My cute cat...

Last night we had the family over for a pizza "farewell" dinner, since the parents are leaving for Colombia later this week. After dinner Bill put on a nature documentary that was very cool and we all enjoyed, including Spotsie. She perked up when the snow leopard came on screen and was eager to watch, so rather than have her block our view we parked her on the stool and she watched that entire segment of the video!

Museum: Getty Villa

Yesterday we visited the Getty Villa with Shawn and Dawnita:

It was a beautiful experience to walk through the gardens, around the fountains with the fog rolling in from the ocean (the museum is located on a hill above the Malibu coastline).

As far as the works from antiquity... here are a few of my favorites (please excuse the poor quality of photography! "No flash photography.")

Polyhymnia: one of nine Muses, she was the Muse of mime - meant to inspire the poets and philosophers, but probably worshiped as a goddess. Roman A.D. 200.

Spouted Horn with a Stag - I love the intricate detail on this silver horn. It dates back to Parthian 50 B.C. - 50 A.D.

Griffen head: used by the Greeks as a guardian of valuable things, 650 B.C. (the Harry Potter books have quite a bit of Griffen imagery woven into the story - symbolic of the good guys and loyalty.)

As a math teacher I've used dice a lot in lessons to discuss probability etc. It was fun to see such an ancient pair of dice!

Note: to see an image closer up (larger) just click (or double-click) on it.

Before & After

Here's the official before and after pictures from our roommate reunion at the end of last summer:

Birthday Party Pictures

A couple of months ago we had a birthday party for my mum :) - I just discovered that Dad had pictures in his camera and so now you get to enjoy the festivities too! We had our L.A. family and a friend from Scotland/NZ, Wilma, at the party (unfortunately her husband, Stan, was sick in bed!).