June Leftovers 2025

I am proud that I am posting only one jacaranda tree picture this year.

At first I thought our new tree had doubled in size, but then I realized the city took out the old one and planted a new one.

C turned two!
We celebrated by taking a bus to a bagel place (I brought the sprinkles).

We have had a new early-morning visitor.

A drawing of a future bridge from the La Verne/Fairplex train station.

Take-a-plant/leave-a-plant at the library

I took C to a recital at cello camp and
was happy to see A's former teachers.

Holiday Entertainment

We started the weekend on Friday afternoon by joining the Garden Variety Jam at my parents-in-law retirement community.

The next day we went to our first performance of The Nutcracker, featuring Mira Nadon returning to her hometown and making an appearance as the Sugarplum Fairy. It was fun to sit in front of her parents and hear a bit of commentary.

The next day we went to a Jewish Festival of Music. It was our second chance to hear 

Tom Lehrer's Hanukkah in Santa Monica.

I think we are set for another year.

Weekend Activites

 It was nice to have a weekend with only a few activities.

The library was hosting a bring-a-plant, get-a-plant
event and also had small pots to paint.

The baby and her mother came and we tried to
paint her hand onto the pot. Easier said than done.

From there we went to the first game of the Division III women's water polo national championship. It was hosted by the Sagehens and included one other team from the region (the cross-street rivals), one team from a region that included Austin College and one team from a region that included Augustana College. Both California teams won the first round with lopsided scores.

I learned that Austin College has a kangaroo as a mascot because they had a Kangaroo Kourt, but people liked that so they got a real kangaroo as a mascot. It died so they bought another one. I am happy to say that now only humans dressed up as kangaroos represent the college.

We watched a tiny bit of baseball, but mostly chatted with people.

In the evening we went joined the First Saturday Art Walk, which included a performance inside the movie theater's lobby.

It rained a bit overnight but was dry enough to get out on the tandem. I wonder how I ever did this ride on my own.

We got back in time to get good seats for the championship game, which was surprisingly not sold out and also surprisingly a bit lopsided.

Sagehens, Division III champions
One of these players will do research with D. this summer.

Time to turn in early to get ready for the week ahead.

Animals in August

I was looking for a few pictures for my monthly leftovers post and so many had animals. Here they are, along with a couple bonus pictures.

It was cuter on my shoulder than when it went toward
the back of my neck and I could not see it.

Saying good-bye to Maggie before leaving.

An injured gopher snake, but maybe it survived
after it was removed from the road.

spider

This made me laugh and reminds me of my mom's uncle.

You will just have to imagine that this is a
bee rolling around like a cat in catnip.

Family of four dining outside

Monday night concerts returned for the month of August

including the Night Bloomin' Jazzmen and their cornet
player in the center, 96-year-old Chet Jaeger, whose 
childhood house we live in now.

December Leftovers

Found and listened to an old favorite.

Baked an old favorite.

Was fascinated to learn that a cactus
will grow from a cactus stump.

Playing with acorns.

 

Yellow season

Back to LA

I would not list any of these composers as my favorite, but I appreciated being invited to go by bus with my neighbor to hear the LA Phil. The bus left town early enough to get us to the pre-concert lecture, which significantly helped me understand what I was about to hear.

Great seats for the lecture! Our seats for the concert were to the right
of the french fries (one name for the structures that surround the organ).

It is great that they give away cough drops, but
maybe they could find some with quieter wrappers?

Before the concert we had time to socialize and walk in the garden.

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There were nine bass for the Wagner piece!

photo taking during warm-up
So many mallets! 

I enjoyed our view of the conductor.

Then it was time to head home. I was a little sorry not to wander around downtown a bit, but it was also nice to get home in time to get some things done.

A full weekend

It started with a ride and a visit to three new libraries.

Next up was a World Cup game with a
few kind words and a cake at halftime.

On Saturday we took a picnic to the Hollywood Bowl

where we watched a Harry Potter movie accompanied by
the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra playing the live score.

We headed to LA on Sunday for CicLAvia.

Four dogs seemed to be enjoying their ride.

We went off the route a couple times to check out the old houses.

Another full day

The alarm was set for 4:10am so the marathon runners would get to Dodger Stadium without the panicked feeling of being stuck in traffic. Last year we could see people getting out of the cars and walking uphill the last 1.5 miles of the drive. My running partner rested her legs and got there on time, but it was better to early.

photo by Gustavo Castellanos

My cheering partner (my running partner's spouse and also my swimming partner) and I hung out at the 10K mark until the coffee place opened (thank goodness they had fixed the bathroom in the last year!). A couple hours after we arrived the first wheelchair racers and handcyclists passed by. Even slight uphills looked like a challenge.

On the other hand, even the slight downhill shown here allows for them to gather speed. The amazing things about the runners in the photo is that they looked like they were just loping along, but really they were going under 8:30 min./mile

I was surprised to see Nowruz banners in LA because I did not know there were enough celebrants in town. I guess if I went to LA more often I would know they had banners every year. You can see previous designs here. I wonder if there is anyone who turns the banners into wallets, tote bags, or other items available for sale.

Plenty of people were along the route at the 10K and 30K mark, it was definitely not crowded, but the finish was jammed and there were still several hours of finishers behind our friends. Attempts were made to examine bags and keep people from crowding the finishers, but it was a challenge. Despite that we met up with our friends, who were very happy to be done! They had both earned two medals, one for finishing the marathon and another for participating in a series that included a 10K, half-, and full-marathon over the course of about five months. Some people also had a medal for running a 5K the day before the marathon. Whew.

After a celebratory beer (included in the price of entry and for a fee for non-runners) sponsored by the local Hostelling International group, the racers shuffled off to the car.

We headed home and lucky for me I got back in time for Bach! 

A. was performing a bit late so I was able to hear him play.

A full day and a good one!