Delusional

Right now I am totally delusional, I think the house is going to clean itself while I go back to bed!

I Wore Flip Flops To Shirley! The Grand.

The Grand - 1894 Opera House of Galveston.

It survived the great 1900 hurricane and several since.  I believe they said with Ike, there were 6 feet of water in the Opera House.

It has been the location of many amazing productions and appearances over the years, quite historic.

We went there on vacation to see Shirley MacLaine.

This photo is more detailed than any I tried to attempt while I was there.  I got it online.

I was able to take the below photo before Shirley took stage with my cell phone.  It is not very good but you can see the easy chair where she sat when she did arrive.

There were no photos, cameras or videos allowed.

We went to see the actress Shirley MacLaine, not the spiritual advisor Shirley MacLaine.

I love many of the movies she has been in and especially when she played Wheeza in Steel Magnolias and the dysfunctional mom in Terms Of Endearment.

I was wondering what to expect and was pleasantly surprised.  She sat in that easy chair (I had forgotten or not paid attention to how old she is now - 77 I believe.)

What was cool was that once she had talked a bit and sat down, they turned on a huge screen behind her.  She walked us through her actress life in photographs and then in videos of some of the movie scenes with an amazing entourage of other famous people.

From time to time in her speaking on that stage, she "spoke like true smart@ss."  (a quote from Steel Magnolias)

No one could out heckle her, she was very funny.  At one point she told someone to sit down and shut up in a very funny sarcastic fashion.  Classic.

It was very interesting and very cool to hear her tell stories from photos about very many people such as, President Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jack Nicholson, many actors, her various lovers, friends and acquaintances.

One thing that I really liked, is that while she was showing videos, some of her dancing scenes (great legs), she would talk about what she was thinking, how her feet were bleeding in her shoes and tid bits about the others in the video.  But here is what I loved, it was hard for me not to watch the videos, but I kept watching her while she was watching her young life memorialized in film.  She was smiling and most of the time her feet were moving to the steps in the film.  She was wearing some pretty red shoes and she had said she could remember that whole routine and her feet in those pretty red shoes showed just that.

My title, I wore flip flops to Shirley came from my desire to dress up to go to the historic Opera House and when all was said and done, we did not have time, room or energy to do more than a sundress and all I brought were flip flops.  At first I was disappointed in my lack of effort, but later I saw that we were not alone in our relaxed attire.

Take the time to do something different people!  Take a step or two out of your routine, you may be pleasantly surprised!  And you will have added to your own life experiences and shared someone else's life experiences.

Tofuuuuuti...........

In the movie Overboard, Edward Herrmann as Grant, wistfully missing a "girlfriend" whispers into a vase (as he would a seashell) calling out her name... "Tofuuuuuuti...."

That is how I feel, that is me calling out and missing the beach!!!!  "ocean waves.... water on my feet..."

You know I picked up some shells, but for the life of me I cannot remember what I did with them!

New Posts To Come

Upcoming Posts:
    I Wore Flip Flops To Shirley
    Oak Tree Alternative - Thanks Alot Ike!
    Lots Of Oldness In One Place

Still waiting on the restoration of my prepared posts - I am trying to be patient!
Can't create right now, I am working!

Don't leave me people!!!
   

I Am Seeing That They May Still Be Working On It

They may still be working on restoring.  I have asked the question but no answer yet.  I really hope so.  Restoring previous posts and the ones that were ready to publish will be a good thing.

Well I Am Not Happy

The blogger went down for about 24 hours and although they said they were putting recent blogs back in, mine is gone.

So my last blog is gone and the one I had ready to post is gone also.  I didn't have it saved anywhere but here and it took awhile to do.  It is gone.

Will rewrite but not happy about it.  If my short term memory loss didn't throw it all away...

I'm Back!

Yep I am back and I had a blast!  Actually left it all behind, work, house, laptop and everything!  And I loved it, I felt free as a bird!

This is a pic from the beach with all the gulls flying up, they let me get real close before they took off.

