Given the horribly hot weather that most of the US experienced last week(110+ degrees in Kansas...how is that even possible?)
I'm not going to complain that it is a foggy and cool 67 degrees
here on the west side of Los Angeles
My plan for today was to lounge by the pool
with The Corrections by Johnathan Franzen
But instead of my planned July 4th wardrobe of a red, white and blue bikini
a big hat and some spf 50
I'll be dressed to stay warm
in red skinny jeans, a white button down shirt, navy ballet flats, a vintage navy bag by Celine and a red, white, blue and gold silk scarf
and the usual gold stuff
Have you read The Corrections?
The book is brilliantly written and I recommend it.
What have you been reading lately?
Any suggestions for my summer reading list?
After several days of non stop rain, and continued rain forcasted for the next week,
why, oh why do I not own a pair of these boots?
Maybe it is because I always thought that you needed them to muck out the stalls
or to be this woman, on her daily walks around Balmoral in her kilts.
But now that we are having le deluge of biblical proportions
I wish that I had stepped up to the Hunter boot brigade and left my Aquatalias in the closet.
Yeah, it really was hot yesterday. Palm Springs or Las Vegas style hot. After one of the coolest summers on record we finally got the big heat. Officially it reached 113 degrees although this photo from the LA Times shows 121 degrees.
Obviously there were a couple of options for staying cool
And no this wasn't my option
(picture snagged from google, I only wish that this was me frolicking on the beach)
The other option was to dress in summer clothes and stay inside an air conditioned office,
which I happily did.
Here's the photo that I tried to post yesterday but my computer was having no part of it. (Ah... little does my hijacked virus ridden hard drive know, but it is being replaced by a newer, faster, and more powerful hard drive this coming weekend, my new trophy computer if you will)
But I digress.
Here is the estate jewelry that I wanted to show you.
I love this necklace because it is reversible, so in the photo I was wearing it on the reverse side with white enamel instead of the dressier sapphires. This is a great piece because it can be worn with both casual and dressier styles. And, did I mention that it is Garrard.
And, a gold wire bracelet, a vintage classic from Gucci.
I'm pretty sure that I had the exact same style bracelet made out of elephant hair when I was 11 years old and the epitome of all things cool, or so I thought. I like it better in 18K.
The weather has changed already. There are clouds from the ocean this morning and our dry burning heat is over. We are expecting only 90 degrees today.
Why is it cold, dark, damp and gloomy in mid May in LA? I'm trying hard to figure out how justify a business retreat for Team Beladora to a spa in Indian Wells.
Is this the storm of the century for Washington DC? I don't know but I just heard that one of my daughter's friends was trapped in the DC Metro for 20 hours and posting about it on Facebook. That is almost as bad as being trapped in the chunnel.
So last night at about 7:30 I closed up my office and headed down Rodeo Drive to have dinner with friends at Two Rodeo And just when I was crossing Dayton I asked this young man who was wearing shorts, probably a tourist from Alabama who was here for the football game, if I could take his picture.
Then I proceeded to have dinner at a table outside, wearing just a cashmere sweater on a January evening.
With apologies to my fellow bloggers, Miss Cavendish, K-Line, Sher, and all the others who are dealing with snow!
Where to put this story? In the global warming department, in the French hospitality department, or in the let's-turn-everything-over-to-government-run-services department? More than 2,000 people spent hours trapped inside the Channel Tunnel after five Eurostar trains broke down due to cold weather.
The trains failed as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer tunnel.Some passengers were evacuated via service tunnels to car trains, while others were kept on their trains. Many have faced gruelling 15-hour journeys.
…Lee Godfree, a passenger evacuated from one of the stranded trains, said he and his family had arrived in Folkestone at 0500 GMT, having left Disneyland Paris at 1837 GMT.He said their journey had been a "complete nightmare"."We were without power. We ran out of water, we ran out of food and there was very, very poor communication from the staff," he told the BBC."We lost air conditioning when we lost the power. We had to open the emergency doors ourselves."The evacuation procedure we followed was one that we set down ourselves."
As the sky clouds up and another rainstorm in on the way....I'm beginning to feel as though this winter is never going to be over. It's true that I enjoyed our unusually cold winter and the view of the snow covered mountains from my window... but I'm over it now and desperately seeking sunshine.
