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GOOD-BYE, MRS. LEAFY

...Continued from yesterday:
In my daughter and son-in-law's back yard there is one great soaring palm tree that my grand daughters named Mrs. Leafy.

The image of Mrs. Leafy was just one of many that I was already missing as I sat at my gate at the Los Angeles airport early in the morning of May 26, waiting for my 8:25am flight to Portand, Oregon, where I planed on spending a week visiting my sister Romaine.

My mate was already on his way home, having taken an earlier flight back to Columbus.

...and so I sat by myself scrolling through my pictures of the things I'd captured and wanted to remember, just the ordinary things that were part of the ordinary days.

Homework assignments,

...and Girl Scout projects.

Saturday chores,

...and Saturday games.

...an afternoon at the beach,

...and evenings of music.

Making a special dessert on the last night of our visit,

...and leaving a plain piece in case someone doesn't like fruit.

Pinky,

...Yajou,

...and all the moments that were simply moments.

I wished I could have had just a little more time. Just one more day. But my time was up for this visit and soon enough my plane was boarding and my group being called. It was time to go.
I handed my boarding pass to the gate attendant. Was I in for a surprise.
To be continued....

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The Existential Mystery Of Butterflies

6/15/2021

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THE EXISTENTIAL MYSTERY OF BUTTERFLIES

...Continued from yesterday:
Oh happy day, the butterflies have arrived!
This morning two of the eight chrysalides hanging - literally - around my daughter's back yard,

...hatched into butterflies.
The chrysalides this morning:

The newborn butterflies this afternoon (with a caterpillar photo-bombing one of the shots):

The news of the butterflies was cause for much joy along the family text thread.

And me, I've spent the afternoon thinking about butterflies and the metamorphosis by which they come into existence.
I've never before thought excessively about butterflies, even less about how they turn into what - or maybe who - they are. But now that I know more about the process and was personally involved with the care and nurturing of these particular butterflies when they were among the cadre of hungry little caterpillars eating their way through my daughter's garden (See yesterday's post, "The Buttas"),

... I find myself trying to wrap my brain around the existential mystery of metamorphosis.
Think about it: The caterpillar is living its life when its body is invaded from inside by this growing green thing that destroys the caterpillar's body and sloughs it off like dead skin. But here's what has set me to pondering: What happens during metamorphosis to the caterpillar's consciousness, essence, spirit, whatever you want to call it? I suppose we could call it the caterpillar's mind, that immaterial thing that in humans makes us who we are, gives of us our unique individuality and is a function of our brain.
So what does happen to the caterpillar's mind during and after its metamorphosis? Does the chrysalis start growing around the caterpillar's brain, in which case the caterpillar would still be itself as a chrysalis and later as a butterfly? This would make sense, I suppose, as the caterpillar voluntarily hangs itself upside down,

...and the chrysalis grows from the head, where I assume the caterpillar's brain, such as it is, would probably be.
So are the chrysalis and the butterfly the same individual - this is, have the same mind - as the caterpillar they started out as?
Or is it possible that the butterfly ends up a different individual - that is to say, with a different mind - from the caterpillar?
While the chrysalis is destroying the caterpillar's body, might the caterpillar's mind exist in both the caterpillar and the chrysalis? Or does the chrysalis have its own mind that will be the mind of the butterfly when it is born? In which case, does the caterpillar's mind die along with its body?
But here's the most mind-churning question of all for me: If the caterpillar and the subsequent butterfly are the same individual but the caterpillar's mind dies when its body does - as minds generally do - how does the caterpillar's identity re-emerge in the butterfly's body?
I don't know whether it's a question for science or theology.

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The Buttas

6/14/2021

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THE BUTTAS

...Continued from yesterday:
In the small garden behind my daughter's house there grows a patch of bright orange flowers called butterfly weed.

During our visit these butterfly weeds were living up to their name, as the plants were crawling with beautiful yellow- and black-striped monarch caterpillars,

...who apparently find the leaves most delicious and nourishing to nosh upon in this early stage of their journey to one day becoming monarch butterflies.

And nosh these future butterflies did.

These hungry little tenants - whom we nicknamed the Buttas - were objects of fascination for us all. Multiple times during the day we would go out to the butterfly weeds to check on the Buttas.

Concerned that the Buttas have a solid, secure structure from which to hang while they transformed from caterpillar into chrysalis into monarch, Tom and our daughter moved some trellises from another part of the garden into the milkweed. patch,

...and gerryrigged together what they figured would be a nice hanging structure for the chrysalides.

