Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

ahhh ray, i was already making plans for us to rent an escalade and checking dates at the wynn for a trip with you guys to vegas.  wait til you see what jerry is going to do for his 75th birthday today. you’ll be calling the wynn.

and the fountains. you have to see the fountains. i was looking forward to holding your hand while you watched with tears in your eyes at the magnificence of the fountains.(inside joke) they play songs as the water moves in perfect rhythm to the beat. we heard ‘all that jazz’ last night.

and you say i need a new camera

you all know by now how much i love your comments.  i’m faithfully reading them and knowing what great people i have in my life to write such nice things.

tony, you touched my heart with your comment. we had just got back from seeing the most amazing cher concert of all time.

we were in the first row!

next to the stage!

she looked at us!

her voice was amazing!

her costumes were out of this world!

the dancers were fantastic!

like i said, wow!  i was thrilled

i read your comment when we got back to the coach. you cleverly included the songs you heard me play over and over again while you were growing up. i loved it. i love you. i was thrilled. thank you.

remember me recording the sonny and cher show on to 8 track tapes.

i loved the colors of this outfit

i had to include this one.

i’m so sorry you brought home a cold home from ireland tracy. you must have got it from kissing that blarney stone. haha. hope you feel better soon. i love you too.

we are in the paris hotel rear parking lot in the coach. we had taken a taxi, ten dollars to go a few blocks, to the park mgm for the show. we took the tram back to the belliago and we walked through the conservatory back to the coach. it was beautiful. i’ll save those pictures for another post.

how would you like to check into this hotel lobby ray?

happy birthday jerry. we have something new planned today. and we’ll do an old thing too. eat at ‘mon ami gabi’.

wish you were here.

stay tuned,

love, jilly

Read Full Post »

the drive gets boring at times, but there is always something to look at. you’ve seen so many pictures of that drive i have only have a couple to show you.

this poster of a man with a briefcase is on every billboard, fence, abandoned building, anywhere there is a spot. we saw them from barstow to baker. some are going left and some are going right. don’t know what it stands for?

you probably don’t remember a picture i took of a bronco on the back of a truck on our trip to oregon last year. so i’ll remind you.

does thin one look the same?

almost huh? we saw this one at barstow station when we stopped for gas. we would  buy one in a heartbeat if they started making them again

we made it yo cracker barrel in time for dinner. we had a delicious grilled chicken sandwich and of course with those delightful pinto beans, just like mom made. i didn’t shop any. i was tired and couldn’t give it my full attention. i knew we would be back for breakfast when i would be wide awake for eggs in a basket. i had to make my own iced coffee ray.

jerry’s best score was 3 left

i thought of you martha

notice santa climbing up a ladder?

my favorite candy the size of a basketball

really, 36 inches of snickers

happy anniversary jerry

for everyone

we got our tattoo’s this afternoon. and we see cher tonight.

stay tuned

Read Full Post »

just for a few days that is.

we have the best neighbors in our neighborhood. it’s always hard to leave our porch and midas for any amount of time. but here we go again.

first i want to tell you this. it’s blog worthy. paula who lives actoss the street. i think you all know her from the blog. when she lost norm she took over walking their dog so we still get to see her often. she came over to sit on the porch last night with her halloween mask on. we got a good laugh out of that. we always have a lot of fun on the porch. we have the best neighbors. oh, i already said that.

she had brought us something unusual a few days ago.

no, its not a rock it’s a potato. everyone knows how much i like hearts and this is a very unusual one don’t you think?

thank you paula, it sure was good.

so now it’s that time to get our anniversary star tattoo. the best place we’ve found to get them is in las vegas. the guy who did the original tattoo does a fantastic job. can you believe that was 6 years ago.

and since we’re going to be in las vegas for that, why not see cher again? right? but this time we have front row seats. wow.

we have a lot of things planned. some new but most of them we’ve done many times. we always enjoy our time there. we’re staying in the coach this time.

midas will be in good hands again. i think linda loves midas as much as we do.

we have the best neighbors.

stay tuned, jilly

Read Full Post »

here’s a few more pictures from martha and ray’s phones.

hi from grand central station

we wore our jill and jerry shirts

like mother like son

the object of their desire

martha at moma

we found the coolest place to have breakfast one day. we only walked thirteen blocks to get there

the object of my desire

the reflection of st. patricks on nearby buildings. great shot.

i forgot to mention this building is the  famous dakota.

you saw ours, here’s the others

look at all those bricks

martha’s albuquerque  blanket

all the progress they made on that rooftop

so we’ll say good-bye for now

bye-bye

don’t look so sad ray, we can go again next year. we can take that cruise around the island, a carriage ride in central park, madam tusauds, the empire state building, rockefeller center, walk the brooklyn bridge, ………………………………

i’m ready.  what month should we go this time ray.? how about may? or maybe at christmas when it’s snowing?

