May
For Memorial Day Weekend, and my Dad's 60th birthday, the whole family went up to Berkeley. I took a picture of my Dad with his grandson Marko. Here's a picture of my brother Ricky and his girlfriend Jean Paik.
June
On June 29, Pam and I went to Old Pasadena and had brunch with my old friends Saul Romo and Larry and Nhung Kim. Here is a picture of all of us.
July
For the Fourth of July, Pam and I went to the mountains with the whole family (minus Melanie who is traveling in France). Magnus and Julie Morgan were there. Here's a great picture of Marlena and Marko, and one of Zoran, Marlena and Marko. Our dog, Sylvy had a great time. My Dad and Larry also enjoyed themselves. I took a picture of the three M's (Mom, Marlena and Marko).
On Sunday, July 6, our friends David Schechter and Lisa Mendel were married. I met Pam while she was talking to Lisa at a party on September 15, 1995. Dave and Lisa had their first date a day later. Must have been a good week.
August
On August 3, we had brunch with my distant cousins George and Lilly Field from New Jersey. Lilly's letter to my uncle about eight years ago got me re-started on my family tree.
From August 8-11, we vacationed at Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierras. Pam, Sylvy and I were all great hikers. On the first day, we hiked from Coldwater Campground at Lake Mary to Arrowhead Lake, but then some bad weather and mosquitos turned us back. A little later we hiked from Lake George to TJ Lake. On the second day, we made a long hike from Agnew Meadows to Shadow Lake, where I did some fishing with Sylvy above the lake. I even caught a few! On the third day, we hiked from Sherwin Campground to Sherwin Lakes. Pam loved this hike the best. I caught a bigger fish there, but it got away before we could take a picture. (I guess you've all heard that one before!) On our last day, we hiked to Mono Craters and to the Earthquake Fault. Pam did most of the drive home.
Seems like lots of babies being born this year. My friend Tullio Ceccherini and his wife Katiuscia just sent me an email from Rome, Italy to announce the birth of their son Giacomo. We also just got a letter from my old friend Lorenz Altenburg, whose wife Sophie just had their second child, Lucas. Lorenz, Sophie, Lucas and Lucie live in Paris, France. Earlier this year, I received a note from my old college R.A. Sam Moskowitz, announcing the birth of his daughter Sarah. Sam, Denise and Sarah live in Seattle, Washington. My friends Mitch and Leslie Stokes also had their second child this past month. I play tennis with Mitch, when we're both not too busy. My Princeton friends, Larry Park and Peter and Geneva de Boor also had babies this year. So, together with my nephew Marko, and his cousin, Maya (born to David Pearlman and Jasna Fejzo in April), that makes eight babies so far in 1997. And our friends David and Judy Chinn are expecting any day now.
On August 16, we went to brunch at the our cousins, the Zeisls (Steve, Betty and Katie) in North Hollywood. John and Gina Bauer came up from Newport Beach with John's father Heinz, who was visiting from Washington, D.C. I took a picture of Heinz and my Mom, who are second cousins. We helped cousin Steve set up his internet account. I'm not sure if he's figured out his email. John recently completed a body building program. Gina sells great nutritional supplements and vitamins from her web page (which also has some great Italian recipes).
On August 23, we went to two parties where we met lots of our friends. First, we went to Lori Sambol's party. Lori is a former housemate of mine, who, along with Lisa Mendel and Emily Breckenridge, lived in my house during law school. Here's a picture of Lori and her boyfriend Richard. I also took a photo of the newlyweds, Dave and Lisa Schechter. And here's a picture of us with Emily Breckenridge.
After Lori's party, we went to a birthday party for Jennifer Colyer, who is a N.Y. associate at Fried, Frank but has spent the past three months working in L.A. (She loves it here, and doesn't yet realize how much she'll miss us when she leaves.) All three Jennifers (Tipsord, Stone and Colyer) were there. So were Don and Kathy Hernandez. Jennifer Stone and Stacy Weinstein seemed to be having a great time. So did Mary Lou Serafine (pictured here with two Jennifers). What a swell bunch of lawyers, don't you think?
September
On September 12, I turned 31. Hardly a big deal this year. 30 was a great year -- I got married and changed jobs -- and it looks like 31 will be even better.
