Memorial Day

A friend of mine invited me to do a walking tour of L.A. that included Lake Hollywood, Hollywood Memorial Park, followed by one of the top pizza places in the country. At first, I wasn't too excited to go to a cemetery but after I realized it was Memorial Day it made sense.

So our trek began first with meeting at local park in Beverly Hills and carpooling to our first destination. Neither one of us realized Hollywood had a Lake. Here's the description from Wikipedia: Hollywood Reservoir (Lake Hollywood) is a reservoir located in Hollywood, California. It is a man-made reservoir built in 1924 and held by the Mulholland Dam. It was designed by William Mulholland. The lake currently holds 2.5 billion gallons of water and provides Los Angeles with most of its water. The surrounding area is open to hikers and joggers, however, since the lake provides drinking water, swimming and boating is restricted. The reservoir is maintained by the Department of Water and Power. The reservoir and surrounding neighborhood are located just below the Hollywood Sign.

What we didn't know was that after 9/11, public access was reduced to weekends and limited hours during the weekday so although the access road was locked, we walked along the perimeter for about an hour and it was quite pleasant. My friend was a little disappointed but it was a beautiful day and no harm, no foul. Getting there was very easy on the eyes - there were many lovely homes in the Hollywood Hills to admire and there were many opportunities to spot the Hollywood sign. If you are interested in learning more, check out the sites below or follow the links above.
www.hollywoodknolls.org/hollywood_reservoir.htm
http://www.hollywoodsign.org/see_lakehollywood.html

On to the cemetery. As we drove in, it's architecture hearkened back to an earlier more glamorous and stately period. I started looking forward to our walk...but quickly, I felt myself drifting into wonderment about the past lives now interned there.

My friend had a card which gave directions to notable stars and celebrities. I did not see any flags on any gravestones and was surprised. However, there were some fake miniature Christmas trees scattered around - some recently removed and thrown in the trash and others ignoring the march of time.

Johnny Ramone was by far had the easiest memorial to find. Cecile B deMille's was classicly understated. But what I found most surprising, most shocking actually, was the amount of dog doo around in the real estate of the deceased stars. Dog poop was on flat memorial stones - not once, but at least half a dozen times. I can not fathom the number of insensitive, moronic clods who visited the sacred grounds and showed no respect. We tip-toed around a huge area to avoid mounds and mounds of poop. It put the kabosh on the experience. This would never happen where I grew up. What a shame. I can't say that I enjoyed the experience, but I can say that it made me think about how fleeing life is. "FVGET VITAE NOVAE" was on the Grecian style masoleum and I could only make out life flies new so I tried looking it up online from the University of Notre Dame.
novus -a -um [new , fresh, young; fresh, inexperienced; revived, refreshed; novel, unusual, extraordinary];
vita -ae f. [life].
fuga -ae f. [flight , running away]; esp. [flight from one's country, exile, banishment]. Transf., [swift course, speed; avoiding (with genit.)].

Thus life is short. Life is fleeting. Make the most of it while you can - were the messages I got out of today's little exploration. If you are interested in learning more about Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the links are below but be fore warned about the lack of care and ground maintenance. The Cemetery should institute a no dogs allowed policy.

http://www.seeing-stars.com/buried2/HollywoodMemorial4.shtml
http://hollywoodforever.com/Hollywood/

A good pizza always uplifts the spirit. On to a place called Tomato Pie. (www.tomatopiepizzajoint.com) We ordered the "Grandma" which was apparently voted the top 25 pizzas in the country by GQ magazine.
Yes, it was very good - infact, the crust was great. I however, like way more cheese. Inferno pizza in Upstate NY gets my vote for best pizza. Two slices and a shared salad later and it was time to walk again.

We walked for another 40 minutes around Roberston Blvd.

Life is short...it's good to be back home.

