Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch features are these two photos of the two main courtyards at Los Angeles' Getty Center. The upper photo is the courtyard where the cable car which take visitors up the hill comes in and the lower one is the courtyard where the small food service is, you can see it on the right side of the photo where the parasols are.

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, you can visit the Skywatch Friday blog.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, happy Canada to my fellow Canadians and happy 4th of July to my American readers!

Today I...June 29th

Today I...

...am having a pictureless post.

...had a very quiet day at work.

...went to my friend V's apartment as I will be looking after her cat over the weekend. I was very happy that we were able to get together today as she had a spare set of keys to my place for when she looks after my cats. I locked myself out of my apartment when I left for work this morning, you see, so I had two reasons to go and see her. Thank heavens I have spare sets of keys floating around!

...met up with P and A after meeting leaving V's place. I was so absolutely thrilled to see them both and A is enchanting. She wanted me to hold her hand as soon as we met, came to sit on my lap while we ate dinner and wanted me to feed her and then wanted me to carry her in my arms on our way to the metro station after we finished dinner. This was a good thing as walking to the restaurant from the metro took at least a half hour since A, being a typical almost two year-old, was fascinated by everything around her and so stopped a lot. When I carried her in my arms to go to the metro, we made it there in about seven minutes. Piece of cake, but now my arms are a bit sore lol I am looking forward to seeing them both again on Sunday!

Today I...June 28th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of one of the zillions of monkeys that call the Granby Zoo home with you. I had no clue how many different species of monkeys there were until I visited this zoo! These ones were the most cooperative ones, the other monkeys would either turn their back to me or not hold still long enough to allow me to take pictures. They were monkeys though, so I wasn't too surprised by their attitudes :o)

...had a very busy day at work.

...spent a lot of time zoning out, thinking bout my Sweetheart. At one point late this afternoon, I zoned out while walking over to send a fax and only snapped out of it when I realized that I was heading not to the fax machine, but into the bathroom across from the room where the fax is. I smirked to myself and was very happy that no one saw me do such a silly thing. I think it's time for my Sweetheart to come home, wouldn't you say?

...was very happy to find a message from P in my voice mail on my cell phone when I got back in from giving a tour. I will more than likely be seeing she and A tomorrow, I can hardly wait!!!

Today I...June 27th

Today I...

...am sharing this funky picture I took at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles last month. Can you see the slight reflection of the sign in my UV filter?

...was so, so happy to have the drain in my tub fixed and to finally be able to give the tub a good scrub! I spent about a half-hour washing it very thoroughly after the repair work was done around noon. Hooray for my being able to shower normally at home tonight!

...couldn't help put smirk when I saw the high caliber drain and pressure plug that were going into my tub. NOTHING is EVER going to make it down that drain again! Too bad my landlord didn't have something so elaborate (cross, sieve and pressure plug) in there in the first place! I know I would have if I had been him with plumbing as old as there is in this building!

...didn't make it to the airport to meet P and A since by the time I was done washing my tub, I would most likely have missed them coming out or would have come very close to it. Their flight actually got in a bit early and I am eagerly awaiting news from P tomorrow and am hoping that she and A will come to see me at work!

...am now awaiting the return home of my darling Sweetheart next week. Tomorrow there will only be 9 days left before his return! We're down to single digits, woohoo!

Today I...June 26th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of a palm tree lined street in Beverly Hills with all of you. If there was one thing that I was thrilled to see when my Sweetheart and I first landed in California last month, it was beautiful flowers and palm trees!

...had a nice day out. I went to the salon to have my hair trimmed and then took a nice bus ride down Sherbrooke Street West to get downtown.

...bought another book by Edward Rutherfurd. I finished 'New York' while riding the bus into town and I bought 'London' after spending barely a half hour in the book store. That's a very speedy visit to the book store for me :o) London is nearly 200 pages longer than 'New York' though, so it will probably take me a good two months to read, which is just fine :o)

...was woken up by the landlord this morning when he called to confirm that the contractor was going to be here at about 8:00 A.M. tomorrow to fix my blocked pipe. I was glad he confirmed, but I really would rather he had waited until after 10:00 A.M. to call. Another 15 minutes and I more than likely would have woken up on my own :o)

...am hoping that the work on my bathroom will be done early tomorrow afternoon so that I can go and meet my friend P and her little daughter A at the airport. They are moving back to Montreal after three years in Switzerland. I am so looking forward to seeing them and to meeting A! She is my adopted niece and was born about a year and half after P moved to Switzerland, so I have only ever seen her via web cam.

