But my favorite shot of the day was of Kells. 
More pics can be found at Flickr.
...go out to all those who sponsored me at the Annual MS Walk that Matt and I participated in two weeks ago! I easily surpassed my fundraising goal, and our little team of four raised almost $2000 for Multiple Sclerosis research and services for people living with the disease. People like my fabulously brave and smart and funny friend, Barbara. It was a beautiful day in sunny Pasadena--a little overcast and not too hot, which was lovely. So the actual walk itself was pleasant and not very strenuous--although it was a little 
bit more work for Matt, who was sweet enough to push Barbara's wheelchair most of the time. (My husband has mutual platonic lovefests with so many of my closest friends! It makes me feel truly happy and blessed to know that he loves my favorite people almost as much as I do, and they love him back. But then again, how could they not?) Seeing men and women with canes and walkers along the route, slowly making their way along but determined to do it on their own two legs--however unstable and wobbly--was not only inspiring but convicting. I mean, how often do we acknowledge and thank God for the simple fact that our bodies work the way they're supposed to? That they get us from place to place and process the food we eat? Usually I only notice my body when something's not working right or--more commonly--when I don't like the way it looks. Shame on me. But thank You, Lord, for my health. Praise God! Getting back at the topic on hand...this is Barbara's brother, Reynold--another special friend of ours. 
I've actually known Reynold longer than I have Matt, and I love him so much that I could have married him. That is, if he wasn't, well, into guys. I made him put on his commemorative MS Walk t-shirt, even though it was too small so that I could take a picture of him and Barbara together. 
After he squeezed into it, he asked, "Does this look gay?" Yes, yes it did. But then he had to get out of said too-small shirt, which proved to be a bit of a challenge.
Yes, we laughed at his expense. A lot.
This little rose was up high on a bush, so I passed by it at first, thinking I couldn't get a good shot. Then Kelly came by and held it down for me so I could snap away happily. 
I got this one after changing my camera setting to "more vivid." I love the yellows it brought out in the foliage and the contrast it added to the bench. Thanks to Kelly's urging, I started a Flickr account to keep track of and share all these photos as I learn to use my camera. I haven't figured out yet how to add fancy slideshow links and whatnot to my blog, but if you're interested in seeing 30 or so of my other favorites from the day, visit my Flickr page here. I'll get around to adding a permanent Flickr link to my sidebar later. Enjoy!
Then promptly waved in the air with excitement and anticipation as the lights went down. 
And then, Barry was among us, bathed in a cloud of smoke. 
He writes the songs that make the whole world sing, you know. 
Thank you, Bug, for the wonderful gift. I love you!
We scooped up his parents at the airport after their flight came in from Denver, enjoyed a long leisurely lunch on the beach at Island Prime, checked into our hotel, played a rousing game of Phase 10, and then all collapsed into our beds. See how committed I am to being better about blogging??? I'm out of town on vaca and am still taking the time to post. Kudos to me. Yesterday we had a phenomenal breakfast at The Mission. (I had the most scrumptious cinnamon french toast with berry puree, artfully presented and oh so delicious. Wish I'd taken a photo.) Then we headed off to the Wild Animal Park where we walked and walked and walked and walked . . . . and saw a whole mess of aminals. I mean animals. 
This isn't an animal; it's my husband. But moms out there, bring your kiddies 'round the computer screen, because here are some beasties. 
It was pretty unique and dare I say spiritual to see all the different species roaming freely together--which is something we usually see only on the Discovery Channel or something. Of course, the guide assured us that they only house herbivores together. After all, they don't want a tram full of tourists coming upon a bloody zebra carcass or anything. 
This is one of only 8 remaining white rhinos in the world. How sad is that? And only one of those remaining rhinos can still reproduce, so they will be extinct, for sure, in our lifetimes. This old timer is already a few years beyond the average life expectancy. Thankfully, the park has stored their DNA, so perhaps one day science will allow them to bring the species back. 
