Season's Greetings, 2013

Yikes! What a crazy year we’ve had! No wonder I'm so tired. Among this year's highlights:

Not much travel, but we did go to Phoenix/Tempe for baseball spring training, plus flew to Snohomish, WA, for a wonderful reunion with family in August. I also took a solo weeklong driving tour of California, visiting friends and conducting workshops along the way. I will never drive Highway 1 again . . .

Family reunion: my little sister and me

Lots of celebrity events: attended interviews with Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Crystal, Boz Scaggs and Anjelica Huston as well as nostalgia-filled 25-year TV cast reunions for China Beach and Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Can you tell we’re baby-boomers?!)

Lots of music: concerts by Steely Dan, The Rascals, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Earth Wind and Fire, John Williams (thousands of Star Wars lightsabers!) and Danny Elfman. I also took a three-week class on Bruce Springsteen at the Grammy Museum.

Several plays: One Night With Janis Joplin, End of the Rainbow (about Judy Garland), and Backbeat: The Birth of the Beatles. Karen and I also flew up to Berkeley to see Sirs Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart perform in No Man’s Land (absolutely fabulous!).

And, of course, sports: Angels baseball was especially disappointing this year, but we were thrilled by Clippers basketball and got to see a couple of games at Staples Center.

Tim is now the ice-cream-making king, after we took a one-night class for Valentine’s. The next day, we ran right over to Williams Sonoma and bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker, which was in constant use over the summer. Our favorite flavor: baked apple (yum!).

After all these years living in Culver City, we (finally!) toured Sony Studios, located practically in our own backyard. We also watched the Emmys red carpet from Tim's workplace, and returned to Smoke Tree Ranch for yet another Disney getaway weekend. 

The backyard view from Walt Disney's original

Smoke Tree Ranch home

Our gardens were featured as part of the prestigious Theodore Payne native plants tour for a fourth year-in-a-row. Always a wonderful, if exhausting, experience.

Our own beautiful backyard

And sadly, we lost our sweet cat Cecil to cancer this summer. We miss him very much and so now shamelessly dote on his brother Beanie.

Beanie and Cecil

Wishing you and yours a joy-filled holiday and very happy New Year!