The other day I was outside talking to my gardener and we were standing by the wonderful plant that produces these fantastic flowers....And, by the way, there have been such an abundance of these flowers this year.....I mean a humongous amount of flowers. It has had probably fifteen hundred to two thousand flowers this year....! I know, incredible, isn't it?Anyway, the bees love these flowers. And I find that their intention is so strong that they don't even notice me....Which is great because I can snap away with my camera and not worry that they will be more interested in me than in the yumminess awaiting and available to them....
They just get close and then burrow in, like, whatever it is that is in there is absolute heaven....And then they come out for air...and hover a bit....
You can see the pollen on his little legs....Amazing! Then, he goes back to 'burrowing in'....It must really be good stuff in there, I tell you...!
And then, after that....once again, he comes up for air and hovers some more, planning his next move.....
To be able to view his world up close like this just thrills me....He didn't care that Seven was sweeping or that I was clicking away....Intention, strong and powerful.
In acting, all the good teachers have always talked about 'intention'. 'What is your intention, in this scene?' The point being....If your intention is clear to you, then what you want will be clear to the audience....How true.
Intention clear here.....
Almost there......
Almost Bullseye!
Just a hairs breath away from a Bullseye! And then......
Oh Yes! He's in. Bullseye!
Another bee, on another day, below....and that abundance of flowers I was talking about....are below, all on top of one stalk.....
I am so very happy that we still have bees here in Los Angeles...I know there is tremendous concern about the bees disappearing, and it is very scary to think of the ramafications connected to this disappearance. I am deeply grateful that I have lots of plants in my garden that the bees are attracted to and are coming to, still....I pray that does not change, because if it should, it will mean that much of our ecological balance is or will be completely screwed up....
And one last picture....Here below you can see that this years flower crop on this tall fuzzy plant was just made for the beautiful wonderful bees.....Oh My Goodness....Where to go first?
More To Come......
Late this afternoon I was just finishing a l-o-n-g complicated post that had taken days and days to put together....and.....and.....and.....friggin' guess who?
Ate it! Chewed it up and ZAP....it was gone. Completely and Utterly. I do not know how or why that happened...but it did.And it sent me screaming and crying, to my bed......
I'll be back.....and as Scarlett said....
"I'll think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day...."
OY, OY, OY! I am not a happy camper, at all.......
But in reality, it wasn't my computer that crashed. It was F***king Blogger....
Maybe There Will Be More To Come.....And Maybe Not.....UGH!
Time for "the Cake". Because of the glaring light coming in from that window, Betty needed to be seated with the light behind her, which was fine, except getting a good picture of her blowing out the candles on her cake was a bit difficult, but I managed, sort of.....!
Here in this picture above she is pretending to be worn out from blowing out the eight candles on her beautiful and delicious Birthday Cake.....This cake was so rich that almost no one could finish it...
And below you can see that I got a special non-chocolate dessert for Dianne because she cannot eat chocolate, (Poor dear...lol)....And the only one who finished every morsal of that Birthday Cake was dear Kim....
It's funny, because all the years I have known Dianne, she has been allergic to chocolate, although she said on Thursday that she does eat it once in a great while, now....
But not that day.....lol. Here is a sweet picture of the Beautiful Seemah.....
And here below, a lovely picture of Cousin Carol.....
And another shot of Betty, still at the Lunch Table, explaining something to all of us.....
Then....it was time to open the presents! I don't think I know anyone who takes more delight in the presents she gets than Betty....and she is so easy to get a present for...again, I cannot think of anyone that is easier...And maybe it is because she takes such delight in whatever she is in any given package.....
Always ready for a laugh....I love her pretense of "greed" here in the picture above....lol. Then she began opening all these pretty packages in earnest, as we all watched and enjoyed.....
This next picture below is of one of the presents I gave her...It is a new Biography of Ingrid Bergman....in Large Print.
Betty loves Biography's and the Large Print versions are really helpful to her...again, because of her Macular Degeneration. Then she opened Kim's present, and it was a wonderful book---(his very last before he died)---by Arthur Miller, one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century..."Death Of A Salesman", "All My Sons", & "After The Fall", to name just a few of his plays....
Betty just loved getting this book by the fabulous Mr. Miller...She actually kissed the book! And here below you can see these two books a bit closer.....
