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Visit to Southern California, April 2011
We had to wake up fairly early to catch our flight to LAX. Merle, who slept through almost the whole flight, is seen here in a rare moment, in the awake state. By the way, her email address is, really, dontwakemeup@hotmail.com.
She was so inspired by the clouds on the approach to L.A. that she asked for the camera. Here is her photo, entitled, "Clouds on Approach to LAX."
After arriving in L.A., we headed to the O.C. (Orange County) where I dropped off Merle to visit with her friends, from the left, RC, Kyle, Mycel, Bianca, and a white guy in the background.
After dropping off Merle and after another meeting, I met up with friend Nikki on her lunch break at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. I asked one of the workers passing by if they'd take our picture. Apparently, this worker knew Nikki, and remarked, "oh, it's so nice you can have lunch with your dad!"
Arrghh!!!
After a few other afternoon stops, I met with Paula and Salomon for a dinner, where Paula showed off her new dentures.
What better way to start the next day than with some Pilates exercises, with Paula's granddaughter Julia supervising.
I can say with assurance at this point, at least with regard to the hips, flexibility is not my strong suit, although the pics are flattering!! :)
After cleaning up, I went to pick up Merle from her visit with Mycel. Merle reported that they just talked and talked. Good thing I wasn't there as usually there are no subtitles.
Later that afternoon, my brother David and his new bf Jeffrey came to meet up with us for some snacks on Paula's balcony and a quick visit and house tour before dashing off to salsa dance lessons.
After the lessons, we were treated to a fabulous dinner at Andrea, a restaurant in the Pelican Hill resort. Everything was first class, and David reported that the tiramisu was like eating air. Looking in his dish afterward, air was all that was left on his plate.
Next day, we met up with Katy Boese at Little Maggiano's off Topanga for some lunch and catching up on the latest news items.
After the visit with Katy, we had a chance to visit in North Hollywood with friend Chris Trott from little league days in Encino, and Portola and Birmingham. It was nice to catch up! We had to keep feeding the meter as the parking patrol was looking with a predatory view towards our helpless little rental car, but we won! No ticket!
Later that evening, we had a chance to visit with Aunt Gloria and Uncle Arthur, and we even learned a new card game, Hand and Foot. As a new player, it seemed that my playing style would be described more appropriately Foot and Mouth.
Friday am, I went for a run with my neice Emily and my sister Lori. Here we are at the beginning...
...and here at the end.
Whew!
Quick group pic before David and Jeffrey head out.
I was wondering if Eli's shirt was supposed to say Large, but if he is waiting to buy a vowel.
Our cousin Brian and wife Lana put on a great seder, and here we socialize a bit before the dinner.
Even during a little break in the seder, we take advantage to try to capture the scene with another picture. Note everyone else busily eating.
With all the cousins present, we took advantage of the situation to recreate some earlier poses. Here's an original shot circa 1967.
Cousin Brian, brother David, cousin Brenda, sister Lori, and mw.
Here is when we tried to reproduce the photo about 1980...?
And since we're together, why not try to re-create it one more time!!
Hey, we're on a roll, why not re-shoot this one too!!
(guessing from about 1969)
Note left shoulder against the fireplace.
Okay, so now it's the right shoulder against the fireplace...left, right, what's the diff? We're family!
(incidentally, we were like movie stars with all the cameras flashing...we couldn't decide which one to look at. Must be what Halle Berry goes through!)
Afterwards, we did a little Wii Dance game: very fun, exhilarating, and mobilized the digestive process as well! Here, Merle holds her own:
Go Merle!
Go Merle!
Go Merle!
Sat am, we had brunch with stepmother Mollie and Marc, along with Gloria and Arthur, and Lori and her kids
Then, after eating, we ate again with buddy from MS, Nathan, at Art's Deli in Studio City.
