So on May 25th George had another flower that opened! I took this picture about 10am and the flower was open just about as wide as it ever opens...About an hour later (see the next photograph)....the flower was already starting to close up....
If you aren't on top of this...you miss the whole thing, so I've become a "George's Flower Stalker"! Yes...I realized that I am stalking George and I may need an intervention, or at the very least I may need to be restrained (lol). Though in all honesty I don't think George minds, at all. And besides that, if I don't watch all this very very carefully I will miss a lot of what is going on with these flowers and seeing as how the metamorphasis is such a long s-l-o-w process, and if and when a flower opens is such a very very small and short window of opportunity, I would not get these pictures if I didn't stalk dear George.An update on another one of George's flowers that 'was'...Here is a picture of the progression towards the next step in the metamorphasis from 'flower' to 'fruit'. 
Look at those two little drops of necter...Mmmmm, yum yum...And see how this is getting more bulbous as the days progress...eventually this will pretty much be completely round like a ball....
And then, two days later (5/28), there was another open flower! Hooray! And once again, in a very difficult position to photograph, but...I got it!
And then I got a slightly-to-the-side- view which had the bonus of having the bulbous flower just to it's right, showing a few necter drops just at the top of that pod...More yum yum....
Oh, how I wish just one flower would open on George where I would not have to become a contortionist to get a really good picture! (I know that passers-by, if they see me, must wonder 'what the hell is that woman doing?') If I'm lucky there might be one or two where I only have to get up on a small ladder, again!
Other flowers are bursting forth in my garden, too...these are such incredibly colorful flowers...I love watching this progression, too....
The above was a few days ago (5/27, I think)...all these buds looking like they are going to burst forth any moment....and they are doing just that...
This was on 5/28, in the morning, and they are beginning to truly burst forth as you can see....and then, later that afternoon...5/28, this is what I saw, below.
And then on 5/29...some of these gorgeous flowers have opened even more than the day before as you can see in this next picture below...the size of these flowers are somewhere between a nickel and a quarter...and they are perfection.... 
Now, that's a beautiful creation of nature....such a shocking pink and yet more delicate a color once they are wide open as they are, above....
And here they are, above, the afternoon of 5/30....All Open. All Beautiful. All Extrorinary. Nature just knocks me out.
In the early days of my Cactus & Succulant addiction, I met some really wonderful people who raised cactus and succulants and sold them to the public. I began this Cactus journey 20 years ago and most of those people that I met back then in those first 6 years or so are dead now.
One of the things I learned from all of them is that everything flowers. Everything. One has to be aware and really look or you might just miss the flowers.
At first, you might not even recognize that they are flowers because often they do not look like flowers as we have known them---well, that is before becoming acquainted with these kinds of plants. The above is a Euphorbia...and the plant arms themselves are about as big around as a thick cigar...the arms can get two feet high before branching with new arms on the arms, all of which grow straight up....Beautiful little flowers, aren't they?
And another beautiful plant with exquisite little flowers is just below...I've posted this plant and it's flowers before, but I hadn't gotten as close as I got just the other day...
The size of these flowers is no bigger than a small child's pinky nail....but the are perfectly formed even though they are sooooo very small...I am aware that I am repeating certain information and I do this for the new readers who might not be familiar with any of this...
And does anyone remember this little new baby which I posted some time in March, I think? Well, the picture was taken March 24th...and this dear little baby was not even an inch long at that time....
Well, now, exactly two months later, it has grown to look like this...!
It is between three and four inches long in this photograph and growing pretty fast now...No, this is not a flower, but it is further evidence of this glorious hopeful time of year....flowers, flowers, flowers and new growth, new growth, new growth. It is everywhere in my garden....and I truly love it! (I guess you all know that by now, huh?)
More will be forthcoming, as always...
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As a kid I use to love Memorial Day. There was always a parade in our town. And we lived just about one and a half long blocks off the main street running through our town and the parade pretty much began a few blocks before us. And it usually started early. So I would quickly throw on some clothes, grab something to eat and run up the street to Middle Neck Road to watch the parade pass by....I didn't want to miss any of it...It was always moving to me. I would always cry. And I think if I saw that same parade today I would cry again. Seeing all the Veterans of all the wars this country had fought up to that point...veterans who were still alive, that is....all of whom would walk the four miles or whatever it was, starting near our house and going through
the "New" Village all the way to The Old Village, (as it was known), to a park there where there was a World War One Memorial which is where the parade ended. Some of these men walked with canes. Some were pushed in wheel chairs. Some were very old. And some were terribly young.There were Bands. Like The High School Band, and some other Bands, too...I don't remember where they were from but it could have been from anywhere. The Boy Scouts marched and The Girl Scouts and of course The Cub Scouts and The Brownies...All the local government officials marched. The Mayors of each of the 9 Townships that made up Great Neck all marched, too.
Church Groups paraded and a group from the one Temple in town, (one year my mother marched because she was president of the Temple Sisterhood..) were all part of the parade along with the Volunteer Fireman, The Policeman, etc. There were no floats of any kind...it was before that phenomenom...I'm sure there are probably floats today, but I don't know that for sure. What would make me cry? Well, just about everything. But in particular it was the Veteran Soldiers and Sailors and Marines. And the other branch of the armed forces very prominant in our parade, the Merchant Marine. They marched too, because The Merchant Marine Academy
Memorial Day always brings up memories of all the soldiers lost, in all the many wars this country has fought, since it first began...and of course, this year I think of all the soldiers lost in this current war in Iraq. The soldiers lost and the many soldiers wounded, too. Killed In Action. That is the phrase used by The Government. "We regret to inform you....", that is how the telegram begins. The dreaded telegram with this terrible terrible news. We had a War Memorial in Great Neck for all those lost in World War 1, (On The Village Green, as already mentioned), and another for all those lost in World War 2, which was very near the Great Neck Train Station. It was on the street level as you approached the station by car....I thought it was quite beautiful and it always put a lump in my throat too, even as a small child. Of course, I cannot find a photograph of that War Memorial, but here is this incredibly impressive and moving Memorial for World War II in Washington, D.C.
A fitting Memorial for a war that the country really got behind. No war is a good war. But some wars, it seems, are necessary though the losses are incredibly painful to those who's loved one's have died. Everywhere in our Capitol there is evidence of the "Honoring" of the dead. I think the most poignant evidence are these two images.
And this one, too....
And, maybe the most poignant image of all is this one...
The words on the tomb of The Unknown Soldier say what Memorial day is all about better than I ever could. Let me quote these words and leave you with this thought before I do: Memorial Day is about remembering and honoring those men and women who have given their lives to preserve our rights and our freedoms. They gave their lives for all of us, and in a very specific way, they gave their lives so that each of us can sit here and write our blogs and say whatever we damn well please. A high price to pay for these hard fought freedom's, I know.
Well, I for one, thank them all with all my heart, and say 'Bless You' on this Memorial Day, 2006.
Here is the quote:
"Beneath this stone
Repose the Bones of Two Thousand One Hundred and Eleven Unknown Soldiers
Gathered After The War
From the Fields of Bull Run, and the Route to the Rappahannock.
Their Remains Could Not Be Identified. But Their Names and Deaths are
Recorded in the Archives of Their Country; And It's Grateful Citizens
Honor Them as of Their Noble Army of Martyrs. May They Rest in Peace!
