"When the moon....

...is in the 7th House..."

I saw the coolest thing the other night! On Tuesday, Dec. 30 there was supposed to be a conjunction in the night sky where you could see three planets and the moon. We went outside just after sunset and lo and behold...we saw them!! It was exceptionally cool! First you had to find the crescent moon in the Southern sky...then look slightly to the West of the bottom tip...and there was Venus! It's so bright and pretty, it looked like a diamond sparkling up there! Okay, so then you were supposed to draw a line from Venus towards the Southwest directly to the spot where the sun went down and there they were! Jupiter and Mercury right next to each other riding just above the horizon! Jupiter was brighter than Mercury but not as bright as Venus of course. Mercury looked like a tiny reddish light sitting there - Jupiter sparkled a little but like I said, nothing like Venus. I was so amazed at this sight - I just thought that was the neatest thing ever! *L*

Oh, and since I'm not really fond of "resolutions" - I've made an "agreement" with myself that I will try to post once a week, circumstances permitting. I may have to do it once every two weeks now and again but hopefully I won't have to drop to posting only once a month. Hmmmm...but even that would be better than lately. *hanging my head in shame* All in all - I really intend to try and post more often. But we all know about "the best laid plans of mice and..." ... Totos!

"I saw three ships come sailing in..."

"...on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day..."

This is one Christmas song that lends itself beautifully to being done in the Celtic style so naturally it was one of the songs performed by Mithril! *L* On Saturday evening we attended a performance of the Enid Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall:

A Celtic Christmas with Mithril

One of the World's most sought after
Celtic Music Ensembles

Now mind you, it wasn't as Celtic as Celtic Woman, but it was pretty darn good! The four performers who are Mithril are extremely talented and you can tell they have a deep love of Celtic music. Their songs were performed with energy and they were backed quite well by the ESO. They split the evening, some songs by the Orchestra, some by Mithril, etc. It was excellent!! I have several Christmas cds by Celtic performers and now I can't wait to start playing them!

If you want to know more about Mithril take a look at their website here. And if you would like to see or learn more about the ESO and Symphony Hall, then take a look here.

Enid is very lucky to have the Hall, the Symphony, and our Maestro. And the city does indeed support all of the above. I've seen larger towns that either don't have them or, if they do, don't support them at all. Enid is pretty good about it though.

"O'er the land of the free...

...and the home of the brave..."



May God Bless and keep our veterans, without whom we would not be able to enjoy the lives we live. We may not know all of their names, but we do know this...Somebody fought...Somebody believed....Somebody stood...and Somebody paid.

I wish you a peaceful and blessed Veterans Day.

"Green on the vine...

...like strawberry wine..."

Saturday evening we attended the 9th Annual Enid Wine and Food Festival sponsored by the Enid SPCA. It was a very fun evening and we got all dressed up, as the invitation directed. I was a little disappointed that not everyone followed the "Evening Dress recommended" suggestion. I saw several people there in jeans and the young man with the backwards baseball cap should have been smacked around a bit, but it was fun to see the different outfits and to sit back and people watch.

It wasn't a true wine tasting per se, there were enough people attending that the winery folks didn't have time to truly educate or work with any one person. But it was a good representation of the wine available in Enid. I've decided that I don't care for most of the regular grape wines (like Cabernet, Merlot, Reisling) - they are too sour and, at times, left an almost chemical aftertaste on my tongue. I completely fell in love with the berry wines from the Plain View Winery though. My favorites were the Raspberry and the Plum, Richard enjoyed the Sand Plum, and Laura liked the Strawberry wine. I did NOT enjoy the Elderberry and, of course, I did not even attempt the Peach, though Laura and Richard both said it was good. I think we may have to see about a real wine tasting at Plain View this Fall or Winter. I'd also like to do a tasting at Indian Creek Village Winery in Ringwood. I've always wanted to find a decent drinkable wine to fancy up dinner or to cook with. I could actually envision some of the berry wines being very good in sauces for chicken or pork. They might be too delicate for beef dishes but you never know. Hmm...methinks the Food Network hath created a monster! *LOL*

As for the food, nibble and bits of course. Plenty of cheese spreads and dips and finger-style foods good for walking around and tasting as you mingle. And remember, this IS Enid America we are talking about so I wasn't the least bit surprised that at one table I tried roasted pork loin in a Mission fig sauce (Costello's Continental Cuisine) and at the very next table was Godfather's Pizza and I had a cinnamon bread stick. *G* I also sampled the savory cheese spread and the pineapple cheese spread from Angel Delight Cafe and Catering, a cheese blintz from Panevino's Wine and Tapas Bar, chicken tenders from Golden Chicken, a coffee cake from Starbucks, and some tidbits from the "general buffet" in the center of the room (which included meatballs from Advance! *L*). It was all pretty good, especially the roasted pork. We were at Costello's the other night - Eric treated Richard and Laura to dinner for their 25th anniversary - and I had the pork loin with a Harverst Spice sauce - absolutely wonderful!! I generally get Chicken Kiev there but they removed it from their menu so I had to try something different and I was pleased with it. I've also had pork with a rosemary balsamic glaze at Romano's Macaroni Grill in OKC and that was great too - I managed to almost duplicate that sauce at home, yummy! *G*

Anyways - we had a fun time, tried some good food, some great wines, and had a wonderful time whispering about some of the more...uhmmmm..."creative" fashions of the younger set, the not-so-younger set, and the should-know-better set of Enid society. I'm hoping there will be pictures in the next issue of E-Town Magazine, not of us of course, but of the event in general. And I'm looking forward to "A Taste Of Enid", sponsored by the Enid Rotary Club, next April!

