By Ruby Elbogen

From the time we are little girls, women need girlfriends—and the need grows as we traverse the passage of time. If we are fortunate enough to have special women we trust and hold dear throughout our lifetimes, according to the latest medical data, those friendships help to keep us healthy.

They take us through the difficult time of loss, sickness and sadness when we need support; as well as celebrating the good times with us. Women, treasure your girlfriends—and keep making new ones.

Have pajama parties, “do” lunch, go shopping-your real friends WILL tell you if those pants make your butt look big; and the friends you’ve had longest remember what color your hair really is.

My special friends are: Myrna, Treva, Bev and Diane. The “Venice High Girls”. Most of us met in 8^th grade, when we began our high school life at our legendary school (featured in the movie Grease); and because we live far from each other, we have our GFG’s our nickname for Girl Friend’s Getaways.

Annoyances like cancer, the death of a husband, children and grandchildren have caused us to postpone, but never fully cancel one of our fantastic events. They are too important to all of us.

Our GFG’s have a few rules: they must include spa treatments, we like walking everywhere we go; and we love Afternoon Tea. Our most recent getaway was in San Luis Obispo, halfway in the state for all of us. We stayed at Petit Soliel, a lovely Bed & Breakfast Inn, very girly and cozy.

Our spa day was at Bliss Spa, where some of our treatments were outdoors in a lovely Zen-Like garden. It was, indeed blissful. Pedi’s in the Petunias was great, we could just keep gossiping throughout. Massages were private. We dined at Big Sky Café and enjoyed breakfast and hor ‘douvres with wine at the Inn. Just being together is, after all, what a GFG is all about.

If you haven’t kept up with old friends, it’s never too late; plan a day or a weekend with new girlfriends and who says your female relatives can’t be close friends as well. Just do it—for a day, a weekend or longer—the hourglass empties too quickly to wait.

Travel

Rosie is Still The Queen

By Sandy Sims

Rosie the Ribiter jumped 21 feet 5.75 inches in 1986, and nary a one has beaten the long-legged beauty since. But each year, during the third week of May, contenders trek from all over the United States to California’s historical gold country, hoping to leap passed Rosie’s record.

Thousands of two-legged types wander the shores of lakes, swamps, rivers, ponds, even backyards in search of that special bullfrog. They lug their green hoppers in coolers, Tupperware, cans-whatever holds a little water and a frog or two or ten-to the Calaveras County Fair International Frog Jump Championship in Angels Camp. This year was no exception. More than 2,000 frogs competed, and 40,000-plus people came to watch.

Surrounded by all the hoopla of a big county fair-including carnival rides, farm animals, booths of food and froggie kitsch, pie contests, music, dancing, and all around fun—the frog contest was the main event.

Qualifying trials on Saturday determined the top 50 frogs that competed in the International Frog Jump Grand Finals held in the stadium on Sunday,

The people who inspire the frogs to jump are called, and I’m not kidding, “frog Jockeys.” Some of these jockeys have been inspiring frogs for over 20 years; some are second and third generation jockeys. Rosie’s jockey, Lee Giudici, who hails from Los Altos, has been returning with new frogs since before Rosie made her mark in 1986.

But this is no casual event. There are rules. A frog must measure at least four inches from nose to tail. Its four feet, including toes, must all be on the eight-inch green pad before it starts to jump. And it only has a few seconds in which to do its three hops. (The distance is measured as a total of three hops.) There are other rules, too. While jockeys can tickle or pinch the frog to get it to leave the pad, they cannot touch the frog after it’s left the pad. But they can do almost anything else. And they do. They yell, jump, whistle, clap, slap the ground.

We aren’t just talking fun; there’s money in this. First place wins $750 and on down to $50 for eighth place. And if a frog equals Rosie’s record, it’s $1,000, but if it were to actually beat Rosie, it’s a whopping $5,000.

All this craziness was inspired by Mark Twain’s 1865 short story ‘The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.’ The setting for the story that made him famous was Angels Camp, one of the gold rush towns in the Sierras above Sacramento. Back when Twain was there, the town was a dusty, Old West sort of place, with dirt roads, saloons, and wooden sidewalks.

The idea for the contest was conceived in 1928 when the people of Angels Camp-still a mining town back then-passed a bond measure to finally pave their roads. Wanting to celebrate in a big way, they decided to trade on Twain’s famous story and have a frog-jumping contest. Some 15,000 people came to the first jubilee, and the winning frog jumped 3 feet 6 inches.

These days, things are a bit more gentrified in Angels Camp, with bed and breakfast Inns, contemporary cuisine, art galleries, golf resorts, and wineries tucked in the nooks and crannies of the hills.

But there’s not a lot of gentrification that can be done to a frog-jumping contest. It’s still pretty wild to watch a jockey inspire his frog. And you can bet old Rosie is watching down from froggie heaven, proud that not a one has topped her record.

Note: Calaveras County is dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to frogs and advocates the safe and proper handling of frogs used in public events.

by Sandy Sims
San Franciscans can relax now, the beloved Great Magenta Clock at the St. Francis Hotel is back in its rightful place—the hotel’s Historic Lobby. “Meet me at the clock” has always meant this clock in this lobby.
Continue reading Meet me at the clock