Some Recent Images of My Granddaughters

Samina running through a pile of leaves...

Jewel running through a pile of leaves...

Mila, Valentina and Ryanne showing off their brand new ponchos at Olvera Street...

Alia, the youngest...

And her sisters Cassie and Zaylah...

58 / 40

Had a birthday on October 15. Celebrated my wedding anniversary October 16. The celebrations began early, and continue:

My colleagues at the Mexican Cultural Institute threw me a "surprise" birthday party last Friday. Actually, getting me down to the location wasn't working out, so one of the planners sent me a text early that morning to let me know so that I would show up and not spoil the fun. I did show up, put on my surprise face, and it was fun.

Here's a photo of granddaughters Ryanne, Valentina, Mila and Jewel celebrating.

The next day, on my actual birthday, my daughter Ana and son Michael brought their families over to our home and we had leftovers from the night before: enchiladas, arroz, frijoles, salad and cake from Las Anitas at Olvera Street, plus another cake and some great wine. Here's a photo of the cake Samina made, topped by a Lego figures sent to me by my son Cristofer, who is currently stationed in Iraq:

The next day, the 16, Linda and I celebrated our anniversary by driving out to the desert. Our first stop, the Integratron. Please click on the link. Hard to explain. But we did the Sound Bath thing, and it was marvelously crazy and fun. Here are a couple of pics:

We drove down to Palm Springs, our traditional anniversary getaway, and spent the night at Los Arboles Hotel, a refurbished hotel on the north end of the city. Great location, relaxed atmosphere and a nice restaurant - El Marisol - on the property. Sorry, no photos.

On Tuesday, Lalo Alcaraz came down to the MCI to take down his exhibit: Lalo Alcaraz Heritage Month: 500 Years of Art/Comics/Satire. He gifted me with a painting and T-shirt depicting his homage to Steve Jobs. You can see them on the table in the foreground of this photo (that's Lalo on the cellphone):

Today, my in-laws, Lou and Kenny, took Linda, Samina and I to the Original Fish Company in Los Alamitos. Actually, it was pay-off for when we took care of their cat Sam and dog Suzi during some time they drove down to Las Vegas, but they saluted my birthday and our anniversary while we were there. Pictured, the remains of the free dessert:

Also, we used a gift certificate we got from Ana at Octopus in downtown L.A. We also have a gift card for the Cheesecake Factory we got from somebody. And Ana's boyfriend Cris and his family are treating us to dinner tomorrow.

Not a bad haul, not at all.

¡Gracias!

A warm day, a new blog, let's hope it lasts

I've tried blogging before and it just doesn't seem to stick. More to the point, I don't stick with it. So I am trying again. But just so you know that I've made an effort, you can look at my previous blogs. Just click on the links:

Blog de El Editor de LatinoLA
Atypical Latino Grandfather
Downtown Lalo

Each one corresponds to one facet of my life. Yes, I am El Editor de LatinoLA.com. Yes, I am an atypical Latino grandfather, at least I like to think so. And I do live in downtown Los Angeles and my nickname is Lalo.

I am hoping that this blog is more reflective of the complexities of my being, the multiple circumstances I find myself in, the wide range of interests I dabble in and with, and the many interesting people I interact with on a daily basis. In other words, I have a whole lot going on, so I figured there should be one place to fit it all in.

So if you are here, now, come on back soon. I will do my best to write, post, link, stream, and/or publish frequently, regularly, consistently. Or maybe not. We'll see.

With that, here's a photo I took just this afternoon of my eldest granddaughter, Samina, who is 14 and currently living with my wife Linda and I in downtown L.A.:

She was decorating a sugar skull at the Los Angeles Central Library, where Linda works. It's almost Día de los Muertos, and it seems like all of L.A. is getting ready for it.

Here's a link to a review I read in the L.A. Times about the group Calle 13. I have one their songs, Atrevete y te, on my iTunes somewhere and I really like it.

And here's Photoshopped image given to me for at a surprise party the day before my October 15 birthday:

¡Qué viva la revolución!

Y hasta la proxima.