Cloudy With a Chance of Rain

Posted on by

“When I was in the hospital they gave me apple juice every morning,
even after I told them I didn’t like it. I had to get even.
One morning, I poured the apple juice into the specimen tube.
The nurse held it up and said, ‘It’s a little cloudy.’
I took the tube from her and said,
‘Let me run it through again,’
and drank it. The nurse fainted.”
Alan King

Clouds
The clouds are high as ones eye can see
Spanning the width of the never ending sea
I can feel the pressure in every part of me
Pressure building
Waiting for the rain
I don’t need the weather man
To tell me about the precipitation
I can feel it and see it that’s all I need
Telling each part of me
That it’s cloudy with a chance of rain
By: J R

Shine On

Funny Girl

Posted on by

“People
People who
need people
Are the luckiest
people in the world.”
Bob Merrill 

Funny Girl Album Cover from 1966 Broadway Show

Funny Girl Album Cover from 1965 Broadway Show

One of my all time favorite musicals “Funny Girl” was on television the other night. I was just a kid when my parents brought this Broadway hit album home in 1965. It didn’t take me long before I had every lyric of every song memorized.

“Funny Girl” became a huge hit, not only as a Broadway Musical but also as a movie. I was too young to see the Broadway version, but I was the first in line at the movie theater with my friends when it was released in September 1968.

I can remember sitting in the movie theater singing along with Streisand as she sang each and every song. My friends were blown away that I knew all the lyrics. Especially since I hadn’t told them I knew all the music. I just thought every kid knew the lyrics. Guess I was wrong.

To my surprise, when I watched the movie the other day, all the lyrics came back to me. How is it I can’t remember what I made for breakfast two days ago, but start playing the music from “Funny Girl” and I start singing along without missing a note or lyric. Guess I’m just a funny girl.

Shine On

The Carousel of Life

Posted on by

“And the seasons, they go round and round,
And the painted ponies go up and down.
We’re captive on the carousel of time.”
Joni Mitchell

The Carousel

Life is like a carousel
That spins within our life
And we are only passengers
Riding along up and down
While the world spins slowly around

Life is such a carousel
Brilliant colors, shiny objects
For all to see and touch
Music from every style and range
For all to hear and love

Life was once a carousel
For all the young and old
No worries or cares
Just simple joys
Love once made our world go around

Life is just a carousel
With all it’s ups and downs
You must hold on
Until the ride is over
And then you must step down

By:  J R 

Shine On

And Away They Go

Posted on by

“The profession of book writing
makes horse racing seem
like a solid, stable business.”
John Steinbeck

Santa Anita Track

Santa Anita Thoroughbred Race Track located in Arcadia, California.

Every once in a while, I find myself watching horse racing on “TVG”, our local horse racing channel. It’s fun to pick a horse and not be emotionally involved with actually winning or losing. I guess I’m more mesmerized by the beautiful horses than anything. To be honest, I really don’t like the business of horse racing. Having worked briefly in the industry with the horses, I don’t like how the thousands of discarded race horses are treated. Unless they are one of the few and fortunate horses that become successful and famous. This is an entire story in itself.

The closest track to us is Santa Anita Race Track. It is a beautiful old track built in 1934, just six years before Seabiscuit won the Santa Anita Handicap. It is also where Affirmed and Laffit Pincay Jr. won the Santa Anita Handicap to set them on their run towards the 1978 Triple Crown title. Affirmed would go on to claim all three Triple Crown races that year — being the last horse to do so.

The first time I visited Santa Anita race track it wasn’t to see horse racing. It was during the 1984 Summer Olympics. They held the dressage Olympic events there. I was fortunate enough to witness Hilda Gurney, along with other US dressage athletes win sixth place for the US Olympic Dressage Team.

Watching the horses race on TV is easier than going to the track, but not quite as exciting. Often after my husband and I have got the racing bug, we’ll drive over to Santa Anita race track for some live action. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but we always have a great day at Santa Anita win or lose.

No matter how many times I see the horses race at Santa Anita, I still get goosebumps when I hear the track announcer, Trevor Denman say, “And away they go.”

Shine On

New York Pizza Made in California

Posted on by

“Like sex there is no such thing as bad pizza.
It just is an extraordinary taste treat.”
Andrew Zimmern

Homemade Pizza Pie

Our Homemade Pizza Pie

Who doesn’t love pizza. In fact, I don’t think I know one person that says they hate pizza. It’s been a staple in my family and my husband’s family all our life.

My husband is from New York, so he knows that the best pizza comes from New York. We have been searching for good pizza in Southern California for the past 23 years. It’s mission impossible when it comes to good pizza made in California. I’ve been telling my husband that the reason is the water. California water is so horrible compared with New York’s water. That’s the only ingredient that is missing from California pizza. But, he never believed me until we were at Cortina’s and an Italian women from New York City agreed with me about my water theory.

We decided to try our hand at home made pizza. I made the crust from scratch; I bought fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh homemade sauce. We cooked it at 500 degrees on our grill. I thought it tasted pretty good. My husband said it was good, but it still didn’t taste like New York pizza. He agreed with me that it must be the New York water that makes “real” New York pizza so delicious.

Our next attempt at pizza will be using New York water. We just haven’t figured out how our New York City friends can send us some New York tap water. When we do figure out how to get the water, we’ll have the best “real” New York pizza made in California.

Shine On