KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

The Kennedy Center has finally caught up with us Baby Boomers! Many years ago I remember watching the Kennedy Center Honors and thinking this is kind of boring and stuffy and old. I probably grabbed the clicker and changed channels before too long. I didn’t relate to any of the honorees.

Well, tonight was finally my night to watch – of course, I still switched channels during some of the middle but the beginning and ending was definitely my cup of tea! They honored Oprah Winfrey and my favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney.



Oprah and Paul at the gala

I absolutely love Oprah and have watched her show for much of its 25 years. I know the stories of why Julia Roberts, John Travolta and Sidney Poitier all spoke on her behalf at the gala. This is truly a woman who should be honored – she makes all of us feel like we have a friend to chat with each day.

They closed the show by honoring Paul McCartney. A myriad of singers did renditions of Beatles and Wings songs – but the highlight was Steven Tyler taking the stage in his flamboyant Steven Tyler style. In no time, he had the entire audience on their feet, swaying and rocking out to a medley of Paul’s songs.

Everyone – Oprah, Stedman, Paul, Julia, John, Sidney, President Obama and Michelle, Steven, the other performers, the audience – stood and sang the familiar refrain we all know, “Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey, Jude” over and over while waving their arms back and forth above their heads. Now that’s what I call a Kennedy Center Honors show!

CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS

After days of heavy rain, strong wind and cold temperatures, today dawned clear, sunny and bright blue. It was far too nice of a day to stay inside so Lou and I headed to Old Sacramento for a walk along the river. Old Sacramento is several square blocks of old restored buildings housing tons of shops and restaurants on the Sacramento River.

Even though it was still chilly out, it was really nice to have to wear our sunglasses for a change! This was a great day to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. I was having fun just snapping pictures of anything and everything.



Some interesting angles and blue sky - the first in several days!




A tree with some unusual bark patterns and the last remnants of fall.



The paddle wheel of the Delta King - now a hotel and restaurant.



The historic Tower Bridge across the Sacramento River.



At the end of the river walk there is a street light museum of sorts. They have preserved street lamps from every era of Sacramento history and put them all in one area of the walkway. Here are a few of the early city lights.

Along the way we saw several turtles – we watched one for several minutes as he struggled to climb up on a log and relax in the sun. An informational sign said they were Northern Pacific Pond Turtles. I had to repeat it to myself several times to remember the name. Things just don’t stick in my head like they used to.

This is the guy who finally made his way onto the log.

These three were totally enjoying the morning sun - just like us.

I absolutely loved that the designers of the new river walk thought of our four-legged friends in their plans. There were several water fountains which had an adult size fountain, a child fountain and a dog fountain at the bottom. What a great idea!

One of the doggy-friendly drinking fountains.

The trees along the river which usually grow out of the riverbanks are now partially submerged since the water level is really high. We are supposed to have a break from the torrential rains that have been pounding California until Christmas night but there is more on the way.

The water level is closing in on the Tower Bridge.

You can see the trees "growing" out of the river.

Following our stroll we had lunch at a small café before heading back home. Sometimes it is the simplest things that can lift your spirits and give you a real feel for what Christmas is all about. I know many people think that you must have a white Christmas, but being a California girl through and through there is nothing like a bright, beautiful, sunny day to get me in the mood for the holidays.

MY ROCK 'N ROLL MOMENT

Most women of “my age” have a favorite Beatle.  Ask any woman in her 50s, 60s or 70s and I’ll bet she’ll answer without hesitation – mine was Paul. All of us have our favorite rock stars who we swooned over growing up. I was madly in love with Mark Lindsay, lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders, in my teens. All four walls of my room were covered with magazine photos of him – and I was starting on the ceiling (literally) when I moved on.



Mark Lindsay - Then



Mark Lindsay - Now

I have to confess that as a 60 year old, I’m still a hopeless rocker. Sure I like Katy Perry, the Black-Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga but to quote Bob Seger, “Give me that old time rock ‘n roll. That kind of music just soothes my soul.” Cranking up the car radio and singing along (badly) with all the old rocker bands is on my list of life’s little pleasures.

