Friday we had a staff holiday party for those who work at the Humane Society of the North Bay. I got to hold one of the shelter’s recent successful adoptees. She was surrendered to us with parvo, a life-threatening disease that often kills puppies, but thank goodness she survived the treatment the shelter provided for her. Shando and I donate a lot of our time to this great organization that helps the homeless cats and dogs in our area. Please consider supporting them with a donation at www.HSNB.org/donate
As President of the Glen Cove Community Association, I was happy to participate in a gift to Bob and Linda Taylor for their extraordinary contribution to the joy of our area. This may be the last year that they do the spectacle, which can be seen as a beacon of light from the nearby freeway.
GCCA is happy to contribute toward what must be an astronomical electric bill. Many know the story that this display began as a tribute to Bob’s daughter, who died in a plane accident years ago. She was a big fan of the holiday and decorations.
This is GCCA with many board members and their partners presenting the check to the Taylors.
Here is some footage of Shando and the view from the corner and cub, which lets one see only a small fraction of the decorations. Visitors are welcome to walk all around the side and front yard.
The Steampunk Santa crew with grand marshall Drew Lago and his companion.
While we lived here last year, I regret I was too exhausted from the Photos with Santa in 2021 to participate. This year both Shando and I participated. We were highly impressed with the whole shebang. We intend to be even better prepared next year when there will hopefully not be as much rain. I’m glad we all muddled through though!
In a very poignant gesture, Santa Tom Bilbo put a big pink “Q” at the back of the float, which represented our solidarity with our brothers and sisters who were targeted for being LGBTQ (as all of this float’s participants were in that category or an ally). It is also a symbol against gun violence and assault weapons being available for civilians, to paraphrase Tom when being interviewed for Vallejo Times Herald.
It could happen! Once in a while, I can proudly land a perfect one. I row with the Solano Rowing Club on a whaleboat most weekends. Maybe you had to be there, but while we were putting the boat away for storage today our coxswain Alison said, “next time we’ll work on ab holds”
I retorted, “What did you call me!?”
Coxswain Alison with Becky & Karen as strokes. We often see sea lions swimming by!
An original quote from yours truly is that “laughter is the best revenge against death,” by which I mean we can laugh and that alone makes life worth living. On another macabre note, I always wished I could sleep less when one thinks that a 75-year-old person has slept away 25 years of his or her life. I’ll never forget the chill I get when I heard the antagonist in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea claim “sleep is just a slice of death.”
Now for a segue.
We recently lost the goddess of candy pants, Judy Tenuta, to fucking ovarian cancer at the age of 73 (the same age my mother was when she died of fucking ovarian cancer in 2016). I saw Judy live in New York City years ago to my glee. Riding the subway home I had to hold on to my companion because I thought I’d fall on the subway tracks I was such jelly from recalling her jokes. I’ve always gravitated toward funny women, which partly explains my Streisand fandom, but Judy’s wit will be so uniquely missed. I went out and ordered her books and whatever else I could find on her but I always searched for her online to see what she was up to. I recently read her first book on the plane to Hawaii and quickly started using her quips with my husband on vacation. I still believe Judy was very underrated.
Fortunately, Judy was sometimes on the Stephanie Miller Showto talk about not just politics in her special way, but also her attempt to KICK CANCER’S ASS. I do listen to Stephanie Miller every morning on FreeSpeechTV and encourage everyone to join in. Stephanie spoke at Judy’s celebration of life recently. Through the last several years of SCOTUS packing and general mayhem in American federal politics, comedy like Stephanie’s and Judy’s has kept me sane.
“Is anybody hearing this? I feel like I’m taking CRAZY pills!” — Will Farrell
As part of our year-end efforts with fundraising for Humane Society of the North Bay, we were featured in the Vallejo Times-Herald on the cover again (see below). Yesterday was the first of two times we are doing this fundraiser in 2022.
The things we do for charity!
Photo credits for some of these are Andrea Rodoni and Manny Furtado.
Here I am as President of GCCAintroducing the Board and the speakers that we had from City of Vallejo Landscape Maintenance District and the Red Cross.
The first time Shando and I were in Kauai in 2018 we promised ourselves that we would participate in this when we returned since that trip was full of activities and we didn’t have the time.
This shelter has amazing grounds and a great program to allow tourists on Kauai to take a shelter animal on a field trip. Kawai was a wonderful older female who we enjoyed bringing to an arboretum up a mountain and then to a dog-friendly beach.
Halloween was in the air at the Farmers Market on this day when we tabled for Humane Society of the North Bay, as volunteers and I do about once a month year-round. In hindsight, we REALLY should have had some candy to hand out. Oops.