And then, Betty opened Seemah's present which she got very very excited about....it is the CD of the English stage musical of the film, "Billy Elliot"....
We had all heard that it was fabulous. Dianne was the only one at our little lunch who had seen it in London. Dianne's dear husband, Mark Travis, is a theatre and film director and he had been teaching a class in London, so they were both in London, together and what a great chance to see a lot of West End Theatre....Dianne said that "Billy Elliot" was utterly fantastic! I sure wish I could see it.....And we were all delighted for Betty!
Next....Betty opened the other present from me....It is kind of a Joseph's Coat Duffle Bag....rather pretty and very handy for us Theatre Folk....
Betty was already planning on what she was goimg to put in it---All things she had to take to the theatre on Friday because of the play they are doing....And incidentally, Dianne and Seemah are both in this play, too. "Morning's At Seven" by Paul Osborne, and it was directed by Dianne's husband Mark T....When I saw this bag in a catalogue many many weeks ago, I thought it looked like Betty, so....I am happy that she was so happy with it.Next, Betty opened her present from Annie Guilbert....
As you can see, it is a really beautuful metal and ceramic frame which one could put on a chain and where around the neck. Betty immmediately said..."You know who's picture is going in here..." And we all did know...Her beautiful eleven year old grandaughter who is now 5'3"! And here in the picture below, Bridget had given Betty this beautiful blue glass pyramid. Betty collects Blue Glass and she absolutely loved this gorgeous piece...
It has a little stand, too, so she can put it with all the other blue glass objects that she has collected over the years.....This next present was from Dianne....Well, actually there were two presents from Dianne....But this one below is a beautiful wooden apple that has this lovely cinnamon aroma to it....
And the idea of an apple as a gift comes from a great theatrical tradition. The Barrymore Family always gave apples to each other on their Opening Nights when they were in a play....And Betty has always loved that idea and always given all the cast members apples---real apples that you can eat---on opening night, weather she was in the play or not. This play was no exception. So, Dianne, knowing what this means to Betty found this really wonderful sweet wooden painted apple for her....
Dianne also gave her three incredibly beautiful scarves and here above is one of them....Blue is a favorite color of Betty's.
By the time we finished opening the presents and shmoosed a bit more, Annie had to leave....and it was about 5:30pm....and we had begun at 1:00pm, so everyone kind of started to get ready to depart.....But first, there were a few more laughs to be had.....
I don't even remember what it was about, but I know we all were enjoying whatever it was....
And the laughter continued to grow, the way those things do.....
And then the 'goodbyes' were being said....
With a big hug by Bridget and Annie.....
Annie left and we all stood around a bit more, planning our next "LWL" and then I walked everyone outside and there were further goodbyes......Dianne and Kim hugging with Seemah standing by...each with some Birthday Cake in hand....
Everyone took some cake home, I'm happy to say...Above, that is Bridget facing us and Betty--The Birthday Girl's back is to us....And then just a few more words with Kim & Seemah....
We talked about choosing a play we'd like to read and then getting together here at my house and "reading" it! Now that would be a really fun thing to do, for all of us, but particularly for Kim and for me....
Then, Bridget had turned her car around and I caught the last of the "Ladies Who Lunch" as she went round the curve, going on up over the hill to Betty's House......
What a lovely afternoon we all had, celebrating Betty's 88th Birthday. I know Betty enjoyed herself tremendously, as did we all....And we are already planning the next "Ladies Who Lunch" celebration, which will be for my Birthday, which is towards the end of June....We are all looking forward to that.....! And here is a picture of Betty taken about 6 months or so ago, performing in a Musical done at Reprise, here in Los Angeles....She is amazing and deeply inspiring, too.....!
Lest We Forget......
12:01 AM: In Honor Of Memorial Day, here is a poem from "SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY", by Edgar Lee Masters, written in the early 1900's, but it could have been written today...the characters name is Harry Willmans, and this is what he says:
I was just turned twenty-one,
And Henry Phipps, the Sunday-school superintendent,
Made a speech in Bindle’s Opera House.
“The honor of the flag must be upheld,” he said,
“Whether it be assailed by a barbarous tribe of Tagalogs
Or the greatest power in Europe.”
And we cheered and cheered the speech and the flag he waved
As he spoke.
