Time's winged chariot

There are three generations of Taylors above!  We were able to get back to Banning today
 and it was great to see Gordon and Annie again.  They have a lovely home and they welcomed us with open arms and we had another terrific visit and a delicious meal of "gusto" and salad with fresh California avocado and great conversation.  Gordon played the piano for us and the music took me right back to one of Mike's and my early dates when we went to the Arts Club to see "Ain't Misbehavin'" -- Gordon performed in the show along with a number of other well loved Vancouver musicians and actors, including Mike's cousin, Lovena.  That's when I met Gordon for the first time - what a wonderful show it was!  Gordon says it is one of his best memories as well.  We walked around their property -- they have fruit trees of all descriptions -- lemons, oranges, pomegranates, apples -- and nut trees.  They live in the mountains and the land is very dry -- they have a huge cactus right at their property line, laden with fruit.  There are so many birds and William was very taken with how many lizards he was able to spot.  This visit is one of the reasons we came to California, so it was fitting that we were able to go back.  Pablo, Annie's little rescued chihuahua, was very nervous when he first met us, but he took quite a liking to Anthony and was able to relax in his bed right next to Anthony on the couch.  He reminded us a bit of our own nervous girl, Daisy, who I hope is thriving in the kennel while we're gone.  It was very hard to leave at the end of our visit, but hopefully, we'll be able to come back sooner than we managed to come our first time.

Before we headed out to Banning, we stopped off in Hollywood at Gaumann's Chinese Theatre, which I think is called something else now.  I wasn't prepared for the effect it had on me.  We saw Burt Lancaster's star on the "Walk of Fame" and of course, I have always loved him and it was so wonderful to see his name and star there and remember his performances in movies like "The Birdman of Alcatraz", which I mentioned here before.  When we went further, there were all the stars' footsteps in the cement.  Apparently, the tradition began when Norma Talmadge (a great actress of the early days of movies) accidentally planted her foot in fresh cement outside the theatre.  There were all sorts of great actors represented there, but not too many who were familiar to the boys.  The first one I spotted was Bette Davis and of course, she's one of my heroes and I felt quite emotional to see her footprints and handprints there.  I took heaps of pictures -- Jack Benny's, Jack Lemmon's, John Barrymore (who put his profile there!), Joe E. Brown (whose lips were memorialized in concrete!), the stars of "West Side Story", and the stars of "Giant" (except for poor James Dean, who had died by the time the movie was released).  It really seemed to express a bit about the elusive nature of fame -- I wonder how many people remember Susan Hayward.  She was a big star in her day, but I wonder if any of my students have heard of her, even the movie buffs.

In conclusion, it was a big day for all of us and we're going to get up early tomorrow and head north to Monterey, on our way home.  We're going to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium which we're heard wonderful things about and then onward north to reach home by July 30.