"I found a picture of you..."

...Oh oh oh oh..."

Finally got my scanned pictures into something a bit more organized. I posted the photos I have of Nanny and Poppy and any of the family are welcome to share in them. I have pictures of other family put together but didn't have time to upload them to the albums yet. I'll keep working on them though, I promise. In the meantime I hope you enjoy my short trip down "Nanny and Poppy Lane". *S*

No1sHome <--- click for link.

Should be the first album listed - Trisha's Family Photos - then enter the sub-album(s) for photos.

"You could read quite a story..."

"...in the callouses and lines,
Years of work and worry, had left their mark behind.

There are things that I've forgotten that I loved about the man,
But I'll always remember the love in Daddy's hands.


Daddy's hands, were soft and kind when I was cryin'
Daddy's hands, were hard as steel when I done wrong
Daddy's hands weren't always gentle
But I've come to understand
There was always love in Daddy's hands."

Together again, just as it should be. I hope you both enjoyed your latest good yell at each other. Please behave and don't give God too much of a headache. *S*

I won't say goodbye Poppy. I'll say that I love you, and that I miss you, and that I'll see you again...in the sun and the rain and the seasons and the "ever after". I still feel the love in your hands.

"They say the neon lights are bright..."

"...on Broadwaaaay..."

Been listening to music from Broadway musicals lately and decided that my assessment of my situation if I lived in NY is on the mark. If I lived in New York City I know for a fact that: 1. I would have one very nice dressy outfit, 2. I would have one very nice dressy coat or jacket, 3. I would have tickets to every, or almost every, 1st run show on Broadway, and lastly, 4. I would live in a cardboard box someplace! I figure box-living would be the only way I could afford the tickets to all the shows I would want to see. *L* Re-thinking about this "If I" life plan made me think back to the shows I wish I could have seen with their original casts:

1. "Phantom of the Opera" - oh to have seen Michael Crawford in that show and to have heard "Music of the Night" in that voice. *sigh* "...the power of the music of the night."









2. "Wicked" - Kristen Chenowith is from OK and has an amazing voice and, having seen Idina Menzel act, I can't imagine a travelling cast could completely do it justice. "Popular...you're gonna be pop-u-lar..."




3. "Rent" - saw the movie, and loved it (and listen to some of the songs almost every day and love them too). It's not exactly a pretty subject but since they got most of the original cast from the show to reprise their parts in the movie, it's as close as I can get to the original. Idina Menzel played Maureen in both - I'm sure she was as good in the play as she was in the film! "525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or a man?"




4. "The Lion King" - From all that I've read this was a wonderful adaptation of the movie. "In the circle....the circle of life...."











5. "Jersey Boys" - I loved "Eddie and the Cruisers" borrowing from Bruce Springsteen's start on the Jersey Shore - how could I not love seeing the story of Frankie and the Seasons?? *L* I've heard bits of the soundtrack and the guys do a VERY nice job on VERY recognizable songs! "Sherry, Sherry baby..."

6. "Mamma Mia!" - I missed the movie when it came through Enid (didn't stay very long) but I intend to see it when it comes out on DVD. I've always been a fan of ABBA's music and the story looks cute and funny enough. "Mamma Mia...here I go again..."









7. "Beauty and the Beast" - I can't imagine anyone making Lumierre as wonderful as Disney and Jerry Orbach did but I would have enjoyed seeing them try. *L* "Be our guest, be our guest, be our gueeeeest..."



8." Little Shop of Horrors" - Not sure if the play can do justice to the movie (which I LOVE) but again, I would have liked to see it very much!
"Down on Skid Rooooooow..."








9. "A Chorus Line" - One of the originals that interested me - and still kicking after all these years! True, some of the content may be a bit dated - but I bet it was one heck of a show when it opened! "ONE...singular sensation..."


10. And of course - the grandaddy of them all - there have been so many cast changes in this show, and some of them have been said to have been improvements, but I would have adored seeing the originals. "Let the memory...live again..."








Now mind you, I HAVE been to one Andrew Lloyd Webber musical - obviously not on Broadway, but in good ol' downtown Bawlmer. *L* "Starlight Express"! "Starlight Express...answer me yes..."

So good and so enjoyable that I went to see it twice while it was in town!


And I will always be honored that I got to see Yul Brynner in "The King and I" - one of the highlights of my life! How funny though - notice on the poster that Gertrude Lawrence is the "star" and just below the middle of the poster you can see "with Yul Brynner". I bet the revival posters were VERY different! *LOL* "There are times I almost think I am not sure of what I absolutely knooow...oh!"






And that has been my walk down my "Broadway Wish List". *L* Hope I didn't bore anyone. And if you get a chance - listen to some of the music from "Rent" and "Wicked", the songs are amazing!!!!!! I'll leave you now with a few lines from a "Wicked" song - "Defying Gravity"...

" So if you care to find me
Look to the Western sky
As someone told me lately
Everyone deserves the chance to
FLY!!!"