CLOVER!!!'S DADDY, FANUCCI HEADS TO THE WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW

FANUCCI, his handler, SUSAN and me in November 2017

Today at 8:30am, CLOVER!!!'s daddy, FANUCCI was to compete with the other German Shepherds to hopefully WIN "BEST OF BREED" at the WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW in NYC!!! And then tomorrow, the BEST in EACH BREED will compete for "BEST IN SHOW".  

I WAS JUST GOING TO POST THIS, WHEN I RECEIVED WORD THAT FANUCCI WAS PULLED FROM THE SHOW BECAUSE HE HAS A HEMATOMA ON HIS EAR THAT IS CAUSING HIS EAR TO FLOP OVER. I'M HEARTBROKEN FOR HIM, HIS OWNERS AND HANDLER AFTER ALL OF THEIR EFFORTS THIS YEAR TO PREPARE HIM FOR HIS INVITATION TO WESTMINSTER..........

FANUCCI'S STORY is a HEARTFELT one. An astounding story of recovery from a TERRIBLE ACCIDENT!! Click HERE to read about it.......

Here are a few photos of FANUCCI getting ready for the competition in Oaks, PA in NOVEMBER 2017.

WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW (competition) is held every year around my BIRTHDAY, so one time, several years ago I went to celebrate. WOW!! We went "behind the scenes" and watched the owners and groomers WASH, BLOW DRY, BRUSH and PRIMP to make each of their dogs look PERFECT before their individual competitions. We fell in love with one BEAGLE who had a BIG personality. I believe that year a LONG HAIRED CHIHUAHUA won BEST IN SHOW. What a WONDERFUL experience that was!

Last year, RUMOR (below), a GORGEOUS female German Shepherd won BEST IN SHOW. She is now "retired" from the show circuit. 

Thank you Google Images for this photo of RUMOR.

This year FANUCCI was the WINNINGEST GERMAN SHEPHERD IN THE COUNTRY!!!  It would be unusual for the same breed to win WESTMINSTER 2 years in a row, but my fingers were crossed for FANUCCI. Perhaps I'll go in person to see him compete next year.........

JOAN

PS  "BEST IN SHOW" (2000) is one of the FUNNIEST movies I've ever seen!! If you like dogs and haven't seen it, it's a MUST SEE!

MY FAST AND FURIOUS INTRODUCTION TO AGATHA CHRISTIE

In MAY 2017, WELLINGTON SQUARE BOOKSHOP's Fiction Book Club scheduled us to read "AND THEN THERE WERE NONE" (1939), which I thoroughly enjoyed. Until last year, I had never read anything by AGATHA CHRISTIE, who is considered the WORLD'S BEST-SELLING MYSTERY WRITER. 

Coincidentally, my SORORITY ALUMNI Book Club decided that we needed to read an AGATHA CHRISTIE book and chose "THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD" (1926), which we'll be discussing this week. It was a complete MYSTERY all the way to the end and by many is considered THE BEST CRIME NOVEL OF ALL TIME. 

Yesterday I was invited to join my friends JOYCE and CONNIE to see a play at the FULTON OPERA HOUSE in Lancaster, PA. The play was "THE MOUSETRAP" (1952), written as a PLAY by AGATHA CHRISTIE. (I swear, she's making a comeback!) It has been running continuously in LONDON since 1952 (my birth year).  THAT is amazing, isn't it?

The play was EXTRAORDINARY. So many twists and turns - what I'm now beginning to see as AGATHA CHRISTIE's style. Every single character is a potential SUSPECT. This makes the storyline so exciting and keeps your mind jumping back and forth from character to character with suspicion. The actors were so PERFECTLY CAST!! And the SET DESIGN, we all agreed was EXQUISITE.

Photo I took at the Theater yesterday - hardly looks real.

If you haven't been to the FULTON OPERA HOUSE in Lancaster, you might want to make a point of it one of these days. I found it's history fascinating.