Unlike the last time I stayed at this villa 20 something years ago, there would be no late night clubbing and shots of tequila resulting in someone (not me) having to be air evacuated out to a hospital in San Francisco...
When I think of the English Countryside I think of putting on my barbour and boots and strolling with my dog through a landscape that looks something like this. Perhaps I would stop every now and then to enjoy the vista, recite some pastoral poetry of William Wordsworth and maybe pick some wildflowers. Of course this is because I am not a Tough Guy.
But two of my colleagues are and here is their tale of the event.
It was…..an experience…. to say the least. The day started with temps in the mid 20s and sporadic snow flurries. At race time it had not changed much. About a quarter of the way into the race the sun came out everything warmed up and the race really became enjoyable and relaxing. If only it could have stayed that way even for just an hour longer. Sadly, the sun and warmer temperatures proved to be short lived. After about 30 min. of sun (just enough to build up a good sweat) the clouds took over, the wind started blowing hard across the open field, the temperature dropped significantly and a light snow began to fall. A. and I met up on the course and began running it together using each other to negotiate the obstacles and get through the water courses.
When I say it was cold, it really really was, to the point of actually being painful and debilitating. But the water obstacles were so painful that we had to stop at certain points to regain some feeling in the legs and feet and let the pain subside a bit before completing the obstacle. In the end, we came to a place where a decision had to be made. In the last leg of the race with about 90% of the course completed we faced three of the hardest water obstacles. The first was a jump into a chest deep pond that led to a football field length low crawl under barbed wire in watery ankle deep mud. The second was a chest deep ditch of water about the length of a football field with three of logs across it at differing intervals that finished with a 10ft wide platform. All of this required the Tough Guy to swim under each log, with the final swim under the width of the platform. The final obstacle required you to climb a rope net up a 12 ft tower, jump into the lake below and swims for the edge. After this, the rest of the course was a run and non-water obstacles to the finish.
At the start of this final leg, A. expressed concern with hypothermia and our ability to make it. Undaunted, I told him, “let’s take it one obstacle at a time.” It was at this point that I realized that you can only will yourself so far. As we moved forward to the first water obstacle, I was stopped by an increasingly intense cramping in my mid and lower back and legs. My back muscles, gluts and thighs were cramped to the point that it hurt to take deep breaths or fully extend the legs. It was at this point that I realized that I was worse off than I realized or was willing to admit. When A. saw the first of the water obstacles he had the common sense to realize the race was over. By the time he got back to me, the hypothermia had really taken hold and I had begun to uncontrollably shake all over. A. was better off than I at that point but not that far behind me. When we called the race, I had the fleeting thought that I could make it on my own. Thankfully my body would not allow what my mind wanted. We stepped off the course, collected our gear and went back to the hotel. Quitting and the walk back to our gear and the car was the most painful of all.
To say I was angry, disappointed and mad that I had failed to reach the finish is and understatement, as I am sure A. would agree. Glad we did it, glad we took the chance, glad we got so far under such bad weather but heartbroken to have had to quit so close to the end. The race ended with 40 people requiring ambulatory care and an unknown number of walking wounded (people who realized their limits and left the course as A. and I did). However, there were many who mustered the strength and spirit to prevail and I hold them all in great awe. I know there were some naysayers who argued that this was not worth it or there were better ways to have fun. While I fully admit it was extremely painful, hard and challenging, it was worth trying and a great experience.
Looking back we were lucky the race ran when it did. The night of the race and all the next day most of England was covered in one of the worst snow falls in almost two decades. Some areas received more than 2 feet of snow and Wolverhampton (where the race was run) got at least 6+ inches. I cannot say that I would do this every year, but I feel I will go back, more ready and fit, and complete what was left unfinished in England . When I do, I hope A. will join me again (I can already hear A. saying NO *&%$#%^& WAY) and that one or two of you might find the challenge worth it. I did carry a waterproof camera with me during the run so I will forward on pictures to you for your enjoyment when I get them (FYI, I snapped a couple of guys wearing nothing but the green Borat thong during the race and other insane behavior). Thanks for your well wishes and support.
