In California

Annamaria on Monday The only proof I have that Stan Trollip and I were on the same panel I arrived home on the redeye yesterday morning after a delightful time in San Diego and Los Angeles.  I carried home a bunch of laundry and a list of items for my to-do list and found awaiting me a huge pile of mail and a packed inbox with requests that I had promised to fulfill by today (Sunday).  So here is a mostly visual account of the past week, since the end of Bouchercon.   MIE regulars will have seen this several times by now, but I never tire of it. What a gift to be  greeted by this crew after a somewhat harrowing arrival.  What a team to belong to!! Detail of the San Diego train station where I headed after the conference and where I expected to spend about 45 minutes. Due to delays, the train to LA was about  five hours late. The reward for patiently waiting - I got to see the  sunset over the Pacific.  One of my best ever!! My life-long friend Kate took me to the  Getty Villa, the whole place is an homage  to Ancient Greek and Roman culture. In person, this piece of gold is tiny.  Smaller than it shows on my computer. Click on this to make it readable, to find out what the gold  fragment is.  And to read what it says about a trip to the underworld.  Beautiful. The museum it full of gorgeous  ancient artifacts... ...and is, itself, a replica of an ancient villa. A recent acquisition: a small ancient horse and rider from Albania. A bust of Marcus Aurelia sculpted from a singe sheet of gold. Ancient glass never ceases to amaze me. This lovely relic has been repaired, but it is over 3000 years old, and it survived in this condition.  We hurtled through the art centuries when we next visited the Broad Museum. My favorites were sculptures by an African artist made from pieces of  discarded drinks cans. I wrote down his name and, typically, lost the paper. I am hoping Stan can identify the artist. Roy Liechtenstein! My friend and hostess, Kate. We have drunk a lot of wine together over the years, but this was the first time that I saw her under the table!