Display Upgrade

We have a built-in display case in our entry hallway. For the past 25 years (ever since we have lived here), we have displayed some Oriental (mostly Japanese) items that we have accumulated over the years coming from several different sources, but most have been gifts.

Years ago, when we picked Ryan up from his mission in the Canary Islands, we were able to visit Spain. They are famous for their Lladro ceramics. While doing some window shopping in Barcelona, we went into a shop that sold Lladro. I fell in love with one piece which I was able to talk Alan into letting me purchase. Lladro is VERY expensive!!! I chose a mother on a chaise lounge with a baby in her arms and another child, a daughter, at her knees, as seen below. Being a mother, myself, I felt that this was the perfect choice for me. I found a cool case to display it in and it has been on display in our living room ever since. 

I never knew that I would one day have a whole Lladro display. I only have one now, thanks to my friend, Paula Thorsen. She was given many pieces of Lladro from a woman she did holiday decorating for. Paula isn't a big fan of Lladro, so when she moved to Arizona a couple of years ago, she gave me some of her pieces. Then, she gave me some more when I visited her last Thanksgiving.

 With all of these new pieces, Alan and I decided to toss the Oriental display and showcase the Lladro instead. With Jane's help, this is what we came up with.

However, Jane thought it would look better if the oak were painted and we agreed, so Alan painted it this weekend. The color is "Pearl White" and is the same color as the trim in our house. I think Alan did a fantastic job painting it.

It took 4 coats of paint to cover the oak, so Alan had to put a lot of work into this.

A work in progress

I love the final result. We ended up finding an extra shelf and added it to the right side. It is more symmetrical now and looks much nicer than the oriental display. I totally love the finished product. I think we have a winner!

Season Tickets

Life is full of "firsts" and we had a first recently. We purchased season tickets to Universal Studios. This is the first time we have had season tickets to ANYTHING (that I can remember). We bought special tickets where we can go as many times as we want to during the year, but can't go on certain block-out dates. We wouldn't want to go on those dates anyway since the lines would be extremely long.

A week ago, we used our season tickets for the first time.

Here is the iconic Universal Globe at the entrance to the park.

The first thing we did was take the back-lot tour, which takes about an hour. During this tour, you can experience iconic movie scenes like Jaws at Amity Island, King Kong, The Bates Motel, Fast & Furious, and the wreckage of the Boeing 747 in War of the Worlds.

 This is the place where they stage a flood.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Universal Studios was to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts. Since I'm a Harry Potter fan, this was my favorite part of the park. We didn't ride any rides there, but plan to the next time we go. One ride was shut down for repairs.

Hogwarts

There was a fun place for children to play, but of course we didn't have any of our grandchildren with us. 

We had to walk through City Walk on the way back to our car. I loved this HUGE guitar and just had to take a picture of it.

Museum Visits

One of Alan's favorite activities is to visit museums. I'm not as keen on them as he is, but I will go along with it even though with all of the walking and standing it can be hard on my back.

We recently visited the largest art museum in the western states - the L. A. County Museum of Art. It doesn't look like anything very special from the outside, does it. The Getty Museum looks a lot nicer.

The museum is divided up into different buildings where the art of different nationalities are represented. My favorite was the Japanese Art building.

The art on these vases was amazing to me.

And I love the fish on these vases!

Can you tell what this balloon art is? I couldn't. I had to read the sign.

Here is a view from the front. Still can't tell? It's a monkey!

The weirdest display of art was a room full of giant pictures of people jumping from buildings. It was bizarre! Why should these sad, desperate photos of people within minutes of their death be displayed? I didn't take photos of any of that "art".

This Urban Light Sculpture by Chris Burden is a popular feature at the museum. Evidently, at night when it's all lit up it is pretty amazing, but we didn't get to see it at night.

This was kind of weird. A walkway with a huge boulder balanced on top. I guess it is considered art.

Next to the art museum is the La Brea Tar Pit. This is something I had never seen before, but Alan had. 

This is what the Wikipedia site says about the tar pits:

The La Brea Tar Pits are a group of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed in urban Los Angeles. Natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with dust, leaves, or water. Over many centuries, the tar preserved the bones of animals that were trapped. The La Brea Tar Pits are a registered National Natural Landmark.

Here are a few of the pics I took. You can definitely smell the tar when you are walking past the pits.

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One of Alan's favorite museums is the Natural History Museum by the USC Campus. When the Airds and the Fosters were visiting California (and the Stott's) a couple of weeks ago, we all met Cheryl there for a fun day which included a trip to the beach afterwards.

My favorite section of the museum was the gem stones

February isn't the warmest time of year to visit the beach, but we still had a great time at Santa Monica Beach after the museum.

Len cooling his feet off.  :-)