LA ‘Winter’ Dispatch

I think it’s easy to drive around Los Angeles and feel like you’re on location. Maybe that is what makes everyone compare LA and New York so much: they both only look like themselves! The tropical palms, the Raymond Chandler stucco houses, ‘50’s-looking doughnut or hamburger or hot dog joints. In the end, it all feels iconic. Oh, and the preponderance of healthy-looking beauties and handsomes just waiting to be discovered. Nice weather, the sunsets, the tacos. I’d like to add-in the well-timed traffic lights and the left turn lanes.

The stars of my LA production this trip were:

>Of course, Elise

She is about to complete her first year in Los Angeles. The teen website, Cambio, for whom she has been working as a videographer and video editor on a free-lance basis, recently hired her as a full-time employee. Besides her brief reverie while walking along Hollywood Boulevard recalling what she loves about New York…and besides cherishing the infrequent rainy days, Elise makes quite a natural Angelino. She is doing great work, getting to video and edit many fun, happening events (she recently shot Jon Hamm and the Mad Men cast!!)…and she can sunbathe at will. I got to see Elise’s office and meet the group that runs Cambio:

This is Elise’s thriving avocado plant. She read that people could survive on avocados, given some giant worldwide catastrophe, so planted the pit. The plant is named ‘Armagado.’

      Here we are on the town with flaming margaritas:

>Fluffernutter

Elise’s new kitten, who was embarking on cathood when I arrived, took on quite a big role in my visit. ‘Fluffer,’ as we call her, is adorable. She is named for Elise’s favorite marshmallow junk food. I became the opposite of a cat person back when Jake developed allergies to our cats and I tried to rid the house of all traces of cat dander while keeping the cats outdoors. But Fluffer melted my hardened heart. I can’t think of anything more endearing than reading at my laptop all morning in LA with the little darling on my lap. I adore her.

 

 

 

>Kermit the Frog

“The Muppet Movie” had come and gone already, with Elise an avid fan. Fortunately, we found a movie theater in Pasadena that shows recent films, so I was able to see my Kermie on the big screen! He is still the sweet peacemaker he always was. I drove past the actual Jim Henson studios often because they are on the way to Elise’s office, so when they appear as an old, worn-out set in the film, along with the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, one feels that LA is the place to see this film. And while Kermit steals one’s heart over and over as only Kermie can, the hardest I have laughed in a movie theater in a very long time was during the musical number by the muppet, Walter: “Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet?” (which won the Oscar for best song). Then when Kermit sings the hauntingly lovely “Rainbow Connection,” I had to hold Elise’s hand as I misted up remembering so many bedtime renditions. This film, lovingly made by and co-starring Jason Segel, honors well Jim Henson’s graceful gifts to all of us.

 

 

 

>Claire Greene

Claire and Elise go back to elementary school days at the Blue Rock School. They were partners in crime from the beginning, continuing to grow their notorious partnership during their Waldorf middle school years. In high school Elise went to visit Claire at her Vermont boarding school, surreptitiously carrying what turned out to be bad mushrooms purchased on the streets of Nyack, NY. A cautionary tale, indeed. The school tribunal thankfully did NOT expel Claire. The two followed trails into the future that occasionally intersect, and a certain twinkle in their eyes reveals what has endured over the years. Even though I have been able to see Claire’s parents in NY on occasion, she has been away traveling every time I landed there in recent years, so I had not seen her for a long time when she joined us at Elise’s apartment for dinner. She managed this supporting role in my trip by way of a temporary assignment in Los Angeles with her father’s painting studio, known for restorations all over the world.

If I could, I would attach the quintessential photo of Elise and Claire. It predates digital and is in storage in New York: Elise is playing Alice in Wonderland in the elementary school drama and Claire is the also-curious, hookah-smoking caterpillar perched on a giant mushroom. So I’ll attach this one instead, which reveals their special beauty:

 

 

 

 

>Joe and Kevin Jonas of ‘the Jonas Brothers

OK – actual stars! I was chauffeuring Elise and her producer-co-worker to a red carpet shoot at the ‘Rock the Vote’ event in LA. This way I could have the car in the meantime to shop. When I returned to pick them up, the event was not yet underway, so I was directed to a VIP parking space (!!) and just hung around there watching all the beautiful people arriving and hobnobbing. Once the Jonas two arrived, I got to be a ‘fly on the wall,’ so to speak, observing Elise at work during their interview. I know I’m a bit older than the usual Jonas demographic, even if it is edging upwards as the brothers mature, but I thought Joe and Kevin were really cute in person! Easy to see what all the commotion has been about.

