Celebration at The Grove Los Angeles, California

Time to return to Ron and Pat's Wonderful Vacation Adventure in Los Angeles, California:

Today's installment is of me and Pat and our wonderful, lovely, beautiful and gracious hostess Nadege treating me and Pat to a movie at the Pacific Theater at The Grove, the place to be in West Hollywood.  This isn't the Dover Mall folks (hardly). To say I was in culture shock (me, a Walmart and B.J.'s regular) would be an understatement. When we walked into the sumptuous, spacious and luxurious lobby of the Pacific movie theater I realized that I was miles and miles away from the Midway movie theater of Rehoboth Beach. Wow, I could get used to this.

The "Refreshment Stand" at the Pacific movie theater at The Grove (Pat is the third person from the right) - hey Raybeard, how would you like this to be your neighborhood movie theater?

You know folks, I don't think I could ever go back to the Midway Theater in Rehoboth Beach now. I've been thoroughly spoiled. Oh it doesn't take much to spoil me.  I've known from an early age that I have expensive tastes, way above my social strata.  I must have been filthy rich in one of my previous lives. Maybe I was one of those first class Titanic passengers that went down with the ship in 1912.  I don't know but what I do know is that I very easily gravitate towards expensive tastes. I am a snob. 

The movie we decided on was a Liam Neeson movie "Taken Three."  Pat had seen the previous Liam Neeson "Taken" movies and said this was true to the formula.  I liked the movie but I'm more of a "Downton Abbey" kind of movie guy.  But I loved the luxurious seats we were nestled in.  Wow, again this wasn't the Midway theater in Rehoboth Beach. Great surround sound, movie screen and comfortable seats.  What's not to like for $27.95?



After we watched the movie, we exited to the outside to decided what to do next. Nadege suggested the Farmer's Market. Oh, I've heard so much about the Farmer's Market. By the way, the rain . . . . very unusual for Los Angeles but it didn't bother us or the other shoppers at the Grove that day.  it was a gentle rain, not the kind of rain that you always see in the movie, buckets of rain. This was real life rain, not "movie rain" which is actually garden hoses from the side out of camera range.


Looking at these videos and pictures that I took of our California Adventure I am reminded of how lucky I am to be able to record these memories forever. I've been accused (by some) of "living in the past." Well folks, I plead guilty. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures and videos in my past so I could relive me past and share these good times with those who are interested now. This is my legacy.




Continuing on with our rainy day at The Grove, if I lived in West Hollywood I daresay I would be hanging out at places like The Grove almost every day. So it's a good thing I don't live in West Hollywood because I couldn't afford it. Not with my modest bank pensions and Social Security and part-time job at the hotel in Lewes. I'm just small potatoes man, able to take a once a year fantasy journey to Hollywood and indulge myself with friends for a few fun days. Of course we will be returning next year.  Always great to have something to look forward too.

The food court at the Farmer's Market - The Grove Los Angeles, California

By the way folks, I think I'm finally going to make that trip I've always wanted to make my whole life . . . to my ancestral homeland . . . . England.  Yes, it is true folks, perhaps next year in the spring.  That is if my health holds out and I don't have any more accidents.  Time is a running out folks, the old Hour Glass of Life for me is quickly coming to an end.  I'm always surprised when I look at videos or pictures and realize they were taken six, seven and more years ago.  Time does go by so fast.  Now is not the time to put off That Trip for sometime in the future.  The future is here now.

Look closely and you'll see "Tipton" England - where my clan started out - located in the Black County of Midlands, England

Leg Injury - Progress Report

Well folks, I continue to make progress in my recovery from my leg injury way back in February 18th.  What an ordeal this has been.  Without a doubt this is the worst medical situation I've ever had, surpassing even my dislocated knee in 1962 and my six month bout with a staph infection after my hernia operation in 1959.  The kidney stone attacks and subsequent operations (two of them) last year were pretty bad but at least they didn't last this long. 

The worst thing about my leg injury (ruptured quadricep ligaments) is/was my swollen left foot.  Since the night of the accident my foot and lower leg leg has been swollen.  Numb, red, hot, pulsating and very uncomfortable.  The only relief I ever got was at night when I went to bed with an elevated foot.  In the morning the swelling had gone done to almost nothing.  But once I was up and around the swelling came back. 

