I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been so busy moving to an apartment in Los Angeles. I only have a few days before I leave for Paris to start the French film, “…Et Si On Vivait Tous Ensemble” (“..and if we all lived together”). And only a week after I get there before I begin shooting. Whew! I feel betwix’t and between….not really out of Atlanta, not really here…like I’m in a dream. I like my new digs. Very small but it’ll do. Careful shopping at The Container in Atlanta and Bed Bath and Beyond out here have enabled me to put lots of stuff into small places. Much of the furniture I am surrounded by here are pieces I had at my home in Santa Monica 20 years ago, then they moved to the penthouse I shared with Ted on the top of the CNN center in Atlanta then they moved to my office, then to storage. They’ve been waiting for a nice new home.

I have a high up view onto the Hollywood Hills to the north. It’s Peaceful and looks a little like the coastal hills of Portofino.

 On another note, a pair of Mallard ducks have take up residence in Richard’s pool. Richard doesn’t know about ducks and thought the showy one with shiny green neck with white stripe was the female. Wrong: in the bird world, it’s the males who have bright plumage, not the females who are sort of earthen colors better to be camouflaged while they sit on their eggs. They wouldn’t want to attract attention/danger from predators. Maybe the couple will have a brood/gaggle/flock…not sure what the right word is for a Duck family. I bet one of you tells me. At my friend’s Paula’s pool, I once saw a mama duck with 7 ducklings. Very cool. 

In fact, Paula’s about to arrive with her daughter, Hannah, my goddaughter, to see the apartment and go to dinner. Troy and Simone are supposed to come too but I haven’t heard from them. Rats!! Zzzzzxxx

Art Linson, June Newton, Fiona Linson, me, Richard, Bob Evans, Nikki Haskell, Eva Chow

Art Linson, June Newton, Fiona Linson, me, Richard, Bob Evans, Nikki Haskell, Eva Chow

with Richard

I only just got the photos from the Valentine’s Day party thrown at the Chateau Marmont by June Newton, the lively, brave widow of Helmut Newton. Many of her long-time friends were there. Some are also old friends of mine. Bob Shaye was there but only for cocktails so he wasn’t in the photos of our table. Irving Blum was there who had one of the great galleries of modern American art (he’s retired now) and was close friends with Dennis Hopper, Brooke Hayward and me. I hadn’t seen him in ages. Author Scott Berg was there. I got to know him when he wrote the fine authorized biography of Katharine Hepburn and we compared notes.

Bob Evans complimented me on my new, short haircut and I said, “Thanks. I just had some ‘work’ done on my chin and neck and had the bags taken away from under my eyes so I decided it would be good to get a new hair cut so people will think it’s my new hair.” He thought that was so funny he actually toasted me for doing what he said he’d never heard anyone do before: admit they’d had work done. I was planning on blogging about it anyway so who cares? I’m writing a book about aging so I couldn’t very well NOT talk about it. It’s been 2 weeks. I was in front of the camera all day yesterday and was photographed at Eve Ensler’s luncheon 9 days after the procedure so, obviously, it went well. I swore in 2000 I’d never have anything done again but this year I got tired of not looking like how I feel and I wanted a more refined chin line like I used to have so I changed my mind. I’m still a little swollen but not much and what pleases me is that I won’t looked pulled or weird…or tired all the time. And my crows feet are still alive and well. I wish I’d been brave enough to not do anything but, instead, I chose to be a somewhat more glamorous grandma.

So there.

See you next time.

Woke up with a cold. All those people coughing on the plane. Slept with the grandkids. Hope I didn’t give it to them. I was supposed to go to my stepchildren’s home for dinner tonight. By that I mean Laura Turner and Rutherford Seydel and two of their three children. I still feel we are part of the same family. Their son, whose birth I filmed, is a major hockey goalie and so went to finish high school in Toronto where hockey rules. I’m so proud of him. He is an amazing human being.

I just took this picture shooting up into the overhead mirror while lying in bed. That is my granddaughter scratching Tulea’s tummy. Sometime I’ll photograph the bed and post it. I’m a fool for unusual beds and this is definitely the most unusual, one of a kind, canopied, mirrored one I’ve ever seen. Richard hasn’t seen it either. My bed at my ranch is pretty unusual as well. (Come to think of it, I have a picture of that one and will post it now). The problem is I got them when I was solo and they’re antique so not very big. If Richard and I are still together in a year I’ve promised to get a king-sized one as he’s 6’3.”

Shucks. I erased the photo of my ranch bed so I’m sending this one, a bed that is outside on the portale. My favorite napping place (and sometimes overnight place) cause I can hear the river close by and see the stars.

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The fight in the House is over, but the fight in the Senate is just beginning. It’s time to use our strongest weapon: the White House.

Join us. Ask President Obama to live up to his campaign commitment and stand with us to protect women’s health care today and every single day until reform is passed.

Click here for more information and to contact President Obama

Dear Jane,

Yesterday was brutal.

While there are some who are satisfied with the health care reform bill that passed in the House of Representatives late Saturday night, I am not one of them.

When it came down to it, Congress passed a bill that will undercut women’s access to comprehensive health care. Despite hundreds of thousands of voters like you and me who called on members of Congress to include women’s health care in health care reform, the bill that passed Saturday night includes a ban on private abortion coverage for millions of women and would prohibit it in the new “public option.”

At Planned Parenthood, we fought together with you until the bitter end (thank you), and once we lost the vote on women’s health, we started to do what we do best — gear up for our next fight.

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

Opponents of legal abortion and health care for women are emboldened by Saturday night’s vote and ready to bring their ban on abortion to the Senate floor. But now it’s our turn. And this time we are going to use our strongest weapon: the White House.

That’s why, today, we are calling on President Obama
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp
to ensure that lawmakers, especially those in his own party, support health care reform that protects women’s access to reproductive care as the next round of debate and voting occurs in the Senate.

Please, join us by asking our president to stand with us to protect women’s health care today and every single day until reform is passed.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan. Supporters of women’s health voted for him and contributed to his campaign in record numbers — and now it’s time for the president to reaffirm his commitment to women’s health, and demand that Congress reject any bill that leaves women worse off under health care reform than they are today. Take a moment right now to tell President Obama that we need him to stand with us — in both his words and in his actions.
http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp

If there’s anything we learned yesterday, it’s that women’s health is being targeted as expendable in health care reform. We also saw that anti-choice forces are working round-the-clock to roll back women’s health benefits. We will each need to take action many times over the next few weeks, and we need strong and public support from the White House to help us.

I’ve said this before, and it deserves repeating: without access to abortion care, and to comprehensive reproductive health care, there is no choice. Please, take action now http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/hcr09bse_afw?qp_source=hcr09bse_afhp
 — and then spread the word on Facebook, among your friends and colleagues, via e-mail — whatever it takes.

Thank you so very much for standing with us and the women, men, and teens who rely on Planned Parenthood.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards, President
Planned Parenthood Federation of America