Well, as you all know, this past week, I traveled to Los Angeles (LA) to see my family. First time in an airport and on an airplane in over 15 months. It was, well, amazing.

I flew out of the Eugene airport, which is a small airport about 45 miles south of Corvallis, where I live, and is super easy to fly out of and into. The airport was not crowded at all. In fact, it was super slow, and the plane was only about half full. However….

Upon landing in Los Angeles, that all changed. LAX was super busy. In fact, when I finally made it to the rental car company, there were about 30 people ahead of me in line. 

Now, I had two meetings that afternoon, yes, working while on my trip, so after waiting in the line for about 25 minutes, I chose to call an Uber and cancel my reservation. Was a good idea, as the line didn’t move much as I waited for the Uber driver.

It was great to see my mom, sisters, and nieces and nephews. Here are a couple things we did, while I was in LA.

Griffith Observatory and Hollywood

In the hills of LA there is the Griffith Observatory, which looks out over the city. Beautiful. Though the Observatory wasn’t open, you could walk around the grounds and take in all of the views. Here are some pics from our time at the Observatory, and our drive through Hollywood.

A High School Graduation

It was wonderful to see my niece graduate High School on my trip. I was surprised to see so many people, and, well, not surprised. It was a lovely ceremony. Here are some pics of the graduation.

After graduation, we went to the Lazy Dog restaurant, which I had never been to. The food was excellent, and the service was outstanding.

Seal Beach and Taco Surf

On my last day in LA, we took my niece and nephew to the beach in Seal Beach. It was a lovely day, sunny, yet cool. The beach was not overcrowded, and the water was, well, rather cold, yet felt lovely. Here are some pics of the beach.

After spending some time at the beach, we went to a local restaurant I loved to patronize when I was living in LA and working in Seal Beach, Taco Surf; and then stopped in a local bakery, Sweet Jill’s, delicious. Excellent food. 

Utmost Feelings, Coming Soon!

About two months ago now, I learned that Astha, of Writing feels good, passed away. I learned of this very sad news from our dear friend Cindy, of Unique Times. Cindy’s post talked about Astha’s Anthology that was being carried forward by Navin, of Navin’s Poetry.

I immediately visited Navin’s blog, and left a message. Navin responded very quickly, and asked for a poem, and said he would speak with the publishers, True Dreamster, about the possibility of making a late addition.

I was astonished and honored when they accepted the poem I shared with Navin. I am so honored to be a part of the beautiful Utmost Feelings Anthology. The Anthology is full of wonderfully inspirational poets, and is a beautiful tribute to Astha.

Thanks again, to Navin, True Dreamster, and all of the poets in Astha’s Anthology, Utmost Feelings. 

Please visit the True Dreamster Instagram page, when you have a moment, and share the news about Utmost Feelings. Thank you. 

Here are all of the co-authors of Astha’s Anthology, Utmost Feelings.

Beautiful people, just beautiful.

Alright, everyone, that’s all for this week.

Have a fantastic week, my dear friends.

#poetry, #anthology, #astha, #blog, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #collaboration, #family, #garduation, #grifithobservatory, #hollywood, #lazydog, #life, #los-angeles, #love, #seal-beach, #tacosurf, #truedreamster