Today I...June 25th

Today I...

...am sharing this video of the finale of Canada's 1st prize winning fireworks display from last year's international fireworks competition. Montreal hosts this competition from late June to late July every year. It is part of Montreal's slew of summer festivals (Jazz Festival, Film Festival, Just for Laughs Festival, Mondial Chorale Festival...etc.) but it is by far my favorite since it is the most easily accessible and least expensive one :o)

...am posting this a bit late after a busy day.

...went to a spa appointment in the West Island.

...was picked up after my appointment by my mom so we could go to Costco together.

...got at least a month and a half worth of food for the price of two weeks of groceries.

...was thrilled when my mom bought me a lovely set of dishes as mine are at least 20 years old, I'm pretty sure.

...was very happy when my brother told me that I could go for dinner at his place and use his shower. I washed using Tupperware containers filled with warm water last night after my bathtub-shower drain became completely blocked instead of just almost completely blocked. it was quite effective, but I did not feel like repeating the experience tonight.

Today I...June 24th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of the stairs that lead from Rodeo Drive to Via Rodeo in the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles with you. The stairs are made to imitate Rome's Spanish Stairs.

...was quite disgruntled when I realized that my poor bathtub drain is no longer draining. I'm going to have to fill containers with water an wash that way tonight. I'm considering asking my brother if I can go for dinner and a shower at his place tomorrow night. As for Sunday I can forgo a shower since I'm going to the hairdresser's that day. My hair will be clean at least and they're coming in to fix the drain the next day, or at least they'd darn well better!

...had a nice quiet day. I did the laundry, vacuumed and read my book and now am free from cleaning for the rest of the weekend :o)

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch feature is this photo of Los Angeles (see it waaaay off in the distance?) see from the Griffith Observatory which sits at the summit of the Hollywood Hills. It is basically a daytime version the night shot that I shared in last week's Skywatch episode, here is that photo again for comparison purposes :o)

On that note, I hope you all have a lovely weekend and don't forget to start it off on a good note by checking out skies from all over the world on the Skywatch Friday blog :o)

Today I...June 22nd

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of some trail-side flowers in Griffith Park with you. I went for a short walk here with my Sweetheart while were in Los Angeles. We would have loved to walk longer, particularly my Sweetheart, but I had been badly burned by the non-existent (red: behind fog on a mostly chilly beach, except for when the sun peeked through the fog every now and then) sun while at Santa Monica beach the day before and was consequently over-dressed for walking in the California heat, so we were only able to walk for about a half hour.

...was in a decidedly better mood than yesterday.

...had a very quiet day at work, but of course after my phone had only rung once or twice all day, it had to ring at 4:22 P.M. and the caller had to be a very particular woman who wanted to book for a group and it had to take ten minutes instead of five as simple bookings do and I got out of work late. Oh well, at least I had nowhere to be except home after work!

...made an appointment to have my hair trimmed on Sunday afternoon. I am growing it out after having it short for quite a few years now and trimming it every two months is the best way to get it to grow longer faster!

Today I...June 21st

Today I...

...am sharing a photo of this windblown store display in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo district with you .

...am having hormone induced mood swings. Need I say about that?

...called my landlord about my drain since it still has not been fixed. He told me that they left me a message on my cell phone over the weekend, but I never got it. I only missed one call from a very annoying 'private number' and they didn't leave a message. They will be coming to fix my drain on either Thursday or Monday. This is taking forever...why is Heaven's name didn't they just come and knock on my door?

...got a dirty look from the man who runs the convenience store across when I wanted to pay for my liter of milk with my debit card. That's the second time the he gives me the evil eye for using my card, so I have decided to take my business elsewhere, meaning up the street to the pharmacy which also have a convenience store section. They don't give a hoot how you pay over there!

Today I...June 19th

Today I...

...am getting a quick post up before heading out to a family dinner and am sharing this photo of the gardens at the Getty Center with you while I'm at it :o)

...am asking you all to please pray for my friend Kim from Life at Golden Pines. She had to have one her dogs, Hamlet, put to sleep late last week and now, in a cruel twist of fate, she will more than likely lose another tomorrow following a cancer diagnosis. I know all too well how difficult it is to lose a pet and I am sure that many of you do too, so please if you feel called to do so, send prayer and positive thoughts to Kim and her husband to help them through this difficult time.

