Home from Tahoe

Just wrote a long journal and lost it, yikes!  (hate that when it happens!) Had a good time at Lake Tahoe.....it was beautiful until Saturday, when smoke from the (I suppose) Yosemite fires started filling the valley.  It was thick Sunday morning....never seen such heavy smoke in the air.... Lectures were pretty good, learned some stuff....but my Sat. lectures let out early, and I had a couple of hrs before I was due to be picked up....felt a strong urge to walk across the street to Harrahs and gamble...but forced myself to go pick up an "extra" lecture instead.   Did do a lot of walking in and out of places (seems like practically every restaurant on the Nevada side had slots!)  but managed not to gamble.  (WHEW!)  I did do some praying..."The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not gamble....yea, though I walk through the aisles of slot machines, I will fear no evil...." Got real lucky sat night.....James Taylor was in town, but found out he was sold out when we went to get tickets....they told me that in the next 2 hrs, band members might turn in unused family/friends tickets....and I could keep checking back.   Decided to stand there and wait as there were lots of other folks hovering around for tickets.....After about 30 mins, I got tickets!  They were great seats, a few rows back from the stage, dead center.  Two women behind me said they spent $250 each and we only spent $80!!!  What a deal!!! At intermission, to my surprize, JT came out and signed some autographs....and I was lucky to get through and get one!  (I am a huge fan!)  Got to tell "Sweet Baby James" in person how much I love him!  His music has soothed and comforted me many times....like cool water pouring over my troubled soul....The ladies behind me kept trying to buy the autograph, and finally even offered me this big gold/citrine ring one of them was wearing!  I still said "no"  LOL.....  It was a great great concert, just loved it!  Everyone was up and dancing in the aisles and at their seats by the end!  He can definitely "inject your soul with some sweet rock n roll and shoot you full of rhythm and blues..."  LOL  Steamroller Blues was an all-out showstopper! Went and did karaoke afterward (amidst the slot machines!)  Those dang slots just seem to be everywhere!!!  Had fun, but the heavy smoke was killing my throat! Sunday afternoon when all my lectures were done, we drove to Virginia City, the old goldmining town (the Comstock lode) where Hurst made his fortune....a real "wild west" town....Mark Twain got his first newspaper job there.....there are a lot of "museums" about this and that.....lots of Indian jewelry, rock and fossil shops....and lots and lots of old west saloons with brand new slot machines...yikes!  Bought a cool Indian turquoise necklace that I wouldn't have had the money for if I had been gambling! One thing in the old Delta Saloon was a display called the "suicide table".  A gambling table that 3 saloon owners had been bankrupted on...and committed suicide afterward....  I took a picture of this as a reminder of where gambling can lead....however, it didn't impact all the folks around me, spinning those wheels on the slots..... Glad I didn't visit there later in the Summer, because one of the locals told me that is when they have the tarantula migration, where thousands of them cross through town on their way to who knows where.....I guess they have to close off certain roads during the migration, as people will run over bunches of them!  (I am not a spider person- sorry, spider man!) LOL I am soo sooooo sooooooo glad I didn't gamble.  It is such a relief to be back and not to be filled with remorse and depression.....I can't say I wasn't tempted, though, it was definitely "one day at a time".  I have so much respect for all the people who are surrounded by gambling....where I live there are 5 casinos within 45 mins of me....but they are not on every street, in every bar, every restaurant like they are where a lot of my friends live.  I give you total mad props for resisting temptation where you are inundated with it!!!! So....back to work....much love to everyone.....Hugs, Dianne