Christmas Island

Howd'ya like to spend Christmas
On Christmas Island
Bing Crosby 1954


We think we really are spending Christmas on Christmas Island.
The Americans really do know how to do Christmas well

We're still in Pasadena and will be until next Thursday when we move on south with H&S.
We had several highlights this week notably Christmas Day at Nancy & Michaels which was pleasant and homely and just what the doctor ordered.

Boxing Day
Val & I had a morning of Thrift shopping, still looking for books by Robert K Tanenbaum who is a favourite author of mine. I have been reading his books in a haphazard way since discovering him on our last trip. Haphazard is not a good way of reading any authors books as there are quite often references to previous adventures which tend to give the plot away. As they are difficult to find at home I am gradually building up a library of his books so that when Val starts on him, she can do it chronologically. (BTW, Thrift stores are what we would call charity shops)
We then spent the afternoon with Phil & Betty Ayden from the Crown City Chorus.
Betty provided tea & cakes (no cucumber sandwiches) then Phil & I talked about chorus recruitment as he has just taken over as Membership supremo whilst Val & Betty chatted about life and everything.
It was a lovely afternoon.

Thursday
H&S arrived early and we all went to the Gene Autry museum.
We'd been last year but wanted longer and as H&S hadn't been there we all had a good reason.
As befitting a cowboy filmstar, the museum is dedicated to Wild West artefacts.
Cowboys, Indians, Buffaloes, Stagecoaches, Saloons and more guns and saddles than you could shake a stick at.
Unfortunately, most of them are behind glass and not very easily photographed.
I've displayed a few here but if you're really interested and can't get there, here's their website.
It was a great day and super value for $5 each. Well worth a visit if you're in the area.
Stopped at Mimi's for supper before going to Crown City rehearsal again. Another great night.

Friday
We did some more Thrifts before going to N&M's to meet up for the trip to Pam & Mike's.
They had done a lot of work for us looking for a place for us to stay whilst in LA. and had invited us all to dinner which we gratefully accepted. They made us very welcome and laid on a lavish spread which we greatly enjoyed.
N&M left early as Mike had run out of steam so the four of us were invited to learn a new (to us) dice game called ZONK. It was hilarious and, as to be expected, Val managed to win the first game. She rarely fails , that girl.
Much hilarity and noise later, Mike won the second and we decided that honours were even.

Saturday.
Got up late as Val was feeling a bit 'icky' probably due to the alcohol in Mike's elixir. Went to the pharmacy who advised a trip to the clinic. The wait there was over 3 hours so we gave it a miss.
Went back to N&M to meet Greg (Mike's brother) and his wife Denise. Another in the long line of lovely people we have met on this trip.
Turkey stew and dumplings for lunch and very nice too.
Back home and early to bed

Sunday
Went with H&S on another adventure today. This time to a shopping Mall called The Grove.
Briefly the story is that a farmer kept cows on the land before discovering oil which made his fortune. City ordinances later shut the oil-fields and Mexican farmers used the area as a Farmers Market for many years.
An entrepeneur then decided that the land would be the ideal location for a new style mall that he had conceived.
Thus the Grove was built. The shops are built around a central plaza that has fountains, walkways and seating areas plus a tram track for the refurbished tram to run upon.
It's really worked too and although we weren't interested in the high value shops, the setting made it a worthwhile trip.

What really set it off for me though was the Farmers Market which is still intact and as it has been for years.
So many different eating places and unusual shops under one cover (though not under one cover actually!). It was great to have the contrast between the two in such a short distance.
Lunch was at Cliftons again at about 3:30 then we drove through the DWP (Dept. of Water & Power) Christmas light display in Griffith Park. Another lovely spectacle. They do this sort of thing so well over here.

So that's you lot up to date.
I'm not sure if anyones reading this as I don't get many comments so I may change the way I do things.
I guess the 'we did this and we did that' format is a bit boring so I may just leave out the family things and concentrate on the major bits plus I might devote the odd page to my observations about the differences in our cultures which we witness every day.