LA sunset: perpetual twilight

Twilight at the Getty Center, perched above the city and the ocean.

I just spent five days in LA, scurrying from museum to museum, soaking up as much art and sunshine as possible. I had two great traveling companions, my mom and my Aunt T. We visited the Getty Center and Getty Villa; LACMA and the LaBrea tar pits by moonlight; the Huntington Library and an odd little place with a long name: The Museum of Jurassic Technology. And we saw Mick Jagger, fellow art lover! (Just last week I was at the Met in New York on the same day as Mick -- the usually grim guards were apopleptic!)




Who knew LA was so green? We arrived after a winter of heavy rains, and were rewarded with abundant plant life on every hill and overpass. LA is louder, brighter, more sun-bleached than reality. It's like a movie.

new york sunset: city of angles

new york sunset: city of angles, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

We spent the last week in New York, celebrating a wedding, some babies, a few toddlers, and one new pregnancy. It was a full week! My mom and I joked that the whole trip was a family planning pitch directed at the visiting young couple.
Nick was very sick for the first half of the trip, and as soon as he felt better he hurt his shoulder, so that was kind of rough. But we managed to have a pretty wonderful trip. Thank you everyone.

hothouse colors

tulips on my work table

I LEGO NY

As part of what we like to call the Lego Generation, we will always have a soft spot for those hard, sharp little building blocks. That being said, Legos don't usually make us cry unless we step on one, transforming that soft spot from a nostalgic emotion into a very real and tender pad of your foot.

This week amazing illustrator Christoph Niemann delighted the ex- Legoists and ex-New Yorkers here in our house, when the NY Times published the latest installment of his Abstract City Blog.

An exercise in contrasting materials

DSC_0006.JPG, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Soft and sharp, cool and warm. Let the new year be full of exciting new experiences.

picnic dinner at sunset

sunset at Golden Gardens, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Here's something spontaneous that I want to repeat every single night of the summer: we made calzones (personalized with our names spelled out in olives and tomato sauce), jumped in the car, and drove to the beach at Golden Gardens. The calzones were still hot when we got to the beach five minutes later.

We sprawled out on the big pink blanket and watched the other families on the beach while Bauhaus kicked as much sand as fast as he could onto the blanket and everything. He dug a substantial hole and lay down in it, leaving us with a small hillock of sand to rest on.

We took lots of photos in the luxurious evening light. It was almost 8:30 when we took these, and there were still lots of people enjoying our neighborhood beach. This first summer evening is a perfect example of why I wanted to move here. Calzones, sandy dogs, and 9 o'clock sunset.

These are my era-appropriate sunglasses that I wear when we drive in the camper. I believe they once belonged to my sister Eva, who is also era-appropriate to the camper. Eva is coming to spend the summer with us. I can't wait to share this wonderful place with her, including many more picnics.

pie and roses

pie and roses, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Summing up May, a month which begins with handpicked flowers laid out on the front doorstep and ends with strawberries ripening in the garden, is best done quickly, before the delicate memories wilt under summer sun. This month brought lots of celebration, including an elegant mother's day brunch, several spontaneous and chilly barbeques, long distance graduation toasts, and a few relaxing evenings in our little "garden" with friends.

My friend Kim, an artist from Brooklyn, came to visit with KJ, another ex-New Yorker friend who lives here in Seattle now. These two were beyond gracious guests: Kim walked right into the kitchen and started baking a strawberry-rhubarb pie! The little rose next to the pie is our very first blossom of the season. I couldn't take a photo of our first strawberry of the season because I had to wrench it from the jaws of our beastie.