And I went to the war in spite of my father,
And followed the flag till I saw it raised
By our camp in a rice field near Manila,
And all of us cheered and cheered it.
But there were flies and poisonous things;
And there was the deadly water,
And the cruel heat,
And the sickening, putrid food;
And the smell of the trench just back of the tents
Where the soldiers went to empty themselves;
And there were the whores who followed us, full of syphilis;
And beastly acts between ourselves or alone,
With bullying, hatred, degradation among us,
And days of loathing and nights of fear
To the hour of the charge through the steaming swamp,
Following the flag,
Till I fell with a scream, shot through the guts.
Now there’s a flag over me in Spoon River!
A flag! A flag!
More To Come.....
Our "Ladies Who Lunch" for Betty Garrett's 88th Birthday was such a lovely sweet afternoon, in every way, in truth, it couldn't have been better. This card above was made for Betty by her Cousin Carol, who came down from San Jose to join us for lunch, and to see the play that Betty is in right now! Yes, my dears, Betty is 88 years oold and still working....Why? Because she loves it!
And here is the Birthday Girl, herself.....no make up...just herself! Full of life and fun and happy to be here.....Here below is the table, all set and ready for the eight of us ladies of a certain age.....
And a 'closer look' at the very beautiful Orchid that graced the table while we ate our lunch, in the picture below.....
And then, below, the very rich dense Chocolate-On-Choclate Birthday Cake just ready and waiting for our dear friend....
Betty and Bridget Hanley and Cousin Carol all arrived together, coming in one car...Bridget having picked up Betty and Carol at Betty's house....the dear Kim Hamilton was already here by the time those three got here.....
In that picture above is Cousin Carol and Kim....And below, we see the lovely Dianne Travis with Bridget H., Dianne arriving a tiny bit later having been delayed by going on an interview for an acting job....Life goes on even though there is a Birthday Lunch! (lol)
And I don't remember what I said but, here below, the five of these lady's looked over at the Living Room glass table.....
Ahhhhh yes. It was about the lovely flowers there on the table....Betty came over to take a better look at them....Because of her Macular Degeneration, she has to get pretty close to certain things to be able to see them......
There were still two of our little group who were not there yet....So, we all sat and chatted and laughed and scratched for a bit.....
Because of the heavy-duty glare from my windows, which is worse when it is a somewhat overcast day---which it was on Thursday, Betty had to put on her dark glasses---again, the Macular----She had not worn her cap with a visor to protect her eyes, which she usually does....
Bridget and Dianne, listening to an amusing story....You know what is amazing....? These women see each other all the time, mostly because of Theatre West and everyone's involvement....(Kim is no longer a member, but she was for 35 years).....and we never run out of things to say to one another so these relationships stay very strong and connected......Then, the always late but delightful Seemah Wilder, arrived....When I said to the others, Seemah is going to be late....someone said..."What else is new?", and we all giggled because it is true and it was said with great love and affection....
Cousin Carol had brought these special Foreign coins down from San Jose at Christmas 2006, and asked me to give them to Seemah...! Well, I forgot. For a year and a half...! Talk about being late....! (lol)
We went back to 'laughing and scratching, and waiting for the last of our "Ladies Who Lunch".....Meanwhile here is a happy Bridget Hanley.
Then dear Annie Guilbert called and said she was lost...! I tried to talk her up the hill on her cell phone, but somehow she was on another street or something....Anyway, she said we should go ahead and eat, and she would catch up when she got here....IF she got here....Well, she did! She made it....and we were all very happy she did.....!
So here we are....having finished our main meal---No, I didn't take any pictures of that....I was so hungry by the time we ate that I just put the camera down and gobbled away....You can see the residue on that plate over to the left of the picture....We had a GREAT Chicken Salad in a Half of Avocado; A Salad with Bib Lettuce, Little Tomatoes, Jicima and some lovely Vinagrette dressing; And, a Rice salad that was just delicious, plus these huge beautiful lovely soft Croissants....yum yum yum!...In the picture above, everyone was listening to Annie telling some story....And here she is, below, listening to Betty....!
To Be Continued.....
Part Two will appear in my next post....What is in Part Two?....Cake and Presents, among other things......
Yes, More To Come, For Sure.....
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