Speed Freak

So I finally got the flat tire in to the tire repair place. The beauty of it is that since I am driving on the spare, I could just leave the tire and come back later. Bliss!

But as I continue to drive around on the spare tire that requires you drive no faster than 50 mph, I've noticed that this entire city is an international speedway.

Just driving home from the tire repair shop, just keeping up with traffic on a four lane city street, I glance down and realize that I am (and the cars surrounding me are) going about 60. Yikes!

On the flip side, I do live in Los Angeles. Any slower and you've become a hazard.

As I always say, "If you don't want to get where you going, why are you going? MOVE THAT PIECE OF SHIT, GRANDMA!!!"

Okay, I guess I don't actually "say that" I more or less scream it inside the car.

Mr. Cooper

"The dogs are dirty," said Lyle, "they need a bath."

"Well," I replied, "if they're gonna get a bath, we may as well make them REALLY dirty first."

And that is how we decided to take the dogs to the beach last weekend.

Lyle took them rollerblading both Saturday and Sunday mornings. They were pretty pleased with their lives already. The best part for us, we thought, was they would be worn out and easier to take in the car. Note how I said, "we thought."

About a year ago, when we had purchased the convertible, we had also acquired two dog+car harnesses. These harnesses go on the dog, and then a large circle clamp piece of hardware attaches to another piece that has a real seatbelt buckle on the end. Effectively tethering the dogs butt to the seat.

The dog can lie down or sit, but not fully stand not jump out of the car. Perfect.

We found all our supplies (harnesses, dog bag, beach leashes, 50' piece of rope with clip on end for extended control, collapsible dog water travel bowl, baggies for poop, sunscreen and some good music for the drive) and loaded the car. Supplies first, dogs and people second.

Don't believe them for an instant, our dogs get out of the house plenty. But they way they behaved you'd have thought they'd been in prison for 8 years to life. Clamoring their way to the car in some new fangled clothes (the car harnesses) they had already figured out this wasn't an outing to the vet.

We got them locked into place and started out. We drove through the city to get to Pacific Coast Highway. We had already agreed that if it was too much, we could turn around and the car ride in itself was probably a good enough treat.

Lola and Cooper loved riding in the convertible. A couple of people stopped next to us in their cars and talked to us and told us how great they looked and how happy they seemed. One person surreptitiously took our photo from the other lane while just behind the car (hello, I can hear you camera make that shutter sound).

Lola loves the wind in her hair!

We drove to the coast and then North through Malibu. In LA county we used to take our dogs to the beaches North of Malibu. It used to be legal as long as they were on leash. But no more.

We also recounted how we used to go to the beaches and park on the street above the lot as we couldn't afford the extravagant $2 parking fee back then.

We were headed all the way to Ventura to the beach. There is a closed refinery up there that not a lot of people go the beach in front of. Well, that suits us fine.

The dogs got bored and Cooper was VERY FRUSTRATED at not being able to stand. He rarely has limits imposed on him and I was thrilled that there was no escape for once. That boy needs to learn more than I have the energy to teach. (Mom, Dad, remind you of anyone?)

Finally we arrived.

We unloaded ourselves and our supplies, and hiked out across the dunes and sand to the beach. As we reached the beach we saw a sign that said dogs prohibited.

Too late. We're here. Screw you.

Way off to the left, and way off to the right we could see other dogs. We went to the beach.

Now lets back up. We got Cooper from a rescue shelter about 2 and half years ago. He was approximately 2 at the time. In the 2 and half years we've had him he has never been to the ocean. He's a great dog, but it has taken a lot of work to get him socialized and friendly and under control. I still do not trust him to be free around other dogs. The deal today was he would ALWAYS be on a leash. Maybe a 50' leash made of rope, but never free to run off.

So, it's Cooper's first day at the ocean. We are all very excited. Sophia, our Cocker Spaniel was quite the water dog. She inspired our first Dalmatian Nora to be good in the water as well. Lola learned from the two of them. But let's be fair, Dalmatians aren't naturally water thrill seekers.

Cooper was unimpressed.

Here you can see me with Cooper on the leash, dragging him to his perceived watery grave while Lola runs circle around us both. Oh, and I am totally working on my future tank top burn.

It was a great day. We did see the other dogs. We did keep our dogs under control.

I think we lasted about an hour at the most and then it was time to go home and pass out clean baths to everyone... except first we had to fix a flat tire on the car. Ugh.

Flat off. Spare on. It says you should only go 50 m.p.h. Do they not know where we live?