He's all, "Hey, I'm nearly extinct, move out of my way." 
"Don't give me the evil eye, water buffalo. I weigh more than twice as much as you, too, so look out." 
"Thanks for keeping this spot warm for me, losers. Zzzzzzzz . . . " Ooh, now check out my attractive in laws. 
I was really taken with this giant yellow hot air balloon. 
Isn't it a happy color? And so big? They didn't have it operating, though, because it was too windy. 
Did I mention that we walked a lot? Gads. My legs were jelly by the end of the day. We felt bad for all the moms and dads we saw pushing their lazy kids in strollers up and down all those hills.
Hmm, thanks for the warning. I took like a million pictures of these gorillas, and the whole time I kept thinking, What the heck am I going to do with all these pictures of gorillas? And then one of them would scratch its head or--wowzers--inhale, and I'd snap away. Click click click.
I'd been staring right at these guys for like 10 minutes when Matt came over and said, "Hey, Hon, did you see the sign about not making eye contact with them?" 
Uhm, no, I didn't. Then suddenly they were all looking right at me. 
See what I mean?
Seriously, it freaked me out and I had to leave. But the highlight of the day was this baby elephant. 
CUTENESS. "Hey, Mama, pay attention to me!" 
"Didn't you hear me calling you? Here, I'll lie down right on top of this pile of hay you were trying to eat." The mama says: Sigh. I never get a single moment to myself anymore.
(Matt would say this kind of behavior reminds him of a certain gal he's married to, but he's a fibber. You can't believe a word he says, for crying out loud.) I bet right now you're thinking, What a fabulous day you had, Denise! Whatever do you have planned for today? Well, let me start by saying that it took me two hours to write this post. Why? Because I had to sit with my eyes 4 inches from the screen so that I could see it through the layer of goo and slime that is covering my right eye. Yep, that's right. I woke up this morning with PINKEYE! So while Matt and his parents are out exploring Coronado Island and Balboa Park, I'm hiding out in our hotel room like a leper, squirting liquid sulfur into my eyeballs every two hours, developing hand-washing OCD, and disinfecting every surface of our room with Lysol wipes.
Just beautiful. And a truly enjoyable time with family. I hope all of your Thanksgiving days were just as blessed and your meals just as satisfying . . . .
As usual, we parked in Pasadena and caught the shuttle bus (you'd have to be insane or a masochist or both to drive yourself to the Bowl and face that parking/traffic hell--seriously, what are those people thinking?). My sweet husband knew he was in for an interesting night as soon as the other passengers started boarding the bus. A little bit of backstory here: Matt was actually the third person down on my list of people to invite to this concert. He likes Rufus well enough and all, but enough to enjoy a concert? Of Judy Garland tunes no less? A recreation of an insanely popular and well-known Judy Garland concert revered and nearly worshiped by millions of gay men worldwide? Many of whom were sure to converge upon the Hollywood Bowl in states of near hysteria at the prospect of seeing Rufus Wainwright of all people (a modern gay icon) perform as Judy (a historically gay-embraced icon)? Mmmm, not so much. So being the nice and thoughtful wife that I am, I figured I'd let him off the hook and give him a free night at home to watch "Mythbusters," gorge himself on red meat a/o fried food, play WoW, and scratch his feet or whatever to his heart's content. But then the unimaginable happened: Neither of my dearly loved gay friends wanted to go (one because our seats wouldn't be good enough--he's a bit of a snob, but in a lovable way). Which is why my dear and supportive husband was seated next to me on that Bowl shuttle as the men started streaming on board. Finely-groomed, hair-gelled, hand-talking men, some of whom were dressed quite fabulously. Like this fella who was wearing a tight black and gold stripe sparkly sweater (that I swear to the good Lord above my grandma owned) and giant black Nicole Richie-esque sunglasses. 