 

>Marty and Elayne at the Dresden

And speaking of iconic…these old pros – and I do mean old - have been performing at this club for 18 years. Who knows how long they were performing before that, because as reconstituted and stitched together as they are, they can belt out just about any song known to man while accompanying themselves on several instruments. They make this look as easy as breathing…or, perhaps in their case, it is easier than breathing! The club has a posh clientele of varied ages, some of whom take a turn at the mike and make the amazing Marty and Elayne look even more professional. Keep the day job, folks.

 

 

>Cleopatra

I don’t mean Elizabeth Taylor, I mean the fascinating biography by Stacy Schiff. My ever-ongoing tome at home, Infinite Jest, is over 1,000 pages and does not lend itself easily to travel; therefore, the astute and charismatic Cleopatra was my traveling companion. Wow; what a read. Roman history reduced her to a whore, but she was one extremely well-educated and intelligent woman. And NOT Egyptian!

 

EXIT

With my LA production in the can, I flew back to São Paulo en route home. The third world greeted me in an overdramatic way: my connection was on the Columbian airlines, Avianca. We were bussed to a new space that must represent airport expansion for the 2014 Soccer World Cup, except that it had no internet connection available and the rain from the black skies over SP began hitting me in my seat from a leaking roof. All the Avianca flights were delayed, so once I leapt out of that seat, there were no more available. After two hours, we were quite suddenly rounded up to board another bus to the plane. The flight had been listed on the displays as “Natal-Recife.” Imagine my surprise when we landed in Recife.

I did arrive eventually in Natal. I had the remainder of that night plus the following night without Newton, who was flying in from Japan. The caretaker, Marcos, left in the car he shares with relatives that afternoon. I didn’t think twice about it, as I figured he’d never leave me alone here overnight. It got later and later and I saw that the car had not returned. When I wanted to go up to bed, I decided to go knock on Marcos’ door in case he returned by bus. No answer, so I went up for the night with misgivings of being an orphan absolutely alone here, and wondering what the hell Marcos was thinking.

Imagine my surprise the next morning when all the cushions had been put back on the veranda sofa. I went around back to the caretaker cottage, and there was Marcos. When I asked him if he had heard me knock, he said yes – that he had gotten very nervous but had (eventually) stepped out to look along each side of the house. Actually he told me this over and over many times, as is his wont. So, Marcos is a bigger scaredy cat then me; I don’t know why I would have felt much safer knowing he was actually here!

Newton returned and Carnaval arrived soon after!

Love,

Sandy

Vancouver Dispatch

Our son Jake spent five months with three buddies in Vancouver. They rented two apartments on the upper floors of a swanky building with stunning views of the city, the water, and the snow-capped mountains that embrace it all.

I met up with Newton there after his California trade show and my sister reunion in Arizona. Because the apartment was small and Jake’s roommate would be there, we reserved a hotel room on Hotwire.com, which means pre-paid and non-refundable. Then Jake’s roommate decided to travel. Well, once I had seen the state-of-the-art design of Jake’s apartment, the depressing hallway of our hotel only reminded me of bad textile designs I had to work on in the ‘80’s, even though our dark room was much more updated and less smoky. I made Newt pack up with me after the first night and move over to Jake’s! Yes, waking up to this view was just fine by me:

So I am a bit obsessed with design – it’s true. I just found, Nordestino country bumpkin that I now am, that living with this coral glass wall in the kitchen (can you find the refrigerator?...and the dishwasher along the wooden cabinets?)…and with this glass sink and glass wall in the bathroom, and with all the beautifully designed and well-functioning fixtures a very satisfying thing.

