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Toni's RECIPES
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Nov.
12, 2009
- The problem is, whenever he is involved in a public appearance or social situation, the tremor causes him embarrassment, which then makes him anxious, which then makes the tremor worse. You get the picture. Consequently, he is less and less inclined to appear in public. August
4, 2009 THE CAPTAIN’S HEALTH UPDATE - Let me update you on Daryl’s health. His tremor has been bothering him more and more, and is affecting his left hand to the degree that he can’t play up to his own high standards. His right hand is much less affected, but his favorite piano styles, boogie and blues, are dependent on the left hand. Consequently, he doesn’t play anymore and, although I have tried, I can’t get him to do any recording. He says he can’t do it right now. - The tremor also embarrasses him and makes him even less inclined to go out to dinner, concerts, any events that would place him in a crowd. He has always been uncomfortable in social settings, but now more than ever. - He is also still trying to fully recover from his bilateral knee surgery last October. He still doesn’t “trust” his new knees, and still uses a cane when he walks. He blames the tremor for making him feel that he might “lose his balance” and fall. - In a couple of weeks, Daryl has an appointment with a top neurologist, Dr. Holly Shill. She practices at a cutting edge neurological research clinic in Sun City, Arizona. He will be re-evaluated to try to determine what exactly is causing his tremor, which has been previously diagnosed as Essential Tremor. We are hopeful that Dr. Shill can find a way to ease his tremor, or stop it completely.
TONI HAS GONE TO THE DOGS!!! - 
As for me....... I am doing just great! My broken femur has healed
nicely, and I am back running Canine Agility with my Australian Shepherd,
Smoky, and showing him in ASCA
(Australian Shepherd Club of America) shows. This past weekend, he
picked up a four point major towards his championship. He needs two
more majors to finish. The championship would be fun to earn, but
it isn’t really important at all. I just have so much fun with
my Aussie Shepherd friends and their dogs. They are the source of
much camaraderie and laughter. I have been privileged to meet and
become friends with the nicest, kindest. most “regular”
gals, who all share a love for dogs, for life, and who care about
and support each other. What I love most is that they treat me like
a normal person.
They know about my past celebrity, but that is just what I used to
do for a living, and is rarely discussed, except to tease me about
it. I love it!- SMOKY AND I AT THE HOSPITAL - As a Delta Society Pet Partners team, Smoky and I visit patients, their families and hospital staff at Yavapai Regional Medical Center here in Prescott every Thursday. Smoky has become quite a star at the hospital and has many, many fans there. He and I and two other Pet Partners teams, also go to Sedona every other Wednesday during summer to give a presentation on Pet Partners to the kids at the Sedona Humane Society Kids and Kritters Day Camp. The kids just LOVE seeing and petting the dogs and hearing about our program. I’m hoping some of them will decide to enter the Pet Partners program someday. PRESCOTT JAZZ SUMMIT - The Prescott Jazz Summit is coming up soon. I will be doing a big band concert here in Prescott with a 16 piece All Star band to help raise money for music scholarships and education for young musicians. I am really looking forward to singing again. I haven’t sung in public since last year, and I miss it. Since Daryl isn’t able to play yet, I can’t do Captain and Tennille music. But, at LEAST I can sing with a fabulous big band, feel that great joy when the band is cooking, and help some kids get some music education in the process!!! Sammy Nestico and Matt Catingub have done such wonderful, swinging arrangements for my big band book and I get such a kick out of sharing the music with people (as long as I don’t have to travel... no more of THAT!!!!). Rusty Higgins, my symphony and big band conductor for 20 years, is coming to Prescott to conduct for me and add his fabulous sax playing to the other jazz concerts scheduled during the weekend. - My concert is scheduled for Saturday evening, August 29th, at 7:30PM. It will begin with a set by the Prescott High School Jazz Band, and then I will do my complete big band show...... including some tunes with Jack Peterson on guitar. He is a brilliant guitarist, and lives right here in Prescott!. I’ve never sung onstage with just guitar accompaniment, so this will be fun for me, and a nice, more