Enjoying summer outside

What is wrong with Auckland weather this summer? Yesterday Jef sent me this picture of the water spout just fizzing out over in Albany.

The photo was taken out of the window at his workplace. What an amazing sight indeed.

Strong winds caused breakage to a big tree at Freemans Park this week.

Despite the varying weather conditions we have had some lovely cool evenings. Like on Tuesday night; Jef had to work, Kien needed to run around, and I was a little tired and didn't feel like traipsing to the park. I set up the outdoor furniture and invited my neighbour Diane to join me for a glass of wine. We broke out the croquet set and had a round on the lawn. Then we called another neighbour to come out and play too.

Kien was able to burn off some steam.

I had to chase him all over the grounds causing a distraction to my game and thus losing - not that we were following any rules anyway.

I picked up Kien from daycare tonight and was not in the mood to eat or cook anything in my bare fridge, so when Jef arrived home we promptly went to Nishiki Robata-Yaki bar.

We were able to have a relatively relaxing meal while Kien entertained himself with my iPhone (for the most part).

The joys of sucking Honeysuckle

It brings me back to my childhood - sucking nectar from Honeysuckle. We've introduced this delicacy (and ritual) to Kien a few months ago, and he loves it!

It was an added bonus to see a bee doing the same thing.

I'm not liking the mosquitoes that find their way into our room and suck our blood. My son has come up in welts. His eye looks like someone has socked him one! Poor little dude.

Wow, almost the end of another working week - how quickly I feel this week has gone.

Saying goodbye to the holiday

We've been back a few days now, and I'm still waking up thinking I'm in LA. It's hard to say goodbye to a holiday, especially one that's been a new adventure seen through the eyes of my toddler. Everything was familiar, and yet seemed fresh, new, and exciting.

Our last two days in LA was mainly centered around catchups and goodbyes, but I knew it was not for long. I certainly have ambitious travel plans for the next couple of years!

We had brunch at Luna Park on South La Brea with my childhood friend.

It happens that Anna's dad was visiting from NZ too.

If I didn't require all my mental faculties for negotiating LA freeways I certainly would have gone for the bottomless mimosa Luna Park is renowned for. Is that an irresponsible notion?

We went back to her place to hang out for a little bit. Anna lives in a cool vintage apartment on a street that overlooks the Hollywood sign.

Anna and Kien shooting the breeze on the front porch.

I admired the high rises from the freeway running through downtown during our drive back to Lynette and Jeff's.

We crawled at snails pace for a stretch - typical LA traffic at any hour of the day. It's astounding that residents of LA are resigned to the fact that to get anywhere around the city one has to budget significant traffic time. It's also typical to travel 1 ½ hours each way to and from work! You know the kicker?

The roads are not maintained so well, and there are lumps and bumps and grooves and broken streets galore. Just an interesting observation.

On Sunday morning we went to Yum Cha with Lynette's parents. When we were choosing the restaurant to go to Lynette's mum asked me, "do you want to go to a real Chinese place that's loud and dirty, or do you want sophisticated and clean?". I've eaten genuine street food in Hong Kong and Vietnam, and worked (and eaten) in India, but when I'm in a first world country there is just something about "dirty food" I can't do. Besides, on the scale of adventurous eating I would rate maybe a 3 out of 10 by Asian standards. Chicken feet, boiled duck tongue, gizzard, offal, pig ears etc etc REALLY doesn't float my boat. Just sayin'. (I'm not a banana though.) So of course we went for the latter choice.

First world, sophisticated, clean.

They boys were throwing things that go bang on the road, and having a field day.

It turns out they were throwing little bundles of gun powder.

Land of the free, home of the brave!

Speaking of brave, we braved the (in)famous Krispy Kreme doughnut joint for mass consumption of the fried and glazed stuff.

I'm not a doughnut eater (usually), so the gourmet-ness was lost on me. The doughnut connoisseurs with us rated these things highly.

So we are now all back to our normal lives, which means the People Mover is no longer at maximum capacity, and restaurants no longer have to be scared when we walk through their door and ask for seven to be seated.

Cirrocumulus stratiformis?

I love clouds, and for the the last couple of evenings here in Auckland we have had spectactular formations.

So I go to google and wikipedia to try and find out what type of clouds these were. You'd think it would be clear-cut, but no! I guess that's why people go to study meteorology instead of deciphering descriptions and images online.

