sumpin' a-fowl is going on 'round here..

Every once in awhile Phill can get free tickets to the Anaheim Ducks. Being new to the area, and truthfully wanting to "try" new things/venues, (free is always a bonus) we went to the Honda Arena to partake as spectator fans in a hockey game...The Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This is the second game we have attended. At least this time I didn't say "NY Rangers" out loud. Phill said he would fine me $100 smackeroos if I played snob again!

So this venture to the arena, we figured why not blend in (can we do that?), and enjoy the evening with a few thousand or more fans.

Struggling through traffic on The 5, we arrive in style having enough time to enjoy the outdoor party hosted by the Ducks! All fans were invited, "To join in and enjoy the playoff atmosphere." Somehow that struck me funny.

The color of the night was either orange or black. Phill was wearing plaid (always mad for it), and I fuchsia. Maybe a hasty decision isn't always the bestest one, we purchased Duck's apparel. I threw my jersey over this Jersey girl, Phill had to go inside the men's room and change.

Waiting for Phill, I am feeling like one of the crowd! Yea, this is my team. When I spot Phill walking towards me in his Duck Duck, oh you silly goose, jersey I start to laugh.

Phill says, "What's so funny?" I am pretty sure I made him self conscious.

I replied, "Do you feel like a db right now?" ( A more polite term for db, is Scmucky Duck). We start howling!

What were we thinking? Wearing the other gangs colors!! We have always been NY Ranger's fans, but not fans like we are YANKEE fans.

We bleed blue.

To get past this silliness, let's eat some fooood!

Not everyone was wearing the color of the evening. We did have Weinerschnitzel's Angus hot dogs, and poor, poor Phill had to suffer and get a photo with these two pathetic, Miller Lite girls.

I had to retake the photo 3 times, just to make sure Phill was looking at the camera lens! Focus here Phill.

I decided I needed a photo-op with a popcorn hottie. The teen behind the counter wasn't into old Italian, chubby, popcorn eaters. No photo op with him. HIS LOSS!!

Oh well, so I made my own fun. Now this is where in times past, I have gotten myself into little bits of trouble! "Hey Dessert Boy!" (another tale, another time....)

As we strolled into the arena, we even received crying towels, to whip and wave around! I sprained my right wrist trying to rotate the silly thing. I also had some loose popcorn kernels on it, after knoshing on my Popcornopolis Kettle Corn. I realized after gyrating the towel after a huge brawl on the ice, that the fans behind me might be wearing embedded bits o'corn! I couldn't make myself to turn around. Better than beer down the back, right?

Oh the Schmucky Ducks? They lost. Their punches were on target, their pucks? Foggedaboudit. I wanted to start a chant, "Let's go schmucker's!" I knew that was not the best thing to yell...

We have tickets again for tomorrow night. We will wear our colors, bring our towels, and hope to see finally a winning Stanley Cup Ice Hockey Playoff Game.

round town and back again

While my family was visiting in socal, we have had some fun day trips. We visited the Santa Monica Fishing Pier, Mullholland Drive, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Knott Berry Farms; visiting new areas and taking wonderful pics.

Santa Monica's Pier is so small compared to the boardwalk's in Jersey. I couldn't imagine summertime crowds trying to get around each other. Us Jerseyians all understand the Bennie stroll. Santa Monica was quite beautiful and quaint. The sea breeze and expansive beach were inviting to say the least!

Zoltar told me my fortune. I had to listen quite closely. I thought I heard Zoltar say something about being a weird chick. I must of heard wrong! Fortune Smortune!

Mullholland Drive was this incredibly windy, hilly, cliff-edged road heading towards Beverly Hills. There were so many "For Sale" signs out in front of the gated hill-top drives. We were searching for someone famous or even paparazzi. No luck. We even had a bet going about how many Rolls-Royce we would see in this area. By the end of the day, zero were spotted. I think the cars are not allowed on the roads on Mondays. I am pretty sure I read that somewhere..... We did see this though....

This is someones front gate to their property. A house. Not a hotel, resort or spa. A home. Cripe!

Entering Hollywood we drove by the Muppet Studios. Which used to be Charlie Chaplin's Home and Studio. Daniel had a visit their last year. He said the studio is remarkable inside.

We also shopped in Amoeba Music in Hollywood. "The Supreme Source For Your Musical Inspiration". Over 1 million new and used cd's in stock! I wanted to take pics inside the store, but didn't want to get forced to get a tattoo or something pierced!

I found a great DVD set of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and a set of The Little Rascals. Now I need a rainy day, to sit back and laugh watching these old shows. Amoeba Music's front door faces the 'Hollywood' sign out into the distance. Somewhere in this foreground of the picture, you can spy the sign.

Yesterday, we went to Knott Berry Farms. I am not a big amusement park kind of person. I was excited to go, since I always wanted to visit since I was a kid. The heck with roller coasters and rides! I wanted to see Charlie Brown and the Gang!

I have to admit though. Seeing Lucy's head the size of a medicine ball, was a little creepy. I only screamed out loud once!

Next road trip? In San Diego there is a diner, "The Corvette Diner". It is relocating, so I will wait to go there. But, I was told by two very believable sources...

the patrons can misbehave just a little. And, the staff breaks out in song or something like that.

