Dumplings at Din Tai Fung, Lilly’s favorite lunch, and then we had a little wander through the mall.
Marija and Ljubica’s sister Vinca who lives in Germany but goes home to Croatia every year, sends homemade šljivovica (slivovitz) and I always get some, lucky dog me. This time there were two different kinds, one the traditional plum version and another made with pears. The fun thing – Vinca found the pear version in the back of a cupboard dated 2006! (It’s stored in glass btw and she transfers to these bottles for shipping.)
I got a smallest possible microwave oven(!) for Christmas, my first microwave in 25+ years, and I had an idea of where to put it on the service porch that involved getting a plank of wood. But would it work? I wanted to try it before committing so I went to a lumber yard and the first guy was not helpful At All so I just hung around, looking, until a different guy asked me if I needed help. Oh yes please! And he fixed me right up including finding a scrap and cutting it to size for $3. $3! What can you buy for $3? And it did work so now I’m in the market for a nicer piece.
I was on the Promenade for some reason, I forget, and noticed this place, the Pickle Pop which, according to the guy inside has been here for over a year. Inside this huge space are three pickle ball courts. I guess there are so many empty storefronts, why not play pickle ball?
Here are the cats and Cheyenne taking care of Kathleen’s face after her treatment. (Take our picture they said!)
My life in physical therapy. It’s been quite a while it seems and I am often better and sometimes not better at all.
The big tree is Ann’s figs that we all love so much and behind it is the persimmon we love just as well.
Ann took in two families (her housekeeper’s and her tango teacher’s) evacuated from the Hurst fire in the San Fernando Valley. No structures were lost and the evacuation lasted only 2 nights. I think there were five folks in total. And two cats, a dog, and a tortoise.
And Ann and I finally got to our Happy New Year sushi!
