Sunday, August 10, 2008

Short people and hiking in Runyan Canyon

Jet blue, la to ny, great flight, only one major bump - "what the hell was that?" and the rest was smoothe. Except that we had three short people in the row behind us who had a hard time not raising and lowering their tray tables constantly and kicking the back of our seats. But then I feel terrible complaining, perhaps their feet just naturally hit the back and although I did turn around a few times to find them wrestling each other, I don't want to complain too much. Flight left on time and arrived on time, unlike that Valentine's Day 2007 mess I was caught up in on Jet Blue (10 1/2 hours sitting on the tarmac in an ice storm.)

So we arrived in LA, jumped into the pool at my sister-in-law's house and spent time with Virginia, my mother-in-law. She's moved up from La Jolla to a really lovely assisted living facility. It's not something I've seen in NY, a regular house with six or seven bedrooms, only four residents and three aides. It's lovely and the aides seem very capable, the residents were nice, the food is good and Virginia seems to be adjusting fairly well. She is almost completely blind and that is very difficult and she has Parkinson's which seems to be controlled well by her medication. Her mind is sharp and I think she's grateful to be living close to her family again.

This morning I woke up early and met my friend Mona up on Mulholland and Laurel Canyon Blvd. We drove over to the Hollywood market, which is like the Farmer's Market in Union Square -- only ridiculously fantastic. Much more organic produce, the most beautiful fruits and vegetables, we stuffed our faces with samples of peaches, figs, nectarines, tomatoes. Mona bought herself some mussels, which she said are delicious. She's cooking us a dinner on Wednesday night, so she stocked up.

Then we went over to hike in Runyan Canyon, which is in the Hollywood Hills and seems to turn up in lots of TV shows and movies. We had a cute dog with us, Mona's neighbor's dog, and it reminded me of all the years we walked together in the hills with Chaco, Mona's wonderful Vishla (spelling?) If I ever moved back to Los Angeles, as long as I could hike in the canyons I'm sure I would be quite happy here. Except that I would miss NY and everyone I love.

More soon! Getting ready for a big family get together, with lots of kids and swimming and Susan's delicious food. We don't do this in Brooklyn.

2 comments:

Mia said...

Mona, Mulholland, Laurel, Chaco—it all sounds so wonderfully familiar and strange at the same time!

anniemcq said...

Oh, I miss Runyon Canyon. I miss how it smells. It was the only place in LA that smelled good. That place saved my life when we first moved there. So peaceful.