...have been having a lovely weekend with my family. I was out for the evening with my aunt, uncle, brother and mother yesterday and tonight I am going out to spend the evening with my father's family for Father's Day.

...am still counting down the days until my Sweetheart comes home, we're down to 17 days and he was travelling from London to Krakow, Poland today with his friend G. I can't wait for him to come home to stay!

Today I...June 17th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of one of the staircases at the Getty Center in Los Angeles with you.

...took an extended lunch hour since I had to go and chase down some quarters at the bank so I could do my laundry this weekend and made a detour to the local Second Cup to get an iced hot chocolate. I think my extended lunch hour was therefore the best part of my day :o)

...would really like to go back out this evening to get an ice cream, but I'm failing to motivate myself to do for as I'm feeling kind of tired. Maybe tomorrow :o)

...am still waiting to hear from my landlord or his contractor about when they are going to fix my blasted bathtub!!! I am so putting my phone on vibrate tonight so they won't wake me up if the call bright and early tomorrow.

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch features are these two photos of the skylight in the Getty Center's main hall. The Getty Center is a massive museum complex in Los Angeles' Santa Monica area. The founder of the museum, Jean Paul Getty was a very rich oil tycoon who was also a major art collector who, upon his death, left a huge slice of his fortune to provide for the construction of a large museum complex to house it all. To this day, his fortune still provides for the running of the Getty Center, so the entire place is absolutely free to visit. An art and architecture (the buildings are stunning!) aficionado's dream come true :o)

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, stop by the Skywatch Friday blog. Enjoy your weekend!

Today I...June 15th

Today I...

...couldn't find a picture that really went with what I wanted to talk about in this post, so no picture there shall be.

...had a quiet day at work.

...called the landlord to ask him to send a plumber to come and look at my bathtub drain. He told me that he would have his general contractor at my place between 5:00 and 6:00 P.M. and seemed none too optimistic about the chances of his being able to removed the cap from my bottle of bath oil from the pipe drain. Right he was. The contractor came in a let lose a rather impressive string of curses (good old fashioned french church words) when he found out that he was going to have to try and get a cap out of the drain. He did what I did two weeks back first and plunged and plunged and plunged and it did not one bit of good. The he tried throwing compressed air at it so many times I lost count. Still nothing. The only solution to this problem apparently is for them to go into the apartment below mine and open up their ceiling so that he can remove the entire pipe and replace it. I was most disgusted to find out that I WILL MOST LIKELY HAVE TO PAY THE 500$-600$ THIS WILL COST!!! What the H??? Does the landlord think that I purposely threw the cap down there? I mean, seriously??? My only hope for getting out of having to pay for this is that the contractor noticed that the tub or something is leaking because a gasket around the tub or something is worn through and that he would have to go and open up my downstairs neighbor's ceiling to solve that problem anyhow. I am also hoping that my landlord will take into account the fact that I am a model tenant and have always, except for one time, paid my rent on time, that I taken excellent care of my apartment and that no one ever complains about me making noise. Maybe then he will take pity on me. I will let you all know how things develop, but things may not budge for about two days since they have to get permission from the person downstairs to go and open up their ceiling before doing any work.

Today I...June 14th

Today I...

...am sharing more Rodeo Drive photos with you. I was quite disappointed to see that Cartier had taken out all of their window displays for the night...at 6:00 P.M.! So I had to settle for a picture of their sign.

...I'm pretty sure that these are the doors to either Versace or Tiffany's, they're made out of cut glass.

Today I...

...had a busier day than yesterday, particularly in the afternoon when I spent over two hours with three employees from two of Montreal's French language school boards. The wanted to meet with me and have them go around the Oratory so I could answer some of their questions and show them what we had to offer to their students. I laid it on thick and did quite a good job of selling them the Oratory. It was pretty easy to do since I was able to give them all sorts of interesting tidbits that I don't put on tours very often, so they really got my tour guide brain cells going. I love a challenge whenever I can get one since over the course of nine years at the Oratory I can safely say that I've given hundreds of tours...I think I'm probably actually getting close to a thousand :oJ So yeah, anything out of the ordinary and I'm all for it!