My swollen left foot

During my visit to my orthopedic doctor this past week he suggested I wear one of those compression socks on my left foot.  I have several pairs of those sock from a previous episode of swelling.  They're very hard to get on but I struggled to get one on and it works!  The swelling is down and I feel almost human again.  I don't have to go through the day with a hot, numb, pulsating, constant pain foot. Even now, sitting at my computer (with my left foot elevated on a stool), the swelling is down.  I think I can do this folks!

I may have already mentioned this before but my doctor told me I didn't have to use the walker anymore.  Great!  I'm using a cane now.  And, get this folks, there are times I don't have to even use the cane!  





I can actually go a short distance on my own two legs. But I don't push my luck. I don't want to have my leg give out and fall and lose everything I've gained in healing the past two months.

I can bend my knee a bit more and I can actually lift my injured left leg to put my pants on, a big plus.  The things we take for granted.  My doctor told me the next time I see him (two weeks) I may be able to take off my brace.  Hey, then maybe I can bend my leg enough to ride in the passenger seat of my car instead of having Bill load me into the back seat.

This morning I went out on our lawn for the first time since my accident. I wanted to take some closeup pictures of the profusion of daffodils that are a blooming here at Casa Tipton-Kelly.  It's a regular Spring Paradise here folks!  

I got the bird baths up but I have to ask bill to refresh them every day which he isn't too happy about.  Soon I'll be able to refresh them myself.  Bill's not too thrilled with this extra duty I've foisted on him.  

Bill refreshing the bird baths this morning

So folks, maybe next month I'll be back to my regular, annoying self.  Walking and talking and being my normal active self.  What an experience this has been.  It's made me realize how fragile we are.  In a few seconds our life is changed, sometimes temporarily but it could have easily been permanent.  I still thank whatever guardian angel was watching over me that suggested that I walk back into the hotel lobby after I fell, because that is where I collapsed.  I could have easily collapsed in that cold, zero degree alley way and laid there all night. I cold have fell on my iPhone and damaged it and been unable to call 911 for help.  I could have died that night.  But I didn't and for that I'm thankful.  I still have a lot to do in this lifetime. I'm not ready to depart yet folks.  But if I did, the irony would have been that I would have died one day after The Cajun died.  

The Fickle Finger of Fate, I was spared . . . . this time.

Throwback Thursday - My First Home

My Mom pregnant with me at our first home in Mineral Springs, PA - 1941

Haven't done a "Throwback Thursday" for a while.  What with posting photos and videos of my trip to California and my leg injury, I thought posting a Throwback Thursday would be a welcome diversion.

This week's "Throwback Thursday" features me (of course) in about the earliest photo I could find of me.  Specifically the summer of 1941. I was born in November of 1941.  Looking at this picture of my Mother pregnant with me and the leaves on the trees behind her and the size of her belly, I estimate she was at least seven months pregnant.

My Mom was 17 years old when I was born.  She ran off with my dad, a 21 year old North Carolina hillbilly transplanted to Pennsylvania when he was 10 years old, to get married.  

Ike Tipton (my father)

Their first home did not have indoor plumbing, running water nor electricity.  My father worked at a local steel mill. They didn't have any money. But they did have me, their first born. Lucky them, lucky me.

And that was the start of the saga of my life folks.  Some life. And it's not over yet.

Short and Sweet

Me, shopping without my walker this morning, YES!

Hey folks, I'll make this short and sweet.

I visited my orthopedic doctor this morning.  He took one look at my injured leg and said "You're coming along fine! Do you feel you still need your walker?"  I said "No!"

I told him that I would like to go back to using my cane.  He said that was all right but that, at the rate I'm going, I may not even need my cane in two weeks.  In fact, he said that I could probably take off my leg brace. 

Well, I'm not THAT comfortable yet and I reminded him that the night I fell on the ice ways back on that dark and cold night of February 18th, that I feel TWICE more and I was just lucky that I didn't cause more serious injury to other parts of my body like my hips or a head injury.  After I fell on the ice, when I was going back in the hotel to gather myself, my leg just gave out and I went down to the floor like a sack of potatoes.  Same thing happened later in the evening (morning actually, 3 AM after I left the emergency room) I fell at home coming out of the bathroom when I tried to do a turn . . . again my leg gave way and I hit the floor like a sack of potatoes, hitting my subwoofer next to my TV and taking out part of the drywall of my bedroom. Needless to say I have to gain my confidence back in standing on my own two legs.

