’20 November

For when people ask me about this soaking tub, here’s my really small 6×8 foot bathroom that has some side-storage on the porch, and there are no doors to save floor space. The above picture is mighty distort-o to get it all in.

When I sit in that bathtub gorgeous rich steamy-hot water comes up to my chin. Another month maybe and I can have my first bath in months, since The Incident. I’ve been so looking forward to that day.

I did this remodel in 1998 back when I bought the property. The tub is installed below floor level and I can still get in by swinging my legs around but in another few years I’ll have to get a footstool to make it out safely. The skylight was also part of the remodel and it still doesn’t leak (crossing my fingers and knocking on wood).

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Curtains for guests and a place to comb my ever decreasing number of hairs.

..in the time of Covid. We exchanged dishes, the couple I made and the many they made, and then enjoyed a zoom-giving with thanks that such a thing could even happen.

DAR&L are watching Oliver’s half-brother Dude for the holiday weekend. They are SO cute together. That’s my gum tree bag of delights. The bag and containers are included! The bag says “gum tree peace out 2020!”.

Snagged from Darryl’s instagram.

“”Yes Dad, I do need all three devices.” Device 1: For watching the movie. Device 2: For chatting with a friend while watching the movie. Device 3: For making the Thanksgiving card while chatting with a friend while watching the movie.”

Lilly left this card on the path for me to pick up. SO adorable, she made the Happy Turkey Day look like a penny.

You might think so because we are here celebrating Jo Ann’s 80th birthday. I should spell that, Eightieth birthday. She’s constantly out-and-about, tutors at Cal Arts, creates works of art, and is a blessing to her family and friends. She’s an inspiration to us all. Here is the gorgeous gingerbread cake that Muriel made. I forgot to take a picture of the bucatini and tomato sauce that she also made. We ate like Queens!

Can you see Candle Man at the left in the picture. He holds the birthday candle so you can still make a wish when you blow out the candle but also not blow on the cake. Happy Birthday Jo Ann.

Because I need to stop obsessing. Everyone can check for themselves. Please do. Just look back at where we were Eight Days Ago. Why are we not overwhelmed with memorials? I’m thinking Trump. He simply HAS to become irrelevant.

I just ran across this one from the 16th and although it’s a little late it’s also far too cute to miss out using.

Alicia, me, Ann, Marija, Lourdes, Becky, Marsha

Ben and Bonnie picked me up, I leaned on their big console in the front seat…and we’re off!

We had a deeelish brunch in the sand at the restaurant at the Annenberg Beach House called, not surprisingly, Back on the Beach. You can see it there in the distance with the salmon umbrellas, matching my salmon shirt. Thanks Bonnie for taking my picture.

We didn’t walk far – there’s the pier in the near-distance. It was a Stupendous day, and SO few people, it was wonderful, warm and breezy in the winter sun, thanks for taking me out!

That’s me on my cushy guest chair >this< close to Sitting Down! Thanks Marsha! AND my shoulder is free of dressings – two down and one to go, one week shy of four months. I’m still glad I didn’t get the skin graft. The wound care has been peaceful and what else was I going to be doing anyway?! (If you don’t know, the story starts back on August1.)

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My $3 flowers from TJs; a cat peering into my kitchen from on top of the car; a Very nice restaurant two blocks down the road (thanks Sharon!); sadly I know way too much about all those bandages.

I ate the last persimmon yesterday, a few kumquats are showing themselves but I’m stressing a little over that tree, the Meyer lemon has one fruit and I don’t know if there will be any more this season, the grapefruit is its same ancient weary self, but the orange tree is again making farmers market quantity fruit.

But nearly. Rienato will have been here four days, Alex has come three days and has to return to clean up the cracks in the patch. And I myself, by myself (what?! YES!!) primed and painted before the new sink could go in. Wow, right? You can imagine all that has gone wrong to make so many visit necessary.

Click here for the first part of the story!

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And below is a bit of work-in-progress.

Nine days from the last one I posted (and have since deleted..I had tooo many of them)…one week and two days, more than 1,000,000 new cases, more than 10,000 more deaths. Last time I showed this chart they didn’t include the hospitalization number. That’s how many covid patients are in the hospital right now.

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Here’s a bright light, Lilly fooling around with zoom backgrounds. It’s a dove, the Bird of Peace!

Burt and Charlene were over and they wanted to get me something for my garden. Charlene is another one of those garden mavens and I have appreciated her input. I have an ancient geranium patch around the back porch with some bare spots just waiting for this guy!

Burt and Charlene. Masks removed for the photo. Thanks guys, for a ride to the Garden Center!

Susie sent me an article from the New Yorker about the controversial project, bringing the story up-to-date I think. The article is long and full of nuance (you can click on the link) as New Yorker articles are.

The architect for the LACMA project, Peter Zumthor, created and built a spa in Switzerland. From the New Yorker:

“The project that announced Zumthor to the world is Therme Vals, the spa, which was completed in 1996. A Tetris-like assortment of plunge pools half submerged in a bucolic hillside, the baths have a seductive power. “It’s the Xanadu effect, the beauty of the remote,” one architecture critic told me. “It’s so sensual, it’s so delicious in so many ways, and it photographs so beautifully.” Zumthor’s spa is regarded as an exalted expression of regional modernism: site-specific, culturally grounded, made from local materials using traditional techniques.”

I should go here!

Not a morally bankrupt mendacious laughing stock. Oh look…I could say so much more, but you know.

My tenant had a leak in her bathroom sink. The plumber’s attempt to fix the leak completed the break in the sink. Removing the sink revealed the ancient plumbing behind the wall that itself was broken and ready to go. So now a faucet drip has turned into a fu$$-on repair job including the plumbing, dry wall, mud, a sanding mess everywhere, and then paint. And THEN we can put up the new sink.

..zero minutes to vote! I took my mail-in ballot to drop off in case there was a line, but my preference was to vote in person and it went so smoothly. It was a beautiful thing including a new high-tech system that was super easy to use and appeared frightfully delicate. There was an abundance of lovely young people manning the polls and a person dedicated to wiping down every surface after every touch. I wonder if all the polling locations in Santa Monica were this lovely?

I snapped a few pics on the way – bougainvillea alley, and some twisty pokey things. I had a few choices of polling places and chose the closest – it was a nice walk up to 24th and Montana.

That’s Tony’s picture of Lill in her own garden. She fixes my succulents when they are feeling sad. ‘Blue House Gardening Service’ on call!

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Below, the stroll along Palisades Park with Sharon. I got as far as the Rose Garden. Next time I feel confident I’ll make it to our regular turn-around point.

Beverages with Marsha in reverse order, first coffee and then Black and Tan. Both Yum YUM.

Ben and Bonnie took down the threatening tree and in exchange got more light for their garden.