Life seems pretty decent these days. Nothing earth-shattering, but a lot of little pleasures. For example the pleasures of a late sunset, beer and a good book.
My Mom was recently in town for a few days--it was pretty great to spend some time with her. One thing she pointed out was the huge purple-flowering trees in Los Angeles. I guess I got used to them and stopped noticing, but they're pretty and unique--certainly no trees in Chicago look like these. There are a bunch near my house:
If anyone knows what kind of trees these are, do let me know.
The Mom and me did a fun "culture" type thing--we went to the Getty Villa. It's awesome there, the whole place is a replica of an ancient Roman villa from Pompeii. It's gorgeous and contains an amazing collection of Greek and Roman artifacts. A few things I really liked there:
A striking bronze winged feline from 6th century BC Iberia:
A badass Parthian drinking horn from around 50 BC. I would so totally swill beer out of this if I could get a replica:
Speaking of swilling, here is Bacchus himself, three sheets to the wind,sitting on top of some empty wine skins and still calling for more. Needless to say, he's just about my favorite mythological figure.
All in all it was a great visit with the Mom. If you can stand the cuteness, here's the two of us at the Getty Villa:
So that's it. I'm slogging forward, writing, auditioning, trying to plan some travel in the next few months. And I'm trying to find some time to think big. I think it's time for a grand venture. I'll let you know more about that when I do.
I hope everyone is well out there in SG land. I remain your sometimes snarky, but ever affectionate correspondent.
--A
ew time stamp. sounds weird and dirty.