We agreed to take the freeway home because it would be more direct than the way we came. We also agreed that we could probably manage to go 60 m.p.h. on that tire.

Uh, the speed limit on that freeway is 65. And this is Southern California. Who knew that 60 could feel so hazardous as people (usually me) zoomed by at 70, 80, 90 or more. Oh how I wanted to go fast!

But we made it home safe, sound and slow.

Altogether a fabulous day for us all... except for the dogs. They still had to get their baths!

Yummy

My first cucumber!

The garden has given me my first cucumber this year. There is another one about the same size ready to go next. I am stunned. Give me a month, and I'm sure I'll be annoyed that I have too many. But for now, I'm sticking with stunned.

I wanted to take the photo with something other than just the cuke so you could see the relative size. So I took it with this chef. As you can plainly see, the cucumber is bigger than a man.

More tasty than any cucumber (sorry, that's just the way I'm built) is the tiramisu that Lyle made on Saturday. WOW. No perspective trick here, built in a springform cheesecake pan, it's bigger than my head.

Lyle doubled the recipe and then tweaked it slightly. Instead of all coffee and Kahlua he makes a mixture of coffee, Kahlua, vanilla liqueur and Godiva white chocolate liqueur. Then when the recipe asks for "vanilla sugar" he put in cinnamon sugar with real vanilla bean.

For the next two days I will be in one of two places. At the gym trying to get rid of this fabulous dessert, or in a sugar coma reveling in it.

Happy Mother's Day!

No, that plate of nachos is not a leftover from yesterday's cooking class. It's here to wish my mother Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day mom!

I put up these nachos because I know you always like it when I make nachos for you. I want to remind you how easy they are to make.

Take nacho chips. Don't dump them in the pan, place them in as flat a layer as you can (allowing more cheese per chip!).

Then dump grated cheese over them. This stuff you can dump. More is better. You're not really eating them for the chip are you?

After that, add any leftover meat you have, beef, chicken, pork (I wouldn't do fish, ick.) chopped up and spread around over the cheese. I like to add sliced olives (easiest if you buy them pre-sliced in the can).

If you choose to add tomatoes, chop them up and hold them until the nachos are almost done. Add them in at the last minute to take the chill off them but not to super heat them. If you super heat your tomatoes, you'll have to wait until the cheese is too cold to be able to eat them all together.

Broil your pan of delicious goo. DON'T MICROWAVE. It doesn't take that much longer and it taste vastly better.

Don't forget sour cream for dipping. Again, you're not eating these for the chips.

As a bonus for my dad who is not eating wheat, most likely you've got corn tortilla chips, go for it! Happy Mother's Day dad!

Love, Jim

Cooking class

I'm not the grand cook in my house. That would be Lyle. Lyle who can make his own foie gras. Lyle who can make tiramisu better than most restaurants. Lyle who instinctively knows which spices and how much to add to just about everything.

Nope. That's not me. I follow recipes. I rarely go with the flow in the kitchen. I find my best dishes and repeat them without straying.

Don't get me wrong. My food taste great. If I was with a truly awful cook I'd probably be knows as "the good cook". Thank god that didn't happen, because I don't actually love to cook. I cook, so I can eat.

All that being said here are three recipes I happen to know that work.

I have fallen in love with Paula Dean. She has a cooking show on the Food Network. I saw her on Oprah and she was so funny, I had to follow her to her own TV show. She is from Savannah, GA. I love her accent. Only a Southern lady can take a three letter one-syllable word like "dip" and change it to w two syllable word "di-yup" and make me still love her.

Now I don't want to get into any trouble with other websites, so I am not including the recipes here. Just follow the links in the highlighted colors and you will be taken to them to print them out for yourselves.

Here is an impossibly easy, fun and TASTY recipe for asparagus wrapped in filo pastry. My tip, have a little patience for the filo dough. Its very thin (on purpose) and make a slight mess on your counter. Easy clean up.

When your asparagus is done, Paula suggested presenting it as in the photo at the beginning of the blog. She used swiss chard I believe. I used beet greens as we had some on hand from making borscht (Lyle's specialty).

Another thing I am not the best at is gardening. I am just a newbie at getting things to grow. Too much faith in Mother Nature, not enough faith in adding fertilizer. But this year we are having a bumper crop. Almost everything I've put in the ground has made astounding progress.

So can someone tell me why I planted spinach?

I recently learned that cooked spinach is better for you than raw spinach. Since I don't love spinach either way (I grudgingly eat spinach. I don't hate it. I don't love it. But it's good for me, so I try. Children, are you listening? I sure didn't.)