Incidentally, he was with another guy who looked a lot like a chubbier Perez Hilton. Once everyone was settled, we pulled out . . . and made it as far as the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, where we were promptly stopped by police and CalTrans workers informing us that the road was closed due to a mudslide caused by that little bit of rain we had last week. Thankfully, one of the other passengers--we'll call him Helpy McHelperton--knew an alternate route, as our poor bus driver was without a clue. He stood up front and directed her where to go. Coincidentally, he was wearing a jaunty driving cap that matched his jacket.
So after a short delay caused by our detour, we arrived at the Bowl. This is where I had my first hopping-in-my-seat-with-excitement moment. 
Because I'm a bad and lazy wife and didn't feel like packing a picnic dinner, we spent nearly $30 on two sandwiches, a small bag of chips, and two waters, and then made our way to our seats. 
In due time, the lights went down and the show began. Rufus came out wearing white tailored slacks, a navy velvet dinner jacket, a ruffled tuxedo shirt, and a gigantic rhinestone corsage. (It was at this moment that Matt had the revelation: Rufus Wainwright is gay? Apparently he hadn't known that before and thought the high male attendance was due to the Judy factor alone. Hehe.) He looked fabulous and started the show off with "When You're Smiling."
If you're not familiar with his music, he's well known for his songwriting and also his unique tone, various vocal affectations, and powerful full-throat delivery. He wasn't in top form this night, I'll admit; it sounded to me like he was a bit under the weather and was on the verge of losing his voice. But he was also singing all of these songs in their original keys--the ones in which Judy performed them, and that's no easy feat. So he missed a few of the high notes, but he handled it with a sense of humor and came off as quite charming. But the real excitement came in the second half. First he invited his sister, Martha (a pretty fantastic and unique performer herself) to come up and sing "Stormy Weather." The crowd loved her and she received the first standing ovation of the night. A bit later he invited his mom, Kate McGarrigle (of the McGarrigle Sisters fame), to join him on the piano while he sang "Over the Rainbow" while seated indian-style on the catwalk. (In Judy's concert, she performed it sitting on the edge of the stage.) Then the best part . . . . At one point during Judy's original show, she stepped into the audience where Rock Hudson was seated and gave him a kiss. Rufus did the same, but this time the guest of honor was none other than Debbie Reynolds! Heavens to Betsy, at this point I was hopping in my seat like mad and slapping Matt's knee, squealing repeatedly, "It's Debbie Reynolds! Honey, Debbie Reynolds!" Here she is with Gene Kelly in a publicity still for Singin' in the Rain.
No joke, people, I had tears welling up in my eyes. Matt, on the other hand, was sitting back and clapping politely. He leaned over to me and asked genuinely, "Who?" Oy! (Later, on the way home I tried to fill him in, but nothing was ringing any bells until I remembered that she played Grace Adler's mom on "Will & Grace," an episode of which we happened to have just seen a couple of weeks ago. He was still unimpressed. Sigh. That is until the following day when it dawned on me that there was one bit of info that would impress him: Debbie Reynolds also happens to be Princess Leia's mom, and I'd read online that Carrie Fisher herself was at the concert, seated right next to her lovely mother. 
That got his attention. Men.) So I was beside myself with happiness, thinking it couldn't get any better when Rufus began singing "After You've Gone" towards the end of the show, and then invited someone to come out and join him for a duet. Out waltzed Lorna Luft, looking gorgeous in a hot pink gown. 
To borrow a phrase from Pioneer Woman, "lawsy mercy!" The crowd went wild and I was yet again hopping up and down and jerking my head back and forth from Lorna to Matt back to Lorna then to Matt, looking to see if he understood what he was seeing. He didn't. I said, "That's Judy Garland's daughter!" and his face brightened a little and he said, "Oh." That sweet boy, he tried so hard . . . . Ok, so this post has gone on way longer than I intended, so I'll wrap it up the way Rufus did: When the second half was over and he came out for the 5-song-long encore, he was dressed in drag, wearing this famous costume of Judy's from Summer Stock.
What fun! I wish I could go back and see it all over again.