...realized, too late once again, that I forgot to call my landlord to have him send the plumber to my apartment yet again. My taps are all fine this time, but my Sweetheart and I realized nearly a month ago the last time he came over before leaving for Europe that we could no longer find the cap for my bottle of bath oil and that my bathtub was taking a suspiciously long time to empty. Put two and two together and you can undoubtedly figure out where the cap went. I was kind of embarrassed that the plumber might ask how the cap came to be in the drain pipe for the tub, so at first I was hoping that it would become unstuck on its own. Unfortunately, that hadn't happened yet after two weeks and I've been trying to remember to call the landlord ever since. I'll have to put a note about it on my blackboard tonight and if the plumber asks how the cap got down the drain, I'll just tell him that I dropped it and it got away from me before I could reach it...not that my Sweetheart and I knocked the bottle over which hit the cap and that we just ignored it, never expecting it to end up in the drain. Oops :oJ We'll know better from now on!

Speaking of my Sweetheart, I'm going to go and write to him now :o)

Today I...June 13th

Today I...

Am sharing this video of the tastiest place in Montreal...if you're a chocolate lover that is: Juliette et Chocolat. I've written about it here on my blog a few times and was very happy when I found this video featuring it on YouTube today :o)

I'll keep things short and sweet today since I've had a quiet day and am watching a movie as well :o) See you all tomorrow!

Today I...June 12th

Today I...

...am sharing more photos from Rodeo Drive with you. All the display windows at Tiffany's had different engagement rings and marriage proposals in them and the rings, of course, were huge. The Tiffany's in Pasadena had the same concept, but with smaller rings which my Sweetheart found funny 'Hey, it's Tiffany's on a budget!' he said :o)

...had a nice, quiet day. I vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom and washed the dishes and made a nice batch of my bolognese sauce with a load of mushrooms in it. Mushrooms make everything better in my books :o)

...am going to hunt down a small map of London to put it in the notebook I am keeping for my Sweetheart's trip. He will be there until Sunday of next week, the lucky man. I'm hoping to make it there with him next year at some point, but until then I have asked him to take loads of pictures of the city for me and put in a special request for one of the interior of Westminster Abbey to be sent to me before he comes home...in 24 days :o)

Today I...June 11th

Today I...

...am sharing these pictures of Rodeo Drive with you. I took a whole series of photos while out on a walk here with my Sweetheart. I can't believe it's already been a month since we got home from our Los Angeles vacation. My Sweetheart is continuing his European vacation and is leaving Berlin for London tomorrow and will be touring that city with one of his best friends for a week before heading back to Poland. He will be home in three and a half weeks...or 25 days. Patience is a virtue...although I have given up my attempt to write to him only once a week as it was driving me mad :o)

...am not recommending going to a Rihanna concert to anyone who is easily shocked by singers who saunter about stages scantily clad while dancing very suggestively. Also, do not bother buying tickets in the nose-bleed section if you go to see her, as you will be disappointed. Her voice is not very powerful and she is often drowned out by her band. How did I find this out? S and I's supposedly VIP tickets were not so VIP after all and we were four rows from the very back of the uppermost section of the Bell Center. Oh well, we had fun anyhow, but I would not go and see one of Rihanna's concerts again.

...had a migraine all night and all day and finally shook it off after a brief nap before dinner.

...went out grocery shopping and got everything I needed to make bolognese sauce, but ended up not making it because of my headache. I will make it tomorrow though :o)

...am about halfway through Edward Rutherfurd's novel, 'New York' and am absolutely loving it! It should last me another two weeks I think.

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch feature is this stunning night time view of of Los Angeles Taken from the Griffith Observatory. The Griffith is an amazing place to visit, it is perched up in the Hollywood Hills right near the Hollywood sign and you can visit it and look through it's telescopes for FREE. My Sweetheart and I took an equally wonderful little bus up there the two times we went for 35 cents! Not bad, eh?

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, you can visit the Skywatch Friday blog. Have a great weekend!

Today I...June 8th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of a group of Madagascar Lemurs in their habitat at the Granby Zoo with you. These little fellas are amazing creatures, they can jump amazing distances...which is probably why the Lord thought he could dispense with camouflage abilities in their case. Because seriously, how can you expect to hide anywhere with a tail like that???

...am sitting on my couch with my hair pulled up (thank God it's finally long enough for me to tie) sipping a glass of cold white wine to keep cool. It is very hot and humid here today, but it should cool off tomorrow after a cold front is done pushing through. Until then, we are on a sever thunderstorm watch. We already had one hefty storm roll through earlier and we will more than likely be getting more overnight and tomorrow. In spite of the heat though, I must say that I love summer :o)

...gave a tour to a charming group of grade three students. They were incredibly curious and very well behaved, the way I like them best :o)

...am missing my Sweetheart and am hoping to hear from him soon. He got to Berlin today and will be there until Sunday. He is staying with a friend there who I assume has internet access, so I'm hoping! Only 28 days until he gets home, not counting today and the day he arrives. Patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue...