Details on Today's LA Earthquake

Earthquake Details
Magnitude
5.0
Date-Time
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 03:39:36 UTC
Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 08:39:36 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
33.940°N, 118.338°W
Depth
13.5 km (8.4 miles)
Region
GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
Distances
2 km (1 miles) E (91°) from Lennox, CA
2 km (1 miles) SSE (159°) from Inglewood, CA
3 km (2 miles) NNE (22°) from Hawthorne, CA
15 km (10 miles) SSW (213°) from Los Angeles Civic Center, CA
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.9 km (0.6 miles)
Parameters
Nph=139, Dmin=7 km, Rmss=0.42 sec, Gp= 40°,M-type=local magnitude (ML), Version=C
Source
California Integrated Seismic Net:
USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR
Event ID
ci10410337
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Earthquake!!!!

There is nothing like big jolt of an earthquake in the middle of a quiet Sunday evening.

It was very short but definately strong.

My brother tells me it was a 5.0 that was only 2 miles from him (which is close to me!)

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/118-34.html

The sound of items falling off shelves was a bit rattling to say the least.

Neighbors decided to hang out outside in case of aftershocks.

Let's hope there aren't any!

Greetings from Miami Airport - Top of the Port Restaurant

What a great find!

After disembarking from a long journey that started yesterday at 2 pm in Gramado, Brazil, I arrived at Miami airport facing a 4 hour lay-over. I was so happy that Customs was a breeze. There was only 1 person in front of me and at baggage, I met a very interesting, friendly and good-looking (trifecta!) man and we struck up a nice conversation at 5:30 am or whatever time it was. It always make it so much nicer when traveling to have a friendly exchange. Anyhow, dropping off my luggage was also a breeze - follow the yellow circles - another short distance - and viola! With ticket in hand, I asked for a referral from AA check-in on a good place to hang out during my lay-over and here I am at "Top of the Port" - a restaurant at the top of a hotel that couldn't be easier to get to and more accessible from Terminal E. It's civlized.

My waiter was very accommodating as I asked to switch potoatos for fruit and bacon for tomato. What huge portions. The best I could do was to eat only half of everything - and even that was way beyond the portion restriction I enjoyed and became accustom to at Kurotel Longevity Center in Brazil. Before, I would have cleared everything on the plate -thinking that it was all healthy - eggs, fruit, vegetable, whole wheat bread, juice. But I learned even with healthy choices, there must be portion control. As you can see, I am still very food-focused.

Back to the restaurant tip - it's a great place to get away from the crowds, noise and confusion of Miami International Airport. And the bathrooms are very, very clean! I had considered the Admirals Lounge - but this is a much better deal. Quite elegance at a very reasonable price of admission. Breakfast with tip was less than $20.

Camille at Kurotel

It is my last evening at Kurotel Longevity Center in Brazil and I am so sorry to be leaving. This past week has been a wonderful experience - in experiencing the Kurotel philosophy of health, of meeting members of the Silveria family, of making new friends, in siteseeing Gramado and last but not least, in re-evaluating health, what it means to me and reignitiating a sincere interest in changing habits to lead a healthier, more productive lifestyle.

It's well past midnight and sadly, I must pack my bags. More on this subject tomorrow.

Medical Student Receives William Carlos Williams Poetry Award

I discovered this award and poem today and found it so inspiring, I posted it to two of my blogs. For those of you who follow this blog, William Carlos William was my paternal grandfather's cousin. Both were physicians.

Congratulations to Ms. Wlodarski.....here's a bit from the press release found on the University of Vermont website.

Jennifer Wlodarski has received an Honorable Mention in the 27th annual William Carlos Williams Poetry Competition for her poem "Slow Horse". Open to medical students attending schools of medicine or osteopathy in the United States and Canada, the competition is named in memory of William Carlos Williams, a physician-poet born in 1883 who practiced medicine in his hometown of Rutherford, N.J., while writing and publishing poetry with peers including Ezra Pound.

Slow Horse
Come back and outlast,
Like the slow horse.
All bets are in.
And I've got all my money on myself,
Because someone should.
— Jennifer Wlodarski

In Praise of Daffodils

Last year I blogged about the daffodils at Trader Joe's. Two weeks ago, while standing in the check out line I spotted a shopper with the rubber-banded flowers in hand.

Fast forward to shopping at Fresh and Easy. $1.99 Viola. Instand spring. I love daffodils - I love the way they open up like a fresh new sunshiney day. I love the way there are so streamlined with lovely glossy green stalks.

Halleluljah to daffodils.