On September 13, Pam and I went to two weddings: In the morning, we went to the wedding of my old roommate Tracy Sims to Stacey Morrison. Tracy lived with me through four years at Pepperdine Law School (where he met Stacey in his first year). Tracy now works for the district attorney, prosecuting criminals in Bellflower. The wedding was at a church in Pasadena, and Pam and I witnessed our first Catholic Mass. In the evening, we went to the wedding of Mitchell Newman and Kim O'Reilly. Mitch is a violinist for the L.A. Philharmonic. I've known Mitch for 8 years, since he started playing the chamber music of my grandfather, Eric Zeisl. Now Mitch and I play tennis together all the time, and lately he's been beating me! With so many friends getting married, Pam and I hardly feel like newlyweds anymore.
On September 20-21 Pam and I attended a weekend for newlyweds a the
Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley.
October
Laurie Traktman came over and went to services
with Pam on the second day of Rosh Hashana. Pam and I attended services
for the first time at Sinai Temple, L.A.'s oldest conservative congregation.
The services were officiated by Rabbi-in-training Elliot Cosgrove, a Harvard
School classmate of my brother Ricky!
After the Jewish New Year, we announced to the world that we are expecting! The baby is due April 24. Click here for an 8 1/2 week ultrasound.
We had our fifth annual Halloween party. Pam, Sylvy and I dressed up as the Great Pumpkin, Snoopy and Linus. Our friends Harald and Ilona Gunther were there. Dave Reynolds and Pam Rosenthal celbrated their engagement by wearing matching costumes. Gene Mueller dressed up as our first lady, Hillary Clinton. Stephen and Karen Seto came as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Other notable costumes included David Boyko as the devil, Ari Amster as Hugh Hefner, Stacy Weinstein as Betty Rubble, Tom Brackey and Catherine Gottlieb as Dodi Fayed and Princess Di (post-crash), and Ed Merkle as Santa Claus.
November
On November 7, we celebrated the opening of Pam's first
big L.A. show at the Los Angeles Center
for Photographic Studies. Lots of our friends
attended the opening, including Ron and Judith
Rosen, Jan Karlin and Jeff von der Schmidt,
Saul Romo and Monica Lamboie, Mitch and
Kim Newman, Mark and Carol Wooster, George Mastras and Hope Toffel, Laurie
Traktman and Ron and Barbara
Schoenberg. Here's a picture of Pam with LACPS director Tania
Martinez-Lemke.
On November 22-23, Pam and I celebrated our first anniversary with a quiet getaway to Palm Springs. I took one, two, three great pictures of Pam on our hike through Palm Canyon. We took one picture of the two of us, which came out so-so. Pam brought her huge camera along to take some real photographs -- but my digital ones came out better!
November 24 was our real anniversary. We went out to dinner with my sister Melanie and my friend Peter Meryash, who was visiting L.A. for the first time in 10 years.
We went to Milwaukee to celebrate Thanksgiving with Pam's grandparents, Joseph and Mildred Rochwerger. Pam's cousin Wendy Melnick is an artist and illustrator. Pam's grandmother Rose Mayers came up from Cincinnati to be with us. Pam's sister, Jennifer Mayers, came up from Atlanta. Pam's parents, Howard and Marlene Mayers, had a great time. Here's a picture of Marlene with her sister Beverly Melnick. Pam and her Mom served pie. Here's a group shot of the entire family.
After Thanksgiving, Pam and I went to Cincinnati for Pam's 10th Walnut
Hills High School Reunion. Pam wouldn't let me take any pictures of her
old friends, so you'll just have to trust me that they were there.
December
Pam found out she received a $9,000 grant from the city of Los Angeles to do her photo project on Vermont Avenue.
I've been traveling for depositions, and used my time in Seattle to
visit with old friend Danny Beim. He's working for a stucco company. I
also looked up my grandmother's old friend, Lisel Salzer. Lisel is 91 years
old, but is still active as an artist. She showed me a recent oil painting
and also demonstrated her famous enamel technique. When I was just five
years old, Lisel painted a portrait of my sister Marlena and me. She has
painted just about every member of my Mother's family. She told me old
stories of my grandmother and her in high school, including their singing
Latin teacher who used songs to remind the class of the rules of Latin
grammar.
