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Friday, October 31, 2014

BOO! 2014

Hallowe'en 14

Hallowe'en 14

Hallowe'en 14

Hallowe'en 14

Hallowe'en 14

Hallowe'en 14

there was the school parade (our last!) this afternoon followed by the usual neighborhood festivities. this was the 8th year for our neighborhood parade, and the first i've missed. (thanks for the pic john!) our girls are growing up - and strangely it was the younger who opted out and instead chose to help at halloween festivities at our beloved ranch. i joined her, and the eldest daughter took over the reigns and led the way, before heading out to trick-or-treat with friends.

k decided months ago that she wanted to be Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson series
e hemmed and hawed but finally settled on a biker, joined by her BFF

d and i (sadly no pictures) dressed up as "Mr. and Mrs. H. Potter"

i love Hallowe'en. love that its a day we roam our neighborhood amongst familiar faces and visit neighbors. love that our elderly ladies on the street still pull out their lawn chairs and witches hats for our parade. love that there is a new group of neighbors joining in and taking on the organization and hosting of the night's events. i love the costumes and the energy and the candy! happy hallowe'en!

Friday, October 24, 2014

weekend to do

...*

around the house
catch up with ironing (again!)
high shelf dusting
clean fan

celebrate another 50!
finish halloween prep (except for carving pumpkins)



*this photo was taken today at the Pasadena Museum of California Art in a really lovely little show: An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle which includes two Kitaj pieces, this drawing of Robert Duncan, and the screenprint Star Betelguese. I loved hearing Kitaj's stories of his visits to their home in SF. And Kitaj and Duncan's time together in Paris.

LA Times review here.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

mapping memory

in the spring of 2005 we bought a minivan. a minivan that would take us back and forth and back and forth along the west (best) coast. every summer. and every winter. we bought it before i had this blog. before my first digital camera. before flickr. when i was still shooting film all the time and putting photos into albums. when the girls were almost 4 and just weeks away from 1.

two weeks ago, now, we sold that minivan. it was bit bittersweet. it was definitely time, with 10 years and over 150,000 miles. i was ready to say goodbye to the three hubcaps, shabby mats and unidentified goo i could never get out of the rear seat cup holder. but it was paid for! and held a lot of memories.

i love a good road trip - as anyone who has read this blog knows. we do road trips. and 10 years and a few months ago, just after purchasing this van, we set off on our first to our island. d made sure our aaa membership was up-to-date and i started to do some research on their website, looking for maps and other references to guide us on our way. i stumbled upon the TripTik option and immediately ordered one, typing in our starting point and our destination. i'm not sure these are still available or not - now there seems to be a print your own option, though you can still order one.  (though i think the format is different.)  ours arrived and d and i poured over it. dreaming about the road ahead. in these early days we were ambitious. we allowed four or five days to traverse up the Interstate 5 (which stretches from the Mexico to Canada borders) and camped and stayed with friends along the way. (K celebrated her first birthday at a campsite in the shadow of Mt. Shasta on that first trip!)

road trip memories xo

now we can make it up in less than 48 hours. we do one stop (usually the Hi-Lo in Weed going up, and the Best Western in Redding coming down). we still use the same TripTik.

road trip memories xo

when i cleaned out the old van it was there with our ferry card and the menu to my favorite lunch spot when the girls and i detour over to the 101 at the end of every summer.

road trip memories xo

many of the pages have come loose from the spiral binding. every page has scribbles and notes showing favorite lunch spots and rest stops. calculations to answer "how much farther until..." an expense list from the first trip (hotel in Buttonwillow for $45 and gas for $2.30 / gallon!) it has directions to get to melissa's and the phone number of the realtor who helped us purchase our cottage. (after a few summers renting, we knew we had to put down real roots there.) it has lots and lots of e's attempts at printing out her name and quiet notes we'd pass back and forth over the seats.

road trip memories xo

road trip memories xo

road trip memories xo

i'm looking forward to many more road trips and moving this well-worn book into the glovebox of the new car. a little piece of the van we are holding on to. a map that takes me many places.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

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k is up in the mountains with her classmates for 3 days. they've been preparing for this trip since last spring. any student whose family wants them to go can go. we fundraise to make sure of that. (it is the same trip e went on what feels like a million years ago.)

i realized late sunday that one of the students - new to the school and homeless - might not have the gear they would need. i called a friend to be on alert in case we needed a coat, mitts, etc. on monday morning i checked in with office, only to find that our plant manager (aka custodial staff) had purchased the gear this child might require. he quietly got it to him and slipped it into his luggage.

these are the little stories that happen every day in LAUSD schools (and public schools around the country). when i told e this anecdote. she said "that's what makes a school great".

exactly.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

weekend to do

...

prep for school camp
volunteer at ranch
date night!

around the house
move raised bed soil
wash and line-dry duvets
clean-out and restock pantry

Thursday, October 16, 2014

No.976

Corbin Palms House

Corbin Palms House

the plaque is finally up. so happy for our neighbors, and neighborhood. (and loving their new purple door!)

Historic-Cultural Monument No.976 "Corbin Palms House"