Yesterday, we were privileged to visit a long-time friend of Kathie's parents who lives here in the greater Phoenix metropolitan region. His name is Neal, and he is 102 years old. We have visited him each time we have come to this area. Neal was a vegetable buyer for Campbell soups and V8 juices prior to his retirement. He was waiting for us when we arrived and immediately wanted to launch into a witty exchange of family updates and other stories. We had invited him to have lunch with us, and he insisted on driving us in his almost new Toyota Camry to a Village Inn nearby. Neal is a very sharp guy with lots of fun information and stories to share. When he first retired to this area, he bought a beautiful palomino (think of Roy Rogers' Trigger) and enjoyed that horse for about 15 years, winning awards and loving rides in the desert. We saw several photographs. Neal and his horse were even part of a sheriff's posse, a neighborhood watch group, for a long time.
In the evening, our hosts, Dick and Rina, took us to a fun Thai restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale.
One of the Monday attractions at this restaurant was a jazz duo comprising the talents of Judy Roberts, a Chicago area performer who spends time here each year, and Renee Patrick, a local area vocalist. They were great and sang lots of old standards.
At one point, Judy introduced Wayne Messmer, another Chicago personality, who joined her in singing a couple of great tunes. If you have tuned into or attended any Chicago Cubs games, you may have heard Wayne perform the National Anthem or as the Cubs' public address announcer, though I think he doesn't do the latter these days. We actually heard him last Friday at the Cubs game we attended, and that may happen again today, as we have tickets to the Dodgers versus Cubs game this afternoon.
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