WORLDS 2009

The World Figure Skating Championships returned to the United States for the first time since 2000. Saturday night was the Women's Free Skate, or Long Program. The final competition to determine Gold, Silver and Bronze winners.

Thanks to Black and Decker we had Suite seats! Roomy, comfy, and a great view.

Kiera in her Worlds Tshirt and fleece, checks out our suite.

Mao Asada, although heavily favored to capture Gold or Silver was bumped off the podium by her rival Yu-Na Kim of Korea, Silver medal to Canadian JoannieRochette and the Bronze to Miki Ando of Japan.

Yu-Na Kim of Korea eclipsed the other skaters with her amazing performance.

We also learned about the Three Minute Rule. (not to be confused with the three second rule for dropped food)
One of the early skaters crashed badly, was obviously hurt, but could take three minutes to determine if she could continue and retake the ice. Which she did to huge applause from the crowd. We sat not too far above the "Kiss and Cry" where skaters, with their coaches wait on camera for their scores. And I could see from afar Michelle Kwan over in the broadcast booth.

On the lighter side, the friendly and funny staff at the VIP entrance (which of course we did not go in thru!) who took pictures and held my extra stuff.

A nicely stitched panoramic of the Staples Center that Mike provided.

LACMA

A couple weeks ago we ventured off to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to see the Vanity Fair portrait exhibit. It is an amazing display of photography and portraits dating back to the beginnings of Vanity Fair magazine. My personal favorite, Annie Leibovitz, is prominently featured. Entrance to the hall, same location we saw the traveling Ansel Adams show so many years ago.

We started our visit with a picnic lunch on the grass at the Brea Tar Pits, next door to the museum grounds. Mike decided that,for a reason unknown to Kiera and I, he just had to have some tar. Fresh from a location oozing nearby.



After the Vanity Fair Exhibit we visited the Ahmanson building that contains the permanent exhibits. There we checked out the ancient Egyptian displays and Kiera collected some good information for her Egypt project.

We visited Broad Contemporary Art Museum where the Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures was exhibited. And yes, it was every bit as grim and dismal as the name would suggest. In that building there was also a Modern Art exhibit that included a large scale balloon dog that was actually made from stainless steel, and some Andy Warhol pieces.
Outside the Art building were four of the BMW art cars.


We also enjoyed the Urban Light display of 202 vintage streetlamps. What would you call this? The lamp post forest?



At some point we stopped at the museum cafe for a snack. On our way back to the car we made a loop thru the tar pit high points. And our day of culture and education wrapped

Cory 1988 to 2009

On Sunday evening about 7:40 PM Cory passed away at home surrounded by family and fellow house pets. Cory had been battling lung congestion for the past month. Although he seemed to be feeling better he started to experience breathing problems that quickly became serious. While I held him wrapped in his towel he laid down and after about three breaths Cory closed his eyes and passed on peacefully and without undue suffering. At approximately twenty one years old Cory had enjoyed a long and varied life.
A typical Cory pose.

Cory (middle) hanging out with Elvis and Nacho

This past year Cory was joined at home by Elvis and Nacho and that addition to his bird family seemed to cheer him noticeably. Cory enjoyed exchanging bird whistles with his friends and was especially tolerant of Nacho visiting him at his cage. Cory spent his life in Modesto, Hesperia, Modesto again, and for the past four years with us in Ontario. He enjoyed playing with his bell and his purple mirror, pecking his mineral block, hanging out on the roof of his cage and happy dancing on his perch. Cory also enjoyed mild days outside in his cage on the front porch.

Since Cory has always eaten only parakeet seed he also developed a talent for launching any undesirable seeds or fruit pellets out of his cage for long distances. Including the bounce across the dining table, Cory could achieve a distance all the way to the living room rug from his corner.

Cory is survived by fellow house pets, Elvis, Nacho and Zoey and his loving human family. We will miss the ornery old bird. Cory's final resting place will be in the rose garden of our backyard.

A Paint drawing of Cory done by Kiera in 2005

Happy Birthday Roxy!

Today is my BFF Roxanna's birthday! Thanks to Roxy Mike and I had our perfect little wedding. She is one of the people I miss when I don't get to see her often enough. And I never get to see her often enough so I miss her regularly.

