’17 December

And I missed a whole day from Sydney including a great run to Manley and a stroll through the Royal Botanical Garden that you can find on the link.

December 26

Getting ready to go to Saint Paul MN tomorrow to spend a couple of weeks with Cynthia. Oh Goodie! And yes indeed-y I have plenty of clothes. Yikes, and wind chill!

December 25

Gosh, I haven’t composed the words to express our delightful DeeeLIGHTFUL Christmas Eve and Christams Morning.

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December 24

I have more pictures from this awesome event where every child and grandchild of the twins Marija and Ljubica showed up for Christmas Eve dinner along with other family members, friends, and neighbors.

December 23

My sisters came over for New Year’s Tea since I’m going to be gone.

We had fancy little sandwiches, a nice salad, and sweets to beat the band.

Lona made an old family favorite, candy cane cookies. Windy brought our traditional See’s Candy BINGE, and I made a Pavlova that was yummy.

December 21-22

I went to meet Alex and Carol for a stroll around Naples and a sleepover aboard Nepenthe.

Always a treat…

…and here they are!

Nepenthe’s home base. Thanks guys, it was Good!

December 19

I had early chili dinner at Sharon’s (YUM!) and this is one of her many holiday tableaux. So sweet! And then delicious leftovers for breakfast, my favorite.

Darryl, Rome, Lilly, and Angela having a selfie at Mammoth, their annual vacation winter wonderland!

December 18

Here come 100 pictures of my tree. Definitely not all the goodies are here, oh no there are 1000 more, but I had to call a halt. If I get to needing more I can take more pictures, all delights to My eyes. Every view makes me smile.

The tree is a fake 6 footer and this is its second year…my second year returned to the house since I went back in in November 2016.

The first year I got out all the bits I’d saved over the years which didn’t amount to too much and then I made a dozen+ origami birds and bought the fake tinsel.

This year I bought the beaded hummingbirds from Cecilia’s church bazaar, and the doves and the glass birds from around town.

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December 17

Muriel had an extra ticket for this show and I was delighted to buy it from her.

It was a matinee, 20 minutes walk from my house, and in a good-sound venue. We were in the second to the last row but at intermission we moved to the third row…very better, as if they were playing in my living room!

Here it is xxxn, More Kai!

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December 15

I saw this movie with Nancy, Faces Places is the English title. The movie is in French, made by these two who traveled the French countryside for a few months in a van with a giant printer (and a good sized crew) doing very site specific paste-ups.

It was wonderful!

From promotional text: “89-year old Agnes Varda, one of the leading figures of the French New Wave, and acclaimed 33 year-old French photographer and muralist JR teamed up to co-direct this enchanting documentary/road movie. Kindred spirits, Varda and JR share a lifelong passion for images and how they are created, displayed, and shared.”

(internet pic)

December 14

Bonnie and I had a Lovely Ladies Lunch and Museum afternoon. It’s always cool to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood sign. We’re on the balcony of the Marciano Art Foundation Museum.

The big Jim Shaw exhibit that takes up the whole main floor is still there and will run through the middle of January.

Here are a lot more pictures of the Jim Shaw: Wig Museum show.

They also had a Pacific Standard Time contribution that we enjoyed well enough although it wasn’t one of those can’t-be-missed exhibits.

This was cool, a three story house furnishings on cords.

December 13

No pictures of the kids on Tuesday and no pictures of the beach on Wednesday but YES, a picture of Kai from Cynthia, enjoying his new toy.

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December 11

Our Party of the Year, we’ve been having this exact party at Alicia’s since 2004, full of fabulous food and festivity. Not to mention gifts!

Me, Ljubica, Maxine, Becky, Alicia, Ann, Marsha, Marjia, Lourdes (we missed you Maryanne!)

December 10

Ken and I had a good day. We ate, sat in cars, listened to music, and enjoyed an extended visit. Thanks Ken!

Also, on and off for the last few days, first I watched the whole season 1 again, and then season 2. It’s a good show. It makes you want to look up things.

December 9

Maxine’s annual holiday party! I took two pictures. See the photo in the phone. That’s Geri’s Croatian mother with Marija who hardly ever gets to meet people who know about Croatia!

Maxine’s daughter and co-host Shirley in the middle and friends from the neighborhood.

I’ve been coming to this party for so many Christmases now that I very much look forward to having a chat with all the people I get to see once a year.

Holiday Best to one and all!

December 8

I’m going to want a bunch of pictures of my tree too. I smile every time I catch sight of it.

December 7

Nancy and I had the Happy Hour dinner at Fig and we both agreed – YUM!

December 5

In the plaza of the shopping center where the girls have their dentist. Their dentist’s office is the amusement park of dentist offices and I got a good kick out of looking around.

Then we spent 5-10 minutes picking out their going-to-the-dentist prize. I should have taken a picture of that!

December 1-4

Some catch-up.

Muriel and I went for a stroll on one of the Marina del Rey jetties.

Where there are birds…

…and then we went to the Garden Center and spent money. I didn’t buy a rain chain yet but now I know they have them here. Soon!

This looks like a walk at Palisades Park.

I discovered some missing pictures from my Australia story, like this Roadhouse on the drive from Uluru to Alice Springs where I picked up four hitchhiking local people and drove them to the next roadhouse an hour away. It was quite the experience!