Holistic health expert Dr. Andrew Well explains, "Raw spinach, chard and beet greens contain oxalic acid a dicarboxylic acid occurring in various fruits and vegetables and as a metabolic product of glyoxylic or ascorbic acid; it is not metabolized but is excreted in the urine. Excess may lead to formation of calcium oxalate calculi in the kidney., which robs your body of calcium and iron. In general, these natural toxins are destroyed by cooking, especially cooking in water."

Spinach is America's most popular dark leafy green, and is very high in calcium and iron, though these nutrients are best absorbed by the human body when the leaves are cooked.

So here I was with a BOUNTIFUL HARVEST of Spinach in my front yard garden. Where the hell am I going to hide all that cooked spinach?

QUICHE!

My first harvest of spinach from the front yard garden.

Not even half of it fit into the pan at first. Apparently five cups of raw spinach cooks down to 1 cup cooked.

Et, Voilá, Quiche!

My first recipe for spinach quiche is from Epicurious, it's called "speedy spinach quiche" and it is. You don't have to pre-bake the crust. (If you know anything about cooking, you will go to the store and buy the Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts in the refrigerator section.) The speedy spinach quiche is a delight. I also grate my cheese int eh food processor (or you could buy pre-grated!). I cut every corner I can.

My second quiche recipe is Madame Quiche's Quiche au Fromage. Slightly more involved (only slightly). This one you do have to pre-bake the crust. I do find this recipe about 5% better than the speedy spinach recipe. But for 5%, do you want to devote that much more effort?

After all my talk about not modifying recipes I will now confess that the Speedy Spinach recipe doesn't call for bacon but I add it in with the egg mixture. And Madame Quiche's recipe doesn't call for spinach, but I add it in just before the egg mixture.

Bon Appetitte!

Pants off, dance off!

So for the last week it's been just Lyle and me around the house. Chandra is off in Japan until Monday.

"What are you going to do without Chandra around?" Rachel asked me.

"Dance around in the living room in my underwear," I answered.

Let's clear up a few things right off the bat. I do not run around in my underwear. My underwear is about the same as my swimsuit. I do wear my swimsuit to the beach. But I do wear clothes around the house.

But this week without that girl who makes me coffee hanging out at the house, I have made it a point to watch TV in my underwear at least twice. Why? Because I can! Keep n mind it has been really warm here for a few days. It's nice to feel cool.

Then today, I got up and fed the dogs without getting fully dressed. Turned on the stereo. Got laundry started. Had a piece of toast. Next thing I know, I am actually dancing around the house in my underwear!

Dean & Keith shot this video. Any doubts? Look closely right about the 1:22 (or 45 seconds before the end) mark.

Heatwave indeed

There's a fire in Griffith Park. It seems to be a biggie.

While at the gym tonight, about half the people working out had stopped and were staring at a television I couldn't see from my vantage point. I guessed it must be some big sporting event (that's why I'd have no clue what it was) but it turns out it was coverage of the fire.

This is the second fire in Griffith park this year. The first one was on the North side of the Hollywood Hills behind the Hollywood sign. It spread West and North.

This one seems to be on the East side of the Park and is spreading East and South.

They've evacuated the zoo as a precaution.

I called Lyle from the gym and told him to check in on Ophelia and her family. They live West of the fire. She told him things seem okay for her but that they had packed up a few things and loaded them in the car 'just in case."

Of course we offered to host them here if needed. Picture it if you can, Jim, Lyle, Lola and Cooper with Ophelia, Matt, Becca and their three dogs. Well, you do what you have to.

Seriously, if need be we'd totally manage (Ophelia, the offer still stands).

When we took the dogs out for their walk tonight you could see a large well lit cloud over the park. Very sad.

Heatwave

Yesterday it was 95.

Today should be hot as well.

I am thrilled.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

She's in floral on the far left, not the polka dots.

Happy Anniversary! part 2

(on the left, me dresed in William Shatner's wardrobe from some Star Trek movie. As you may be able to note, since I have no idea which movie, I am not a Trekkie.)

And, to answer Rachel's question, Did she ever look so young? Yes, and here is proof. Interestingly, I still make that face for photos. Oh my god, there are those pleated shorts again, and this time you can see the black workboots with socks.


Since no one asked for it, let me follow up yesterday’s post of our arrival to riot filled Los Angeles 15 years ago with what happened next.

