A woman that I work with just came back from medical leave. She had an undisclosed surgery. In actuality, she had a breast reduction.

Now, the problem is that since she didn’t want to tell anyone about it, should we comment on it? I mean it is pretty obvious and she does look much better but she is not saying a word about it. So, we in the office just pretend that nothing happened.

I have known other women who have had breast reductions and they talk quite freely about it. Maybe in time she will loosen up a little and talk about it.

When were recently at a wedding in California, we passed a place called Alice’s Restaurant. Someone from the wedding party said that it was the restaurant mentioned in the song. I was remembering 40 years ago that it was neat Boston. So, I checked it out.

It was as I remembered. Arlo Guthrie went to Alice’s for Thanksgiving. After the meal, Arlo volunteered tp take the trash, from the meal, to the dump. Unfortunately, the dump was closed for the holiday, so Arlo dumped it anyways.

The next day, the dump opened and they noticed the trash. So, the called the police.

The police came and took 27 8 X10 photos of the trash. They also discovered Arlos name and address and charged him with illegal dumping of trash.

The police took him to court and presented their case. Unfortunately, the judge was blind so the photos were usless.

Arlo pleaded guilty, was fined $50 and told to pick up his trash, which he did.

Later, he was called up for military service but was declared unfit because of his criminal record. He wrote the song about Alice’s restaurant to encourage draft dodges to do the same.

Don’t you just love it! If only that were the case today.

The key note speaks at a seminar that I recently attended was a guy named Woody Norris. He is a self made millionaire and an entrepreneur.

Among the many things that he invented were the Ultra Sound machine, the pocket digital voice recorder, the Blue Tooth and the electric one man helicopter.

He had an up and down life but always had a positive outlook.  Truly a fascinating speaker.

I attended a seminar the other day.  One of the presentations was “The Multi Generational Work Place”.  Truly fascinating.

I am a Baby Boomer, as I was born between 1946 and 1952.  This was not a surprise as I have known this for many years.  What was really intriguing was the Millennial Generation or my kids!

The presenter, a PhD from MSU, described my kids perfectly.  I couldn’t believe my ears.

This guy works with businesses and universities explaining how Millennial s think and more importantly, how to work with them and retain them in the work force.

Wow!  It certainly explained a lot of things.

About three years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Denmark named Patrick. Patrick always said that he wanted to come back and tour the US.

Well, the other night I went out for groceries as Kathy was going to an exercise class at church. When I returned home, I saw a large Suburban sitting in the driveway.

At first, I thought it was just someone turning around. But when I looked closer, I noticed that it was Patrick.

Patrick and a friend of his arrived in the states about 4 weeks ago for a 90 visit. When they arrived, they purchased a Suburban.

The Suburban is not only transportation for them, it is also a place for them to spend the night if they need. It is easily big enough for two people to sleep in.

They are going to spend a couple of days with us and then head for Chicago.

Never a dull moment.

The other day, we went hiking in Pursima Park. It is in a red wood forest over by Half Moon Bay.

It was very nice. We could see the ocean high up in the hills. Plus, we were walking in the woods so it was cool.

We saw a lot of wild life and heard a lot the animal moving in the brush. And, we discover eucalyptus trees after wondering why the place smelled like cough drops.

One thing that was a bit disconcerting were the instructions on dealing with mountain lions. Apparently, if you encounter a mountain lion, you are to yell and wave your arms high in the air. Plus, you are supposed to be aggressive towards the lion.

I noticed a large hiking stick beside the sign. I picked it up. “Here kitty kitty.” When we returned, I put it back next to the sign.

The president of the San Francisco Hells Angels was gunned downed a few days ago. A rival biker gang is suspected. The shooting took place in the Mission district. There are rumors of retaliation. The mission district is near to where we walk.

I am concerned.

Last Friday night, we attended a wedding and the reception.  It was about 15 miles from our home.

As we were returning home, a car drifted over into our lane and then back.  This made me nervous and I was glad when the car passed.

When we got home, our daughter, who was also at the wedding, called and wondered if we got  home all right.  She said that the road we had taken was now closed due to a head on collision.

It seems that the car, that had swerved into to our lane, swerved in front of some one else and hit them head on.

That was too close for comfort.

Last night, we attended the wedding and reception for two of the neighbor kids that we have known since they were in grade school. They were good friends with our kids so we saw a lot of them when they were growing up.

We pretty much knew all of the members of the wedding party, but almost none of the guests. So, when it came time for the reception, we wandered around looking for space at one of the tables.

Finally, Kathy spotted a woman that she recognized. She was the aunt of the bride and lived several blocks away. (Our kids went over to her house on occasion to go swimming in the pool.) There were only two couples at the table and they invited us to join them.

After some introduction, we struck up conversation with them.  But, from time to time, the conversation took a strange turn.

For instance, Kathy commented to the woman that her new pool fence looked nice. She responded that it wasn’t her fence and then gestured towards the other couple at the table.

This response put both of us on tilt. I concluded that she must have sold the house to the other couple sitting with us at the table.

Thinking that this must have been a fairly recent transaction, I asked the other couple how long have they lived there. When he responded that he had lived there for 30 years, we were really confused.

Here was a woman that we knew had lived at that house when our kids were in school and yet, the other guy claims to have lived there for 30 years. Was he a relative of the aunt who shared the house with her?

Finally, the guy, sensing our confusion, explained that he and the aunt were in the process of getting a divorce.

Wow! The two couples seemed like old friends. I would never have guessed that they were a soon to be divorced couple with their prospective boy friend and girl friend.

Apparently, the divorce was agreeable with both parties.

We rented a car for the San Francisco trip. We were given a mini van. We wanted a full sized car but a mini van was the best that we could do.

Well, we went to one of the SF art museums. The biggest problem was parking at the museum. It seems that the museum has a fantastic view of the Golden Gate so everyone parks at the museum. They also park along the along the road at the museum.

Parking is fine and dandy but the peepers block the parking for the museum goers. Such was the case for us.

We couldn’t find a parking space so we parked along the side of the road along with about a hundred others. Unfortunately, the road does not have a nice curb and sidewalk. Instead, it has grass.

After doing the museum, we headed out. But we noticed that the right side of the van was scratched!

What the? We looked at the scratches on the van. Very strange. We had scuff marks on the passengers side door, hub cap and running board,

What happened? They were mowing grass that day. My guess is damage by a lawn mower.

I am glad that I took out that additional insurance.