’17 May

May 31

It’s LILLY day today.

After school Rome had a playdate with Finley and Lilly had a playdate with Roxi. Here they are playing their favorite, School!

Then Lilly’s Daisy troupe gathered – Lilly and these girls wanted to find a peaceful place to eat their pizza…

…before they made the ceremony, walking from end to end…

…The Bridging, which is like a Girl Scout graduation from one level to the next. Lilly and all these friends will be a Brownie after the summer break.

Here they’re saying the Girl Scout Pledge.

The two troupe leaders and they’re wonderful.

Congratulations girls!

May 30

At the downtown Pacific Dining Car “Since 1921” where…

…I and the cousins Sharon and Nancy enjoyed a fine afternoon. Thank you ladies!

May 28

Ingalill and I went out for a photo-photo this morning at Barnsdall Park in East Hollywood. We’re reflecting ourselves here…

…at the Children’s Art Center.

This is a piece of a larger mural also at the Children’s Art Center first created in 1995. It’s in amazing condition considering how long it’s been just out in the open like this.

Every time I see this view of the Hollywood sign and the Observatory I’m reminded of how many years I lived here when seeing either was a three times a year event because of the unrelenting smog.

Getting rid of the smog is a wonderful success story and I want to keep remembering every time because it gives me a hit of optimism, so rare these days.

The crowning jewel of Barnsdall Park, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, a National Historic Landmark, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles.

From Ingalill: “Wow this place is AWEsome!”

The hollyhocks were so happy.

This is my first visit since they reopened after a year long refurbishment. No photos are allowed inside the house, and the upstairs isn’t opened yet, so wait a month or so before you go. You will not be sorry.

This is the other side of the Children’s Art Center…

…and a close-up of the mural, freeway art and I like it!

Lill is the one with the massively wonderful succulent garden and now she wants this.

May 27

Liz, Angela, Rome, and Lilly and we all went out for our Mother’s Day Mani-Pedi (that I gave everyone for their gift…).

It was Fun and then we had lunch for even More fun. Thanks everyone for coming!

May 26

If you liked the first one you’ll like this one and if not then not. I liked them both and so did Windy. We went this morning – walked there and walked back. Windy is in preparation for her “Wild” adventure.

In the afternoon I went to hang with Kelly…and Marsha and Tom of course, at Cedars-Sinai for Kelly to have a small surgery. Everyone is Entirely Fine!

May 25

Lilly carrying Rome’s lunch bag while we went to the park as, and what fun, a homework assignment. She made our lunch herself!

May 24

What a gorgeous day and the dinos at the Promenade are in their best form in years. The jacarandas are really going for it too. Let’s hear it for Rain.

The fire department had a crew running up and down these stairs. It made my knees ache just to watch.

The Rose Garden going nuts.

I always enjoy running across this baby.

May 23

Lunch with Boban today so here’s a picture of his eldest daughter’s high school graduation announcement. Congratulations Jordon, and congratulations to the mom and dad too!

May 21

Merlyn acquired several jars of caviar and we polished off one of them. I do so appreciate the opportunity to enjoy caviar by the heaping spoonful.

Carol came by too after the Gay Pride Parade. Oh me oh my my hair my hair. I have given up which is not to say I don’t notice.

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Merlyn’s latest enamorata, in Ludicrous mode 0-60 in 2.28 seconds, the fastest measured by MotorTrend and demonstrated on our test drive…his TESLA, named Black Pearl by Hilda…

…Hilda here demonstrating the trunk capacity. There’s also a trunk in front. It’s quite a motoring machine alright.

May 20

Craig, Cheryl’s brother passed away very unexpected and Ken generously hosted the post-service reception. I’m so glad I was round and able to attend.

May 19

Windy and I did the walk up to the Getty Center and although it is not far at all and not particularly steep it is a steady march up up up.

They’ve replanted the welcoming bowls and they look and smell wonderful.

We did a Highlights Tour which is always cool, and then we saw the featured exhibition “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe” which was a display of vast canvases of great ceremonial events of Eighteenth-Century Europe. If you like that you’ll love this.

And then we ate!

In the late afternoon I met up with Carl and Lynn. We enjoyed a visit to the LA Louver, a super fun Happy Hour at a restaurant nearby and then…

…a stroll down to Abbott Kinney for Ice Cream!

((Missing: the girls and Nancy’s visit.))

May 16

All that water we had brought the plants to peak flowering everywhere in California and I am appreciating it every day just in case it never rains again.

On the same path as the above picture in Palisades Park along the cliffs, I saw this tree-plant that I was sure was the same as the ohia lehui from the lava beds of the Big Island, and I think it IS the same, the picture on the left being from the Big Island and on the right from Palisades Park.