Our first full day in Los Angeles. Since we were staying at the Radisson Bel-Air hotel, we decided to take advantage of the amenities and went to lay out by the pool. There we were on a plateau behind the hotel, looking out over the city as it smoldered (literally, not figuratively) and we felt the guilty decadence of sunning ourselves while Rome burned below. Even if you weren’t looking, you could still smell the smoke in the air.

We checked out by noon and we were heading towards our friend’s house to stay. But we knew we couldn’t’ show up empty handed. We pulled into a grocery store. Hysteria lived inside.

We made our way around and picked up a few things we thought would be nice then got in line. Every check out counter was open and there were probably about 20 people in each line. People had come in twos and one person got in line as the other shopped and brought things to the line person. (Mental note to selves, learn this trick.)

The woman in front of us had one item in her basket. Now four. Now ten. Our line was getting longer without anyone moving. Then the man with the woman in front of us came up and exploded , first to the woman then to everyone in line, “THEY DON’T HAVE SPINACH! HOW CAN THEY NOT HAVE SPINACH?! DON’T THEY KNOW I AM ON A LIMITED DIET!?! WHAT AM I GOING TO EAT!!!?” The calm woman told him to get what he could. Go look for spinach in the frozen section. He left and came back with frozen spinach. The woman looked back at us, shrugged and smiled. We smiled back. (clearly we were not from LA) Then the two of them glanced down at our provisions.

“I want to go where you guys are going,” said the man looking at our cart filled with nacho chips, sour cream, cheese and a 12 pack of Corona.

The woman added, “If that’s all I had to get for an emergency, I’d have skipped this madhouse all together.”

We explained the had just arrived yesterday and we were staying with friends who had told us they had everything they needed.

By now the couple in front had finished checking out. “Well, welcome to L.A.” they said as they motioned back to the madness that had not dissipated behind us and they headed out of the store.

We did make it to West Hollywood. The National Guard was deployed to Los Angeles. I don’t think the one had to do with the other. The riots did subside.

Our life in L.A. began. In the first year and half we saw the National Guard deployed a total of three times. Once more for the second Rodney King beating verdicts and once for the Northridge Earthquake.

We found a house that was tiny with a rent that was large. But since people were fleeing the city the rent had dropped a whopping 3%. From a house overlooking the water in Bellingham, to a house across from an elementary school and our rent had nearly doubled for the privilege.

We took each disaster scenario in stride. We did learn the “one in line one in store” trick to shopping in pandemonium.

Now 15 years later I get to be the welcome wagon.

Happy Anniversary!

Here’s a late post.

Last Monday was our 15th anniversary of living in Los Angeles. How can I be so certain? Last Sunday was the 15th anniversary of the L.A. riots. We arrived on day two of the riots. Happy Anniversary!

It’s strange because it’s not something I would normally focus on. But it did get many of us talking about what we ourselves were like “way back when”.

First, a quick re-cap. Lyle wanted to go to school at UCLA for graphic design. We came early and pre-scouted. Then went back to Bellingham, WA, loaded up the car and drove South. We stopped at my grandmother’s outside of Sacramento and spent the night. On Wednesday April 29, 1992 we watched the riots break out in Los Angeles from the safety of my grandmother’s television 350 miles away.

On Thursday April 30, we woke up with our plan in place to drive to Los Angeles and stay with friends in West Hollywood. We watched the news. We got out maps and we discussed that the riots were something happening “down there” but we weren’t going all the way “down.” Just as far as West Hollywood. We’d have no problem.

We headed out after lunch.

We drove South on I-5. As we approached the final hill to climb over to L.A. we decided to turn on the radio and see what was going on.

What was going on was all hell had broken loose. The news station we were listening to was based one block away from Hollywood and Vine. I kept telling Lyle that the riots were far away from our destination. I’d pull out my trusty Thomas Guide and say, “The radio is talking about this intersection on Map 652, but we are going here in West Hollywood on map 793. See, FAR away...”

Now as we listened to the radio station (KFWB) talk about what they could see from their window I pulled out my Thomas guide and said to Lyle, “I’m sure it’s not that close. See, the radio station is located here on Map 792 and we are going here on Map 793... oh. my. god.” I was sick to my stomach, “Pull over. Pull the car over. We need to call our friends.”

So we phoned. We heard that one of our friends had driven home via the 10 freeway which runs South of downtown and through some of the most affected areas. She was running low on gas and could see fires breaking out on both sides of the freeway. She was terrified but made it home. We learned there was a curfew starting at dusk. Our friends said that things seemed good where they were, but then again, this thing was moving so quickly and unpredictably that though they felt comfortable telling us to come it would probably be best, if we could, to find a place to stop and come in the next day during daylight.

