We arrived in LA for our long visit with Afton and Nick. First on the things to do list was to fill our tummy and relax after the flight with the "kiddo's".
The next day was a fabulous brunch with their friends Carla and Marcie at their beautiful home in the backyard. The brunch lasted well until the evening hour because we were having such a wonderful visit.
Their gardens gave me tons of photo opportunities to add to my growing collection of painting subjects. The most exciting thing was seeing oranges and lemons growing in their backyard!
We also spent some time in Afton and Nick's little apartment with their resident felines, Frieda and Zig.
We got to go to a community college to watch Nick practice for an upcoming performance with an orchestra (he's a Vibraphone player); played pool in Santa Monica after dinner of which The Hubby left his drivers license and we didn't discover until the night before we were to fly home. That was a 4 hour drive back and forth to get it. We also sat in on one of their music classes that they both teach at a Montessori school. One evening we went to one of their haunts to listen to a group of people play some David Bowie music in I think his black days. It was so very loud that we actually LEFT! All of us were not impressed but it was interesting. On Thursday evening we went with them to a venue called Curve Line Space, an art gallery in Eagle Rock, CA. Nick produces a continuing program called Elastic Hour. He brings in different musicians to preform and just this last week was written up in the LA Weekly. It is quite impressive. So the week was a lot, a LOT of music, but of course that is what they do.
One day we drove up to Solvang, California, to some wine country. The drive was just beautiful and the orchards and orchards of oranges, lemons, limes and olive trees was breathtaking. Unfortunately we didn't stop to take pictures off of the freeway.
We did however enjoy a lot of wine and pack our bags with five bottles of the yummy stuff with not one broken for the flight home and a 6th for Nick for his upcoming birthday present!
Back home after a long, long drive we ate some delicious Indian food at Clay Oven. I think there was a bit too much tiredness going on so she played with her rice...
and time in the car found me braiding her hair from the backseat.
Friday night before we were to leave was Nick's birthday so a PARTY was planned at their favorite hangout Left Coast Wine Bar.
What a great venue! The food was great, the entertainment awesome and the walls are covered in some great art. They have open mic nights often and Afton has played there many times. That evening we met tons of their friends which I must say made my heart strings happy. To see our girl finding her life there and getting plugged into her world was great and the friends could not gush enough about both of them. We are so very proud of how her life is going and to see her glowing with happiness is awesome. She has taken a path in her life that makes her very happy and content.
Yes, yes it was Nick's birthday and boy did he bank on the wine for gifts. They may have to invest in a wine fridge.
I have to say it was a wonderful visit but I am glad to be home. We missed that little Rio so much and our Clayton and our BED!
1 comment:
Your Afton is such a beautiful girl! Absolutely stunning!
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