An Arch for Alhambra

Well there's Arc de Triomphe, and my personal favorite,

the arch at Washington Square Park in NYC.

Now it seems that we are the proud neighbors of the Arch of Alhambra.

Yeah, it's cute. It looks just like a hunk of cake.

The plantings are nice. It is really hard to see them

unless you are turning left onto Fremont.

I bet there is a nice view from Phil Spector's house.

I have watched it 's progress from many trips

to the pharmacy (let's not go there!).

Newly Restored Danish Table

Even though we love our elliptical "surfboard" table, it had lost it melamine veneer and the glue was rising to the surface. After all, my husband had scooped it up along with 4 fake Cherners for $50 in the early 90's.

We bought a 12 seater Danish table at Veteran's Stadium, Long Beach, $300 delivered! We were told it was teak, so we had a mind to refinish it 2 years later we took it apart and had Gavin at Grot look at it. "If I have to jump ship, I'll ring you," BH, I said as I handed him a pack of export Digestives for extra encouragement. A miracle ensued and voila we have a new table!

This is a beautifully engineered table. The top slides apart to reveal the stored leaves as the base remains stable, a great benefit to 50 somethings (ugh) with bad backs!

It's wider than our old table and I thought it would crowd the room. The test was my Mum's 70th birthday party. I temporarily separated my favorite (vintage by now, surely!) IKEA bookcases to fit the party of 13.

I like it!

House Guest

Three weekends! I am not surprised! The first Sunday I tried to snap a pic in the tree sent him/her scurrying to the CD rack. The second weekend my husband calmly noted how perfect he/she looked on the fireplace screen. The third weekend I had a hunch that he/she might be back to the ficus! Sure enough, he/she was ready and so was I by turning off the flash!

I then decided to try catching him to let him out.

One plastic, two tries!

Adios muchacho!

Sweet Peas

The first sweet peas of the season from Palos Verdes!

The delicate fragrance is intoxicating!

Thanks Mum!