LA Today!

   Today I was so excited to get out to LA and visit Kelley and Eric, but especially to meet my very first nephew, Sean, who is now 4 months old. (And getting cuter by the day.) Had a great visit with Joni at my house when she came to pick me up, and we were off to the airport. I was a little nervous about airport security and "the boot", but I was pleasantly surprised—they didn't make me remove it! I simply had to go through the full body scan, and then they swabbed the boot. Easy. And everyone was super-friendly to boot (pun intended).

   I grabbed a sub sandwich and found a seat near the gate, next to an older guy who was dressed like a pilot. And… he was our pilot! We sat and talked for about 45 minutes 'til the plane arrived, and talked about careers and goals and family and all kinds of things. He was a great guy and very interesting. He suggested that I talk to the gate agent about my ankle, and I barely had to show her the boot, then she handed me a blue plastic folder that gave me permission to board first, with all the elderly people in wheelchairs. These old ladies were teasing me about my leg and we had a good time, taking our time down the jetway. I got an aisle seat on the left side of the plane, so I could hang the boot out in the aisle to stretch when needed. The women sitting next to me were fun and friendly. Hmm… I might have to wear this boot more often!!!

   Kelley picked me up and we took off to Silver Lake to pick up her biweekly produce assortment, then back to her house to play with Sean and relax a bit. He was alert and happy and kept staring at me with his wide blue eyes. It's really cute when Kelley gets in his face and he crinkles his eyes and emits a huge smile.

   There was a gorgeous, bright pink and purple sunset—blocked by trees in the yard, though—I'll have to chase down a photo if we get another. I guess smog is good for one thing, eh? If I remember my high school science, particles in the air make for good sunsets because light and color reflects off of them. It was pretty spectacular.

   Kelley took Sean through his evening routine (dinner, bath, walk around the neighborhood 'til he falls asleep in the carrier) and then put him to bed. And that meant it was dinnertime for us!

   She recommended a couple of good Japanese restaurants she had tried before, and we settled on Daichan (the stuffed kabocha appetizer was what tipped me to try this place over another, and it certainly didn't disappoint!) Kelley ran out to pick up our food while I iced my ankle and listened for Sean to stir (he didn't). We had great Poki bowls (mine with chunks of raw tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and red snapper) that consisted of fish, seaweed, lettuce, green onion and a soy vinaigrette over rice. It tasted great with the kabocha and miso eggplant appetizers. Yum. I easily get spoiled every time I visit LA.

   By this time it was almost 9:00 (11:00 for me) and I was worn out from dragging the boot around, along with my luggage. So I retired to my own private guesthouse in their backyard, recently renovated. Perfect. (Even slept in 'til 5:00 am—7:00 for me, a luxury which Aki rarely lets me have!) Zzz...