Friday, August 29, 2008

Windows of the Soul

Yesterday John and I went to a Beverly Hills opthalmologist and had our pupils dilated. Woohoo! Livin' the life.

I began going to doctor Koh about 18 years ago when I was working in West Hollywood. I love the guy and he's the one provider I haven't switched to this end of the world. I have to say, though, as glamorous as Beverly Hills may be, on a Thursday afternoon the downtown part is a traffic jam, a cloud of construction dust, a noise.

But this is a Pasadena blog. No pictures of Beverly Hills. As soon as we got outta there we hurried back home to take eyeball pictures.

The French say, "Les yeux sont le miroir de l'รขme"—"The eyes are the mirror of the soul." I don't know if Pasadena is our soul, but we were glad to be back home, where in our eyes you can get a view of our garage through our dining room window.

44 comments:

USelaine said...

Well, I think you've been dipping into the magic cookies again.

Anonymous said...

Those are some HUGE eyes, better to see us with :) Yours look like cat eyes to me.... meeeeeooooowww.

Knoxville Girl said...

Very Picasso of you.

Unknown said...

Vous avez de tres jolis yeux!

ginab said...

some success in logging on

ginab said...

works if I create a new google account every time . . . thanks, cafe observer, for your patient help. looks like there are still some challenges.

Anonymous said...

G, we've made progress. This is becoming a window into your soul!

Thursday Girl/Hollis the Cat said...

LOVE it! And I second uselaine's comment...hee hee... :)

Jim Klenke said...

I like uselaines comment. You are making my eyes water though.

Katie said...

What a great set of eyeballs! You and John have very compatible-looking eyes. I love that you made sure to go back to Pasadena before taking the photo. I love my eye doctor. He opened his own place in SF called Eye Carumba, which makes me smile every time I call to make an appointment.

ginab said...

I thought you weren't supposed to drive with your eyes dilated . . .

Tash said...

Woa! 1st I saw your faces on CDP, & thought this is interesting. Then I saw the eyes. Just great!

Susan C said...

I hear the couple that dilates together, stays together.

Very intriguing pic!

You have great eyebrows.

Fashion Schlub said...

why do you get your pupils dilated??

bettye <- squinting to read this

Profile Not Available said...

Elaine cracks me up!
1916 Home too!

Great shot, Petrea!

Profile Not Available said...

Elaine cracks me up!
1916 Home too!

Great shot, Petrea!

Lisa Wilson said...

Very creative picture!! I had my eyes dilated in July and it was supposed to last one to two hours. My pupils were still dilated when I went to bed that night! I guess I'm one of the "sensitive" patients the Dr. had mentioned.

Anonymous said...

From ginab (I'm locked out again: I found this about why the dr dilates us. Don't know how to post a live link yet


http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/47720.html

.

Anonymous said...

see link:

Anonymous said...

well, that sort of worked. click above on ginab

Anonymous said...

At first, your picture loaded before the text. I was beginning to wonder, like uselaine, whether you'd been smokin somethin.

I believe they dilate to get a better look in the eye in general and to check for glaucoma.

I'm sensitive too and every time they do it, I have trouble seeing for hours. I've always been far sighted, but after getting dilated once, we went to lunch. My eyes just could not read the menu, even with my old glasses! omg! I thought I was going blind!

Glad you dilated together...as Susan says, ya stay together!

Anonymous said...

it's really creepy when you enlarge the picture.

OK, I'm done.

Anonymous said...

That's a really brilliant picture!

I love the reflection of your window through your eyes.

Sharon said...

Great blog today. It made me think of the time I accidentally dilate my eyes by touching my eye after applying a sea-sickness patch when I was on a cruise. When I saw how my eye was dilated, I had no idea how it happened. Someone had to tell me that you should never touch your eyes after touching one of those patches.

Laurie Allee said...

I had the same thought Elaine had! When the picture loaded I thought ... what the heck? Are the remaining Grateful Dead members playing in Pasadena?

I also had a horrible dilation experience where I thought I was going blind. It took me almost 12 hours to be able to see anything other than a massive blur.

Pretty eyes, you two. (Nice souls, too!)

Anonymous said...

PB, glad your back safe/sane in Pasadena. I've had my share of jobs in BevHills, StMonica, WHollywood, ShermOaks, Bev Ctr area.