During the early 80s I went through a “country phase” in my music preferences – hey, didn’t most of us?  One of the 80s rocker bands who I discovered  later in life was Aerosmith.  Now their front man, Steven Tyler, is a new judge of American Idol. Most people have someone famous who just floats their boat – often times for no logical reason – mine is Steven Tyler.

Steven Tyler in one of his better pictures!

He is certainly not classically handsome, nor is he particularly attractive. In fact he is a bit strange and quite bizarre, but there is something about that man that just seems undeniably sexy to me. It makes no sense and if I share that with someone the usual response is to twist up their face, raise an eyebrow and say, “Really?”

Anyway, several years ago, Lou and I saw Aerosmith in concert. I bought the tickets and sprung for pretty good seats on an aisle about 10-15 rows from the stage. The venue has a grass area up in the back and they had set up a stage for the band to do a few numbers up in the “cheap seats”.

It became apparent that Aerosmith, and STEVEN TYLER, were going to walk up the aisle right next to where we were seated to reach that stage. I immediately pushed Lou to the side and made him switch seats with me since he was on the aisle. The mob of security guards slowly and dramatically inched their way up the aisle engulfing the band members.

Steven Tyler was surrounded by people with his head down. I thrust my hand out as he came by and somehow touched his hand. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it! I could feel his ring as his cold, somewhat boney hand grasped mine. I screamed and jumped up and down like a 16 year old, “STEVEN TYLER SQUEEZED MY HAND!  STEVEN TYLER SQUEEZED MY HAND!”

Here I was in my mid fifties bouncing off the walls because Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith, squeezed my hand. Lou kept telling me to calm down and I kept saying, "NO!" Hey, how many of you have had your hand squeezed by a celebrity who you thought was unbelievably hot????  I hope he doesn’t disappoint as an American Idol judge…..and those of you who aren’t sure who he is will be able to see him on Idol this season. After reading this, you will no doubt scrunch up your face and think, “Really?”

Yeah, REALLY.

THOUGHTS OF COSMO

When I met Lou 9-1/2 years ago I became “stepmom” to Lou’s two 5 year old cats, Cosmo & Nova, who were sisters. Of course, I soon came to love them as if I’d adopted them as kittens myself. Nova is still with us but Cosmo died a year and 7 months ago from complications of her diabetes.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about her a lot and decided to write down some of my thoughts of Cosmo. As anyone with a pet knows, they each have their own distinct personality and immediately work their way into your heart.

Lou took this picture of Cosmo - he calls it "Kitty Head Rest"

Cosmo was the epitome of the curious cat. She loved everything that I did, especially if it was in the kitchen! Within seconds of walking in the kitchen to start dinner or get a glass of water, I’d turn around and there was Cosmo – sitting in the middle of the floor watching my every move. I told her she should be able to do it all by herself since she watched so much.

Cosmo lived to eat! She loved her Fancy Feast “supplement” (certain ones were better for her diabetes) and would meow like crazy when it was time to eat. If I opened a can of tuna for myself, Cosmo could smell it across the room. She would go nuts until I gave her a small bite. She would eat anything, literally – plants, curling ribbon, ice cream, flowers – we had to be really careful to keep things out of her reach. She was a chubby cat but could get up on tables and counters with ease if there was something she thought she wanted to sample.

One time years ago, I was watching football and eating some Cheez-Its from the box. Cosmo really wanted one so I gave her just a corner of one and she loved it! From that day on, if I brought out the box of Cheez-Its, Cosmo was all over me wanting a bite.

Treats were one of Cosmo’s greatest pleasures in life. She learned the words “treat time” and would run to the cabinet and meow as soon as I said them. Actually the treats gave us some control over her since we could get her out from under any bed or behind any furniture by rattling the package and calling out, “Treat time!” I’m so glad that I gave her treats (more than I should have sometimes) because she enjoyed them so much.

She was such a good kitty about her shots and blood tests. About two years before she died, she was diagnosed as diabetic. With diet and a certain type of insulin she went into remission a few weeks later. I found a wonderful Feline Diabetes website that offered education and support from members.

