Thought for 2012:
"No one party can fool all of the people all of the time - that's why we
have two parties."
- Bob Hope
Sandie’s Christmas Letter 2012
For places it never went
As if Life would be happier
Just by being different”
- Dana Gioia
But my trip to
Hanging with
my darling niece, Susan and my close girlfriend, Diane was a tonic for fun –
and we had it! I love to party and I
love to walk in big cities looking at the scene.
Susan, Diane (and her then
boyfriend, Bill, a fun guy, figured in here too) and I did several fun bar
hops, with dinners thrown in, and even went zip-lining in the old downtown
section. Vegas is a party town!
In June, my
job description changed and I found myself doing business development full time-
it may turn out to be a good change, but the jury is still out…
October,
Diane, Susan and I reunited in
It was
everywhere! In almost all conversations it came up.
People got HOT about it (even me a bit too) – friendships strained as the media whipped up
a frenzie of polarizations both fabricated and real.
My heart went out to my friends whose TV viewing includes watching the
commercials (personally I try never to
watch them, but even so, I still saw at least 10 or 12).
Those that I saw (from both sides) were manipulative and filled with half truths and
innuendo - disgusting and insulting to watch.
I tried not to
let that paint ruin the fabric that was my life, as best I could.
I knew who I would vote for, so I just tried to maintain perspective by
getting my news from comedians (Leno, Stewart, Colbert, Maher, etc) who kept me
in the loop, along with the WSJ and NPR…And we got through The
2012 Presidential Election, my guy even won –
another thing to be happy about!!
I know there
are other years ahead, (if I’m lucky),
and other places to go… but Life
is here and now – to be savored along with the joys of this Holiday Season
which I now wish to You!
All
our Love,
Sandie & Mister Knightly
Organized a get together with the Herd at a new favorite place, The Hollander Hotel - very festive and a fun lunch.
Paid an after Christmas to the Kails in Bella Marea but made it back home in time for New Year's Eve. Went to see Silver Linings Playbook (good movie) and then caught up with some new friends from the A&W to party some more - ended up at the Vinoy for fireworks... quite nice...easy people to be around.... so a Happy New Year was seen in...
November - I spent the month getting ducks to go back into rows... my tenants at the Yellow House moved out on Halloween - I immediately called my friend Paul, who had moved out of the neighborhood and was missing it greatly. He immediately opted to move in... then Mike Lopez who had lived across the street also returned and needed a place to stay and the garage apartment was perfect for him. It has cost me some money to bring this about as I had to remodel the bath for Paul and paint for them both and pay utility bills etc... but the end result pleases me, and it is only money after all.
Marcia and Bill had their music party this month and it was very nice and rather subdued this time...are we all getting older? I did Thanksgiving as usual and invited both Paul & Mike to join in - here we are:
Paul, Kevin & Randy
Doug,
Mike & Ed
Sandra in the middle
The food was good, the day was fine and I think everyone enjoyed it...I did. The other duck I got into a row this month was a change in my finances - I signed up for SS and refinanced the house, rolling escrow into my payment. This puts me in a good position for survival should I loose my job or need to quit work. It brings with it a great peace of mind.
I have also started going to The Ale & the Witch more often... many weekends I dance and I always hear good live music - it is the rare night that I don't see someone I know. I walk there and back and it feels so good to walk at night... several times I have imagined myself back in The City... I feel very youthful at these moments. I must say that it is nice to meet and talk with straight men for a change... they haven't changed, they are still a mystery to me... I can see that I am a mystery to them as well... they don't know if I am hitting on them when I talk to them (I'm not) and they aren't sure how to react... but it is fun. I tend to talk too much as a result of living alone (Mister K doesn't really talk back, except to say, "Throw this, please" or "Is it time for me to go somewhere?") and it is helpful to have someone to babble at and not just subject my friends to it all the time. And so as November ends, I can say that I am happy, and getting ready for Christmas and Year End.
October - This may be the busiest and most fun month of the whole year. First, I went to San Francisco for the OpenWorld conference where I was joined by my darling Pookie Niece! She was registered and came to the show to help us out and so we got to spend a lot of time together in a great city - listening to music and eating good food and playing with Diane too. her son Chris was also in town so I got to see him again - the first time since 1999 and my how he has grown!
