The CCZCC extends its winning streak to 23.
Dear Mother and Mike,
I hope the weather is still good in Texas. We spent a lovely 80 degree weekend just doing nothing much. There isn't any smog here in L. A. now and it is just beautiful, especially when looking at the mountains with snow on top of them. But, truthfully, we won't be sad to leave the wonderful climate and beautiful scenery. We have decided that nothing looks better than our big back yard on Osceola Trail.
Another Texas examiner is in L. A. - his name is Art Snyder. I never knew the man before, but I certainly do like him. He is married and has two sons, ages 14 and 16, but his family isn't with him - he'll only be here about three weeks. We had him over Thursday night and again on Saturday night. Art had never met Dirr, so the Saturday evening was Dirr's idea. Dave cooked out steaks, Suzie made a salad, I baked potatoes and made a couple of pies. If you're wondering, no! The pup did not come with them. The evening turned out very well (much to our surprise) and since Suzie wasn't feeling well (she thinks she's pregnant) she didn't "run off" at the mouth like she usually does.
[It sounds like the New Year's Eve fiasco didn't totally ruin the friendship between Mom and Dad and the Dirrs.]
In all honesty, I can say Dave literally hates that Suzie. Never before has he felt that way (or even close to it) about anyone. His whole personality changes just discussing her and when she's around the expressions on his face don't mask the contempt he feels. He can more-or-less laugh about Gene, but Suzie is a very touchy subject - nothing about her is funny or amusing to him.
[That is surprising. I never knew Dad felt that way about anyone. Sure, there were a few people he didn't much care for, but he tolerated them and if he hated anyone he did a good job of keeping it a secret from me.]
Friday I took David Wayne to the L. A. zoo again. Suzie went with us. This zoo has the most beautiful display of birds I've ever seen. The only trouble with it is that you have to climb a lot of steps to see all of it and I got very tired - my legs still hurt. While passing the elephant pen, one big elephant decided to do his "business" and naturally, this was very interesting to a five-year-old.
[Go to the Youtubes and watch a few videos of elephants pooping and peeing, and I think you'll agree that it would indeed be very interesting to a five-year-old.]
He didn't want me and Suzie to miss seeing this event (we were about half a block behind him), so he was yelling at the top of his lungs, "The elephant's going to the bathroom!" Quite a crowd had collected by the time I got there to shut him up. Then he really embarrassed me by saying, "And he didn't even need an enema!" (I had to give David Wayne an enema that morning and he hadn't liked it much.)
[I do remember getting a few enemas as a kid, and no, I didn't like them much.]
Another thing at the zoo was seeing the taping of a local TV show - "Ralph's Story." This Ralph was in a monkey cage and he was discussing the Chinese forecast of 1968 being "The Year of the Monkey." It was interesting to see them taping this show and we'll probably watch it next week.
["Ralph's Story" was actually "Ralph Story's Los Angeles," a very popular locally produced weekly show about Los Angeles, hosted by Ralph Story. It ran from 1964 to 1970. Ralph Story also hosted the game show "The $64,000 Challenge" from 1956 to 1958. (No, he was not implicated in the scandal surrounding that show.)]
Sunday we took a ride down to the San Pedro Harbor. There is a big toll bridge there so we drove over it - David Wayne said it looked like a giant dinosaur also. We also drove over a draw bridge which was exciting to David Wayne - Dave told him it might just start going up any minute. The Ports-of-Call village is in San Pedro, but may husband drove by it and didn't stop - things are expensive there.[San Pedro is a little less than an hour south of where we lived, West of Long Beach.]
After the harbor tour, we drove to Pasadena and Dave showed us the Rose Bowl. He got a really good picture of it. I wasn't impressed much with the Rose Bowl, but the street we drove on to get there was just beautiful. The homes were magnificent, huge mansions with beautifully groomed yards. It was the prettiest section of L. A. I've seen.
[Here's the picture of me and Mom standing in front of the Rose Bowl.]
[Here's a closeup of me and Mom. She still took time to do her hair although she was six months pregnant.]
[I made it back to the Rose Bowl around 2009 when I was in Los Angeles on a business trip and drove to Pasadena just to see it. It really is in a beautiful setting.]
There are still things here I would like to see, but Dave just can't get enthusiastic about going anywhere. I can understand as he is really tired of being away from home. He has promised that we'd go to San Diego one weekend to see the zoo and Sea World, but he won't set a date to go. I don't really have too much hope that we'll make it now and it would be an expensive weekend.
[If Mom got tired walking around the Los Angeles zoo she definitely would have gotten tired walking around the San Diego zoo. I've been there, and I remember it being quite hilly.]
I also wanted to take blood-thirsty David Wayne to a bull fight, but going into Mexico doesn't interest Dave at all. All I hear from both my Davids is "going home." They sound like a broken record.
[I don't recall being all that blood-thirsty as a kid, but I probably would have enjoyed the bull fight much more then than I would now. I have zero interest in seeing one now and, for the record, I am appalled they exist.]
There isn't much else happening to us so I guess I'll close. I am fine except for the usual feeling of being terribly uncomfortable - I am so big, I look like we're having at least twins. I am so uncomfortable that I don't sleep well at night as I always have.
[Speaking of being uncomfortable, here's a picture of me and Mom sitting together in our apartment in L. A. Mom's caption on this one is: "David Wayne and Mom in apartment in L. A. Mom was pregnant with Laura. We didn't sit in the same chair for long."]
[It's difficult to tell which one of us was more uncomfortable in that picture. You can definitely tell it was a tight squeeze, especially looking at my face.]
[I really wore that Peanuts shirt a lot, didn't I?]
Take care of yourselves and I'll write again in a couple of days. By then, maybe something really exciting will have happened.
Love,
Linda
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