Niagara Falls

Today I got to see one of God's greatest work of art: Niagara Falls. It's hard to stop looking at it, it's so gorgeous!! I have an amazing view of it right from my room. I'm on the Canadian side, just north of Buffalo.

This evening I had an unusual and memorable experience, on top of seeing the falls for the first time. I was invited out to dinner with a group and had the 'opportunity' to see some of the filthiest wealth I've ever encountered. I'd almost say it was understated, but just initially.

See, I would have thought these guys were regular old working stiffs if they hadn't started talking. It started off with them saying that they had thought of doing business together, and knew each other. I was the only really "new" person in the group.

I'll call the big guy "WBS", since that's what his monogram said on his shirt. One of the guys was there with his wife, I'll call him SS and her GS. They had talked a little about business dealings they had before. There was one other guy "Joe" there, who arranged the dinner as a meet and greet.

So, SS asked WBS first about a racing horse. Then, all three guys chimed in about their own horse or horses. Immediately, I was the odd ball! SS complained that it cost $40 day to have an injured horse be cared for in a facility (and said it again, with great disbelief and was clearly annoyed). Then, WBS said he had over 300 world class race horses, with notable names like Wicked ?? and something else that race on the Kentucky Derby, Belmont race tracks and Saratoga. He said he houses them all himself at his ranch or at the race tracks. He talked about taking one guy to the race in Saratoga and he wanted to buy a horse, but could only afford 1/2 of a horse IF WBS cut him a deal. WBS said that the horse was worth minimally $1 million but if he bid at at least $800,000, he'd split the proceeds of the horse with him. The bidder got overly zealous and kept bidding past the agreed upon amount, and eventually sold at $1.2 million, since he was up against someone else. But, WBS laughed it off, and said he still only charged him the $400,000 for 1/2 of it, and WBS even paid the 5% commission, so he ended up losing money.

Each horse that he owns is worth usually more than $1 million. They have a short race life because of the trauma of racing so most of his horses are on his convelesent facility where he converts them to studs. He said he charged usually about $10,000 for stud feels, and once they are injured will allow them to breed (selectively) with about 150 mares. One horse in particular brought in $400,000 before a race ending injury, and then brought in another $1.6 million in stud fees.

WBS talked about his 300+ horses, that are just a hobby, since he doesn't recreate (that's what he said...no vacations, golf, fishing, he just likes to do these types of hobbies) and realized it could be very profitable.

He talked about his seats on Wall Street NYSE and that he was offered a seat in Dubai but turned it down. Says all of the people are either Italian and/or Jewish, but because his name is unusual (only known in Northern Italy), most people are not sure if his son (who sits in the seat for him) is Italian or Jewish and he doesn't tell them (he laughed at that, too).

He spoke of his oldest two children, a boy and girl. They both went to undergrad and law school in the USA, then they both went to Cambridge Law School in England to get another law degree. They are both so smart they'd only go to school four days a week, then travel throughout Europe for the other three.

The two kids came down with a serious form of bone cancer, normally only seen in places like Tripoli or where they were exposed to high amounts of radiation. So, the doctor suspects that the two of them sat next to a person on the train who was smuggling uranium, and exposed them to this.

The kids are doing well, in spite of this, and have a successful law firm in Richmond, VA with 18 employees and big clients like Citibank and other major companies because of their international education and their brilliance. They take home just what they need (sounded like he said $3 million AGAIN) and send the rest to a cancer research foundation. They never miss work, even though the family has the means for them to sit around and just deal with their illness. The girl still has to go for chemo on Fridays at 10am, but goes into work every day at 6:30am and never misses a day. He didn't mention their prognosis and I decided that I didn't want to hear what else he had to say about his kids because it turned from pride into arrogant bragging.

His son who sits on the NYSE for him makes no less than $3 million per year on the commissions of the sales that he does for his dad. He only got his BA from Tulane (that's what his dad said, not me).

SS's wife, GS, is sitting next to me, and she leans over to me and whispers "He's got a lot of money". I wanted to say, "Get the Heck out of here?! Really?". She's also trying to tell Joe that his son, who's scheduled to go to Afghanistan probably won't have to go because we're leaving the war. I should probably mention that in the VERY beginning of dinner, WBS says to me that he wanted to know what I did. I told him who I worked for and he said he liked to remember people with their name and who they worked for/what they did. So, GS says to him, "Ask me what I do?". So, he did. She said, "I do whatever I want to" and smiles at her husband across the table. Yes, she's a woman of leisure.

So, here I am sitting amongst people who are clearly in the highest tax brackets that we have. Joe is rather humble about it but it sounds like it's because he's had a few wives (up to 4 or 5 because SS, who's known him for a while said, "Won't that be #5 for you" referring to women. I got the impression that he was currently married since he talked about his step-daughter, who's a pain in the butt. I figured he wouldn't refer to her as his step if he didn't have to.