September, A.D. 1866
We Must Never Ever Forget
What We Have Lost
In Order
To Have Gained
What
We
Have
Gained
***UPDATE: I just read the most wonderful post by "Ex Scienta Veritas"...it is incredibly moving and something not to be missed on this Memorial Day. Please, do yourself a favor and go over and read this post and click on the photographs, too....I have put the link right on his name...so pass your curser over it and you will see the shadow...just click and it will take you right there...1:54pm***
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This is the third installment of my Mother & Daughter & Grandmother photographs, and the first one to have all three. (not in this particular picture though...). Here we have Kim Hamilton and her daughter Tanya...(though Tanya is also known as Robin, as long as I have known Kim, she has always called her daughter Tanya...)Tanya was a teenager when I first met Kim...and then she married her childhood sweetheart, Henry, when the were both just nineteen...They proceeded to have four children...three girls and one boy. When these pictures were taken, Cohen, their fourth child was just a teeny tiny baby...she is not in these photographs...but Dana & Cory both are.
She is smart as a whip and a very beautiful young woman, too, like her mother and her Grandmother and her sisters, (and by the way, Aaron, Kim's Grandson and Dana and Cory and Cohen's brother, is a very handsome devil, too...They are all very very bright young people. Aaron is going to school to finish his MBA and Dana is a Doctor Of Pediatrics, about to go to Africa for six months to work with Pediatric AIDS patients. This is one of the smartest most beautiful family's it is my privelage to know and love. And they are also all really lovely caring human beings. Tanya and Henry have done a magnifent job as parents. Incidentally Cory (with her husband and new little offspring), just gave birth to a little girl at the end of April. I would love to get a picture of the four generations, now. But that may not be able to happen for some time, with Dana going to Africa and Cory and Cohen living in San Francisco, plus, Kim, who had been here in L.A. for the last nine months just returned to New York where her other home is...
but I hope at some point I will be able to photograph the four generations....I have a snapshot of the three girls and their mother at a surprise dinner that Kim's husband gave for Kim quite a few years ago...the girls were still young but not as young as in the pictures above, and Cohen is in this photograph, too...she is standing in the back and is of course, the youngest one of the girls. Cohen has been a professional Ice Skater competing in "competition" and she now teaches young skaters and has a very successful career coaching. Here is a photograph of Kim with her late husband, Werner Klemperer, taken in my home.
Some of you may recognize him from "Hogan's Hereo's"....he played the character of Colonel Klink. When Kim and Werner renewed their vows about two years before Werner died, (they had been together for 23 years) I officiated at the wedding. That was a beautiful beautiful day and one that Werner planned down to every last detail. If it had been up to Kim, she wouldn't have bothered....but that's what he wanted and so that is what he got-- and in truth, they were both very very happy with the day! It was a sweet ceremony, Kim's daughter stood up for her and Werner's daughter stood up for him.Back to those photographs...I love this next "profile" of Kim and Tanya together...you can really see the resemblence in this picture.
Kim is a wonderful wonderful actress and we met at Theatre West. If you have been following my blog, you will notice that Theatre West plays a very important part in my life--professionally and personally. It is there that I met so very many of my nearest and dearest...Life long friendships have been made there not just by me, but by a great many people. Kim is one of those life-long people in my life. We have worked together and we have played together, too. When Werner came into her life, all of us who are close to her were very happy for her...they had a good life together and when he got ill with cancer, I have never known anyone to be as devoted as Kim was to him--24/7. I love this next picture. It is such fun and they are all having such a wonderful time here...
Dana, Tanya, Kim, and Cory. Four beauty's! Kim was very very young when she had Tanya. I mean very young. In her early teens. So she has always said she feels they grew up together. She has also said she feels that Tanya is the most wonderful human being and that she had nothing to do with that...that Tanya just 'came in that way'. I love that. And, Tanya IS a wonderful human being...
This is a delightful family. And here is another picture that shows a lot about the love between them...
Over the years, Kim has been a very good friend to me and I hope that I have been a good friend to her as well...I value her friendship more than I can say, and I miss seeing her when she is not in Los Angeles. We do talk on the phone quite a lot, and I'm very thankful for that...There is nothing like 'good' friends and there is truly nothing like looongg time good friends. There is a shorthand with each other because you have shared so much...been there for each other in the good times and the bad. Nothing can replace that. Nothing. I Bless all my friends and I thank them for being such an important part of my life.links to this post
Today we had a little Birthday Lunch here at me home for Betty G. The lovely and wonderful Seemah Wilder prepared most of the food and brought it with her....I set the table with some of 'The Good China', and everything was perfect, even though we got a late start. There were just 5 of us because the always sweet Lee Meriwether is out of town, working. And the lovely, Dianne Travis had to work today too...(she is a wonderful actress, btw...). So it was me, Seemah, Betty of course, Bridget Hanley,(another lovely actress) and a very dear woman named Jo Gorman, who is an old neighbor of Betty's and a friend as well...(And to me, too...). All of us have known each other a very long time....and everyone except Jo, are members of Theatre West! And we have all worked together many many times on many different projects, over many many years, so....there is a comfort level that is truly special.
Chinese Chicken Salad together...(Yummmm!). As a starter, she had made some Bruschetta and she had a special cheese that was gorgeous...I had made a yummy veggie dip that people seemed to like very much and we had Croissants with The Chinese Chicken Salad. It was a huge salad and we all ate like piglets! Then of course there was the Birthday Cake! (Another yummmmm!) With Hagen Das Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on the side....(be still my heart....)...You can just see a little bit of Seemah way over to the left of the picture. I wasn't able to get a really good photo of her in the kitchen. Too dark.
After dessert, Betty opened her gifts and then I showed them all my blog. And Betty was truly moved by all the Birthday wishes from all of you. I think what amazed her was that there you all were from all over the world, wishing her a very happy birthday. I had to read the comments to her because she has Macular Degeneration and really couldn't see them well enough to read them herself.
It was a lovely lovely afternoon and the last of these ladies, Betty & Seemah left about 6:30pm, having arrived at 1pm.
It was wonderful for me to be able to celebrate with these terrific women since I could not join Betty and her family last night at the birthday dinner at La Boheme...a fabulous restaurant here in West Hollywood.
The most important thing, Betty had a wonderful time and so did all of us. (Even Sweetie felt safe enough to come out of the closet to spend some time with Betty and Seemah and me...he knows them, you know?)...
I am tired, but very happy that Seemah came up with this idea and so generously offered to bring and make the lunch.
So, Betty's 87th Birthday is here and now the celebrations are over and she can get back to work. Bridget, Betty, Lee, and Dianne are all doing a show called "Nunsense" at a theatre here in L.A., for two weeks starting on June 8th through June 18th. Eighty-Seven years old and still working! God Bless Her!
***NOTE: With my new Template, the links to things are very subtle. You pass your curser over things you think might have a link and you will see a shadow behind it and then you know it does have a link. And on a another note of interest, Betty's book is available in paperback at Amazon.com...the link was on the word 'book' on yesterdays birthday post. It is a wonderful book...and I think you will enjoy it.***
***UPDATE NOTE: Danny Miller has written a lovely tribute to Betty Garrett today and has written a lot about her career...go take a look if you have time...it is very informative...(remember, pass your curser over his name...the link will be there...)***6pm
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Today is my dear dear friend Betty Garrett's 87th Birthday. Yup! This amazingly talented and beautiful woman is 87 years old on this Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006. I have to tell you that there is no one like Betty...no one. Her attitude in life and about life is remarkable, to me. She has more friends than anyone I have ever met and is the least judgemental person I have ever known, too. She takes people as they are and always sees the good part of them...if there is a good part to see. It isn't that she doesn't recognize evil. She does, and abhors it.(I don't think she ever could see the good side of Hitler...!) It's that she can see beyond certain outer qualities of a person that might turn most people off...and because she is so incredibly accepting, most people who have this hard armour that completely surrounds them, drop that when they are with her. An amazing thing that I have noticed for all the many years we have been friends...and I'm talking 44 years here...wherever I have gone with her...weather it is to the theatre or dinner or a Museum or shopping, people come over to her and speak to her because they recognize her. That in itself is not that unusual.
