Off to the Races!

“More business is lost every year through neglect 

than through any other cause.”

 - Rose Kennedy

I hope my neglect of this blog hasn't lost me any readers...I don't have that many to spare.  Life has been pretty crazy lately, mostly work related.  It will be at least three more weeks before it's back to normal, please bear with me - or bare with me.  Whatever. 

I did do something fun this weekend which I will tell you about.  Many years ago - January 1997 to be exact - we got a computer and connected to the internet; Al Gore came over and hooked everything up for us.  John immediately got on line and started looking up old girlfriends, and I found an All My Children message board.  I had been watching AMC off and on since 1975 and it was really fun to find a group of people who enjoyed it as much as I did.  There were a few renegades who split off into our own chat room which eventually turned into an e-mail loop, trading jokes, recipes, advice and life stories.  This group of ladies and one gentleman have had enough material over the last 12 years to write our own soap opera including - but not limited to - marriages, divorces, births, deaths, breast cancer, an accidental outing, a mugging and an inappropriate encounter with a brother-in-law.  Some have left the group, and others have brought on new friends.  Over the years, several members have actually met in person, and these encounters always live up to our online friendship, and that's where this weekend comes into play.

One of the ladies from our west coast contingency - Jan and her husband, Mike - were taking a tour of the midwest.  They decided to spend a few days in Louisville, KY where one of our other ladies - Diane - lives.  Those of us who were within a reasonable distance and had the time got together this past weekend to finally meet in person and spend the day together.  It was me (Indy), Pattie and Jackie (Cincinnati), and Suzanne (Barren Lake, KY) bringing along assorted guests.  We met at Diane's home in old Louisville around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.  After some initial squeals of happiness and hugs, we took the tour of Diane's BEAUTIFUL 100+ year-old residence - totally jealous.  Don't ask me why I didn't take pictures.  Around 11:30 we headed off to spend the day at Churchill Downs.  I had never been to a horsetrack before.  I'm not a big gambler, mainly because I'm not lucky and I'm cheap, but I figured what the heck.  Even if you are not a fan of horse racing, there's something to be said for being in a place that's so famous and steeped in tradition.  We had tables reserved in the dining area where you can watch the games on TVs or head outside to one of the boxes.   I have NO idea how to read the racing forms, so I just picked horses based on any connection I might possibly have to the horse or jockey's name.  For the first race, no one really jumped out at me, so I just picked horse #2 because 2 was the first number Robin learned when she was little and she used it for every answer.  Guess what?  He won!  The next race I picked Citizen John and he ended up in third.  There was a jockey with the last name of Reyes so I bet on him in every race he rode.  He won something two of the three races in which he rode. Of the ten races I bet on, I won a grand total of $98!  
This drink is called - appropriately enough - Lily.  It's sweet and pretty, but the next thing you know, you've been knocked to the ground and wake up to find all of your money is missing.

I enjoyed watching the races on the turf.   I highly recommend going outside into one of the boxes to watch the races.  Very exciting.

Here's our intrepid group of gamblers...Left to right:  Roberta (friend of Suzanne's), Jackie, Jan, Diane, Pattie, Carol (Pattie's partner), Paulette (friend of Suzanne's who may or may not have a weird thing for armadillos), Suzanne and me.

Throughout the course of the day, we all had the chance to chat and eat and eat and chat.  It was a lot of fun and these are some really terrific women.  I haven't watched AMC in probably nine years, but I will definitely continue to keep these ladies around.