’19 September

September 28

Here’s Alex and Carol pulled in at the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey for a couple of nights on their way home from weeks in the Channel Islands and weeks in the Santa Barbara and Ventura Yacht Clubs.

They had a FABulous time!

Note the boat next to theirs, the Maiden, a follow-on to the boat about which they made the documentary ““Maiden” tells the story of an all-female crew that competed in the grueling Whitbread Round the World yachting race in 1989 and 1990.” And a new crew of women are going to recreate the race in this boat.

We had lunch at Jamaica Bay then we went to pick up Beth who, with Trevor, are visiting Lona, and the four of us, me, Beth, Alex, and Carol went to LA Louver for some art.

More from the exhibit.

We strolled on to the Venice Skate Park passing through some street art for the fun of it.

Sunset at the restaurant in Marina del Rey with Lona, Trevor, Beth, Panela, and me!

September 27

Ben and Bonnie joined me for a fine day at the Tar Pits with a visit to Ray’s and Stark Bar at LACMA for a delicious lunch, then a swing by Levitated Mass and a stop-off at the free tunnels of color set-up temporarily by an office-sharing company coming to town.

The garden inside the Page Museum..

..and Ben and Bonnie hanging out with the Mastodons. (Sorry about the shadows..)

A pretty bad pano of the wonderful Calder fountain.

Construction has begun and the jackhammers were singing..

..I think getting ready to think about maybe starting construction on what will be the entirely refurbished museum.

What’s going on here..

..oh look, Levitated Mass has a new friend, the golf ball of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ new building.

I’m sure they’re going to call it The Golf Ball. So I looked it up and there is no evidence that they are. Just me. The Golf Ball Building.

Here’s the temporary exhibit of the tunnels of color..

..a nice photo-op..

..with Ben, doing his thing.

September 25

Sharon and I tried to go walking at the Pepperdine track but they were having a big ceremony and luncheon in honor of the new college President and there was not one parking spot anywhere on the campus.

So we had to find a Plan B that turned out just dandy – we walked at the Bluffs Parks across the street and still had one of my favorite lunches at the Reel Inn.

This is my ?art from Rome’s birthday party. It seems once I get an idea the execution of that idea is pretty lame. Heartfelt though.

A tropical island with a palm tree and coconuts. A toadstool with a toad. A gnomish gargoyle.

Ingalill had me and the boys over tonight, five of the seven who travelled together in Sweden, for dinner and a picture party. It was fun!

September 24

This makes me laugh because what you are seeing here is Improvement, Progress in my efforts to organize my garage.

I might be at the point where I don’t need to get rid of too many more things assuming I’ve given up all hope of getting a car in here, which is probably the case because the studio is also entirely full of things and Hope Endures that I might someday turn that into a guest room.

Marsha came over for dinner tonight which was lovely and a mental break from looking at my garage.

September 23

In celebration of both Windy and Caleb’s birthdays we ate a yummy dinner at Chez Jay, walked through Tongva Park, and saw a super-fun magic show at the Santa Monica Playhouse.

Compared with my sisters, I’m tall! That’s a unique experience, to be the tall one. Caleb is so tall that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Lona, me, Caleb, Windy

A view from our walk-about in Tongva Park.

That’s Kai of course, on the left in each picture, and his new friend Titan. Cynthia watches Titan twice a week and Kai and Titan are So Cute together. They pad around the house keeping track of Cynthia’s every move wherever she goes.

cc.

September 22

One of my tenants came to my door today ashen-faced with blood pouring from his hand. I had a quick peek and then oh yes, we went straight down to the emergency room.

We were in and out in less than two hours, with an x-ray, five stitches, and encouraging words. Having experienced all those emergency room visits with Hartley in the last few years at the UCLA hospital in Santa Monica, I was reminded how much less crowded it is at Saint John’s, and even practically peaceful.

September 21

It was Rome’s birthday, omg 14, and she had a fine festivity at the art studio where she works. We all made something out of clay. I’ll take a picture of my clay art tomorrow.

class.

A picture of Rome with a couple of cousins from July.

Anya, Cali, Rome

September 20

I’ve been home for a week now and finally finished with all the trip pictures which are available in the Baltic and N&E Europe section.

Google Fi worked like a champ. I used data freely, maps especially, and it worked seamlessly on every street I visited in Russia-Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus-Sweden. Really, I couldn’t believe it. Every border I crossed the phone piped right up “Welcome to ((all these countries, even countries I FLEW over!)) we’ve got you covered!”

And the total cost? Less than $35 per MONTH. You do have to watch out for phone calls – use wifi with the phone on airplane mode or pay $.20/minute which is ok for a quick message but no good for chatting. On wifi it’s free to call the US and very reasonable to other countries, but be sure to check. All texts are free.

I’ve been working on my 8 hour time change and I seem to be normalized, time-wise, which even in the best of circumstances is not particularly predictable.

I’ve seen my sisters, gone to Monday Night potluck, had a bbq feast from Tom, Nancy came over…I don’t remember what else.

I spent hours fishing through the internet because I want to replace the light in my dining room.

And also I’ve spent hours thinking about this landscape of dead grass and ancient bushes. One of these days I’m going to do something about it! Now I’m thinking a couple of fruit tress? and a loose low hedge at the sidewalk? Take the bushes out and extend the porch?

It was Lilly’s birthday, TEN! On Thursday (we’ve change to Thursday’s for this school year) we spent the entire afternoon at the Del Amo Mall, Shopping with Lilly’s birthday money. She’s the one who did her 2nd grade biography project on Coco Channel, she does know her taste!

ln.