At least we could celebrate Windy’s birthday as she became SEVENTY.
CAUTION! If you know Trevor Noah you know what you’re getting into and you can watch the video if you want, and if you haven’t already. If you don’t know Trevor Noah this is a rant that I appreciate…so CAUTION, don’t be offended, just roll on by!
(I can’t figure out how to make this video smaller..it comes up in full screen. Maybe Darryl knows how to do it. I’ll ask!)
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I wasn’t expecting these guys to peek into the front windows. It’s very sweet. They are called Rose Mutabilis or the Butterfly Rose. The flowers last for about a day but there are a lot of them, the result of which is a nice bloom and a ton of deadheads. It’s ok, deadheads are on my list for today. The gardener is working out so well I don’t mind doing a little too.
Remember Michi’s garden? She kept this amazing book where she wrote every time she removed a plant and every plant she put in. It was a long and historic document, and beautifully hand written. I’m trying to make a book too. Being me I’m getting all the info from the internet and including pictures in my book. Also being me of course now I’m thinking of redoing it because I’d like the new things to be ‘on top’. No! It’s fine! Stop!
Michi is full-time in Mexico now so she dismantled her Santa Barbara garden, passing along most of the plants and decor items. Here’s what I got from her garden. It’s on the other side of the front door from the picture above. When I get a better image I’ll replace this one!
You might think that all the commotion that poured out of O’Brien’s Irish Pub every night would make its way to my house, but I never noticed anything, no music, crowd noise, traffic, nothing.
I was walking past their parking lot last night to discover the scene below. The area in the parking lot was full with tables not very spread out and all the tables full of people, but the old patio area surrounded by the fence and covered by the low-hanging canopy was worse. It was basically a room and the patrons there were shoulder to shoulder talking loudly because it was so noisy in there and roundly cheering the game on tv. I wonder when I’ll feel safe enough to enjoy such an environment? Did I ever enjoy such an environment?
On the 23rd Street wall of O’Brien’s Irish Pub facing the Trader Joe’s.
Here we have a yellow tomato (although it looks orange here) grown in the back yard by my tenant Olivia and in front is the first persimmon(!) from the new tree. The tomato was vine-warm and perfect. The persimmon was SO sweet, the birds thought so too. I should have picked it a few days earlier.
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I feel like it’s time to stop doing nothing. I like to take a picture and write a little, it’s my diary, and without a picture and a few words, well, you know. Didn’t happen. Which hasn’t been much of a problem lately since I go nowhere and do nothing. I wonder if a few mouse clicks and then picking up an amazon box from off the porch counts as doing something?
This week was different, and Good. I ate lunch with someone every day and it was wonderfully refreshing. I am faithfully maintaining covid contact tracing guidelines. We might be closer than 6′ when walking to the store but that takes far less than 15 minutes. Oh man-oh-man do I hope they don’t change those guidelines.
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A stroll on the Promenade. I was prepared to be a little bummed, but no! Many buildings were vacant, it’s going to be bad for a long time, but it was clean and tidy, and many places were trying to accommodate themselves to this reality.
Fall flowers from my neighbor and green from the park.
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Nancy, Marsha, Jo Ann, Bonnie, Sharon – what a happy week!
Lilly and Rome are four years less one week apart and now it’s Rome’s turn. FIFTEEN. What?! y.e.s.
Me: Rome, what might you enjoy for your birthday, clothes, games, money? Rome: nothing, really, I don't want a single thing. Me: would you like me to make a donation in your name. Rome: oh yes, that sounds great!
And this is Rome’s chosen charity – Color of Change. I made the poster from their website pictures and Angela sent the photo.
Friends and family e-gathered to share stories in honor of the passing of Jo Ann’s David. What a remarkable man, beloved by all who knew him. I don’t know if I got everyone, and some people are duplicated, I guess that’s a zoom thing. Despite the awful loss, I enjoyed the event. The stories were so dear and the format brought the speaker right up close. It felt intimate and genuine.
Twice this week I’ve walked to the Rite Aid thinking I’d then continue on to the bank. But no. I was ‘concerned’ that I wouldn’t make it back easily enough. It’s eight blocks. I was perfectly capable of walking to the bank but I was ‘concerned’. I think since ‘The Incident’ I’ve been overly anxious about turning around in time. Not a bad idea, to be careful, but really, eight blocks there and eight blocks back. I can…and I DID. That’s me in the little ATM mirror/camera.