What is unusual is the way they talk to her. 100% of these people speak to her with such love and admiration. They are gentle and sweet and always, always, ALWAYS tell her how much she has touched them in some way...how much they love this film of hers or that performance or tv show she was in....and she is always incredibly gracious, incredibly polite, and incredibly sincere. What you see is who she is and what you see is what you get, in spades. Betty is the same with everyone...weather they are her family or her friends or her co-workers or her fans. There are all sorts of reasons for Betty to be bitter or angry or jaded...at 87 she has lived through a tremendous amount of heartache and pain along with all the good stuff, too. But, there is nothing about her that is bitter or jaded or angry. I think what I saw when I first saw Betty on Broadway before she was signed to a contract by MGM was not only this incredibly talented woman, but this really beautiful soul---a person who has such love of what she does and projects that across the footlights in a way that makes audiences fall in love with her. THAT is exactly who Betty was and still is...and there is no doubt in my mind she always will be this incandescent person. I fell in love with her in "Call Me Mister" and I fell in love
with her dear sweet husband, the late Larry Parks, in "The Jolson Story". I believe people come into your life for a reason. It was no accident that Betty & Larry came into my life 16 years before I actually met them. And guess where that was? Theatre West. Because of Theatre West and "Spoon River Anthology, I met Betty and then Larry, too. Never in my wildest imaginiation could I have predicted or even known what great friends they would both become when I had first seen each of them performing. No way could I have predicted that Betty and I would be in the same show...a show that was a rare rare experience in the theatre. From our little 50 seat workshop in Los Angeles to The Booth Theatre on Broadway...these kinds of things happen almost never! And the friendships formed and cemented all those years ago...still thrive today. There were only 6 of us in that cast. Unfortunately, two of those cast members are dead. Charles (Chuck) Aidman--adapter, directer and lyricist--and Robert Elston....both gone. Betty, Joyce Van Patten and myself...still the closest of friends...(and Hal Lynch, my fellow 'Folk Singer' who lives in Opp Alabama and still in contact....) we are still here, alive and kicking, and Betty, the busiest of all of us! I treasure her and I treasure our life-affirming friendship. Betty is a nurterer without even knowing it...the best kind to my way of thinking.A Very Very Happy Birthday, Dear Dear Friend...May there be many many more to come...You are the "best"!
Right after the matinee, we were in the dressing room...(the very same drsssing room that was Betty's back when we were doing "Spoon River" and had to move from The Booth to The Belasco....amazing, amazing...it looked just about the same too, all those years later...) Betty shared the dressing room with Marge Champion during the run and at that matinee Patti Lupone had come to see the show and had come backstage to visit someone she knew in the cast. She stopped to introduce herself to Betty and Marge and I said I'd love to get a picture of the three of them. Patti Lupone was more excited than anyone. I did send her a copy of this photograph. BTW Betty's swetshirt says, "age isn't important unless your a cheese"...appropriate saying on one's birthday, wouldn't you say?This next photograph was taken backstage in Betty's dressing room when she did "Meet Me In St. Louis" some years before...it was opening night and we were going to the opening night party. It was a wonderful special night in so very many ways. Betty's son Garrett met his future wife Karen that night...(Karen was in the show, too). I had the joy of performing their wedding ceremony when they married a few years later....that was a great day, too!
I love this picture...We were all so happy to be there and wanted the show to be a big big hit. It did not get good reviews but it ran for about six months anyway. Audiences loved it and Betty was delightful in it! I came back to New York another three times during the run...once again at Christmas and then again to visit my brother-in-law who was in the hospital dying...and then once again for his funeral. So I got to see part of the show three more times...
And last but not least...here is Betty's book...it's available in paperback and it is a great great read...Betty is a true inspiration in so very many ways, not the least of which is that she is still performing. Singing and acting and completely involved in many many things despite her age. In fact, I think 'performomg' is what keeps her going. She is so alive on stage...
Again, I want to wish you the most wonderful birthday ever my dear dear friend...you are loved by so very many people including me...so I sing to you....'Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday Dear Betty, Happy Birthday To You'.
Long May You Wave!
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Well, another of George's flowers opened up, yesterday (5/19) and by late afternoon, it was closing up already...I couldn't get any closer than this because of where this flower is located on George. It's amazing that none of the flowers that have opened are in easy access...It is possible there may be one or two that will open, I hope, that are in an easier access position, but I'm not counting on it.
George surprised me tonight, (5/20) because another flower opened...and it was not open during the daylight sunny hours, and didn't even look like it was going to open...Go figure. This is the best 'head on' night time picture I have been able to get...and it isn't great by any means...but I feel that it is better than nothing...
And, it was the best I could do with this camera of mine...too far away even with the flash...But I got a side view which I think is a very interesting picture...not so much of the flower itself, but of that wonderful outside sleeve-pattern. If I am up early in the A.M. I will take a look and see if this flower is still open in the morning light perhaps I can get a better picture....it won't be closer though...that's just not possible I'm afraid because of it's location...
I bet I've taken 1000 pictures of George and George's flower-birthing...Of course many of them went right into the recycling bin cause they just weren't in focus or not to my liking...Before George is finished with flowers and fruit this year, I bet there will be at least another thousand pictures! On another front...Here are a couple of plants in my garden down below...What I love about this picture is seeing this very interesting Opuntia in the foreground (a beautiful plant) and in the background is 'the city'...that building that you can just see the top of is The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and behind that is that awful iPod Ad on the side of the old Bekins Storage building.
There are a number of plants in this photograph besides the Opuntia...just behind it is a Euphorbia Ingens, and almost out of sight on the far left is just one arm of a Euphorbia Amak Verigated...and on the far right side is another tall green Ingens with another Euphorbia person in the right hand corner that is quite different than any of the other Euphorbia's that I have or that I have shown you in the past.
This is that same plant in a different part of the garden when it was in full bloom...this is a gorgeous lush plant when it is blossoming...it pretty much looks like nothing much at all when it is not blooming, but oh my dears, it is breathtaking when you see it as it was in this picture. This was taken with my no-think analog camera quite a few years ago.
This next photograph is of an Opuntia that was developed by Luther Burbank. It's claim to fame, besides being very beautiful, is that it is practically spineless, so it can't "get you" the way so very many Cactus type plants can and often do. All the pads on this plant are an almost perfect round shape...
This little guy is the beginning of a new pad just starting to grow. We planted this across the street because we had done a major 'haircut' on the mother plant and we had these lovely extra pads. It is now a very good size plant and this is just an extreme close-up of one of the existing mature pads with a new little baby beginning it's journey...So very dear, isn't it? You can see the places where the spines would be, can't you? And there is almost nothing there that can draw blood, believe me.
I'm sure that a lot of you are familiar with Hens & Chicks...this particular example of this commonly named plant is quite small but oh soooo very beautiful. Talk about perfect symmetry.
Each of these little clusters are no bigger than a silver dollor, just to give you an idea of what you are looking at here in the above photograph. I love that little bit of dark brown on the end of each of the leaves...
This next photograph is a gorgeous succulant that is very colorful and very sturdy, too. This is in a pot out on my deck...it has a lovely view of the city and it needs almost nothing to survive and thrive. A little water once a week...and of course, a lot of love!