Day by day the Buttas appeared well and thriving; the butterfly weeds, less and less so. For the plants were being stripped of their leaves by the very hungry caterpillars, who, it became clear, were about to run out of provisions in this garden patch.

A grocery run was called for. And so on the last day of our visit Tom, our grand daughter and I made a trip to Home Depot for more butterfly weeds.

My daughter decided that along with stocking her garden with butterfly weeds, she would gift a couple of friends with the plant so as to encourage the proliferation of Buttas and the monarchs they would grow into. so we bought plants for the friends, too.

Last I saw, the Buttas appeared to be enjoying the extra munchies.

 Butta Update:
My daughter has kept me apprised of the progress of the Buttas. The first week in June, for the most part eschewing the fine trellis structure that had been built for them, they began attaching themselves upside down to various spots around the back yard,

...shedding their beautiful black, white, and yellow skin from the bottom up,

...until each had transformed into an emerald green chrysalis. The black bunching at the top is the remains of the skin.

As of yesterday, June 13, the Buttas were still chrysalides, leaving us all to ponder the how and why of the existential magic trick of a caterpillar disappearing then popping out of a bright green box in the identity of a butterfly.

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I Love The Venice Canals. (The Other Venice Canals).

6/11/2021

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I LOVE THE VENICE CANALS. (THE OTHER VENICE CANALS).

...Continued from yesterday:
Everyone who knows me well knows that I love the Venice Canals.
Not the ones in Venice, Italy, which I found kind of creepy,

In fact I've been to Venice, Italy twice and both times I found the whole city kind of creepy. I don't know, too much water, or something. I kind of felt like I was stuck out in the middle of the ocean, which I guess I actually was. And then I read this scary novel called "Vaporetto 13" set in Venice which really creeped me out, as did the movie "Don't Look Now", another spine-chiller set in Venice. And then there's "Death In Venice", where, well, the guy dies in Venice (no spoiler, it's in the title), and a sci-fi short story version of that classic I once read called "Old, Old Death In New, New Venice," which also didn't give me a good feeling about the place.
Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of Venice, Italy. Maybe it's because I never learned to swim.
Ah, but warm, sunny, Venice, California is another story, and so are its canals.

For me the Venice - California - canals never seem to lose their magic.
So when my son-in-law kindly suggested a Saturday morning trip to the canals for my benefit, I considered it a splendid idea, which it did, in fact, turn out to be.
Upon entering the city of Venice the vista is a mix of busy, palm-lined streets,

...mountains off in the distance,

...and copious traffic,

But then one parks the car, walks a half-block to the canals, and enters another world.

At one point while strolling along I declared, to no one in particular, "I love this place."
From behind me a voice answered, "So do I."
I turned to see a gent about my age. "I come here every day to walk," he said.
It's always nice to meet a kindred spirit.
To be continued...

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Manhattan Beach On A Friday Evening In May

6/10/2021

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MANHATTAN BEACH ON A FRIDAY EVENING IN MAY

...Continued from yesterday:
One Friday evening during our L.A. visit the family was invited to some friends' house for an outdoor get-together.
Did we mind, our daughter asked, being on our own for the night? To which hubby and I answered, "Hecks, no!"
We narrowed our most promising choices for an evening's diversion down to staying home and watching a movie or going for a walk along the beach. We opted for the walk along the beach.
And so we set out for Manhattan Beach,

We snagged a parking spot several blocks from the beach, then we walked to Manhattan Beach Boulevard,

...the main downtown thoroughfare, where one may cross the streets in five directions.

The restaurants, shops and streets along the Boulevard were crowded with mostly masked folks,

We walked until we reached the pier,

...which offered splendid views of the beach, strewn with volleyball nets for the professional tournaments that take place there all summer,

...as well a panorama of the houses on the Strand, the walkway that runs along the beach.

...and the Pacific Ocean, with the Palos Verdes hills visible off in the distance to the south.

...and the Santa Monica Mountains to the north.

Tom on the Manhattan Beach Pier.

We walked from the pier back to the Strand,

....towards Hermosa Beach, the next town over,

...taking in the sights along the way.

The "Walk Streets," residential pedestrian streets that run between downtown Manhattan Beach and the Strand.

As the sun began to set we turned and headed back towards the Manhattan Beach Pier,

...to downtown,

Then we headed for home.

To be continued...