We got to see Jake around the clock this way. Our downtime together included, as always, card games and word games and Jake’s utterly confounding card tricks. He had given me two handmade ‘coupons’ on Christmas morning in Brazil: one, a dinner out in Vancouver to celebrate my September birthday; and two, a dinner out in Vancouver for my Christmas present. He knows what I like! And we did, indeed, have lovely dinners at two of the many great restaurants in the city, along with exceptional wine. Loved them, Jake.

I initially found the many predominantly glass high rise apartment buildings sort of jangling in their varied reflections as we drove in from the airport late afternoon. But as night fell and the interiors were lit, I saw a different vision of the glass city. The dwellers are all there together, visible to each other to a great extent – the murals of stacked interiors drawing us all in from various directions. It seemed intimate; beautiful; human.

Then, as you walk or drive around, there are frequently views of the mountains beyond the sightline at intersections, as if the city can never separate you from nature’s grandeur. I thought these two aspects really set the city apart.

I also loved our short drive up into these pristine mountains in crisp early February air.

Newton caught a flight to Japan; I caught a flight to Los Angeles to visit our daughter for a few days.

Jake returned to his home in Las Vegas for a month and has now taken off with his buddies for Japan, China and Thailand. He has a nice 25-year-old, Texas Hold’em life!

Love,

Sandy

Postscript:  My friend, Linda “Doyley” Calder, who grew up in Alberta, Canada, remarked how Vancouver had always meant the ocean to her, visiting from inland. She noticed I only referenced the surrounding mountains. I had to laugh…I never saw the ocean there! My excuse: our visit was brief, our views not to the east, and we live on the ocean in Brazil, so do not seek out the sea as enthusiastically as we used to.

Scottsdale-Phoenix Dispatch

Words with Friends. The online scrabble game. The reason my blog has been neglected, despite a USA/Canada trip, Carnaval in Rio Grande do Norte, and our recent week in Buenos Aires. So, I’ve now declined two “Words” contenders and vowed to refocus my life - one day at a time.

I write these dispatches for myself as much as anyone – as memoir and the capturing of impressions, but I’m so tardy that a couple of people from the dispatch recipient list have inquired. That is so sweet!

In late January, after arriving São Paulo>Houston, Newton headed to a trade show in California and I headed for Phoenix, Arizona to visit my sister Dorothy and brother-in-law Bill at their winter home in nearby Scottsdale. Bleary-eyed from only one hour of sleep in 24, I was excited nevertheless to see them and their condominium on a lake. As Dorothy shepherded me through the house and I marveled at her great decorating job, a funny look came across her face as she nudged me towards the kitchen. Who was sitting at the table, but sister Donna from New Jersey and sister Janet from Denver. A surprise Sisters’ Reunion!! The shock bolted me out of my sleep-deprived stupor, though I was truly grateful they had not gone with Plan B: to hide in the closet till I started unpacking; clearly heart attack material for easily-startled me! We are rarely all together; most recent was in Tulsa a year ago November when Mother died. We had even managed a reunion here in Brazil two years prior to that, so we’re improving as we retire and age!

                              Donna, Dorothy, Janet and I

Much of the week together entailed some interior design solutions, particularly new cushions for a lounge chair and ottoman. While Bill worked daily on his golf strokes, the sisters covered the city in search of the perfect fabric and, when about to despair, discovered this great one that – it turns out - my old dear friend since way back in my textile days, David Barrow, had worked on! Dorothy and Bill have furnished their condominium mainly with great quality second-hand furniture and paintings from the consignment shops of Scottsdale. Here are the results:

We also spent some time on Dorothy and Bill’s catamaran called Prickly Pair, docked out front. The two of them take it for a spin on their lake most every evening. (This is one emblem of their dual lives in Scottsdale…golf, yoga, relaxation, boat rides…and in their home of many decades, Durango, Colorado, where they are pillars of the community…Rotary (Bill was the governor!), Salvation Army, book club, and more commitments than I can name.) We all loved the tranquility of our boat rides in this pretty place!

While each of my sisters is outstanding in countless ways, particularly as three of the best grandmothers I’ve ever seen, I would like to dedicate this dispatch to Dorothy and Bill, who celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary with us. We went to the Talking Stick Casino for an outstanding dinner, but what made the evening so memorable was the question Bill asked us over cocktails on a little terrace: “What do you remember about our wedding day?”

