Mini-Vacation

A mini-vacation just in the nick of time!! I was starting to fold under the stress of getting Stacy through the kidney transplant evaluation tests and trying to figure out mom's continuing disappearance into Alzheimer's. Last weekend Las Vegas seemed to be the place to go, especially seeing how I'd never been there! It's about a 4.5 hour drive which is doable; I had no idea that the Mojave Desert looks different than the Coachella Valley/Palm Springs desert area, but it does. All of these photos were taken at the Bellagio. Art decor on ceilings is something way too many builders/designers don't seem to think is important enough to consider, but not in Vegas; I was tripping all over my feet looking at the ceiling artwork. Very grand. I'm not usually one for glitz, but when it's done well I find that I'm in awe.

The food was incredible and might even have surpassed what we've had in Europe, which to me is hard to do. We saw Cirque Du Soleil's "O" and I can honestly say that I was completely blown away! We chose Wynn's "Le Reve" the next night and while it's not quite as good as "O" sitting in the second row made the show quite an adventure. There isn't anything comparable to seeing outstanding physical conditions put through so many twists and turns. I hadn't seen "Phantom of the Opera" since around 1993 so it was time to see it again. It was just as haunting and the music has stayed with me once again. Nope, we didn't gamble, I'm not a fan of games in any capacity, but we did enjoy watching. There was one young man, who looked to be about 12 and all of the spectators thought so too, who had a huge stuffed animal tortoise good-luck charm at his side. He was betting $500 chips and the crowd nearly fainted when he lost $8000! It didn't register on his face and he kept going. We went off to dinner and stopped back by his table afterwards. Neither he or the Black Jack dealer looked like they'd moved from the spot; the only difference was that he now had a drink at his side and was chain smoking. His stack of chips had grown considerably. We couldn't help but wonder how often he plays.

I haven't posted a link in quite some time, but this one be of interest. Nancy Renyor has an

acrylic painting book out so she may be familiar to some of you. Her blog is at:

Quote: Another winner from Sally Huss! Make yourself into a stress-free zone. Everybody benefits.

If only I could figure out how to do this!