Phil Rice and Janice Greene: Love Story

By kiki

Just finish reading ‘Winter Sun’ a book written by my good friend Phil Rice. ‘Winter Sun’ is a Memoir of Love and Hospice. My written words here are not meant to be a review of the book because I am not qualified to review a book that exuberances love from chapter to chapter....Phil Rice and Janice Greene met in 2005 in an Episcopal Church in Gatlinburg Tennessee. They met and felled in love. In November of 2010 during a trip to Niagara Falls Phil asked Janice to marry him, and she accepted. They made plans to marry in the Smoky Mountains in the spring of the following year. But as they were making wedding plans tragedy struck. Phil’s beautiful bride-to-be was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. Phil writes about the last months of Janice’s life and how their love grew stronger as the cancer was taking her away from him. ‘Winter Sun’ takes you on a journey through valleys of sadness and tears and, mountains of exuberant love….I highly recommend 'Winter Sun'

Ah Memories: Rag Mop!!

By kiki

Rag Mop: This tune brings back many memories from my early teens (early 1950's). The song, a 12-bar blues, written by Tulsa Western Swing bandleader Johnnie Lee Wills and steel guitarist Deacon Anderson and performed by Lionel Hampton (vocals by The Hamptons) and published in 1949, was huge back in the mid-20th century among the Simons Brickyard (a company town) teenagers and young adults.

It was played and danced repeatedly at house parties and Friday night dances held at the Vail Elementary School Auditorium…I close my eyes and see my older late sister Rachel and her friends, Josie, Rosie, Lucy, et al. doing the jitterbug with guys like Beto, Tony, Chuy, and others at whatever house parties we 13-14-year-old teens were allowed to attend….To attend the Vail Elementary School Auditorium dances, one needed to be at least 15 years old, leaving us young teens out in the cold…At times, we tried to crash the dances, only to be thrown out on our butts by the older guys.

After we were thrown out one Friday night, we young kids climbed a knoll that used to overlook the auditorium. From that vantage point, we used our primitive slingshots (2 leather bands attached to a shoe tongue) and papered the auditorium's roof with rocks.

At one point, the school principal, Mr. Bellamy (he had to be there for the 15 and over-crowd to hold their dances), came out to investigate only to be met by a hail of rocks; he then ran back inside. We left feeling good: thinking that we had gotten our revenge over the older teens, young adults, and Mr. Bellamy...Us younger teens never did get a chance to attend a dance at the Vail Elementary School Auditorium because not long after our slingshot assault, both the school and brickyard were closed.

Connie and the Guy’s Rent Money

By kiki

I had gotten 6 comps tickets from Don Chargin for the 1972 Rodolfo Gonzalez vs. Chango Carmona fight at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. So I took my wife, Connie, and our one and only daughter, Linda, and our three sons, Fernie, Anthony, and Bobby (now we have four sons), to see the fight. 

We were 15 or18 or so rows from ringside; in front of us was a guy with thousands of dollars, and he was putting all the money on Carmona. So every time he made a bet, all funds were given to Connie to hold. When the Carmona fan was down to his last $100, he couldn't find any more takers, so I went for it and took his bet. 

Well, you should have seen the rush of guys trying to get their money from Connie after Rodolfo won, she didn't know who was who, I got my two hundred dollars from her and told her just give the money to whoever said they won and let's get the hell out of here, which we did, and the guy that lost?

I thought he was going to cry. I suspect he probably lost the rent money.

2016 Presidential Pretenders

By kiki

My take on the 2016 presidential pretenders:

Marco Rubio: Dennis The Menace: Rubio acts like a pre-teen.

Donald Trump: Bozo The Clown: Trump is a cartoonish character

Ted Cruz: Adolf Hitler: Cruz wants total world domination, there is a video of a young Cruz saying just that.

John Kasich: Rodney Dangerfield: poor John can’t get-no-respect.

Hillary Clinton: Ma Barker: the trust thing hangs over her like a dark rain cloud.

Bernie Sanders: Robin Hood: wants to take from the rich and give it to the poor, and that might not be a bad idea because I could use a few coins myself.

Another Cold

By kiki

I've been sick with a cold for about ten days now and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, in fact it seem to get worse as days go by, so this morning I said to Connie “babe, old age hasn’t been kind to me” she replied with a hall of fame comment “that’s because you weren’t kind to your youth, you party too much” She never ceases to amaze me in that she can say so much with so few words

I Often Wonder

By kiki

I often wonder what happened to the people I briefly met throughout my life, some of whom I never learned their names. Are those boys and girls, men and women that passed briefly through my life, and I through theirs still alive? Where are they, what are they doing, are they in good or bad health. I often wonder!!

Fernie and Kim

By kiki

It's eerily quiet across the street this morning. Our son Fernie and his wife Kim sold their house and moved out yesterday. It's a sad feeling for me, as I was used to seeing them up and about for the many years they lived across from us. I even missed their wandering cats this morning. The cats were always out in the early mornings, and they would greet me as I went out to pick up the newspaper….This morning is the beginning of another chapter in our lives, and I hope it all ends well for all of us….Feeling sad!!