I have silly GS sitting to my left, and BIG ASS WBS (he's about 330+ lbs, 6' 6"....darker complexion almost like a middle eastern person), who loves to attract attention, and I decided I didn't want any part of it. SS was actually a nice guy who loves his wife. They've been married almost 41 years and I have the impression that he spoils her. Either that, or he is amused by her since they don't really live together.

See, while we were in the lobby waiting for SS, she tells me that he works out of Wyoming, but she lives in Arizona up to 95% of the time. He'll come down for the weekends with her. She doesn't like it there, and her kids are in AZ.

OK, I almost forgot to mention that WBS talks about a lot of different business deals that he worked, but talked about the Pittsburgh Pirates (when SS and GS said that was where they were from). He and another guy who owned the Sabres (maybe, named John from the Buffalo area) are the only two guys from the small town he grew up in who made anything of themselves. But, from what I understand, John is in jail now. I didn't get that story, but I did hear about the Pirates.

He said "John" came to him with a deal to buy the Pirates and asked WBS if he wanted in on the deal. WBS said, "If I have enough money, YES!". So, John told him, it'll be about $30 million dollars, and he replied, "Well I have that". They had to eventually spend about $120 million and WBS wanted 1/3 of the team, and almost brokered a deal until they tried to put a clause into the deal that would require the city to support the team with a new stadium and if it didn't turn around in 5 years or the city didn't show support, that they could move it to another city. That's when the deal started taking a down hill turn.

Someone else came in with an offer about $14 million less with no conditions and bought it. He was losing money until that guy's CFO came to him and told him to make the team a bottom feeder team because of revenue sharing; if he could get the payroll to $12 and make them a loosing team, they could make $15 million a year. So, that's what they are doing. WBS said he wished he would have thought of that himself, but it's brilliant. However, he says that the other teams hate them for it. WBS says it costs a lot of money to make a play at being a top tier team because of the cost for players is risky, but the revenue sharing is guaranteed.

I was glad when it was over. I passed on dessert. I mostly focused on the breathtaking scenary from the window of the restaurant overlooking the waterfalls. It was somewhat surreal. Quite frankly, I could not comfortably be that rich. Even still, if I ever had that type of wealth, I wouldn't be that arrogant.

Interesting day. I don't care if I'm not a blue blood. I am so blessed to be just me. Child of God, wife of Kelvin, Mother to my three beauties, daughter of Pookie and the rest of the Joneses, sister in Christ to many!

God bless and Love you!!

My Mother's Day Gifts

I hadn't realized until TODAY that it was almost a year ago since I posted anything onto my site.

I had a most wonderful Mothers' Day weekend. Quite frankly, it is still a little awkward to think of myself as someone who should be celebrated for just doing something I enjoy. I am honored to be the mother of my beautiful daughters and love every moment of their lives.

My darling husband set up a massage at my favorite local spa for me and took the kids all day on Saturday so that I could relax. That was fabulous. The next day was breakfast in bed and showered with affection from the family.

My middle daughter, Lindsey, made me a wall decor item that said I love you. The funniest parts was that she wrapped it and wrote "From Cereal" on the wrapping. I said, "What??!". She said, "That's because you call me Super Sugar Crisp sometimes". Me: ROFL!! I do! I call her all types of Sugar names.

She made a wall decor item (?) that said I love you on it. On the back, she wrote the cutest little poem. It said:

Dear Mom,
My dad is tall,
My shoe size isn't small,
But none of that matters,
Because you are the best mom of all!
Happy Mother's Day

Love, Lindsey (a.k.a Sugar Bear)

Love that!!

Erin made me a card that you fold out that said "Mom, my love for you grows (then you fold it out), and grows (then you fold it out more), and grows". It was pink with a beautiful long stemmed flower that seemed to grow as you folded it out. She also colored a couple of beautiful pictures for me.

My oldest daughter wrote me the most amazing poem and drew me a beautiful water color picture. She is showing to be incredibly gifted in these arts.

Here's the poem she wrote:

8 May 2011

I will....
Dear Mom
Love is patient
Love is kind
and I know your
love is genuine.

Though
I know,
Sometimes
things break
your heart,
you give them
a fresh start.

I know sometimes
your heart and mind
hurt,
remembert it (sp) not
your fault.
People must make
their own mistakes.

Mommy you do
a great job with
everything because
you have a pure heart.

Being around you
is like being around
a ball
of light, because
you radiate and
infect everyone
with positive
attitudes and
a gigantic smile.

I will always
remember your
encouraging words.
I will remember
your smile that
lights up a room.
And I will never
forget the high
expectation you
require for us
to do our best
in life because
you care.

Love Always,
Ky J

Is there anything better than this? I doubt it. Happy Mothers' Day to all the beautiful women who gave birth AND nurtured a child to achieve the most out of the world that God has blessed us with.