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Tour de California

You know about the Tour de France, right? We had the Tour of California speed through our little town. This was a professional race which included 18 teams, for a total of 144 riders. They rode 700 miles from San Francisco to Long Beach. It took about a week. My town was the 6th and final stop before the final day in Long Beach. It was also an occasion to raise funds for cancer research, care, educational awareness, and treatment.

First came the Lifestyle Festival with several booths manned by the sponsoring teams. They gave out lots of freebies like chapstick (waves to MM), sunscreen, bag holders, water, tape measures, compasses, olive oil (not Popeye's gf), pens, post it note pads, jelly beans (ugh, they had Vit B in them and tasted horrible), shirts, key chains, pill holders, and flashlights.

A family ride for local families came before the professional cyclists got into town around 2:30 pm. There was also a female-only race featuring elite women riders from all over the world. The racers passed the finish line 3 times as they ended their day with 3 circuits around town. The Discovery team won! We all cheered them on as they sped by. It was really exciting. Now we want to dig out our bikes, get them overhauled and start riding again.

Shower the People You Love With Love, Show Them the Way You Feel

We went to the James Taylor concert last night. It was in a small theater, seating 1900 people. It was so personal and he was so personable. He spoke and commented about his songs almost as much as he sang. He showed slides and videos and told funny stories about his career. He couldn't recall if he was Joni Mitchell's bitch or if she was his bitch.

He had a huge home-made drum set. "Have you ever taken apart a music box before? It's just like that--except it's 500 times bigger and plays the drums instead of a musical comb," Taylor says. "It makes a bass drum sound that is loud and deep and killer. I have a wood shop and I mostly fix things that the kids and myself have broken. I made the prototype and I took it to a cabinet shop owned by a man named Gordon Fairfield. He made the cabinets for my kitchen, and I showed him the prototype of it. He said, "Here's how to improve it." It evolved as we went along."

Only one keyboard player accompanied him. For a couple of songs, his wife's choir, The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, accompanied him on video. He told the history of "Sweet Baby James." He wrote it while driving from Canada back home to North Carolina. His sister had recently given birth to a son named James so he wanted to write a cowboy lullaby for the baby. Thus the lullaby and lyrics about snow on the turnpike near Boston. He was driving his first car, an English car, a Ford Cortina that he bought in 1968. This was right after his big break, signing with Apple records and the Beatles in 1968.

Taylor used both his between-song monologues and the slideshow to paint a sharper picture of himself than most fans have ever seen before. One moment occurred when he showed a picture of his father, who was absent during much of Taylor's childhood years. He shared his heartfelt memories of those days, which added new meaning to the next number, "Mean Old Man."

At the end of intermission, and after each of the 4 encores, he shook hands with audience members and signed autographs. I felt like we were in his own den, listening to some great music and watching some family videos.

I Surrender

I did it. I'm in the Cult of the New Blogger. Ack! I'm not happy about this. I feel like I've given up my freedom of choice.



In other news, CVS pharmacy had, not 50% off, but 75% off on their Valentine's Day candy, oops I mean chocolate. I bought a few Reeese's peanut butter hearts and a few chocolate covered marshmallow and strawberry hearts. That's it.



My friend is on a special diet. Among other things, she doesn't eat flour anymore. So she buys Ezekiel bread. You can find it at Trader Joes and at Whole Foods. It comes as a loaf, English muffins, tortilla, and buns. I bought some yesterday and am trying it right now. It's not bad. Tastes healthy.

We went to the Ronald Reagan museum on Saturday. We saw the Air Force 1 jet and the Marine 1 helicopter that he used. We also saw his gravesite. There was a special exhibit of the First Ladies' red dresses, too.



We went to Qdoba's Mexican grill today for the first time. Delicious, fresh Mexican food. I think they're located all over the country. You order yourself at the counter and they bring the food to you. It's sort of like a Baja Fresh or Rubio's.



Finally, I bought concert tickets on ebay, all below face value. We're going to see James Taylor in a very nice small venue (it used to be a movie theater) on Wednesday night. We'll see Rod Stewart in March. I've seen them both in person before and can hardly wait!



Here's a picture of my little girl:

Still strolling along the old blogger path

I skipped the new blogger and went directly to my old dashboard. I have not yet crossed over to the dark side!

I've been copying my old slides to CD's. What a trip down memory lane! Here's a couple of picture of my St. Bernard that I used to have. She's a puppy in the second picture.




Here's a mural that we had in our old house. A student from California University of the Arts painted it for us. The guy who painted it is standing next to the mural.


Years ago, I bought a Sara Lee cheesecake. When I removed the sticker from the front of the package, this is what I found:



Here is a nighttime view of the 405 freeway. It's right around the place where the crane fell a few days ago.



I'm watching the pre-football show now. They don't have this much entertainment and hoopla for the Presidential Inauguration! It's not the Olympics. It's a football game. Let's see, it's the white and blue team against the blue and orange team. Go, team!