Monday, April 26, 2010

Diversions

Meet my brother, Rick.

Me and Rick

He lives in Colorado on a horse ranch...along with his daughters, ages 16 and 19 and his wonderful wife.

I'm flying out for a 3 day visit this weekend. I emailed and asked if I should bring a heavy or light jacket. "Bring everything!" my 16-year-old niece wrote back. "It's snowing right now." Snowing? Oh...and it could get warm.

So I'm boarding the plane with a heavy jacket and a wide-brimmed sun hat.

This is what my brother and I used to look like.



So I'm leaving Mozart. But first, we will have a date...an evening at Newport Beach.




He just finished working on a movie about the history of surfing in Newport Beach. It's premiering the night before I leave. It should be a lot of fun.



Yes it's quite an exciting week...with my work sandwiched in between.

Speaking of exciting...I took Letty to JC Penney so she could shop for some snappy new tops and when we returned to the car, there sat a $350 parking ticket.

We had forgotten to put up the handicap placard. We drove straight to City Hall to explain ourselves. We came up with some good ones like..."I'm 80 years old—and you expect me to remember everything??"

City Hall was closed until Monday. So today we drove up there, again.
Guess what. They lowered the ticket to $25.00. Hooray!

Thanks for visiting...and I'll be back to report on Colorado!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Good Friends

We've known each other since we were children.


We went through elementary school together...graduated 8th grade together...and we're still together.

We always see one another on our birthdays.

And on this day, we are celebrating (early) my 54th birthday. Goodness! It looks like they're holding me up.

We decided to do something economical. Forget the fancy restaurant. Let's have a picnic.

We are just outside the Los Angeles County Arboretum...and soon we will enter and explore.

We paused to look at this patio and watch the yellow blooms drift down.


We headed to the Baldwin Cottage and noticed how big these old trees have grown over the decades.


The cottage was constructed in 1885.



We stopped to admire the Wisteria draping near an old Adobe structure reminiscent of the days when this land was part of Rancho Santa Anita.



Oh the tiny and beautiful details of God's creation.



We had a very nice day.


Good friends are a treasure. Are you still in touch with any of your childhood friends?

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Anticipation



Anticipation.

I can't wait to see these bloom! It's almost more exciting to see them all wrapped up——folded so neatly by God's hand. What a surprise they will be.

I have another surprise...of the color yellow. The city decided to put a fire hydrant in front of our house. My lawn is all torn up.



On Easter, I am having dinner for 8...and have been preparing the house and the kitchen all day.

After wishing all of you a Happy Easter, I'm going outside to pick some lemons. I'm making my first lemon meringue pie.

May God's love touch you and your families as you focus on the wonderful gift He has given us...His son...and...because of his death and resurrection, we do not need to fear death...but we look forward to life...to living with the ONE who rescued us from the darkness...who brings light into our lives...forever.

Anticipation.