This is a sampling of the great food... I loved the oysters!!!

View from the hotel balcony...

More photos later...

I know you are supposed to blog as you have adventures, but seriously I needed a vacation!  I left almost all technology behind!

We went on vacation, myself and 7 girlfriends.  To Galveston for a whole week.  We had a blast and I will be posting several experiences and pictures as soon as I can.

Deal is, it is back to work and OMG I can only imagine the pile up from when I was gone.  So tomorrow morning I will experience the damage!  I am sure my work email is locked up from tons of email and tons of things I am instantly behind on.

That is me and Terri outside the hotel.

Be back later with more details and stories!

Now back to work and back to technology, I have to get all my pics downloaded!

Take a vacation people - re-charge!  It worked for me, I feel it right now, I will let you know if it worked past today!

God Bless Them All

I cannot help but continue to think about those towns and communities that were ravaged by the many tornadoes the other day.  I pray for all those that have lost family and loved ones.

I think of how excited I am for my upcoming vacation and then see the reports on the news and see the completely destroyed  areas.  My heart is saddened.  I know that there have been times in the long past of such tornado devastation but this is the worst I have seen.  So many areas at one time flattened completely.  My heart goes out to them. 

One of my friends like many has lost her job just recently.  Friday she left Texas with a donated van, donated trailer and many donated items, chain saws just to start.  I am so proud of her and just a tad jealous.  What a great thing and probably a sad thing, to be able to go and help support the many who are not only devastated by the loss of their homes and businesses, but also loss of loved ones.

I heard this morning that we will probably see tent cities rise up out of the rubble.  I thought about it and from what I have seen, there are complete towns structurally gone.

I also thought about all the jobs that these people went to everyday, in some places the businesses are gone also, there is no job to go to!  What an abrupt shock to normal life.

So God Bless them all.  The victims, their families, the workers and all those that are there and on their way there to support them.  Tragedy does always bring out the best in people, and from what I have seen, this one is no different.  God Bless them all, very much.

Keep them in your thoughts and prayers people!

Where The Heck Is The Yard Man???

Seriously, I am used to him coming about every 2 to 3 weeks!  And I haven't seen him in a month!

I have never gotten his number, didn't really need it.  He just shows up, does the yard, I pay him and he goes away until next time.  He does the house next door.  We spoke one time and then he started doing mine when he did theirs!  So I keep watching and waiting.  He is very good so I do not want to call someone else!

Now, he may be driving by looking at the front yards to check for need.  And the front yards are not as exhuberant at growing as the back yard.  The front looks fair but the back is slowly becoming High!  But he should know that right?  He is my yard man!

Just thought I would share my befuddlement of missing my yard man!

Ready Set Go!!!!!

I Am Packed and Ready to Go !!

I will be leaving soon to go on vacation! 

I am not sure I will blog much, but hope to put some pics on at least!

I have been going on vacation with a group of girlfriends for many years.  It started with most of us working at the same place years ago.  One by one we met, then another and another until we had a group friends that became more than just friends but rather like family.

We have all become involved for 20+ years with each others lives, close to each other's families.  We have scattered over the state and don't work together anymore.  But it has not diluted at all.  We get together as a whole 2 or 3 times a year and once a year we all go on vacation together.  This trip has been happening for about 15 years.

The first trip, I didn't attend, but it was river rafting and the housing was not much more than a hut on the river.

We have a January Christmas party where we discuss and decide on our destination.  Then we make our reservations and start getting excited.  Closer to the date there is a windfall of emails exclaiming our excitement and making plans, what we are taking and bragging without details to our choice of friend gifts for the annual trek.

This year is no different and our destination is Galveston.  We have rented a fairly famous big house on the island with history surrounding it.  It was dubbed the Rat Pack house of the 60s.  We will be attending the famed Opera House once and then most of the activities will of course be surrounding the beach and the house pool.

Don't want to come in contact with one of these!!

Be Happy People!!!  Take A Break!!!

