Thanksgiving with Barbra, Bonnie, Mick and Keith

Thanksgiving week was eventful. On Monday night, we saw Barbra Streisand in concert! We bought tickets at 1/3 the face value, on ebay. We bought 4 tickets, so we brought two friends. One friend uses a cane so we sped to the front of the line and were one of the first ones in the auditorium. Streisand was fantastic! I loved Il Divo, the 4 hunky men who sang with her (swooned at "Music of the Night"). They also sang when she changed outfits.

Barbra wore heels with the first dress, flats with her dressy pants suit, and then heels again with the third dress. After intermission, she kicked off her shoes and was barefoot for the rest of the night. Her voice was extraordinary. I especially liked "Somewhere" from West Side Story, and "The Way We Were."

The audience included Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Ben Stiller, Shirley MacLaine, Rosie O'Donnell, Meg Ryan, Sidney Poitier, Quincy Jones, Rob Lowe, Bill Maher, Kenny G., Barry Manilow, Senator Barbara Boxer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. And Puffy.

She used 8 teleprompters, which means she must be forgetful and have Senioritis, too. Walking back to the car, we saw more limos and s-t-r-e-t-c-h limos than I had ever seen before. They went on for blocks and blocks.

Two nights later, we saw the Rolling Stones, also buying tickets on ebay for 1/2 the face value. We wanted to get there early to avoid pre-Thanksgiving traffic. We hoped to eat our sandwiches next to the car, in a sort of tailgate party. Security told us it was illegal to have a tailgate party in the city of Los Angeles and we could bring our food into the stadium. On the way in, we saw the police ticketing others for tailgating (a $300 fine). Security at the gate wouldn't let us bring in food so we sat on a curb and finished up our sandwiches. I wasn't about to pay $6 for water or $7.50 for peanuts. Beer was anywhere from $7-12, depending on the type you wanted.

Bonnie Raitt opened at 7 pm exactly and performed for an hour. "I Can't Make You Love Me" was so cool! She was great. The Stones didn't come out until 9:15, but they performed for 2 hours! Mick is about the same age as Barbra, so they must both have foot problems. *grin* He wore tennis shoes. But I'd love to bottle his energy. He skipped, he ran, he did jumping jacks, he never stopped moving across the stage.

Bonnie Raitt came back out for a duet with Mick. Keith Richards sang a few songs while Mick changed clothes. There were fireworks, and sparkling, changing lights. The weather was perfect and the crowd was great.

Here's the some of the songs they played:
Jumping Jack Flash
It's Only Rock'n Roll
Oh No Not You Again
She Was Hot
Loving Cup
You Got The Silver (Keith)
Connection (Keith)
Under My Thumb
She's So Cold
Start Me Up
Honky Tonk Women
Sympathy For The Devil
Paint It Black
Brown Sugar
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Satisfaction

Turkey day was fun, too. We were at my cousin's for Thanksgiving. She said she never freezes and reheats cooked meat. I do, do you?

Today we are making our own turkey and stuffing/dressing.

(30 mins later) OMG, it's delicious! We'll have lots of yummy leftovers. I hope you all had a happy Turkey Day!

Peep Meet Alert

Sharnina and her family drove down for a Disneyland vacation and stopped her on the way. We met at the door with a hug and I showed her some prior peep meet and banana pictures. I met her husband and 2 friendly daughters. We all had some pizza and then Mr. Puffy took the obligatory picture. We had a great visit. Sharnina and her family are so sweet. *smooch Sharnina*

In other news:
1. I saw a license plate the other day: WTF EVR
2. We have some Halloween candy left over. I adore Butterfinger Crisps. My tastebuds caress each morsel.

SPIDERS!

Yes, Spiders. A whole hour of spiders. My cousin, the scientist *waves to Bob* was in town and wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History to see the special exhibit on spiders at the SPIDER PAVILION. Why couldn't he have visited during the summer when the butterflies were in the same area, but it was named the BUTTERFLY PAVILION?

We went in through double doors, because heaven forbid that a spider should escape from the outdoor screened-in area. The pavilion was full of natural bushes and small trees, and also full of spiders. A museum educator was in there, too, telling us all about the spiders. She sprayed their webs with water so we could see them better in the sunlight.

I learned a lot. Each egg sac holds 100's of eggs, but only about 20 survive. We saw a couple of egg sacs but it is the end of spider season now. If I had been *fortunate* enough to have visited 6 weeks ago, I would have seen hundreds of spiders in their natural habitat, creating webs and eating each other and other bugs. Luckily, the exhibit closed the day after I was there, and there weren't too many left. If a web is destroyed, the spider can create a new one in about 1-2 hours.

Normally in September and October, there are 1 million spiders in any 2 1/2 acre area. Of course I thought of all of you, with your spider problems in recent months. Now we know why they were so prevalent in September and October.

I saw all kinds of spiders, from tarantulas, to a 5-legged spider who they had to hand-feed. After the museum we went to the new Walt Disney Concert Hall to see a blues guitarist by the name of Keb'Mo'. Check him out online, he was great!