Hot Dish

Last Saturday night we hosted another fine Hot Dish at our house and it was a blast.  About eighty people turned out to drink beer, eat barbecue, and hear readings by Cecil Castellucci, Andrew Choate, Heather Havrilesky, Michal Lemberger, and Ruth McKee.  The silly thing I read is here.

Thank you so much to Dev for setting up the PA system, the chairs, the lights, and everything else, and to Jason Gutierrez for taking these gorgeous photos. And most of all, thanks to my amazing co-producer for the last four years, J. Ryan Stradal.

Favorite Summer Activities in L.A.

Renting bicycles at the Annenberg Beach House

Now that summer is winding down, I wanted to make a short list of a few of my favorite things to do in the summer in Los Angeles.  These are the highlights we try to hit every year.

Mostly for Kids

B talks to Mr. K, her favorite actor, at SummerSounds.

Arthur makes an Argentinian mosaic in the SummerSounds craft area.

 

Beatrice is interviewed about her craft.

Hollywood Bowl SummerSounds concert and craft series - this was Beatrice's fifth year attending!

Jazz concert picnic

Jazz concerts at Descanso Gardens

The Descanso turtle and koi pond

The Annenberg Beach House - includes a pool, splash pad, and sand play area, among many other things

A lot of places play outdoor movies for kids, including The Americana.  A lot of pools (including the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center and several public pools in Burbank) also have "dive-in" movies where you can swim while watching.

Beatrice tracing a butterfly at the Natural History Museum

On a bug hunt at Kidspace's Insect Festival

Plus all-year places like Kidspace, the Natural History Museum, and LACMA have special summer events and programming.

Mostly for Adults

Independent Shakespeare at Griffith Park. This year I also saw several other outdoor plays around town, including She Stoops to Conquer and Lady Windemere's Fan.

Classical theater at the Getty Villa. In fact, I'm going to Prometheus Bound this Thursday.

All-night vampire movie marathon, midnight-6am, at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Cinespia at Hollywood Forever.  This year we saw Interview with the Vampire in the cemetery at midnight.

Grand Performances - live music, readings, talks, and movies downtown

626 Night Market. This was our first year going to this and it was incredibly cool and - though I hate using this word - completely authentic.  It felt just like being back at a night market in Asia.

Arthur enjoying some Xinjiang meat sticks

End of Summer

As I say every year, it may still be in the 90s, but I am declaring the summer to be over.  Schools are back in session, public pools and splash pads are closing down, Labor Day is a few days away, and most importantly, Halloween is looming.

We had a relatively cool, mild summer, which made it a lot easier to be outside this year - even the low 90s temperatures we're experiencing this week are mild compared to the low 100s we often get this time of year.  We also had an incredibly busy summer, in exciting ways (trips, visitors, and house projects) and less exciting ones (lots of extra freelance work for both me and Dev).  I'm looking forward to a little more calm and structure this fall - except, of course, for the usual excitement of Halloween.

Some of my favorite summer moments from this year:

Beatrice picking rose hips

Dev teaches Arthur to blow bubbles in the water.

Learning to float

Arthur leaping into the pool

Taking a nighttime walk with glowsticks

 

Arthur explores wearing dresses

 

Watching movies in their fort

Soap boats

From the dress-up box

 

At Chinese class

Bubble painting

 

 

Excavating dinosaurs in ice

Every day I put B down to nap in her room, and every day she comes out wearing something like this.

After lights out, Arthur huddles by the nightlight, reading.

Animation of the kids playing with their new slip n' slide

And now, at least here at home, I'm packing away the beach towels and the wading pool and I'm declaring it to be fall.