California Here We Are

I'm now in LA.

But first some photos from where I was staying before, in Michigan. We drove over to Chicago and visited the Chicago Institute of Art.


This is someone who should be in the Chicago Institute of Art; Ariella Phillips. She has just turned 16.


Ariella Phillips is daughter of Ron (on the left). Ron Phillips is an old friend of Dad's. They go way back to dad's rebellious days at Moody Bible Institute.

This is Ron's wife Carol and their other child, David. Well, he's not really a child, he's thirteen and he likes the Chilli Peppers. "Hey Yo" is a cool song.


I had a great time in Michigan.

Where I am staying in LA. Despite appearences, this is not a hotel, but the guest room of my cousins's place.


At Thanksgiving. A first for me. All Autumnally decorated.

We ate the traditional green been casserole, mashed potato, yam and of course, turkey. Kind of like a second Christmas, really.


Yesterday was a chockers day. The highlight was the morning, when I had the privledge of meeting Joni Erikson Tada and her husband Ken Tada. Greg Wood, my dad's cousin, is on the board of the organisation she runs.


I was a bit apprehensive about meeting Joni; anxious about what to talk about, what would be the appropriate thing to say. But I had nothing to be anxious about. Joni is a warm, kind person who is also a great conversationalist. Not only that, but she has great intellect, and conversed with me about Christianity and Philosophy.

She was genuinely interested in my life, my family and what I wanted to do in the future. And she offered gentle encourgment. She was humble enough to show me some of her artwork in her bedroom, and she gave my cousins and I each a copy of her new book and her Christmas album. Just before we left, Ken prayed for me, which was a lovely thing to do.

Afterwards, we drove up to the Griffith observatory. The view:


For dinner, we ate at a Forrest Gump themed restaurant in Universal City. Naturally, we had shrimp. Afterwards, we watched Casino Royale at Universal Studios, which was actually very good. Darker than the other Bond movies, and Bond is less suave and more macho.


This is Nathan Wood, my cousin, in Bubba Gump restaurant. Nathan looks like a Luke-Seth hybrid, and he also reminds me of JOB Bluth, but only in a good way.