intimate sound.... giving the audience a bit of a break from the dynamic sound of the big band. - Most of you live much too far away to attend the concert, but if any of you are nearby, you can purchase tickets at the Hassayampa Hotel front desk, the Prescott Chamber of Commerce, or online at prescottjazz.com. I am donating my singing as a way to give back to my new community and to support music education for young musicians. - Well... the piano tuner has just about finished, so I’ll close for now. With everybody tweeting and twittering and texting and face-booking and such, I just think the less added to the cyberspace chatter, the better. But thank you so much for caring. I hope this update will do for a while (until something really “exciting” happens here in Prescott!!!). Until next time.... Keep A Song of Joy Inside Your Heart. - April 14, 2009 - SMOKY AND TONI DO AGILITY WORK | update .. - SMOKY AND TONI DO AGILITY WORK- - watch 'Smoky' in action, among many other dogs - click here for info re. the AGILITY TRIAL event 
- April 11, 2009 - SMOKY AND TONI DO AGILITY AND THERAPY DOG WORK | HEALING BROKEN BONES AND NEW KNEES | NOTES ON TONI'S ORIGINAL SONGS #11 THROUGH #15 - It has been fascinating and very informative to hear from you about which of my original songs you like best. What is most interesting to me is that there really isn't one single song that stands out above the others. Your responses to your favorites are as varied as the songs themselves. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. SMOKY AND TONI DO AGILITY AND THERAPY DOG WORK - I am still doing great after breaking my hip in December. My Australian Shepherd dog, Smoky, and I are back practicing agility and preparing to enter our first Agility Trial in May. He and I will run as "Novices", of course, since we have never run competitively before. We don't expect to win any points... he's still technically a puppy (he'll be two in June), and I am just learning how to guide him through the obstacles... but we'll have a great time doing it. If you happen to be in Chino Valley, AZ on May 2nd and 3rd, check it out. The Trial is sponsored by our canine agility club, TOP DOG. Smoky and I are also continuing our work as a Therapy Dog Team at our local hospital. We visit patients, their families and hospital staff every Thursday. We have met some terrific people as we make our rounds and I am finding it very, very rewarding. HEALING BROKEN BONES AND NEW KNEES - As far as my own recovery from my accident, I just have a bit of soreness and stiffness when I first get up after sitting for a long time.. .OR... when a storm front comes rolling through Prescott. I used to laugh when older people claimed they could predict a storm coming because their "arthritis acted up". Well... it seems to be true. I can now tell when a front is coming through even BEFORE I check the National Weather Service site! Daryl's recovery from his October bi-lateral knee surgery is another matter. He is having a difficult time even now..... six months after his surgery. His knees have healed perfectly, but his natural tendency to anxiety and negative thinking.... AND his tremor..... have really made the road to recovery difficult for him. We have some new possibilities on the horizon for helping Daryl, and in the future I will let you know how that goes. In the meantime, he is not able to create any tracks or do any recording because of his physical limitations. I am at a standstill creatively because I simply can't do what he does. I can write the songs, give him some production ideas, but only he can create the tracks. As you know, there is really no musician quite like him! I am really hoping it won't be too long before he recovers so he and I can start creating some new music together. NOTES ON TONI'S ORIGINAL SONGS #11 THROUGH #15 - Now....here are more notes on my original songs, which you can hear on my TT website. - 11. KEEPING OUR LOVE WARM - In 1980...about the time I had my talk show.... I was in New York City to participate in the Lighting of the Christmas Tree ceremony at Rockefeller Center. Daryl had stayed behind in California for this short trip. It was a chilly day in The City and I decided to take a jog around the Central Park Reservoir. As I ran, I was thinking of Daryl and how much I missed his being there with me, and the phrase, "Keeping our love warm" popped into my head. As I continued my run, lyrics began to form in my head, along with an initial melody. It became a song in which a girl reassures her lover that she is "keeping our love warm... keeping myself on cool". By the time I got back to the hotel room, I had the song fully formed in my head and wrote it down quickly before