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Just Desserts

Two things happened this week giving me an idea for a post.

The first was when I was having lunch at the hospital. I collected my food and walked toward a table with a group with whom I work. As I set my tray down all three stopped conversation and just looked at it for a moment.

"Whoa, are you gonna eat all that food?" asks the male nurse.

"Well sure he is. He's a growing boy." says the nurse to my left.

"Wish I could eat like that." says the fella. The other two nod their heads in agreement.

Conversation was pleasant during the meal, but I still finished before the others and announced that I am off to get dessert. Their jaws dropped open as I stood up to leave.

Later I learned all three were late back to work waiting for me to return and find out what I was having. I actually did not return as I had an errand to run before clocking in myself.

The next day a similar thing happened.

"So what did you end up getting for dessert?" asks the woman I had joined for lunch the second day. She was truly interested in my dessert plans.

I was intrigued that my desserts would fascinate people so much, and that evening made an announcement to Mary and company. I had formed a new motto for living my life.

"Oh yeah, and what would that be?" asks Mary.

"Well you've heard of the old one about stop to smell the roses?" I start.

"Uh huh" Mary and a guest says.

"Well mine is a play off that." I continue, "Mine is... Eat Dessert!"

"It's perfect for me", I say. "It describes my personality and way of thinking better than any I can think of".

Mary reaches over to pat my belly. "Yep, it sure does", she says.

This Friday we had a celebration with our neighbor who is moving by going out to a Salsa dance. The dance was nearby and one of the few excuses for us to dress up since moving to Santa Monica.

While getting dressed I holler out to Mary. "These pants don't fit. What did you do to them?" I ask.

"Nothing my love, perhaps it's something besides the pants." Mary replies.

"Oh no", I insist, "these pants have shrunk since Springfield. I bet it's the change in altitude or the sea air."

"I don't think so Honey" Mary says.

"I know" I declare, "It's that vacuum space bag you used to shrink our clothes in. It shrunk a whole size out of my pants" I explain.

Later that night after the dance the three of us returned to our patio for a late night bite of ice cream and chocolate cake. Molly came out to join us bringing a bag of M&M's with her. It was great to enjoy my motto for life again.

Now, to find and get rid of those vacuum space bags before we move again.

Backyard Swaps

I suppose most anywhere you go, if there is a backyard garden, people love to share their crops with visitors.

I remember briefly having a veggie garden (I prefer flowers) in Springfield. I would plant a few squash seeds and before I knew it the family was sick of them; squash for lunch, dinner and snacks, even dessert, and still the squash kept producing.

"Here, here" I would say to a guest as I shoved squash into their arms, "take more home with you", I continued.

"But we already have plenty of our own", they would protest.

"Oh, this variety you will find particularly sweet", I insisted as I helped load a wheal barrow full into the back of their car.

These days I am not in one spot long enough to enjoy the fruits of my backyard efforts, (though it hasn't stopped Mary) so I leave it to others and enjoy the view, smells, and occasionally spoils of those who have toiled.

On our visit to a friend, Catherine, who lives in a rural area of San Diego I was surprised to receive two handfuls of avocados. Now that is a gift you wouldn't see being given in Springfield!

Just a day or two prior to that we received a bowl of figs.

Mary hands me the bowl. "What are they", I ask?

"Figs", she answers.

"How do you eat them?" I ask looking down at the brown tear drop shaped fruit.

The skin is thick for the size of the fruit and the meat is mushy textured with a lot of tiny sized seeds.

I described the fruit to a friend on the phone. "Gosh, I wouldn't have known how to eat it either" he says, "I would have just mashed it up and put it on a cookie".

Yep, Mr. Newton had a great idea.

Travelers Take a Vacation

My favorite bird!



Mary's loved feeding the seals.

I volunteered to work an extra shift at the hospital (what was I thinking) which made my work week five days straight. I was in the middle of the stretch when I proclaimed to Mary that we had to get away for a few days. I have a friend near San Diego that I had been wanting to visit and so our destination was chosen.

Mary wanted to visit Sea-World and what a great choice! We spent most of two days there and still didn't get to see everything. The sun was warm on the second day, and we did have to leave around two o'clock to visit my friend's house. It was a beautiful home nestled in the hills with avocado groves along the road.

Tesla Motors

">The images to the left link to the Tesla page.



Yesterday my good friend Aaron arrived in LA, and as when we are usually together, it was time to play.

On the way to the Getty art museum I nonchalantly mentioned that a week ago I drove by the Tesla Motors showroom. Aaron is an avid car buff and I new he would get a kick out of hearing this.

I remember many a time that he and I would spend having an evening brew at Starbucks and later hang out at car lots.

"Here is your next car Gary" he would holler out pointing to probably the most expensive car on the lot. I enjoyed looking at the fine cars with him but was reluctant to agree. I still enjoy my Honda.

We enjoyed the Getty and after drinking a cup of coffee in the courtyard Aaron asks about the Tesla showroom, so off we go.

