The road trip I posted here last week took us to Fran (AKA fishducky) and her husband Bud's house in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.
Fran and Bud's house.
When I saw Fran about a year ago, I told her about my blog. She began to read it and leave comments every day. Then she branched out and started to read several other blogs and leave comments on them. Soon something marvelous happened: Fran's comments were so special, so right on target, so frequently humorous, that she began to get a following just from leaving comments. People were begging her to start a blog of her own, but Fran didn't want that kind of blogger interaction, she was happy leaving comments. So a compromise was made and Fran is now writing stories of her life that are published on her friend Elisa's blog every Friday. Fran has lived an incredible life, she has both wisdom and a fabulous sense of humor, and so many crazy fun stories to tell, so if you have a minute on a Friday, stop by Elisa's blog and visit with fishducky.
Fran's got a thing for speed, so this is Fran's car. Did I mention how old she is? Those of you who read her Ode to Being 73 know she's at least that old.
Did you know that Fran is an artist who has worked in many different media throughout her life? Stained glass, oil, pen and ink, and some whimsical motifs, like the mirror we have in our home. And, of course, her signature ducky.
My husband built an elevator shaft for Fran and Bud and Fran had the brilliant idea to move her gorgeous stained glass window from another house to the hallway here.
Imagine being greeted by this window as you step out of your elevator into your hallway.
A closeup of the window that Fran made. If you look closely, you will see a little worm or snail climbing up a flower stem. Fran is not one who takes herself too seriously.
But she is a serious artist and this painting is one of my favorites. It speaks for itself.
Last time I was at her home, I admired her pen and ink drawings of Victorian houses. So what does she do? Of course she sends me a set of professionally made prints of them. She gave me so many because that's another thing about Fran, she is a very generous, kind, and thoughtful human being. I will share more of these, but for right now I'm sharing my three favorites.
Look at the details in these drawings!
This is the simplest, least adorned, of all the houses and my favorite. Oh, to live in a house like this!
Fran sent me many photos of her paintings, but in a pdf format that I can't upload to my blog. I tried copying too, without success. So I will work with Fran on getting them in an acceptable upload format and display them in a later post.
I blogged about Fran's home, her art, and how the elevator came to be a much needed reality for Bud and Fran here last March.
Several years ago, Fran had a great idea: She would make mirrors for her friends and family, using miniatures to represent what was important in each family's life. She asked my husband to make the frames, which he did, and, lucky us, we got a mirror too. As you can see, ours shows that we like friends, cooking, baseball, sailing, dogs, and so on. The mirror is such a special work of art that we love and treasure.
My husband and I had a great time visiting with Fran and Bud. They took us out for lunch to Junior's Deli, one of those wonderful, old-fashioned, delis you have to live in a city to find. While Beverly Hills has Nate 'n Al Delicatessen, the famous deli where you can find an assortment of comics, movie stars and tourists; West Los Angeles, for as long as I can remember, always had Junior's. And that's a good thing.
Thank you Bud and Fran for a lovely lunch and a nice visit.
