How do I prep this for paint?

We have some walls with a gloss or semi-gloss and various issues to sort out before we repaint (probably with a satin). On this first one, if it's like this in various spots, how do you remedy that? Do you just sand away the area - or won't that leave a slight dip in the region? Does it mean you really need to somehow paint-strip the entire wall with some chemical preparation?

And in another room as shown in the two pics below, that's just the wall beneath peeking through and someone had filled wall dents with some sort of filler that didn't apparently work with whatever the wall is made of or the paint or something. What should we do in these areas to prep for paint? (And similar issue as above, regarding chipping.)

Blade Runner - As In "Grass" and "Errands"

We live in coastal Southern California and this is the kind of grass for which I need to go buy more seed. Any idea what variety of grass it likely is? (Light green, not super-broad nor super-thin.)

The Faux Silk Road

A small L.A. Thai spa I love has the prettiest curtains that the owner supposedly made from fabric bought somewhere in downtown L.A. (maybe in the import/fabric/clothing district). I would like to find some of this!
The pic doesn't do it justice but it's a light, yellowy golden cream color and a little shiny. Probably not real silk. The vine scrollwork on it almost looks like it has wheat stalks or something that looks like wheat stalks, embedded. The embroidery thread is not as contrasty as in the picture.

Yo Ho Ho, & A Bottle Of... Falernum?

Post your directions to Bermuda Rum Swizzle spots in L.A. here!

A few posts I ran across on making the drink:
At Egullet.org ... my favorite post there is the one that says double the rum. (And I'd say, the dark rum, not the light rum. And while you're at it, heavy on the Angostura bitters.)

A simple swizzle recipe that doesn't spare the rum: from DrinkBoy.com.

Tree-age

Green Genie

The back garden is currently looking something like the outside landscape in Logan's Run, but with more brown spots.

I have a few questions:
- What is this 'tree' or 'plant' if it's not a tree?
- How far back should I prune it, when? (I'm in coastal Southern California)
- If I prune it back, will it ever develop much more girth?

Cultural Leanings

I also have a leaning blurtree. How would you prune this beautiful sucker so as to encourage it to develop its left hemisphere?

Ground Control

Finally, the groundcover throughout the backyard is part grass, part low-height, pretty stuff that reminds me of clover but is more akin to what I see in nurseries for sale - not inexpensively - in little pots. If the area will be low-use, what's the downside of encouraging this instead of the grass?

Leonor, Princess of Castile

In 1244 came Leonor, princess of Castile. Daughter of King Ferdinand III, she became queen consort of England, wife of Edward. She bore 16 children, and found time to accompany him on military campaigns, according to this good article about her.