Los Angeles and Russ.
I hung out with Mark a little after Marg took off for work, and soon after 10 I said goodbye to Mark, and headed for the botanical gardens, and spent maybe 90 mins or so there, walking about 3½ miles.
It was serene, and I thought again about Bev there in a way that I haven’t for a few days now. When I’m with people I’m interacting with them, so not really thinking or focusing too deeply about my thoughts or inner life, etc., but in walking slowly through a tranquil and meditative setting, the opposite happens. I was very aware of not being there with Bev, and at one point I saw someone leading another person around, much as with Bev and me. As I got closer, I could see it was actually an older father, maybe around my age or a little younger, with his quite impaired adult son, holding his hand and leading him carefully around. Even though it wasn’t a sad replica of Bev and me together toward the end, it was similar, and as sad. It was a meditative time at the gardens.
The gardens certainly are a nice place to be, and pretty big with over 55 acres and lots of short trails through different plant groups. I’m sure the summer months see the place in full bloom, and that’s not the case now, but there are plenty of desert and hot climate plants here they are right at home year round.
I very much enjoyed seeing turtles at one of the small ponds. They didn’t seem to care much whether I was there or not, but that’s typical of turtles, I’ve always found. If you weren’t around when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth, they think of you as a newcomer.
Then it was time to get into the city, getting to the airport around 3 :30 as Russ’ plane wasn’t due to land until 2:20, and he’d have to pass through immigration and customs, etc. As it happened, his plane landed early and he cleared the airport within 40 minutes, so I didn’t have as much time as I thought in L.A., as I would before picking Russ up.
Once in L.A., I stopped along the way for a phone call, and in looking up I realized I’d stopped on Beverly Boulevard. Nice.
I first headed to Phil’s Deli and Grill, prompted by Mark to get myself a T-shirt there (good idea), but it was in the Farmer’s Market (which I’d like to visit again; I was here maybe 15 years ago and recall really liking it) with no parking, and as I was driving around looking for parking I got Russ’ text that the plane had landed. So off I went to the airport, in this traffic about 45 minutes away. I got there in good time actually, had to drive once all the way around and back into the airport to figure it out, and Russ was maybe waiting 10 minutes before getting to him at the curb.
Then to our hotel, which it turns out was not the one I intended to book. This one was still in Hollywood, but much further from the center than I planned. We took a uber to the heart of Hollywood and walked for a while, and then grabbed something to eat, at really, a classic Hollywood burger joint.
It was very good seeing Russ, of course. We did see one another last year, about a year ago, when Russ came to visit, and Bev was in pretty bad shape. I worried how that visit might go, for Bev as I didn’t know how she might react to two men in the house, one of whom would be strange to her at that point, or for Russ, as the visit might be very low key and inactive given the situation. But concerns were unnecessary and it was a great visit.
Russ is on his way to a conference in Texas, and he and I will drive up the coast to San Francisco, where he’ll catch a flight to Texas on Oct 15th. Tomorrow, we’ll spend the day here in L.A., and tonight we waked around L.A., as it got dark, probably walking about 5½ miles. Russ is a regular walker, walks fast, and can seemingly walk forever. Once, in Portland, Oregon, we walked 12 miles while chatting. It was really good spending time, talking, and walking, and I could also have walked further on this lovely night.
