I’m am going to be SEVENTY YEARS OLD in 2017. SEVENTY.
August 27
Ingalill and I went to a very very odd place today. It’s called ‘The Museum of Jurassic Technology’. It’s been around for nearly 20 years and this is my first visit.
The Getty newsletter of January 2014 called it ‘The Museum That Proudly Defies Understanding’.
From the same article ‘Although the MJT exudes an authoritative tone, the exhibits subtly yet strenuously push the limits of belief. Fact and fiction lose their distinction and blend into one befuddled state. The husband-and-wife founders of the MJT, David Hildebrand Wilson and Diana Drake Wilson, would probably liken this state to a feeling of wonder.’
I could not verify the veracity of a single thing in this very large and very ‘wonder-full’ collection of collections.
August 25
Bill came over for lunch and why have a picture of Bill when you can have a picture of Sweet Addie Rose!
August 26
I had dinner with Merlyn and Hilda tonight and here’s a picture of Raffi and Hilda from last week on Raffi’s 26th birthday. 26…Yikes…Time FLIES!
mc.
August 24
Back from KC and the Eclipse…these are my Eclipse companions and here’s my Eclipse story!
Bill and Cheryl and their guests didn’t take a single picture but here’s the really important member of the family – Sweet Addie Rose! Thanks to Ross and Kim.
If you look down in the pictures from 10 years ago you will see that Ross and Kim had just started dating and now here they are, parents.
August 18
Oh yes oh yes I so know, Lucky Dog ME! I’m going to Kansas City tomorrow to be in place to experience The Total Eclipse of the Sun.
August 17
Leaving Shoreline Village aboard the recently re-deployed…
We anchored off shore and Carol served up a feast fit for the finest cruise. Yum!
Carol, Alex
After we tootled around with the sails out, which is great good fun, we went back to the marina to enjoy the view and some delightful Happy Hour DOCKTAILS!
August 16
Rome took all these pictures of our day with me, Rome, Lilly, and Lilly’s friend Bailey. Too fun!
kk.
August 15
Happy Birthday Nancy! We saw a kooky little movie The Trip to Spain and had lunch at Nancy’s favorite place. Birthdays are fun!
August 14
Happy 19th Birthday Gideon! These are Gideon’s pictures I got off facebook, pictures he took of his dogs, Bagel and Marley, with his new graduation-gift camera. Good job Gideon! And the Thai food was delicious too.
gs.
August 13
I drove up to Santa Barbara for a quick visit with Michi. We walked, we ate, we talked, we went to the museum…we had fun!
August 12
Happy Birthday Muriel and Congratulations on your new home!
JoAnn, David, Muriel
August 11
Christa was over for lunch and a great visit – so nice to have her around! She’s going back to Hawaii in a couple of days so luckily for me we found this time to get together.
This is Christa’s picture from Lona and Hartley’s balcony. AWEsome isn’t it?!
cb.
August 9
Sister day today and as such…here’s an utterly adorable picture of Travis, Lainee, Cali, and Jack. AWW!
wr.
August 8
I picked up Lilly at her Fashion Camp where they are sewing clothes and doing shows – right up Lilly’s alley! We had a picnic lunch at Wilderness Park and a little exploration walk and then both girls had art class. Summer is busy!
August 7
Had a nice welcome home walk with Sharon this morning and a festive Happy Birthday Becky Monday Night potluck at Maxine’s newly and lavishly remodeled home.
August 5
The kids came over today and it was a wonderful Welcome Home. Rome made that Welcome Home portrait and wrote a sweet-as-pie Welcome Home haiku. It’s good to be home!
August 4
It’s awesome to be home, but oh my goodness, what a delight, what a joy and a pleasure:
Sydney June 11-16 and again July 29-August 3.
Canberra June 16-20 and Melbourne June 20-23.
Tasmania June 23-July 1.
Broome July 1-8.
Darwin+ and The Red Center July 8-18.
Cairns-Port Arthur-Lady Elliot-Brisbane July 18-29.
I want this picture BAD although he isn’t finished with it yet. I’m SOO close to writing with a request. I AM going to write (Glen Namundja – you can google him) and pretty soon too.
Visiting with this guy was one of the highlights of the whole trip.
June 16-17
I went by bus on the 16th from Sydney to Canberra.
If you want to catch up you can click on this link:
Sydney June 11-16.
…off for a Tea Party at the Getty Villa. They do it in Mediterranean style up in the ‘Founder’s Dining Room’ and it’s a lot of fun.
Included with the tea is a tour of the gardens telling about some of the herbs and spices that went into our tea.
June 7
Lilly and Roxi creating Interesting Food. That’s what they wanted to do and that’s what they did, entirely by themselves. I didn’t even peek into the kitchen while this adventure was afoot.
Tomato cups with blueberry; Peach and cheese delights; Lime chip quesadilla. Interesting Food, and tasty too.