But this was great news today.  After we left the doctor's office, we went shopping at Food Lion.  Thank goodness I didn't have to slow everyone down with my walker.  I used my cane this time.  My cane and leaning on the grocery cart.  It was wonderful folks!  

Freedom!

I asked him about the continuing swelling in my foot.  He said that would go away once I got this tourniquet of a leg brace off of my leg.  

My next appointment is two weeks hence.  He expects me to be off the leg brace by then.  In the meantime he wants me to exercise my leg by bending it a bit more.  Not too much but enough to get past the 15% bend that I have now.  

Baby steps folks, baby steps.  But I'm getting better!  

Hallelujah!

Thoughts on This Easter Sunday 2015

Happy Easter folks, for those of you who celebrate this most Christian of holidays.

I used to be a Christian (raised as Southern Baptist) but these days I guess you could call me a secularist or a spiritualist.  I'm definitely not a Southern Baptist with their discriminatory views of born homosexuals like me.  

Funny thing, when I was young I used to like going to church.  I even have a perfect attendance certificate for summer bible school when I was eight years old. I always felt a sense of comfort and inclusion when I went to church.  That feeling of inclusion ended when my Aunt Peg (whom I liked very much) took me to one of her Pentecostal church meetings. I will never forget that Sunday.  I was about ten years old.  I remember the preacher, red in the face and actually foaming at the mouth; screaming:

YOU'RE ALL SINNERS!

YOU WERE BORN IN SIN!

YOU WILL DIE IN SIN!

Oh yes, I was in shock.  The first thought that came to my ten year old mind was "I didn't choose to be born so what am I guilty of?" 

Pentecostal preaching - screaming and red in the face and foam around the mouth

And if I'm going to be a sinner my whole life and die in sin then what is the purpose of my life?

That was the turning point in my life with organized religion folks.  Not that there aren't good people who are in organized religion.  I remember Rev. Pennington of a church me and my Mom used to attend in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  He was a nice and gentle man with a sweet wife.  He always had a pleasant and non threatening sermon that helped me learn about dealing with life. And after the sermon he would stand by the door of the church, which his wife beside him (she always wore a crystal necklace that my Mother admired) and sincerely greet and listen (actually listen) to each parishioner as they left. Sad to say, he retired and I haven't experienced a reverend since who was as sincere, caring or uplifting as Reverend Pennington. 

The Pagans want their holidays back!

These days what I see of organized Christianity is on the news of evangelical Christians who condemn be as "less than" because I am a gay man.  They say "You are against God's will."  They judge me as unworthy until or unless I change into what they are, straight and subservient to their mythical God who is so quick to anger. 

So when these Christian holidays like Easter roll around what I see is a thin veneer of copying ancient pagan holidays.  Easter to me is a time or rebirth. Springtime the green returns to replace the gray monochrome of winter. All this "Jesus died for your sins" mantra, it never did make sense to me.  

To me Christianity and that other major religion, Muslim is based on fear.  "You do this or else God is going to be mad and punish you." Those threats may have worked in the medieval times and even these days in the Muslim world of the Middle East to keep the Great Unwashed in check while their rulers continue to control their lives with promises of a better afterlife. Just doesn't make sense. To me, if this religion thing is true, then Jesus (or whoever) will welcome me into Heaven because I am a good person, which I am. I know it even if the so-called "good Christians" do not.  

Oh sure, I know many find comfort in religion.  That's all fine and well if you're straight and fit in with your own tribe.  And tribal fidelity is, after all, what religion is all about anyway isn't it folks?

I know what I believe in, good people.  I don't ask what their religion is or even if they practice it.  I don't condemn or judge those who practice religion or who do not practice religion. I judge people by how they treat other people. Not how organized religion tells them they should behave or how I should behave.

Well, I'm starting to ramble on.  This is what I am fairly certain of.  For many of those who pound their chests about how they are so much better than the rest of us because they BELIEVE . . . . all you have to do is look at someone like Ted Cruz and think "He's going to Heaven?"  