We needed to monitor her blood sugar and did frequent blood tests by pricking her ear to get the drop of blood. I would sit at the table and she would sit on my lap with her front paws on the table while I did the blood test. The diabetes returned about a year later and sometimes we would have to do blood tests every hour all day to get a “curve”. She was so tolerant and never fought it once she learned the routine – and of course, the instant it was done she was meowing at the cabinet for a treat!

Nova was always the dominant one early on. Nova would smack Cosmo or jump on her for no reason at all. Cosmo would just passively walk away. But a few years before she died something changed and Cosmo suddenly started fighting back. I always said that she went through menopause and just like every other post menopausal woman she wasn’t going to put up with the bullshit anymore! Occasionally she even instigated the conflicts. At times they would be hissing and rolling around on the floor until we broke them up and sent them to opposite corners – then two minutes later they were snuggling together on the chair!

Cosmo & Nova curled up on the couch

I swear that Cosmo would set me up to step on her so I’d feel sorry for her and give her an extra treat. She would come right up behind me while I was cooking so that when I turned or backed up, I’d bump her or step on her. Of course, I would almost fall down trying to avoid hurting her! She would meow really loudly when I barely even touched her – then run to the cabinet. I know it was all to get that extra treat.

We’d walk in the kitchen at night and turn on the light – there was Cosmo laying on her back in the dark on the floor with all four feet up toward the ceiling. She loved to have her belly rubbed. Sometimes I wondered how long she was laying there patiently waiting for one of us. Cosmo loved to be held like a baby, in your arms on her back. She would stare up at the lights for the longest time with a childlike fascination. And if you rubbed her belly at the same time, she was in heaven.

If I sat a glass of water on the coffee table, Cosmo would often take a drink of it. She would check out the glass of soda or cup of tea and, of course, milk. We had to be careful or she’d drink it all. One day, I had a glass of wine on the coffee table – Cosmo walked over to it and I thought “let’s see if she tries this”. She sniffed, looked at it, then took her head and just knocked it over – fortunately it was white wine and not red!

These are just a few of my recollections of Cosmo Renee. I gave them both middle names (Nova’s is Marie) when I “adopted” them so that when I came downstairs and someone was on the table I could yell, “Cosmo Renee Padgug, get down!” or “Nova Marie Padgug, off the table!” Nova knew when she was doing something wrong. Cosmo either didn’t know or just didn’t care.

One of my favorite photos of Cosmo with all the presents!

I have such wonderful memories of “my kitty girl” and still miss her. Her ashes have a place of honor in our living room. Years ago I bought little Christmas stockings for Cosmo and Nova to hang over the fireplace with mine and Lou’s. I still put Cosmo’s up this time of year since I feel that she is with us in spirit. A little corny, I know, but she is my sweet stepcat and I love her.

BLACK FRIDAY

Surprise, surprise…..I am NOT a shopper! I knew that, but being cooped up here at my dad’s in San Ramon, I thought it sounded like a good idea to try the Black Friday thing just to get out. But not at 3 AM by any means….I don’t even like that when I’m off to somewhere fun and far away.

Once I was up, my dad was showered and the morning chores were done, I decided to head out to Kohl’s. I had a coupon for $10 off on a purchase of $20 or more good until 1 PM today. I took the first parking space I found and walked a loooonnng ways to the store. It was busy and people seemed fairly congenial.

They did have some excellent prices and great deals. I picked out a few pairs of pants to try on that would have been way cheap with my coupon. But as I was looking for the fitting room, I noticed that the line to check out was really long…and commented to myself on that fact. THEN as I saw what I thought was the end of the line, I realized that the customers had left a gap where the aisle was….I literally couldn’t see the end of the line! It stretched somewhere into the back of the store.  There must have been 50, 60 or more people in line!

At that point, I said to myself, “No way in hell! There aren’t any cheap pants worth standing in line this long for.” I hung them back up, smiled to myself and walked out empty handed. I’ve always known that I’m not a shopper, but that point was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt this morning. J Give me my Ross Stores with my 10% “senior” discount on Tuesdays!

