A Loverly Afternoon

 So I was a couch slug yesterday, watching the Dolphins lose again, although looking better while doing it than they had over the past weeks. The talented but fragile QB Tua was back -- but the team still blew the game on a last second FG. Eh. No big whoop.

D1 texted. Baby Man and Joey were going to visit Joey's parents -- would Wifey and I like to meet her and Little Man at a local park? She chose Dante Fascell Park, on Red Road -- a mere 10 minutes from us, and 30 minute driver for her, Little Man, and skittish Spaniel Lemon.

It was a gorgeous October day! I look forward to a temperature day that begins with a 6 -- probably that's not until mid November -- but it was still delightful. Little Man made friends as he always does -- a brother and sister near his age, and later a little girl also 4 who kissed him on the cheek after a game of tag. Boy got game.

We sat on a bench and happily watched. D2 and Jonathan were nearby -- visiting friends Max and his boy at Four Fillies Farm, a UM senior faculty development. It's gorgeous -- Wifey and I were there once when Shalala was president -- Four Fillies contains the UM Presidential mansion. They had Betsy. Would we care to meet? We would -- I chose Deli Lane in South Miami -- very dog friendly.

We missed Joey and Baby Man, but the rest of us had a delightful dinner -- Little Man plowed through his cheeseburger and fries, and most of Wifey and my fruit. Betsy was a serviceable foot rest, and little Lemon stayed near D1.

We all left in our 3 vehicles -- an unexpectedly nice Sunday afternoon.

This am I got in my nearly 3 mile constitutional, and poor Wifey's at the dentist. I inherited amazing teeth from my Dad's side -- his mother died in her late 90s with all her teeth. Wifey, not so much. She has been a continuous dental patient since we've met. 

This is travel week for us. Tomorrow I work out, and get my hair cut. No need for Dania to put in more gray -- plenty there already. On Wednesday I fetch Little Man at school and spend some time with him and Baby Man -- and maybe a days late birthday dinner with Joey.

Thursday I'll give out Halloween candy for the first time in years -- the past years we've been with D1 and her boys, but this year are sticking home as we leave early Friday.

And Friday -- to LAX, Big Man and AA permitting. We have dinner and drinks hosted by Mike and Loni Friday night, a 30 minute to one hour Uber ride from our West Hollywood hotel. Saturday am Canes play Duke at 9 am LA time -- I invited old law school friend Cheryl and her music maven husband Neal to watch some of the game.

Wedding is Saturday night at some old hall in a very rough part of town -- Mike has a LOT of security. I keep thinking of the great Sopranos scene where all the cars get stolen during an associate's wedding.

And Sunday afternoon -- back to the 305.

I have nostalgia for Southern California. It is where my family's modern history began -- a pretty Bronx girl took 3 cross country trains to meet her Bronx boyfriend during WW II, and my Dad was stationed in Pasadena. A base Rabbi married them, and they lived in a bungalow -- Mom worked as a secretary for the Dean of Cal Tech, and Dad kept a close watch out for Japanese invaders. He never faced any.

Mom got pregnant in April of '44, and since neither she nor my Dad had any idea when his service would end, went back to The Bronx to have my sister, in January of '45.

My Dad had few regrets in life, but one was NOT staying in LA -- he loved it there, and wondered if he maybe would have gotten a job as a writer or editor in Hollywood, instead of the salesman he became back in NYC. Who knows?

When my Mom turned 85, in 2005, I took our family to celebrate her birthday. Wifey found us a cool hotel called the Magic Castle, where magicians would stay -- right up the hill from Hollywood Blvd. We drove out to Pasadena to the Huntington Hotel, where they were married, and then found ourselves on Colorado Blvd, where we asked Mom her memories.

She said each morning she'd take a street car down from her bungalow in the hills, and have coffee at Owl Drug, a local known counter. Where was it? She wasn't sure. We were all standing in the entrance of a Gap Store, and we walked in to ask the manage if he knew where Owl Drugs was. He laughed, and walked outside to show us the tilework -- it said "Owl Drug Building." We were standing right where Mom spend many mornings 60 years before!

Mom was 85, and we knew that would be her final long trip -- she fell at Cheryl and Neal's house, and getting her on and off the plane was a mission.

But were were SO glad we had that final trip to the City of Lost Angels, as the great Jim Morrison calls the place.

And Friday -- I'm headed back for the first time in nearly 2 decades...