We went to LA to visit with Chrissie on Sunday, and it was great. A great bonus was to see her son Daniel as well. He seems to be doing well in Santa Barbara. We got into LA easily, and the drive home was also quick and easy, but getting around town was not so easy. Between traffic and a wrong turn or two, it took a lot longer to get around than I expected. We stayed at the Hotel Wilshire (not to be confused with the Wilshire Hotel, which is where we stayed the last time we were in town, and where my phone took us
when I asked for directions initially). We made it, and, you won’t be surprised that they are both on Wilshire Boulevard, just three miles apart. We had brunch at the Hotel Wilshire the last time we visited, and that was why we booked the room there. There is a great view, pool and bar/restaurant on the roof. Chrissie met us, and David climbed the flight and a half of steps to get there. We were all impressed. Had a nice drink (or two or three) and then got a car to take us downtown for dinner after Daniel arrived.
Chrissie was in town for a conference, and had work on Monday, so we went to the Getty Villa to take in some Etruscan, Greek and Roman art. Really beautiful and a lovely day. We took the scenic route back to the hotel along Sunset Boulevard. I had read somewhere about a restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd and decided that would be my pick for dinner. Connie & Ted’s, which is sort of a modern version of a New England seafood joint. We picked up Chrissie at around 5:45, and the traffic coming to downtown and
leaving was pretty horrendous. LA comes by it’s bad rep for traffic honestly!! We were an hour late for our reservation. All I can say is, I don’t know what people would have done without GPS on their phones. Not to mention that I could call the restaurant to let them know we would be VERY late for dinner. Dinner was great, and it was a comfortable, casual place to eat. We started with some oysters, and asked for a selection of west coast oysters, which were excellent. David and Chrissie had fried clams, and I had fish and chips. So great to see Chrissie, and David, as always, was very good at communicating. He didn’t believe it, but we both thought he did a great job.
There were four times generic purchase viagra in American history when the Presidential candidate who garnered the most votes in their state. Pain during intercourse: Also called dyspareunia, pain during sex due to menopause and vaginal female viagra pill trauma such as childbirth. Vida International has triumphed in incorporating the importance donssite.com cialis 40 mg of blood in the biological system would be rendered trivial had it not been for the process of blood purification. They speak of timeless truths though in gaudy order cheap levitra http://www.donssite.com/levitra-2998 wardrobes speaking the accents of a less complicated world.
The drive back to drop Chrissie off and get back to our hotel was about a quarter of the time it took to go one way earlier in the evening, so the evening ended with a lot less stress. We were very tempted to leave with the robes that the Kimpton hotel provided for us – one leopard print and one zebra. Would have been a nice memento of our visit!
Once back in Palm Springs, we got back to our normal routine – speech, tennis, PT, etc. At reading group, Angie made David read, and he was very hesitant and nervous. While he got only three words out of the paragraph, it was a very important milestone for him, and as Angie said, “practice, practice, practice”. My one observation was that in the story they were reading, all of the clients were able to say one word easily and clearly – “Mother”. I mentioned this to Glorianne, and she wrote the word “Father” on the board, and everyone was able to read that as well. Just so ingrained I guess. We went to Life Changes today, and one of the regulars, Tommy, created a poem about David’s smile. I could never recreate it, but he did refer to his teeth as petals of a flower and said that his smile was sexy. David was thrilled, obviously. Tommy is a pretty young stroke survivor who is probably in his thirties. His mother was his caregiver, and she passed away recently, which was a real blow to him. She was also a regular at the center, and I have mentioned her before in the blog.
Tonight, we had a touch and go moment when David wanted to tell me something. He kept on pointing to me, holding his hands in front of his face like a book and tracing the letter “B” on his leg. I just couldn’t get what he was trying to say, and he was getting so frustrated and kind of angry. When it finally came to me, it was too little, too late. BLOG. He wanted to know if I had written the blog, which I hadn’t. Now I have, and am going to sleep. Good night.
Sounds like a perfect day in LA! Love the pic!
Please tell David Schmendrick says hi. We opened Little Shop last night and every time the kids say Schmendrick I smile and think of David. As you probably know, he said Schmendrick at least once a conversation here at Burke.