Out With Friends

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

We put away the party supplies and transferred them from our breakfast table into the garage.   It was approaching 11:00 am and time to get cleaned up for our visit to the doctor and then Laguna Beach.

The hand doctor, Dr. Rose, said it would be good to reschedule Paul’s surgery because a) the stitches on the hand were too close to where he had to operate, and b) the cough was too bad to go under anesthesia; we have a date in October to do the surgery.

From there, we went down the coast for a peaceful drive to Laguna for the Pageant of the Masters.  One of the most unique productions in the world, the Pageant of the Masters, re-creates famous works of art. The 2024 theme is “À La Mode: The Art of Fashion.

The Theme is “Fashion” this year.

We got to Laguna about 2:00 pm, several hours too early, so we had lunch at the Lumberyard and then strolled the eclectic shops located in the village.  The collectibles are always interesting.  The 1955 Cadillac was exactly as I remembered from childhood.   We could never afford something like that, but it was fun to look at!

The yellow vehicle was a VW Bus.

Old goodies are our favorite.

Every Other storefront was an exciting restaurant. We almost passed up the bug, but Mary had to stop and practice talking in “Bug”, one of her many languages.  Usually, when she does bug, it sounds like a loud scream, but this afternoon, it was a low mumble, and they had quite a conversation.

The Gold Bug (Mary is on the right).

We ran into Vicky and the gang, and Vicky had forgotten her hard candy, a tradition for the past twenty years. We told Vicky not to worry; we would find something on our walk, and we did.

The store was called “The Candy Baron.” This store reminded me of my childhood. Candy was sold by weight, and there was a large selection of hard-to-find candies.

Oh my, a dentist’s delight!

We made several selections and returned the entire bag to Vicky so no one would know of her forepaw!

We stopped at an old-fashioned candy store.

These candy bars were known for their dental acuity; one bite, one chew, and a filling was sure to pop out!

Abba-Zabba, the filling remover!

Racist? Someone is a little over sensitive! – Early Abba-Zaba wrappers from Colby & McDermott depict what appear to be African tribesmen in a jungle, sitting beside a taffy tree. And while this racially taboo packaging would never fly today, it didn’t do the brand any damage when the candy first came out.

We passed by the City Hall, and we did a recall to “The Birds.” Mary scared them off!  Remember: Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a romance. One day birds start attacking children at Mitch’s sisters party. A huge assault starts on the town by attacking birds.

Attack of the birds.

We met everyone inside the theater grounds and walked around to look at the strange artwork. Some were quite interesting, but others needed to be more specific about why anyone would want to buy them.

We were in the sixth row of the theater in a perfect location.  Vicky has had these seats for years, and they improve yearly.

Let the show go on!

There were thirteen of us this evening.

Donna took the picture.

At the show’s end, we decided to wait until traffic died down before facing the traffic jam.

11:00 pm, time to go.

We visited with Nancy and Yolie for a while as people wandered out of the theater and to their cars.

Nancy & Yopie joined in this evening.

Irene visited this evening, and she is almost over her Saturday night party and the “Could Of Beens”!

Irene came along to see the show.

We had a perfect parking spot and whizzed right out onto Highway 133, which leads to the 5, the 55, and home. We made it in twenty-one minutes without speeding.