SHIT.

So we proceeded towards Los Angeles. Like something out of post apocalyptic movie there were no cars on the freeway. Us, and maybe 4 others headed South. Headed North we saw the same sparseness. Never more than 5-6 cars anywhere. We turned our mirrors so they wouldn’t shine light on our glowing white faces. Seems so silly now. We were so far North in Valencia near Magic Mountain. Nothing was going to happen there. But we had no idea where L.A. actually started and suburban white flight had landed.

We scanned every motel and hotel from the hi-way. No Vacancy. We kept moving forward.

We threw out that we would keep going towards WeHo and if there were no hotels then we were supposed to make it tonight. If we found a hotel, we were supposed to stop.

We continued to listen to the radio station when they broke into the newscast for a special announcement from the owner. I can’t remember the exact wording but the it went something along the lines of, “KFWB has been broadcasting 24 hours a day for 25 years and we have never gone off the air, until today. From the roof of this building I can see the fires and looters. For the safety of our employees I am shutting this station down. It is a sad day indeed.” He started to ramble off on the state of the world and the tragedy of violence when in mid-sentence the radio went to static.

SHIT.


We had mapped out a route to West Hollywood from the 405 freeway, exiting onto Sunset and driving through a residential area of Beverly Hills. We suspected this would be the least likely to attract anything untoward. When we exited the freeway there was a Radisson Hotel on the corner. Lyle had worked for a travel agency connected with the Radisson hotels. We had stayed there earlier in the year and received the family discount rate of $35 a night. “Maybe?” I said and jerked my head towards the hotel. “Doubtful” responded Lyle. We were so tense we had stopped using any unnecessary words.

We pulled in and made our way to the check in desk. It was pandemonium. My heart is beating faster as I write this and remember how the way people were behaving in this hotel lobby made me more afraid than anything I could have imagined listening to the radio. If these people so far removed from the affected areas were so freaked out, what did they know that we did not?

Lyle approached the desk clerk told him he knew it was a long shot, then launched into our sob story. “Left Sacramento this morning... had no idea... been driving all day... freaked out to drive to friend’s house... student... employee ID... know it’s impossible...” Then came the puppy dog eyes.

He told us they had three rooms left, no just two rooms now. He’d probably loose his job, but he was going to do it anyway.

Finally, NOT SHIT.

We checked in and phoned our parents. You know that phone call where the first words out of your mouth are, “I’m okay.” We had to make a couple of those. I cried. Lyle cried. We watched the final episode of the Cosby show. Apparently a riot was not enough to pre-empt that.

We were hungry. We hadn’t eaten all day as we kept saying we’d eat when we got there. Now here we were in Bel-Air at the Radisson and we needed to find the nearest store. We looked one up in the yellow pages (all of this is so pre-cell phone!) and we called a little store in the Brentwood plaza.

“Hi, are you open?”

“Don’t come here! We have guns! We’re not open! We’ll shoot you!!!” and they hung up.

SHIT.

We made our down to the hotel restaurant. Keep in mind that Lyle was going back to school, neither one of us had a job in our new city and had given up our old jobs to move. We had serious budget concerns. I knew I need a drink. After looking at the prices I was only going to get one. We had dinner. Each of us got a salad and we split an entree. One cocktail each. No dessert. It was $80. “Well, that was our budget for the week,” I told Lyle as we walked up to the rooftop patio of the hotel.

There was an interesting article I found on the riots, but the link doesn't work, so here is the summary that I found quite fascinating:

The Los Angeles riots ended after five days, leaving more than 50 people dead, thousands injured, and almost $1 billion in property damages. A Federal aid package of $100 million in disaster assistance was given to riot victims, $200 million was designated to rebuild damaged areas, and $400 million was made available in loans from the Small Business Administration. The Los Angeles Community Development Agency approved $200 million in emergency relief for small businesses and homeowners. Rodney King eventually sued the city of Los Angeles for $83 million dollars, but the city rejected the suit. The four police officers who had been acquitted in the beating of Rodney King were reindicted, this time for violation of King's civil rights. Two of the officers were found guilty. King was awarded $3.8 million dollars. Daryl Gates, chief of the LAPD, was replaced, and the LAPD undertook to improve its relations with inner-city residents.

