Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Sisters' Magical Mystery Murder Tour



My LA daughter seems to have a proclivity for picking out apartments close to sites where notorious murders have taken place, although, now that I think about it, that may be unavoidable. Or maybe I've read too many Michael Connelly novels. 

Her first apartment was in a great location, in an Echo Lake unit built into the basement of a house on the side of a mountain. It was a quirky place, with walled-off steps on the back side of the apartment; she and her roommate used the steps as bookshelves. The refrigerator was in a hallway leading from the kitchen; the dishwasher didn't work; there was no AC or heat and electricity was undependable if too many things were plugged in at once. But large windows were on one side of the apartment and looked out over the street below, and then down and out to one of LA's freeways. At night the view was beautiful with all those faraway car lights sparkling in the dark.

The apartment was at the end of a dead-end street, and that was unfortunately a way to describe the hillside descending from the opposite side of the street. It was where some of the Hillside Strangler's victims found their dead end.


Now my daughter lives in Los Feliz, an interesting area of Los Angeles with a mix of housing styles, apartments, and businesses. She can walk to Gelson's, a great grocery store, Trader Joe's, restaurants, laundromats, interesting little shops, and she regularly walks around a reservoir and through the neighborhood for exercise.  


On her route is this former convent. 





This convent was in the news recently because it belongs to some nuns who no longer live there and who sold it a couple of weeks ago for 15.5 million dollars. A group of nuns had bought the place with money they raised themselves decades ago, and two of the five remaining nuns felt it was the nuns' right to sell it. The new owner, restauranteur and nightclub owner, Dana Hollister, is already living in the convent and says that she might turn it into a "hip" hotel.

However, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez had agreed to sell it to Katy Perry for 14.5 million dollars and is going to file papers to negate the sale that has already taken place. The Archbishop says that the nuns had long ago signed papers that allow the Dioceses to sell the convent. This will all end up in court next month, and the nuns vow that they will take the fight to the Vatican if necessary.

My daughter wonders if Katy Perry, or the new owner, knows that this convent is right next door to the Manson Murder House, where Leno and Rosemary Labianca were murdered by the Charles Manson "Family" in 1969.  Spoooooky....



My daughter lives where the blue dot is; the convent and the Manson Murder House are marked in red.
My daughter did not move to either of these apartments BECAUSE there had been murders nearby; that would be weird! I really like the area she lives in now, and I think she does too. But if she decides to move, I guess she could check out locations where the Freeway Killer(s) worked.

Or maybe not.

Definitely not, even though her sister does want to take The Magical Mystery Murder tour the next time she visits.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

And I Halp'd


Remember that ancient ad for Hamburger Helper? I think that's what it was for. Well, my helper is not a cute little girl. It's Baxter.



See all the hairs on my NEW (be still my heart) ironing board cover? Baxter's contribution to my ironing.




And he helps with the warm, just-out-of-the-dryer laundry.

By sitting on it.  




Thanks, but no thanks.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Just Three to Go. Three to Go....Three to



This will never end!



I just finished the fifth section of Soumak and I was so pleased with myself....until I realized that there are eight sections total.

So I have three to go. 

It's 45 inches long. Or several cats in length. Baxter didn't think the tape measure was precise enough apparently, and added himself to help.

Three sections to go.....


Tuesday, June 23, 2015

My Daughter's Post on FB

As she wrote in today's post, she had brain surgery five weeks and six days ago to remove an Acoustic Neuroma from near her left ear.  

She had excellent surgeons, a great hospital (USC Keck Medical) and a determination to recover the balance the surgery took away; the tumor was attached to the vestibular nerve on the left side of her brain and so the surgeons cut the nerve in order to remove the entire tumor. Lots of physical therapy and a lot of balance exercises, both at PT sessions and at home, and a zillion steps later, she has 100% of her balance back, and for some unknown reason, has her hearing back. She had lost 40% of it in her left ear after the surgery, but yesterday's audiology tests showed that she now hears as well as she used to.

So Yay! for great surgeons and Yay! for Sarah!!!


Wednesday, June 17, 2015

OH THE HUMANITY!



Ummm...no,  not the humanity, geeze.

OH THE LAUNDRY!



Has Knittergran been building tents in the backyard? you ask.

Nope. She has been hosting some members of her granddaughter's climbing team at her house. And this is all that remains of their visit. There were (one night) the following people: my daughter, the coach, the assistant coach, and five climbers.

The next night:  the coach and six climbers. My daughter and the assistant coach flew back to Austin; the extra climber came from? A different team? Yes, but it's too complicated to explain.

And now there are none.  We had all been to Chattanooga for a regional competition and then we all came back here so that the climbers could check out the new Stone Summit gym in Kennesaw, where Nationals will be held in July.

And in Chattanooga, the kids climbed the outside wall (15 meters high) in heat so bad that the automatic timers didn't work and the grips were hot, hot, hot. 

This is video of my granddaughter's climb.  She is on the right wearing the green shirt:




Annnnddd...

She made it!

Her team will be back in July.

And I need to get going on the laundry if I want it to be finished by then.

Monday, June 1, 2015

How You Know You are in California

I bet this place has been really, really busy since the release of San Andreas.




THIS "Doctor's Office" is not for flu shots.
   

Of course, because I AM in LA, I had to see San Andreas and as a result, I have advice for anyone living in an earthquake zone:

1.  Meet the Rock.

2.  Stay by his side forevermore. He won't mind. 

3.  Wear a helmet.  All of the time.

And since my daughter's successful (whew!) surgery to remove an acoustic neuroma, I think we should all wear helmets all of the time. I've been reading all things brain-related, and I'm not sure I trust the skull to protect the brain well enough: the brain is gel-like and the skull can break. My daughter now has a titanium plate to cover the portion of bone the surgeons took out, and the titanium is stronger than bone; maybe our skulls could be replaced by titanium. hmmm......


Bonus LA sight:

The only interesting/weird thing seen at yesterday's Melrose Place flea market:



I didn't see anyone buy it, so it's probably still up for grabs y'all.