New Years Blog-2015
January 5, 2015
It was a very hectic Holiday
season for Kimberly and me. It started
early and stayed late. By the time we got to a wonderful Christmas
Eve at our daughter’s house in San Francisco, I was beat. All along it had been our plan to go to Los
Angeles for a few days. I love it down
there: the weather is about 10 degrees hotter, there are no meetings, few
distractions, and no real plans. Just play
Paddle Tennis in the morning, something around art in the afternoon, then a
movie and dinner. We argue about how
much we are going to do. I think we
should only try to do 3 things a day but Kimbo thinks about 5. We generally settle on 4. We always stay in Venice Beach and this time
in a small bungalow off of one of the “walk streets.” While it was several blocks from where I
wanted to be, still it was only a couple of blocks from the beach.
We took our dog, Bodhi, and
the new Mustang and set off for LA after a sweet Christmas day with our
grandchildren. They are very grown up,
and we rarely get enough time with them since they’re away at college during
the school year and working in the summers.
They gave us stockings stuffed with all the things we used to put in
their stockings: toothpaste, gum, soap, candy etc - very clever and funny. The drive down is routine and on Christmas
day crowded as usual. From SF, it was an
easy 5-1/2 hour drive into the driveway at our spot in VB just as the sun was
going down. We walked down to
Abbot-Kinney for dinner and even on Christmas Day had lots of choices.
Up early in the AM and off to the Public
Paddle Tennis pavilion on the beach where I immediately caught up with my coach
from our last visit, Gino Berjarano.
What a nice guy. A good teacher and
an excellent player who has developed many champions on these perfect
courts. We had a great time and a perfect
lesson remembering all the tricks of what is called “paddle”. I remembered again why I want to build a paddle
court in Sonoma. It’s a terrific game
for overage tennis and squash players with not much movement required but lots
of eye hand coordination. Of course, it
is a different game for the younger set and singles is very physical. I am determined to try and get something
built in Sonoma asap. Thinking of Depot
Park.
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Kimberly, Bodhi, and Me at the Paddle Tennis Court.
Our pattern didn’t change
much for the next five days: movies, art, paddle, dog park, restaurants for dinner and quiet times.
Every year we go to the
Hammer, which is the museum of the great university, UCLA. It is dedicated to Armand Hammer who had a
broad collection that he donated to start the Museum. On one of our previous trips, we had occasion
to meet the Director, Annie Philbin, who is a well known and respected museum
person and she gave us a behind-the-scenes view of running the museum. This year one of the showcased exhibitions
was by Jim Hodges who had tall installations of three dimension cutouts – white
leaves and fluttery – really terrific. But in general for a museum with a fine
reputation, I didn’t think they had anything going on that was more than
ordinary. Perhaps I am spoiled by what
it takes to make a exhibition outstanding, but in Sonoma, we are very lucky to
have a small museum that works on a shoestring but produces terrific
shows. The Hammer has lots of assets and
many people including guards, security, store folks, and curators, as well as
mucho marble stairs and fancy lighting, but this time it disappointed from the electric moments that
can occur when it all works.
The next day we trekked north
along the coast to the Getty Villa. It
always meets my highest expectation with its remarkable and scenic setting,
fantastic presentation of Greek and Roman treasures, concise narratives about the
work and peerless decoration. It never
disappoints.
The weather in LA started
turning the day before New Year’s Eve so we headed back up the 5 in big time
traffic. The wind was blowing and the
cars were playing bumper tag at about 80 MPH.
No fun, but doable, and home to our own bed. As usual, my patient partner probably didn’t
like So Cal as much as I did, but oh, that Paddle Tennis.
At my age, it goes without
saying that we will continue to lose friends, pals, public figures and
relatives. 2014 was a tough year with
some very big losses. One can only hope
that they are no longer in pain or at least their friends have made a little
peace with their absence. I have
mentioned some of them in earlier blogs, but the loss of Stuart Scott, a
seminal sports reporter and announcer at 49 was way too early. As to Kent Larson, Nancy Tracey, and Arnie
Scher, I take their loss personally. It
is my hope that I will remember to take each and everyday as a gift. It is important to be here now, be mindful,
and savor each intake of our breath.
