d e c e m b e r

highlights of 2015

     this is just a quick review of the year.  to see the full details, keep reading after the Highlights, including many many pictures! 

january

     rehearsals started on Little Mermaid Jr. and I'm one of the co-producers.  helped work on costumes, and even designed and made the seaweed boas for the Ursulas.  took the Freedom Train (the final run) up to SF for the MLK celebration, and joined the march to his memorial.  endured the passing of so many dear friends.  caught a production of Tuesdays with Morrie. 

february 

     avoided the not-super ball game by being a water holder at a fun run.  bought tickets for Joyce and me at the Improv to see David Allen Grier, but had to go solo which made me a particular "target" for him - so much fun!  saw productions of Curtains, Maple & Vine, and Fix Me Jesus.  saw our local symphony perform selections from the Fantasia movies.  and of course I had Mermaid rehearsals to fill my nights.  started playing my French Horn again, sitting next to Janet, in a local community band! 

march

     saw the touring company of Newsies in SF.  wrapped our Mermaid adventure, and made a special souvenir for my co-producer.  in order to have more time with family I resigned from the board after spending many years there.  to celebrate and thank me, they gave me a very special gift.  helped with a few costumes for The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  saw a youth production of Jekyll & Hyde.  saw a number of friends in The Boyfriend, a musical I first saw in Junior High where my teacher played one of the roles.  Joyce and I went to the Improv and saw a number of comedians.  the three world series trophies made a stop in one of our buildings at work, and I got a great photo op with them!  

april

     our friend Angel was in town briefly.  we celebrated Joyce's acceptance into the MBA program in SF.  performed in a brief skit with a barbershop group.  Joyce and I joined a friend at our football team's draft party downtown. 

may

     Janet, Joyce and I took Mama to a Mothers Day Brunch at a coastal winery.  read and sang many times at Temple.  once again got to attend a Neil Diamond concert.  went to see Janet perform on her bass with her symphony orchestra, then picked up Mama and she watched Janet and I play in our band concert.  had several fun karaoke opportunities.  dined at my favorite Cajun restaurant, and stayed the whole evening to hear the local jazz musician play his entire set.  the local radio station brought a country artist to our headquarters courtyard to play during lunch!  

june

     sang and read several times at Temple.  had a truly awful karaoke experience at a venue to which I may never return.  Papa Bill passed away, and Joyce and I attended his memorial.  Mama and I watched the Belmont together, and watch American Pharoah win the Triple Crown!  saw a collection of Shirley Temple memorabilia before it went up for auction.  volunteered at our Kids to Work Day talent show, and acted as the "backstage mom" keeping order and providing calm during chaos.  gathered with some of my high school classmates at the ballpark in SF.  joined a bowling league with one of my co-workers.  watched many friends in productions of You Can't Get There from Here, Hairspray, Tomfoolery and Addams Family. 

july

     karaoke gives me such joy, except when there's too much perfume on other performers.  Mama ended up in the hospital, and Janet & I flew to her rescue.  read a new portion and sang with my favorite singers at Temple.  spent time with Mama as she recovers.  saw friends in productions of The Underpants and Irene.  saw the IMAX movie about Jerusalem.  

august

     spent a lot of time with Mama as she had a relapse and ended up back in hospital and rehab.  missed out on bowling as well as singing and reading at Temple.  

september

     moved Mama into an assisted living facility so visited her several times to help her settle in.  got back to singing a little karaoke.  my landlord/friend gave me notice he was selling his house and I would need to find a new place.  ugh!   

october

     saw many friends in the marvelous Sweet Charity.  took the train to Anaheim and for the first time in six years returned to D' land!  this is the first birthday Joyce and I haven't been together on "our day."  had a great proximity event at work with some of our external partners.  one activity was two people painting one picture, trading off between segments.  it introduced me to Paint Nite!  the painting my partner and I did won!  spent much weekend time with Mama watching football and having dinner with her.  saw my alumni troupe's production of My Fair Lady.  for various Halloween activities I dressed (at work) as Winnie Sanderson, another time as sister Sarah, and for karaoke as Rosie the Riveter.  