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The Mediterranean Flowers That Bloom In The Spring

6/6/2021

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THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING

...Continued from yesterday:

The biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment known as the Mediterranean Ecosystem occurs in only five relatively small areas around the planet: the area bordering the Mediterranean Sea,

...central Chile,

...the Cape region of South Africa,

...southwestern Australia,

and southern California,

...in which is located the city of Los Angeles.
I've been to Los Angeles on numerous occasions at different times of the year and seen the striking flora and fauna on display there all year round.

But to see L.A. blooming in all its Mediterranean glory there's no time like mid-May.
During our visit for the last two weeks of May colorful flowers appeared to be climbing over walls,

...and through fences,

...and onto rooftops.

Flowers bloomed in the trees,

...in gardens everywhere,

...and pretty much all around the town.

There were flowers everywhere, growing effortlessly, all thanks the gift of balmy Mediterranean biology.

...or so a bloom-struck visitor like me would think.

To be continued...

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Carefully On Tiptoe And In Mask Stealing Back To The Restaurants

6/3/2021

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CAREFULLY ON TIPTOE AND IN MASK STEALING BACK TO THE RESTAURANTS

...Continued from yesterday :
Tom and I settled into our weekday routine, more or less.
After dropping the girls at school we’d head to downtown Manhattan Beach.

It appeared that the local population, though still masked for the most part, had - unlike my mate and I - bravely returned to the restaurants.

Our destination was the news shop where we’d pick up our daily copy of the New York Times.

Picking up the Times was a two-person mission.
Since parking a car in downtown Manhattan Beach was an event in and of itself,

...Tom would drop me off at the news shop then circle the block while I grabbed the paper, then he would pick me up on his way back around. Though I always zipped in and out of the store the owner soon came to know me. If I happened not to have the correct change for my paper she'd tell me not to worry about it, though on some occasions I gave her more than the amount due and insisted that she keep the change. I felt it was more equitable that way.
Our next stop was usually Ralph’s, my favorite of favorite supermarkets because of all the beautiful palm trees in the parking lot.

At Ralph's we'd pick up any needed household provisions along with the ingredients for whatever anyone might have requested for dinner, such as Grammie's home made chicken noodle soup,

...with hot rolls,

...or Grandpa's apple pie.

After our newspaper and grocery run we'd have a few hours before picking up the girls from school, during which time we read our New York Times and I generally settled into my favorite spot for some writing.

One day after we picked up our grand daughters from school they begged us to take them to Mandy's for lunch.
Mandy's is a little local eatery that Tom and I discovered years ago and that our grand daughters considered "our place" to take them for breakfast or lunch whenever we visited.

One of the staff once told us that the interior has been used on a few occasions for movie settings.

However, much as we love going with our grand daughters to "our place," Tom and I were hesitant. After all, not counting our airport breakfast a few days before of a cheesesque-coated scrambled egg tile in a bagel (see post from 5/29/2021, "Good-Bye, COVID Cocoon, Hello, Square-Egg McBagels"),

...we had not been to a restaurant since the onset of the epidemic, and we we still feeling a little COVID-spooked.
After further discussion - and begging - we decided that we would go to Mandy's; if the place was just a little crowded we would order take-out; if it was very crowded we wouldn't go inside at all.
As it turned out, when we arrived - it was about 1 pm on a Friday afternoon - the place was empty,

...except for one elderly gentleman who was sitting off by himself in a booth. We pulled in a deep breath and decided - after all, we were vaccinated and the children had been back in school for months - to risk eating our first real restaurant meal here at Mandy's.
The staff remembered us from previous visits and were as glad to see us as we were to see them.

They told us that the past year had been hard. However, they had one loyal customer who came for lunch every day - the elderly gentleman in the booth - and who always had the same meal, the surf and turf, which they invited me to take a picture of.

Tom likewise had his Mandy's standard,

...and I had mine, the fabulous Veggie Scramble,

Before we left they gave us some watermelon slices to bring home.

A few days later while out on our downtown New York Times run,

...we pondered, having eaten at Mandy's and come away none the worse so far, whether we might try eating breakfast out at another place we used to frequent back in the pre-COVID day, a Manhattan Beach spot called the Local Yolk.

Once again, we decided to do a careful reconnaissance of the place then play it by ear.

The place wasn't empty, but it wasn't crowded, either.

We decided to make our move.

A few days after that our grand daughters asked if we could again go our for lunch in honor of it having been crazy hair day at school. This time they asked to go to Johnny Rocket's. Tom and I looked at each other. "Sure," we said.

