"The Talk"

Beautiful Rock that Barb painted for Donna

Wednesday found us on the road early - 7:00 AM - headed into Studio City, CA, (north of Los Angeles) to be audience members for the show "The Talk". The trip to L.A. took a total of five hours round trip, but time flew by, especially on the way there with all the anticipation of seeing the show.

"The Talk" is new as of last fall with five women who talk about current events, their personal lives and have guests who tout their views on any number of things. Sharon Osbourne, Julie Chen, Sarah Gilbert, Kelly Robinson Pete and Leah (from "The King of Queens) are the hosts and they seem to be good friends who don't scream over each other but talk in a reasonable way. If you've never been an audience member for a TV show, it's an experience. For us it's always been an interesting and fun way to spend a day. There's always a chance to be seen on camera and also to go home with some neat gifts. Wednesday, we were given books from previous shows, but it was just fun being there and being part of the audience. We were all in bed early Wednesday night after our long trip.

My friend, Barb, and I have been enjoying some very relaxing time together including a couple of visits to a foot/body massage salon. It's a very different kind of massage, but really feels great. We've also managed to get to our favorite Italian restaurant, Dattilos, for our "fix". It's great food and atmosphere. Today we went to a ladies luncheon (no, Tom, it's not for the men). The luncheon was to raise money for the local hospice organization and includes a silent auction. I managed to bid on a couple of must have items (I won them too) and enjoyed the event. I hoped to win some money in the raffle, but it was not to be.

Our time with Barb is growing short and I hate to see her leave, but we have really had a good visit and haven't felt the need to rush from here to there all the time. This is Barb's vacation so I wanted it to be restful for her and I think it has been. She's a wonderful painter and she's been able to spend time doing that and also seeing some of her friends who she met when she was here two years ago. She was surprised they remembered her, but I'm not. She definitely leaves an impression - a good one.

Our next adventure is a trip to Arizona and we plan to see many of our friends while we're there. We'll fill you in as we have more information.