Raise a pint?

No, DONATE a pint.

O12J - hee hee hee - went to the Red Cross the  other day and donated a pint of rich red blood.

Before - being prepped.

Press FIRMLY!!

Pretty rich red bandage!!

Donating blood is the simplest way I can contribute to others. I encourage those of you who can help in this way, even once in your life, to do so.

My daughter is ...

LIBBY!!

After consultation with Ivan, source of invaluable counsel always, LIBBY is the winner. We were both entirely persuaded by Erin's idea that Libby is short for Liberty; now who can argue with that?

Erin, feel free to leave a message on my facebook page or here or my e-mail and I will figure out a way to get you your very own Obama sticker! Life does not get better.

I recently had occasion to remove my Obama sticker from one surface to another, and it came off beautifully. No sticky residue. And it reattached like new, as well. Important information for those of you who are fussy about defacing your vehicles.

Yes, I've been lackadaisical about posting. My chief photographer finds himself busy these days, hence fewer occasions for pictures. We did manage to sneak out the other day to the deli.

Ivan had corned beef and I had pastrami.

Delish. We like to sit at the counter.

Novice, newbie

It turns out I had limited the people who could comment on this site, so I am sure that many many of you have been frustrated when you could not participate. Hahahahaha.
Anyway, now you can. And don't forget the contest.
Which will you vote for

• Lydia   Sounds ladylike, proper
• Libby   Oldfashioned, homey  (although the only Libby I actually knew had quite the rep)
• Lola     Lola, not ladylike, nor proper, nor oldfashioned nor homey

To my friend Jen, I appreciate your presidential suggestions but it has to be a L name. Long story.

Folks, now that I've fixed this (I think) keep those cards and letters and comments coming. Help me pick a better name for my little girl than Luba. 

I will announce the winning name, oh, sometime soon.

 

A Contest!!

Well, here I am heading out to Occupy Los Angeles yesterday. More about that in another post.

It's a nice picture, don't you think? Ivan takes most of these pictures, but my daughter was here and took this one. And that's what I want to talk about today.
You may have figured out that my kids' names have been altered slightly to protect the innocent. I did not come up with these names; my dear friend Robert Malick, who has nurtured his inner 7 year old all his life, bears that responsibility. Hymie, Byron, and Rusty are fine for the boys, but I cannot have a daughter named Luba. No, I can't. So, let's have a contest. I will offer 3 acceptable names for my daughter and you will vote for the one you prefer. I have my favorite, but I like them all, so it will be fine.
The names are:

• Lydia
• Libby
• Lola

Please leave a short comment with your choice. The prize(s) will be either an Obama2012 bumper sticker or one of those groovy Obama 2012 bumper magnets, whichever arrives in the mail at the right time.

If you peruse past posts carefully you will see that I have received one (1) comment so far. You can't even say "One, count  'em, one", you have to say, "One, count it, one". That is sad. So I am hoping this will inspire you to comment, tell your friends, whatever it takes. For once, it's not all about me, it's about the country.

Health Care

Today Obama2012andJenny accompanied Ivan on 2 routine medical appointments.

I am pointing at Kaiser Panorama City. We have been in and out of there for years. They take good care of us.

Urgent Care. We've spent time there, too.

Prior to Kaiser we visited Ivan's optometrist, Dr. Barry Leonard. Barry doesn't know  I'm writing this, so he won't be embarrassed when I tell you he's one of those dentists who goes on missions, I guess you'd call them, to provide optometric care for people in isolated, poor areas with scant medical coverage.

Here's Barry:

Why am I sharing Ivan's medical errands with you? I bet you know. It's because I am so grateful that we can run them. And we can run them because we can pay for them. And we can pay for them because I have a job that includes medical benefits. I'm grateful, as I said, but this is no way to run a health/medical delivery system.

I take great issue with the idea that a civilized society can deny medical care to those unable to pay for it. And I think that  health care is a service, like the freeways, best offered to all. We have evolved that far.

