Oprah

I think I am the only person on the planet who never saw an Oprah show . . . until this past week. 

Some friends are moving back to the States and had a moving yard sale.  My wife, Nikki, picked up a bunch of DVDs cheap, including the 20th Anniversary collection of The Oprah Winfrey show. 120 DVDs, or so it seems . . . lets just say and endless supply of Oprah, maybe more than anyone ever wanted to know about Oprah. 

So I decided to take a look.

I knew Oprah had good politics (Obama!).  I had driven by her Montecito mansion, with no real idea how grandiose it really was.  I used to wonder how the rich and famous, and crazy (I also drove by Michael’s “Neverland”) lived behind the closed gates.  Unfortunately, now that he’s dead, we’re learning more about Michael than we ever needed or wanted to know, at least more than I needed or wanted to know [. . . and if he was using a fake nose, couldn't he have found a better looking one??]  I’d heard that Oprah had more money than the Queen, and apparently liked to throw it around . . . new cars for a studio audience?  It used to be you were lucky if you got a Coke and a sample box of Tide.  And I had heard that she’d done some neat things in South Africa.

Other than that, I knew nothing about Oprah, other than women of all ages seemed to adore her. 

Well I have to report that after watching two of six DVDs, I am impressed!  And I’m begining to understand, albeit belatedly, what the fuss is all about.  According to Oprah her show “ is seen by an estimated 44 million viewers a week in the United States and is broadcast internationally in 145 countries.”  OK . . . so it takes me a while!

TV personality, talk show host, magazine publisher, actress, model, philanthropist, political presidential-maker, literary critic, evangelist,  inspirational speaker, therapist, consumer extraordinaire . . . what else?

Here’s some of the things I admire . . .

She grew up in Milwaukee . . . that’s a plus!  So no wonder she feels comfortable in frigid Chicago, but makes her home in Montecito, CA, the zillionaire’s heaven, if you discount the occasional wild fire that wipes everything out.

She’s supposedly richer than the Queen, but appears at least to be rather “down to earth”.  Can you imagine the Queen being “down to earth”?  She knows where she came from, and how she struggled through life certainly without a silver spoon, and so appears to identify with normal, ordinary people.  When she says, “I didn’t do it for the money”, I believe her.  I think she found her passion, followed it and the money came along.  Nice . . . if you can do it!

Her black church roots are evident in her world and life view, her philosophy of God’s leading and God’s plan for her life . . . she comes across as deeply spiritual without attempting to push her faith on anyone. 

She appears deeply aware of a world beyond herself, and committed to use whatever talent and resources she possesses to impact that world in a positive way. 

She appears to value her team and take good care of them, realizing she is not a one woman show.

There is certainly a celebration of things and materialism . . .which, I suppose if you are the richest woman you gotta flaunt it somewhat, but I’m not sure the connection between her “ordinary” viewers and this woman who has everything, and then some . . . I heard $50 a piece truffles!  Can that be? . . . somehow gets lost.  I don’t know, but on the whole, I’m impressed!

Welcome to the “I Love To Garden Boquete Garden Club” . . .

Wow!  That’s a mouthful!  So I went to the Garden Club meeting yesterday.  About 25 people, hosted by Bonnie Williams who reads my blog and has made some helpful suggestions to me about my gardening challenges.  Bonnie has a drop dead garden and a home with spectacular views.  We heard an hour and fifteen minute lecture on water gardens from an expert . . . everything, and I do mean everything . . . from materials, location, plants, fish, even snails and turtles.  I tried water gardening in some whiskey barrels in Ventura.  I should have just sipped the whiskey!  But it was fun: neat folks, and very serious gardeners.  I’m afraid a lot more serious than I.  With the water garden lecture I really didn’t have time to present my gardening woes: seeds that won’t germinate, dogs that are always busting plants . . . and the latest gardening tragedy . . . the only seeds that germinated for me were my cosmos in my butterfly garden (butterflies love ‘em), which my soon to be ex gardener (for other reasons, not this) had decided needed to be sprayed with Roundup.  Ah, Panama!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll bet Oprah didn’t do her own water garden . . . the White House-type fountain in Montecito.  Of course nobody in Montecito does their own garden.