Lambiedog

View from the bluff

Early morning:

 

Late afternoon:

 

Evening:

 

Roadside assistance

    Bo was doing some maintenance on his vehicle.   I offered to help.

He checked the oil with his dip stick. 

   

I checked the gas cap.

All systems looked good.  

 Bo was ready to hit the road.

 Before he left we compared our fur coats.   

           

This just in: three new benches for the bluffs

  
There were five city trucks at the bluffs this morning, and a bunch of men digging.

     They were there at the behest of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation , which will install three! new benches there by the end of the year, as well as some at the Via de las Olas bluff.

 I had been wondering since November about a chalk rectangle that appeared on the ground roughly halfway between the Calamaro and Berman benches.

 It turns out that that spot, which is where the men were working this morning, will be the site of the first bench to be installed. I think it will be up by the end of the day.

  It seems wonderfully appropriate that the bench will memorialize a longtime neighborhood resident who rescued dogs and loved animals in general:  Melodie Mooz, who passed away last year, way too soon.  Melodie understood dogs and was devoted to them;  they reciprocated her devotion.

  Not all of the other benches will be memorials.  As Rudy, the gentleman in charge of the bench installation, told me,"People shouldn't have to die for you to get benches to enjoy."

I liked Rudy, who seems like a warm and wise man.  I also liked Judith Kieffer, Executive Director of the L.A. Parks Foundation, who was at the bluff as well.  Below is a photo of the three of us at the site of the second bench that will be installed.

 

 And here is a photo of Rudy and Judith walking over to check on the Robbins bench, which is going to be repaired.  (That's my friend Raymundo you see parked to their right on Asilomar, trying to get his truck to start.)

All in all, it's a great time to be at the bluffs.

Vogue of the bluffs

While I've been focusing on my Japanese study, it has been quite a week for fashion at the bluffs.  The weather may be cold, but it has not stifled bluffgoers' enthusiasm for beauty and style.

First I saw a dog in a flashy racing outfit.

 

Then I noticed a fashion shoot taking place.  

 

 The models kindly interrupted their poses to spend a moment letting me adulate them.

    

 Finally, I ran into my friend Gucci having a grooming session on the bench.

The weather was not great but Gucci's hairstyle looked chic and up-to-the-minute. 

 

Perhaps it's shallow, but I must admit I've enjoyed hobnobbing with all these beauty insiders.  It makes for a good break from my studies.

I spy with my little eye...something that is green

 While I was walking home from the bluffs the other day, I glanced into a driveway and noticed a familiar sight.

 
    A good samaritan?  A hedonist overcome by guilt?  Someone reserving a chair to put out along the parade route on July 4?  

    The important thing is that it's off the bluff.

A modest contribution to international understanding

 
    It's raining and the rain is supposed to continue for at least another day.  Making hay while the sun shines, as it were, I have decided to apply myself to self-improvement.  

    It has troubled me for some time now that I do not know any foreign languages.  We Americans tend to be so insular.  So I have decided to take advantage of this down-time to begin learning Japanese.

    I have acquired a textbook and am applying myself to recognizing the hiragana. Sadly, I do not have a live teacher to assist me with pronunciation concerns.

 The work is slow,and as is so often the case with textbooks, sometimes sleep-inducing.  But I continue in my effort, knowing that it is good for my mind and also good for international understanding.  Also, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to impressing Pookie by greeting him in Japanese. 

   
 

Meet 'n greet

It was an exceptionally formal interaction.  We did not sniff each other's butt.

      

 

Historical reenactment

A dog out doing some routine sniffing....

    

   

shakes his ear...

 

     looks up...

 

...and discovers the bluff.

 

Final chair update

     So the chair is gone.

Saturday morning someone had moved it into the street.

By Saturday afternoon it was gone, perhaps to its final resting place.

Good riddance to bad trash.

The inner sanctum

Welcome to my humble abode -- the inner sanctum, as it were.

 Let me show you around.  Please follow me.

To your left you will see a rosemary bush.  Note the aroma.

 

It's just one of the many great smells in my domain.  

   

Over there is where squirrels sometimes hide.  

Off to my right is a spot that's very good for general sniffing.

Just behind me is my preferred spot for nightly sphincter relief.  

I could go on and on....What, you have to go, so soon?  We've barely skimmed the surface here. There are so many aspects to share with you.  Maybe you'll come back sometime for a more nuanced tour.