Back home I had some work to do to keep me busy and some coffee to drink with Aleth and get caught up on the harvest in France. The following weekend was the Florida Orchestra in the park, which was fun and the following week I caught up with Davy Faxon who I hadn't seen in about a year... then there were the birthday parties: one for Ingmar and one for Sheri and there was Circus McGirkis... and a production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe (only 4 people in the audience...sad) and then lunch with Russ for his birthday on Halloween. I didn't feel like putting on a costume this year, so I hid out and watched an old movie instead.
September - You could almost feel the Florida fall begin... yes it was still hot, but for the trained Floridian, it was a different kind of hot. Also we had rain, glorious rain! The month began with an Open House at the Hunts to celebrate Susan's birthday... lots of fun seeing old friends and the Hunt girls. Saw a Mummy Exhibit at MOSI and the latest Batman movie with the guys... won't be going to that MOSI theater again for a while as it is a pain in the neck...literally. The Kails were in town for a week at the beach and we managed to get together twice - once out at Caddy's again with the guys and then a little pub crawl around downtown. Always fun to hang out with the Kails and get to be myself.
Mary & Bob arrived on the 9th for two weeks and I got to spend a fair amount of time with them... there was a Monday night sunset at the beach with the whole herd and a small dinner party here and several dinners out, just the 3 of us and lastly a nice dinner at The Pearl the night before their departure. Bob is a bit worried about Mary being so thin and I have to agree with him, she eats like a bird.
The last week of the month I spent getting ready for OOW in San Francisco... Dion is in India and it will be strange not to see her when I am in SF this year, but Susan and Diane will keep me company and those adventures will take place next month
August - I began
planning for Marcia's surprise 75th birthday party back in December... I wanted
to give her something to remember. I couldn't have been more pleased with
the results. Tim & Randy helped with the surprise and Bonnie Green
organized the gift. I don't think the photos tell the story but she was
very surprised and very happy! 
and as a result I was very pleased with myself!
Because of my plans I had to miss another big birthday, that of Geri Kail - so the weekend following I went to Orlando for a late birthday visit. It was so comforting to have the Kails all to myself - we laughed and talked politics and I felt I could really say anything and they would understand... it is such a pleasure not to have to edit your speech all the time. By contrast, back home coffee dates with Aleth resumed, but we were not the same together - Aleth is someone with whom I do have to edit my speech and it wears on my sometimes...and sometimes I forget and say what I think and am forced to regret it. Then there was a birthday for Sandie B at the beach, a birthday lunch for Susan Hunt and play dates for Mister Knightly's birthday. August is the birthday month!!
July - it was a long and tedious month. I struggled with my new job but I guess everyone does... My home email was hacked and I had to go through all the trouble that comes with changing that. Mostly I just played pool ball with Mister Knightly and took long walks in the early evening when the temperatures were the coolest. Mid-month I did have a nice treat in the form of a ticket to see Cabaret with Marcia and Bill. The production was superior and the company was great - Tim & Randy joined us to. Mister K and I have started going to the Ale & Witch on some Friday nights and listening to a set of music... he is welcome and is getting better about being calm in public. As the month drew to an end I got to work and plan in earnest for the surprise party for Marcia but those pictures will have to wait until August.
June - The first month
of working for Bob turned out pretty good. our trip to Redwood Shores CA
went better than I could have hoped. I knew almost half of the other
attendees and they seemed to value my comments and views. Bob is a very
likeable guy and I think he will make an interesting boss. Susan Hunt and
I went to the movies together (and Mister Knightly had a play date with her
dog). Took Chris Silvia to dinner to celebrate her birthday. We went
to the Mexican place downtown which was good as I love Mexican food. Had
dinner with Paul and his grandson one evening... then Paul and I went to see
Rock of Ages at the movies - we both liked it a lot better than the critics
did. The last day of the month was Gay Pride, which I don't attend - too
many people - but Tim & Randy had a cute photo of themselves in the paper
the next day. 
.
Pretty cute, eh?
May - Seems as if I had been looking forward to this month for a while - the trip to Amsterdam with the guys to celebrate the 50th birthdays of Randy and Ed. Pictures have been posted on FB and on Places We Like so you can see a bit of what we did. The weather was cold at the start (which pleased me since I had packed for cooler weather) but the last two days it warmed up nicely. We shared an apartment and went all over together without any issues...delightful! We saw a lot of windmills and churches, which was really nice but I could have sat outside in more cafes if the weather had been nicer. Still we ate good food and smoked good stuff (legally) and had lots of fun.