november

     had an excellent night of karaoke.  saw the latest Bond - Spectre - in IMAX.  spent a lot of time with Mama as she settles in; she has good days and bad days.  Joyce and I went to SF to see Idina Menzel in If/Then!  saw friends in productions of Evita and Death Takes A Holiday.  took a biz trip to Arizona for an all-division 3-day meeting.  won the title of karaoke queen in front of the whole group!  and won a prize.  Joyce and I finally got back to Disneyland together for a couple days.  then she went off to snow country to have T'day with her cousins.  so enjoyed my Paint Nite activity last month that I signed up for one I could do solo.  it was a peacock, but I made it a feathery flamingo instead.  my uncle in Oregon passed away suddenly.  spent Thanksgiving with Mama, at the facility, dining on their special dinner for the day.  

december

     Janet and I performed in our community band concert.  our grandma Evie passed away on Janet's birthday.  Joyce travelled to see family in NorCal and her dad in AZ for the holidays, so I joined our friend Woody at the movies to see the first movie in the last trilogy of Star Wars.  saw friends in productions of Nice Work If You Can Get It, and Miracle on 34th Street.  spent Christmas and New Years days with Mama, not knowing how many more of these we'll have together.   

     read about the whole year in greater detail below and in the Older Posts.

d e c e m b e r . 2 0 1 5

passages. lost another loved one, my grandma, who lived to the ripe old age of 95 (shhh, I shouldn't reveal the age of a grand lady!) I saw a Facebook post of Secretariat running free in his pasture at the age of 12, and it made me think of her, finally free from her earthly body.  O Happy Day! was the song playing in the background.

HUG your loved ones; tell them they ARE loved! we are only here a brief time.

may you find joy this holiday season.

~ana~

earlier this month ...

had lunch with one of my old friends from hp. our birthdays are in October, but we didn't get together this year until much later, due to our many travels far and wide. finally had my orientation meeting so I can help out on the volunteer committee for the humongous football event coming to our neighborhood early next year. and Janet and I performed again on our French Horns in the Holiday Concert at a local high school.  great fun!

Joyce again spent her holidays with family members in Northern California, and her dad in Phoenix. our friend Woody was in town visiting his family for the holidays, and he went with me to see the newest Star Wars movie, which I ended up seeing twice in two days, because it was that good!

shows I've seen: Nice Work If You Can Get It was an adorable newish production that so many of my friends were in. very delightful! another show at Tabard, Miracle on 34th Street, was a new twist on an old movie - it was performed as a radio production, with the performers acting out the show as if we were a radio audience in studio watching them reading it over the airwaves. a very unusual way to watch one of my favorite holiday movies. more poignant since the great Maureen O'Hara passed only just a few months ago, also at the age of 95.

spent Christmas and New Years days with my mom. don't know how much longer she'll be "with it" so making special memories now while I'm still able.

n o v e m b e r

started out the month singing karaoke at one of my favorite places - where everybody knows my name, and the bartender knows my dinner and drink orders.  followed it up the next night seeing the opening night showing of the new Bond film - which was phenomenal!  in IMAX!!

saw Mama several times over the month. she definitely has good days and some really bad days. it's distressing for me, but I know me being there is good for her, so I just "buck up buttercup" and keep on going.

shows we've seen: Joyce and I got tickets to see a Broadway touring production of If/Then with the amazing Idina Menzel! I used the train and rapid transit to get to the City where I met up with Joyce for dinner and the show. fun times together! I also got to see our theatre's production of Evita, which was a clever and different telling of the traditional musical. my season ticket at Tabard was for Death Takes a Holiday, which is a relatively new musical I've never seen before! what wonderful music!

