Girls Night Out

Every year for about the past 4, the Symphony League has hosted a movie party of note. Food and drinks are donated and "chick flick" movies are shown. This year the movie was "Some Like It Hot". It has been listed as one of the best all time comedies. It was in black and white which suprised me. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. It really is funny in a 21st century corny kind of way. The movie was made in 1959 and directed by Billy Wilder. At any rate it was a fun night and lots of my friends were there. JR was once again one of the bartenders (only wine, pop and water is served) and then the guys went out for a bite once the movie begins. The evening raises money for the Symphony's children programs so everything is for a good cause.

IT'S VEGAS - BABY

These past 5 days we were in Las Vegas visiting friends. The great thing about staying with friends is that you are not on the strip with the continuous bombardment of stimuli. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the mid 80's to the low 90's. We ate at great restaurants with Italian the first night followed with dinner at their club, then Asian, Mexican and stone crabs at Joe's Stone Crab our last night. Some played golf one day and then two of us went to Red Rock Canyon on Monday. I had been there before but so enjoyed it again. We did not hike to the petroglyphs but did check out the pictographs. We then made a final stop at a casino and I actually was able to come home ahead - not by much but at least not on the losing side. I am going to include a few pictures. One of them contains a handprint which is supposed to be a pictograph of an ancient people.

LAST WEEK'S HEROES

I have a renewed admiration for my son and grandson. Last Saturday they walked in a 5K to help raise funds for a deceased soldier's family. Then in the afternoon, my grandson played center in his football game while my son coached the offensive line. The soldier was a local and had died just 4 months before. He had posted a letter on facebook and that was reprinted on a card given to all participants. It was truly moving. My daughter-in-law and granddaughter could not participate because Jules is the coach of my granddaughter's soccer team and the game was during the 5K. I admire them all for their volunteerism. Jules has served on the town's "decorating" committee and has been the school's garage sale organizer for at least two years as well as co-president of the PTO. This is in addition to working and running a household. My son has served on the town's pool board and is currently on the planning commission. He is also on the church council as well as coaching the aforementioned football team. He also coaches basketball and the girls tee-ball. Besides working he has a few private clients. This past year when my grandson had his birthday party with two other boys, they decided that instead of gifts everyone was to donate some money. The money collected went to the local animal shelter. Their energy and devotion to community is inspiring.

RAINY DAY

Today was another rainy day. We bought a floor steamer and it order to use it in the laundry room first, I decided that instead of just moving things around I would take care of them. One such bag contained photo albums that I was perusing in anticipation of my Christmas project. Since I decided that my Christmas project for the blog would be remembrances, I started going through photo albums to put together some pictures to use. One photo album was my parents album from the mid 80's and one was a very old family album on my maternal side. Since many of those pictures and newspaper clippings could not be removed, I took a picture of the picture with my camera and copied them into my folders. I was able to at least go through two albums and they can now be put away.

I came across this "Things To Do At Least Once" in the AARP magazine. Some of them on the list should not be included in an "at least once" category but here it is:
1. Create a boundary in life. Then take down a wall. 2. Write long handwritten letters to your grandchildren, even the ones who aren't born yet. 3. Put your wedding photos in an album before your 25th anniversary and finish the baby book before the kid's 25th birthday. 4. Start telling the truth, every day. 5. Stand up for what you believe and do so with dignity. 6. Dance outside at night in a foreign land. And finally 7. Be able to retire but say, the hell with it. I'm going strong.

YEE-HAW

I know that I do not post as often as I used to but to be honest my days are fairly consistent with not a lot of different things to discuss. This past week was a very mixed bag. On Saturday the 10th I made the journey to see another soccer game and football game. This past Friday we attended a memorial service for a young woman who passed away. She was just 42 and left behind a husband and 7 year old daughter. It is incredibly sad when something like that happens. JR's uncle "Bob" also passed away in Florida. My father-in-law did not want to make the trip to the funeral and the uncle was not someone we knew well so we only sent condolences. Saturday night was a Country Western party and it was nice to sort of relax and have fun. Everyone seemed to get into the spirit and dress accordingly. I even wore my cowboy hat. Usually I just carry it around with me. This week brings rain for several days but I am planning on going to the zoo to see the new baby elephant and the brand new baby giraffe. Look for pictures.