Today’s Heat and Tonight’s Moon

Today has been a day to hide from the heat. That’s just what Ray and I did, worked inside, upstairs in the air conditioning. I talked to one friend in Palm Springs who said it was 123 degrees there – a new record – and here in LA it was HOT, in the high 90’s….

Our “Mini” Father’s Day Amid the Heat

Liz and Ron, Rachael and Ariel came over this morning to celebrate a mini-Father’s Day with Ray. The “mini” is because we are going to officially have this celebration next weekend when Sarah is not working nights at the hospital. (A resident’s life is hardly worth living, I’ve noted.) Ron and Liz arrived with food….

Breaking Out of My Comfort Zone

Last night I went to my Still Life class at Barnsdall Art Center. Daughter Liz and I are taking this class together, but, unfortunately, my trips to Texas have meant that I have missed several. (Not counting last week when we played hooky and went to dinner instead.) Ray is taking a ceramics class at…

Lessons from the St. Thomas Breakfast Club

Today Ray and I got up early and headed over to St. Thomas Episcopal church to work at the Breakfast Club, our homeless breakfast program. We reinstituted pancakes today after about a 4 year hiatus. We used to have pancakes every breakfast, but a chef came in to guide us in our meal preparation and…

Dinner, 20 Minutes a Day and Pride Weekend

Back in LA. Had dinner with our good friend, David Bode. We talked about music, politics, the desert, friends, church, travel, food, movies , etc. etc. , etc. There is never any end to conversation with David. We are all old friends and have that relaxed, no hurry to go anywhere kind of attitude when…

36 Years With Ray: A Few Things I’ve Observed

Dear Ray, Happy anniversary. Here are a few things that I have observed about how you’ve approached life over these past 36 years. 1) Laugh a lot 2) Be serious about details. 3) Live healthy 4) Love hard 5) Be loyal 6) Own up to your mistakes 7) Listen to good music 8) Relish the…

Learning from a Young Student’s Life Story

Today I worked with a young man who is finishing UCLA and applying to medical school. For his personal statement, he told me about his life growing up in a studio apartment with five other people while his dad worked as a bag boy at a local Asian grocery store. This boy’s grandparents and his…

The Results from My Fitness Trainer

I am sitting in my den and it is 9:02 pm. My goal is to go to bed as soon as I am done here. One thing my wrist UP2 (fitness tracker) is letting me know is that I am not getting enough sleep. This past week I often only got 5 – 6 hours…

Repost: “Seeing” as a Kid

We had dark red linoleum in our kitchen at 902 East 9th Street where I grew up. The pattern had little bricks with gray jagged mortar lines and the bricks were slightly raised, as they would have been if they had been real bricks. The color was almost burgundy, and my parents had that linoleum…

Good Day with Daughter Rachael

I have had a lovely Friday since my daughter Rachael has spent all day here with me today. We’ve had our computers out working on our various projects for several hours now. Ray joined us about an hour ago and he has his computer out as well and is working away. A family computer day……