Greetings all from our blog.
We were thankful to spend a few days in LA to recover the long journey from NZ. Must be suckers for punishment as we again took the route via Australia making it 22 hours from airport to airport. Toooooooo long! I managed to wear my leg for the duration meaning I didn't challenge the possibility of struggling to put it on and walk on arrival. This meant that I slept less and walked around the cabin more. However, we still had muscle aches and pains for a few days.
LA felt hot, complicated by the stuffiness of Ann's apartment. Ann, Bob's mum recently moved retirement homes, presenting a considerable challenge which concerns the family. The staff who all appear to be extremely positive, supportive and helpful, reassured us that her reaction to the move is normal and that we can anticipate that she will begin to engage more with time. 97 is an age to be marveled, so we think she is doing brilliantly. Slowing a little and memory a bit jaded....... but hey don't test mine too much! By the end of a long day I joined her by using a wheelchair to rest my little leg which was beginning to complain.
We managed some exploration of interesting spots in LA. Ann lives on the edge of Pasadena & Arcadia and Annette, Bob's sister lives in Pasadena which is one of the few lush cities within LA, with trees and green grass! I admit I could possibly live there, but I couldn't handle the parched surrounds of most of southern California. We wandered some of the local streets, visited our fav store, "Trader Joe's"and came across a park were thought was a public area. Finding now entrance having walked for an hour or so we climbed the fence and found ourselves inside the beautiful lush historic area "Baldwin Park". Baldwin a wealthy railroad magnet built his mansion and carriage house for his 3rd wife, planted many beautiful palms from all over and imported peacocks from India.... now the bane of local resident as they eat any flowers planted in their gardens and poop on the roof.
On our return to LA a little more than a week later we visited another historic homestead, Huntington gardens this time legally
