Laurie's Tea Party

Laurie's Tea Party was a real tea party, with finger sandwiches, tea, chocolates, ambiance and delightful ladies attending. You see our mascot, Frosty, under the table behaving like a little Tea Princess. Here's just a note to impress you. Cathy, last picture in red blouse, is wearing a beautiful necklace her Father, Mr. Flato, designed and made. Pretty impressive. She's going to give us a talk soon on her famous father. She has several movies, Bringing Up Baby, with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and other movies where her Dad was listed as "jeweler". Fascinating.

If A Tree Falls And Everyone Hears?

I think that I shall never see a poem as courteous as Cynthia's tree. The tree waited for Cynthia to be off property to simply lean over and crash to the ground - thank goodness away from her house. Took out all the electricity on the street, but hey, Zola and Spike remain safe in the untouched house. Hooray. Obviously, one of the victims of our serious drought. The rain we've had the last few days probably went right up the dry wick inside the tree and made it so heavy a crash was inevitable.

The trip to CA for Sophia and Justin's wedding

Get ready, I downloaded 232 pictures of the trip to California for Justin and Sophia's wedding. We begin with Dan's place in Malibu where we stayed. I took pictures of every pot, plant and outside area. The house and grounds are magnificent. We are up high on the mountain overlooking the ocean as the first two pictures show. The days were so crystal clear you could see (sea) forever. The last is a picture of some kind of moss roses on steriods. The picture doesn't do justice to the vibrant orange and yellow colors of this type of moss rose on steriods. I was walking by and these flowers stopped me in my tracks. We were staying with the ultimate hosts. I'll tell you more about my cooking lessons from Dan - yes, that's not a typo, cooking lessons. Dan's saying for the trip was, "If you can weld, you can cook." He was determined to send me home with the saying true.

Justin's Wedding

We're here in Malibu, CA for Sophia and Justin's wedding. 70 people at the rehearsal dinner Friday night. 200 at the wedding Saturday afternoon. Beautiful service. Waiters with drinks and incredible treats wandering around Sheila and Maynard's house for an hour. Then all to dinner in the tented tennis court in the back yard. Dinner, toasts, speeches and much much dancing the night away. I danced with 30 year old boys I remember when they were just a twinkle in their mother's eyes. Sunday brunch at a great restaurant on Ocean Boulevard and Broadway overlooking the ocean of course with the last of the wedding party. As we left "Unforgettable" sung by Natalie and Nat King Cole playing. Grabbed Pam and had once last dance among the diners. She blew everyone away at the wedding and again at brunch the next day. Looked simply fabulous.

Lunch with Ira today on the Malibu Pier, dinner with Dan and Sheila - in Venice.

Tomorrow Dan's giving me a cooking lesson - pasta - then we will eat outside, high up here in the Malibu hills overlooking the ocean. Doesn't matter if the pasta is edible. I love it here, so many wonderful memories here and Santa Monica.

First time I met Pam, she was pregnant with Justin. We had lunch, her, John, Bob and me at Maxwell's Plum in New York City. For dessert we had flaming Baked Alaska. Waiter gave me a balloon bouquet. Pam said, "When we leave the restaurant make a wish and let the balloons go. Your wish will come true." I can say 35 years later all my wishes came true.

mod.shop photo

Lynn, Lottie, Jan at mod.shop opening. Notice my hair. Cute then. Older haircut and color by Angie. Cuter now. Today new haircut and color. Angie's an artist. And to think for years I was happy chopping and coloring myself. I fried my hair with $3.00 hair color for so long Angie had to professionally cut (short), color and condition. Now I can't remember why I was so insistent on abusing my hair for so long.

Sometimes when I'm cutting with the chop saw or welding I smell a bit of hair burning and then my hair screams "ABUSE!" But Angie covers the burned parts really well. And I only pay passing attention to the screaming "ABUSE" when I smell the burn.

Mig Welder Rolls Out The Trees

This is Kelly on the left who graciously came out to the mod.shop opening. She asked me to weld something for her son's class project at The Learning Tree. We're thinking of a welded tree with leaves the children can decorate. Welded tree is easy, figuring out the leaf for the children to decorate, well that might take a bit of thought. But, have Mig Welder - will weld.

Welding Today

Welding with the mig in the cold on a Sunday afternoon. There's fun there. I'm working on "Bent Lynn's In the Wind". Instead of bent limbs, I'd prefer Lynn's since I got the wood base from one of Lynn's estate sales. I'll get some progress pictures.

Today Bluejays dive bombed sweet Miss Calico so I swooped down and threw her in the house. Forgot their striking blue color, forgot how they love to attack kitties, especially 15 year old elderly kitties.

Here's Angie, Rebecca and Cynthia at the mod.shop gallery opening. There's a lot more to come.