THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

Last evening Keith, Kelly, and I attended the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus (The Greatest Show on Earth) and we came away knowing that it truly is the greatest show. Not for one second were we bored and all the children attending were having the time of their lives. The Oklahoma City circus was billed as Bellobration (a take on celebration). Bello is a famous clown. Time Magazine named him "America's Best Clown". He was born 1968 in Sarasota, Florida, and is a seventh-generation member of a Swiss circus dynasty. Bello's days of performing began at age three when he dressed as a clown for the first time and acted in a Dumbo circus routine. He brings loads of laughs and daredevil hilarity to The Greatest Show on Earth.



In addition to Bello, the circus had a live band and current music accompanied many of the acts. All the costumes were colorful and beautiful and the lighting accentuated the performers and the costumes. We especially enjoyed the animal acts (dogs, tigers, horses, elephants). The high wire acts were especially impressive. The Ringmaster was a handsome African American , whose job not only entailed introducing each act, but he sang numerous songs and had a beautiful speaking and singing voice. Of course no circus is complete without lots of clowns and one performance with the clowns was "Dancing With the Clowns". The crowd was very enthusiastic for all the acts and several children in the audience were incorporated into some of the acts. It was a night that those children will never forget. We found the circus pretty exhilarating as well!!

Since we had not eaten dinner before attending the circus, we decided to go to Zio's in Bricktown. We each had a margarita and each had a different entree and everything was delicious. We had eaten at Zio's on Mother's Day and it is never disappointing. There was a huge crowd there but our wait was shorter than the hostess predicted. One witty man commented to Kelly and me to be careful that he was watching us and he looked at my black and white striped shirt and said that I already was wearing stripes. We all had a laugh at his quick wit.

Yesterday was a heartbreaker for horse racing fans. Everyone expected "Big Brown" to win the Belmont Stakes race and to become a Triple Crown winner. It just wasn't in the cards, as he finished dead last out of a field of nine. Big Brown was running on a patched quarter crack in his left front hoof. "Da' Tara" was the big winner. Congratulations Da' Tara. So once again there will be no Triple Crown winner, the last was when "Affirmed" won back in 1978.

Hillary Clinton gave her endorsement speech yesterday endorsing Obama. She spoke beautifully and sincerely. The first female came close to being the Democratic nominee and she gave a good fight, but just couldn't pull it off. We do know now that a woman can someday be elected President. It will be interesting to see who Obama will choose as his running mate as Vice President. I think it is about 50-50 that he will choose Hillary. It could be that she won't accept if he does choose her.

I have finished my walking for the day. I walked many laps around the mall with a man whom I have walked with before. We were talking and I completely lost count of the number of laps but I am sure it was many more than I usually walk. He had gone golfing but, due to the wind, his golfing partners decided to forego golfing and go home and go back to bed. This wind is changing a lot of outdoor planned events.