Christmas, 2002

This has been another fun year for us.  We found lots of fun and interesting things to do.

It all started with taking Lucinda to the Rose Parade on New Year's Day.  Other adventures with her included the "Seeing" exhibit at the Boone Children's Gallery at the L.A. County Museum of Art , an Easter Egg hunt at Descanso Gardens, and three trips to the L.A. Zoo.  She also had her first trip up into the mountains, a visit to the Tar Pits, a day at the Pony Rides in Griffith Park, a musical puppet show in Santa Monica, and two trips to the UCLA Ocean Discovery Center under the Santa Monica Pier.  A trip to the Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena rounded out the year.

Lucinda also had her first tap dance recital this summer.  Her group was only one small part of the show, but she had fun doing it.

We saw an exhibit about the history of movies in Pasadena, as well as an exhibit about the McCarthy-era blacklists in the entertainment industry.  Other local history included a tour of  Castle Green, which is a turn-of-the century hotel in Pasadena that has been converted into apartments.  Very strange and wonderful and quirky apartments.  We saw the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Centennial, and "Jewish Life in the American West", both at the Autry Museum.  The Yiddish cowboys were truly a unique story.  We also saw an exhibit about the history of spying, appropriately enough at the Reagan Museum.  Seeing wreckage from Francis Gary Powers' U2 and Maxwell Smart's shoe phone in the same room was a transcendent combination of the profound and the banal.  Additionally, we got around to visiting the S.S. Lane Victory in San Pedro and learned about the role of the U.S. merchant marine during World War II.  Finally, we went to the Natural History Museum to see an exhibit about the Shackleton Expedition, as well as one about the history and evolution of dogs.

Our culinary adventures this year included a catered dinner for Valentine's Day at the Fenyes Mansion in Pasadena.  Dinner at the Magic Castle in Hollywood was another adventure.  We were also finally able to have dinner at Traxx, the Art Deco restaurant in Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles.

We saw our usual assortment of art-house movies this year, including "Sex with Strangers", "24-Hour Party People", "Secretary" and others.

We even made it to a couple of bits of live theater.  "The Asshole Monologues" was a comedy show to benefit the Colitis Foundation, and was as funny and crude as its name would suggest.  We are also going this month to see a return engagement of Varla Jean Merman, star of the musical drag show we saw last year.

Other events of the year included Lucinda's third birthday, and Cathy's fortieth.  We also got a new stove, which doesn't sound too exciting, but it's been nice to have. Cathy also repainted our bedroom in a nice restful shade of blue.  Stan is still happily working in the earthquake business, and Cathy is still happy to be full-time Mom. And in our final bit of news, we got a new dog.  Buddy is another mutt, and he decided that he's Lucinda's dog.  He follows her everywhere and sleeps next to her every night.  It's very cute.

Hope you all had a good year as well.

Stan and Cathy