Media Role

From beginning to end, the riots were a media event. The repeated airing of the beating of Rodney King, on top of deep-seated grievances in South Central Los Angeles, effectively prepared the way for violence. News of the acquittal of the four police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King set off rioting by African-American, Hispanic, and some white residents of South Central Los Angeles. Televised images of street scenes acted as guides to looters and helped to propel the rioting. The impact of videotaping was particularly noteworthy; it was through this medium that images of the beatings of Rodney King and Reginald Denny were seared into the nation's psyche. Reporting in the Los Angeles Times seems to have been more restrained than television coverage, but both broadcast and print media engaged in controversial and sensationalized reporting. Such coverage led many people across the nation to fear that the lawlessness in Los Angeles might spread to their neighborhoods.

We stood on top of the hotel and watched as hundreds of fires burned in the distance. If you didn’t know better it could have looked pretty. But we did know better and for us it was very sad.

I told Lyle if you squint your eyes, all the fires linked together to spell out “Welcome to L. A.”

Here's a pic of us in Las Vegas a couple of weeks later. If I remember correctly I thought I looked liked hell and really fat. What were we thinking with those pleated shorts?
What you can't see is we both have on big black work boots with those shorts.
I 've gone full circle and returned to the V-neck T-shirt but not pleasted shorts.

(The Terminator pic at the top of the post is me in the actual costume worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator. The back of the leather jacket even had bullet holes in it.)

Lola!

Today's star is Lola!

On the weekends when the weather cooperates Lyle likes to take the dogs roller-blading. Usually he takes Lola first, Cooper second. Its a crazy scene where both dogs want to go first, first, first! At first Lyle was fair and would take Lola first on Saturday, Cooper first Sunday.

The problem is Lola is a little bitch!

If she doesn't go first, she throws a royal hissy fit!

And this goes on for the entire 45 minutes that Lyle is Rollerblading with Cooper. If you throw her out of the room and close the door, she stands on the other side and wails. There is no escape from her.

Now I hate to be blackmailed, but after the last time, I made a new rule for Rollerblading: LOLA GOES FIRST.

Cooper, though upset to be left behind, is manageable.

The other half of the equation, even after Lola has gone first, she still throws a fit when Cooper leaves with Lyle. We say it's because she knows she has to wait for breakfast until he returns.

Arbor Day

We finally built the arbor over the driveway so we can begin using it as our "courtyard". It turns out Arbor Day was seriously last Friday, April 27. Who knew we would be so close?

The real driving force behind the arbor getting built was to shield ourselves from sun and neighbors.

This being a prominently Jewish neighborhood we were asked if we were building our Sukkot.

Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters.

No, we weren't building it for that purpose.

It only took a month to get the arbor built. Each weekend something new was gathered towards the house.

First weekend: we stood in the driveway and talked and talked and talked about where it should go, how it should go, how tall how wide and then we needed to measure. Yeah, it took ALL WEEKEND.

Second weekend: Lyle ordered lumber from Lowes. It was delivered the following Tuesday.

Third weekend: Lyle stained out all the lumber.

Fourth weekend: Jim drew up official plans in the computer. Hey, aren't' we going to need some sort of hardware to attach these posts and beams? So we went out and visited three different hardware stores in a 15 mile area because not one single store had all the stuff together under one roof.

Fifth weekend: on Saturday we put up the first three 4x4x10 support beams up to the sky. We even got the 2x6x16's on top of them. It took most of the day. we called it quites at 5 pm.

On Sunday we took down everything we put up on Saturday. Surprisingly, now that we knew how we wanted it to go up and how we DIDN'T want it to go up, it went really fast. We completed it by 7:30 pm.

There are still some details left to complete. Lyle is going to stain out the hardware connectors so they disappear and we need to put in more screws across the very top 2x4's. Then we will hang some fabric to create drape areas and finally start blocking out the neighbors.

Time to party!

From simple garage with nothing in front of it or above it...

To gracious arbor filled courtyard (yet to be filled with crap)

Lumber sits in the driveway stacked off to one side...

A gracious courtyard covered by our arbor!

Horray, Hooray!

Sitting at home today, minding my own business I received a text message from my brother Scott. He was quoting something my dad used to say every May 1st.

It's a little ditty I hope you too will enjoy...

Hooray, hooray, it's the first day of May! For Outdoor Intercourse begins today!

I thought it was some sort of clever old limerick type of legend. But in hunting around on-line, I found many blogs had stories of grandparents and parents who used to call and give them this unique May Day greeting.

