THE SHAMU WATCH CONTINUES

After living here for several years now, we are at a location where we can actually see the humpback whales from our shore.
The whales come here from up north to have their babies in our warm waters. They lose lots of weight while here, as our waters do not contain the right kind of fish and krill that they eat.
It is amazing that they still have so much energy after not eating for so long.
Until now I had seen them far away spouting, but a month ago just as I settled onto a chair on the beach and getting my bearings as to where all the boats and ships are, I was thrilled to see a 100% breach. I was practically jumping up and down on the beach.
I am been so fortunate to see the humps, noses coming out of the water about one third of their body length, tailing splashing and so forth.
But this past sunday was a busy day for siteseeing.
Not only did I get to see all of the above, but I got to see 3 full flukes (tails) lined up in the water waving like the final act at the Shamu stadium at Seaworld.
I was beside myself and couldn't get the binoculars to my husband fast enough to experience the show. This was a rare treat indeed.

MRS. SWEENEY'S CASTILLA

I have been reading several posts from several classmates and they have been sharing some wonderful stories of their lives and past journeys.
I have a few and this is one of the funny ones.
Many many years ago I worked in an office of a company that the head office was in Columbus Indiana. Then the home of the most millionaires per capita in the US. Our office in Indianapolis was the so called poorer cousin model.
The people at the main office made more money, had bigger homes, drove nicer cars, etc.
So you can imagine our delight one year at Christmas when the word came down that the Christmas party was going to be held in Columbus, the Columbus Country Club to be exact.
Dresses were bought, shoes purchased, hair appointments made and corsages put on.
The excitement was in the air. We had very high expectations that year.
Maps were given out to the poor cousins and off we all went. We were very secure in being able to find our way, as how big was that town then, anyway.
Well, you guessed it...we got lost. It was dark, snowy and just all around unpleasant to be out in, but so much money was spent in getting there, by gum we were going to show up no matter what. We drove around, ask for directions and thought we were finally on our corrected course.
We came upon the Club, absolutely beautiful, way back off the road on a little hill and with a heated driveway. Boy, these people in Columbus sure know how to live.
As we drove up the heated drive, I noticed many cars, big cars, expensive cars, heck, how much more did these peole make than us anyway. None of which I recognized at all.
We finally found a place to park in the back of this huge blacktop parking lot and parked the little Corvair. Straightening our clothes after quite a journey and gathering ourselves up, we marched right into the club.
We found a room off to the side of the entrance that looked strangley like a bedroom and deposited our coats. We were in too much of a hurry to let it sink in.
There in the middle of this huge entrance room, was a cement pond, yep, now back in the 60's this was even highbrow for a Country Club. There were peole seated around the pond at little glass tables dining on some extrodinary fare.
We stood for a minute and I found no one that I knew. Gosh, what happened, wrong night? What?
About that time, this very proper, and I don't use the word lightly, came up and looked down his very proper nose at us and asked what we were doing. Fair question. I explained we were there for the Christmas party for such and such company. He explaines to us he was a very big important mucky muck of Mrs. Sweeney.
I swear he kind of rolled his very proper eyes at us and said in a very flat monotone voice, "well you are in Mrs. Sweeney's Castilla, and this is a private party." OUCH... What did he say, we were in the wrong place. He politely pointed us in the correct direction and we quietly slinked out of the Castilla.
I wonder what the very proper man would have said if he had taken a gander at the little Corvair we had parked in this very expensive place.
We took off and in short time we found the correct location of the Country Club and walked in and looked around and was quickly disappointed in the building. Couldn't hold a candle to Mrs. Sweeney's Castilla.
My fellow poor cousin employees ran up and they all asked where we had been for so long. We quietly explained that we had accidently walked into Mrs. Sweeney's Castilla by mistake.
QUIET...a pin could have been heard dropping, mouth flung open, eyes bulged and gasps were heard. WHAT..you were inside Mrs. Sweeney's Castilla??? How did you get in there?
Simple, we said, you just walk in. What did it look like? "Much better than this place we answered." By this time we were tired of the whole deal and very hungry.
We were told by some that they had lived in Columbus all their lives and had never been inside Mrs. Sweeney's Castilla. We told them it was no problem, just watch out for the very proper guy.
Later I found out that Mrs. Sweeney was one of the, if not the richest women in the world. She was an amazing philanthropist and I followed her amazing giving for years after that.