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While home for the holidays, dad and I ventured through some ol’ family photos as we consumed copious amounts of cinnamon-topped coffee. Here’s a fun photo of me & mom ~ as the reigning crown-winners (not kidding!) and title-holders (yes!) of California State Miss La Petite and California State Mrs (the only mother/daughter duo to have done so ~ big time!), we were asked to come back and perform the next year. What glamorous number did we perform?
Well, leave it to mom and I and how seriously we took the whole pageant thing, we performed “We’re A Couple Of Swells.” One of my favorite performances ever. I *heart* my mom.
And here’s the number as performed by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland to give you an idea of the actual song.
Previously I’ve mentioned that there is allegedly a dog in my hometown that plays an accordion. And allegedly this dog plays to a crowd on Saturday nights.
And last weekend… I saw him.
And it was fantastic.
Went to dinner at Sierra Sky Ranch which is rustic, notoriously haunted, features the head of a moose mounted on the wall which over-sees the dining room, and where we spotted a Real Cowboy dressed in black cowboy gear complete with spurs. SPURS, people. Spurs at dinner. (Pretty sure this was a real person rather than a ghost of some sort but one never knows…) (Do ghosts wear spurs?) (I was sort of expecting a wild west sort of shoot-out but unfortunately for my imagination that didn’t happen.)
Anyway, this is also where a band plays every weekend and features… a dog who plays the accordion.
At first he didn’t cooperate. See the cowboy (of the non-spur wearing variety) trying to get the little guy going? (I couldn’t resist capturing this on my camera-phone.)
Then he got into it (the dog…well, the cowboy too). He basically takes the rope that is connected to the accordion and pulls the rope with his teeth. Then the band plays with the beat set by the dog.
No joke. See?
So there we have it. Reason number 4,542,392 of why I love my hometown.
The morning of the 4th of July, I woke to the sounds of birds and *lovely* mountain quiet. Last week I had gone from NYC to SF to my small mountain hometown in Cali and, while I definitely enjoy zooming around the country, I was one oh-so-happy camper coming home to decompress and just BE for the weekend.
Well, I was enjoying the quiet until I went to an extended family BBQ on my new step-mother’s side… There were almost thirty people there, most of them children, and all of them related in one way or another. One immediate family alone was a solid thirteen. Thirteen! That’s eleven children and two adults. Then of course there were the uncles and nieces and nephews, etc., etc. Plus the grandparents…
The grandfather seemed to take a bit of a liking to me. And by *liking* I mean the way a child looks at a zoo animal or the way a mechanical man looks at a car on display at a car show.
Him: “You were in New York City??”
Me: I sure was!
Him: Wow… The high-rises and everything?
Me: Yep, the high-rises and all!
Him: Wow….
Then he’d leave to get seven-layer dip.
Then he’d come back.
Him: Wow… So you have an elevator where you live?
Me: I do have an elevator, yeah.
Him: Wow! (then he’d turn to his wife) She’s been in high-rises in New York City and has an elevator where she lives. An ELEVATOR.
Then he’d leave to get more seven-layer dip.
Then he’d come back.
This went on for a couple of hours. It was quite funny ~ it’s a great reminder to enjoy the adventure of life. And I must say, it also made me grateful that I have a family who celebrates my independence and has always encouraged me to have adventures.
As if I actually need encouraging…
So here’s to celebrating our country’s independence ~ and our own inner and outer freedom.
From NYC (elevators!) to the my lil’ mountain hometown in Cali… Cheers!