These leaves are very thick and fleshy and it is not in perfect symmetry at all, and that is part of what makes it so very beautiful I think.And I will leave you today with this very sweet image. This couple that you are about to see sits on a little table out on my front Patio surrounded by all kinds of beautiful plants....they are my good luck and they are very happy together, as you can see...
The perfect garden Guardian Angels...spreading their good cheer to all the plants and to me, too...Are they sweet or what?More to come....
***UPDATE: Sunday, 10:10 a.m.
God is Good! And so is George...Here is the flower, still open this morning...as close as I can get given all the obstacles in the way.....
Beautiful Beautiful....
Still, More To Come....
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In one of my recent posts, I wrote about The Hotel Salisbury, on West 57th street in Manhatten, where I lived for about 5 months during the rehearsal period and the run of "Spoon River Anthology" on Broadway. I mentioned that Betty Garrett stayed there too, and that Joyce Van Patten was across the street at The Great Northern Hotel, now Le Parker Meridian....I first became aware of The Salisbury when I was going to Drama School. The Feagin School Of Drama in The International building of Rockerfeller Center. I spent two years there and met my dearest and most treasured friend Sammy Reese, my sweet talented soulmate until he died one day after his 55th Birthday.
Sammy was from Montgomery Alabama and so was Miss Lucy Feagin, the founder of the school. I know this was how Sammy came to this particular Drama School...I heard about it through a friend from High School who was going there and so when I began, Jane Smith...(yes, that really is her real name) was a Senior, and I was a Junior. Most of us were in our late teens or early twenty's, except for one woman who looked quite old to all of us. She was in fact, only 53 years old at that time, and though a very beautiful woman, she did look quite a bit older than that.
We were told her name was Rita Gilman. And there was no reason to doubt that in any way. We were told she had had a stroke sometime before and was in the school to work on her memory and her speech, which seemed fine to all of us. It turned out she lived at The Hotel Salisbury
and that was my introduction to the name and to the hotel, itself. It was not a hotel I had ever heard of. It also turned out that Rita Gilman had a daughter who was going to The American Academy Of Dramatic Art, and so both mother and daughter were involved in Drama Schools and The Hotel Salisbury was convenient to both the schools, plus it was a very nice clean hotel. One of the pluses that The Salisbury rooms all had was a 'pantry'. You had to supply the Hot Plate, but they supplied the refridgerator. The hotel had single rooms and two bedroom room suites. (Though I believe they considered The Living Room as the second bedroom.) The Hotel was owned by The Calvery Baptist Church, which is right there with the Hotel kind of surrounding it, and as far as I know, The Salisbury is still owned by them.
I've always thought that the reason the Hotel was always pretty clean was because of The Church. During all the years I have stayed there, they never had a real restaurant in the hotel. They had a coffee shop for a period of time during the 70's but that went bye bye, and I'm not sure why. Anyway...more about Rita Gilman. Unfortunately I cannot find any photographs of her anywhere...which is too bad...she was such a very beautiful woman. Her hair was prematurely gray-white....we surmised that somehow it turned gray-white after her stroke. Rita was a lot of fun and as she got to know people and began to feel more comfortable with them she would invite them to tea at her hotel. 
She really liked Sammy and she really liked me, too. So, one day we were invited to The Suite. At that time, the two elevators were operated by people. Live people, who were very very nice. Sammy and I arrived at the hotel at the appointed hour and we were announced at the desk and got in one of those elevators and were whisked up to the floor where Rita and her daughter lived. They had a suite and this photograph which is probably a recent one could have been taken back then on the afternoon we were about to enter this suite. The picture is probably a little nicer than it actually was...I don't remember these suites having this much furniture in the living room, but...maybe they did in some of the fancier ones. Every time I ever stayed there the hotel was always renovating and upgrading the rooms. I never had one of those "newly renovated" rooms, but I'm sure, somebody did. At least I hope they did.Rita opened the door and greeted us warmly and ushered us past the pantry and into the living room. The very first thing one saw in that
living room was a huge Black & White photograph of a very familiar face. The photograph was of the actor Wallace Beery, who was a very big star at MGM during the '30 and 40's until he died in 1949. (They say that he when he died his estate was worth about Two Million Dollors! In todays money that would probably translate to $200,000,000.)
So indeed Rita was Rita Gilman, but she was also Rita Gilman Beery the widow of Wallace Beery. And her daughter who was going to The American Academy was Carol Ann Beery, their daughter. I remember that both Sammy and I didn't want to look too surprised at this BIG picture....we kind of pretended that we didn't even see it, but after we left there we were like two little kids...all excited about the fact that Rita had been married to this very famous "movie star". And he had been a big big star. He was most definately a character actor, but he 'starred' in most of his films..."The Champ", "Min & Bill", "Bad Bascomb"...just to name a few...and one of those all star MGM extravaganza's, the Edna Ferber-George S, Kaufman play "Dinner At Eight"...directed by George Cukor...(Parenthetically: I was at a dinner party many years ago, a small intimate dinner party of about 8 people and George Cukor was there
...and he was, more or less, the guest of honor...as the evenig progressed we all asked him many many questions about his films and some of the many great people he worked with...like Marilyn Monroe...he talked about how she kept everyone waiting on the set and how it was so incredibly unprofessional....someone said, "What about Judy Garland...wasn't she always late, too?"...Cukor nodded and said simply, "Yes, she was...but Ahhhh THAT was worth waiting for....". He was honest as well as magnificently talented...) Maybe because of that time with Rita Beery and my introduction to The Salisbury being rather glamourous,
it always held a special place for me. And most especially when a year or so later, my oldest friend in the whole world who I had known since I was five years old, (And am still close to I might add) moved into The Salisbury with her parents until she married about six months later. After the extended "Spoon River" period there, I stayed at the hotel a number of other times when my mother was struggling with cancer and had to be in the hospital three or four of times. Years later I stayed at The Salisbury for another extended period...about 6 weeks...when having terrible back problems I had come to New York to see a specific doctor...the visits to him were for a special twenty minute treatment and one had to go twice a day. His waiting room was like going to Lourdes. People hobbling in (or being carried in !) and then walking out no longer hobbling. I met a lot of interestimg people there, every day, twice a day...The Salisbury was once again a haven for me...and it was during that extended stay that one of the maids at the hotel had a stroke in my bathroom...THAT was horrendous I tell you...but that is another post for another time...
There was a funny story about the Deli that was around the corner from the hotel on Sixth Avenue...Oops, I mean, Avenue Of The America's.
As many of you no doubt know, there is a Deli on almost every other corner in New York, at least there used to be....this one on 6th was a tiny tiny storefront and it was packed to the ceiling with everything and anything, including fresh fruit and vegetables...how they did it, I'll never know. And the Deli food was delicious and they carried Hagen Das Ice Cream! (I was a regular customer during the "Spoon River" days.) And, on top of all that, they delivered. A great luxury at the time. Most all of the guys that worked in this little place were older men and were Jewish...I felt right at home. I would call and order stuff to be delivered and one old guy in particular was very very nice and friendly on the phone...if I was sick or something he was very concerned. He knew me. So one day I called and someone answered and I said "This is Naomi at The Salisbury, are you my friend?".....this guy, without missing a beat said: "Wer'e all your friends, lady, Whatdayu want?" Soooo very New York! I told that story to everyone in the cast and to everyone in L.A., too....Talk about a good laugh...yes, I laughed harder than anbody. I love love love New York.That stretch of 57th street held two iconic places, one...now gone. The great great Carnegie Hall, where I spent many inspiring afternoons and evenings as a child and as a young woman, listening to some of the greatest concerts artists of our time playing some of the most beautiful music ever written...still one of the greatest concert halls ever built in our country.