April - Easter came in
April and I finally got around to doing something about my office - I painted
over the wall paper on two walls...yellow since I had the paint already and
didn't have to spend a penny on it... I like the results better. Went to
Blues Fest with the Kails and Tim & Randy and danced my butt off.
Picked up a guy too - a nice guy who lives in the hood. I don't think we
are made for each other however... still it was fun to flirt. 
Had the most fun in Las Vegas with Susan and Diane 
but also had a big wake up call... Bob S. told me my boss was planning to fire
me - my stomach dropped when I heard that. Bob is going to give me a try
as a part of his group however and I am going to try not to disappoint him - so
for now anyway, I am still employed. Tried zip lining in Vegas and loved
it, want to do more...
want
to do more dancing too... Came home and went to Rocky Horror in the Park
with the guys - good production, strange evening! The next day was the
Green Thumb Festival to see Marcia and Bill and then April was a part of
history.
March - What a long
and almost dreadful month! Oh there were many fun things to do, but
overshadowing it all was my friend Jack. I was furious with the hospital
for continuing to feed him false hope of recovery when it was so obvious he was
never coming home. When he finally died on the 23rd I was almost happy for
him. His life as he had known it for 82 years was gone before he breathed
his last and he would have hated what he had become, I know as we had discussed
such things many times... 
His dogs continued to stay with me until the morning of April 3rd when they went
to live with his daughter. I continue to miss him as we used to talk most
days at the dog park and we generally got together for drinks and dinner once a
month. I went to the services and was sad that no one who spoke actually
knew him - if you are reading this, please don't let strangers have the last
word on your life...ask a friend and leave instructions about who, if you
can. I made my own little tribute to him on Face Book with pictures of his
birds and I made a book of them as well to remember him by...
But life goes on and my
friend Diane came down the 1st of March for a fun visit 
I love hanging out with Diane as she still likes to party! We had some fun
at gypsy night at the Blueberry Patch and soaked up some culture too at Art in
Bloom. The night parade for the Grand Prix was another fun event that I
got to spend with Chris, Tim, Doug & Kevin. I love being out at night
with those guys too.
Geri came over to go to
Marcia's Music party and it was fun to see her - the party was great and I would
have stayed much longer but for the little dogs waiting at home. The
following weekend was the 20th Annual Egg Coloring party which was at Time &
Randy's and it was a lovely time.
and then finally March was over and I was ready to get on with life!
February - I do
believe spring came really early and it began in February... the temperature got
warm faster than I recall from years past and the feel of spring was around all
month. My old friend Debbie Wheelock-Taylor came to visit and it was
delightful to see her again after so many years. We fell into a comfort
zone that melted the intervening years away... it was a great visit and I hope
she comes back again. 
There was plenty of stuff to
do all month including a great SuperBowl party at Marcia & Bill's (and the
Giants won!), the Cool Art 2 show in Gulfport followed by a fun lunch with Russ,
Jim and Tim, and a bunch of movies to view in advance of the Oscars. The
only sad part was that my friend Jack went into the hospital and is still there
as I write this... his two dogs came to stay with me. That seems to be an
ongoing theme in my life now - old men and their dogs! 
January - The years are starting to go by faster...and here goes another one. January included a lunch fest - one with Marcia and another with Russ plus a dinner with jerry and yet another lunch with Susan Hunt and a movie. In between all that eating came my birthday which included a brunch with the guys and a good deed on my part, a brunch with Jack. i am quite worried about Jack, he has a cancer at his spine that has to be quite painful. He has lost 30 pounds and I suspect he will loose more when he starts chemo in February. So sad. He tries to be positive and he says his odds are good for recovery and i sure hope they are...
Here is the neighborhood, we lost Paul's dog
Sammy to old age and cancer too. I was quite worried about Paul but he has
bounced back with the help of his new do Miss Gracie. Gracie is young and
something of a handful - so I was taking Mister Knightly over to play with her
each day until she came down with kennel cough...then I had to keep my darling
in until we could determine if he too had been affected. 
- fortunately not. I also took myself out to watch some football in
preparation for the SuperBowl in Feb and had a pretty good time being out
alone. I need to do more of that during the coming months as this is the
key to not feeling sorry for myself...just get out there and do whatever strikes
your fancy.
My birthday was a non-event and I didn't
even care...I used to love them so...wonder what's up with that? Anyway,
here is the photo of me at 65 - not too bad...I'm back to being really blonde
and my weight is 128 lbs. I am hoping to be at 125 by next year. 
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