Yoshi, Lillian, Hoppy and Me~~~~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

Another Sunday morning has come and gone, and a lovely Sunday morning too. I dawned sunny, clear, cold and a bit crisp. Fall is fully upon us.

I have been a bit of a busy bee this whole last week, went in taking Bus and BART on a coldish, drizzly, rainy, Friday morning, at least it was casual Friday. The crowds were back to being their usual self. Worked till 1 p.m.

Met with my friend Yoshi for lunch near Union Square, and with her driving in the crowded Streets of San Francisco on a rainy, drizzly day (an adventure in itself) we went to this Antique/Collectible shop that had been recommended to me.

And it was not a wasted effort, I found a wooden 4 drawer filing cabinet in excellent condition, that matched my desk, however no luck on a 2 drawer cabinet, I was not upset about that. I just have to be on the watch for it.

So I made arrangements to have it delivered to my home Saturday evening, and it now sits in my home office waiting for all the files that I plan to put into it.

After our little excursion, Yoshi and I went to do some Grocery shopping, I decided to hold off on perishable dairy goods, until I got back home. Yoshi asked if I wanted to come over for dinner at her aunts’ house in Oakland, but feeling tired from the day and the week, I had to beg off.

So she dropped me off at my home before going to her aunts’, she, like Lillian, is such a good friend. Friends always need to be cherished, especially when they are there to support you in your time of need.

The Gun Show yesterday was fun, a lot of people, a lot of guns, a lot of collectibles, and a lot of items to buy for security and self defense. The NRA was out in force, outside and inside; out side they were signing up people and having people sign petitions to repeal the ammo limitation sales, as well as signing letters of support to Assemblyman Hager for amending his bill to repeal that idiotic law.

Inside the NRA had an information booth about the current gun law status, who to write to, and information on gun ranges in the greater SFBay Area. People were taking the Gun Safety course and test, and other were taking the conceal weapons carry permit course.

Frank wasn’t working detail for the show but I saw and said “Hi” to some of his friends, they asked about my health, getting better and stronger of course.

The members of the Sunnyvale Cowboy re-enactment group were there, we had a nice chat and they inquired about my previous purchase, I told them I hadn’t gone through the gun yet and cleaned it, nor fired it because of my health problem from earlier and when I was feeling better I didn’t want to do it in front of Mom, although I’m sure she would understand, I just didn’t want to upset her while she was staying with me.

Of course every one of them offered to help, and I know their offer is sincere but the day I can’t clean a gun is a day when it’s time for me to retire. But I’m not foolish, if I see something that I feel requires a gunsmith, I will do that. I never attempt my own repairs, I don’t have that level of expertise.

I did have a chance to see a few 1^st and 2^nd generation colts, a matched pair of 1^st generation colts, with sequential numbers, fully restored by Doug Turnbull, with ivory grips, asking price a mere $7,500 although I think they could go for more. I longed to hold even one of them in my hand, but with ivory grips, I didn’t want my hand oil to do any further discoloration.

After a couple of hours looking and admiring, I felt hungry and at all stadiums, the prices were high for a hot dog and coffee, but an Italian Sausage Dog, worth the price, coffee was Starbucks and very strong, no fancy lattes here, just a lot of dry dairy creamer and sugar (lots of it) I’m sure my calorie intake went off the chart.

I shared a table with several gentlemen from out of town, they were visiting from Seattle, a business weekend for them, I just said I worked as a “secretary”, avoiding what my real job is. One never knows what sort of tidbit of information one can get in a conversational chat. (slight “James Bond” theme here).

I love James Bond movies, even the sexiest Shawn Connery ones.

But I digress, I did get a bit of information from them that I mentally filed away and asked them for their business cards, it always pays to get business cards. We chatted about guns, the laws in California and about the Fort Hood Shooter, everything is now alleged at this time, like he might not have worked alone, that he might have 9/11 connections. We all agreed that we’ll have to see how this plays out.

It turns out that my “Koffee Klatch Friends” are also Cowboy reenactors from up North as well and we talked about that.

But then it was time to move on, and with ‘friendly goodbye’s’ and ‘nice talkin’ to ya’s’ we went our ways.

I never go to one of these shows with any expectations, which is good because one doesn’t get disappointed. But sometimes something shows up which I call a “Gotta Have”, and there it sat, no fanfare, just sitting there. Not a gun either.

It was an original picture of Hopalong Cassidy (portrayed by William Boyd) in an original Hopalong Cassidy picture frame from the time Boyd took the Hopalong movies to T.V. in the 1950’s. It was in very, very good condition only slight wear, in fact I was amazed that it held up this long, the price was a steal.