And another place which I have mentioned before---the one, the only, Russian Tea Room. Immortalized forever in the film "Tootsie" where the famous scene of Dustin Hoffman dressed as 'Dorothy', goes and meets his agent for the very first time when dressed in the 'Dorothy' drag; this is where that scene took place.
I have had many a lovely meal there over many many years. But probably the most memorable was when Joyce Van Patten and I flew to New York to begin rehearsals for "Spoon River" and went to The Russian Tea Room that very first night for a late supper of their magnificent Borsht and Perogii's and a Glass of Tea in the totally traditional Russian manner. This was a beautiful elegant somewhat gaudy yet very stylish restaurant with it's lovely leather booths. It was frequented by theatre people and the classical music world as well as the world of ballet...It was a very sad sad day when it closed it's doors forever.
I don't think we will ever see another restaurant quite like this one. All the greats in the worlds mentioned above came here from the time it opened it's doors in 1926, till the day it closed it's doors for the very last time. It was a truly memorable experience to be there in every way and I don't believe anyone who ever went there during it's hey day was disappointed. It was special and unique and unforgetable...I wish I could go there right now....Yum.More To Come....
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This is a sweet little flower on a small strange and beautiful plant. The flower is only slightly slightly bigger than a 'nickel', but not as big as a 'quarter'...This is one of those plants that looks like it was under the sea at one time...Who knows, maybe it was....It is down below my house on the hill which is completely developed with cactus and succulants and staircases and walkways...A few things are blooming now and I was lucky enough to catch some of them the other day...It was late afternoon so the light then is different, you know? I love that time of day...the sun hasn't dipped behind the mountain yet, so it is still bright and beautiful but not too horribly warm....
This is the top of a Euphorbia Amak Verigated that is full-to-bursting with little yellow flowers...These are bigger than a pin head but much smaller than a penny. In the late afternoon sun, they look darker than they really are....
This is a gorgeous bright red flower that lasts just one day. One Day! This is not uncommon as you have already gathered from previous posts, and of course, that's what makes these flowers that much more precious. I just happened to catch this on the right day...if I had gone down below earlier, this beauty would have been more open, but I was grateful to catch this view...because the next day it would have been completely closed up...
Here is a slightly different view where you can see part of the plant itself. Of course I cannot remember the name of this very wonderful plant, but suffice it to say, I love it and the flowers it produces, too.
These are very very small flowers...the size of a fairly small woman's pinky nail...they look bigger in this picture, but, they really aren't. 
I love the symmetry of this plant and the flowers that appear in this perfect circle around the top---always leaving the center of the plant as is...Almost all the flowers on cactus and succulants turn into fruit. I should know why, but I don't...but as that starts to happen, (just like with George) I will show you the the different fruits if I can.
One more beauty...this one a 'yellow' person...Sorry it is so dark...Again, a one-day-wonder which I just happened to be lucky enough to catch....Here is a picture of that same flower and one bud like it that hadn't opened yet and the little plant that produces these miracles.
And one more look at that flower on George, because about two hours later, it had closed up...now on the next part of it's journey...becoming fruit...
More to come....
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Well look what happened! A FLOWER OPENED!!!! Hooray! It's not a great picture cause I cannot get close to it...Arrrggghhhhhh! It's in a place that is impossible to get to on George....too many other plants in the way and I cannot get into the 'bed' where everything is planted cause it's crowded with plants, too....So...till another one opens..(Pray God!) I'll have to be satisfied with this....and so will you!I hope there will be more to come on this....Do see the post below to catch up...
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This was this morning, 5/10/06 at 9:54a.m. I will be recording the days events regarding these flowers...
Another view, (sideways) to show you in a slightly larger format how this beautiful flower is developing. (This was taken on May 9th, actually. And actually shows the flower slightly more open. Hmmm.)Well....I honestly do not quite understand what is happening with dear George's flowers. I am non-plussed. The blossom above never opened any more than what you see in the 2nd picture, above. And I have been watching very very carefully. I've been out there every two hours or so...including up till midnight last night (5/10)...No change, except it actually looked like it has closed up a little more...
Then, today...5/11/06....I took some pictures this morning; midday; and late this afternoon...It doesn't look promising....this looks like it has closed up even more...
We'll see what tomorrow brings, but....I have this strange feeling that this particular blossom is not going to open any further...Hmmmm.Here is how one of the other blossoms looked at that same hour of the day today....
Gee....I'm hoping this one and some of the others are going to open at least to where the one above did...!UPDATE: Saturday, May 13th,: I realize today that in all these years that George has 'bloomed' I had never actually seen the George Flowers open up completely. I have thought all these years that I just missed them opening....Well, I now know that as far as I can tell, they just don't open up any more than that second photograph at the top! Disappointng? You bet. Cause in my mind I pictured these flowers as being absoluteley fantasic. Well, it is possible that one of these things will open up more, but I honestly do not think so.
So, the next step that I have been aware of, after seeing these bulbus things developing for all these years is what is starting to happen now.
You see how the bottom of the pod is now beginning to get fatter than the top part? In that first picture the top looks fatter...Now, the bottom is just starting to get more bulbus than the top, and the top looks much thinner than it did in those top two pictures.
This photo above, was taken today, 5/13 about a half hour ago...(2:00pm), and just in the these two days, you can see that the bottom is fatter again than it was on Thursday.
This photo was taken at about 3:pm today, as well....What is taking place now is the formation of the fruit. These flowers turn into fruit with all the little seeds inside...Those teeny tiny buttons...which is what we started with back in February, will become these round seed pods...The bottom getting fatter is the beginning of this process. I honestly don't know how long this takes because this is the first time I've photographed the daily (sort of) progess...I'll be following this very closely. And of course, if any of these flower people open up more than that top one, you'll know about it!MOTHERS DAY: 5/14/06....Well, this was my Mothers Day present this morning...It was not easy to get these pictures because I had to stand on a pretty big ladder and push another plant out of the way...(lol) but...here is one of the blossoms closer to the top of George...
It's a very overcast morning here in Los Angeles. Typical May-June weather...and because this is on the upper side of George where there isn't as much light, it looks a bit dark for 10:15 in the morning. Below is a slightly closer picture, taken about two hours later and the sun has finally broken through the gloom...I'm thrilled that another one of these baby's has opened this far and I thank God for this gift today, because these flowers and plants are God's Gifts. Nature. Nothing like it. I'll be watching closely for the next step in this opening process....
This one snapped while I was as high up on the ladder as I could get, so we see a tiny bit more of the inside of this flower.....And in case any of you have forgotten what "George" looks like, or have never seen a picture of George...Here he is, with some of his flower pods visible...more are around the other side where you cannot see them except when I take these many many pictures of them...So, here's dear George....
I love Sundays up here on the hill.....no traffic, no trucks parked in front of my house doing work at the house next door...no other trucks up the hill at the construction site, possibly a passer-by or two, taking a walk with their dog....but mostly it is quiet.....quiet and peaceful and beautiful...peaceful enough to lose myself in the inside of that flower....and I am reminded of why I moved up here in the first place all those many years ago...I hope everybody had a wonderful day yesterday...
