Monday was Burlingame Day.  I remember the very first day I arrived there in 1966, I thought this sign was very tacky.  Then I came to understand that similar signs are traditional in many small California towns.

Did a lot of walking around familiar streets where I once pushed strollers.  I actually remembered this eucalyptus tree trunk in front of the Rec Center where K and E took ballet lessons from Miss Monica, and, over the years, I took everything from water color to what used to be called “aerobics” and, ultimately, yoga.

This time, I was there to walk Roxie through Washington Park before meeting Jenny at the book store and walking around the corner to Il Forniao for lunch.  All the old shops on The Avenue are gone.  Where Agatha’s Tea Room used to be, there is a Walgreen’s.  A drugstore that used to deliver when you had a sick child is now a Baby Gap.  A once-upon-a-time Woolworth’s is a Pottery Barn.  And where Levy’ Bros. was, well, it’s just too painful to mention.  Everything is majorly up-scale.  I was able to find Copenhagen for a late-afternoon-wake-me-up coffee with Carol. Then on to meet Katherine and the T’s, my dear old neighbors from Newhall Road days, at our favorite Celia’s for some Tex-Mex.  Cheryl, who is a little puffy with her steroids, couldn’t eat much because of a scheduled CAT scan the next day.  I think she looks pretty spiffy in her blond wig.