1.  I’m performing a wedding today.  When the groom called me, he said, “You did the funerals for my mom and my dad and I wanted to give you a chance to do something different.”  Is that cool, or what?  Today I will perform the nuptials for Linda and Jim, blending two families.  I can’t wait!!

2.  The sisters (Lila and Courtney) are with us again this weekend.  Lila’s seven and Courtney’s five.  They’ve been here almost every weekend for the last three years.  It has been a revelation to be an active part of their lives.  We’ve been given glimpses into their lives we’ve not had with the other grandkids.  I’d recommend such a schedule to any grandparent.  They have honed me into a better papa; that’s grandpa for you folks in English speaking states.

3.  The Spirit of Cuba is one fine cigar.  For all you cigar aficionados out there who follow my blog, I’d like to introduce you to this fine Dominican.  I’ve made an extensive search to find a cigar I can buy, twenty at a time, that doesn’t break the bank.  This is one of them.  It’s an Alec Bradley product, a fine family of cigar makers, and it’s absolutely savory and aromatic.  The reason it sells for $2.00 a stick instead of $4 to $6?  It’s a sandwich cigar made from what’s left from making the finer Alec Bradley cigars.  It smokes evenly and has excellent flavor through 70% of the smoke.  You can’t ask for more than that.  Buy them by the bundle and they are less than $2.00 per stick.

4.  There is a giant discount mall in Cabazon, Ca.  It lies equidistant from San Bernardino to Palm Springs.  When we passed it yesterday, there were cars almost as far as the eye could see.  Parking lots overflowed, streets were lined with cars and small knolls looked like they had been slathered with hundreds of diamonds (windshields).  Nooooooooooooo . . . we didn’t stop.  We drove on to Palm Springs to some small boutique type stores and, of course, my wife’s favorite money pit, Steinmart.  We only confronted lines there, but they were short; clerks and shoppers were pleasant . . . a spirit of “we’re in this together.”

5.  Lila and Courtney will be teaching papa to eat sushi tonight.  Many of my friends love it, I’ve just never pushed myself toward it.  My wife enjoys it, as does all our kids.  Sooooooo . . . tonight, papa gets dragged over the line.  I still remember the day, over thirty years ago, I was ocean fishing with the proprietor of a Chinese restaurant in San Bernardino.  In choppy seas, boat leaping from crest to crest, he introduced me to hard, boiled (in banana leaves) fertilized, duck eggs.  Oh, yeah, ever since then I’ve been a real aficionado of trying heretofor untasted Asian cuisine.

6.  My wife just wafted past and hurled the two words no man wants to hear the Saturday following Thanksgiving . . . “christmas decorations”.  Soooooooooo . . . here we go!