Gem

 

Hopefully the picture I talked about at the Memorial for Gem will show up, as well as the edited portion that does shoe how he was hamming it up a little bit. This picture was taken in December of 1988 - obviously on or near Christmas. There are other pictures someplace in my computer - one of just the seven grandkids present at that time (sorry, Greg - you were just a high hope!)

The Very Best Music Man

Since it a few years too late for Greg and Janet to see the "very best Music Man" ever on stage I will write about it. By the way, I have always preferred stage to movies - just one of my 110 idiosyscracies!
The summer of 1971 Rich read an article in the newspaper - there were tryouts to be one of boys in the band at a Foothill College production of Music Man. He thought that would really be neat and I agreed so off we went. Well, as it turned out, any boy would do so he was assured of being in it. Since this was a summer course at the college I had to register. Thus began on of the best eight weeks in my life. Anyhow, the way they did things, Rich went off with the vocal instructor and all the other boys and girls while other things went on in the auditorium. Later they all returned and much to my amazement who was standing up in the middle of the stage, all by himself singing - yes, Rich!
So, there were rehearsals five nights a week from seven to ten for six weeks - and I dutifully attended them all - and knit an Irish sweater for Shellie while at it. And, of course, Rich very quickly knew all the parts and the words to all the songs. The music director was really pleased as he didn't know how he could get Rich to burst into "Gary, Indiana" on the right key - that is til he discovered that Rich had perfect pitch. Rich sang night and day that whole time.
The musical was performed Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for two weeks. It was very successful! Rich gave up singing all the time once it was over and later would not even sing one of his songs for Karen who was not home from college that summer and had missed the show.
Actually, I had seen the New York roadshow company put it on in San Francisco and they did a good job - but none could ever compare with the one Rich was in and I sincerely mean - never!

Excitement!

My life has been too boring to take computer in hand and invent a blog - that is, until Monday! Wow!! Before going to bed Sunday night, I decided to turn my computer clear off - which I do rather rarely. In the morning, all set to peruse blogs, I found it just part way off and refusing to respond to all my efforts. I spent Monday wondering what I should do. Finally Tuesday PM I called my server and they said to bring it in. By then I had decided that the on/off buttong did not seem to feel "right" and that was exactly the problem. Anyhow, to make a long story short I rehooked all the doodads but it still would not work. Through the process of elimination I rechecked the wall plug - ah, success! A working computer is a marvelous thing!

help for the helpless

I have been studying train schedules on line and trying to determine if there is any way I can go from Colfax to Bakersfield - and what would it cost? So, I started filling out a form and messed up immediately - and so I tried to determine how to undo the mess up and failed - so I was frustrated and departed the train schedule. I know I would have to change trains in Sacramento. I would probably go on this journey in July and perhaps be gone 4 or 5 days. Anyhow, if any one or all of you would tackle this and then develop a simple step by step instruction sheet - I would be so grateful! My hopes are high! m-g

Sentimental

I find that I am quite emotional about graduations - even shedding a few tears at Greg's. Somehow, seeing an era end brings my emotions to the fore - perhaps, it is looking back and recognizing that the HS years have some very special memories - but, those years are really just another chapter. Obviously, I am having difficulty with finding the right words. I have also shed tears at college graduations - starting with my sister, Jeanne, who graduated from Iowa State while I was still in HS. Enuf of that!

Anyhow, it was a special weekend - lots of fun with Shellie, Rich and Chris. Ended up too weary to go on up to Incline Village for a couple of days with friends at there time-share. Just as Greta Garbo was famous for saying "I want to be alone" I found that was what I most needed. As it turns out - being alone has meant tackling the weeds in my backyard - very healthy weeds - and very stubborn about being pulled from the ground.

The Rains Came

It seemed like the hardest rain ever - the cul de sac looked like a river as it was entirely covered by a couple of inches of rushing water. Then there was the ligntning and thunder - spectacular. The first episode was around 10:15 - and there were at least two more during the night. Weird! But it does mean that I didn't need to to the watering I did yesterday - and that I do not have to finish the watering today! What is so rare as a wonderful thunder/rain storm in June?

A longggggg day

Up at 5 AM so I could join Jennifer in Auburn to head for the courthouse in South Tahoe. Once there we slowly discovered that her time in court did not start at 8:30 per info she had but 10:30 - so we sort of flopped around while visions of lost sleep danced in our heads.
Anyhow, the moment finally came and worked out somewhat better than it might have - that was good. I was quite impressed with the judge and also with Jennifer who had to talk about the situation. She was so calm and sincere - if that makes sense.
Once again, I really enjoyed the time with Jen and I had a nice nap once home and am ready to ramble - but have no place to ramble.