I had a business trip to Phoenix the week before Thanksgiving. the best part of the trip - besides meeting so many people I work with remotely, and many new people who are recent additions to the company - is that during the "social" times after the business meetings we had karaoke! you know I was there!! and on the final day of meetings, it was announced to my 550 or so division team mates that I had won a prize for being a teambuilding inspiration to everyone, because of my enthusiastic performances at karaoke.  this was the second time I've won something for singing! the prize this time was a smartwatch that will keep track of my fitness and sleep.

no sooner did I return on a flight from Phoenix, Joyce and I hopped a flight to LA for a short trip to Disneyland to finally celebrate our birthday together!

then Joyce headed to snow country to spend Thanksgiving with her Aunt and cousins. the night before Thanksgiving, to treat myself, I attended another Paint Nite activity, this time painting a picture solo (it's the same company as the Eiffel painting last month). the instructor was so impressed with my effort, he asked me, under his breath, "are you an artist?"  yes, I was definitely flattered by the compliment. Especially since this is not an art medium I've done regularly. Needles and thread or yarn are more my style. 

spent Thanksgiving afternoon with Mama, and had dinner with her at the "home." I'm grateful that I still am able to see her.  Joyce and I learned while we were in LA that my uncle in Oregon had passed away. he was 89-1/2, and they had been married for 64 years - they beat my grandparents' record of 63 years. 

o c t o b e r ! - b i r t h d a y s ! !

started off the month by going to see many friends in a production of Sweet Charity, which is also a show I saw on Broadway with Chita Rivera, on my honeymoon, way back in 1986. It's always fun to see a familiar show especially when you know half the cast, staff, orchestra and crew :-)

needed some 'me-time' so I (last minute) booked train passage (that sounds so cool!) to Anaheim and finally after nearly 6 years went to Disneyland for my(our) birthday!! Joyce had made other plans for herself, but we were texting back and forth during the day - she was advising me on all the best places to go, since she had been there recently herself. this was our first birthday in 27 that we haven't been together on The Day. Here is a link to the video [32 mins. 400Mb].

once I got back to work (the next day) we had a department team building activity where we teamed in pairs and painted a picture together.  Of the 20 or so pairs of people working on paintings, ours won the grand prize! a bottle of wine and a small watercolor "field kit."  here was our effort, painted over the course of an hour.

spent most of a Sunday with my mom, watching football, telling her about my vacation, and had dinner with her too.  good times. and our team won their game too - bonus! caught a performance of my school's alumni troupe production of My Fair Lady.  Made me wish even more that I had been able to spare the time to rehearse and play with them. 

had several opportunities to dress up for Halloween and the days before and after. At work, for our "coffee & costumes" hour on Friday, I played Winnie from the popular witch movie; and one of her sisters, Sarah, on another night (but I didn't get a picture.) For Halloween night I stopped in at a long-time bay area eatery and dressed as Rosie.  had a grand time singing with the accompanists - keyboard and bass - and met some old friends, made some new ones. 

 

s e p t e m b e r

was finally able to get in some karaoke! sang with a new crowd and got in a little dancing too. :-)  my songlist was: Come Away With Me, which is one of my standards; then my friend Roger requested I sing Blackbird, which was a first for me; then I closed with my favorite It Had Better Be Tonight which everyone loved! also caught my friend Chaz' show at a local winery; usually he plays at my favorite Cajun bistro.  visited with Mama several times at her new abode.  Joyce began her classes for her Masters degree, but she made time to have dinner with me so we could catch up. I will have to find a new place to live ... just in time to wreck our birthday travel plans ...  :-(

a u g u s t

Another trip to the emergency room with Mama. not a great way to start off the weekend or month. turns out the new meds for seizures introduced with last month's e.r. visit have caused really bad side effects, and her movements weren't seizures at all but tremors, possibly parkinsons related (since our grandma had it too.) this time however, it took a week in the hospital and 2+ weeks in the physical therapy rehab unit, during which time I again missed work to be there as much as possible with her to keep her emotionally stable. missed out on bowling all month - too bad I already paid! - and gave word at Temple that for the foreseeable future I wouldn't be able to sing or read. the final singing and reading I did do (as I had already committed to be there) was extremely emotional for me.

