February 2026

Clockwise from upper left:
• Tree outside social hall at Saint Mary's Mariposa
• Wall collage at California African American Museum
• Cherry Blossoms
• Purist Still Life by Roy Lichtenstein at The Broad

• Black History Month

• Tuesday 3rd California African American Museum • This is the DC-8 outside.

• Tuesday 10th Armand Hammer Museum • The bookstore!

• Saturday 14th • Valentines Day

• Sunday 22nd • Pink Trumpet Trees

• Tuesday 24th • The Broad Museum

• Friday 27th • Cherry Blossoms

The Broad

• The Broad website. Full of information!

Across the street from MOCA and across a different street from Disney Hall Where LA Phil Plays, The Broad offers well-known approximately mid-century conceived and born in the USA art. I also learned about and enjoyed some less familiar (translation: previously unknown to me) paintings, and I discovered Japanese artist Takashi Murakami whose work I might have seen had my life not had such a long ellipsis. Or maybe not. That remains in the grace-filled "I'll never know" category.

I'm blogging some of my favorites.

Ed Ruscha

• Angry Because It's Plaster Not Milk, 1965
• Psycho Spaghetti Western #5, 2010
• Heavy Industry, 1962
• Bloated Empire, 1996-1997

Roy Lichtenstein

• Female Figure, 1979
• Purist Still Life, 1976
• Perfect Painting, 1986
• Imperfect Painting, 1986
• Non-Objective I, 1964

Robert Rauschenberg

• Untitled, 1965

Jasper Johns

• Flag, 1967

The series has become sufficiently famous to qualify as iconic, and this isn't my favorite pair of soup cans by Andy Warhol, but they're here because of the irresistible titles:

• Small Torn Campbell's Soup Can (Pepper Pot), 1962
• Campbell's Soup Can (Clam Chowder Manhattan Style) [Ferus Type], 1962

Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1960-1988

• Wicker, 1984
• Horn Players, 1983

Takashi Murakami

• Hustle 'N' Punch by Kaikai and Kiki, 2009 (detail)
• Tan Tan Bo A.K.A. Gerotan Scorched by the Blaze in the Purgatory of Knowledge, 2018 (detail)

After my art immersion, I had a mid-afternoon burrito bowl lunch at Chipotle. Of course it was really really good, because I chose the ingredients.

My day off ended with a Hazelnut frappe at the Olympic and Doheny Starbucks in Beverly Hills. I love that Doheny Drive begins and ends in a cul-de-sac. And I love that they made my frappe in an old-fashioned glass glass because I told them I'd be enjoying it in the store.

Five Minute Friday :: Nurture

• Five Minute Friday :: Nurture Linkup

Although our host Kate wrote lovely realities about her nurturing parents, and I can think of many situations and individuals who've helped nurture me, I still had to reflect on the "is it nature or nurture?" question that often pops up when we consider someone's traits and tendencies.

Because… I often tell anyone who's around me, "I'm exactly like my late uncle—everyone's BFF (Best Friend Forever)." Always reaching out. Always for the underdog (the undercat, too). Befriending the bedraggled. Being called a great listener. Hearing yet another person complimenting me on my hospitable presence. Needless to say, not having a shy or reticent bone in my body helps a whole lot.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned to someone I thought my life experiences had mightily contributed to those behaviors: cue long list of not great early influences and experiences, followed by too many struggles to fit in, to make myself heard, to rebuild and reweave. The person replied it still might be mainly nature, something I inherited through that side of the family.

But really? I never knew my uncle well, never spent much time around him or with him. I heard many anecdotes about him from my grandmother (his mother). At the time I considered stories of his rescuing people and rescuing pets, along with his empathy and sympathy simply the way he was. Not to admire or imitate. Plus, a certain subset of the population has that "everyone's BFF" trait or a parallel one.

Then we always can answer, "It's both nurture and nature."

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Five Minute Friday :: Bury

• Five Minute Friday :: Bury Linkup


The pastor I was counseling with in an informal conversational manner said to me, "In Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, you can bury your need to prove yourself." It was that obvious. (I may have blogged how I love "the thrill of the chase," which is related.) But proving what? A batch of dough? What's death, burial, resurrection about anyway? Crucified, dead, and buried. That's Jesus. Or is it also each one of us?

After Mardi Gras and/or Shrove Tuesday, Lent 2026 began on Ash Wednesday—yesterday as I write this. Best guess is a few thousand devotional books have been written to guide one through the forty day long (minus Sundays that are "in but not of Lent.") Preaching and hearing about Jesus post-baptismal temptations in the wilderness on the first Sunday in Lent is a given for churches that follow the lectionary. You know about "giving up" a favorite food or activity, often adding on a service project or something (anything!) that will draw you closer to God and make you a better version of yourself.