DWTS

Okay, I admit it - I'm a hopeless fan of Dancing With The Stars. :-) There is just something addictive about that show. Tonight's finale ended as it should have....Jennifer Grey won! She is 50 years old and has been through numerous surgeries and other injuries, but she danced beautifully beating the 19 and 20 year olds hands down - how cool is that? You go, girl!!

PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES

Our long weekend (left Friday morning and returned Monday evening) was dominated by all three modes of travel – airplane, locomotive and car.  Guess we covered the ship travel a few weeks ago. J

We were awakened by the alarm at the ungodly hour of 2:45 AM on Friday to catch our 6 AM flight to Omaha. Upon landing in Nebraska at 12:40 PM, we hit the ground running. The weather was looking ominous, not to mention cold and windy, so Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum with its striking pink marble art deco exterior was a good first stop.

The exterior of the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha

A fountain in the indoor courtyard garden of the Joslyn

An interesting flower in the Joslyn courtyard

Union Pacific Railroad Museum - we went back on a rain free day for this photo.

I was enthralled by the works of a now deceased Omaha area artist named Kent Bellows. His paintings and pencil drawings captured expressions with amazing realism which looked more like photographs. Here is a link to some of his work: http://kentbellows.com/Site/Art%20Gallery.html

From there we headed to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River. The museum sponsored the Saturday train ride for its 50^th Anniversary which was our main purpose for this trip. Let me just clarify that although I had a son who was a total train buff growing up and now have a significant other who has turned into a midlife train buff, I’m just not that into trains. But it was an excuse to visit a new area of our country so I did my best to enjoy the tons of train related stuff.

After dinner at the Cracker Barrel, we headed to the Premier Suites to check in. It was now dark and rainy and really cold outside. On the way from Council Bluffs to Omaha, we noticed that it had started snowing! It was their first snowfall of the season and we Californians were out driving in it! We made it to the hotel where snow continued to fall much of the night. Just 11 days before we were lounging on the beach on Grand Turk in the balmy Caribbean.

The parking lot from our hotel window about 10 PM - that's our car in the left bottom

We were concerned about getting safely to the train station for our 7 AM train ride the next morning but it turned out to be no problem since the snow had stopped and all the main streets were plowed before we even woke up.

Our car was covered by several inches of snow. There are some REALLY good times to have a man around – like when there is a huge spider in the bathroom or your car is covered with snow. Men are fixers so my thought was this is a great time to just let him “fix”. I made my way out into the elements after the windows were clear and the car was all warmed up. As we started down the hotel driveway, Lou accelerated to about 20 mph and hit the brakes saying he wanted to make sure the car stopped without sliding. It stopped just fine, but all the snow on the roof flew down onto the windshield and hood! Just a bit more scraping.

We made our way to the train station where we slogged through half melted snow and mud to find our seats on the 1927 Columbine car. The historic train traveled to Bailey Yard, the country's largest classification yard, in North Platte, Nebraska - roundtrip of 572 miles. On the outbound trip we were pulled by the Union Pacific No. 844 steam engine and a diesel engine on the return.

It quickly became apparent that many of the passengers were what Lou calls “foamers” – people who “foam at the mouth” regarding anything to do with trains. It was fun and interesting but a bit too long for me – 14 plus hours on a train with no chance to get off and stretch was more than enough. Maybe they were giving us a real taste of train travel. We barely got a glimpse of the steam engine since we were many cars back. Thank goodness I brought a book – or two.

One of the historic dome cars on our train

Us on our 1927 Columbine passenger car

We passed the 844 after switching to our diesel engine

The control tower (or whatever it's called) at Bailey Yard in North Platte

Sunday was our sightseeing day. Being in the midwestern “Bible belt”, we discovered that literally nothing is open until 1 PM on Sunday – you are supposed to be in church, not gallivanting around doing fun things. We took this opportunity to drive to downtown Omaha where we could navigate the one way streets and explore the area without any traffic.

There is a six block area of downtown with bronze sculptures depicting the pioneers on wagon trains, a stampeding herd of bison and a flock of geese who were disturbed by the bison. The more than one hundred bronze creatures are everywhere! It was a great concept and we enjoyed it immensely.

