31/10/2012

Happy Halloween





Remember kiddes, when your out and about tonight
Watch out for the Monster Bridge!


23/10/2012

Diane Keaton at the Getty Villa

Diane Keaton got in the elevator at the Getty Villa the other day and after it began its descent to the parking garage she turned to me and said, "You have great hair".  I was on the phone but smiled and said "Thank you". "No. I mean it", she said. "You have really... great ... hair."  Trust me. She knows how to make a point. I told her I thought she looked great herself, all around, clothes, hair, hat, face... everything.

Earlier that afternoon I'd noticed her in the gallery, not because she was Diane Keaton, M. Lee's mom told me that later, but because she was someone over 40 who was simultaneously eccentric, youthful, hip, elegant and, most importantly, unpretentious.

She said something else, I don't remember exactly, but then I joked about how she had made my day because now I had a Diane Keaton story I could tell my friends. I regretted letting on that I knew who she was. It just wasn't the point.


16/10/2012

LA outtakes for the last three days


Arrival
LA at night
We didn't leave Nevada until nearly four in the afternoon
on Sunday. We drove so we got into LA pretty late.
Minerva loved it but we were pretty rummy by the time we arrived.

Home for the next week
The Piccadilly is right in the middle of downtown but
was built in 1928 and embodies the charm of old Hollywood.
We have a top (7th) floor, two bedroom apartment.

His mom joined us from Oregon.
M. Lee found the place on AirBnB. It's way nicer and cheaper
than a motel would be, plus it's really interesting staying in a stranger's home.


Norton Simon Museum
The Mulberry Tree by Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Van Gogh did this painting shortly after entering the asylum near Arles.
Less than eight months after completing it, he committed suicide.


Venice Beach
The Green Doctors of Venice Beach
Whatever anyone thinks about the "morality of marijuana",
growing pot and selling pot legally in the US is not only good medicine
and a good business, it castrates the cartels by gutting their profits.

09/10/2012

On days like these

Morning. Another day in the salt mine...dwarfs marching, picks shouldered, hoods and cloaks pulled close to fend off morning chill. But first, another cup of coffee. Hold on. I'll be right back.

Ok. While I was in the kitchen M. Lee gave me a tip. Rather than standing there for five minutes of eternity watching oatmeal cook put it in pot with water, bring it to a boil, turn off the heat, put the lid on and leave it to finish on its own. Easy peasy but is it any good? He does his overnight in a crock pot but I don't like it that way. It's kind of slimy. So where was I?

Oh right...hooded figures entering the earth. Sand continues to fall through the glass. I'm not doing much lately though I am painting. But mostly with a size 00 brush which, as you might imagine, is very tiny. It's kind of crazy but I've got two in the works. No poems though. That's been awhile. Talk about writer's block. It's awful. So I paint and have been posting photos to Panoramio.  So far, out of 62, 39 have been accepted into Google Earth so that's some small contribution anyway. And this month I submitted a couple of photos to their Geotagged Photo Contest. Woo-hoo. Kids! Win big prizes!

And, Babette is still running her operation at the Bird Park, Baby Frank is thriving, yesterday Mr. Leo did his first somersault at gymnastics and Ms. Thea Bella is really gunning it on her balance bike. So I have a lot to be grateful about.

Afternoon already? Damn. Gotta get to the gym before I turn to stone.


PS. The oatmeal turned out ok.

03/10/2012

Babette and Mr. Fancy Pants

I hope their paths never cross!

Lots of action at the Bird Park these days, new arrivals and surprise returnees. Henry the Frog is the newest resident. I've only seen him once but occasionally I hear his strange raspy little voice. He doesn't sound like any frog I've ever heard. And Mr. Fancy Pants is back, unfortunately making things considerably more dangerous. The gangster cats are bad enough but this guy is lethal. I don't begrudge him dropping by for a drink now and then but the other day, at the request of a group of very irate finches, I had to ask him to leave. We all want him to eat somewhere else.

Mr. Fancy Pants

The other big news around here is that Babette, aka (bottom of the barrel) BoB, showed up again. I haven't seen her for a couple of years. Unfortunately, she seems pretty unaware that Mr. Fancy Pants might be watching. She scoots in under the fence from Dick's side and grazes on the seed dropped from the feeders. That area is somewhat protected but she also runs around the yard digging holes and burying seeds as though the Bird Park were still the safe little world it used to be. Scary.


Babette

But for the moment anyway, life is good. She even manages to squeeze into the seed tray generally accessible only to the little birds. Crows, magpies and pigeons have all done their best to plunder that pile of goodies, hanging by one claw while scrambling desperately to grab a seed or two, only to fall gracelessly to the ground. Not Babette.

Doing what squirrels do best.