Thursday Thoughts ~ July 31, 2025

Happy August Eve! Can you believe July is just about over? Knock wood, the summer temps have been mild so far, but it looks like heat is on the way according to my phones’ weather app. But Mother Nature doesn’t watch the Weather Channel, so, really, anything can happen! Who could have predicted an 8.8 Russian quake that resulted in volcanic activity and a tsunami??

I had a lovely birthday last Friday. We started at The Hilbert Museum in Orange (CA). The last time we’d been there, it was housed on the campus of Chapman University. It’s since moved across the street to two connected buildings of their own and it is a beautiful space, wide open in some areas and intimate in others. And it’s free, with advance reservations. Here are some of the highlights.

This painting brought to mind The Grapes of Wrath. Turned out the artist, Emil Kosa, worked for the 20th Century Fox studios in the 30’s, when The Grapes of Wrath was filmed.

I was fascinated with this portrait of Edith Head, the famed costume designer. I remember her appearances on talk shows in the 60s and 70s, where she was the epitome of confidence and strength. This portrait, done just before her success with All About Eve, I thought showed her as a little uncertain and not yet grown into her ultimate cool.

Another Kosa.

Beach scenes, various artists

John Kosta, art inspired by the Los Angeles rivers.

Miscellaneous art

I really loved the balance and color in this one. The picture doesn’t do it justice.

We got really silly with our reflections 🙂 There are four more like this!

Note the missing cookie!

The entrance between the buildings.

Then we had lunch at my fave Italian restaurant, Graziano’s in Yorba Linda. A little family run place, it is totally yummy! I usually get the baked ziti with ricotta and mozzarella ~ that makes two meals for me and the leftovers are just as good as fresh! This week I was a little goofy with pictures ~ totally forgot to photograph it, so here’s a pic from The Mom’s birthday memorial lunch last year. ❤

I used to have brand loyalty, but lately my attitude has changed. Sometimes I’ve stuck with certain stores because we’ve liked the employees. There’s a lot to be said for being a Cheers-style regular, where you’re comfortable because you know where everything is and you have rapport with the cashiers. But the prices at our former grocery store were rising steadily and 9 times out of 10, there wasn’t a bagger. Sorry, if I’m paying such high prices, it’s not too much to ask that we get full service… While I handled the money end, The Husband packed our bags. He’d get so anxious and frazzled, it just wasn’t worth it. I complained to the company several times, but I didn’t even get an automated email reply. Bye bye, then. It took us a while to walk the aisles of our new store with confidence but it’s cheaper and even if there isn’t a bagger, the cashiers are happy to bag.

Yesterday, I signed with a new auto insurance company. I’d been with my old company since I started driving way back in 1974! When The Mom and I moved out here in ’77, we’d pay our bill at a kiosk in Sears where we met our agent, Alan Cunningham, who I continued to work with until his retirement about 10 years ago. Since then, it was too easy to just accept our rates going up every year but, with just the one vehicle now, they raised the price even more… So, I’d gotten a flyer from AARP, got an estimate from their preferred carrier, and they turned out to be almost $400 cheaper. So, bye bye again. And next week, I plan to jettison my mobile phone carrier for Consumer Cellular, to save around $30 a month. Every penny counts. We have to get The Husband a new phone first, though. He wants a flip phone… He’s had an Android for years ~ oy, don’t get me started! ~ that he could never master. He’s not a techie… I’m only somewhat comfortable with tech because I used it in my day job for decades. While I was using computers, he was playing banjo and acting in melodrama’s, which are skills I never mastered! 😊

So, are you making any changes for the sake of cost or customer service? Tell us in the comments.

We had some things to do near Buena Park this week, so we stopped into Knott’s while in the area to see illusionist Brad Ross. It was a fun show with dancers, upbeat music, and some really good magic. I’ve given up trying to figure out how some tricks are done ~ it’s more enjoyable that way! Here are a few pics:

Writing

Still a little in the writing doldrums but I worked on some blurbs and newsletter posts this week.

I did go to the Sisters in Crime Orange County meeting last Sunday, though, to see D.P. Lyle and Cristina LePort talk about romance in crime stories. It was an interesting afternoon hearing about their different approaches to writing. They both write crime books ~ D.P. has several series ~ the one I’ve read, the Jake Longly mysteries, is very funny and sexy ~ and Cristina writes high stakes medical thrillers. I used to belong to the national Sisters in Crime group but I’m thinking about joining again, so I can be a part of the Orange County group. They were very welcoming. Being a shy introvert, I jetted straight out after the meeting, but they seem like a group I could get comfortable with… eventually. ❤

Reading

A couple of good books this week, in paperback. I was reading one ebook, then started another that I didn’t particularly like, so I’m back to the original one ~ LOL.

First, I read Christa Comes Out of Her Shell by Abbi Waxman.  What a ride! Right out of the gate, Christa, a scientist contentedly studying snails on a West African island, is called home to southern California when her very famous father, missing for 25 years and presumed dead, suddenly reappears. Facts, secrets, and fears are revealed like the proverbial layered onion, with whiplash effect. So Much Stuff going on! When Christa gets home, she needs to deal with her mom and sisters, who she feels aren’t her biggest supporters, an old (hot) family friend, a father she doesn’t remember (she was two when he vanished), and an agent who wants to monetize their chaotic situation. I loved Christa and could relate to her desire to stay in her comfort zone. Written in first person, you really get to see her complicated and beautiful brain work out her issues, both current and from years ago. I didn’t really want to see it end. Lots of strong women in this one!

The other book I read also had a few strong women. Six Feet Deep Dish by Mindy Quigley is the first in a series about Delilah O’Leary and her pizza restaurant crew in small town Wisconsin. Delilah is opening her dream restaurant but on the night of the soft opening, the caretaker of her beloved Auntie Biz is found lying dead at the unconscious Biz’s feet, shot with Biz’s own gun. This, added to the possible break up of her relationship with Sam, the gazillionaire boyfriend who funded the restaurant, sends Delilah into amateur detective territory. Calvin Capone, great-grandson of THAT Capone, and the detective on the case, is smart, hunky and family oriented. I liked Delilah because she’s a candy coated no-nonsense, straight shooter who also has a squishy center. She, Biz, and her long-time friend and sous chef, Sonja, are strong women who form the core of a splendid group of regulars. I’m eager to read more in this very well plotted series.

Streaming/Watching

The one new thing I watched this week was Find Me Falling on Netflix. Harry Connick Jr.’s musician character, John Allman, is in Cyprus, licking his wounds from a failed album. He picks a small house on a cliff as his hideout but soon finds out that that location is a prime suicide spot that’s woven throughout the plot. The truth about why he’s in Cyprus slowly becomes clear when he runs into a woman he had a love affair with years ago, before his rock star career took off. Since then, he’s been touring the world, until he needs to come to terms with his own success and failures. Some of the story is pretty standard fare for a rom-com but some things were surprising, not falling into the stereotypical “woman swoons and follows rock star into his world” category, which I liked. Lots of quirky characters, twists here and there, and a generally pleasant hour and a half of beautiful scenery and heart-felt story.

Till next Thursday!

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