j u l y

started the month with karaoke - which I love - but when I can't sing any more because too many ladies are wearing conflicting and toxic fragrances in a small confined space, I get cranky when I can no longer breathe! so I had to leave one club and head over to another where another performer friend was doing his show. thankfully no toxic fragrance cloud filled that venue. the other two times I sang karaoke my set list was: Does Your Mother Know (both times, different locations), Begin the Beguine, Past the Point of Rescue, It Had Better Be Tonight, and Walking in Memphis.

this Fourth of July was eventful, unlike previous years for me. while Joyce was spending it with family in the Tahoe area, Janet and I spent it with Mama in the emergency room. once the doctors had her problem diagnosed and treated (yay, more new meds for her to take for the rest of her life) I took her home for R&R. we also can't leave her alone for too long, as she needs assistance more than ever when she moves around.

I had to hold off on the bowling for a couple weeks because I ripped up my thumb and mildly injured my hip that first night. I made my hip worse when I was assisting my mom, and had to have my chiropractor adjust it back into position - yes ouch! when the thumb was finally healed and the hip was no long excruciatingly painful, I got back to bowling (yay!) and had two bad games and one good game (at least I'm consistent) but the team is still in first place, so I can't be that bad! I'm also still getting used to the action of this new ball, and bowling shoes that have "brakes" on them (unlike old bowling shoes where you can slide forever).

on one of the last two Shabbats of the month I read a new portion I've never read before, which was also a very long reading; of the 16 verses, I was able to read nine of them in Hebrew. on the last Shabbat I was blessed to be able to sing with Charlie, Phil and Ritchard - all of them are Worship Team Leaders, so I was in great company. the music set was full of very inspirational music.  I was surprised to see a former congregant from way back - Bill came to service with his two grown-up kids! (where does the time go). sadly I couldn't stay to greet them all and welcome them back; as soon as I finished singing I had to dash over to Mama's to spend the rest of the day with her. we watched her favorite animal rescue shows, some golf, football, and then old movies on a classic movie channel.

shows I've seen starring friends: The Underpants - a very funny Steve Martin play, and my friend Steve was hysterical; Irene - a rousing musical set in the 20s, and so many of my friends were in it; also went to the Tech Museum and caught the IMAX movie about Jerusalem, which was just incredible. I will definitely buy that NatGeo movie when it becomes available.

m a y . j u n e . 2 0 1 5

m a y

celebrated Mothers Day with Nana, Janet and Joyce at a coastal winery (where Joyce is a wine club member).  it was a very lovely day; the weather cooperated (it was warmer than the weather prediction thankfully).  they served a catered brunch that was extremely yummy!

had numerous opportunities to sing and read at Temple.  read my entire portion in Hebrew!  all 13 verses.

attended a Neil Diamond concert - so exciting!  that man is ageless!  his performance was flawless, and he sang for 90 minutes, then had a 20 minute encore.  just amazing.

Janet and I performed in our band concert, but before that, I went to see her in the strings concert earlier in the afternoon (I took a 1/2 day off from work).  then I picked up Nana in between concerts so she could see us perform.  afterward, we went to the local pizza parlor and had wine and cheesy breadsticks, and delightful conversation.

