Diversification

These days it's prudent and wise for the small business person to reach out and cover as many bases as possible. I wonder what the aroma of the place is like? Chinese food? Deep fried dough? Do they have more than one deep fryer? We're gonna have to stop here next time we're in the area. Maybe when my car needs its next smog check.

Really???

Who knew?

New Year's Morning 1-1-11

New Year's Eve 2010

We indulged here at the house. Steak and Lobster. Grilled vegetables and salad. Ice cold Champagne.

Happy New Year Everyone!

O Come Let Us Adore Him...

Christmas, 1957

It was blue-gray and snowy outside, inside it was warm and swirling with colored lights, smelling of pine and my father's pipe tobacco.

What is that thing my father is assembling? Looks like something that cuts wood; he liked making stuff.

My grandfather built the little manger in the background. We cast the characters of angels, baby Jesus, wise men, etc. in rubber molds using plaster of Paris that we painted when dry. The manger and its inhabitants made an appearance every Christmas. I don't know what happened to it, hopefully one of my sisters has it.

Have a merry and memorable Christmas!

C minus

Nothin' says Christmas like supper at Tom Bergin's - Fáilte!

Tom Bergin's bar and restaurant is the oldest Irish establishment in Los Angeles and holds many great and embarrassing memories for me and many of my friends. But last night was magical.

Cozy back room, fire in the fireplace. Decorations all around.

Larry with his Guinness. Sláinte mhaith!

And to top it all off, Christmas Carolers. They even sang, "Christmas in Killarney" - a carol I would have never guessed they knew, and a carol I don't think I've heard since I was 10 years old. It really was lovely!

When was the last time you visited Bergin's? One of the best bars in L.A. in my opinion - and such a great old restaurant in the back room..

Christmas in Phoenix 1961

Each year we drove from our home in Grayslake, IL to Phoenix, AZ where my grandparents had relocated...it was Route 66 all the way!

This picture is in my grandparents' living room. See the matching lamps, the bowl on the coffee table and the cylindrical lidded container (for storing cigarettes) on the end table? My grandfather made those - woodworking was his hobby. The lampshades were overlaid with my grandmother's crocheting. I've got quite a few examples of my grandfather's beautiful wood work strewn about my house. And those lamps, sans the crochet encrusted lampshades, now belong to my daughter Mindy.

On the rocking chair is my mother with my little sister Debra. On the sofa is my father reclining (you can't really see his face) with his feet on my lap while I try to read the newspaper. The leather slippers under the table are his. He was really bugging me by shaking my paper with his toe so I couldn't concentrate; no doubt it's the reason why I have a somewhat irritated look on my face. My dad always had to clown around. The leg on the far left is attached to my sister Cathy the Dragon - one of the better pictures of her that I have in my possession.

I loved visiting my grandparents, but they lived in the retirement community of Sun City so I had a lot of idle time on my hands. This was the beginning of my voracious reading habit and it was also where I secretly purchased my first "racy" paperback and read it by flashlight at night. I felt pretty sophisticated after that particular Christmas.

Autumn in Los Angeles

Winter arrives next week, but today it's Autumn. This house is around the corner from ours and on my way to work the other morning I was so taken with the beautiful colors that I stopped my car and snapped a picture. See? We really do have seasons here in Los Angeles - sometimes.

Merry Christmas Maybe

My twin grandsons, Rowan and Grant, spent the night last Friday night. We invited over their pal Sofia from across the street who is the same age and goes to their school. They had a blast decorating the Christmas tree and singing Christmas carols. I played lots of Christmas music, including my favorite "Merry Christmas Baby". Next morning the boys kept singing over and over, "Merry Christmas Maybe"! I finally sat them down and told them that the lyrics are actually "Merry Christmas Baby". They said, "Oh, are you sure?" Yes, I'm sure.

Charles Brown and me at the 1996 Long Beach Blues Festival. One of the most elegant blues guys I've had the pleasure of working with and the original and most beloved performer of "Merry Christmas Baby".

What the hell is this?

I follow Todd Levin on Twitter and he showed us this album cover with the following comment:

As you grow older, all of your guile is stripped away. This is what the end of that process looks like.

Patty-Cake Conversation

Lompoc, CA

Veteran's Day

Here's to all who are serving and have served, in recognition of Veteran's Day. Thank you.

My father William McDermott who served in Italy.

Hula Hoopers 1959ish

I'm not really sure when this ratty old Polaroid was taken in our front yard in Grayslake, Illlinois. That's me on the left, my half-sister Cathy the Dragon in the center and our friend Susan Harvey, who lived across the street, on the right. Hula hooping was all the rage then, but it really didn't do it for me. After about 10 minutes of seeing who could keep the hoop going around the longest, I was bored. I loved a good game of tag or hide and seek. If we had enough kids together at the same time, baseball was in order - there were plenty of vacant lots around that we could transform into a makeshift baseball diamond.

As a kid I usually had a scab on my knee or leg or elbow, (as evidenced by this snapshot). I used to wonder if I would ever be scab-free. I think I was around 12 when my limbs were finally unmarred, and that coincided with a change in interests. Tag, hide and seek, baseball, etc. were replaced by The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, The Kinks and Boys.

We moved to California in 1966 leaving the Dragon behind, as she was newly married by then. I returned to Grayslake only once - it was 1970. I saw Susan Harvey during my brief visit; after that we exchanged letters from time to time, and then lost touch altogether as we navigated through our various stages and dramas of life.

Sue and I found each other again on FaceBook. She lives in Florida and I'm here in California. Another childhood friend of ours, Jan Willis, is also on FaceBook. She lives in Wisconsin. I often think of the three of us meeting up in Grayslake one day. Together as kids we were like a paper bag full of grasshoppers - what would it be like now?

Vintage Photo Friday - Kindergarten

Cold Autumn Morning

Rear Booth, Du-par's

Team Spirit

Autumn is creeping in and bringing back memories of homecoming games, mum corsages and busloads of football team members accompanied by their cheerleaders. Since it's "Vintage Photo Friday" I decided this perky five-some from Grayslake, Il. needed to be shown. Left to right, Holly, Paulette, Beth, Lori and Martha. Rah rah!

Vancouver B.C. Part Deux

We visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. Peace, harmony, yin, yang - and a photo shoot going on in the background.

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Totem poles in Stanley Park. We learned that "low man on the totem pole" is a misunderstanding; it seems that the bottom figure is the most important one and usually it isn't a man!

In 1888 the park was named after Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada. In 1893 Lord Stanley donated the trophy that became known as hockey's Stanley Cup.

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"A-Mazing Laughter" sculptures by Beijing-based artist Yue Minjun in Morton Park at the edge of English Bay.

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Aboard our ship M/S Volendam heading for Alaska, we say goodbye to Vancouver .

We sailed under the Lion's Gate Bridge, construction of which began in 1937. It was financed primarily by the Guinness family - yes, that Guinness family - providing employment during the Great Depression.

That's Larry in silhouette snapping photos.

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