“She glances at the photo, and the pilot light of memory flickers in her eyes.”
~
Frank Deford

Monday, May 27, 2013

Memorial Day 2013

Today is Memorial Day in the USA - remembering the soldiers who died in service to America.  I'm listening to a radio station which has its hosts broadcasting live today from the USS Iowa berthed in the LA harbor.  People call in to honor fallen loved ones, guests talk about related topics... I must admit, it has made me cry a lot this morning, but that's a good thing.  Memorial day here has turned into just the symbolic start to summer, with barbecues and sales and not much memory going on.  It would be nice if they would do what they do in Israel on their memorial day:  sirens sound across the country and the entire population of the country stands in silence - literally, wherever they are at that moment - and pause in solemn reflection for those that made the ultimate sacrifice.  You can watch videos of that observance by clicking here and here.

Let's put up the flag and remember what today is all about.



Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Calligraphy homework

I'm taking another calligraphy class at UCLA Extension with the fabulous Carrie Imai.  This time we're learning Roman Capitals.  They look deceptively easy, but of course they take a lot of control and concentration to get them right!  Here are some of my homework projects from the last few weeks.

As a bonus, I've included a beautiful view out of my classroom window at sunset - Westwood basking in an amazing rosy light.

Elbert Hubbard

William Morris

J.J. Camden

Edgar Allan Poe

Robert Frost

Westwood at sunset

Monday, May 6, 2013

Another Garden Conservancy tour - in Los Feliz

Yesterday was the second SoCal Garden Conservancy garden tour - this time in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.  Los Feliz is in the foothills near Griffith Park, so lots of steep, narrow, and twisty streets.  Although there are lots of beautiful houses in the neighborhood, I admit I don't think I could live there and have to do that kind of driving every day (and the parking is terrible too!).  But I had a fun time visiting them for a day.

There were 6 homes on the tour; everything from an historic 1922 Lloyd Wright concrete and wood moderne and a 1930s Paul Williams Mediterranean Revival mansion (which had a major recent renovation to both the house and the landscaping which must have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!) to more modest bungalows and Spanish revivals.  I went on the tour in the morning and then volunteered at one of the gardens for the afternoon.  Both the owner and the landscape designer were there answering my and the visitors' questions, which made it much more interesting.  It's the garden near the end of this post with the swimming pool and waterfall wall.

You'll notice that the weather was much different this weekend - last week it was sunny and in the 80's F; this weekend it was 20 degrees cooler, windy and threatening rain all day.

Hope you enjoy these garden views.