Getting into our 10 Xmas outfits

Here is Doc in his Xmas shirt to match his hat with the green hat band and I in my teddy bear Xmas shirt. We must find costumes for our Christmas album. I think this might be a slightly comic one of country songs sung well by Doc and terrible by me as his bad GF singer with the ever burning desire to sing. We might put some of this up on Youtube but our album will be sent to you if I have your address unless you protest! Only because we love and want to reward our fans. If I dont have your address I will honor all your requests for one if you send me your address. I have not broke the news to Doc yet, because if I did he would have me filming this album day and night from now til Xmas. He forced me to make an after Thanksgiving one to send to my sister Ann who he regards as his best fan. She is kind.
I am going to go to the theater this afternoon with my friends Nola and Joyce, thanks to Joyce's free tickests for a black theater company play in the Viad Playhousse just up the street. I just love that theater. It's perfect for their company. I have been thinking all morning about what to wear, I think my new red blouse and black velvet pants and a black cap. Those ladies who attend are stylish! Sticking to a Xmas color!
Xmas has lifted my spirits as I hope it does yours. I mailed the first of my packages of books to go north to Utah today. Two to my sister Ann. I have another big one to send later on. I have some for my sister Margie and my niece Cheryl. I am going to pick out one for my niece Carissa in SF. I hope I can find one she does not have in her remarkable library. I don't think Raymond will want one while he is still traveling around, so I will hold up on his. I am still looking for special ones. Talley ho and good shopping!

Christmas shopping has commenced!

I am one of those people that likes to open and give presents all during December, so I have given Doc his first one, two new towels from Mervyn's going out of business sale to go with the cranberry bath mat I bought him several weeks ago, pictured in the photo above. He needed to get rid of those ratty old towels NOW.
Here I am in my new Christmas hat.
I have been to the thrift store this morning and bought a brand new pair of black boots for around $3.50. Today was senior citizen 30 percent off day. I love this store! I take size 11 in boots so I rarely find any my size in the thrift store.
I bought wrapping paper, very pretty. I also found Doc a Xmas shirt that will match his hat with the green hat band! And several books to add to my collection, from which I will select book gifts for the family. That is always so much fun matching up books with personalities and interests.
Raymond caught a bad cold in the damp weather in L.A., but I hope the sun came out today and warmed him up. I am finding his blog fascinating, so if you aren't too busy check out how a playwright takes his plays to L.A. and finds a way to get them up. He should blog this experience. He will be making history. (Not many try this) http://cowboysandbohemians.blogspot.com
I even enjoyed the bus ride with all of humanity having fun getting ready for Xmas it seems. The whole bus load was in a good mood

Thanksgiving lovely out to daughter Ronda's

I did not take my camera because I knew my daughter was stressed, so didn't want to risk adding any kind of annoying factor to her day. She has always been a little concerned about my posting photos of her family on the Internet. So I am posting my favorite photo of her and me together where you can really tell we are closely related. She was so exhausted from her hard studying to finish up her nurse program in college, that she fell asleep after dinner, watching the Cardinal-Eagles football game (our guys tanked), and her husband Chad who had put up lights outside and the tree that day fell asleep, too. I thought this is a very hard working couple. Chad had jumped up and cleared up all the dishes and sent them to the dishasher, put things away too. He is about the most ideal husband helper I have seen. You know I have never seen him say a cross word to his wife and kids. He is unbelievable, but they respect him and want to please him. He is a born manager who has made himself indispensible to the company where he works.
I had commented last time I was there their dog Bailey was getting fat, and low and behold he was thin again and Chad says he tries to take him walkng and running as often as he can. I suggested maybe they could get him a little dog treadmill to run beside them on theirs when it is too hot to run in 110 weather. Do they have dog treadmills? I love their dog. His good character shines in his eyes and his demeanor at all time. I think he is a border terrior. (Sp) Am I still thinking terrorist, anyway he is certainly not a dog terrorist although he does bark loudly to alert the family about anyone messing around the front door.
Ronda said she was too tired to cook so they were ordering Fry's Thanksgiving dinner. I warned Doc I might not be able to bring this poor shut in (for his own sake as well as family's) a plate of turkey, but the turkey Fry's sent was good enough size, Ronda sent her usual Thankgiving giveaway plate home with everyone. I made the most delicious fruit salad ever because all the fruits were perfect especially the pineapple. My grandsons Jamal and Dante love this salad, I have made it so many years. They would rather have it than pie. The grandsons, Jamal, Ethan, and Dante were all nice and thin and will not need to be put on diets or run more.
Dante said that his his mother's BF and father of her two little ones got laid off, so they are eating lots of beans and rice. He is a professional operator but work finally dried up for him, too, on the big machines. Dante's other grandma lives with them and contributes when they need it, so he says they will not be evicted or starve. His mother needs to take care of the two little ones for a while longer before she can join the workforce again.
My son Gary did not come as his family lives in Flagstaff, so he usually tries to go there atleast a day, but he has been working overtime he said to keep the construction company he is working for from going bankrupt. He is making sure the job is done fast and well, so they can get more jobs. He took me out to breakfast the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that was nice.
I got hold of Raymond in Los Angeles who had dinner at his friend Ken's house. I asked him if Ken was prepared to do "Blue Baby." He said he was scared to death! I don't blame him. That is some part. Raymond will act in his one man show of course. He wrote a good entry about his thoughts on Thanksgiving. He also said that it hurt him to see me with Doc on a video not at his best because of the drinking, because he tended to throttle my vision with a primitive joke. I do feel a captive at times of a madman who feels he must kill himself. Raymond is taking the precaution of looking up AA meetings to attend in L.A. which he does if he can wherever he goes.
My son Dan took me out to Ronda's. He was in good spirits as he does not think he will be laid off. Work might dry up some in the summer. We all had a good time together. I hope your Thankgiving get together with your family was as good as mine!

"Gem of the Ocean," August Wilson play a great afternoon of theater...

My friend Joyce, in the photo, gave me a free ticket to this play which turned out to be a grand outing, of the sort I just love. The Black Theater Company is now housed in the lovely theater space in the Viad Building just up the street. The grounds are so beautiful. Joyce was considered for one of the roles in the play, written by the tremendous black playwright who has had so many hit plays on Broadway. A company that would take on the challenges of this play deserves a good review, because everyone possible should see it. I think Joyce would have been stupendous in the role. The younger woman who took on the part of a woman who says she is 375 years old, something like that, had all she could handle trying to capture the depth of an older woman. I couldn't help but wish that they had gone with Joyce because she deserved this part, but the guy who played the older man who was her love interest was a younger man, too. He performed an older man well, but that was just it, he had to perform the age as did the actress, neither were that age, as Joyce is, who has one of the most remarkable memories I have encountered in actresses. This was a big part and she might have done something absolutely stunning with it, she has now had so much experiences on the stage.
I have seen nearly everyone of her performances, and I kept thinking of how she would have said this magnificent speech and that one. Joyce has a wonderful voice for the stage, too, deep and resonant. I thought with the exception of one or two some of the performers were having trouble breaking up the sing song rhythms they fell into of this musical playwright's dialogue. They were having trouble at first especially getting into the lower registers of their voices where emotion can resonate much better than in the higher tones. But one expects flaws in a play production. Not everything can be perfect, but the performers you could tell loved what they were trying to portray, so altogether it was just a remarkable afternoon of theater. Thank you, Joyce, as always for thinking of me and giving a very valuable gift.