Then I stumbled over this article from the newspaper at Western Washington University. (Though they claim Outdoor Intercourse Day is actually May 8th, so there is still time to make your plans!)

Coincidence that this is where I grew up?

Gwen Stefani

Following on the heals of a full Thursday, Friday night Lyle, Chandra and I went and saw Miss Gwen Stefani in Concert.

She put on a great show though in my opinion it was no Madonna Concert. In Lyle's opinion it was no Simon & Garfunkle. In Chandra's opinion we needed to shut up.

You know the old addage, "If it's too loud, you're too old"? My goodness, that concert was loud!

And perhaps we were too old as we were surrounded by adults younger than us who were attending with their children. Who takes their 10 year old to a concert that has songs with four letter words?

How come my parents weren't that cool?

Chandra and her mini-harijuku girl. In the background someone's grandfather looks on...

Disneyland!

Rachel's birthday was Thursday, Happy Birthday Rachel!

Since Rachel, Chandra and I all have annual passes to Disneyland and California Adventure we decided to go make a festive day of it.

As you may notice, I tortured Rachel by forcing her to wear a tiara and a button that read, "Birthday Girl". Yeah, forced her... she willingly obliged.

Joining us, were Rachel and Chandra's friends Christine and Emery.

Above is a photo of the photo they take at the top of "Tower Of Terror". Christina was a tad frightened.

Here we all are looking happy and snappy in California Adventure.

The cheapest form of entertainment (after you pay your hefty entrance fee) is to try on hats, laugh and take photos. But do NOT purchase. Honestly, where are you gonna wear those hats outside Disneyland?

Chandra models the Jack Skellington Mouse ears.

Princess for a day (or week, or year...)

A fitting photo finish to a lovely special birthday.

Gym day

Or should that be "Jim Day"?

The gym I go to in West Hollywood (Crunch) is full of famous people. I don't tell you this to brag. I don't tell you this to boast. I tell you this because I believe nothing exciting happens to me in my everyday life but when I tell someone who doesn't live here who goes to my gym they get excited.

Let me also add that I do not speak to these people. They do not approach me. So blasé about celebrities are we in LA that no one even gapes or points them out. To be fair, we do a triangular approach where you check them out by looking in a mirror that reflects another mirror by way of a window. Or you pretend you know someone behind them and look at your mystery friend.

All that being laid out, about two years ago I saw Drew Barrymore on the treadmill.
Yes, she looked just like that. Except she had dark hair, a hat on, and clothes.

Yesterday Randolf Duke (fashion designer and TV commentator) was there. After my long intro on how I never speak to any of these people I must now confess that my friend Tony has a friend who is Best Friends Forever with Randolph and I have actually met him and spoken with him. But didn't yesterday.

He was also wearing a hat while at the gym.

I haven't seen Mr. Ian Ziering since I joined the gym. I did see him there within the first few months of joining, but not since then. Best known for being on the show "Beverly Hills 90210" he is now on "Dancing With the Stars".
There are signs in the gym that they have a TV watching party at the restaurant downstairs on Mondays to "SUPPORT OUR IAN!" I don't' attend.

And finally, just to torment all the people who watch "Grey's Anatomy" yesterday also had an official sighting of "Dr. McSteamy" Eric Dane. As casual as we all are, that one seemed to get a lot more cross triangulation viewing than others.

You have to wonder if it's like in the Movie "Soapdish" when Sally Fields' character feels needy and she goes to a mall in New Jersey to be "surprised" by her adoring fans. Are these people at my gym a) keeping it real; b) too cheap to go somewhere private; c) looking to be noticed; or d) who really cares? This is LA after all!
This photo of Eric Dane was not taken in the gym shower. He also was fully clothes while at the gym but surprisingly, he was not wearing a hat.

Bad Computer, no biscuit!

My lovely superfast regular computer has been very bad lately. Crash, crash, crash. I have no idea as to why other than the warranty ran out March 6, and all this began about March 15.

If they are smart enough to build a computer, don't you think they are smart enough to program it to break down two weeks after the warranty runs out?

Anyway, not to complain I am sharing this for a reason. I am now working via the laptop computer. So I can get work done, just a little slower.

But here's the vexing part, I do not want to re-do all my itunes and iphoto stuff to the laptop and then in a week or so have to re-rig all back to the bigtime computer. So, bear with me, I am not planning on uploading any pictures to the laptop. Consequently, I am not getting any new photos here fora bit.

I thought this blog would be boring just writing about my day-to-day activities but at least the photos gave us all something to look at. Now (yawn) I have no idea what to do...