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Happy Mothers Day
In other news:
On Monday, May 15th, I will be getting my new blog design installed by the wonderful Maddie, of GirlieBits. We have been working on this since about the beginning of March...as with all things in life, there have been delay's because I was ill for a good length of time and then a bit later, Maddie's computer went wonky in the hard drive. But the wait and delay's are over now and this is a very exciting moment for me. I waited a long time to find the right design person for me, and when I found Maddie, I knew she was it! My excitement and my decision was based on a design I saw of hers when Jane, of janelovestarzan, spoke of Maddie on her blog and gave a link to Maddie's design site. Well, I loved what I saw. And, I really love love love what she has done for me and I cannot recommend her highly enough. She is incredibly talented and has the patience of a Saint, and cares very much about what she does, all things that mean a great deal to me, too! So, my new Blog Design is on it's way. I'm hoping that as you read this post, (if this is the one that is still up on Monday), my new Blog Design will be there, too! This is a Very Happy Mother's Day, Indeed! Bless You All!
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MOTHERS &
DAUGHTERS &
GRANDMOTHERS - 2
Here is the 2nd of my MD&G posts.
This is my dear and good friend, Joyce Van Patten, and her daughter Talia Balsam. I met Joyce in those first weeks after I joined Theatre West, just as I had met Maxine. Joyce was actually the true 'Spark Plug' for the idea of TW...along with two other brilliant actors, Charles Aidman & Scott Marlowe. Joyce & Chuck & Scott were all New York actors and had all moved West because Television had moved west 'back in the day'...but, they missed the Theatre. They missed the kind of classes and workshops that were in New York. So while doing a play here in L.A. Joyce and Chuck got this idea of starting a professional actors workshop...they didn't want it to be an acting class, but a place to work on things they had a passion for. To tackle parts they might never be cast in, or to develop a project that was a long time dream....That is how "Spoon River Anthology" came about. This had been a long time dream of Chuck Aidman...(But that's a whole other blog, for another day...)
Joyce has been a 'working' actress since she was a tiny little girl. Her brother Dickie was a child actor too, and they each have had wonderful careers as actors, and both continue to have wonderful careers to this day. The Van Patten Family is a kind of an acting dynasty. Both of Joyce's children, Casey King and Talia Balsam (two different fathers), were and are actors. Casey is not an actor anymore, but he was a second generation Theatre Wester and played a prominant part in a play of mine done at The Matrix Theatre, here in Los Angeles, "The Dressing Room", and he was wonderful! This was a very thrilling thing for me--to have worked so closely with his mother in "Spoon River" as well as our long long friendship, and then to work with Casey on a Theatrical project--a play that I wrote...indeed, truly thrilling. Her half brother Timmy Van Patten, (multi episode Director of "The Soprano's") was an actor and then became a director and a very very successful one, too. I worked with Timmy when he was a 'regular' actor on "The White Shadow" , I had a tiny part as a 'Nurse'. (One of the many nurse parts that I have played on Television.) Dickie's three sons have all acted at one time or another, too, but I think Jimmy is the only one who still does act.
Talia is a beautifully talented actress as well as a beautiful person and has had and still has a very successful career. She was just a little girl when I first met her...
Her father was the fantastically talented actor, Martin Balsam...so she has the 'talent' genes from both her mother and her father...When I met Joyce, she was already divorced from Marty and she was a single mom earning a living in her chosen profession.An unusual circumstance. I mean that for Joyce's entire career, she has never had to take work outside of acting. And considering the longevity of her career, that is the unusual part. She has been part of the Original Broadway casts of 4 Neil Simon plays...all important parts. Just a few of her films are, "I Love You Alice B. Toklas" opposite Peter Sellers, "The Falcon & The Snowman". "St. Elmo's Fire", "Mikey & Nikey" Elaine May's film, and a kind of scary cult movie called "Monkey Shines", to name just a few. Umpteen television shows, most recently "Desperate Housewives"...any number of television series including the landmark Musical Variety series, "The Danny Kaye Show".
I loved photographing these two women. They have such a wonderful relationship, and always have. I think it shines through in these photographs. They have always been very very close and they still are.
One of the things I loved about this picture is that darling cat. As long as I have known Joyce she has always had cats. This was just one of them, and a dear sweet person he was, named Morty. Talia always loved cats, too...even as a child. I have some 8mm film taken at Joyce's house on Fairfax Avenue when Talia was probably 4 or 5 years old...where they had a cat and a rabbit...both these dear little animals committed to celluloid, forever. These photographs were taken up on Grace Avenue in the house Joyce shared with two different husbands. It was in a very wonderful part of old Hollywood, one hill East of my hill, called Whitley Heights...many beautiful old Spanish style homes are up there. All of these photographs were taken in the garden of the Grace Avenue house.
In this next photograph I love the sense of fun that you see in both Joyce & Talia. They seem to have the same sense of humor here, don't they?
Talia is maried to a lovely man named 
John Slattery who is a wonderful wonderful actor, who never seems to stop working....and he does it all, Films, Television, and stage, (he's in a play on Broadway right now called "Rabbitt Hole"). And Talia does it all, too. She was Anthony La Paglia's wife in "Without A Trace" and plays Sean Penn's wife in the still unreleased remake of "All The Kings Men", filmed in New Orleans, before Katrina. Like both her mother and her father, Talia's roots are in the Theatre and she often returns to the stage as well as all the rest. Talia and John have a little six year old boy Harry, who is the love of all their lives...and she has worked with her husband in a series for HBO called "K Steeet" produced by her ex husband, George Clooney.
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These two women have very full lives and careers that take them from one coast to another and everything in between. Joyce just returned to New York where she lives for part of the year, and where her earliest roots in the Theatre are. We became very close friends during the whole "Spoon River Anthology" rehearsal process and subsequent runs at UCLA and then Broadway...during that glorious time, we both lived on 57th street across the street from each other, and Betty Garrett and I (our third Musketeer) both lived at the same apartment hotel, The Salisbury Hotel, right in the middle of the greatest city in the world. Across the steet from Joyce's hotel, The Great Northern, (now a very posh Hotel with another name entirely) and just up the steeet from there is Carnegie Hall and the now closed forever....fabulous Russian Tea Room. Those were heady days. The "Spoon River" experience cemented the friendship of the three of us, Betty, Joyce and myself, in a way that cannot be put into words, and can never be duplicated, either. Here is one last picture of Joyce & Talia....
I think I caught both of these dear people at a very good time in their lives. Joyce's personal life and professional life were going great guns. And Talia was just on the brink of stepping into her very wonderful career and of discovering what love was in her just burgeoning young womanhood. What I love is that they still share so very much with one another right now, as I write this. These are two very special people who love each other very very much, and it shows in these photographs, don't you think?
****I have never put so many links in any post I have written, in all these many months. But when you have people who have such rich careers it is impossible not to include all these links. You will learn a lot about the careers of each of these people if you take the time to follow the links. Have fun!****
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DovesThe Morning Doves have taken up residence right next to the Carriage Lamp very near my front door. This was a popular apartment for the doves for a number of years and then, something or someone I should say...(Blue Jays, perhaps?) scared them away...and no doves came back for a number if years. Well, I'm happy to say that one Morning Dove couple has decided to brave this place, once again.
Morning Doves do make the messiest nests I've ever seen. But...and this is the important part, they do make them, and then have faith that their nests will be okay. Hidden. Safe. Sturdy. Years ago I put a piece of cardboard right there so that it wouldn't be so difficult for them to build in that crack between the wall and the side of the lamp. This piece of cardboard used to be upright and even. It isn't any more.