I could forget it (which I WILL do if I don't write a song down immediately). I just love how this track turned out. In my opinion Daryl captured the mood of the song perfectly in his production. I always thought I would love to hear a "soul" singer do this song.... sweet, mellow and warm. - 12. LOVE ME LIKE A BABY - Daryl decided that I should record this one with just my own piano accompaniment... very, very simple... let the song speak for itself. This song came to me when I began to think about people who work very hard in very stressful situations. At work they have to be tough and strong...... "Out there it's a crazy world.... I get so tired of being strong." And then the incredible relief when they come home to the one they love most in the world and can forget their stress for a while in their lover's arms.... "Baby, baby me. Safe in your arms I'm free... .where I can hide and leave the world outside." Perhaps you know what I mean. - 13. LOVE SURVIVES - Long time C&T fans already know the story behind this song. In 1984 Daryl and I had moved to Lake Tahoe. Soon after our move I received word that our dear friend, Howie Greenfield had contracted AIDS and was near death. Howie was Neil Sedaka's long time friend and writing partner. Together Howie and Neil wrote hit after hit, including LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER. Howie contacted us through our record company, A&M Records, the very first time he heard LWKUT on the radio. He invited us to his beautiful home in Beverly Hills which he shared with his partner, Tory Damon. Daryl and I adored those two men, and we became fast friends with both of them. We ended up losing both of them to AIDS... what a terrible loss. After I heard the news of Howie's illness I went for a walk in the woods around our Tahoe home, thinking of him and all the joy he had brought to people with his songs. The phrase "Love survives in a song and a memory" came to me as I walked. By the time I got back to our home, about an hour later, I had almost the entire lyric ready to be written down, along with the melody for the chorus. Since we were no longer having hits at that time, I had hoped an artist like Whitney Houston would be interested in recording it. I actually gathered my courage (and fear of rejection) and sent a demo to her through Clive Davis. He did write back, but turned the song down, saying she had enough tunes for her next album. Daryl and I were used to people in the business thinking of us as kind of "fluffy" and "superficial". But Clive actually said that we did not have the "cachet" required for the music business (as he saw it). He was probably right.... we certainly weren't thought of as "hip", but LOVE SURVIVES is a wonderful song. I'm proud of it and I hope someday some terrific singer will record it. Howie is gone, but his music lives on in our hearts and memories. LOVE SURVIVES is my tribute to him. - 14. SMILE FOR ME ONE MORE TIME - I'm SURE you know that I wrote this one for Daryl. I have lived with him for 37 years and I can tell you for certain that Daryl is not a "smiler". He hardly ever smiles, let alone break out in a great big grin. That's probably why he has a lot less wrinkles than I do! This song was my way of encouraging him to smile once in a while. - 15. THE WAY I WANT TO TOUCH YOU - I wrote this song in the early 70s in a boring, brown, dismal businessman's hotel at the airport in Passaic, New Jersey. I was on my first Beach Boy tour as the only "Beach Girl". Daryl had convinced Carl Wilson that I could handle the acoustic piano parts and Carl hired me sight unseen (and piano-playing ability unheard). I thought it was pretty darned incredible that he would trust Daryl's judgement in that way... .especially since I was not a "boy"! . Daryl taught me all the parts, and I must say that I was well-prepared musically. Of course, I was falling madly in love with Daryl at the time. I was trying to think of a way to express my feelings to him, and music seemed to be the way to do it. While I was staying at this uninspiring airport hotel, the song began to come to me. I went to the front desk and asked the desk clerk if there was a piano anywhere on the premises. He told me there was one in one of the conference rooms, but that he thought it might not be a very good one. Total understatement!!!! It was horribly out of tune. But it was all I needed. I wrote THE WAY I WANT TO TOUCH YOU on that terrible piano in about an hour. It became our second million-selling single. - Thank you all so much for reading TONI'S TAKE. I hope you will continue to do so, and I will try to be better about writing more often. Until next time... Keep A Song of Joy Inside Your Heart.