One of 4 wagon train sculptures with a horseman in the background

A bison startling a flock of geese

From there we drove 50 miles to Lincoln for a tour (at 1 PM!) of the Nebraska State Capitol – an incredible art deco building that is different from most state capitols in that it is 14+ stories tall and looked like a cathedral inside. Our guide, a slim (probably gay) young man named Jaimeson, who was wearing a purple shirt and red tie, proceeded to give us one of the most informative and insightful tours we’ve had. His passion and enthusiasm for his state and his job was contagious. Nebraska is the only state in the U.S. to have a unicameral system - just one legislative branch instead of two.

The 14 story (plus dome) Nebraska Capitol Building in Lincoln

The unicameral legislative chamber

We headed back to Omaha in time to visit the Durham Museum before closing – yet another of the train themed museums on the area. This one is housed in an old art deco train station but it did have a lot of other exhibits in addition to the train cars.

The Durham Museum, a former art deco Union Pacfic Train Station

Inside the Durham train station lobby

Our “farewell dinner” was in the “Old Market” neighborhood of Omaha – an area of downtown with many restaurants, bars and shops. We have visited many cities – Denver, Oklahoma City, Omaha – that have a street (or several blocks) where locals and tourists alike go for food and lively entertainment. It makes me wonder why we don’t seem to have areas like that in Sacramento or the Bay Area.

Before our afternoon flight on Monday we drove to yet another railroad museum, Railswest, that was closed on Mondays but we were able to take a few photos of the engines and railroad cars on display. We knew the General Dodge House (he was a Union Pacific railroad baron) in Council Bluffs  was also closed on Mondays but drove by to take some exterior photos. While walking around the outside of the house, we peeked in the window on the front door. Several women were inside decorating it for Christmas – one woman came over, opened the door and invited us in to take a look at the downstairs rooms. We have concluded that the Midwestern people are extremely friendly and accommodating!

General Dodge House in Council Bluffs, Iowa

We ended our quick trip of planes, trains and automobiles with a stroll across the recently constructed Senator Bob Kerrey Footbridge over the Missouri River between Iowa and Nebraska.

The Bob Kerrey Footbridge across the Missouri River

A view of downtown Omaha from the Iowa side of the bridge

Our long weekend was a whirlwind tour of Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs but we managed to see just about everything we had on our list and then some. As always, we needed to get home so we could rest!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I just can’t seem to be on a cruise without thinking about Bobby Ferrin’s hit from the 80s, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” The brilliant shades of aqua, blue and turquoise waters that we experienced are simply breathtaking! We returned Wednesday evening from an 8 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Miracle.

It was a wonderful cruise other than a few itinerary changes as we dodged Hurricane Tomas. And the cherry on top was our beloved San Francisco Giants winning the World Series Championship! See my previous post for all the baseball details. Click on any photo to see a larger version.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale a day early to avoid overnight flights and spent the night at the Comfort Inn before shuttling to the cruise port. Gorgeous beaches seemed to be a recurring theme of this vacation and Fort Lauderdale started us off right. I told Lou I'd like to live on a tropical island for six months or a year sometime to see if I'd really enjoy it full time. I'm thinking "yeah".



Fort Lauderdale beach as we sailed away



The Miracle is the largest ship that we’ve sailed on – capable of carrying almost 2600 passengers when completely full. They did an excellent job of getting us on and off the ship with no hassle and almost no lines. Our cabin was roomy by cruise ship standards and quite comfortable. The location was great – around the corner from the elevator, on the same deck as the smaller theater and one deck below the main showroom. It was literally about 50 feet and one flight of stairs (or less) to get to the lounges.



One of the three pools where we spent many sea days



The jogging track and putt-putt golf course (where I won by one stroke!)

The first night of the cruise we attended the welcome aboard show. We were seated in about the third row. Lou was next to a drunk girl that the cruise director, Malcolm, started interacting with – Malcolm came down into the audience and talked with her for a bit, then asked Lou a few questions and moved on to me. He asked what I planned to do on the cruise. I replied, “Relax and do nothing – and drink pina coladas!” Malcolm bought me a pina colada!  

