Beautiful downtown Burbank

Okay, maybe not downtown, but definitely Burbank, and definitely beautiful.

To pick up my spirits after grappling with the personal drama of the last few days, I decided to go for a walk. I just did a 30 minute loop, but it was exactly what my mind and body needed, and I accomplished the small goal I'd set for myself in finding a little neighborhood park called "Mountain View Park," aptly named for its view of the mountains, and located not far from the mammoth- sized Griffith Park.

I am so pasty white, I glow.

So many options for landscaping here: cacti, or...

Lemon trees!

Thus far I have gotten myself and Spaz pretty well settled in, though I am still looking for a desk. I think I will be buying one used from - get this - a former student of mine, and one of the best writers I know, who has been here for a couple years but has decided to go to grad school back East. Cosi fan tutti.

Shopping has been interesting here. I now have a Ralph's card (grocery store) and a Petco card. I've shopped at Fresh and Easy, which is an all-natural, British-owned grocery store whose name sounds like it should be on a box of maxi pads. I've also hit Target, of course, in which I had my first (probably of many) experience to be mistaken for a Latina. An older lady started speaking Spanish to me, and I wasn't really paying attention at first. Then she smiled and asked me in Spanish if I spoke Spanish, at which point I smiled and said no. Then she asked me with Spanglish and gestures if I could help her get a bottle of shampoo that was high and back on the shelf (she was rather short). So I did, and she was all "thank you thank you thank you." Note to self: I gotta learn Spanish, because it is ev-ery-where.