Shots from the Lip

That would have been nicer than it was had the weather been warmer and if there were not two sections that were limited to walking through.  It was nice to see so many parents with children out riding this morning but for a more serious rider?  Nope - blocking off those streets did not yield a good bike ride - c'est la vie..... We were on the roof, yesterday morning, of the condo wanting to trim our trees.  Sadly, we believe that the lunatic who argued with Katherine when he came, wanting the trees trimmed - by himself, not representing his HOA.   Is he the one who poured fermented urine on ours and the Chasen's property?   Too many unanswered questions for which we now are looking at security services to generate some peace of mind here, after a couple of 'attacks'.   

 MTT died.  It is the end of yet another era in my life.  We moved to L.A. in 1959.  We were a few blocks away from where the Thomas family lived in Van Nuys.  I never met either him or his family then but was aware of the family theatrical connections. It was too damned cold this morning on this, the best bike day - Friday - as no one is really out cycling as they usually are over the weekend.  I wore an extra bike shirt...now I have on a heavy duty sweat shirt.  I'm warm - even my hands....but it is not realy the time to play piano....... Sunday is another bicycle day with WLA Santa Monica Blvd and Westwood Blvd closed to auto traffic.   I will spend that morning out on the streets!!!

 Wednesdays, this past semester, has been a two class day conundrum....The second live class is a good one, good enough to continue going to....but not good enough to warrant all that goes into a full day of school. There's a half hour break between the two classes, barely enough time for a snack - not sufficient time for a slice of pizza to be consumed leisurely.  I didn't have the time and the pizza was not that good.  Fortunately no follow-up stomach problems.....in the future, Sbarro's in Santa Monica Place, is the best pizza (to me, at least) locally. After class, I took the 7 bus to Burger King's sole Santa Monica facility.  No big deal.......Five Guys is still the best chain.......Big Tomy's chiliburger is my personal favorite.....

There's a fine dust layer that Katherine has been battling against over the past few days.  No way other than getting into every nook and cranny and window sill and painting frame throughout the house.....some places more than once..........but it'll all be done. Me?  I've been out walking after cycling after feeling too damned cold in the house. I have one basic email to write this afternoon......and more reading......and I really do have to get myself into an essay writing mood....... I do have to 'solidify' both my sketching and my music playing routines - there's so much I want to accomplish and yet I am somewhat intimidated by the time it will take to so so little actually accomplished.....such is life..... 

 It is 16C outside but it feels like 13.  It is colder inside than outside the house......it is too fucking cold to type!!!!! If everything goes to plan, then sometime between 10am and 2pm today, we're going to have the second roof inspection that includes the inspector going inside our house to verify proper fire 'monitors' inside each room.  Our contractor picked up 4 from Home Depot yesterday afternoon and hopefully, we'll complete it all with two inspections instead of having to go through a third inspection. From start to completion, this has definitely been an all time consuming effort - necessary but amazingly, how easy to put put aside and forget all other activities that I had as part of my daily routines. I'd write more, now, but for frozen fingers.......that's all, folks! OK - this is later by more than just a day or two - and dammit, my fingers are too cold to type on most of my keyboards.....but hey, the roof is finished and after thawing out, I am ...

 A light rain or a heavy drizzle?  I sure as hell don't know!  My iPhone did my daily 7:15am wake up tone.  I heard a drip outside and knew that there was rain.  Not a whole lot but sufficient to soak the 4-8am Amazon delivery, placed inside our yard, without opening the gate.  Outside was soaked.  Inside was dry - hey, that's what mattered! I craved a bagel this morning and did breakfast at NY Bagel where I noticed $8 day old bagel bags - pay for 2, get an additional one for free....really a great deal if you have freezer space.  We don't right now......but the breakfast, including vanilla vienese roast coffee was wonderful! Now to get ready for the day's events:  posting no parking signs in preparation of roofers coming at 7am tomorrow morning. Well also cover most stuff in the house as we get ready for three days of work here.  The sun will come out soon and it's gonna be dry all week - perfect for roofing!