SNOW!

The winter in Sunland has become a glorious cacophony of images and sounds. The sounds of silence. The quiet. The fallen snow. (Can one have a cacophony of silence? Yes. I think so.)

It has SNOWED in my backyard! Love this. Love the weather! Well, my husband thinks I'm weird, I'm obsessed with the Weather Channel. That's okay...I don't care.

 It SNOWED in my BACKYARD! Wow! We went to Trader Joe's and it SNOWED on the way back! (I live in Los Angeles, we don't know from snow, we don't even know how to drive in the rain.)

Out here we are confused with rain. We take out our cameras when it hails. Snow just confuses all of us. The children on my block were jumping and screaming, "That's snow! It's snow!" Delighted and dancing. Magical for us. Really!

I know, dear readers, many of you are living in a hell of snow but for us it is weird and unusual and remarkable. We celebrate the snow! Our backyards get snow about once a generation. Once. (I didn't see snow in person until I was 14.)

What a day!
 

TBD

Well, what a week. The rain has stopped for now, the neighborhood is blissfully quiet and Phil is sleeping peacefully.

I spent the week writing about union issues (confidential, but I may ultimately be able to share my thoughts here) and about health.. Phil's in particular, he's started a new MS treatment... not going so well, visited with family...sent out yet another email about work... worried about the pap smear I've not had in two years..gotta make that appointment...due for the mammogram and chest xray, have an eye appt. next week and have in general spent way too much time in doctors' offices... sick of it! (lol)

My wrist is better. (I've been unable to scratch my back or pick up two things at once lately.) I'm healing.

I'm grateful I teach. Other work is hard to come by. Ah, well. I have to believe that something will turn up.

In the meantime, I'm spending all the loads of time I have with my husband. Work too often takes me out of town and away. What a joy to be home.

I'd retire now if I could afford it. And yet.. I've so much more to offer!

I'm here and ready to work. Don't employers know that older people need less sleep? (25 year olds need 10 hours of sleep per night,  I can do with 7. Really. I have more stamina and I'm not looking to get laid.)

I, I, I, I,
What is wrong with me?
The world is in chaos!

We are fine, we are good. Don't worry about us, let us all try to help our brothers and sisters trying to gain one right.. free speech.

We take it for granted here, but out there.. look! All the Arab people want is Free Speech! (And from that, reform.)

rambling.
mkk.

Close Is For Horseshoes.

Some thoughts and observations:

My dear nephew just turned 15. I took him out to breakfast the other day and we went to Coco's. Coco's has a menu for those over 55. I remarked how old it made me feel.  He asked, "How old are you?" "I'm 56." "You aren't old, it's not like you're 80 or something!" Good boy!

Children will play wildly in parking lots and cautiously in playgrounds. (There may be some social element at work here.)

Crows are bigger at higher elevations. They are called RAVENS! 

You only see deer when no one else is looking.

Vodka tastes better with cigarettes. (Maybe the reverse is true too.)

Long walks are good for thinking.

Flowers will out. Even if it's just the dandelion.

Valentine's Day is nice with flowers.

Bamboo controlled is beautiful.

Bamboo out of control is a fire hazard.

Flowers from Dad on Valentine's Day.. oh! Such a wonderful surprise!

Optimism. 

Difficult days lead to restful weekends. (Let it be.)

I love crossword puzzles and sudoku. Wakes up my brain.

If you are having coffee later with a friend, don't drink coffee now!

Love being post-menopausal. Miss the children I never had.

Love being married. Why would you not want this? My best friend is with me everyday. 

Cooking is community. 

Flowers in the house make me happy.

Work makes me happy.

My husband makes me happy.

I got flowers, I got a husband. I'm a happy girl. 

I need another job.

Close is for horseshoes. 

The Future Keeps Its Secrets.

I staged managed a very difficult show just last week.  We opened a new Performing Arts Center in the San Fernando Valley in Northridge, about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles ~ The Valley Performing Arts Center. Star-studded and black-tied. Calista Flockhart, Benjamin Bratt, Tyne Daly, Davis Gaines, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Koz, Tom Scott, Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright), Doris Roberts, Andy Garcia, Monica Mancini, Carol Vaness, Noah Wiley, Eric Stolz, Jane Kaczmarek, Johnny Mori, Danny Yamamoto and the glorious Keith David. (I'm sure there are more I've forgotten.) Glittery Indeed!

What a week. Long long hours.. little pay.. glorious interaction and communion with long lost colleagues. Exactly what the art needs. Exactly what I needed.

Loved it.  Loved it.

So satisfying to work with professionals and colleagues of one's own caliber. The project would have been impossible if the producer/director/writer had not assembled us all.  Thank-you Robert Egan! Thanks for bringing the best to this crazy process. I can't imagine how much harder this would have been without you at the helm.

So. We did it. Done. Well Done.

On to the next challenge.

And what, pray tell, will that be?

The future keeps its secrets.