Tesla's showroom is not like other car lots, in fact there is no lot, just a relatively small showroom with only one car; their roadster.

"May I help you?" asks the showroom sales lady.

"Oh yeah" we enthusiastically reply and begin telling her how we've been reading up on Tesla Motors for the past two years.

Now I am sure when you think electric car, you picture an auto like the Prius, but this car takes
electric autos where no other manufacturer has dared. Using only electric power the roadster, a two seater convertible will go from 0 to 60mph in under four seconds! It also has a range of two hundred miles.

Seems incredible, but with Tesla Motors the future is here now.

The body is built by Lotus and resembles one, there is a typical looking door latch but it is actually a button that when pushed opens the door automatically. It is a tight fit getting inside but not unlike similar sized sports cars and was comfortable once we got in.

We also took a look at another roadster in the service area, and the first thing we noticed was the lack of oil smell and grease. The area was exceptionally clean and of course since the car emits no exhaust there was no need for an exhaust system.

"What is that for?" I asked pointing to what appeared to be a gas cap on the side of the car.

"The fuel cap" the sales woman replies.

I am still thinking gas when she mentions fuel and opens the round cap and where I expect to see the beginning of a gas tank is the electric receptacle. I thought it was cool that they kept the appearance of a conventional gas vehicle. It made me wonder how things I take for granted now may some day be nostalgic.

The staff in the showroom were very personable and gracious with their time. The demand for the roadster is obviously great as the wait list to drive off with a roadster is twelve months and cost slightly over $100,000.

As we were leaving Aaron had a huge smile on his face. We saw rare works of art at the Getty Museum, beautiful waves while jumping in the ocean, but it was the Tesla Roadster that he will remember.

"Gary, you just gotta get you one of those", he says.

Tourists in Hollywood

(Mr. Spock with blonde neon hair and the Capitol Record Building where super-hero "Hancock" deposited a car atop the spire.)






We decided it was time to be tourists. After all, what would people say if we spent three months in the L.A. area and didn't at least visit some of the sights?

School here is still out for the summer so we postponed Universal Studios until the students are back in session, therefore we decided on Hollywood.

We walked along the star walk avoiding street vendors selling maps to celebrity homes, and made our way to an outdoor shopping center that offered a view of the Hollywood sign. Turns out the sign is actually several stories tall and now constructed of cinder blocks.

After a bite of sushi we rode a double-decker on a bus tour of Hollywood. Among many of the sight along the way we took pics of the famous Mel's Diner, as seen above, and the dress shop from Pretty Woman.

In the early 1900's the area was a rural farming community and where studios now stand there was once a lemon grove. During the heyday of the westerns, men dressed in cowboys get-ups would stand around the studio gates hoping for an opportunity to be in the movies.

Westerns are no more, yet people still try to be noticed, and their efforts have turned Hollywood into a freak show.

• Billboard adds painted on entire sides of buildings.
• Colors painted so bright, they are neon.
• People dressed (or not) for sidewalk circus acts.

Even though I had fun learning about the area, I was glad to relax back in Santa Monica.

I would have preferred a day at the beach.

Bubbles in Santa Monica

A friend and neighbor join us to share a bottle of merlot the other night. I had just finished three consecutive days of work and ready to relax. Mary and Molly had been shopping at local thrift shops and garage sales where Mary had purchased me the best of all possible gifts.

A battery operated bubble blower! Just pull the trigger and out blow the bubbles without any effort. Not everyone would know, of course, that I am an avid bubble lover, but now ya do.

The evening Santa Monica ocean breeze is cool and lifts the bubbles up over the house sending them along Montana Avenue. Perhaps someone is sitting at one of the many sidewalk cafe's and spot one doting along, an odd curiosity I'm sure.

Blowing bubbles has long been a favorite with me, picked up again from my own youth after raising four children. It is an inexpensive hobby, that can be shared easily with friend or nearby stranger alike. They are not noisy, generally unobtrusive, pretty, and fascinating to both young and old.

Bubbles come in many different sizes, my favorites are just the standard four to six inch sized, the ones you can try to catch again. A shower of the tiny ones is fun as well, especially when there is a breeze to scatter them.

I once had a pet dog named Peetie that would franticly chase them only to have them disappear as he snapped them in his mouth. Princess, our terrier mix dog doesn't even notice them.

Bubbles are fleeting. As a bubble defies gravity it's colors are constantly in motion, changing with each revolution as it is carried away. They last but a moment or two before lighting on object and poof! They are gone.

Molly reminds me that bubbles are the only perfectly round sphere found in nature. Mary asks if they are really found in nature. "Sure they are" I say, after reminding here of fish bubbles and bubbles in a brook stream and fountain.

People passing by usually smile when they see bubbles, children try to catch them, and I have even seen pond fish try to eat them as they lighted on the water's surface. For being such quiet, temporary, and inexpensive objects of one's making, bubbles are always sure to bring a reaction from most anyone.

Try blowing bubbles out your car window while stuck in a L.A. traffic jam. See what happens.