To be continued...

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Hitting The L.A. Hills

6/1/2021

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HITTING THE L.A. HILLS

...Continued from yesterday:
The day we arrived in Los Angeles the normally dazzlingly cerulean blue Los Angeles skies were overcast and grey and the air was cool, an occasional fleeting seasonal coastal phenomenon known as "June Gloom," a little premature, though, as it was still only the middle of May.

The following day began with what would become our weekday morning ritual of walking the girls to school up and down the hilly terrain.

Though it only makes sense that if the route goes uphill in one direction it should go downhill in the opposite direction, I swear, somehow it always felt to me as if we were constantly walking uphill whichever direction we walked.

Or mayhaps I was just out of shape for schlepping hills. My grand daughters, on the other hand, took to the daily uphill trek like little mountain gazelles.

It was nonetheless quite a beautiful walk,

...past lovely, whimsical gardens and flowering trees, the native flora and fauna of Southern California.

We often came across other interesting sights along the way, such as a pair of gnomes whom my grand daughters named Gnome and Jerome,

...and one time we spotted a beautiful snail.

The route was also lined with palm trees, for which I've not yet lost my Midwestern fascination.

However, my favorite part was the last leg of of the walk. When we arrived at the school we left one grand daughter off at the gate where the older children entered, then we walked across the woodsy campus with our other grand daughter to the younger children's entrance.

Along the way was what looked like a miniature outdoor theater next to a clock on a tree, which made me think of an enchanted forest,

...full of children, and, who knows? Maybe elves.

To be continued...

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Good-Bye, COVID Cocoon, Hello, Square-Egg McBagels

5/29/2021

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GOOD-BYE, COVID COCOON, HELLO, SQUARE-EGG MCBAGELS

On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, after a year and two months of COVID cocooning, hubby Tom and I, all vaccinated and ready to go, broke out and hopped a plane - two planes, actually - to Los Angeles for a long-awaited visit with our daughter, son-in-law, and grand children, whom we hadn't seen since last summer when they drove from L.A. to Columbus to spend a month sheltering in place against the pandemic with us. (See post from 7/16/2020, "A Month In The Magic Messy Kingdom").

We dusted off and packed our long-unused suitcases and at 5:45 am we were out awaiting our Uber,

...which transported us to where we hadn't been in what seemed an eon, the departure area of the "One of Us" Columbus airport (see post from 4/29/2018, "What's So Funny At The Columbus Airport" https://www.ailantha.com/blog/whats-so-funny-at-the-columbus-airport).

The airport was pretty crowded on this Wednesday morning at 6 am.

I suppose everyone was as anxious to break out of their COVID cocoon as we were.
Sadly, a number of the airport shops hadn't yet re-opened from from the pandemic-induced shut down.

Happily, the Bob Evans was still open so we were able to grab some breakfast.

Sadly, all that was on the menu was coffee, packaged cookies, egg mcbagels, and refrigerated drinks.

And so our first restaurant meal in over a year,

...was a square egg in a round bagel.

But hey, we were good.

To be continued...

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My 2021 Commencement Speech

5/25/2021

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MY 2021 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

The class of 2021 will be the second graduating class of the COVID-19 pandemic. And though this has doubtless been a weird year of continuing changes and challenges, with some students making it back to the classroom and some completing their learning long-distance, the valiant class of 2021 has reached the finish line.
As I do every year at this time when yet another graduating class ends one chapter of life to begin the next, I will now endeavor to offer the 2021 graduates a few words of worldly wisdom and advice to help them along their way on subjects that might not be covered by the keynote speakers at their socially-distanced commencement ceremonies.
And so here it is, my 2021 Commencement Speech:

1. When shopping in the supermarket, never park your cart in the middle of the aisle while you step over to search the shelves,

...but rather park your cart close to one side of the aisle so the other shoppers can easily pass.

2. When you go shopping or to the movies or to the gym or anywhere where you park in a parking lot, park as far as possible from the building. The extra walking will do you good.

3. To make perfect tater tots:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil.

Spread the frozen tater tots - any brand will do - on the sprayed foil-covered pan and spray the tots with olive oil and season with salt.

Place the tots in the pre-heated oven and bake for 18 minutes. (If your oven is cool, maybe for 20 minutes). Turn the oven to broil and place the tots on the the broiler rack. Broil for 1 minute.

