Daily texts and notes, August 2017

8/1/17
After yesterday's fabulous visit to the Huntington, I'm decompressing today and taking care of business, mine and my host's. I found the local market, Stater Bros, a privately owned SoCal discount chain. Temps reached 100, which is nothing compared to PDX, and now it's thundering. There's an alert for flash floods. 
8/2/17

After 3 hours' sleep
I rise, swim, and make coffee.
They watch, warily.

To E:  finally got around to doing my nails.  One of those quiet days, with lightning in the future and singing tonight.  
8/3/17
They give away reproductions: on my visit it was Popova's The Traveler! Not my favorite, but so appropriate. I still can only catch glimpses of the woman in that painting. Cubism. Pah! 

A lesser-known gem,
Norton Simon museum
Inspires creation.

Ice cream, followed by
A visit to the local
Nomadic shelter.

Pasadena Central Library

To G:  You would really love these museums.  Today I'm at the Norton Simon, in Pasadena:  includes sculpture gardens and some amazing art.....Here's some Van Gogh to cheer you up.

To E: this may have been my favorite sculpture in the gardens

8/4/17
Gutenberg bible. Old light bulbs, Octavia Butler journals, William Blake etchings, Shakespeare first folio...but the pix pick is won by the hummingbirds!

Made it to the Huntington Library today!
And revisited the mansion.  I think Tolkien was channeling William Blake when he did the tree on the gates of Moria.

Old sketch of a Revolutionary War naval battle, and music that is set so people can sit around a table and read it.  Cool!

I love Octavia Butler's affirmations:  So be it!  See to it!  Now I need to read her books...
8/5/17
Cookie wants his walk.  I'm sleepy
And it's his fault for barking in the wee hours of the morning

Sun 8/6/17
So Sleepy I am for all intents and purposes nonfunctional and dizzy.  Fortunately, S's friend came by to take pix of the dogs.  So they got their walk with him.  I skipped church and the LACMA's free evening concert.  I did do some tutoring and wrote about the Octavia E. Butler exhibit at Huntington Library.  And did the LA Times crossword of course.

I dozed through the day
After my late morning swim,
Then took a late walk

Spent the day finishing some audio books and decorating my purse

The finished product! Stayed up late doing this and waiting to tutor.
8/7/17
Business at the Santa Monica Pier:  fishing and measuring the wind

To M:  I like your explanation for the lethargy (eclipses, cosmic changes), since I just spent 2 precious days in my jammies...well I did get dressed for the dog walk in the evening. This was at the Getty Villa, which was filled with sculpture and mosaics, but not much painting.  It does let me get the full impact of the hairstyles, tho!

To V: At The Curious Palate in Santa Monica

Marble walls, transformed.
There's so much art to see here:
Why study the walls?

Smart parking garage:
Each level's open spaces
Are counted and marked.

I don't believe it.
No fire alarm makes a sound
As cute as "whoop whoop!"

8/8/17

This is a clear day
According to the locals.
It's all perspective

8 pm text: Just got home: long day driving to and from LA. Met EnRnV at the really crowded Griffith Observatory. I got to walk around it, waiting for them, but they decided it was too much for a baby. Then drove for some Korean food and talk. I dropped them at the airport and now I'm going to go swim. 

8/9/17
They whimper and paw
Till I get up and feed them.
Please can I sleep now?

Recital over:  I sang Send in the Clowns and Cry Me a River (there's a theme here) and now we're going en masse to Buco di Beppo.

After the concert
We gather for drinks and food.
A transformer blows.

Thu August 10, 2017

I won't be getting home until 11ish:  spent the afternoon at LACMA and in 2 hours I'll be doing a backstage tour of the Wiltshire Theatre.  But thought I'd best send my text now.

An old-gold near-sphere,
Low over the blue-white stream;
I drive to the moon.

Fri 8/11/17
Spent the day making art and writing haiku.
Why do terriers
Cock their heads sideways before
Leaping for the door?

In transformation,
Even the dullest of forms
Holds magic within.

I'm wearing out with all of this driving to Los Angeles and back!  So another day around the house. I did stop by the library to do some research for vicki:  it looks like a bunker.   I asked the Reference person about it and he said it was built in the 70s and in the 20 years he's worked there nobody has liked it.  At least it didn't smell of urine like the Albuquerque main library and the Pasadena central library:  The homeless contingent seems to be absent from Claremont.

To MS: Here is your house! I'm leaving in 11 days so if there's anything else I need to explore let me know!  You can probably tell that I am still having a lovely time.  The vocal forum recital was fun and the members sound like they're going to miss me.  It's been a good way to connect.

Have you eaten up all of the halibut?