I've got to buy a plane ticket to somewhere soon!!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Here are two sets of "before and after" pictures of the backyard. I guess technically they are "after and Before" photos because I put the after pics first as I like them better.

I've got one more set, but my computer hates me and crashed repeatedly yesterday as I tried to match the last set up. So keep your fingers crossed for those.

After - a babbling brook meanders past Buddha. In the background a grapefruit tree tries to make a comeback. To the right of the photo, tomato plants!

Before - a solid hedge takes up tree feet of yard. A cement oval sits in the middle of the yard for no reason. The grapefruit tree is completely obscured by creeping bamboo plants. You're guide to comparing the changes, in the center behind Lyle is a tree trunk that is also in the center of the photo prior. It is to the left of the neighbor's garage wall, now painted terra cotte.

After - The lemon tree in the center has a low rock wall built out of the old cement patio that used to be in the backyard. A gracious pathway leads you through the yard. The dog poop is cleaned up more than once a week (an improvement over the last tenants who cleaned up once a year - if that)

Before - Ugh. Where to start? That blue bucket in the back and the square cement planter in the back are both filled with dog poo. No one was ever going to take it away... There is no grass. The wooden walkway started in the middle of a dirt yard and ended in dirt as well. To compare photos, you can see the corner of the fence and shed behind the garage meeting right behind the lemon tree trunk.

Spring Harvest

Here's the deal, I have always envisioned myself as having a bit of a black thumb. Everything I plant dies. This year as we started from scratch in the front and back yards, I wanted (okay, DEMANDED) that we produce some food in the gardens.

There is no way it's cheaper. Not when you factor in the water we pay for to grow the stuff. And don't even factor in the hours it takes of tending it day after day. The simple fact is it tastes better. WAY BETTER.

But there I am with my black thumb begging Lyle to plant something because he has such a handsome green thumb.

This year, I seized my opportunity. Fresh yard, fresh year, fresh thumb. Or so I hoped. As a caution against being disappointed, I assume that everything I plant will die. Imagine my delight when only half die. Or this year, imagine my delight when only about 25% do poorly! Yes, contrary to what I could have you believe, not all I sink into the land turns gold. But since I assumed so much would fail, I have greatly over planted to compensate. Hence my joy in bringing you these lovely photos.

Two weeks ago the garden surrounding the fountain in the front yard.

Today, the garden around the fountain in the front yard! (pre-harvest)

When I was in Arizona visiting Mickey Utendale, she made an amazing salad of tomatoes layered with peeled oranges, sweet onions, chopped basil and then drizzled with balsamic vinegar. (more details on request, if you need them) The beauty of the recipe is that besides the onion, I have everything else growing in my yard!

Oranges and tomatoes from the back yard. I commented to our horticulturist friend, Brad, that the tomatoes didn't look ripe, but they were falling off the vine. He told me perhaps they were a different variety that didn't turn red on the outside. He's right!
So for dinner tonight we had the tomato/orange salad, rotisserie chicken, fresh garden green salad with duck confit (planned over from Christmas) and for dessert Lyle made tiramisu. Ugh, I need to go to the gym...

Secret vacation

Robb was headed to his mother's house in Casa Grande , Arizona for Easter. So of course he flew to Los Angeles.

He came in on Thursday evening and on Sunday we drove to Arizona in the convertible. It only took us 12 hours. Okay, we took some odd routes, made a number of stops (including the outlet mall outside Palm Springs - that about 3 hours) but we finally made it there about 11 at night. For all my effort, I got a lovely sunburn because not only had the car been topless, so had I.

In trying to put some things down here, I realize Robb took all the photos and he still has them in his camera. Oops. All the pictures I have are the new header photo up above and this picture of Robb down below. The cactus pic, I stole from the internet.

Mickey's house in Arizona is fab. Great color scheme, great layout and so welcoming. But then All of John and Mickey's houses have been like that so it came as no surprise. Casa Grande, AZ is about 45 minutes south of Phoenix. Or one could say smack in the middle of nowhere unless you think fertilized fields count as somewhere.

All there was to do was eat, drink, hang out by the pool and visit with each other. I managed to do all four.

I extended my stay one extra day to see Lewis when he flew down on Wednesday. Boy was he glad to be out of the North and all its weather woes.

I drove back on Thursday. It took 6 and half hours with far fewer stops. Sadly I put on too strong a sunscreen and didn't get nearly the sunburn I had planned for the return trip.

Surprise! Robb was in town!