But, that hasn't stopped these dear Doves. They built their nest there anyway. And it is a very sturdy looking nest I must say. And this place...is actually a very protected place...a 'safe haven' if you will...and I pray the dreaded Blue Jays do not come and scare these sweet dear birds away. I pray the little eggs hatch and that the little birdlings thrive and then fly away as is the way of birds.
I'll keep you up to date on all of this you can be sure, my dears.
And look what I saw this afternoon (5/9). Not this morning, (it looked very different this morning) but...this afternoon. This morning this had not happened yet. Nature's miracle, right here in the photograph below. One flower is just opening up. By tomorrow, (well...today, May 10th), there will be a lot more to see. But, for now, here is what was happening today...this very afternoon.
And on the other side of George? This one in the above photograph, is just about to burst forth, too! This is thrilling, folks. Absolutely thrilling. Look at the perfection of design on that fuzzy side there...I mean...this is fantastic! Glory Be To God, indeed!Oh yes, More To Come....
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I don't want "The West Wing" to end! No, I don't! This show,...this show is so damn good, in every way...tonights episode...the writing...Oh My Lord The Glorious Writing.....it was like the writing of those first three or four seasons...The Sorkin/Schlamme years...And let's talk about the acting...Oh My Lordy...That Alison Janney is AMAZING...simply AMAZING!!! 
They are all amazing...That scene with the equally superb Richard Schiff (Toby Zeigler)...this is great writing, this is great acting, this is great great television...great great any kind of 'entertainment'...theatre, films...etc. (What these two actors did is so hard....the subtleties...the nuances...F**cking Brilliant...Moving...Funny....Serious...all in 7 minutes or however long that scene was....Magnificent Television....The scene at the end of the episode with Alison Janney and Timothey Busfield (Danny C.)...Magnificent...!! 'The West Wing' has alwys hired the Best Actors...The Best Of The Best...The Cream Of The Crop....always, and those actors tonight sure showed their stuff....they all make it look sooooo easy...) And, I don't want "West Wing" to end because I love Jed Bartlett, and Abbey, and Josh and I loved loved loved Leo...the exquisite late John Spencer....yes I loved these people and I wish our country was run by them...Yes, I know it's a television show....
Yes, I live in a fantasy world about this and it's because what these people want to do and how they talk about doing what they want to do is what I think America is truly all about or should be! These are the ideals of America. Not the coruption. Not the lies....NOT the Emperor's New Clothes that so many politicians think we don't see...they think we are too stupid to see that The Emperor has no clothes. They don't realize that we are not too stupid or unfeeling or uninterested to see that the Emperor has no heart and what little heart he might have is completely empty of empathy....empty of true compassion for WE THE PEOPLE...Remember, We The People includes Everyone! And there are those of us who see that 'they', including The Emperor and all his unfeeling non-caring henchman, don't care about all of the people, and that breaks our hearts.'The West Wing' shows us how really really 'good' we could be in this country. How really meaningful it is to truly care and govern from caring.....to govern from being inclusive, not from selfish personal agenda's that are exclusive....'The West Wing's' agenda is to include all of us....to include every single one of us, because 'The West Wing' believes that each and every one of us in this country are, WE THE PEOPLE.
I loved Jed Bartlett as our President and I think Matt Santos is going to be a GREAT President and I loved that he has picked Arnold Vinick as his Secretary of State! This is not about partisanism. This is about what's best for the country. And if you don't know what I'm talking about...if you don't recognize any of these names then you have missed some of the best Best BEST television, ever! And some of the most wonderful people who if they were 'real' would have gotten my vote, for sure. 'The West Wing' gave us someone to vote FOR, not just a candidate to vote against who is the lesser of two evils. So, if you missed all this, you can rent it on DVD. Better yet, you can buy it if you are of a mind. And to really torture yourself, next Sunday night is The End. The last new episode of 'The West Wing', ever. The Finale. The Finish. Bye Bye. It will be two hours. And the first hour is to be the very first fabulous episode of 'The West Wing', and the 2nd hour is the very last, no doubt, fabulous episode. Tears will be shed at my house, I can tell you that, cause I truly want Matt Santos to be our President, right now.And just in case you think I've gone round the bend, let me assure you once again that I know it's a television show. I know it isn't real life. I'm saying I want it to be real life and not just a television show. So sue me.
It's depressing, too, cause this show gave me hope for our beauiful wonderful country, and at this point in time, there is nothing else on tv that inspires in this special wonderful way. Like I said, I hate that this show is ending. Tears will be shed.
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MOTHERSDAUGHTERS
AND
GRANDAUGHTERS
About 20 or more years ago, I had an idea for a book . It was Mothers And Daughters and Grandaughters, (if indeed there were any grandaughters....). It was to be a book of photographs and reminiscences by the subjects being photographed. I began to think about who amongst my women friends had daughters, and also, who amongst my women friends had mothers still alive and kicking...Maxine Stuart and her daughter Chrissy Maxwell (above) were one of the first 'pairs' that I photographed. It was a lot of fun and a really involving creative project, and ultimately all of the women I photographed and their family's had some lovely pictures that they all tell me they cherish to this day...
Unfortunately, the book never came to pass and I remember at the time I began to do this having a phone conversation with my good and dear friend Lee Grant...(An extrordianry actress and a brilliant director, too) who has a daughter herself...and telling her about my idea, hoping at some point to photograph Lee and her daughter Dinah. She thought it was a wonderful idea and said...'Do it Naomi, before somebody else does, cause you know that somebody will do it because it is such a fabulous idea...'. She was right. Someone else did do it and a few other someone-elses have done it since then, too.
But, I realize that what I saw in my minds eye...and the thrust of the pictures I actually did take and wanted to take too, were different than anyone elses because...(as Martha Graham so aptly put it...), this was my 'unique' vision. Plus the back story's, if you will, on some of the people I photographed were all pretty interesting....and in some ways, now that so much time has passed...more interesting with that very passage of time. Take Maxine Stuart, for instance...
One of the most wonderful things that Maxine did as an actress was a 'Twilight Zone', called, "Eye Of The Beholder". For those who might not be familiar with this show or this particular episode, 
it was a very famous episode that has always created a lot of discussion. It is a particularly intertesting episode because of living and working in Hollywood, where "looks" are so important. This episode of Twilight Zone had some irony's to it, too. It is about a young woman who we see in bandages at the very beginning of the show and then subsequently all through the show...she is, we find out at the beginning, horrified by how she looks and the 'doctors' have not been able to 'fix' her. So, all through the show we never see her, except in those bandages.And we don't see her doctors and nurses either, because they are filmed in shadows throughout the entire show...we do hear them talking about how ugly she is and how hopeless it all is and we see her anguish and watch her try to 
rip off her bandages because she is in so much pain about her looks, but we never actually 'see' those doctors and nurses. And when we finally do see them, we see that they all look like 'pig people', with pig noses, etc...really really awful horrible looking extremely ugly people by our standards, and then when we see the woman without her bandages at the end of the show after they tell her it is hopeless and they cannot do anything to fix her face, and when we see her finally she looks exactly like the ideal of beauty that Hollywood was and is always selling us, and she is considered The Ugly One by the Pig People, and is banashed to a place with others 'of her kind'....we see a very handsome man by Hollywood standards welcoming her to some dungeon place where all these 'ugly's' are sent! 
The Pig People doctors and nurses are the Beautiful People, and the woman, now out of her bandages is the ugly one. "The Eye Of The Beholder", indeed! An important statement, for sure. Okay. But here's the ironic part. Maxine played the woman in the bandages all through the show, doing all this incredibly brilliant 'acting', and when it came time for her to be unbandaged they hired another actress for that part of the show because they didn't think Maxine was pretty enough! How screwed up is that? That says it all about Hollywood, doesn't it? Maxine always saw the irony of this, even while they were filming this episode.