Congratulations to D. and A. Seriously, you guys are awesome!
Here in Los Angeles it so seldom rains that any amount of precipitation actually makes me happy. I love the sound of the the raindrops bouncing off to the skylights while I'm curled up with a good book and a cup of tea.
I don't even mind getting a little wet from taking the puppy out for her walk.
And for some reason, walking in the rain makes me fantasize about living in the English countryside... And so I dress for it with these.
OK, so maybe I'm stuck with being a city girl with no chance in hell of living in the English countryside... but I can still dress as my if life is something out of a Nancy Mitford novel.
In the 19th century, when Hans Brinker, the hero of the novel in which he tries to win a pair of silver skates, coasted along Holland's ice, the canals froze almost every year. But water pollution and climate change have made this so rare that today a boy of 15, Brinker's age, may never have seen a frozen canal, or at least remember one. Until, that is, this year. "For us, it's in our genes," said Gus Gustafsson, 68, a retired insurance executive, explaining why he and his wife had rushed out to buy new skates and take to the ice under a cloudless blue sky. "It was like a frenzy that came over people, including lots of kids, like my granddaughter, who is 5." With thousands of others, they skated northeast toward the cheese capital, Gouda, then toward Utrecht.
"Water is our friend, and 10 percent of our area is water," he said. "From the oldest days, in very little villages, people could skate to each other." Bonthuis, 59, said he had skated with friends recently but also had spent a lot of time just skating meditatively alone, leaning slightly forward, arms crossed behind his back. "It's nice to skate when there is a beautiful view of the fields," he said. "You see a lot of people skating alone."
LOS ANGELES – Mike Reilly spent his lifetime chasing the California dream. This year he's going to look for it in Colorado. With a house purchase near Denver in the works, the 38-year-old engineering contractor plans to move his family 1,200 miles away from his home state's lemon groves, sunshine and beaches. For him, years of rising taxes, dead-end schools, unchecked illegal immigration and clogged traffic have robbed the Golden State of its allure.
Is there something left of the California dream? "If you are a Hollywood actor," Reilly says, "but not for us."
The number of people leaving California for another state outstripped the number moving in from another state during the year ending on July 1, 2008. California lost a net total of 144,000 people during that period — more than any other state, according to census estimates. That is about equal to the population of Syracuse, N.Y.
Meanwhile...here is a photo taken last weekend on an Orange County beach.
What other state looks like this in the middle of January?
Dead of Winter Surfer at Monarch Beach - Photo courtesy of Jay Rubin Photography
But if you're planning on leaving California for more opportunities...but colder climates
You might at well start shopping for warmer clothes now.
Here is a very chic vintage red wool tweed boucle suit with a smart funnel neck collar to keep the cold out. Add a vintage brooch to the collar, like this Lalaounis classic, for a little bling.
PARIS (AFP) – The recent acceleration of glacier melt-off in Greenland, which some scientists fear could dramatically raise sea levels, may only be a temporary phenomenon, according to a study published Sunday.
And if you like all things snowy...like I do when it is 80 degrees outside
The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.
Most of the long-term climate data collected from various sources also shows a strong correlation with the three astronomical cycles which are together known as the Milankovich cycles. The three Milankovich cycles include the tilt of the earth, which varies over a 41,000 year period; the shape of the earth’s orbit, which changes over a period of 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, also known as the earth’s ‘wobble’, which gradually rotates the direction of the earth’s axis over a period of 26,000 years. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, these three astronomical cycles, each of which effects the amount of solar radiation which reaches the earth, act together to produce the cycle of cold Ice Age maximums and warm interglacials.
And let's face it....if it is reported in Pravda....it must be true.
So how do we stay both chic and warm in the new winter wonderland? Something glacial gray with the warmth of Fur
And before you go all PETA on me....I'm promoting VINTAGE FUR....because, you know, the animal is ALREADY DEAD.
Here in Los Angeles it may be a clear and sunny 79 degrees today....but the Ice Age is only just beginning...and since it's going to last for the next 100,000 years...you might as well start shopping now!
Necklace and bracelet set in textured 18K gold
Vintage 1970's turquoise and diamond ring in textured 18K
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