• It was named after a local STEAM ENGINE PIONEER, ROBERT FULTON. 
• The building itself sits where Lancaster's PRE-REVOLUTIONARY JAIL stood in 1737. 
• The back wall of the theater is actually the original wall from the JAIL'S COURTYARD.
• In 1763 a vigilante group named "THE PAXTANG BOYS" massacred the last of the CONESTOGA INDIANS being held there for their protection. 
• PERFORMANCES didn't take place in the building until 1863. 
• The first play, "OTHELLO" was performed to benefit WIDOWS and ORPHANS of the CIVIL WAR. 
• Around the turn of the century the building began to "lose it's luster" and became a SECOND-RATE MOVIE HOUSE. 
• In 1957 it was finally transformed back into a PERFORMING ARTS THEATER with a new movie screen installed as well.
• A $9.5 MILLION RECONSTRUCTION project in 1995 brought the THEATER back to it's VICTORIAN elegance.

Somebody has a SENSE OF HUMOR. As you enter the Theater, there is a STATUE OF ROBERT FULTON holding........... yes, a MOUSETRAP!

JOAN

THE SPACEX FALCON HEAVY LAUNCH (02/06/2018)

I was SO excited about the launching of the SPACE SHUTTLE yesterday.  On my list of "60 THINGS TO DO AND SEE IN MY 60's", viewing a LAUNCH is person is on there. 

My friend MERRY and I traveled to the WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY in MD for the weekend a few years ago to see a launch.......... but it was cancelled. Oh, the anticipation and excitement on the ride down there....... and then the disappointment from the cancellation....... BOO HOO. We toured the interesting little museum there and had fun anyway, of course!  

After that, I figured that because our government had cancelled our shuttle program, it might be too difficult to see an actual SHUTTLE LAUNCH, so I "ADJUSTED MY EXPECTATIONS" and decided to tour the KENNEDY SPACE CENTER in FL one day instead.

One must plan for these things, right? So, this month I'm going to Orlando with my friend JOYCE and a visit to the KENNEDY SPACE CENTER is on our list of "things-to-do". It just so happens that another LAUNCH is expected while we're there! Sooooooo........ my EXPECTATIONS, or more appropriately, "HOPES" are that the LAUNCH WILL HAPPEN and I'll check that off my "LIST". Touring the SPACE CENTER will be a LIFE HIGHLIGHT in itself, for sure.

In 1970, when I was a SENIOR in high school, I did well in and really enjoyed MATH. Imagine that!! One of the CAREERS I was considering was to work in the SPACE PROGRAM. It fascinated me. The thought of potentially discovering PLANETS and STARS and LIFE ELSEWHERE in our UNIVERSE was terribly energizing and still captivates me........

Another career I was considering was exploring and discovering the secrets of human GENES. 

• "In 1972 Walter Fiers and his team at the University of Ghent were the first to determine the sequence of a gene..." (Wiki). 
• Not until 1990 did the MAPPING THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT begin. 

There was/is SO much we didn't (and still don't) know!! I wanted to get right in the thick of things and help uncover MYSTERIES!

Ok, I digressed. Back to the SPACE PROGRAM and the SHUTTLE LAUNCH yesterday.......

I'm absolutely astounded that this SHUTTLE will be in orbit for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of years. Can you even imagine that? 

ELON MUSK is a creative genius and has my total RESPECT for making this a FUN, PRODUCTIVE and SUCCESSFUL PROJECT.

A RED TESLA in space for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of years, with a fake ASTRONAUT? How fun is that?!! 

Take a moment to DREAM. What excites YOU? What have you always wanted to DO or SEE?  Make it happen by planning for it today. DREAMS CAN COME TRUE! Be an active participant in making them happen.......

JOAN

PS Thank you to the photographers who shared these 4 magnificent images on GOOGLE IMAGES, so that I could share them YOU!