January
Hooray. It's the second year of the diary. My old friend Gregg Shapiro visited us on January 10 and was amazed that I could put his picture on the web so fast.
The big news this month is the engagement of my brother Ricky to Jean Paik! Ricky also got his PhD in Statistics from University of California at Berkeley. He's now applying for jobs so we don't know yet where Rick and Jean will end up.
Our cousin Ruth Gilbert visited us from La Jolla on a trip to the new Getty Center in Brentwood with her husband Stacy Cromidas. Judy's father Peter Gilbert was my grandmother's first cousin. I gave her some old photographs of her family.
February
At the beginning of the month, the Arnold Schoenberg Institute archives
were shipped to Vienna. Here is a picture of my uncle Larry
in the old vault with everything packed up in crates. Leonard
Stein, the director emeritus of the ASI was on hand to witness the
departure of the archives from Los Angeles. So were the archivist
Wayne Shoaf and assistant archivist Dr. Camille Crittenden. The
new director of the Arnold Schönberg
Center in Vienna, Dr. Christian Meyer,
was also on hand.
Pam and I went up to Arrowhead for a
nice weekend, maybe our last getaway before the baby comes in April.
Pam's friend Sara Mann visited us from New York. She designs metal jewelry.
I went skiing with my friends Saul Romo and David Boyko. It snowed all three days and the drive back was hell. I tried snowboarding for the first time and fell about a million times, but enjoyed it.
March
My Mom and her friends gave Pam a shower on March 1 and we received lots of great gifts for the baby.
Pam's parents came to town for the weekend and we had dinner with Pam's aunt Ellen and uncle Bernie Ginsburg and Pam's cousin Yankel Ginsburg, his wife Esther and their children Molly, Nechama, Yossi and Chana (pictured here with Pam's Dad). Here's a picture of Pam and her Mom at the Magic Carpet, an excellent kosher Yemenite restaurant on Pico Blvd.
From March 11 to 18 I went to Vienna to celebrate the opening of the Arnold Schönberg Center. Unfortunately, Pam could not come along because we are just 6 weeks away from the baby's due date. My sister Marlena also could not make it because she had to take care of my nephew Marko. Otherwise, just about the whole family was there. The new Schönberg Center is amazing. It has a large performance hall for concerts, and exhibition hall for paintings and manuscripts, a library and an archive. The opening celebration began on Saturday afternoon with a special all-Schoenberg concert by the Vienna Philharmonic in the famous golden room of the Musikverein. I sat next to Ricky and Jean. The Chancellor of Austria, Viktor Klima, gave a speech welcoming the Schoenberg collection to Vienna and specially thanking my father, uncle and aunt for making the decision in favor of Vienna. Afterwards, there was a reception at the Hotel Imperial. I took some pictures of my uncle Larry and aunt Nuria. My mom Barbara and aunt Anne also had a blast. Of course, my grandfather's pupil Leonard Stein was there to enjoy the festivities. My sister Melanie and cousin Camille also enjoyed themselves. My Dad and I decided that everyone else was under-dressed because we were the only ones in tuxedos. On Sunday, the Center itself was opened with some speeches by Vienna's mayor Michael Häupl and the city cultural affairs director Peter Marboe. My father, uncle and aunt gave a brief talk about their father, which my cousins Silvia and Serena and Arnie, Cynthia, Julia and Camille enjoyed very much. Then the Hagen Quartet and Audrey Luna performed the Schoenberg 2nd and 3rd string quartets. Afterwards there was a wonderful reception which all of the Schoenberg grandchildren enjoyed. The events continued for the rest of the week, but I returned on Tuesday.
