Laura lives in this fabulous old rambling Spanish hacienda style house under the Hollywood sign. It's got an amazing feel to it and lots of interesting objets d'art and memorabilia. I would have loved to take lots of photos but didn't want to be intrusive. She was so neat to talk to and has an amazing wit and memory for the age of 94. She lives on her own with a personal assistant who helps but was on holiday when we visited. She had been out all day shopping at Trader Joe's and other places. She's a great fan of Trader Joe's just like we are.
JIm talked about the volume of Huxley's letters he will soon have ready for publication and she told us a couple of anecdotes about letters from Aldous she wished she still had. One was the one he wrote to her father asking permission to marry her. The other was the letter he wrote to the Queen explaining why he was refusing the knighthood offered. Laura said it was really mainly because of her because she wanted to be free to "wear shorts or any old thing" and not feel she had to live up to being "Lady Huxley"!
