Loose Leaf Notes

1. For five years or so I’ve been carrying around a Starbucks gift certificate, given to me by Cedar Key author Terri Dulong for participating as a judge in a writing contest she held.  It finally came in handy and was a lifesaver during our motel stay on the coast of San Diego after I discovered that a microwave makes a terrible cup of tea and that a Starbucks was right next door.

2.  A long haired surfer in a wet suit is my kind of “man in uniform.”

3. “Only in California” was a reoccurring theme while in LA. The last “Only in California” moment we had was on the way to the airport yesterday when we spotted a hand-wash car wash advertised as “ECO AUTO SPA.”

4. Pacific seaweed is the bubble wrap of the ocean, fun to pop as you walk.

5. We were in the area because my husband, Joe, was invited to give a presentation on his work with mindfulness and teens at a conference in San Diego. We spent two nights in a plush hotel, five nights in a motel right on Pacific Beach and five nights at the Santa Monica Hostel, a forty minute drive to Hollywood. 

6. It was a very international scene at the hostel with guests from Denmark, Norway, Australia, Scotland, Japan and more.  The hostel hosted a stand-up comedy night in the Rapp room (historic room that was once a saloon and is part of the hostel) one night and one of the comics opened his set by singing Welcome to the Hostel California …They got real low rates … Probably ‘cause you have 12 roommates. The next day there was an AA meeting in the room followed by a woman teaching Argentine tango lessons.

7. My next-door neighbor in Floyd was surprised that I would be interested in anything Hollywood. “Do you even have a TV?” he asked Joe before we left.   Joe told him that we have a TV and explained that my interest in Hollywood movie stars makes perfect sense when you consider that I love movies, like to do interviews, write about people’s lives and read memoirs and biographies.

8. You read about my visit with playwright, composer, TV and stage actress, singer and blogger Naomi Caryl and my brief face-to-face exchange with Drew Barrymore HERE. What you didn’t know is that I was completely fooled by a wax statue of Morgan Freeman and we think we might have seen Meg Ryan walking two dogs on the beach in Malibu.  I barely looked, until she walked away, because her dog was jumping up on me, but then Joe said “I think that was a movie star.” He thought maybe Meg Ryan. Later I googled it and found evidence that she has a house in Malibu and has two dogs.

9. While visiting the boulevard in Hollywood, we parked our rental car on a side street next to Hollywood High School. We probably would have spotted more “movie stars” (or their kids) if there weren’t so many limos with blacked out back windows driving around there.

10. Not seeing the Hollywood sign while in LA would be like not seeing the Eiffel tower during a trip to Paris.

11. We decided to “stay home” around the hostel one day to get grounded, which meant going to the beach, having tea and Cornish Pasty at an English Tea Parlor, visiting a Veterans For Peace Iraq War memorial graveyard on the beach, watching the street entertainment at the Third Street Promenade (listen HERE), having sushi for supper, seeing The Descendents in an old time theater and then watching the Grammys in our (private) room. So much for staying home.

12. Sadly, the next day we drove to  Hollywood and happened to pass what we guessed was the hotel Whitney Houston died in because there were news vans and reporters, along with people leaving flowers and mementos in front of the building.

13. Joe and I got each other the same valentine card. Both cards, exchanged early Valentine’s Day morning on the bus ride to the airport, had pictures of two hearts written in beach sand.

~ Thirteen Thursday