While I was in Vienna, I visited the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) and found the graves of about 10 of my ancestors, including my great-great-great grandparents Leopold and Charlotte Funk. I also went with my cousin Serena Nono to the Kunsthistorisches Muesum (Art History Museum) and saw a fabulous exhibit on paintings from the Jan and Pieter Bruegel families. On the Friday before the opening celebration there was a small reception for the American tour guests at the famous Demel konditerei (pastry shop). I saw a number of cousins in Vienna, including Hanna Hirsch, Wolfgang and Elisabetta Hartl, Erich and Eva Arthold, Gerard, Francis, Maïtia, Emmanuelle and Clara Friedländer, Dick and Joan Hoffmann, and George and Lilly Field. I also saw our good friends Franz and Marilore Calice. I especially enjoyed meeting for the first time, my cousin Silvia's almost-two-year-old child, Pietro Moretti. I don't get to see the Nonos that often so I took advantage of it. Here's a great picture of Pietro in the mirror.
On March 20, we had our latest ultrasound (sorry no pictures) and learned that the baby was rather large (6 lbs, 5 oz.) and would have to be born a bit early to avoid a cesaerean birth. The new "due date" is April 14.
On March 22, Pam and I went to the opening of a photography exhibit at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The exhibit was set up by Werner Hanak of the Jewish Museum of Vienna. Our friend, Marcia Josephy, director of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, came with us to the opening. Here is a picture of Werner, Marcia and Pam.
On March 31, our daughter Dora Susanna Schoenberg was born. Go to Dora's home page for pictures and more details.
April
On April 4, Dora received her Hebrew name, Dorit Shoshana, at the Saturday morning torah serices at Westwood Kehilla. We've received tons of emails congratulating us on the birth of our daughter Dora.
On April 8, we received a visit from our friend Judy Chinn and her daughter Ellen. Seeing Dora reminded Judy how much Ellen has grown in her seven months, and gave us a taste of the changes ahead of us.
On April 10, Dora celebrated her first Passover with her grandparents Ron and Barbara, her parents, and her uncle Ricky and aunt-to-be Jean, along with Mal, Sigi and Karin Braverman. We all helped Dora with the four questions. Dora's grandma made her famous pyramid cake. She also got to sit with Pam in great-grandfather Arnold's chair.
On April 11, we went to a second Passover seder at the Josephys with Pam's grandma Rose and the baby.
On April 18, we repeated the baby naming at our monthly minyan at Sinai Temple with our rabbi-in-training Elliot Cosgrove.
On April 19, we had an open house for Dora. Lots of our friends and relatives came, including Scott and Carolyn Hampton.
One of the guests at Dora's party was Yael Shuman. The very next day, Yael's son Aaron was born. Here's a picture of Aaron and his father Brian on April 26.
My brother Rick got a tenure-track job at UCLA in the statistics department. We decided to let Rick move into the Montana house, so we went house-hunting and found a great house in Mandeville Canyon. We're already in escrow! Take a look at our new home.
May
Pam's Mom came to visit for a week to help with Dora. We went to Palm Springs for the weekend and took a short walk in the Indian canyons.
During the second weekend in May, Pam's sister Jennifer came to see Dora and had a great time helping us take care of her. We went to my Mom's for brunch with our cousins Heinz Bauer, John and Gina Bauer, and Walter and Betty Zeisl (who came with their daughter Katie who somehow escaped a picture).
Dora has big cheeks now.
My old friend from Berlin Sebastian and Franziska Jacobs are tavelling through the West Coast. Sebastian is a judge. I met him while we were students when I spent 6 months in West Berlin in 1987.