Today I...June 7th

Today I...

...am sharing this sweet photo of a mother donkey and her baby huddling together at the Granby Zoo :o)

...had a busy day with a meeting and a tour which put together ate up the better part of my day at work.

...had fun with my group, they were very interested and had a great sense of humor. They were Americans though and kept trying to correct my Canadian expressions and accent. Sorry folks, the accent stays and do the Canadianisms :o)

...got an invitation to Rihanna's concert at the Bell Center on Friday night from my friend S. Her mother in law won two great tickets four rows from the stage on the radio and didn't want to go, so she gave S and her boyfriend the tickets. S's boyfriend doesn't really like Rihanna so she called and offered me the second ticket. I am a well known classical and ancient music lover among my friends and family, but I do listen to a little bit of everything depending on my mood and what I'm up to and Rihanna is one of my favorite dance and party picks, so I am sure that S and I will have a great time. But now...what on earth am I going to wear to the concert? I don't have anything that would do...I'll have to see what I can come up with!

Today I...June 5th

Today I...

...am sharing yesterday's peacock sightings with you. Isn't he a handsome fellow? If only their cries were a lovely as their feathers! If you've never hear a peacock's cry before, look it up on YouTube and you'll see what I mean :o)

...did the laundry and was most disgusted when I came across a Frenchwoman who lives in my building and who, by some odd coincidence often does her laundry at the same time as me. She was heading out of the laundry room while I was heading in and she looked most uncomfortable as she told me that she had removed my clothing from its washer. No bloody kidding!!! I was downstairs at the most two minutes after the machine stopped and she already had all of her clothes in the TWO washing machines and was on her way out. I'm pretty darn sure that she took my clothes out during their final spin cycle. I can't stand having people touch my clothes and therefore never, ever remove anyone elses clothes from the washing machine unless I have been waiting for over five minutes after a machine has stopped. It's a good thing I didn't come across her again, otherwise I might have had a bit of trouble being civil.

...went grocery shopping. Normally grocery shopping is quite an ordinary experience, but it was enhanced today by a woman getting caught stealing ten steaks and then very loudly resisting arrest. This is not the first time there has been theft at my grocery store. I live in a very safe neighborhood, but there are a few 'special' people who live in the slightly less safe neighborhood a five minute walk from my place where the grocery store is, namely a few kleptomaniacs. The last time I heard of theft in my grocery store, it was a lady who had tried to leave with a large number of bottles of wine. I have a sneaky suspicion it may have been the same woman. She should try stealing dish gloves, they're much easier to hide.

...made chocolate raspberry bread. It is currently baking and smells divine! You can see the recipe for it here.

Today I...June 4th

Today I...

...am introducing Garth the Giraffe to you, he is one of the many fascinating animals I met today at the Granby zoo with two of my friends. I will share more of them with you in the coming days :o)

...was very happy that the weather was so nice today. Not too hot, not too cold and very sunny. There weren't too many people at the zoo either, probably because a lot of people are waiting for the new South Pacific exhibit to open there in two weeks ans for the weather to get a bit warmer so they can enjoy the water park as well. We were happy that they zoo wasn't too crowded though, that way it was much easier to see all the animals!

...saw peacocks up close for the first time ever! I was so happy! I'll put pictures of them up tomorrow I think :o)

Skywatch Friday

My Sweetheart and I had been wandering around Downtown Los Angeles for a good half hour looking for...well...Downtown Los Angeles, there the shops, the people and, most importantly, the restaurants were when we came across this grouping of four skyscrapers. I loved the shape they created in the sky so I took a whole series of photos of them and am sharing two of them with you as my Skywatch feature this week :o)

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, visit the Skywatch Friday Blog.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Today I...June 1st

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of a lovely sculpture of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child in Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Cathedral in Los Angeles. They also had a lovely sculpture of St. Joseph and the Christ Child which I'm going to save for Fathers' Day :o)

...spent the day in the Oratory's very hot and steamy office building again. The Air Conditioning broke yesterday and still wasn't working properly at the end of the day, so hopefully it will be back up and running tomorrow, but even if it isn't, a cool front went through today so instead of being 29 degrees like it was today, it's only going to be 22 tomorrow.

...loved how windy it was! I have always lovely high winds and we had plenty of them today.