also made time to sing karaoke a few times as well.  one night I hadn't brought my music with me (I hadn't originally planned to go out) so my KJ offered to pick my set list for me - that was thrilling and terrifying.  stepping up to the mic not knowing what I was singing until mere seconds before the music started.  but he picked Jolene, Heartlight and (of all things) Mississippi Squirrel Revival, which always makes the crowd happy.  another night, he offered to let me try out "new" technology (for this set-up anyway) - I connected my iPod and played the version of God Only Knows that Steve made for me.  the crowd loved it, and we found out that that tech works!  only sang two more songs that night since it was crowded and the first rotation took 90 minutes to go thru all the singers.  at a different karaoke place, I again sang Heartlight, Come Away With Me, and closed with It Had Better Be Tonight which everyone loved.  even the manager complimented me on my performance and said how he liked my singing.  and Friday of Memorial Day weekend I had dinner at my fave Cajun place and spent the rest of the night enjoying the cool jazz sounds of the performer that evening.  he was so terrific, playing to the crowd, drawing them into his show, it was great fun!  I stayed until the end of his act, and he chatted me up before he had to pack up his equipment.  the restaurant owner walked me to my car (it was pretty late at night, and downtown).  I just love that it's a "small town hometown" feel at this wonderful little bistro.

one day at work we got the opportunity to see a young country artist singing out in our cafe courtyard during lunch hour.  I wore my blue suede cowboy boots, and he liked them so much he said if he had a pedestal he'd put me on it!  so adorable.  he sang his newest song, which he's also going to sing tonight when he opens for Toby Keith at Shoreline.  he also signed autographs and took pictures.  our favorite radio jocks were there too, and I took my picture with them as well.  it was a great lunch hour!

 

Chris Janson

Gary and Julie ... and me!

j u n e 

sad times follow good ... the man who was my brother-in-law for 10 years passed away this month, after a very long illness.  I was so blessed to be able to see him again at a big family gathering three Thanksgivings ago.

sang and read at Temple a number of times - such a Blessing!  sang karaoke; one time I went to a place where the KJ has a regular crowd - his posse - who had absolutely no 'karaoke etiquette' - you clap for all the singers, good or bad, whether you know them or not.  these people only clapped for their posse (some of whom were truly awful), and it was dead silent after I sang my first song, and one person clapped after my second song.  after which I left.  who needs that kind of negativity!  or rudeness!!

Nana and I watched the amazing Belmont race in which we finally got to see history made, when American Pharaoh WON the Triple Crown!  it was so thrilling to watch.  everyone was saying "of course he will win" but as last year proved, you can never be too sure, since you don't know what kind of fluke accident might occur that will upset the expected.  anyway, in my lifetime I have now been witness to four Triple Crowns!

I had a singular opportunity to see a number of personal memorabilia belonging to the late Shirley Temple. the collection will be sold at auction in July, and this was the only Northern California appearance of these items! as I strolled through the crowded foyer of the Stanford Theatre, I remembered seeing so many of these outfits in her movies, which I watched faithfully on Saturday mornings as a young girl.

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

  

 

busy final weekend of June. 

at work, I volunteered to help out at our Kids to Work Day Talent Show, where I got to help behind scenes with organizing, keeping kids in order and generally being a calming influence when things would start to get out of control. I had a blast! that theatre bug still has a bite on me! the MC even seemed appreciative of my backstage presence and know-how.

my brother in law passed away - his passion for life, love for his fellow man, and great sense of humor will be sorely missed - but Joyce and I escaped work and gathered with family, many of whom we haven't seen for years, to celebrate his 86 precious years.

then, along the theme of reunions, my high school class gathered with previous and future classes for a tailgate and a baseball game. this was my first change to be in this ballpark, and it was great - a gorgeous day, and our team won!

waiting at the train station for our ride to the ballpark

a gorgeous day for baseball

our seats were in the bleachers, just left of the cola bottle sign

watering down the dirt, and placing the bases

Timmy, warming up

Lou Seal confers with some coaches and players

last minute stretches before the game begins

Lou Seal warming up the crowd

heading for the dugout ... "let's play ball!"

the scoreboard announces the game and players

number 55 pitching

he's fun to watch!

some of the food available at this great venue

in one entrance, out the other

wow, what a legacy, look at those golden gloves

Say Hey! closed out the evening at my favorite cajun restaurant, where the guy singing jazz that evening even had me singing harmony with him on one of his numbers! love my local artists at my local eateries!

