Home from California
We had a lovely trip - it was really great to see Dad home and happy! On Friday we made a run to California Wine and Cheese in Monrovia to get some Roquefort cheese so I could make him his favorite salad dressing - it's almost impossible to find true Roquefort dressing anymore. Needing a proper meal to serve such a salad, I grilled some steaks and baked some potatoes on Saturday afternoon - he loved it!
We spent Sunday afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits - the Page Museum there is wonderful! The last time I was there I must have been six or seven, and the Page wasn't even on the drawing boards yet. There was some kind of museum either there or somewhere nearby (the Natural History Museum of LA?) but I don't remember anything about it except being thrilled by the bones of the prehistoric creatures on display there. Until this trip I never knew that the bones recovered from the tar pits are not fossils - they are in fact, simply well-preserved bones.
Kate had never been to La Brea and it had always fascinated her, so some time ago I promised to take her there and I was very happy to keep that promise - she was as delighted as I was when I went there as a kid! After she (finally!) got her fill of sketching bones we headed for the beach. We decided to stay in San Clemente - I lived there back in '72 and it's one of our favorite beach towns. We spent most of Monday at Mission San Juan Capistrano where I did this sketch:
Naturally we spent a lot of time at the beach itself - a bit nippy, but nice for sketching.
Tuesday morning we headed back to Covina to spend some more time with Dad. It's very frustrating for both him and me that he has such trouble speaking, but the smile on his face doesn't require words.
We got back Wednesday right in the middle of a frog-strangler rain and it's been raining more or less off and on ever since. Still, it's good to be home.
We spent Sunday afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits - the Page Museum there is wonderful! The last time I was there I must have been six or seven, and the Page wasn't even on the drawing boards yet. There was some kind of museum either there or somewhere nearby (the Natural History Museum of LA?) but I don't remember anything about it except being thrilled by the bones of the prehistoric creatures on display there. Until this trip I never knew that the bones recovered from the tar pits are not fossils - they are in fact, simply well-preserved bones.
Kate had never been to La Brea and it had always fascinated her, so some time ago I promised to take her there and I was very happy to keep that promise - she was as delighted as I was when I went there as a kid! After she (finally!) got her fill of sketching bones we headed for the beach. We decided to stay in San Clemente - I lived there back in '72 and it's one of our favorite beach towns. We spent most of Monday at Mission San Juan Capistrano where I did this sketch:
Naturally we spent a lot of time at the beach itself - a bit nippy, but nice for sketching.
Tuesday morning we headed back to Covina to spend some more time with Dad. It's very frustrating for both him and me that he has such trouble speaking, but the smile on his face doesn't require words.
We got back Wednesday right in the middle of a frog-strangler rain and it's been raining more or less off and on ever since. Still, it's good to be home.