After two days at sea we arrived in Saint Maarten, the Dutch side of the island. We took a taxi to the French side of the island, Sint Martin, where we spent a couple of hours at Orient Beach. Being from northern California it always amazes me when you can just walk into the ocean and it’s warm. Plus there aren't big waves to knock you down.

Orient Beach on St. Martin, the French Side



Some of that incredible turquoise water

We finished the day back on the Dutch side in Saint Maarten before heading back to the ship. Caribbean islands are extremely colorful and everyone is so laid back – guess the song is right, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”.

Old Street in St. Maarten, the Dutch Side

Our itinerary was two days at sea, then St. Maarten, St. Lucia and St. Kitts on consecutive days followed by two more sea days on the return to Fort Lauderdale. But our best laid plans were no match for Hurricane Tomas. The weather on St. Maarten was gorgeous so we were quite surprised that evening when the captain announced that we would be skipping St. Lucia (the southern most island on our route) and going straight to St. Kitts due to the developing hurricane. We were a bit disappointed but more than happy to avoid a Category Two storm.

They were substituting Nassau in the Bahamas on our last day. Lou and I had both been there about 30 years ago but neither of us remembered many details. We were out on deck for our arrival into St. Kitts the next morning when it became obvious that something was wrong. Normally, they just sail right in and dock these huge ships like they’re parking a Volkswagon.

After several attempts, our captain came on the loudspeaker with another announcement – due to winds and high seas, we wouldn’t be able to stop in St. Kitts either. BUT, they made some more phone calls and we were adding Grand Turk Island in the Turks & Caicos. Neither of us had been there and I’d heard it has incredible beaches – cool!

Our formal portrait - they make you look better than you really do!

We had two more sea days heading north before stopping at Grand Turk and Nassau our last two days. The crew scrambled to plan activities and put together some makeshift entertainment. Our comedians left at St. Maarten and we were supposed to pick up two more in St. Lucia but that didn't happen. Fortunately, our Giant’s games kept us more than entertained!

They had several late night “R” rated comedy shows and I have to share one joke from a woman comedian who was quite funny. What did one tampon say to the other tampon? Nothing – they were stuck up bitches. J

We arrived in Grand Turk at 7:00 AM to a beautiful sunrise. There is a great beach right next to the cruise ship dock where hundreds of lounge chairs are spread among the palm trees – and they are free of charge! We grabbed a couple and relaxed. Cruising is hard work, you know. Lou took one of the snorkeling and stingray petting tours. I passed since I can’t see anything if I snorkel anyway due to my terrible eyesight. Instead I headed to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville right next to the beach for a – yep, you guessed it – margarita!

Arriving at Grand Turk just as the sun was rising

I'm not sure why, but I love this picture

The "Weather Station" - pretty much says it all

The view from our lounge chairs on the beach - yeah, this is the life

Both Grand Turk and Nassau had some of the most pristine and awe-inspiring scenery I’ve ever laid eyes upon. I’ve always been drawn to ocean seascapes and must have taken a hundred photos of various shoreline and beach scenes.

We walked around Nassau but there were five ships in port and it was really crowded, not to mention hot and humid. The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island across from Nassau dominates the skyline. We headed there to explore some of the grounds and aquariums – and to have a cold beer before heading back to our ship for our last night onboard.

A lighthouse and incredible colors with the Atlantis Resort in the background

The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island

Here's my house - can you imagine living here?

Some colorful condos in Nassau

At the Atlantis, Lou took a picture of me taking a picture of some fish. It looked like they were all curiously looking at me like we were looking at them.

The fish checking out the people aquarium

Several species of interesting sea life

I haven’t seen St. Lucia or St. Kitts yet, but I wasn’t the least bit disappointed after enjoying the spectacular scenery of Grand Turk and Nassau. It was a wonderful vacation that met all of our expectations and then some. The islands were gorgeous, the beaches incredible, our Giants are World Series Champions and we out ran Hurricane Tomas – all part of the adventure!!