The Legend of Ohia and Lehui from the internet: “The legend says that one day Pele met a handsome warrior named Ohia and Pele asked him to marry her. Ohia, however, had already pledged his love to Lehua. Pele was furious when Ohia turned down her marriage proposal, so she turned Ohia into a twisted tree. Lehua was heartbroken, of course. The gods took pity on Lehua and decided it was an injustice to have Ohia and Lehua separated. So, they turned Lehua into a flower on the Ohia tree so that the two lovers would be forever joined together. So remember, Hawaiian folklore says that if you pluck this flower you are separating the lovers, and that day it will rain.”

If we could make it rain so easily that would be awesome.

May 14

Happy Mother’s Day!

Liz, Rome, Lilly

May 13

Hilda and Raffi stopped by and we had a walk up to the park. Thanks for taking the time!

Then I got to enjoy a sushi dinner at Sugarfish in Santa Monica, a branch of Sushi Nozawa, with Ronald, Gideon, Steven, me, and Celina after which we ate huge dessert crepes because sushi is just so low-cal…

May 12

Windy and I had a beach walk and she got to use her Santa Monica Senior Beach Parking Pass. We spent all our savings on food.

May 11

I’ve been meaning to check out the current condition of Hollywood Forever and the cousins Sharon and Nancy agreed to go with me.

It was certainly worth the stroll. I was wondering why there were SO many Armenians and Russians there, and not Armenian and Russian Jews either, so I asked google who sent me to the LA Curbed website:

“…by 1997 no one wanted to bury anyone at Hollywood Forever, but there were plenty of people who were willing to sleep or buy drugs or cruise for sex there.

“In 1998, a couple of brothers named Tyler and Brent Cassity bought the whole thing out of bankruptcy for $375,000. They’d grown up in the funeral business in Missouri, and a New York Times article from 2002 claims they were an inspiration for Six Feet Under. They put millions into Hollywood Forever, fixing the landscaping, tearing down walls, and installing multimedia consoles where biographies of the deceased now play on a loop forever.

“A new sales staff did quick business selling plots to Armenian and Russian families in the neighborhood.”

Then we went to Miceli’s to top off our Hollywood Forever afternoon.

May 10

One of Lilly’s homework options was to go to a park and count the trees and then draw a picture of one. We counted them and she drew this tree. I wish I’d taken a picture of her drawing to go here too!

Rome had to write a report on Edvard Munch and I had a great time fishing around the internet with her learning about Edvard Munch. Did you know there are four versions of The Scream? Now you do.

May 9

Muriel is moving. We all know how hard that is no matter what the circumstances, so we went to Yabu and had a fun and distracting dinner.

(internet pix)

Marija had the Monday potluck on the 8th, my first in 6 weeks, and lovely it was.

May 7

I didn’t leave the house, I didn’t even change out of my jammies, but I did work on my Australia trip and I’m happy now with the whole itinerary and almost all the accommodations are set.

Now it’s just how much pre-arranging do I want to do for activities. For example there was one tour to a National Park I was particularly interested in that only runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays – good thing I looked it up!

May 6

Louise put together a gathering of the old ‘hood. This is Louise and Lucy from across the street in Cheryl’s amazing room of seasonal collections…

…mostly based on the Coke theme. That’s Marija not drinking a coke.

Hail hail…Louise, Bill, Marija, Lucy’s mom, Lucy, Ljubica, Cheryl, Linda

Then I went to Marsha and Tom’s for a scrumptious pot roast dinner and to hear about Marsha and Kelly’s trip to NYNY. Wow, they had Such a time!

May 5

Windy and I had a nice walk down the meridian of San Vicente Blvd. in Santa Monica most well known for runners and giant trees whose giant root systems create an obstacle course for said runners.

We walked carefully!

(internet pic)

((I still have two days to do from Kauai!))

May 2-4

On the way home from Kauai I didn’t take the direct flight because at the time I made the booking it was significantly more expensive than the connection through Honolulu.

So I did the connection and in Honolulu the flight to LA was overbooked. They were trying to buy people off to take the red-eye. I told them I’d let them buy me off if I could stay the night. They said cool. I called the Browns and then said Sold!

It worked out so well for me since I got to visit with Trevor, Beth, Charis, and Janice for the afternoon-evening-morning, and I got back at my expected time, just a day later.

The coffee table is off to a refinisher and my fingers are SO crossed for a satisfying outcome.

We had a girl train walking home so they could practice their Talent Show routine. One of the moms is a dance teacher and I had a blast watching it all happen.

In the evening we went to the Talent Show run through for timing, music, entrances, etc. That’s Rome up front of her team.

The next day I went with Bonnie to the James Baldwin movie, I Am Not Your Negro, and I am very glad to have seen it.

I especially appreciated being reminded of James Baldwin’s world view and his contributions to a turbulent era. And I was again reminded that I am not a good sympathizer and I do not understand people.