Back to LA life....

It was nice to be back and actually it did seem like home. LA was warm, sunny and green and the house felt welcoming as we got in, but empty too without Lulu. I collected Lulu the next day and she in her usual fashion wagged practically her whole body for the next hour. They said they ‘genuinely loved having her’ and called her ‘a doll’. I don’t think I’ll have trouble with booking her in again. She was exhausted when we got back and laid in the sun to sleep, which is what I did too, after the exhausting week of partying. 😊

On the TV news this week they were talking about the anniversary of the horrific Columbine High School Massacre in Denver. They reported that there was a real threat of an 18 year old girl from Florida, who had been fascinated by the killings and was possibly making her way to the town to recreate it. That alone was terrifying, but she managed to not only get tickets there despite being tracked by authorities, but was ‘legally’ able to buy a shot gun and disappeared- how the hell was she ‘legally’ allowed to buy a gun- I thought you had a waiting period- it’s crazy! The police found her dead by suicide apparently.

There has been further evidence that Trump is losing it! The tweets are getting more bizarre and outrageous, saying that the Muller report was ‘total bullshit’. I very much doubt he had read any of the 300 pages. One day he’s announcing total exoneration, and yet the report said that nothing could be proven – slightly different. They found that there were over 100 Russian meetings during the presidential campaign. At least 21 of his own staff admitted conflict and lies and refusal to do what he instructs as they know it is illegal. In the report top Trump aids admit to fearing criminal recrimination. He’s mad about it- what a shame! This morning I watched the close ally and legal representative of Trump, Rudy Giuliani, say that it is OK to accept information from the Russians – I assume that was about Clinton – these people will do anything to win. They have no ethics, do they? The horrific Sri Lanka bombings were on the BBC news, but very little mentioned on US news….very sad!

I’ve bought a small book on American History called ‘Master American History – 1 minute a day’ to get some more background. It’s an interesting read, but I realised I probably could do with a British version too (although that may be rather a bigger book! 😊).

The next few days were lovely and quiet filled with sunshine, washing, ironing and a bit of housework. The garden has come to life with leaves on trees, long grasses and beautiful flowers. There is a large bush on the patio which has the most beautiful vibrant pink flowers covering it. The walls around the patio are also now filled with bright green leaves on what I had thought was dead vine. There are a number of hummingbirds visiting now and you can sit and watch them buzzing and swooping around the lawn and drinking from the flowers. My neighbour Marla bought me a humming bird feeder for a house warming present, which they seem to love.

I have also got ready for starting my pottery classes by sketching ideas for pottery pieces inspired by my Mexican adventure. I have also started preparation on a watercolour based on the Van Gogh painting ‘The Starry Night’, but with an LA landscape.

So back to USA medical issues: we’ve finally got our medical cards through and we were told to go online and pick a practice which we did. We then told the insurance company which Medical Centre we had picked and received a new card with that referenced on it.

According to the website, we then have to make an appointment to register and get a free examination. Mark rang the centre and was told it was an extra $2,500 just to belong to this named centre!!!! The named doctor is called a concierge, whatever that is. It’s a mine field isn’t it- even with advice from marks work it’s not clear. It’s not about health but making money it seems so far. We called the insurance company to enquire if that was normal and they said that most surgeries don’t charge. When asked which don’t charge, the man said he didn’t know and we had to work through the list on their website ringing to ask each one if they charge. What a bloody stupid system!!!

We’ve had a few issues trying to get the pool temperature right. While Max and Dani were here, we managed to get it totally wrong and heat the entire pool to the temperature of the spa, goodness knows what that cost us. Anyway, we cracked it now (with HoseB’s help) and have the pool at a respectable 70 degrees and the spa at 96 degrees, which is lovely at the end of an evening with the garden lights on.

It was my birthday on Friday and Mark brought me breakfast in bed. Mark bought me a beautiful ring and the kids bought me a very jazzy cabin suitcase from a shop called Brighton. I had a lovely facetime chat with Mum and Dad and then Poppy. I had a fleeting chat with the boys as they were otherwise engaged on an exciting stag weekend.