On May 21 we took the red-eye flight to Cincinnati. Lucky for us, Dora slept the whole way there. On Sunday, May 24, Pam's Dad and brother took me and my uncle Larry to the Reds v. Rockies game at Cinergy Field (formerly known as Riverfront Stadium). The Rockies won 3-1. Later that evening, Pam and I attended the opening banquet and concert for the new Classical Music Hall of Fame. Larry accepted the induction medal for my grandfather Arnold Schoenberg. We sat with John Stravinsky (Igor Stravinsky's grandson), as well as Elektra Slonimsky and Roger Sessions' daughter during dinner. Pam's grandma Rose celebrated her 88th birthday by coming with us to the concert by the President's Own Marine Band at the Cincinnati Music Hall. Pam's Dad also came (while Pam's Mom stayed home with granddaughter Dora). The Marine Band performed Schoenberg's Theme and Variations, Op. 43a, in between works by Duke Ellington and John Philip Sousa! On Memorial Day, Pam's Mom had a huge brunch open house for Dora. We tried to take a nice picture but Dora decided to fall asleep right then. Pam's childhood friend Jodi Dayan came with her one-year-old daughter Sivan. Pam's cousin Deneal Schilmeister came all the way from St. Louis with his daughter Emily and son Steven.
On May 31 we went to Rick and Jean's engagement party at the home of Jean's sister Millie. A few of Rick's old friends showed up, including David Johnson, Kevin Stone and Sekhar Swami. Marlena, Zoran and and Marko were there too. Marko and Dora had their pictures taken with the Moms and with the Dads.
June
On June 4 we went to the first haircut party for Pam's 3-year old cousin Yosi Ginsburg.
On June 6 we went to Catalina for the firm summer party, but we left Dora behind with her grandmother! Since it was our first outing without the baby we didn't take any pictures.
O June 13 we introduced our dog Sylvy to Ricky and Jean's new dog Bela. We expected a big fight, but -- big surprise -- Sylvy wasn't interested in fighting with Bela!
Here are one, two, three, four new pictures of Dora taken June 14. Isn't she getting cuter every day?
July
On July 2 we closed escrow on our new home at 3436 Mandeville Canyon
Road in Brentwood. The house is 3.5 miles up Mandeville Canyon.
We have a nice back yard hill with five orange trees, and one each of lemon,
peach, apple and pear trees. We're doing some remodelling before
moving in at the end of August. Take
a look at our new home.
Most of our time is spent playing with Dora. She's learning all
sorts of new tricks, like rolling over from front to back. She smiles
and laughs. Best of all, she sleeps through the night. What
a great little girl. Go to Dora's home
page for more details.
This month was the annual Jewish genealogy seminar, which was held in Los Angeles this year. I could only make one short meeting with the Bohemian and Moravian Special Interest Group. If you want to find out more about Jewish genealogy, go to Jewishgen, the home of Jewish genealogy on the net. My family tree is now part of Jewishgen's Family Tree of the Jewish People. This month I was "discovered" by some previously unknown cousins in Holland who found their grandparents on my tree.
At of the month, Pam's friend from Mills College Amy Bradley came to visit and play with Dora. Amy and her husband Scott were married just a few weeks before Pam and I were, and, unbeknownst to us, spent their honeymoon in the very same overwater bungalo at the same hotel in Moorea, French Polynesia where Pam and I spent our honeymoon. Talk about small world.
August
The big even in August was our move to our new home in Mandeville Canyon. The move itself was quite an ordeal and took all day and into the night. But the end result was worth the effort.
September
Most of September was "home improvement month" which meant lots of trips to Home Depot and Orchard Supply Hardware. Not much time to work on the home page, so the diary entries are brief.
October
Dora is getting cuter every day. She started crawling in the
middle of the month (6 1/2 months) and even pulls herself up and stands.
This week she learned to her hands.
We went to Brandeis-Bardin Camp for Sukkoth with Pam's grandma and her cousin Stephanie.
Pam's parents visited us. Pam is busy working on her photo project on Vermont Avenue.
November
We had a nice Thanksgiving here in Southern California with the whole
Schoenberg family.
December
We went to Cincinnati for Hanukkah and had a great time. But at the end of the month Dora and Pam were sick so we mainly stayed home.
After months of problems, we finally had to make the decision to give up Sylvy. She had been snapping at Dora and even attacked her a couple times. We tried everything, but could not contain her jealousy. It was one of the toughest things I ever had to do, but I returned her to the pound where I had picked her up eight years before. It was a sad end to an otherwise very happy and eventful year.
