Kaboom!

This 4th of July was quiet and uneventful. I got up at 5:15 a.m. to hike with my friend Linda, which we do every day. It's so nice living in the foothills right next to a neighbor who is also a hiking fanatic!

Well, anyway, our baby is still too small to appreciate fireworks or any other type of 4th of July celebration, so I just made a small dinner for us and DH and I watched the fireworks display that was going on nearby. We had two very nervous and upset dogs with us--Chacha (who has still not recovered)and Chloe, Linda's dog, who came to us looking for comfort and companionship while all the scary fireworks were going off!

I'm ashamed to admit that we didn't have our usual holiday discussion about the true meaning of why we're celebrating, etc. We didn't talk about Betsey Ross, the Founding Fathers or any of those people. Well, next year we'll pick up where we left off. At least I managed to make a strawberry shortcake. (LOL)

One day when Little Charles is old enough I suppose he'll want to go to the Monster Truck/Fireworks show that they put on every year at the LA County Fairgrounds. It's called Kaboom! and it's very popular with little boys. But that's still some time far off in the future!

I used to live close to the Fairgrounds and would watch the fireworks display every year. It was loud. It sure lived up to its name!

Best Wishes,


Jen

Australian Plants

This Thursday I drove with my mother, who has a truck, to a plant nursery in Ventura that specializes in Australian Plants. Visit the nursery on the web at www.australianplants.com. The plants are very beautiful and unusual--almost otherworldly. They are also drought-tolerant which is very important in Southern California, where there is a constant water shortage.

I can hardly wait to get this yard landscaped! Time is of the essence, as our lot is large and on an Alpine-gradient slope. We need to get it planted before our meager rainy season washes all our topsoil downhill!

Best Wishes,

Jen

Happy Father's Day

We had a really nice Father's Day. Little Charles and I stopped by a local florists and got a small terrarium of plants for DH. Well, actually I'm the one who purchased this terrarium, but I told Little Charles that it was for Daddy, from both of us. He just looked at me. At 16 mos. he's too young to understand the concept of Father's Day!

I'm happy to have such a nice family, and that DH gives us a reason to celebrate Father's Day.

Best Wishes,

Jen

Interior Decorating

Our little family just moved to a nice little house. Not everything is unpacked yet, but we're already trying to decorate and make it look nice. Nice and beautiful, yet unpretentious, as nothing is worse than expensive bad taste! This hooked geometric rug is from the early 20th century and we think it's just perfect. Well, if you look really closely, it's not too perfect--it's handmade, as opposed to machine-made and shows some signs of wear. But things that are too perfect kind of lose their charm!

Best Wishes,

Jen

LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus in Custody

LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus is in custody for beating, shooting, and biting a love rival to death in 1986. She is accused of killing Sherri Rae Rasmussen, her ex-boyfriend's wife, in 1986, when Lazarus had been on the police force for two years.

Lazarus was arrested last week after her DNA was found in saliva from the bite marks on Ms. Rasmussen, a beautiful and accomplished nurse who had just married Detective Lazarus' former boyfriend, John Ruetten.

Shortly before the murder, Detective Lazarus had apparently shown up at Ms. Rasmussen's place of work and told her, "If I can't have John, nobody can," according to a lawyer for the victim's family.

Lazarus had also gotten into Ms. Rasmussen's condo and confronted Rasmussen who ordered her to leave.

Ms. Rasmussen was 6 feet tall and athletic, and thought she could handle the situation.

After the murder, Rasmussen's father told authorities to look into her husband's former girlfriend in the LAPD, his concerns were dismissed. He was even told that he was "watching too much TV."

Ms. Rasmussen's husband, when asked about Lazarus, described her as an acquaintance. This strikes a false note--I'm sure he had some vague idea that his ex-girlfriend had been harassing his new wife, and might be good for the murder.

The detectives who investigated the murder didn't consider Lazarus a suspect, for whatever reasons. I hope these were good reasons...

The murder was classified as a robbery gone somehow awry. However, the only thing missing from the condo was the Ms. Rasmussen's marriage license. This seems to me like the type of symbolic theft that a jealous woman would commit. I wonder wat Lazarus did with the marriage certificate. The victim's car was also missing, but was found nearby with the keys in it, an obvious red herring.

After the murder Detective Lazarus spent decades establishing her career within the LAPD as an expert in cases involving art forgeries. She married a man who knew nothing of the killing, much less his wife's involvement in it. The couple adopted a young daughter, who will now, presumably, grow up without her mother's presence.

I was deeply stunned to read about this case. It's not only that the guilty party (she's only a "suspect" under the law--as private people we are free to refer to her as guilty) was a police officer, though this is especially shocking to me. It's that she murdered someone, and will face the eternal and earthly consequences of having done so, and for what? For a man who probably never gave her a second thought? Was it worth it? Most resoundingly not.

Best Wishes,


Jen

p.s. It never hurts to be wary of one's husband's ex-girlfriends. You think they forget and move on with their lives, but that's not always the case. Most murders committed by women (according to a cop client of mine) are over so-called "love triangles."

Born to be Wild!

Isn't this picture cute?!! It was taken at the Target Photo Studio in Van Nuys this past weekend. Photos are really precious and meaningful. Even a homeless person I'd met had a few photos carefully tucked away in his pocket. If you randomly asked people what they'd grab if they had to leave their homes in an emergency, most would mention their photo albums. I hope to have lots of nice photo albums documenting Little Charles' life. :)

Best Wishes,

Jen

Memorial Day at Disneyland

This past Monday was Memorial Day. Our family observed this holiday by solemnly talking about the U.S. men and women who died while in military service. We also called a friend of ours who is a Vietnam Veteran--though Agent Orange has severely disabled him he, too, is proud to be an American, and is proud to have served his country. It is this country's shame how returning veterans have been treated--DH and I wish we could do more for them.

Also, my mother and I took Little Charles to Disneyland, along with his babysitter, Reyna. He loved it! The Haunted Mansion was a little scary for him though--I didn't think he'd mind, as he'd loved the Pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe next time we'll just stick to Small World and the merry-go-round. We took lots of pictures and had a silhouette made of his profile--there's a little shop on Main Street (the main drag inside of Disneyland) where you can sit and an artist cuts out a silhouette of your profile. I don't think our silhouette looks much like Little Charles, but I suppose it's the thought that counts! LOL

Best Wishes,

Jen