Tonight we went to hear jazz down at the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA). Every Friday night, people come from all around to have picnics on the lawn and listen to free music. It was a happy and attentive crowd, who had brought lawn chairs, food, kids, and dogs out for the evening. They…
Category: Los Angeles
Hope Springs Review
This afternoon, we went with family and friends to see the movie, Hope Springs starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. This is a story about a couple who has been married 32 years but who are disconnected emotionally and sexually from one another. Steve Carrell plays their marriage/sex therapist and you watch as this…
The Grand Canyon & Now Back in LA
We arrived at the Grand Canyon at 9 am this morning and this is what we saw: The sky was overcast and there had been a little rain so the air smelled evergreen sweet. We passed many fields as we drove from Flagstaff that were covered in these flowers: Of course, they was exceptionally pretty….
Trip Back to CA
We are slowly making our way back to Los Angeles from North Central Texas. Today we have progressed at a relaxed rate, stopping to take pictures as we’ve made diversions off of 40 and onto Route 66. The first stop was Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, where an art group named Ant Farm sank 10 Cadillacs…
Flash Essay: Men and Women: Brain Differences
Just this morning my husband Ray said, “I don’t like Mozart. I feel as if he was just writing to get paid.” In contrast, he adores Mahler, who poured his emotions and life into his compositions while Mozart (in the same school with Beethoven) wrote some of his happiest music when he was in the…
Flash Essay: Organizing before School Starts
I have spent my day doing the task I like the least: pulling everything out of my junk drawers and stow-it cabinet in preparation for the upcoming school year. I teach privately at home and I have been using the buffet that’s in the picture for papers, books, receipts, and anything else that needs a…
Flash Essay: Hank III at House of Blues
We went to hear Hank III tonight, son of Hank, Jr. And grandson to Hank Williams. We are big fans of III’s, mainly his original country music, but also his “hellbilly” music. He has a distinctive voice, a tight band,and songwriting talent. I struck up a conversation before the show with a guy behind me….
Flash Essay: A “Dream” in the Making
Today I helped our family friend Alvaro prepare his paperwork for President Obama’s “Deferred Action” for undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children. We sorted through transcripts, pay receipts, school ID cards, plus any other indication that he’d been continuously in the country for the past 5 years, and added these to a stack…
Flash Essay: Us and the Dogs, Who Owns Who?
The dogs are barking. Why? Probably someone is walking down the street, or else William has meowed, sending two sets of canine ears on high alert. Sammie, our little foster dog, has shifted from half-dead to full of life. She is leading the charge this evening, protecting us from the dangers of the neighborhood. Tail…
Flash Essay: To Roast or Not To Roast in LA
The heat has been bad here in LA. It is the topic of almost every conversation and people are flocking to the movies and to the beaches to escape. The rest of us sit in our homes, which for the most part are without air-conditioning, and sweat. It ain’t pretty. I am from Texas, a…
20 Minutes a Day 