The Texas senator by way of Canada - the antithesis of a Christian - judgmental, condemning, non-inclusive and dishonest - a truly evil man

Just take a look at some of these religious folks and think "Do they practice true Christianity?" You know, the one that has the Golden Rule:

So folks, whatever your beliefs this Easter Sunday (and I make no judgements here folks, if you're a regular church goer I do not condemn, I'm happy that you're happy that you find comfort in your faith), my best wishes to you. And don't forget, many stores have half off Easter candy tomorrow.

Pat Gets Patted Down

Me, Nadege and Pat at Curry Palace (?) - don't we make a good-looking trio?

Continuing on from yesterday's post where we met our friend Nadege in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles . . . . we met for lunch.  Since the three of us like Indian cuisine we decided to have lunch at an Indian restaurant nearby, whose name I have forgotten now.  

Our spicy Indian entrees arrived, YUM!

Both Pat and I like spicy food, something else we have in common. Pat lives a few blocks from India Town in Toronto.  You know where we often ate when I visited Pat last August in Toronto? Yep, Indian town and spicy, spicy veggie dishes. We asked Nadege for a recommendation of a nearby Indian restaurant when we met her in Little Tokyo. I think the name of the restaurant was "Curry Hot Palace" or something like that.



Poor Pat, after a few bites of his "Mama Mia, that's a spicy dish", his forehead broke out into beads of sweat.  Nadege had to pat the rivulets of sweat off of Pat's forehead.  You just can't take Pat anywhere (smile).

After our spicy entrees, we opted to share a cool cheesecake. I forget what was in it but it was a very light cheesecake.  In fact it wasn't even a cheesecake since this was a vegan restaurant.  It was made out of something (Nadege or Pat will correct me after they read this post) other than a dairy product but it was absolutely delicious.  In fact, better than a cheesecake.  

Getting ready to dive into the "cheesecake". Pat has recovered from his spicy encounter with his lunch

You know folks, looking at these pictures and videos of my friends Nadege and Pat, I am reminded again of the benefit of associating with friends who bring out the best in you. Both Nadege and Pat are just good folks. They don't have a negative bone in their bodies.  They see the good side of life, the good in people.  And like Sally Field so famously said after she accepted her second Oscar "You like me! You really like me!"

Folks, it's nice to hang out with people who like me and who I like.  

Our life as we know it can end in an instant, witness my fall on the ice February 18th.  I could have died if I fell a few centimeters to the left and hit my head on the side of the building and laid in that alley all night in zero degree weather.  

Thus, my affirmation again to make every moment, every day, every week and every month count as long as we're on this earth.  

Nadege treated us to lunch . . . . thank you Nadege!  Next year we treat you to lunch . . . . in Santa Barbara!

It Never Rains in California?

Remember the song "It Never Rains in California"? Well, Pat and I brought good luck to Los Angeles during our visit because it rained when we visited this past January.  

You can't miss Pat and Nadege with their day-glo colors walking in a gray, rainy day in downtown Los Angeles

We had made arrangements to meet our friend Nadege in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. A gentle rain was falling. 

Follow the brightly colored couple

Both Pat and I have outwear that is rain proof. Nadege brought her umbrella.  She was not deterred by the rain at all.  In fact she was quite happy that Los Angeles was finally getting some rain. She said California has had a drought for three years now and desperately needs rain.

Pat stopped in a Japanese book store.  Pat loves Japanese interior furniture design.  Pat was in his element.  Pat likes the clean look of Sixties retro design, a la Jetsons.

Pat in a Japanese bookstore in Little Tokyo

We were meeting Nadege for lunch (photos and videos of which I will post in a subsequent blog).  Again I have to thank Nadege for being just the perfect hostess.  How wonderful to meet in person someone who has been commenting on my blog.  

Prior to lunch Nadege took us for a tour in a nearby Japanese garden. Isn't it amazing that even on a gray, dreary and rainy day how genuine friendships can brighten a day? Also, the fresh and vibrant colors of the Japanese garden added to the specialness of this day.



Just how lucky am I to spend an afternoon in downtown Los Angeles with two delightful people like Nadege and Pat?  It just doesn't get any better than this folks.

Pat and Nadege in the Japanese garden

Next year Pat and I plan to split our time between staying five days at the bed and breakfast in West Hollywood and five days at the Doubletree Hotel in Little Tokyo.  Oh yes, a trip to Los Angeles is now an annual event on our schedule.  Always good to have something to look forward to.

Friends: Nadege and Pat