Friday morning I had to take my car back to the VW repair place in Lafayette, after calling first to make sure they were open. (We've always had Good Friday off at work, it's not unusual for local small businesses to be closed that day.) They'd already had it most of the week; I don't want to get into the details, which are boring, but it's a ( Read more... )

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Linda Kasabian, Charles Manson follower who helped send him to prison, dies at 73

This was first reported a couple of days ago, but I only heard about it today. She actually died in January, but because she was living under a different name it took a while for the news to filter out.

By a weird coincidence, last night I re-watched The Center Will ( Read more... )

Joan Didion's Celine sunglasses sold for $27,000 at auction. You can buy a brand new pair from their website for $440 ( Read more... )

Hudson's Stair Galleries is auctioning several items from the estate of Joan Didion.

Her extensive artwork is expected to fetch the highest prices, but I would kill for those Celine sunglasses. In Where I Was From, Didion wrote of being told she had her grandmother's eyes, that "watered at the first hint of sunlight, primroses, or raised voices", ( Read more... )

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I'm currently re-reading Tracy Daugherty's biography of Joan Didion, The Last Love Song. I read it the first time right after it was published, when Didion was still alive and had just published what would be her last original work, Blue NightsI can't imagine--although maybe I'll eventually have to--what it's like to outlive everyone you ever loved ( Read more... )