My Birthday in LA

In what has become a birthday tradition, last weekend I traveled to LA to spend my birthday weekend with my youngest son, Jonathan, who lives in Santa Monica.

We ate at wonderful ethnic restaurants, saw a bad play, an iffy film, but a wonderful LA Philharmonic concert at the Disney Center, led by the Phil’s star conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.  At the end, of the concert, Dudamel and the orchestra stood in silence for a few minutes, which I assume was paying tribute to the music or it could have been in honor of a recently departed musician—a mystery I have yet to solve.

Yours Truly in LA’s The Last Bookstore.”  Note the sign on the right reads, “Please do not touch the book loop.”

Lisa Savage’s Senate Announcement

This week I attended Portland’s public rally for Lisa Savage who announced her exploratory run for the Senate against Susan Collins.  Lisa hopes to get enough votes on future petitions to qualify for the primaries as the Green Party candidate.  Her focus on the Green New Deal, free college for all Mainers and concern for caged migrant families at the border resonated with the crowd.  It will be an interesting Senate race, especially since Maine now has rank choice voting, assuring every vote counts, thereby eliminating spoiler candidates.

Lisa Savage announcing her exploratory run for the US Senate against Susan Collins. Congress Sq. Park, Portland, October 10, 2019

A Good Read

I’ve just begun Ann Patchett’s new novel, The Dutch House, about a brother and sister who start out life in a lavish estate in the Philadelphia suburbs, built by a wealthy Dutch cigarette manufacturer for his family. When the original owner died the home was purchased by the father of the novel’s brother and sister.  After their mother dies, their father remarries a woman who doesn’t take to her new brood. The book takes off from here. I foresee a weekend of immersion in The Dutch House.

My Granddaughter, the Budding Artist

Jane, my 15 year-old granddaughter, is a gifted artist, constantly drawing and now sewing her own clothes.  I find her desire to attend art school moving because Jane is named after her great grandmother whose dreams of art school were denied because the money wasn’t there.  I like to think my mother, Jane’s namesake, is smiling down at her granddaughter for picking up on her dream.

Granddaughter Jane in the clown costume she made for Halloween.