This new flower bed in our neighborhood is ATOMIC. 

Yesterday was Peace Corps Day, and a few of us returned Volunteers went to a grade school to talk about our experiences. Veronica came in an African dress. 

My new friend: Danish Cigarette Smoking Girl. "You really go for those old-fashioned dames whose lips reek of cigarettes," says Jennifer. 

This sign declares that LANCASTER AVE. IS THE RODEO DRIVE OF WEST PHILA. 

A sign from a pest control business in Philadelphia, sent in by my brother Jon. 

Spring is coming, and all of nature is abloom. 

I unfortunately got caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic today on Elk Grove Boulevard when school was letting out. But it gave me the chance to appreciate this license plate frame. 

Hairspray for men --- because the Rancho Murieta Country Club has a whole lotta combovers. 

Last night I played at the Sheraton with Wendell (yes, that Wendell) and Shelley. Sheer bliss! You may remember that the previous job I did for this client (Sutter Health) involved the client getting into an argument with our drummer over the buffet food. This time was smooth sailing, and we got fed. 

Jennifer reading the first copy of my new book. 

Sunset near Silver Lake is becoming more and more interesting. Some of the stores have amazing names (some others: Giant Robot, Come to Mama, Plethoric). 

My favorite place in LA is the Soap Plant/Wacko/Luz de Jesus store/gallery. 

This is the poetry club from Manley High in 1938, looking poetic. 

Rachel and I had a great time looking at Fay's high school yearbook from 1938. Here are some Jewish sports legends. 

We saw at least two different wedding parties posing for pictures in front of the museum, which is a splendid mission-era building. 

We went to the Bower Museum in Santa Ana which was showing Egyptian artifacts from the British Museum, including lots of mummies. I especially liked the pages from The Book of the Dead. Whoever drew it was quite an artist, because all of the drawings were done very spontaneously in ink with very little preliminary sketching (which you could see in light red). 

We saw Hot 'n' Throbbing with Rachel's friends Peter and Natasha. The play is by Paula Vogel; she wrote it before she wrote her Pulitzer Prize winner How I Learned to Drive. It has a lot of the same themes but isn't quite as good. But it was a good production and Rachel's costumes were great. 

This sign is in Rachel's apartment. 

Rachel's first professional costume design job, at the Chance Theater in Anaheim. 

Wind-up toys that look like sushi. 

This parking structure tells you how many spaces are available on each floor! When I marvelled at this, Rachel said, "You are so Northern California." 

This is a window display of a UC Irvine graduate student's costumes for Seussical. Rachel made the gloves for the Cat in the Hat. 

Rachel in the costume shop at UC Irvine. 

I drank from this half-empty Diet Coke in Rachel's car before I realized that there was trash in it. Three lollipops, in fact. Kind of like very sweet cough syrup. 

A picture is worth a thousand words... unless those words are written in Play-Doh.