Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Carla Kerr Takes Flight to Fresno, California

December 6-10, 2018

I flew out to Fresno, California and met my son, Russ, who flew in from DFW Airport in Texas where we were picked up by my grandson-in-law, Michael Peterson who drove us to his and Tiffany's home in Hanford, California. This trip was made for me to get acquainted with my 13th great grandchild, Sydney Maye Peterson, weighing in at 9lbs 14ozs, born on November 19, 2018 and for Russ to meet her as well, his 9th grandchild. One mission was to shoot a four-generation picture.

Sydney also has an older brother of 6 years, Dakoda, and an older sister of 5 years, Brooke, so it was a wonderful reunion with them as well. Sydney is a very good baby and we enjoyed our visit so much with the whole family. We played games with the children and Russ went to watch Brooke in her Hip-Hop dance class. (I was worn out by the trip.)

Also a part of this family are three dogs, Ruger, a giant Doberman Pinscher, Molly, who  is part wolf and German Shepherd, and Ben, a bi-polar (according to Tiffany) psychotic little Chihuahua. I think all of these dogs are rescues and two of them are quite friendly but not Ben.

Tiffany put up their Christmas tree while we were there and  Dakoda and Brooke helped decorate it. They also had their very own little Christmas trees that they decorated themselves.

All too soon, it was time to return to New Mexico and Texas, but it was a lovely visit and so good to be with the little ones and help sort out in their minds that I am Pop Pop's mother and their great grandmother they call "Grammy".

I did take some pictures at the El Paso Airport and Fresno Airport of their Christmas decorations. Fresno has built in Redwood trees which were decorated as well.

Christmas tree, little village, airplane and a little train circling the whole thing at El Paso, Texas Airport

The train coming out of the tunnel
The village, train and lit runway
The gingerbread house at Fresno Airport
One of the Redwood trees decorated
One of the Fresno Airport Christmas trees
Michael with his precious little Sydney
Brooke, Pop Pop and Dakoda
Grammy Carla with #13 GGC, Sydney
Grammy and Sydney
Sydney, just relaxing-look at those long fingers!
Tiffany feeding Sydney
This is a painting that Tiffany is currently working on
Molly and Ruger
Watching Tiffany put up their Christmas tree
Tiffany is starting to put the lights on the tree
Dakoda cuddled up with Pop Pop watching TV
I guess the show got too exciting for Dakoda to relax
The stockings are hung on the fireplace with care
Tiffany, her father Russ and Sydney
Michael with Sydney and Ben
They've both drifted off to sleep
Pop Pop putting puzzles together with Brooke and Dakoda
The Peterson Christmas tree!
Grammy playing a card game with Brooke
L to R: Brooke, Dakoda, Tiffany, Russ, Carla and Sydney in Tiffany's lap - Four Generations
The Peterson Family, Tiffany, Sydney, Michael, Dakoda and Brooke
Dakoda and Brooke
It was indeed a wonderful visit. Brooke and Dakoda are so bright and fun to talk to and play with. With more families like this one, we need not worry about the future of our world. I am so proud of all of them and thankful for the opportunity to interact with these precious children.

I returned home with a horrific sinus infection and went immediately to bed only to go to doctor twice in three days when she finally gave a prescription for penicillin. Weak and ill from December 10 to December 20 when I had the energy to move around again. What a siege!

This is all I have to say for now.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Murder Ink Presents "Masquerade" Murder Mystery Dinner for City of Alamogordo, New Mexico

Saturday, October 13, 2018

The Murder Ink acting troupe entertained 150 people on Saturday evening, October 13, 2018 at the Willie Estrada Memorial Civic Center in fine style. "Masquerade" was written and directed by Connie Breding with assistance from Deborah Cobb who plays the role of Dee Skinner, the detective who questions everyone about the murder.

A brief synopsis is that the guests have just attended a first-rate touring production of Andrew Lloyd Weber's iconic musical, "Phantom of the Opera", and they are now gathered at the Civic Center for a late-night dinner and a meet and greet with the actors and crew of the production. In addition to a superb meal provided by Mountain View Caterers, they are entertained by the performers to a couple of musical numbers from the show. The ambiance provided by As You Wish decorators was just outstanding. It was a great night of mixing and mingling and fun trying to solve the murder.

The Civic Center was so elegantly decorated that I was compelled to photograph several settings for your enjoyment. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Lovely!
Candelabras a must!
Encased Rose
Beautiful!
Entrance
Carla Kerr aka Leticia Rothburg Bloomington (production angel)
Guests, Jean Courtier and Trudy Reese
Beautiful table setting
Connie Breding, Writer and Director of "Masquerade"
Shawn Darling aka Rex Billingsly (The Phantom) and Keddy Lorraine aka Adele Wentworth (Christine)
Andrea Garcia aka Sabrina Anders (Madame Giry)
Bianca Lechuga aka Marla Cameron (Meg Giry)
Tina Lawhorn aka Calley Cues (light technician)
Heather Evans aka Emily Porter (Carlotta's maid)
Kimberly Rodriguez aka Willa Ushush (stage manager)
Patrick McDonald aka Dennis Deveroux (Piangi) and Heather Bash aka Collen Sweeney a (Carlotta)
Carla Kerr aka Leticia Rothburg Bloomington (production angel)
Many guests really got into the spirit of "Masquerade"
Lovely guest with Leticia (Carla)
Keddy Lorraine (Adele)
Santiago Rodriguez aka Rick Mallory (Firman) catching Leticia as she faints upon hearing that Rex (her son) is the murderer.
Director Connie Breding announcing the murderer's name
Connie hands the plaque to the gentleman who solved the murder mystery
Kerry Uribe looking on as the gentleman receives the second place plaque for his group's effort in solving the murder
At the end, Connie introduced each cast member who talked about themselves to help the guests know more about the actors.

Keddy Lorraine aka Adele Wentworth
Patrick McDonald aka Dennis Deveroux (Keddy's brother in real life)
Mary Cobb aka Ivana Dresser (costume maintenance)
Andrea Garcia aka Sabrina Anders
Gabe Mauger aka Josh Williams (brother of Ellie Mauger, production assistant)
Deborah Cobb aka Detective Dee Skinner
Shawn Darling aka Rex Billingsley
Carla Kerr aka Leticia Bloomington
Tony Calderon aka Gary Fairbanks (all the way from Tucson, Arizona)
Heather Evans aka Emily Porter (from Las Cruces, NM)
Tina Lawhorn aka Calley Cues  (the victim)
City of Alamogordo employees, Kerry Uribe and Josh Sides were absolutely the best at assisting us with everything. We do appreciate the two of you and all you do to make these events successful.

Thanks to my husband, Doug Kerr who took most of the pictures. He is working with a new camera and had some problems with it, but for the most part, he did a great job.

See you at the next murder mystery??

This is all I have to say for now.