Roxanna has a weird and bizarre sense of humor, much more sense of style than I can ever master. She accessorizes, she wears totally cool looking skirts on weekend jaunts. She loves wine too. The three of us, Roxanna, Mike and I are the perfect social balance,,,,if any of us is a third wheel then we are a great tricycle.

Roxanna and I looking every bit as cheerful as we were.

Ok, this is picture #1, that other one was after.

I considered a thoughtful poem on friendship but this really says it better.

True Friendship:
When you are sad -- I will help you plot revenge
against the sorry man who made you sad.
When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever
is choking you.
When you smile -- I will know you finally got laid.
When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it
every chance I get.
When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible
stories about how much worse it could be until
you quit whining.
When you are confused -- I will use little words.
When you are sick -- Stay the hell away from me until you
are well again. I don't want whatever you have.
When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your
clumsy ass.
This is my oath..... I pledge it to the end.

"Why?" you may ask; "because you are my friend".

Send this to 10 of your closest friends, then get depressed
because you can only think of 4.

Remember.......A good friend will help you move.....a REALLY
good friend will help you move a body.......let me know if you
ever need me to bring a shovel.

A Year Of Skating

This weekend marks a year since Kiera's first group lesson at Center Ice Skating Arena here in Ontario (the coolest place in town). In that time she has progressed through: Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Alpha One, Beta, skipped past Gamma because she learned those skills in private lessons with Toshe. Started Delta, was not challenging enough, tested and was promoted to Freestyle 1, Toshe ran off to Cambridge England with her new Air Force hubby, and we changed over to private lessons with Tina, twenty minutes every Monday. Group lesson thirty minutes every Friday. Still to go; Freestyle 2 and 3 and then on to Jump and Spin!

Kiera at lesson #2, gliding on the right foot, only, pushing with the left,only.

Backward crossovers, waltz jumps, loops, and others.



Newest additions to the training tools; crash shorts. Shorts to wear under skating pants with pads to protect the tail bone and hip sides due to inevitable falls while learning and practicing jumps and spins. And a "spinner" which is a small foot sized device to use to learn balance and spinning off the ice.

Blog surfing

I have mentioned before that I enjoy wandering down the blog paths created by a number of people connected with blogs of the people that I am connected with. Sara and Leo's Mountainwave Blog is one of my all time favorites. Pathway thru Kel's blog Double Dolphin. I am shamelessly adding a link to their blog on my list of "friends" that blog. Fascinating view of a life completely different from my own! http://mountainwave.blogspot.com/
There is also Kel's sister Kim's blog showing the additional adorable baby blog of Naia and Gabriel's cousin Cassidy. http://cassidylaurel.blogspot.com/
And in a moment of celebrity fan-ism, I also read John Mayer's blog. He solicited a very funny and enthusiastically responded too, holiday bake-off. http://www.johnmayer.com/Blog

Happy Birthday Mike

February 2, also Groundhog Day
It was his eyes that got to me first. The day we met on a casually arranged day trip to Yosemite. A mutual aquaintance, Gary, convinced my friend Karen and I that if we were going to Yosemite for the day we should go with him and his friend Mike. All the way there that Saturday morning I could watch his eyes in his rear view mirror. I love Mike's eyes.

Back in the day San Francisco was probably our favorite place to spend time. And for our vacation in 2007 we got to share that city with Kiera and see it through her eyes too. Our fancy dinner out on that trip was the restaurant on the 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt in downtown. Window seats!

It is a well known fact that Mike is probably just a little too attached to his computer at times. But his uses are varied from working on his photography to making entries on Facebook.

As a pair of coffee lovers a quality coffee maker combined with fresh ground coffee beans is a must. And Mike's day starts best when he has good coffee.

An important aspect of anyone's life is to make time for relaxation. This photo, I believe, perfectly illistrates the term "a day at the beach".

So Happy Birthday to my husband, the best is yet to come.

"Time is
Too slow for those who Wait,
Too swift for those who Fear,
Too long for those who Grieve,
Too short for those who Rejoice,
But for those who Love
Time is not."
-Henry Vandyke (1852-1933)