and finally, because the weekend wasn't full before, I had an interview to be a volunteer on the committee that is organizing a huge sporting event in the area at the beginning of next year. not going to say anything more until I know for sure that I'm on the team, but I did get my manicure in red-and-gold to make a good impression!

one of my coworkers was in the elevator talking about the bowling league he is on. one of his teammates had to drop out so I sort of invited myself onto the team! first game in 15 years, with new shoes and a new ball, and I wasn't too bad. first set I scored 67, but the second I scored 159! <woot> the third set I dropped back down to 116 but my middle score was the one that held the team's spot in first place! Frank was so proud of me. 7 more games to finish out the season. so much fun!!

shows I saw with friends in them (since I'm on a "performing hiatus"): You Can't Get There from Here - hysterically funny, with friends Amy, Ian and Steve playing very funny roles; Hairspray with a LOT of my friends in it, and I even got a big hug from the guy playing Seaweed whom I'd never met before!; Tomfoolery, and I know most of the cast and staff; and Addams Family, which was my favorite of the "monster" series' that I watched growing up.

m a r c h . a p r i l . 2 0 1 5

m a r c h

found a half-price ticket online and took advantage of seeing one of my favorite movies-turned-musicals Newsies in The City on a Tuesday night.  I've loved the movie ever since Joyce and I watched it on Disney channel when she was young, but this production takes it even beyond that.  so glad I had this opportunity!  not even a horrible drive from work to the theatre could dampen the experience.

wrapped up the production of Little Mermaid Jr.  I hand-made mermaid dolls as mementos for my fellow-co-producers (here is Marcie with one of the two.)

at the end of the production I also resigned from the board, so I would have more time for family, and for me too.  got to look after my own health so I can be there for others.  the board thanked me for my years of service with hugs and some tears, and with a box of hand-made flamingo cookies!

although before I leave the theatre completely, one of my fellow players from Best Little W----house in Texas asked me to be in a short production (one performance only) of a skit he wrote.  the skit is interwoven with barbershop songs performed by a local group.  my character is the long lost love of the character played by the scriptwriter.

I was also enlisted to help with costumes for the final show of the season, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which has a steampunk theme to the entire show.  that was very fun, adding caribiners to petticoats and the like!  caught a performance downtown of some talented kids in another of my fave musicals, Jekyll & Hyde.  also saw a number of friends in a very cute production of The Boyfriend which is also one of the earliest musical productions I saw live in downtown San Jose in 1973.

Joyce and I went downtown one weeknight and caught a series of comics at the Improv; they were filming a segment for Netflix, so we had to 'act' half the time so that they'd get great footage for the show.  the comics were great too, and we met three of them after the show: Stoney, Garrett, and Shaun (from the Mighty Ducks movies).

 

  

besides being a great place to work, my company makes opportunities for the employees that are great!  I got the chance to stand inches away from these symbols of sports excellence!

 

april 

our theatre friend Angel was in town for a few days - sadly to attend a funeral - but he was able to visit with Joyce and I at a local mall, and we all had dinner together.  good times!  so glad to see him as he's stationed in Kentucky and doesn't get here as often as we would like.  but we are proud he is serving.

Joyce got accepted into the MBA program at SFSU, so after ushering for a Drood performance, we joined family and friends at a local brewery to celebrate!  Passover and Easter passed without fanfare.  saw Drood once more and reconnected with an old friend and player from Grand Hotel!

after our short rehearsal schedule (for our 15 minutes of skit between 40 minutes of barbershop) we finally performed our fun, funny, silly little show.  my character's name was Daisy, long lost love of Harry; Jack is my son and Penny is Harry's daughter.  we all run off to Disneyland together at the end (hence my final costume piece which hangs in the background.)

 

I got tickets for Joyce and a theatre peep to join me at the 9ers Draft Party.  a new venue, new logistical challenges (an hour in line for a beer!) but it was a lot of fun with enjoyable company.  the floor show was pretty funny too (here were people participating in a dance-off.)