so our wonderful trip came to an end. thank you karl, sandy and kasandra for all you did while we were in your city. we had great weather very few glitches and great experiences. it was fun getting to know you guys. we all seemed to get along swell. i wouldn’t be surprised if ray wants to do it again, we did miss a few things.

jerry and i go to las vegas next month.

stay tuned if you can stand another blog of sin city

love, jilly

Read Full Post »

we’ve been on trains several times and had forgotten how rough they can be at times. we all got a few bumps and bruises. jerry got his arm in the way of a moving door and got a bad scrape. i was getting in a suitcase on the floor on my knees and the train did a big sway and i fell into the suitcase and got a bad bruise on my upper arm. but check it out.

almost a heart

this is the bathroom in our handicapped room. we had it going too. in the roomette you had to lift one of the steps to the bunk to use the toilet under it. (i wish i would have take a picture).

and the this is the sitting area which makes into a bed with a bunk above it of the handicapped room. also about the size of the whole roomette we had.

we had the dome car on this train

the dining car where we spent a lot of time. the food was always good.

but we had to climb the stair to get there.

you see a lot of this out the window on the train

and then it become this

and then this

we had a short stop in albuquerque. we got off the train and i bought a handmade backpack. ray bought martha a blanket. of course it was purple.

smokers love these stops. there is no smoking anywhere on the train. if you are caught, they stop the train, even if it is in the middle of nowhere, they call the police, put you off the train and the police deal with you. no one broke the rules on our trip.

i still wonder what happens to all these buildings along the tracks that once served a useful purpose. they fascinate me. look at all that brick going to waste.

martha is going to download some of her pictures on a flashdrive. i hope to get that soon and share a few pictures of hers.

stay tuned for a few more odds and ends.

love, jilly

Read Full Post »

karl and sandy got us another escalade to take us to penn station tuesday. they walked, and got there the same time we did. new york traffic is brutal.

we got on the train about 2:50.  we didn’t have the handicapped room this time (long story). we had what they call a roomette. we were so uncomfortable i took no pictures. i couldn’t wait to get off of it.

as i said before, it’s very hard to take pictures from a speeding train. we passed so many special places and beautiful landscapes that i couldn’t capture. believe me i tried. those will remain special places and beautiful landscapes with just us.

here’s a few i snapped, sorry they are so dark. i have to get a new camera.

we switched trains again in chicago. martha and ray stayed in and we stepped outside the terminal and  i took a few pictures.

when you have a sleeper you get to wait in the vip lounge.

the chicago river runs through downtown. it has an interesting history

the bridge over the river

notice the traffic signal? six lights.

we got on the southwest chief again to come home. we got our handicapped room again, long story again, and were very happy.

stay tuned, jilly

Read Full Post »

Read Full Post »

on the subway

on the way to the ferry. we ate up there?

at the statue of liberty

ray ringing the bell of hope at st. pauls chapel

we had the best waiter at the hotel 

going to comic con

we had fun playing who could pick the right elevator coming up

and still playing the kissing game

i want to thank kara for our emergency fund. every trip she slips us an envelope with emergency money, or, it can be used for fun. we had no emergency this trip kara, but boy did we have fun.

thanks to all of you who left comments. it makes my day to hear someone likes the pictures.

we still have four days on the train, so stay tuned

jilly

Read Full Post »

we couldn’t see that thing sticking out of the building this morning because it was so foggy.

i read an article about that strange thing. it’s going to be called the ‘hudson yards observation deck’. slated to soar in 2019, the open air, 100 story observation deck isn’t for acrophobes. but everyone else can enjoy unobstructed views of the hudson river and skyline as well as a restaurant serving bites at 1,000 feet. you were right tony.

i just think it shold have been a different shape. the first time i saw it when we got here i thought of the planes going into the world trade center.

i guess i should have shown you this view of the times building  too

we saw times square  while walking to grand central station

so many people

the new years eve ball, it won’t be long now

the steam that heats the city. you see these everywhere

grand central station

the very famous ceiling

one of the several couples posing for pictures

martha was happy, she got to see the apple store at the station. she even got to touch the new phone and watch. i know what you’re thinking, she didn’t get to buy them?  no.

we walked back to the hotel. i think it was four miles there and back.

this is a different logo than i’ve see before

i took a picture of jerry at the walgreens in times square for his buddies at our walgreens by our house. 

 comic con is going on here in new york. 

our new york stay is winding down. we will leave tomorrow. i haven’t got my carriage ride yet. it’s foggy again today. maybe it will clear up.

stay tuned, jilly

Read Full Post »

karl sent me this beautiful picture from one of sandy and his walks. they walk everywhere getting in 5 to 10 miles a day on the streets of new york. maybe even more.

my colors

i wonder how many people work in here nowadays

red light

green light

they actually do this?

outside a chase bank

empty bicycle renting racks

haven’t seem many of these

open loading doors on the sidewalks

a papaya dog (seinfeld)

yummies inside

money inside

we’re going to grand central station today.

stay tuned, jilly

Read Full Post »