On one of those silly nights when there is nuttin' else to do.......road trip!

heading over the mountain pass...

Last Friday I loaded up the Conestoga Wagon, a.k.a. lil' blue, my turbo charged 5 speed on the floor, VW Beetle and headed north to my bro and sis-in-laws abode in the San Joaquin Valley. The Conestoga was loaded with personal belongings, Italian sausages (what Italian hits the road without sausage in the car?),

my two cats I adore, fruit to knosh on and of course dark chocolate. With cats in tow I picked up Phill at work to head north through Los Angeles and up, up, up the mountain pass. I was the designated driver and was ready for our adventure.

To head up through The Grapevine you drive up mountain elevations up to 5000 feet. Thankfully, my turbo charged Conestoga can vroom and go! Passing all the 18 wheelers with ease and speed, the only concern was the high wind warning posted at the foot of the mountain. The Santa Anna winds wreck havoc through this mountain pass, and I was white knuckling worried that our car would be tossed over the rim of the road. I had seen pictures of huge haulers tossed and flipped like they weighed no more than a feather. I fear the Santa Anna Winds.

All was good, we were sailing with the other California dreamin' adventurers pushing past the head-on winds climbing to the summit. The views are absolutely magnificent! We drove by Angeles National Forest, summits of green and yellow wildflowers, mountain peaks as high as the sky, Pyramid Lake; the highway 99 (or freeway, haven't figured that out yet), which all leads down to the valley up north.

Selma the Raisin Capital of the world, has acres and acres of grape vines shriveling the future harvest in the sun. Yes, and on a billboard there was a California Raisin waving at all the peeps driving by.

We drove by structures that puzzle and amaze. They rival any modern art sculpture. Phill thought the concrete silos were filled with pistachios.

In the middle and in between here and there, the sun was still high in the sky. Suddenly Phill yells, "There is something in the road!" I spy a sofa cushion in the fast lane, and another cushion in the slow lane. I realize I can't drive into these lanes. Right in front of me is a SUV that suddenly swerves to the right.

I immediately start multi-tasking: Screaming like a girl "Oh my God, oh my God!!!!!!!", downshifting, and trying to find the hazard light button. I spy with my huge blue googely popping out in shock eyes that right in front of us is a sea grass green sofa blowing in the center lane of the highway!

I can't get around the sofa, instantly we had cars swerving to avoid us! Somehow by the grace of my Guardian Angel Victoria, ( I am pretty sure I had summoned with my panicked bellows) we were quickly driving around this life altering sofa, and onto safety. "Holy Flying Sofa," I screamed!!!

I cannot explain why we were not crushed from the others around me. I never did find the hazard light button during this time, but my heart once again was a-pounding in my chest! Phill and I drove onward stunned and scared out of our wits!

We must have entered the holy flying sofa phenomenon. Maybe Rod Sterling was outside the car watching as we entered the Twilight Zone.

It all happened so fast, but still as of today, quite unexplainable. I guess it just wasn't our time. Thank God, and my Guardian Angel Victoria! They made sure our obit's wouldn't state ...smashed into smithereens by the holy flying sofa escapde.

You can be sure that if Phill was driving....I would either have been knitting, knoshing on that chocolate in my bag, gabbing, and not being the ever so diligent co-Conestoga pilot.

My eyes wouldn't have been on the road.

The ironic part of this story is that for a many months Phill and I have not had a sofa. We had to lighten the load to move west. Recently we have been discussing if it was finally time to shop for something like a comfy sofa in the living room.

You can be sure, that when we finally decide and find a comfy sofa, it won't be in the middle of a 5 lane highway, nor will it be sea green in color. Holy Flying Sofa, where is your owner? How could anyone have a sofa blow out of their vehicle and leave it there?

On our way back home, Phill drove. I didn't play, I didn't knit, I didn't eat. I watched the road with eagle eyes! No way would we be victims of flying debris on this road ever again!

Whewpha!

I am now pondering the thought that when we travel we should be wearing rubber sumo suits We might look silly, but I might be on to sumpin'......

farmer's market booty......

Each Saturday, Phill and I have been shopping at the local Farmer's Markets. Look at the wonderful booty we purchased! This week we found the Dana Point market. It is so close to our home. We are having so much fun, exploring the fresh foods for sale. Our next favorite market is in Corona Del Mar. That market is 3o minutes north on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). The breathtaking views along the ocean are eye candy along the route to that market.

These California strawberries are the bestest we have tasted, and you know each one is lovingly dipped into my secret mix of melted chocolate! (If I tell you my recipe, then I am gonna have to ....off ya.) (So don't ask, and whatever you do, don't ask my mother...she can't keep a secret for anything! Especially, my secret chocolate mix!!)

The bag of oranges, five bucks! Since I am the self-appointed "Queen of Scurvy", I trust Phill wholeheartedly when he says these oranges are the most delicious he has ever tasted. I have been forced to try a segment or two. Then I get the shivers and run around the house until the citrus goosebumps go away!

We walk around the market with our canvas bags brimming with fresh grown vegetables and fruits. Having a blast spending a dollar for this and that. Nuttin' beats a cheap and healthy day at the market!

Come and visit, we will buy you Brussel Sprouts!!!