Obama 2012 and Jenny and Liberals for Obama

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things...every one! So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing

Woo hoo. 


(Obama 2012 and Jenny are adding this to acknowledge a debt. I pretty much lifted the quote above from the side bar of  simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com.)

Rosh Hashanah

L'shana tova, y'all.

Descanso Gardens

Saturday we went to DescansoGardens.org with Kitty, Luba and Ivan, and we all had a lovely day.

Descanso Gardens is famous for its camellias. This time of year most camellias are not in season, so we will have to make a return trip. There were plenty of flowers, though, numbers of modest, not showy, flowers, worth looking for. Ivan took the pictures you are seeing here.

I truly love blue flowers.

Here I am just happy to be there:

And here is Kitty, pausing on a bridge to the Japanese tea garden to eat the honey stick given to her by one of a group of "fairies" performing in the park. A honey stick seems a highly appropriate snack in a garden.

The developer of Descanso Gardens was Manchester Boddy. As I understand it, before he began his spacious gardens he built a nice home for his family, which is now open for tours and weddings and parties.

Not a bad little manse.

We all went inside to check it out. Here we are in a mirror in the downstairs bathroom. The wallpaper is actually cloth, and that pattern is quilted in.

We all rode the tiny train around the park, too. Unfortunately, because we were all ON the train, there are no pictures to share.

I hope your weekend was everything you wanted.

Equinox Festival

Lately I've found myself calling my shirt "O12". Shorter than "Obama2012", rolls more trippingly off the tongue. What do you think?

We had the most marvelous day Sunday. Yep, the big Nine Eleven, of which more later. And also, and especially, as I think of it, Hymie's birthday. Happy Birthday, Hymie!

We (Obama2012andJenny) spent the entire day volunteering at the California Traditional Music Society's Equinox Festival. My job was waste management. That entailed touring the grounds every 90 minutes or so  to make sure paper towels and toilet paper were stocked, and trash hauled. The planners had done their work so well that facilities were sufficient for the day and my work was nil until we tore down for the night. I toured faithfully every hour and a half, though, and even checked the toilets at first. But my third toilet was unfortunately not latched when I tugged at the door and   there  was  a   lady,almost as embarrassed as I was.  After that I let the toilets go.

Ross Altman led a tribute to 9/11. Neil Young's song Let's Roll. And there was talk about the human need for songs and stories to remember and understand.

And then!

There was so much joyous activity all around. Fiddlers were fiddling up a storm, dancers were stomping and twirling, singers were singing. There were old people, lots of old ladies in gauzy skirts and hats, kids, girls in cowboy boots and guys in cargo kilts. Lots of men young enough to know better were wearing really bad plain combinations, but one old(er) man outdid them: He had a little clipped mustache like my grandpa had, very respectable, and wore a shirt and shorts in bad and clashing plaids, a half dozen bracelets on each wrist, and a half dozen more chains and amulets around his neck. 

I love to watch the people.

The LA Scottish Fiddlers performed. One man was tall, handsome, high forehead and long hair, kilt and knee socks, and Japanese. And there were two more Japanese pipers. LA is a strange and wonderful place.

Here are four performers who were especially terrific:

Susie Glaze and the HiLonesome Band   (Suzieglaze.com)  Bluegrassy country mountain music. She had a great fiddler with her, Mark Indictor, I think. Wow.

Thomas Maupin    He is a buck dancer and smooth. He gets a good rhythm going.

 Daniel Rothwell (banjodanielmusic.com) This guy is 18 years old and he is a natural. A real natural, it turns out Thomas Maupin is his grandfather. Daniel tells really bad jokes that I love, and he sings up a storm and plays like a born mountain man. 

Lissa Schneckenburger  (lissafiddle.com)   She and her band come from New York and New England and played Gaelic music from the British Isles and New Breton or New Brunswick or somewhere else new. You Boys in Boston should look for them!

Only three people commented on O12, all favorably. Whew!

(The fonts and margins above just jumped in and out and are entirely responsible for the appearance of this post.)