I looked at it, took out my money, the man came along looked at me, I pointed to the picture, he smiled and said “The guys from the Sunnyvale Cowboy group are going to be upset, a couple of them came looked and said ‘I’ll be back’, one of them said I need to get some cash from the wife, I hate to see their faces”. I grinned as he carefully bagged the photo and frame.

And yes Sweet Things, I had to ‘gloat’. I went over to the group and said “hi’ again and said “Look what I found!” Showed Hoppy, their faces just were priceless, one turned to his wife and said “See!! I told ya!” She could only just shrug her shoulders in that “Oh Well” movement. But I told them that Hoppy would have a good home.

A couple of the police officers that work the show came by and saw what I had purchased, and one said “I just looked at it 20 minutes ago, I shoulda moved on that!”

And now Hoppy has a good home in my home office, I’ve made sure that he’s not in an area where he’ll get faded from the sun, but where I can also see him. I never saw the Hopalong Cassidy show, it ran many years before my time, but at a western film revival they showed some of the films that were filed in historic Jamestown and Columbia back in 1935 before Columbia became a state historic park. And I got hooked and watched first for the Tapes then DVD’s for the films.

Of course I also love Roy and Gene, and the Lone Ranger, but for some reason Hoppy has staying power, his image is still on Producers Milk, which is what my Mother buys even now.

Now after a busy weekend gun shows, finishing grocery shopping, antique shopping, I thought I would stay in on Sunday, but Lillian had a different idea, so off we went to Niles, she has a friend that was showing some of her works at a small art gallery in Town and she wanted to see what her friend had produced. After looking at everything for nearly an hour, Lillian and I came out of the small gallery and as we walked towards Bronco Billy’s Pizza Parlor for coffee and a salad she proclaimed “I can do better.”

I don’t argue with Lillian.

We sat at the only table at the window of the place; I had no idea why she wanted to go there except that one has an excellent view of the street, and both Lillian and I love to people watch. There was a fellow dressed as a cowboy all in black and his wife, she looked a little ill and she was wearing a high plains drifter hat, but wore red cloth gloves and a warm jacket, they were sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and quietly talking, I heard him say “You’re only out of the hospital less that 4 weeks, it takes time to get better from surgery, I don’t want you to push it” she was using a cane to assist in walking.

After a bit they left, the cowboy husband carefully watching his wife and they joined a group of cowboys near this passenger railroad car and they went in. Lillian remarked it must be for some sort of meeting. I was thinking "Why am I running into cowboys?"

I was looking out at the area that the Niles township is working on, the new plaza, with it’s old fashioned passenger and freight railroad depot. Lillian told me that she was trying to get tickets for the Christmas lights train that runs from Sunol to Niles and back, but the dates she wanted were sold out, just at the time her family would be visiting.

I’ve ridden the Niles Canyon Railway several times for fun and have eaten at Bosco’s Bones and Brew in Sunol, I’ll have to plan on riding the Christmas lights train sometime.

I suggested that we go to the Dicken’s Fair on one of the weekends, so we’ll make plans for that.

Before we left Niles, we went through some of the antique shops, and I saw a pair of art Deco type brass and onyx bookends in the shape of Falcons. I thought that they would be perfect to hold my hardcopy address book and my calendar book. The price was right and a 20% discount on top of that. No argument from me. How could one be so lucky in one weekend I thought, but sometimes fate works that way.

We left early, I was feeling tired, Lillian asked if I would drop her off at a Friends house who was expecting her, so while in town as we were driving past this warehouse being renovated I saw it, a very large Falcon, I’d seen him the day before, and there he was again, I have no idea as to what breed of Falcon, I’ll have to look it up. Lillian spotted him too and remarked that she had seen him several times, so there must be a nest or something nearby, it appears to be his territory. How remarkable I thought, and how wonderful.

Now I’m finishing typing my weekend adventures, not much in the grand scheme of things, but fun. I have some wonderful War Won Ton Soup ready to heat, that I purchased yesterday and never had a chance to eat it. Then I’ll spread out the newspapers and catch up on things.

I wonder what is on “Retro Night” on KOFY T.V. something interesting I hope, if not I’ll put on a James Bond movie, or maybe watch William Powell and Myrna Loy exchange banter as they solve a “Thin Man” mystery. And then to Bed…It has been a busy weekend for me.

Until Later Sweet Things, Kisses.