8/12/17

Members only sunset walk at Huntington Gardens

8/13/17

Avocado Toast
And the sound of a fountain.
Sadly, a dog howls

Said farewell to the folks at Good Shepherd: felt a bit teary.  The world is full of kind communities.  Important to remember in these parlous times.

8/14/17

"The dragonfly is
Still on my car." He's convinced
It's his grandfather

To M: It's a structure that is sitting on the pond but it's made of cement so it doesn't make any waves. The first picture is from the side in the second picture goes down the center of the boat: The Waveless Boat

To G:  even the parking lot is pretty

• To E: At $350, a finial box, even finely turned, is not to be purchased.  But the snow globes are excellent!  Does Leah still collect?
• To V: A lazy day at the garden.  Took the long way home, eschewing the freeways.  Nice drive.  Listened to audiobook..." Nostalgia for what's new. The French must have a word for that,". (From Lillian Boxfish takes a walk)

8/15/17

This historic site is near my house sit, so I took a look.  Padua Theatre used to be a community theatre featuring Mexican-themed musicals (who knew?!) but now it's a wedding venue. This is one of many lovely venues I've discovered!  I've been dizzy for 3 days:  probably because I'm staying up late and the dogs get me up early.

I am pretending
I have a right to sit here
Admiring the view.

8/16/17

Guess where I went today?!Joshua Tree:  temps were in high 80's so totally doable. I was very sleepy though so I really shouldn't have been driving had to pull over a couple of times and had to stop for a nap at Malki Museum

Like the Ayers Rock flies
The bees at Keys Overlook
Are ubiquitous.

I pass the checkpoints
And pull over for some naps.
Why am I driving?

They should name the park
Joshua Tree Rocks! instead.
The rocks truly do.

8/17/17

Those who share Gardens
Are public benefactors.
Just 3 dog walks left.

Scat evidence showsCoyotes are dining well
On tame prickly pears.

Yesterday I saw
A shiny green/ black fly caught
In this nesty web.
Skull with antlers?

They like it when I stay home and potter.

Last night:  crackerdogs.
Today: absolutely sweet....
Pending passersby.
#echoingyaps #myheadhurts

My laptop beckons,
But the dogs have other thoughts.
It's a progression.

Spent 2 hours writing,
Trying to parse this last week.
Tina, I need cake.

8/18/17

A splendid comrade
On my farewell appearance.
She gives perspective.

It's undrinkable
But it makes a real statement:
Drive by and don't drink.
#drivebyshots #passenger #thankskarina

8/19/17

Penultimate day,
Cuddling with moppets before
Cleaning and packing.

8/20/17
Tricked into reading
A novel about zombies.
She did this to me.

Text to M/G/V:  in Sacramento, en route to Petaluma.
8/21/17

The sun disappeared
(Behind clouds) so we just drove
And enjoyed the view

Standing on the fault
(Per the winery hostess)
It just looked like rocks. 

Enjoying a $5 treat while we wait for the road to open. (They were doing roadwork all along 101.  We were en route for 12 hours.)

Good thing I don't like crab.
(Ireland's Rustic Cottages, Gold Beach OR)

8/22/17

At Coquille Lighthouse
We gather rocks but take few;
Choosing remembrance

We're stuck in traffic,
An unhappiness of cars.
We are the traffic.

Made it to PDX.  Dining at MiHo

8/23/17
Memorial and discussion:  done! Emily and I visited Joni's unmarked grave in Vancouver: Evergreen Cemetery, then met Linda at Jake's.


8/24/17

Kissing a Salmon
On Salmon Street, walking up
To Mt. Tabor Park.

To V: Bev and Allison and I walked up from Bev's house after yoga and lunch. 
To M/G: All well:  socializing all day, perfect weather, getting ready to tutor.

A sappy tree trunk,
Today's trick transformation
From yesterday's walk.

my Simonster

8/26
They're tearing down my city!  Portland transformed...

8/27

Long lunch out in Yamhill County with some of my peeps.

Goats to the left, hiding from the camera

At Torii Mor, en route to lunch with the girls.  We were late.

At Torii Mor, nice Pinot.  Wildfires hazing the horizon, no prob in PDX

For my final night,
A late dinner in Kenton.
New but familiar.

8/28
At the family gathering.  D opted to go to choir instead

Forest fire sunset:
A red gold lining to a
Smokey afternoon.

8/29
Snake River from the rest stop at the OR/ID border, got into Idaho 2 hours before sunset.   Bedding down at the Twin Falls Comfort Inn for the night.  Will have a longer drive tomorrow, but hopefully reach ABQ by 9 am without all the rest stop naps.

At the Snake River
Overlook on the border.
Long drive tomorrow

8/30

8/31
Spent the day fussing over arrangements that I thought I'd already made. Aaargh!
Spent the day on errands.  My tailbone hurts after all that driving.

3 states in 12 hours.Sunset skies welcome me home,
But I'm unsettled.