Over the years Maxine has acted in many films and on many Television shows. In fact she was nominated for an Emmy about 6 years ago for a Guest Starring role. She married a wonderful darling man who happens to be a writer, about twenty-five years ago, and her dear daughter Chris, who is a very successful Entertainment Lawyer here in L.A., just got married herself, about three months ago.
One of the things I enjoyed about taking these pictures was seeing many of the related women in profile and seeing how much or how little the daughters looked like there mothers...in this case, I was surprised at how much Chrissy looked like Maxine, in profile. I honestly hadn't ever thought they looked that much alike, but once I saw them in profile the resemblence was startling to me and then I saw the similarities in the other pictures in a deeper way.
I will be posting more of these photographs as we go along....I photographed quite a few sets of Mothers And Daughters, and in three cases there were Grandmothers as well....so as I always say....
More to come...
The photo's above were taken on the campus of UCLA because Maxine lived in a charming apartment there in Westwood, which was walking distance to the campus and I thought since she didn't have a garden, that this would be a lovely setting for photographing these two amazing women. Maxine, who is quite a bit older than me will turn 89 this June 28th...just one day after my birthday...
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Bird
Flu
Hits
Florida!!!
WARNING!
Some
Images
Be
Disturbing!
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George! (etc.)
Progress is visible....
Do you see the
ends of
each of these
now l-o-n-g
flowers?
We are now
beginning
to see the
first signs of
possible
blossoms...
Just the barest evidence...but, it is there...Remember, I started watching those little buttons in February...and this photograph was taken on May, 1st....Slow but sure....I'm getting very very excited now...
Here is a close-up of one the l-o-n-g flowers on the other side of George, and though it is certainly not perfect focus by any means, you can see that little bit of something-or-other on the end of it that is just starting to appear...
ON ANOTHER FRONT: I haven't posted about the "construction" site progress in a while, so here is an update on the doings up there on that small hill....
Here is a close-up of some of the men who are working up there...this was a rather cold day...but even colder up there as you can see, so all those guys except for one had on warm hooded jacket type sweatshirts...there are seven guys working just on that one part of the project...I honestly couldn't quite figure out what they were doing....
This is where they were working, but I still wasn't sure exactly what they were doing...I thought it probably was a retaining wall for the back of the property of the proposed house to keep the hill behind it from coming down on that proposed house---(now, still just a building site)...And the above picture was taken a month ago, exactly...on April 2nd.
I obviously missed a lot of the progression of this whatever-it-is during the month of April...but, above is what that same place looked like on Monday...It has a curve to it...I still don't know what the hell this is, but it must be pretty important, cause they seem to be taking their time with it and also taking a lot of care, too.
This next set of pictures shows this huge screw-driver-type piece of equiptment as it was getting ready to bore into the ground and twist away...
Then, I watched to see what it's purpose was, and caught this kind of interesting picture of what it does---or at least, the next step in it's job....
I still don't know exactly what this piece of machinary actually does, but the dirt is pulled out as the thing is still twisting---and the dirt kind of fly's around while it's being removed. I think it may be there to make holes where the pilings will go...I actually have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, but this is what I am thinking it's doing given my dime store knowledge of these things...(lol)
AND ON ANOTHER FRONT: Here are a couple of photo's of some little wild flowers I saw along the way as I walked up to the construction site...
And then this one....I have no idea what this plant is or what these little berry-like things do either, but I love the way it looks, don't you?
So, as Spring barrels on here in Los Angeles, we have begun our May-June overcast cold damp weather. It doesn't rain, but who knows what it actually will do this year...because normally, it doesn't rain during May & June, but it is always very overcast for both these months. It is not the prettiest time of year here in Los Angeles and not the warmest either, but it was ever thus for as long as I have lived here. And this is what you can expect to see for most of May & June.
You can expect to see very little.
I've posted a photograph of the Euphorbia Continifolia otherwise known as The Red Tree, quite a while ago...well now that Spring is springing, and the new leaves are coming in on all the Red Trees in my garden, here is a photograph of a small amount if the new leaves...as these trees fill out I will post many more pictures, but for now, here is this one...
I think these leaves are the most beautiful color...rather amazing color actually...this is the tree that I have given cuttings of, to so very many people...it is not a common tree though many people mistake it for a certain kind of Maple...the Japanese Maple, which is a much more common tree...but the leaves of this Euphorbia Continifolia are a very rich red wheras the Japanese Maple is more towards the redish brown....If you saw these trees next to each other you would see the difference and also, you would see how truly gorgeous this tree is when it is in it's full glory...Here is another photo of the young leaves...
More To Come....
****Oh, and I joined the fun over at Craziequeen's and played with everyone else in the Training Session of The Blog Olympics...I was pretty late, but better late than never, right?...
And I received a SILVER MEDAL!****
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And
Morris Broderson
Following up on my last post, there is another connection that runs through my life that is pretty exciting. A very unique talented painter named Morris Broderson came into my life many many years ago. Some of the very first small pieces of art that I ever bought were Broderson's. We became very good friends I am happy to say and Morris' work hangs all over my home in almost every room. I have always admired his work and have always been very very moved by it, too. Living with his work is an 'inspiration' to me in so very many ways.
His connection to Agnes de Mille began when he saw the Ballet "Rodeo", which she had choreographed. Somewhere along the way he saw another ballet of hers called "Fall River Legand" the story of Lizzie Borden...he was so taken with that Ballet that he did a whole series of paintings based on Lizzie. At one time I owned a beautiful oil of that series called "Lizzie In Mourning", but unfortunately hard times forced me to sell this beautiful painting...and though it pained me greatly to have to part with it, I took comfort in the fact that I had other works of his.
de Mille and Broderson met after he did his 'Lizzie' series and she fell in love with his work and with him. Morris is someone to fall in love with. He is a true Modern Master, and everything about him is unique...what he paints, how he decides to paint what he paints, and although this next fact doesn't define all of him by any means, it certainly has effected who he is and how he sees the world. He happens to be deaf.
Morris has been 'profoundly deaf' since birth. He reads lips and he speaks amazingly well I might add, for a person who has never heard a 'sound' in his entire life. Morris loves to laugh and he has a wonderful sense of humor. In fact his sense of humor is better than a lot of hearing people I know! I mean it. I have probably laughed more with him than I have with 80% of the people I know.
This photo, which I wish were better, is of Agnes de Mille. Morris was at an important event where de Mille was honored. In fact it was The Kennedy Center Honors, and he was sitting behind her at one of the many events that took place. ( This painting hangs in my bedroom on the opposite wall from my bed so I get to look at it every day.) This was his view of her in her wheel chair as he sat behind her. I think it is an amazing painting--(well, a mixed media drawing actually...pencil and pastel)...The detail of the blouse she is wearing is exquisite; utterly breathtaking in it's detail. As you can see at the top of the painting there are hands spelling out something in sign language. The word he spelled out was "Dancer".
Perfect.
***There will be more about Morris Broderson as time goes on here...He has been a very important part of my life...particularly my life in Art. So, as I always like to say....More To Come....***
***** I recieved at email this morning from Deana telling me I had won this Perfect Post Award for the month of April...and this is the logo that I am putting on here as a link...I do not know how else to do this...Still very HTML Challenged, you know...
This was for my post on Smoking. I am honored and I thank Deana with all my heart.*****(11:20am 5/01/06)
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x4
