Almost Rubbing Elbows With The Rich And Famous

OK. A pattern has emerged. I'm on the West Coast, California,
actually, and I've had three brushes with the rich and famous.

I haven't actually connected with them. Touched or talked to them.
I've just brushed past their existence in very cosmic ways.
(Cosmic ... HA! ... Well, I'm in California.)

The first was a few days ago on a dog beach in Fort Bragg. A woman
named Kathy must have read my face, a face that must have screamed "I
NEED A GIRLFRIEND." Because she sat next to me in the sand for about
30 minutes or so just to chat. . (I'm traveling with my husband and
two male dogs; sometimes I need an estrogen injection to temper all
that testosterone.)

Here's the famous part: Kathy used to work for Fess Parker (as in Davy
Crockett from the '50s and Daniel Boone from the '60s), who now makes
wine at Epiphany Cellars and runs a hotel (well, it's called an Inn
and Spa ... more sophisticated language.)

Here's the neat, cosmic part: Fess LOVES giant stand poodles (we have
two, both traveling with us) and if we show up on a Thursday night
(with our dogs) Fess'd probably spend the evening in total
conversation with us.

Nice to know. Thank's Kathy! Probably won't happen. But, nice to know.

Why Thursdays? He does sing-alongs with guests that night. Usually.
When he's up to it. He's in his 80s now.

Our famous near connection No. 2 happened yesterday, when we visited
Bodega Bay. The restaurant we picked for lunch got our business soley
because our motor home would fit in the parking lot. Turns out Alfred
Hitchcock chose this very place for many scenes in "The Birds." Very
cool.

The restaurant is new, but it's the parking lot that saw most of the
action anyway. It was the scene of a major fire. And to think we chose
the restaurant because of that parking lot. Cosmic, I tell you!

And today, we brush up against fame again, this time at the Charles
Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa (that's us, above,
with Charlie).

Now there's famous stuff all over the place. But that's to be
expected. What's unexpected is who visited the place just hours
earlier: Jean Schulz, the late cartoonist's wife, and Charlie Rose,
who hosts one of our very favorite TV shows, "The Charlie Rose Show"
on PBS.

Star struck, I lean toward the docent who delivered that little
nugget, and say, "How long ago? Is it possible they are still
in the building?"

He shakes his head, but is clearly loving that I'm goo-goo eyed over
his news.

We finish our visit, and as we leave, I scan the grounds for a glimpse
of Charlie (Rose, not Brown). No luck. But still cool.

I'm beginning to think this rich-and-famous thing is a West coast
affectation. There're just so many of them out here that our paths
are bound to cross.

So I wonder whose cosmic dust will mingle with mine tomorrow.