How did I ever pull it off all these yrs?? I can see the light better.
And, older & wiser....

Christie said...

Oh, that hurts my eyes so much! I got mine dilated and could barely see to drive home with my dark sunglasses on! I hope you didn't have that much trouble.

Pretty colored eyes, both of you.

Petrea Burchard said...

Magic cookies, in case you need to know.

Hi everyone, glad you see you! It has been an unusual day. Click on Miss Havisham (below) to learn why.

Glad to see Ginab got on. She's my sister! Trouble with an overprotective firewall, apparently. Cafe Observer helped find a workaround, thankyouverymuch.

The doctor didn't say we couldn't drive. He gave us disposable roll-up sunglasses that we wore home. The sunlight was unbearable without them.

Susan C, there was one eyebrow I was wishing I'd plucked.

Welcome Islipian. (Islipian's posting pictures as romantic as a real-life Hobbiton.) Try Ginab's link, it answers your question.

Welcome, Lisa Wilson. (If you click on Lisa's blog you will know the meaning of "carhenge." Scroll down for Alpenglow and be amazed.)

Mike, I work there a lot, too. Each area has much to recommend it if you look. We found a pocket park near the doctor's office to kill time before our appointment. Very pleasant.

You're right, Miss Havisham, as always.

Thank you all for coming! Stop by again. We love having you.

USelaine said...

I always come back... ah, well, make up your own joke. It is a happy addiction.

John Sandel said...

John looks like an f4 or so. You're at about a 2.0! Kind of messes with your bokeh, okay. I would never call you shallow, except in you DoF … that day. But we are all your pupils.

USelaine said...

Miss H, you are so kind. But then, there are the puns. Helps to keep our fixations a bit more in perspective. You heal me, Bernie.

Diederick Wijmans said...

What a great photo...!!

Jill said...

Petrea, I didn't realize just how much dilation takes place since I can't see my own eyes once they are. I tried making a late appointment so it would be almost dark driving home, but then the lights looked like Christmas. Very imaginative shot!

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Great post. A few responses to the above comments . . .

In keeping with the French theme, it looks more lile Modigliani than Picasso to me.

Dilations allow the doctor to see into the retina or back of your eyeballs. I get checkups for detaching retinas where the M.D. pushes on the eyeballs to bend them to get a better view of the edges while looking throught he dilated pupils. Not fun.

OK, here's a question about Beverly Hills doctors. Does he or she have photos of celebrity patients? I went to the hotel doctor who serves the Marriott Marquis in New York (for an eye problem) and he had tons of celebrity photos all over his office. When I complimented him on them, he looked right at me earnestly and said, "Who knows? You could be next."

Dina said...

Oi Gott, that's so weird. I'm afraid to click on the photo.
I hate that particular eye test.
However, your idea to capture the moment is great, and so sweet to see you with (half of) your better half.
Shalom Ayooni!

Petrea Burchard said...

Bernie, I didn't understand a word of that but apparently Elaine did. That's all that matters.

Thank you, blognote! You live in a beautiful place. I'm glad you photograph it.

Jill, I guess a lot of people have more trouble with this than I do.

David, I believe Dr. Koh has celebrity clients, but he doesn't hang their pictures on the walls. That's done in diners and dry cleaners here. Maybe a few restaurants. Not doctors' offices.

Dina, always good to see you, even with my pupils dilated. I know Shalom. What is Ayooni?

Dina said...

Ah-YOO-ni is Arabic for "my eyes," used in addressing someone nice, as a term of endearment. Arabs use it and lots of Israeli Jews too. Once I heard a Sephardic Jew try to convince someone of the truth of his words by saying, "I swear, by the eyes of my children." In the Mideast there are many blind people, so maybe that's why all the expressions about good eyes.

Petrea Burchard said...

How perfect, Dina. Thank you!

Coltrane_lives said...

Beautiful! I like Dina's thoughts on the eyes. :-)

freefalling said...

Oh the colour of your eyes!
So unusual - beautiful grey.
And your eye shape is so different too!

Petrea Burchard said...

I do too, Coltrane. I wonder why so many people in the Mideast are blind. Health care issues? I guess I could ask.

Freefalling: You're sweet. I think my eyes were blue before the got dilated.

Danial Bigham said...

It's very scary.

Petrea Burchard said...

It's only us!

Anonymous said...

Good thing you didn't use a flash!