Check after 1 minute, and if the tots aren't a perfect golden brown, put them back under the broiler for another 15 seconds then check again. Keep checking every 15 seconds until the tots look like this:

Then you'll have a perfect tot with an audible crunch.

4. Remember that even the worst haircut will eventually grow out.

5. It's not how you start, it's how you finish.

6. Make lists. Lists make life so much easier to navigate.

7. Before using a public bathroom always check first to make sure there is paper in the stall,

...and before you soap up your hands check first to make sure the faucet works.

8. Buy a subscription to an actual newspaper, either in print or online.

9. Remember that there are all kinds of people living in countries other than ours. Remember that we are not the only people in the world and ours is not the only country or culture on the planet.

10. Consider this quote:

11. And though life is moving back to normal compared to where we were last year, don't forget that we are still in the grip of the COVID pandemic. People are still getting sick. People are still dying. So live safely and do whatever needs to be done to promote public health in the community where you live.

12. And most important, we'll break free from the coronavirus only when we're all vaccinated. It is in the unvaccinated population that the coronavirus can proliferate and mutate into more contagious, potentially worse, potentially vaccine - resistant strains. So, GET YOUR COVID VACCINE SHOT! Do it for yourself, your family, and your community.

13. And finally: Remember, no matter how great, brilliant, and powerful we human beings may be, we do not rule the world. The microbes rule the world and they always will.

But if we all get our COVID vaccine this will be one battle in which the humans prevail.
Congratulations, class of 2021. May life treat you kindly from now on. And may next year bring you a healthy world.

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Good-Bye, Mrs. Leafy

"HAIL MARY" IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON HTTPS://WWW.AMZN.COM/1684334888

GOOD-BYE, MRS. LEAFY

The Existential Mystery Of Butterflies

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE

THE EXISTENTIAL MYSTERY OF BUTTERFLIES

The Buttas

"Hail Mary" is available on Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

THE BUTTAS

I Love The Venice Canals. (The Other Venice Canals).

Available on Amazon Kindle

I LOVE THE VENICE CANALS. (THE OTHER VENICE CANALS).

Manhattan Beach On A Friday Evening In May

Available on Amazon Kindle

MANHATTAN BEACH ON A FRIDAY EVENING IN MAY

The Mediterranean Flowers That Bloom In The Spring

Available on Amazon

THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING

Carefully On Tiptoe And In Mask Stealing Back To The Restaurants

Available On Amazon Kindle

CAREFULLY ON TIPTOE AND IN MASK STEALING BACK TO THE RESTAURANTS

Hitting The L.A. Hills

Available On Amazon Kindle

HITTING THE L.A. HILLS

Good-Bye, COVID Cocoon, Hello, Square-Egg McBagels

Available On Amazon Kindle

GOOD-BYE, COVID COCOON, HELLO, SQUARE-EGG MCBAGELS

My 2021 Commencement Speech

Available On Amazon Kindle

MY 2021 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

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"HAIL MARY" IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON HTTPS://WWW.AMZN.COM/1684334888

​​GOOD-BYE, MRS. LEAFY

​AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE

​​THE EXISTENTIAL MYSTERY OF BUTTERFLIES

"Hail Mary" is available on Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1684334888​

Available on Amazon Kindle

​I LOVE THE VENICE CANALS. (THE OTHER VENICE CANALS).

Available on Amazon Kindle

​​MANHATTAN BEACH ON A FRIDAY EVENING IN MAY

Available on Amazon

​THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING

Available On Amazon Kindle

​CAREFULLY ON TIPTOE AND IN MASK STEALING BACK TO THE RESTAURANTS

Available On Amazon Kindle

​​HITTING THE L.A. HILLS

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​GOOD-BYE, COVID COCOON, HELLO, SQUARE-EGG MCBAGELS

Available On Amazon Kindle

​MY 2021 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

Archives

Categories

GOOD-BYE, MRS. LEAFY

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE

THE EXISTENTIAL MYSTERY OF BUTTERFLIES

"Hail Mary" is available on Amazon https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

I LOVE THE VENICE CANALS. (THE OTHER VENICE CANALS).

MANHATTAN BEACH ON A FRIDAY EVENING IN MAY

THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING

CAREFULLY ON TIPTOE AND IN MASK STEALING BACK TO THE RESTAURANTS

HITTING THE L.A. HILLS

Available On Amazon Kindle

GOOD-BYE, COVID COCOON, HELLO, SQUARE-EGG MCBAGELS

MY 2021 COMMENCEMENT SPEECH