Signing off for at least five days. We are off to meet Keith and Amanda in Calistoga, in the Napa Valley. We're not taking our 'puters - but we've got lots of room for a crate of wine. We'll miss Ocean Front Walk - but not on Friday, Saturday or Sunday!
What better sign off than a last view from our window? This year the sunsets have been amazing - none of the usual Los Angeles mists. Not quite like Hamilton T!
Something you don't really expect to find in the US - Irony! The reason for the name of the wine was not 'Irony' as we know it, so I won't try to explain. The wine was good, though!
Sampling a glass of Irony
Frank Gehry building on Main Street in Santa Monica. The giant binoculars form the entrance and were made by Claaes Oldenberg as an afterthought to the original design of the building, becoming a Santa Monica icon!
The Queen Mary looks wonderful from a distance, with its exquisite red funnels.
One for you, Rosey! Something that can be bought for $20 too.
Neon installation at Hammer Museum
Salvation Mountain, Niland
a lump of asphalt, with a simulation of how densely the fossils lay in it.
Luna
Window in the Ark
Hedgehog from Noah's Ark
Crouching figure by Francisco Zuniga at UCLA sculpture garden
Horse by Deborah Butterfield - is it wood or is it cast? It is bronze
love on Melrose
Hollywood Farmers Market
Friday afternoon at the Getty
How did it get here?
You can rent this van for $19.95 for one day - and then sell all your worldly goods at one of the many flea markets all over Los Angeles - or not, if you don't get any punters!
The Gamble House in Pasedena
Aristide Maillol figure
Henry Moore
Local house number
Sam Rodia's house number
Button numbers
Rusty letters at the flea market
Hollyhock House
Hollyhock detail which features everywhere, not just on the exterior, but in the specially designed dining chairs, on the carved fireplace, in the carpets, etc.
Eames house by the ocean
Wonderful Eames fabric
The product!
Mine, all mine!
If only!
Excellent onions at the market
Intrepid Calistoga travellers
A 3,000 year old Petrified Tree
Sharpsteen Museum
Calistoga sunflower
On the road
Taking his skateboard out for coffee
Boy Scout visitor to Bottle Village
Strange plant at Bottle Village
Inside Grandma's caravan
Joe's restaurant - a fave!
Hari Krishna parade of the Chariots
Great Wall of LA
Farmer John's pig mural
View from our window
John Lennon's star
Hollywood sign
Politics on Ocean Front Walk
More Ocean Front politics
Wire management/Venice Suites
Visitor at Watts Towers
one of the towers
PT and driver
PT at Disney Concert Hall
Salvation Mountain in Niland, California, 110 degrees but worth it!
Daddy Mammoth about to go under in the Tar Pits
Inside Noah's Ark at the Skirball
Large mother and baby (by Zuniga) in the trees at UCLA sculpture garden
After four years, a new pair of glasses!
...which come with sun glasses!
Magritte and friend at the Getty Center
A sunny afternoon at the Getty
Sitting on the grass at The Getty Centre
Henry Moore in the Norton Simon Sculpture Garden
Where is the house?
Vital ingredients in our Californian home
Long Beach flea market
Spare heads at the flea market (with fleas, or without?)
Calistoga grapes - what The Wine Country is all about!
Multicoloured peppers from the market
Quilt from the Sharpsteen Museum
PT, Gloria and Tricketts head north
Santa Monica garage scene
red interior (Bottle Village)
Bottle village resident
What you walk on in Bottle Village
Sunday on the beach
Farmer John's Pig Mural
Santa Monica Farmer's market