Los Angeles Marathon

Obama2012andJenny are in for it now.

Registration Confirmation for:

2012 Honda LA Marathon/LA 5K/LA Roadrunners

Dear Jennifer,

Congratulations! You are now registered for 2012 Honda LA Marathon/LA 5K/LA Roadrunners. Please check the event's official website for updates:http://www.lamarathon.com

Dear Athlete:

Thank you for registering for the Honda LA Marathon to be held on Sunday, March 18, 2012.

You're now on your way to 26.2 MILES TO STARDOM! 

Why am I doing this? 

Well, I like to walk. It's easy, it's relatively safe, and you get to scope out neighborhoods. And for the last few months I've been following Jen of jenontheedge.com as she started Running, of all things. Running multiples of miles. And like a Power Point slide, I got a vision of  Obama2012 together with a long walk in front of thousands of friendly people. 

This is a purely personal goal and my interest is in getting a good picture for my blog. 

Perspective

How do we describe this?

Hung out to dry? Oh, no. All washed up? Hardly.

It's all in how you look at it.

It's a given that I'm occasionally head over heels in my enthusiasms.

 

Pleasant errands in Glendale

Hey there,
Back to Glendale to see the Girls. I would imagine Glendale is a relatively Republican area, more or less, so it can't hurt to be a frequent face/shirt in the community. And, the Girls are there.
Luba and I explored and ran a few errands Saturday. She lives near bookstores, banks, bars, businesses, and restaurant after restaurant, all of which I plan to sample.

First we picked up a few necessities at Goodwill, quite a nice one. I found a couple cereal bowls to replace the ones we break, and an old fashioned glass juicer.

Sharp eyes will spot the plastic shopping bag. My fault, I went shopping unprepared. I hate when that happens.

We checked out a couple bookstores.

You cannot beat a good bookstore.

We stopped for lunch but it was much too dark inside for Luba to get a good picture, so we will have to return. 

I like a place where I can walk my errands. 

Glendale, CA

Here are Obama2012andJenny in Glendale. I'm in front of the new home of Luba and her daughter Kitty. They live in the rear apartment with their kittens GeorgeandMartha (you've met GeorgeandMartha). Luba very kindly took this photograph on her camera.

Luba and Kitty live just off a downtown area chockablock with restaurants, book stores, theatres. A block in the other direction are houses and other areas I've yet to explore. They are City women, for sure.

We are not perfect

It is so.

What do you see here?

Obama2012andJenny, of course.

And what do you see here?

A blue teeshirt. That's all.

Obama2012 designers, what were you thinking? A perfectly good flat surface wandering around for naught.  Tsk tsk.

GeorgeandMartha meet Obama2012andJenny

George (grey) and Martha (black) are visiting for the weekend. New from the pound a couple weeks ago. Wonderful little animals.

Son #3 August 2011

My excellent Son #3, Rusty, has been home for the fortnight. He celebrated his first day of vacation by taking a header over the handlebars of a bike. No lasting damage, but he'll sport a distinguished scar on his chin. 

Underwood Family Farm, Moorpark, CA

We spent some time at the Farm with our Daughter and Very Fine Granddaughter. She rode a pony and we both climbed on combines and picked wax beans. We brought home a haul of luscious vegetables. 

Since we are in reach of LA, we weren't surprised to see a Very Famous Singer and her two little boys enjoying the Farm also. 

What's with that pose?

Strathearn House

Here I am at the Strathearn House in Simi Valley, CA. Large old farmhouse, small old farmhouse, school, church, barn, old farm machines. And a large, mysterious inscribed slab, protected inside an oldfashioned wrought iron fence, with no discernible significance.

Declaration of intention

I am beginning a journal of the travels of Obama2012 and Jenny.

Here we are, at home:

Jenny is the lady. So am I, so we dispense with the third person. Obama2012 is her shirt. I am going to wear Obama2012 every place I can, and I will record it here. Obviously, there is an end to this, give or take fifteen months; I hope it's a happy ending.