Back when Dorothy and Bill were teenagers, the year was 1961, she went off to college, being some months older than Bill, still a senior in high school. Come New Year’s Day, 1962, Dorothy gave birth to their son Brad, though she didn’t really look pregnant in big sweatshirts. They married a few days later. I was 11; Donna, 13; and Janet, already married and a mother by then. Dorothy and Bill did not trumpet their 50^th anniversary, coinciding as it did with their son’s 50^th birthday, but, times have changed, and recalling the details of a very young couple having a baby rather unexpectedly and the way they, through their love and the love that surrounded them, not only made it work, but produced two generations, so far, of one of the most amazing extended families anywhere – clearly their accomplishment deserves nothing short of jubilation! And for the sisters, the celebration of Dorothy & Bill’s anniversary is always a celebration of our incomparable parents who, back 50 years ago, had only one thing to say to their frightened pregnant daughter, “We love you.”

Brad, of Durango, got his degree in percussion: from timpani to jazz to composing; he runs Bill’s recreational vehicle business, just built an entirely ‘green’ home, and coaches wrestling at the high school. He is married to Tracy. Accomplishments aside, Brad carried into his generation my father’s depth and search for the greater cosmic truths. Their children are Emily, heading for the tip of South America; Mary, a professional dancer and choreographer in Chicago; Nick, a high school ice hockey ace who also just won a state title in wrestling; and Bradley, also in high school and also a wrestling and hockey aficionado (and oh, both so handsome!).

 

 

 

 

Dorothy and Bill’s son Todd, of New York City, is publishing his second children’s book and a wonderful autobiography about his crazy foray back into wrestling after finishing college (he wrestled for NYU and got a degree in film): Wrestling for Gable describes his grueling attempt to place with the University of Iowa team under the tutelage of America’s most famous wrestling coach, Dan Gable, who is writing the forward for the book. It even recounts his meeting his wife Jenny there. Todd added a graduate degree in history at Iowa, then an MBA at Yale. He now works for Parents magazine. Besides the accolades, Todd is the family comedian who has directed countless family Thanksgiving videos from his original comic scripts. He is also the sweetest, most devoted husband and father imaginable! Their sons Samuel, 14, an imaginative inventor, and Ethan, 11, an imaginative filmmaker, are students at The Studio School in Manhattan.

 

 

 

 

Dorothy and Bill’s daughter, April, of Woodland Hills, California, has just filled out her first application for the Olympics, crowning a career as a horse woman that dates back to her childhood. She is married to Marty, runs a beautiful stable atop a hill in Topanga Canyon, has completed a couple of triathlons, and maintains a formidable riding competition record. Accolades aside, she has always set her sights high and made her dreams come true, sanity intact! Their lucky children are Ryan, 7, another ice hockey ace, and Addie, 6, the one who carries my Mother’s fearless openness into the next generation.

 

 

So here’s to you, Dorothy and Bill.

 

 

 

 

We all visited a very special place, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. We met up there with Janet’s daughter, Amanda, who works for Southwest Airlines in Phoenix (and therefore flew immediately to Tulsa when Mother was dying and stayed by her side some hours till the end). I got to pass some very rare time with Amanda perusing the exhibits, which are arranged geographically. Earphones tune in to each display’s video to show not just the traditional instruments being played, but the native dances they accompany. It is a beautiful and marvelous place. My New York friend, Jeffrey Greene, plays all sorts of traditional instruments with his group, Tribecastan. When I told him I had seen the museum, it turns out the MIM had requested a video from Tribecastan. If that had been up during my visit, I would have really flipped out! Here are Russian balalaikas:

 

 

 

 

To make the trip complete, we had Mexican food with Amanda’s son, Derek, 17, a Chinese-speaking, long distance bike-riding Eagle Scout, and daughter, Lauren, 14, an exceptional artist, soccer queen, and smart and funny beauty. It was so fun seeing their rooms and getting a glimpse into their lives, which usually feel as if continents away.

OK. On to Vancouver!

Love,

Sandy