~GOD, PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY MEMORIES FROM ME~

It was so quiet today.  I slept a bit late and have found out that my hearing loss is ..not fun but interesting.  If I am sleeping on my left side, a ringing telephone just sounds like a cat purring.

  Found that out today.

 

My world is quieter, that's for sure..but now I am beginning to wonder if my piano playing sounds as good as I think it does. :)

 

See his little UGGS?  Yep, Grandma Duffy bought them for him!

 

My neighbor called me, rousting me out of bed early..BEFORE my first cup of coffee.

There was an Estate Sale within walking distance and did I want to go?

Sure, but give me five minutes. 

 

Brushed  teeth and washed face..

Wadded hair up into a big bun on the back of my head and secured it with a BIG clip...

Slipped on a pair of jeans, my UGG loafers, a toasty sweater and I was ready.

Oops!  Warm day.  WHAT?  Would you believe it reached 80 today?

*sigh*

Off came the sweater!

 

So much for Winter but they do say that it is suppose to begin cooling on Monday and be raining by the middle of the weekand through the rest of the week.  THANK HEAVENS!

 

Not ready for a season change just yet. 

Our grass is green as can be..and things are beginning to bloom, so Spring is definitely around the corner. 

No real Winter to speak of.  Except in the mountains  of course.

Would you believe in one direction, we are within about 45 minutes of the ocean and in the other direction are the San Bernadino mountains..

and of to the East is the desert.  Palm Springs, no less.

With all the rain we have gotten, Southern California is going to have a spectacular Springtime.

And of course we are only a few hours from Las Vegas...

 

God's country! 

See?  This is why I can't leave California.  I have to have sights like this...and in the other direction the ocean.. I need to be able to get to both.  I need to be able to drive to San Francisco where I spent my honeymoon with Pat and lived for the first six months of our marriage.

 

San Francisco.  NOW there is an exciting city! 

Who did I see?  Well, let me see....

Marilyn Monroe, Joe Demagio, Joe Louis, Mel Torme', who, I might add came right up to me and asked me where City Hall was and chatted with me!  He was really sort of flirty.  I was working at my first job as an usherette at the Strand Theatre on Market St. in San Francisco.  I was only 17 at the time and he was an OLD man, for heaven sakes!

He was 27 years old!  I have to laugh at that now.  I remember him being short, blondish and very, very sweet.

One evening while walking home from the theatre, I always had to walk by interesting places and one was a little club like place with a heavy velvet curtain hanging across the door.  Guess who was playing that night?  Gene Krupa.  You don't know him?  Only one of the most famous drummers ever!

I couldn't get in but I stopped and stood next to the building listening to crowd inside and Gene bang away on those drums.  He was famous but there was only one of those folding signs sitting on the sidewalk with the words "Gene Krupa Appearing" The doorman smiled and spoke to  me..and I listened awhile and finally walked on home.

Today...I would NOT have been safe. 

Times have changed.

Famous people playing everywhere and many of the places I walked by every day, but at 17 and 20, Pat and I were way too young to get in. 

I walked that city from end to end.  Hyde Park, North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, China Town..all of it. 

I stood and watched the little cable cars get turned around at the bottom of the hill..

Sometime I rode it...

I remember sending my mother in San Diego a post card with a cable car being turned around and made a little circle of where I was standing that day.  I think it tickeled her.

 

 Pat had just come home from Korea but couldn't get in a night club. Can you believe that?

Well...probably for the best.  You know...we were very young.  But HOW I wanted to see the stars.

Margaret Whiting was singing at THE FAIRMONT HOTEL just around the corner from our apartment!  I would, again just walk by and watch the people arrive.

I remember it all so well.  The smells of China Town and Fisherman's Wharf, the sights, the sound of the cable cars, the old lamp posts that lined Market Street, and the people.

And Pat.  I had Pat.

We had only just begun.

 God has been good.  He has given me these memories to share with you.

 

It's late.  I haven't taken any picture of my Estate Sale finds, but I will tomorrow. 

Tomorrow some of my children will be here to visit..and..

my dearest daughter in law just emailed me that she has my CAKE for me! 

OH JOY!!

 

 

Bless her little Irish heart!

 

Love and such,

Mona

 

The Man Hunt...

p.s. What happened up in those mountain I don't even want to talk about. 

 Already there is a controversy about the million dollars.  Should it go to the..man in the pickup truck with the dog..or the two housekeepers he tied up.  Both called in.  One housekeeper was able to get out of her ropes and call for help.  Question, which was first.  If you don't think there is going to be a lot going on about that million dollars...think again.

They will probably say it goes to no one because he was not apprehended and arrested. 

Watch and see.