[jdviole2]

On one of our trips to California we stopped overnight in Las Vegas. The main reason was that Helena wanted to see the Liberace museum. I must admit that the museum was interesting. It was filled with his costumes, cars, and gifts from fans (including a miniture piano made from Macaroni). We stayed at the Flamingo Hilton. That night we walked the strip stopping at some of the casinos. Helena liked Circus Circus the best though she liked some of the others too. We mostly just looked around that night. I gave her five dollars of my money to put into a slot so that she could say she gambled. She lost it all. That was enough for her. The next morning she went out by herself to shoot pictures and I went down to the casino in the Hilton. I put twenty dollars into a slot and before it was gone hit a jackpot for thirty eight fifty. I cashed out immediately and went out to read in the car. When she came back I told her how I did and when she told the story later to people she bragged that every time we went to Vegas (not telling them it was only once) we came home winners (not telling them how much). Years later as casinos began to open up across the country we went with my parents to one not too far from our home. Dad was a gambler and I guess I inherited that from him. Nickle video machines were big then so that is what she played. That first trip she came home a winner by a small amount. She really loved playing the games, especially some of the "bonus" games. She liked winning too, but did NOT like to lose money. Her way of gambling was to put 20 dollars in and if she won over that amount to cash it out immediately. She expected me to play the same way and it caused a bit of friction when I wouldn't do it her way. We usually played at machines separated from each other (at her request) so she couldn't see how dangerously (her opinion) I gambled. We made a rule that if she sat and watched me play (as she sometimes did when she thought she had lost enough) she was not allowed to comment on how I was gambling. She broke that rule once and it almost caused a fight between us. The bonus round on the machine I was playing (an Evil Kenivel machine) involved making motorcycle jumps. I made the first jump and won ten dollars. I could cash it out or go again depending on which button I pushed. I selected the next jump. Helen was not happy but it was only 10 dollars. I made the jump and was up one hundred and ten dollars. She looked at me and told me that now was when I should cash out. I put my finger on the cash out button and told her all I had to do was press it. She sat back happy and then I moved my finger and pressed the jump button a third time. I thought she was going to kill me right then and there. She began to read me the riot act. Some people at the surrounding machines were starting to take notice, maybe expecting a real fight. All the time she is yelling the bonus game is proceeding. It made her madder that I was ignoring her and watching the machine. You can guess where this is going. I made the jump and then cashed out for three hundred and fify plus dollars. As I expected the fact that I had won made no difference. The "discussion" continued while we waited for the attendant to pay me, while we walked to our car, the entire ride home and right up to when we went to bed. It went on for three more days before she quit talking about it. We went back many times to the casino and others and she never tried to tell me how to gamble again. Like I said she wasn't a good gambler. I guess, looking back, she probably figured she had gambled enough when she married an common seaman in the Navy with no prospects for employment when he got out. You would need to ask her how that gamble worked out, I'm too close to the situation to render an opinion. The first picture for today is one from her dad. This is another of the "graduation" set (you can tell by the short hair). This would have been in 1972. The second picture is Helena astride some kind of animal from a park somewhere probably in the late 70's. At the risk of it sounding dirty Helena just couldn't see anything like that without wanting to climb on top. The third picture is Helena and one of our friends cats in Colorado in the early 90's. They had a lot of cats and dogs and loved to hike like we did. The fourth shot is another of Helena taken by her dad. This was after we met in 1973. Next we have Helena at the beach. She got to see the ocean many times after that first "nude sunbather" experience. I think she might have been expecting to see others but we never did. (I did suggest that we visit a nude beach but that suggestion was rejected). This was taken in the late 70's, and note she is in those white pants I mentioned yesterday. The last one for today is a portrait taken during one the of the nude photo sessions in 1975.