Here’s Rome learning calligraphy. Look how well she’s doing after only one hour.
June 6
I got this off Cynthia’s facebook!
What Cynthia wrote: “Feeling grateful to be on this journey with Michael Holden, who killed it planning an awesome 5th anniversary surprise weekend getaway. :)”
What Mike wrote: “Celebrating our 5 year anniversary with a weekend downtown. #boomislandpark #wildecafe #renaissancehotel #stonearchbridge #guthrietheater”
AWWWW!
June 5
Marsha’s willow has developed into willow perfection and she’s a tree-happy gal. It was totally dark so the camera had to just ‘figure it out’.
Tonight was my last Monday Night Potluck for ages and one of the most trying drives – almost, but not, two hours. I wish I knew why all that years-long work on the 405 and the Westside on and off ramps produced no noticable benefit.
June 4
Happy Birthday David! Also present was the coven of David devotees of which I include myself as well as JoAnn, Nancy, Muriel, and another of David’s friends, a wonderful young woman I just met named Jessa.
June 3
From the Observatory’s website:
“Free public star parties are held monthly at Griffith Observatory from 2:00 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. with the assistance of volunteers from the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers, and The Planetary Society.
“They are a chance for the whole family to look at the Sun, Moon, visible planets and other objects, to try out a variety of telescopes, and to talk to knowledgeable amateur astronomers about the sky and their equipment.”
Darryl, Angela, Rome, and Lilly met me up here for this occasion that I’ve never been to before.
Here’s more from the Observatory’s website:
“Colonel Griffith J. Griffith left funds in his will to build a public observatory in Los Angeles because he believed in the transformative power of observation. After looking through the research telescope at Mt. Wilson he said: “If all mankind could look through that telescope, it would change the world!”
“Since opening in 1935, the Griffith Observatory has fulfilled his vision by offering public telescope viewing through the historic Zeiss telescope, historic coelostat (solar telescope), and portable telescopes on the lawn. More people have looked through the Zeiss telescope than any telescope in human history. More people have viewed the filtered disk of the Sun on the Observatory coelostat than any solar telescope on Earth.”
For this once-a-month event the whole lawn is full of amazing telescopes and the aficionados who attend them with such loving enthusiasm.
DAK&L brought a wonderful Very Full Service picnic and these guys both gave us and protected their table until we were all ready to eat.
And Gifts!
Darryl wrote this poem and I’m copying it here so I can always find it. I mean, really, he rhymed Australia and paraphernalia.
With 70 years, it’s a time to be reflective,
Maybe see things with a new perspective?
Reflective, and open to introspection,
Without the unfortunate reflection:
“My view of the world, my contemplative demeanor,
Would be a lot better if those windows were cleaner.”
Let’s make it so! without leaving your seat…
We’ve summoned window cleaners to 22nd Street.
Cleaning and cleaning and not missing a spot,
They’ll get every window on the lot.
With their window washing paraphernalia,
They’ll arrive once you’re back from Australia.
So, this year we hope you’re enjoying the view,
Clean windows – and a Happy Birthday – to You!!!
I liked it A Lot, especially the first level with all these concept pieces that are thematically connected but you have to read the words and wander through I think to feel it for the connections.
June 2
The original Scottish Rite Masonic Temple and just now reopened as The Marciano Art Foundation, and thanks to Carol for having her ear to the rail she, Alex, and I went to check it out.
…contemporary art. Experiencing the building just by itself is worth the price of admission. It’s free btw but you have to make a reservation.
You’ll want to read all the art-blah-blah signs around the main exhibition on the lower level. It’s nonsense, that’s what I thought, until I saw the show and had such a great A-HAAA. I love those moments!
This backlit sign is, just a shot in the dark, 8 feet tall and 30 feet long, something like that, HUGE.
They also have a small museum of relics found during the museum refurbishment. That fez sent me on a memory-trip-flash of a picture of my Grandpa, my mother’s father, in a hat that looked just like this.
But he’s Jewish. Do the Masons let Jews join? They might now but back then it looks like they had an entire Jewish Lodge as evidenced by these names.
So that might be it. Also was he a Shriner or a Mason, the hats are the same? I looked it up – you have to be a Mason first before you can be a Shriner so he could have been both.
June 1
Ann and I like to celebrate our June birthdays at the sushi bar where Hero, who has been making me sushi for 30 years still plies his trade.
Happy Birthday Ann, it was GOOD!
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…
…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.
Lill is the one with the massively wonderful succulent garden and now she wants this.
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.
May 28
Ingalill and I went out for a photo-photo this morning at Barnsdall Park in East Hollywood. We’re reflecting ourselves here…
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.
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 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 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.
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.
ht.
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.
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.
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.
They’ve replanted the welcoming bowls and they look and smell wonderful.
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 13
Hilda and Raffi stopped by and we had a walk up to the park. Thanks for taking the time!
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.
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 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.”
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.
