Girls Will Be Girls

Those classic 'Grown Up Lady' Shoes

What little girl hasn't tried on her mommy's shoes and played 'grown-up'?  I know I did as a child.

Next question: Do you remember our little Bianca?  She's the baby girl whose birth was chronicled on these pages two years ago.

"TWO YEARS?" you may ask!  Yes.  It's really been that long.  Our little princess will turn two next month. That's old enough to be sneaking on her mommy's shoes ...

That look says it all!  Will I be in trouble for this?

You are never too little to want to be a fine lady.  Bianca poses quite beautifully for the camera.

I guess she didn't get in trouble, after all!

Our little model, the beautiful Bianca

Watch out, mom!  In the blink of an eye she'll be all grown up for real and wanting these:

I couldn't resist posting this photo...
Christian Louboutin is to shoes what Mozart is to music

Yes.  It's inevitable.  Brace  yourself.

Sigh.

Springing Forward

I believe my Spring may be broken

Oooooh.  Daylight Savings Time.  How I hate it.

I try to be upbeat on this blog, but I truly have trouble with DST.  It was hard getting up for church yesterday, and harder getting up for work this morning.

Even Jack, my cat, was having trouble this morning.  Yesterday he was all, like, "WOW!  Mom's getting up early! Cool!"  This morning he was more like, "You're doing this AGAIN?  What's the matter with you?"

Yes, Jack.  It's call Daylight Savings Time and it really stinks, doesn't it?  It messes with your body clock, and your head.  Traffic accidents increase following the time change.  Heart attacks spike.

You'd think we'd get the message.

Ben Franklin, father of DST

I blame Ben Franklin.  Not that he was a bad man.  He just lived in the day before electrical lights, when it made sense to want to increase your daylight hours.  These days... well, you've already read my opinion on the subject.

So, to all my friends in Arizona - aren't you lucky you don't have to put up with this?  And to all the rest of you - good luck.  For the next couple of weeks, as the change takes effect, you're going to need it!

My Guy Jack

Jack O'Neill

This is my boy Jack.  He was all curled up on the sofa last night, on top of several large pillows, so I had to take a photo of him.  I asked him to smile for the camera, and he posed so prettily for me, only moving his head at the very last minute because it took longer than he thought it should.

Jack is a bit impatient when it comes to my picture taking.  Still, it turned out pretty well for a quick snapshot.

As you can see, he's all wrapped up in my shawl - you know, the beautiful green one I bought for special occasions. The expensive one, meant for evenings out on the town.  It is a very soft fabric. Jack likes this material a lot.  He kneads on it.  He curls up on it.  He has generally made it his.

I'm afraid it's snagged a bit now.  Not the luxurious wrap it once was.  That's life with a cat.  Most everything I own bears the Mark of Jack. Cats have no concept of keeping things nice.

Of course, you say, I'm the crazy cat lady who lets him do these kinds of things.

Yes. I am.

I suppose it's a small price to pay for that sweet little face watching for me at the window when I come home at night.  Or the little paw that likes to tap me and remind me it's time to get up in the morning.  Love you, little guy!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Retro Thursday

Me and My Mommy

Funny how time flies.  One minute you're a little tyke being held by your mom, the next, you are looking at an ancient photo of you and your mom - and realize it's now been more than 35 years since she left this life.  It doesn't seem possible that she's been gone that long.  I miss her.

Hey, here's my thought for today: You know you are old when all your baby pictures are black and white.

And, as Indiana Jones so aptly put it, "It's not the years, it's the mileage"!  There have been a LOT of miles between here and there.  Trust me.

Which brings to mind the words of an old hymn:

Time flies on wings of lightning;

We cannot call it back.

It comes, then passes forward

Along its onward track.

And if we are not mindful,

The chance will fade away,

For life is quick in passing.

'Tis as a single day.

As wintertime doth follow

The pleasant summer days,

So may our joys all vanish

And pass far from our gaze.

Then should we not endeavor

Each day some point to gain,

That we may here be useful

And ev'ry wrong disdain?

Improve each shining moment.

In this you are secure,

For promptness bringeth safety

And blessings rich and pure.

Let prudence guide your actions;

Be honest in your heart;

And God will love and bless you

And help to you impart.

Robert B. Baird, 1855-1916

The Ark in Dordrecht

The replica of Noah's Ark

As many of you know, I team teach the adult Sunday School class in my congregation, known as the Gospel Doctrine class.  This year we are studying the Old Testament.  I really love the scriptures and the Old Testament is a favorite of mine.  I love the wonderful stories found there.