The Wedding From My Point Of View

Curtsy, Curtsy, Bow, Bow, Walk, The Dress, Smile, Wave, Wave, Control the train, Kiss on the balcony!  Done! 

Looking at the future King and Queen.

There you go!

We have witnessed history, now where is the weather??  Moving on...

Storm Concerns

This fantastic photo is of one of the many this week in Texas.

I just wanted to post that my prayers and concerns are with all who have been devastated by the swath of tornadoes that have been rushing across the country.  It has been days of storms and tornadoes here in Texas and across the country.  My last heard count was about 17 tornadoes, maybe more, since Sunday in Texas alone.

My son watched one going by his work area and my daughter and family spent the better part of the evening in the bathtub a couple of nights ago.  Thank the Lord, I do not believe there was one loss of life here in Texas.  A friend of mine, texted a pic of the first one near her work just before they were sent for cover.

But in other states that was not the case.  My viewing of the news and the monster tornado that hit Tuscaloosa was sad.  That town was nearly destroyed.  My prayers are with them.

I watched last night as FB was filled with concerns for families by my friends and myself in other states.  One story was of a family member already helping to pull victims from debris.  One of my friends is working in Mississippi and is ok.  This is her second time in the week to be near harm's way.

We in Texas and surrounding states know that this is tornado season and we expect the storms, but obviously this particular week has had "super cells" which are somewhat rare.  Watching as these storms popped up all over the place at the same time with little warning, I was awed.  There were so many tornadoes covering vast areas at the same time, it was quite astonishing and worrisome.

I am glad for all those who are ok and prayerful for those who have lost loved ones and homes.

This morning there are still warnings out there in states in the east.

Just A Little Fort Worth Walkabout

Just a few photos in downtown Fort Worth...

Old And New

Bass Hall

Convention Center

I don't know but I like it...

Jamba!

(give me a break i was crossing street and pic'ing at the same time)

I

FW!

  



Razzoo'ing It In Downtown Fort Worth!

Went to eat with my daughter and grandson yesterday!  They are soooo wonderful and we had fun!  We went downtown Fort Worth to Razzoos!

We had some oysters, Gator, shrimp and of course some Rat Toes!!!

In case you don't know, Razzoos is Cajun Cuisine and Rat Toes are jalapenos stuffed with seafood and batter fried, served with Ranch dressing and yum and Hot!

Complete with Mardi Gras Beads!

Silly me I didn't take any pics of the food!!!

We had so much fun talking and laughing and I took only a handful of pics while we were there!

First a few Razzoo pics...

Ceiling Art...

Row Down!

Momma's Squeeze Box...

Plated Bird House...

What A Boar!

No Ma, I Have Not Been A Drinkin Beer, Like The Sign!

The King Of Zydeco - Vintage Poster

Looking Out...

Cool street clock and Bass Hall in the background...

Daughter and G-Son!

Texas Wildfires Border To Border

I don't usually do this but I am posting a url to some of the most amazing photography of the current wildfires here in Texas.  I wanted to share, see these... the photography is very impressive, the scenes are magnificently indicative of fire, its beauty and destructiveness and also blends the humanity.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/04/texas-wildfires/100050/

I am adding a quote that sums it up from Atlantic Wire:

To succinctly describe what's happening in the state today, many news outlets ran with this quote uttered by a Texas Forest Service spokesperson April Saginor:

"We're actually seeing Texas burn from border to border. We've got it in West Texas, in East Texas, in North Texas, in South Texas - it's all over the state...We've got one in the Dallas area that's four fires that have actually merged together."

And from me:  keep this, all the firefighters, the Texas people and their homes in your prayers.  The fires have been burning the better part of a month and just last night was reported to be only 25% contained.

I left my house a week ago and it appeared as if there was a fire nearby, there was such a haze in the air and you could smell the smoke.  Later that evening on the news it showed where we, in Fort Worth, were seeing the smoke from fires in near by counties.

Thank you Shelly for sharing this with me!!!