Category Archives: doing it wrong

Our hotel in LA was right next to the LA River.

Don’t you love it? I remember LA got a lot of heavy rains sometime this year and I was curious what it was like out there.

We did another thing I never thought I’d do: take an underground in LA.

I don’t know how long it’s been running but all the cars look like they were shipped in from Used and Beat Up Metro Cars, Inc. As soon as you get on the announcement says not to take out any money or valuables and to call the police if anything happens. Then they give the number.

There was a police presence around the metro station as well and I did not feel unsafe.

We exited at Hollywood and Highland which is where my workplace was way back in the late 80s. Hollywood is not any more glamorous than it was back then but some of the seedier tableaus aren’t that far off from what I’ve seen in downtown Portland lately which is super sad to say. We walked around the old office building which is behind razor wire and the front door and loading dock were all bricked up.

We hopped on a bus and went to the Academy Museum where we saw a terrific exhibit about John Waters and Sophia Coppola doing a signing for her book.

These are heirloom lavender poppies. My sister-in-law gave me the seeds and I love these flowers. They re-seed but I’ve been helping them in the hopes of getting more blooms.

I loathe the NextDoor app except that there is often information that is relevant to the neighborhood that I like to have access to. And also sometimes I want to sell or give something away and I don’t do any other apps so for the time being I use this app.

But if I spend more than 5 minutes a day on it, all I do is mute people and think ungenerous thoughts about my neighbors.

I’m always fascinated by the people who show up on the app and then after one day, they have some super terrible tragedy and link to a GimmeMoney app. It’s a good grift because there are always people who want to give them money. They’re grown-ups. It’s their money. But seems like better ways to help people out.

I just read a book called The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer which I recommend if you like character driven books and stories about long friendships.

This story begins with the friends meeting at a summer camp in the 70s. The time frame was also perfect for me.

I went to summer camp 2 times in the 70s.

Once was a girl scout camp called Camp Lakota. The other was Camp Hollywoodland. I can still sing the theme song. Call me if you want to hear it.

In the book, the camp was for creative kids and they did plays and made music and pottery. Neither of my camps had a theme. There was swimming and making lanyards and tromping around and lots of singing.

Here’s the thing: I don’t remember making a friend at either camp. I don’t remember liking camp very much. I think Camp Lakota was sketchy because it seemed like there was barely enough food. They would pass it around family style and the first to it would pick the biggest pieces so someone like me would get the tiny chicken wing for dinner. Hollywoodland had its regulars and had some pre-made cliques which I had as much luck with as in regular school.

Still liked the book and other stories where kids have fun at camp.

For someone who bakes bread as much as I do, I still make a surprising number of fail loafs.

I use a scale. I’m familiar with my kitchen. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work.

Lately, I’ve had good luck. I switched to Instant Dry yeast. I used to err on the side of hurrying up if I was in a pinch. I have been putting the dough in the refrigerator and then not worrying about it until I have time to bake.

I use a no knead recipe with sourdough.

This was the latest pretty loaf.

Our building decorates an elevator for Halloween. It’s always a surprise at the beginning of the month when you wander into the building at zero dark thirty, in a daze because you haven’t had any tea yet, and the elevator doors open to this.

I love it.

I was going to post this yesterday but I’m barely going to make this 30 day thing as it is, I’m starting November with a Halloween post.

The dog skeleton on the left can howl but they don’t leave it switched on all the time. We had a safety meeting and at one point this quiet howling noise could be heard and then everyone laughed when they figured out that the elevator must have stopped on our floor.

The Cerberus also moves and barks but it’s usually switched off.

We always joke that the rain is starts after Halloween and goes to the 4th of July but often, it turns out to be true.

The last two days I had a walk at lunch because it looks pretty soggy after this.

I did all the writing I thought I had time for and I was short 92 words so I powered through and added a bit more.

5168 / 5000 words. 103% done!

I knew it was going to freeze so I picked the last of the pretty dahlias in the yard.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one but, — I just can’t get on top of anything. Last week I said: I feel like I’m dog paddling and barely keeping my head above water.

Yup, froze. I told my friend: it’s like if you put lettuce in the freezer. It’s never the same again.

What possible better idea could there by when feeling overwhelmed then deciding to do a modified NaNoWriMo?

Part one of the modification is that I started this month with a goal of 5K.

On October 29, here’s how I’m doing:

2859 / 5000 words. 57% done!

The rest of the plan is 20k next month plus a daily blog post that might be just a photo on some days.

I just ate some Halloween candy that was pure flavored sugar and now my lips and tongue are blue and my heart is racing! I’m off to do some yard work.

I could not successfully embed this so you have to click through to YouTube. No time to troubleshoot.

Well now I can’t even link it. What is wrong with me? One more try:

Link to clip of Arky Barking.

This is Arky, short for Archimedes. I don’t think his namers knew him that well when they gave him that name. Here he is letting me know that unless I am giving him treats, he isn’t much of a fan.

He is super adorable which is good for him because he is a fire-cracker and would have been fed to the wolves by now if not for those wide-eyes.

Here he is again in his Halloween costume. Cute little bat dog. He did let me pet him a little bit but only (a) during the process of giving him treats or (b) if he was super tired and his mom was right next to me.

This is Luna. Even less of a fan than Arky. She would growl at me even if I was completely minding my own business. She did hold my hand this one time when I held the cup for her to lick the foam.

This is the whole pack on a library walk. The big brown dog is Clover and she is a sweetie except she doesn’t really like other dogs and can yank your arm off during a walk if you aren’t paying attention. The cattle dog is Millie and she is blind and old and kind of angry about it — but will still snuggle and accept petting.

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I just re-read the last post I did about the squash and realized I never finished my thought about the squash seeds out front but I have a couple of very pretty pumpkins out there that haven’t been harvested yet. Details to come.

My other news is that I had my first tooth extraction yesterday. I didn’t love it but it wasn’t as bad as I expected.

During a regular exam my dentist found some sketchy looking areas around one of my teeth. It’s a miracle that the tooth wasn’t causing me problems. Yesterday it came out. I probably would have been fine but I went home and sat on the couch for the rest of the day. I didn’t eat anything except mashed up fruit and yogurt so I’m feeling wonky this morning. I expect once I eat, I’ll be about 99%.