For a recent lesson on Noah, the great prophet sent to prepare the world before the flood, I came across an article about a crazy Dutch business man named Johan Huibers.  He has built an exact replica of Noah's ark that sits on the Merwede canal in the Dutch town of Dordrecht.

The ship was built with Swedish pine instead of the cypress wood specified in the scriptures, but otherwise was constructed just like the one described in the Bible.  It's 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high.

I just heard Bill Cosby in my head saying, "What's a cubit?"

Johan Huibers and his ark

Huibers and his team started their magnificent creation by welding together the metal hulls of 25 barges.  The vessel has sleeping quarters, a theatre with 50 seats, a restaurant, and several conference rooms that will hold up to 1,500 people.

They've also added some plastic animals here and there for fun and, you know, ambiance.

The Ark replica opened its doors as a museum in 2012 and is available for conferences.  The whole thing is pretty darn amazing.  It also gives you an idea of the size of the original.

I think Noah was a remarkable man.  He preached the gospel for 127 years, and, as far as we know succeeded only in saving himself and his wife, plus merely three of their many sons and their wives.  If you read the scriptures closely you will note he also had daughters who, uh, missed the boat.

 I don't know how Noah kept up his spirits and his enthusiasm for 127 years in the face of constant rejection by a very wicked world.  But he did, and ended up becoming a "second Adam" to our race.  We owe him a great debt of gratitude for his righteousness.

I am reminded of the thousands of young men and women (and a few of us oldsters) out preaching the gospel today to any and all who will listen. The Lord is again giving his children plenty of warning before the coming of his great and terrible day.

It makes you think, doesn't it?

Please Note: The original article and photos of the ark and John Huiber come from aBoatTime magazine.  The article was first published on August 3, 2012.

Franco's

One of the special things about living in Uptown Whittier is being only a couple of blocks away from one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles - Franco's Trattoria.

Franco is the real deal, an Italian chef straight from Italy, who happened to marry a lovely woman from Whittier, California and subsequently decided to open his little restaurant in the neighborhood.  How lucky are we?

My neighbors George and Ray

We love coming here.  The food is delicious and always made with fresh.ingredients.  Franco usually comes out of the kitchen, too, to ask you how you are and if you enjoyed his food.

What was left of the antipasto!

We ordered a large antipasto salad to begin with.  It fed four of us hungry adults beautifully.  I love the antipasto here.  I haven't had such good mortadella or salami since I was in Europe.  I have no idea where Franco gets them, but it's really one of the reasons we keep coming!

The House Lasagna

Peggy loved her lasagna.

Ray couldn't remember the name of the pasta dish he ordered, but it looked good!

I realized after I photographed everyone else's food, I'd forgotten to photograph mine!  I had a Pasta Puttanesca that was to die for.  It had eggplant and red, yellow and green bell peppers in it- and black olives, the puttanesca, or 'little pillows' the dish is named for (yeah, that's the cleaned up version of the dish's name).  Yum!

Pork Chops with fettucine

I had enough of my pasta left over for a nice Sunday lunch.  There usually isn't much left over from the meals here.  We tend to attack every morsel greedily.

Peggy and I posing for the camera

We had plenty of time before curtain time at the community theatre, so we wandered over to Mimo's farther down Greenleaf.  It was warm enough we could sit outside comfortably with light jackets on.

Mimo's also has good food.  They cater mostly to the breakfast, lunch and snack crowd.  Their outside seating, with large umbrellas, is a nice place for people-watching.

The rest wanted coffee.  I just sat and enjoyed the pleasant February evening.

Ray and Peggy ordering 

I really do love living in Uptown.  (Note: they tried calling it The Village for half a minute in the 60s, and some local signage still bears that moniker, but the local residents stubbornly refuse to stop calling it Uptown.)

It's nice to have all these great places within walking distance.  I love Franco forever for coming to my neck of the woods and starting his restaurant here.  If you want good Italian food - if you want REAL Italian food, you will truly enjoy Franco's.  You can get a bowl of soup and bread for about $5, meals are in the $10-12 range.

Enjoy!

On the Jazz

Christian

Who does an Arizona transplant root for at a Jazz versus Suns basketball game?

My brother isn't telling.

Last week he and his youngest son, Christian, took the time for a Father-Son outing.  They had a good time together at the basketball game.

Father-Son outings are good things.

Have a great week!