie took me around for a perfect day.

Melinda-daughter of Marija and sister of Andrew, and Melissa-daughter of Ljubica and cousin of Andrew.

…enjoying the opening of gifts.

Some of the guests…

The Happy Grandmas.

Hi sweetie!

Congratulations and HURRAY Andrew and Christina!

So funny! Christina is holding one of the gifts which she opened to great hilarity because Andrew always wears those kinds of shirts…and when he came at the end of the party, VOILA.

September 2, Morning

Lill came by in the morning. We ate bagels and scallion cream cheese sitting on these chairs.

I didn’t say anything I just asked Lill what she thought and she said all the things that I’ve been thinking. 1) the chairs are pretty comfortable actually 2) the table is too high by an inch or two and 3) too bad the arms on the chairs aren’t a little bit higher.

So many strolling opportunities at UCLA.

We were going to walk around UCLA and take some pictures. So too bad for Lill, she forgot to change her lens and had only a macro, so we got done pretty fast since she couldn’t take any pictures and the Fowler wasn’t open until noon.

But we enjoyed ourselves anyway because why not.

The always splendid Royce Hall.

The waffle.

These kids are in a business development class and this was a team building exercise.

The group creates a support bridge for each person, one by one, to go straight down from their feet to reach out as far as they can and touch the ground.

The always photogenic…

…Serra sculpture. I’m a fan.

It was a delightful fall day…

…and here are those guys in close-up because they’re so cute.

Bruins in the making.