But burying my need to prove myself? Burial follows death. Death follows? A serious illness or accident. Maybe old age (Louise was 105!) or simply God's time for you, even if you've been on earth only a few years or a couple of decades. Death follows life, but death of a human body isn't the only kind. I can bury my need to prove myself? That's one aspect of my human body and spirit, but it's not the sum of my life or years.

We're moving toward Good Friday, the day of Jesus' crucifixion and death. You may have heard Holy Saturday described as "the day nothing happens yet everything happens?" And then Easter.

On the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found the stone was rolled away. John 20:1.

I need help here. If something gets buried, it must have died. How can my "need to prove myself" die? Can you tell me? Standard answers include being less of a perfectionist (I'm a moderate one, far from extreme), praying to understand my history of compulsive behaviors, and my excitement whenever I do something well, because excellent performance(!) is a huge part of proving my worth to the world.

What needs to occur before resurrection can happen? Something or someone needs to die. Must be dead. "Dead and buried." That's Jesus, and it's each one of us. Unless something dies it can't be resurrected. What will the resurrected version of my "need to prove myself" look like? I hope to begin spiritual direction soon, probably during Lent. That sounds like a great question to explore.

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Five Minute Friday :: Benediction

• Five Minute Friday :: Benediction Linkup

I love Kate's description of getting her house ready for overnight! Benediction is the prompt this week; we frequently connect that word with the end – or close to the end – of worship. In my tradition, the worship leader or leaders bless the gathered assembly, sometimes after suggesting "receive the benediction" (maybe to wake them up), but the last formal component of Sunday worship is a charge or sending that happens after the benediction, after everyone is fully blessed and prepared to bless.

A benediction conveys well-being: bene=well, good; diction=speak, speech

A benediction is a blessing; for me the word connotes broad and inclusive, like Kate preparing her house for the night. Like the pastor or liturgist blessing the assembly.

A benediction is a channel of grace, of unearned favor, an offer of life as a gift. The taped-on sign outside a now defunct First Church says "Come and Take It" as it pictures bread and cup.

Let's look beyond conventional blessings / benedictions such as food, presence, hugs, sleep, understanding, presents. A benediction is a channel of grace, of unearned favor, an offer of life as a gift.

"The benediction of the neon light" in Jackson Browne's Tender is the Night haunts me. The benediction of the neon light. "Come and take it!"

• Tender is the Night lyrics

Besides sunlight, friends, opportunities, and good food, what benediction do I long to experience? The kitchen at dawn is my first and best and always. It even feels a little like the opposite of Kate's nighttime benediction. In a commonplace book I wrote, "the kitchen at dawn takes you back." Takes me back to where and when? The kitchen at dawn takes you back and encourages you to move forward in hope to begin a full new day. Or maybe this will be a day of prayer, reflection, observation, and surprise. Come and take it!

Blessing God's people needs to be a constant in our lives because God constantly blesses us. Because God blesses us, we can reciprocate! We come and take it and then we bless God by blessing God's people into another chance at life. Speaking and acting well and good to all.

I'll start with the kitchen at dawn. And then?

Starshine • Dawn • Sunshine

• The Call sings to us Let the Day Begin


• Arizona Sunrise on August 23,. 2017 by Joe D on Flickr

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Armand Hammer Museum

This week I went to the Hammer Museum again on my Tuesday day off. Made in LA 2025 still was current, but Five Centuries of Works on Paper had opened since my visit on Tuesday 21 October, so going especially to see it sounded like a good plan.

I started with lunch in Westwood at Sweet Fin. My Chicken Bowl included forbidden rice, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes, jicama, avocado, mango, cabbage, two different creamy dressings… So good with a glass of Guava Lemonade!

My October Hammer blog didn't picture the paintings Alonzo Davis created for the 1984 Summer Olympics. You need to read the Wikipedia article about Davis. He believed, he knew, almost everyone has a heart for art, but his heart was especially in public art because not many often even think of going to a museum or taking an art appreciation class.

Five Centuries of Works on Paper was artfully curated and displayed, but I didn't take any pictures. It deserves another visit before the exhibit ends.

• The bookstore! Picture 1

• The bookstore! Picture 2

• Greenery and succulents. Hammer plants are so special!

• At the end of the day I got a Hazelnut frappe at Boba Time on Olympic Blvd that originally was Tenth / 10th Street. I ordered a regular, but for some reason I got a supersize.