And while I was there at the bank I figured I might as well cross the street to the Tehran Market and bring back some of my favorite things.
I might need to get me some of those red geraniums for my geranium pot. I was so tempted to dead-head this baby but fortunately there was a fence to keep me back.
A hibiscus bush at Wilshire and 21st, just down the street. No one passes this bush without smiling, and I pass it many times a week.
The signs say ‘Honk, Wave and Cheer, It’s My BIRTHDAY’. Happy Birthday LILLY! The honks punctuated her Happy Birthday all day long, big eleven years old.
Isn’t this precious. Remember when Angela and Lilly were doing rooms…and now they’ve got a whole house going. Look at those hats, and Rome made the banner. So fun!
Photos: top from Darryl, bottom from Angela
Thank you dear ones for making your way out here. What a special treat to see you!
And I’m glad the new Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree was already planted, in the spot where two of the four unsuccessful lavender used to live. It was my new and good(!) gardener’s idea and I love it! I can keep it below the height of the window and still get plenty of lemons. I’m excited!
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The new kumquat tree has buds, the new persimmon tree has fruit, and the very old trees in back, the orange and grapefruit are going nuts again this year. oh HAPPY me!
Darryl, Angela, Rome, Lilly, Phillip
My ‘Littlest’ sister is Seventy Years Old. WOW. Look at what Seventy looks like these days! She was supposed to be in England for her birthday but she got Covid Canceled, so Lona and I decided to pretend. From 10 in the morning until 6 at night we watched episodes of The Crown between our four courses of tasty English Delights.
What a good time we all had!
Happy Happy Windy, she got to zoom with all her kids! Happy Happy US we got to be there too!
Betsy, Anya, Xander, Lucas, Lona, Windy, me, Jack, Travis, Lainee, Cali
I’m stuck here, not entirely though. I can ride for 10-15 minutes, perched on my good side, in someone else’s car. Windy took me to the Garden Center to get the Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree that is going in one of the spots where two of the dead lavender used to live and Lona picked me up for us to do some shopping for Windy’s birthday party (no guests, just us) on Thursday.
I’m starting to feel a little guilty about everyone going out of their way for me. As of a couple of days ago I really am well enough to walk to the store. Still, it’s so nice when people bring me things! When Marsha was working we used to have Dim Sum downtown so she brought us a fine Dim Sum lunch. That was nice. In the last few days I’ve had salads from Jo Ann, farmer’s market treats from Muriel. It’s so nice.
These sweet birds are happy there in my window for me to enjoy all day every day. They’re not going anywhere. Ahhh…but a trip…it’s in my very distant future.
Here’s a poem from the poem-a-day email. It’s not so much for me since I’m RETIRED but I remember!
“Vacation End” by Leslie Pinckney Hill (1880-1960)
From the charm of radiant faces,
From the days we took to dream,
From the joy of open spaces,
From the mountain and the stream,
Bronzed of sunlight, nerves a-tingle,
Keen of limb and clear of head,
Speed we back again to mingle
In the battle for our bread.
Now again the stern commanding
Of the chosen task is heard,
And the tyrant, care, is standing
Arbiter of deed and word.
But the radiance is not ended,
And the joy, whate’er the cost,
Which those fleeting days attended
Never can be wholly lost.
For we bring to waiting duty,
To the labor and the strife,
Something of the sense of beauty,
And a fairer view of life.
I’ve measured, I on the couch (lying on my good side), another person on the chair, our faces are 7′ apart. We wear masks, we open the front door so it’s (almost…) like being outside. And I am so so glad that friends and family are ok with stopping by.
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That’s the kitty who lives under my coffee table and that’s Jo Ann who wanted to see what it would be like to pet the kitty. It’s adorable, that’s how it is!
In a selfie everyone knows where to look except me. It seems I need to look at myself more than I need to do it right? I need to practice!
Trevor called this picture The Three Aunts and Trevor even though one of the Aunts is his mother… but The Three Aunts and Trevor is a better title. We love it. Lona and Trevor brought us a feast including PIZZA from Pit Fire. It was deeelightful!
That’s a view from my BED, a little green from the foliage outside the windows, and as the kids say and I just noticed, rando, rando except they are a few things I like.
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Pain is coming…gabapentin says NO.
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