I studied Latin at school, but please! Cirrus castellanus, Cirrocumulus undulatus, Altocumulus duplicatus, Altostratus opacus?? I'll stick to my day job, thanks.

Memories of a girl I never met

Her mummy was almost 5 months pregnant with her when we were last in LA. At that time Kien was merely an idea; a concept that was comtemplated, but having a child seemed preposterous for fitting into our lifestyle. I was however happy for my friend of (now) 20 years. Her plans for a big family were well on the way.

I never knew this child, and yet I feel like I've known her, and when I held my baby through those first few months of his life I thought of her frequently. Her photo taken with her proud older brother is still on my fridge.

We visited her resting place on Sunday afternoon - the day we flew out of LA. We drank coffee and pomegranate juice, ate mini Oreos, chocolate and honey sticks.

We brought freshly cut flowers from home with the knowledge that wild deer will come through that evening and eat them.

That's OK, because her little brother already started munching on the petals that had been scattered during the trimming process.

Her younger brother is gorgeous, and I would have taken him home to NZ if only his parents didn't notice.

The kids delighted themselves with streams and streams of bubbles.

There was a spectacular cloud formation in the sky - with the sun's reflection concentrated in a particular area making the spot glow.

It was lovely to spend a small part of our last day there. I've now got new memories; of bubbles and flowers and babes giggling as they chased bubbles, and sun umbrellas caught by the breeze, and soft cheeks that beckons to be kissed a thousand times, and "smoothe" coffee, and Teddy Grahams, and mini Oreos being devoured, and and and...

Some rocks her older brother Ethan brought for her.

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I'm linking this post with some talented writers who have moved me with their lyrical offerings.

Family pics in Arcadia

This morning we had brunch with my aunt and my great grandmother's sister (I'm guessing that's great great aunt). She lives in Vietnam, and is in the US visiting for a short while. We went to a Taiwanese noodles place on Baldwin Ave in Arcadia, and had some amazing beef and coriander rolls. My aunt had raved about them, and I can see why! Afterwards we headed back to their place. Another cloudless and sunny winter day in Calefornia, perfect for family portraits poolside.

The water was chilly, but that didn't stop Kien (or his dad) from kicking and splashing, getting wet in the process.

When I lived over here (what seems like a lifetime ago now) I was young, naive and unappreciative of my surroundings. I've been back to LA many times since, and each time I notice something different about this city that I love - like blossoms.

This tree resides in my Uncle's back yard in between cumquat and pomelo trees, and I noticed that some areas of the city have streets lined with trees in full bloom. Another aspect of LA I love are all the palm trees. This picture was taken from the ranchslider looking over the pool house.

We've driven down many roads that look like this.

We are going to make the most of the last couple of days that we have left here before returning to NZ. It is almost midnight already, and we came back from dinner not so long ago. We bathed the kids and promptly put them to bed. Lynette and I are now settling down to some serious chatting! Have a restful night everyone, wherever you may be.

Palm tree at dusk with the prominent moon in the sky outside Lynette's place.

Downtown LA

We caught a bus to Union Station on Wednesday. This historical railway station is grand and beautiful both inside and out.

We passed briefly through Olveria Street - the oldest part of Downtown LA. I tasted the most amazing taquitos there!

We then followed the signs to Chinatown, which also houses Saigon Plaza.

It's weird to see my name plastered everywhere, making me feel no longer original.

This part of Downtown LA really is beautiful; palm trees basking in the sunlight and ornately designed crossings.

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What I've noticed over here (and Kien points it out too) is how clearly you can see the moon during the day because of the continuously cloudless sky.

Hollywood Hills

We spent Tuesday in Hollywood, mainly driving around up in the hills through Mulholland Drive. I wonder if Mulholland Drive would be as well known to foreigners without the help of David Lynch? It is a long and winding road providing spectacular views of the city.

We would drive a few miles and I was compelled to pull over to take photos of the scenery.

The day was a bit smoggy, but despite the haze the LA city vista was still beautiful.

We got to the main lookout point where we had unobstructed views across the town.

And of course the unobstructed view to the sign of the city.

As we drove home we came across another sign worth noting.

I'll tell Kien his family are famous and so very well respected to have a street named in their honour.