We went shopping in the afternoon to the trendy and hip Westfield Centre and had lunch there in the food court which has every type of food imaginable including vegan, right through to sushi, Chinese, Mexican and Italian.

Mark and I were doing a bit of people watching and saw there was a long queue of teenagers at a stand, which made a dessert using liquid nitrogen called Dragon Nitro Puff. I thought it was fruit and it looked intriguing. Upon paying $7 for a tub, we watched the lady fill the pot with the gas, which I have to say looked impressive. Unfortunately, when eating it, we discovered that they were cornballs and really disgusting. Won’t be buying that again for sure.

The weather was so hot that we’ve had a lovely swim in the pool and managed to get Lulu to come in and out. She is getting better and better and loves swimming to get her ball. I have ordered her a bright orange swimming vest so she can go deeper in the pool. I will take some pictures when she gets it.

Mark took me to Geoffrey’s restaurant on Malibu beach in the evening which is only 30 minutes away. We travelled on the long and winding Virgenes Canyon Boulevard, which is a beautiful road, with steep slopes and sheer edges. This road looks like the ones used in the movies like the Italian Job and Austin Powers. There were large boulders and stones on the side of the road that had fallen from the top.

We sat under patio heaters and watched the orange to red sunset, listening to soft and then roaring waves. You couldn’t see where the sea stopped and the sky began. It was so beautiful. The restaurant was raised one street above the houses on the beach, that looked practically in the sea. The food was wonderful and the atmosphere magical.

On Saturday Lulu unfortunately got something in her eye and she was in pain, so we rushed her to the vet. They discovered a grass seed head lodged in her third eyelid – I never knew dogs had this. The vet did scans etc. of the eye and saw a large scratch on the surface. She was in pain, but she is so good natured and didn't make a massive fuss. The vets were fantastic and made up one of the medicines by talking her blood and spinning it with the medication - very high tech. The vets even called the next day to find out how she was - now that's service! So poor Lulu now has to wear the cone of shame and we have to put drops and cream in her eye 3 times a day. She is much better now though.

The grass heads on the back orchard have small barbs on them and can be dangerous, so we bought a strimmer and spent the rest of the day strimming back the grasses. It’s a very steep hill and difficult to clear. I was raking the grasses up, as it is a worry that if we leave the cuttings they could be a tinder box. We’ve only managed a third so far, but at least there are areas where Lulu can safely wander now. I have to say Mark and I were worried about finding wildlife in the long grasses as there is no way to hear the hissing of rattle snakes over the noise of the strimmer. Any hoo, we have been told that the fence is snake proof…

On Sunday we decided to visit the Ronald Reagan museum in Simi Valley to see the Pompeii exhibition. Mark kept taking the mickey out of me as I kept pronouncing it as the Pompey exhibition. 🤣

It is a fantastic place set high on the edge of the Simi Valley overlooking the beautiful green Fernando Valley. There was lots of information about the Reagan landslide victory, as well as the cold war and the talks with Gorbachev leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall. I know that the museum was obviously going to be pro Reagan, but after listening to a few of his speeches and seeing his own hand written notes, it is in sharp contrast to Trump’s rhetoric for sure. There was a walkway between parts of the museum where they displayed boards showing all of the American Presidents with their backgrounds, wives and accomplishments – right from Washington to Trump. Not many people appeared to be looking at the last board.

In the main body of the museum was the plane Airforce One and his helicopter which was amazing to see. The whole side of the building was glass and you could see the panoramic view of the Fernando Valley. We had a hotdog and a bottled Guinness from The Reagan Pub – which was disgusting (apparently, he had Irish heritage).

The Pompeii exhibition was wonderful and very moving. The artefacts were amazing, but the most amazing were the figures, which were incredibly moving. They showed the humanity and reality of the tragedy of it.

I have another week on my own again next week as Mark is in Frankfurt and London, so its back to the Gym, Pottery and Guitar.