Lambiedog

Haiku

  

Mooz bench defaced -- why?

Grieving husband planned for months;

Mindless louts don't care.

Dedication of the Melodie Mooz bench

 A small crowd gathered on the bluff yesterday morning to dedicate the Melodie Mooz bench that was erected  last month.   

Old friends and neighbors exchanged reminiscences with Melodie's husband,  Bill Mooz, as city workers attached a plaque to the bench. 

  

Then Bill sat on the bench and everyone took pictures.

 

As the de facto representative of the canine population, I felt I had an important, albeit subtle, role to play at the event.
  I tried to live up to my responsibility.

  
 

The Berman / Yoshpe bench

 
   This bench is dedicated to the memory of two siblings from a prominent Sacramento Jewish family, the Bermans:  John Alexander Berman and Jessie Antoinette Berman Yoshpe.

    They were the children of William B. and Zetta Berman, who were leaders and founders of such Sacramento Jewish community organizations as the Congregation B'nai Israel, the Sacramento Jewish Federation, and the Sacramento chapters of Bnai Brith, Hadassah and the Zionist Organization of America.

Like her mother and grandmother, Jessie Yoshpe was a leader in the Sacramento Chapter of Hadassah, serving as its president for three years in the early 1980s.  She had two children. A women's book group named in her honor, the Jessie Yoshpe Hadassah Sh'arim Study Group, still meets at the Mosaic Law Synagogue. 

John Alexander Berman was an Oakland doctor and father of six children. 

The memorial bench was erected by Jessie and John's younger sister and brother, Harriet Berman Glaser and Daniel S. Berman, both of whom live in Los Angeles.  Mrs. Glaser lives very near the bluffs park, not far from the Berman/Yoshpe bench.

So here we have a lovely gesture by the siblings of this clearly close-knit family. 

And here, the story would stop, were it not for a curious additional element.  Harriet Berman Glaser's husband, Manny Glaser, this past summer authored a letter to the local paper, which is copied below.  Mr. Glaser's letter, entitled, "Unleashed Dogs Cause Problems on Asilomar," was in response to a letter previously published in the paper entitled, "Yes to Citing Owners with Dogs Off Leash."

Those of us living near the Asilomar bluffs are constantly tormented by people using Asilomar Park as a dog park.  Any day, usually between 4:30 and 7 p.m., these dog owners arrive at the park with perhaps as many as 10 or 12 dogs and proceed to throw them balls or Frisbees and let them race around the park.  All these dogs running about make it impossible for citizens to enjoy the park.

Additionally, homes directly opposite the park also have dogs that bark at the unleashed dogs, making such a racket that the noise is deafening.  The police who infrequently drive by do nothing about these lawbreakers.  These dog owners are oblivious to the signs in the park requiring that dogs be on a leash.

I have to say that Mr. Glaser's criticism seems a bit unfair, as the people who bring their dogs to the bluff are citizens themselves, are bench-appreciators, and are extremely conscientious with regard to their dogs.  The only dog that barks is an elderly dog belonging to one of Mr. Glaser's neighbors.  Yes, this dog does frequently cross the street unaccompanied and bark at anyone on the bluff--whether or not they have a dog with them--to try to get them to throw its ball.  But why would Mr. Glaser tarnish other dog owners with his neighbor's irresponsibility?

    Life is complex.  We're each a mixture of good and bad. Mr. Glaser may not value me or recognize my right to enjoy the bluffs, but his family has created a beautiful memorial to their loved ones.   And, being a dog who turns the other cheek, I appreciate that.

 

Civil servant in distress

 

At the Yoshpe/Berman bench I ran into a firefighter.

     Although he had on a brave face, things did not look too good for him.  He was facing a long way down, without a safety net.   

    

 I offered to catch him, but he did not think I had the requisite concentration for him to trust me. He might have been right.  I did have a lot on my mind.

So I left him perched on the bench, hoping that whoever had abandoned him would come back for him.

 

I look into bettering my position

  

I've been investigating substituting a new family in for my current one.  Nothing personal, but the magic is gone.

So I went out to the bluff and insinuated myself next to a dad/daughter duo sitting on a bench.

         

    For some reason, they did not seem to notice me.

    Then I found another couple:  sophisticated yet mellow, enjoying their wine at sunset.

I stood by winsomely, then sat there to suggest that I belonged with them.

    But they were too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to me.

 People are so self-involved these days.  

Apparently I'd better stick with what I've got. My family is quite attentive.

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.

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.

Update on the recliner situation

The people have spoken.

 I hope that the individuals who created this situation will have the strength of character to recognize and rectify their error by removing the chair before local government gets involved.