Scrapbooking: Gabor's Service

Erica created a scrapbooking page with items from Uncle Gabor Danyi's services.

Gabor Danyi Obituary

Gabor Danyi

Uncle Gabor passed away on March 22, 2012.  He was Erica's great uncle, her father's uncle, her grandmother's brother.

Gabor immigrated around 1967.  He was married to  Aunt Erzsebet and lived in North Hollywood for about 30 years.

Erica, Liz, and Casper do Contemporary Art in Los Angeles

Erica and Casper thought that Liz said she wanted to do Modern Art during her visit. So we planned a day of modern art. Liz just said art. Oh well.

We started the day with a coffee and pastry stop at Buzz Coffee on Beverly near Fairfax. We shared an excellent cappuccino muffin while people watching at the window.

From Buzz, we did some boutique shopping on Beverly. The first stop was Heath Ceramics. They had some excellent dinnerware, table lining and cutting boards. They also carry a line a canning jars by Werk. Liz thought that these would be great for gifting homemade jams and such. Our second stop was Rolling Greens Nursery. They sell plants but focus more on flower pots, terrariums, and old world decorations.

LA Weekly recommended an art exhibit by Camille Rose Garcia at Kohn Gallery on Beverly. The show was entitled Snow White and the Black Lagoon. Garcia takes the tradition, darker story and puts it into bold paintings. She emphasizes the heart cut out by the huntsman. As a medium, Garcia uses plywood and different layers of paint. Some of the paint highlights the grains the wood and incorporates it into the image.

The next few stops were in downtown Los Angeles. However, light Saturday afternoon traffic in downtown was made very challenging by a demonstration. Local labor union members were marching in support of the working in Wisconsin. The traffic forces us to park where we could and start walking, even though it was supposed to be a light walking day.

Casper wanted to surprise Erica and Liz with a stop by an art supply store. Both are into scrapbooking as a hobby, but many scrapbooking specialty stores have closed. Maybe they could find some supply at a traditional art supply store. We walked over to Raw Materials LA on Main Street. The store had some interesting stuff, but nothing that Erica or Liz needed. However, we were very impressed by the Old Bank District where the art store was located. We want to go back to explore the small bookstore and several restaurants we saw.

The main focus of the trip was the Museum of Contemporary Art on Grand Avenue. They had an exhibit by William Leavitt that Casper was intrigued by. Leavitt views ordinary objects and scene and how they could fit together such as on a movie or theater set. Erica really licked Leavit drawing where he showed motion by drawing overlapping outlines of the people. For example, one figure was a one first sitting back in a chair, then crossing her legs, then leaning forward. Liz was impressed by the permanent collection at MOCA. This was the first time she had send works by Roy Litchtenstein in person. Liz and Casper were both impressed by Litchtenstein's "Desk Calendar" work.

On the way back to the car, we stopped at the LA Central Library. Erica enjoyed showing our new favorite place to Liz, pointing out the hugeness of the building and the book collection.

Our next stop was the Century City Mall . Liz wanted to go to The Container Store. While Liz and Erica explored the multitudes of storage options, Casper went next door to Pink Taco to enjoy a Cuervo Silver while catching up on the NCAA Tournament on the ESPN.

The final stop of the evening was Clay Oven Indian Restaurant. Erica and Liz have had limited exposure to Indian Cuisine so we when for the Combination Dinner. We enjoyed paneer naan, samosa, tandoori chicken, chicken masala, raita, and mango lassi.


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Statue near White House; confusion

North of the White House, there is this statue that caught our attention. We thought it was a statue of George Washington. It was intriguing that one of the figures on the statue would be handing up a sword.

After a little research, we found out that this is a Statue of Lafayette. He is pleading to the French Assembly America's case in the Revolution. The figure with the sword is America, offering his desired role as a military leader. The two cherubs on the other side is the thank you from the US Congress after the war.

Smithsonian Link

Waugh's Holy Grail Knight Painting in the Renwick

In the Grand Salon at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, one of the major paintings is "The Knight of the Holy Grail" by Frederick J. Waugh in about 1912. It shows a knight in a boat praying to three angels, one of which has the grail.



















The University of British Columbia (link) has a good discussion of this painting which was inspired by the poem "Sir Galahad," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1834). A longer excerpt is below.

When down the stormy crescent goes, A light before me swims,
Between dark stems the forest glows,
I hear a noise of hymns:
Then by some secret shrine I ride;
I hear a voice but none are there;
The stalls are void, the doors are wide,
The tapers burning fair.
Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth,
The silver vessels sparkle clean,
The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,
And solemn chaunts resound between.


I find a magic bark;
I leap on board: no helmsman steers:
I float till all is dark.
A gentle sound, an awful light!
Three angels bear the holy Grail:
With folded feet, in stoles of white,
On sleeping wings they sail.
Ah, blessed vision! blood of God!
My spirit beats her mortal bars,
As down dark tides the glory slides,
And star-like mingles with the stars.


When on my goodly charger borne
Thro' dreaming towns I go,
The cock crows ere the Christmas morn,
The streets are dumb with snow.
The tempest crackles on the leads,
And, ringing, springs from brand and mail;
But o'er the dark a glory spreads,
And gilds the driving hail.
I leave the plain, I climb the height;
No branchy thicket shelter yields;
But blessed forms in whistling storms
Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields.

Visit with Family

Erica and Casper enjoyed our visit with family members during this Thanksgiving season. Sorry that we did not have more time. Here are a few quick photos. Thank you for introducing us to Wii gaming, Jose Tejas, and good cherry pie from the Hollywood Diner.

Joyce Robbins' Pet Squirrel

Guarding the back yard.