Mar 23, 2009 - GENERAL UPDATE FOR TONI AND DARYL AND SMOKY - Another quick note..... I have recovered beautifully from my hip fracture (Femoral Neck Fracture, Garden I Type). Three and a half months after the accident I am back running canine agility with Smoky. Also, Smoky passed the Delta Society Pet Therapy Team evaluation (NOTE: Smoky's painting at this link is by Toni's niece, CAROLINE ST. CLAIR - Jane's daughter - see more of her art at: www.flickr.com/photos/shepaintspets ) with top honors. He received a "Complex" rating, which means that, in addition to visiting patients and their families in their hospital rooms and in waiting rooms (and also hospital staff... they need doggy love, too), he is certified to visit ICU patients and IV Therapy patients as well. He won't be two years old until June, but his big, mellow boy is doing the work he was born to do. He and I visit Yavapai Regional Medical Center every Thursday, and it has been a wonderful experience for both of us. And you may ask, do people recognize me as we make our rounds? Actually, even though my hospital name tag clearly says TONI TENNILLE, most people only concentrate on Smoky. I'm just the person who brings him into the room. I love it! - It has been five months since Daryl's bi-lateral knee replacement surgery. He has yet to reach the point where he "trusts" his knees. He says the swelling bothers him and makes him feel unstable. He will recover fully, but it will take him longer. He keeps reminding me that he has two titanium knees that he has to get used to, and I just had "a little crack" in my femur that was repaired with three titanium screws. I guess he will set off the metal detector more times than I will!!! - Until next time.......... Keep A Song of Joy Inside Your Heart. Dec
18 , 2008 TONI'S TAKE.... AGAIN - Some of you have written many times asking when I would start writing TONI’S TAKE again. I have been known to be a procrastinator, but this is ridiculous! Actually, I have been having a very long talk with myself about why I have not written in such a long time, and here is what I have finally decided is the reason..... my life now would not be particularly interesting to most of you. Daryl and I are, for all intents and purposes, retired from performing and recording. - Retiring wasn’t so much a deliberate decision as it was something that just seemed to happen. After the VICTOR/VICTORIA tour, I was emotionally bruised and battered.... no one’s fault but my own. I made a decision without thinking about how it would actually affect me and my family. I loved the show, and couldn’t wait to tackle the part..... I really felt I would be great in the role. However, I didn’t think it through well enough as to what the tour would actually entail. Once I got out there and started the tour, the bottom fell out of my heart because of homesickness..... I missed my home, my dogs and cats...... and I ached for Daryl’s constant reassuring presence. Lying in bed in one of the hotel rooms in a big city, listening to the sirens and the trash trucks, I missed the sound of silence at night in rural northern Nevada, a quiet occasionally broken by the sound of the wind or a coyote’s manic laughter. - Well..... I’ve discussed all of this in previous posts. Let’s just say that was the beginning of the end of touring for me. And it’s funny that now, THAT life...... the one I had on television and on radio.... seems like a dream.... like Toni Tennille isn’t me. I see her on YouTube, and admire her energy and singing, but she seems unreal and totally unconnected to me. - I now have a much simpler life, and it suits me and Daryl just fine. But I doubt it will be that interesting to most of you. But so many of you have written to ask how we are doing, let me take some time to catch you up on what has been going on since I last wrote TONI'S TAKE. OUR NEW PRESCOTT HOME - Daryl and I moved into our beautiful new home in Prescott AZ in June. We lived in the guest house for about 2 1/2 weeks until the main house was completely finished. I must say I am so proud of Daryl's work on the design of this home..... the fourth house we have built from the"ground up." We essentially copied the house we had in northern Nevada but made some changes we thought would improve the original design. Daryl had the vision to design exactly what was needed. The house is sturdily built, gracious, open and welcoming.... exactly what we wanted. DARYL'S KNEES - We have been going through some rather difficult times physically. Daryl had bi-lateral knee replacement surgery on October 13th. That means he had BOTH knees surgically replaced at the same time. His knees have been horrible since his 40s, but he put off having surgery until he just couldn't stand it any more. We are extremely fortunate to have a couple of wonderful orthopaedic surgeons here in town. Daryl's surgery was done by Dr. Bertrand Kaper (pronounced "copper"), and he did a spectacular job. Daryl was in the hospital here in Prescott for five days, and then came home to begin recuperating along with help from my brother-in-law Frank, who is a nurse. Frank flew out here from Florida and stayed with us for 18 days, eliminating any necessity for Daryl to go to a rehab facility, thank goodness. - Daryl is now walking on his own, using a cane occasionally. He is going through post-op rehab three days a week, and drives himself to the rehab facility. His tremor is still quite bothersome and embarrassing to him, so he is really uncomfortable in social situations...... even more than usual. The most difficult thing for Daryl has been re-training his leg muscles to support his perfect, new knees. He was using those muscles incorrectly for decades, compensating for his bad knees. Now they have to learn to work with his new ones. It is truly amazing.... where Daryl used to be slightly knock-kneed, his legs are now perfectly straight. Thank God for the skill of a fine surgeon. - I foresee Daryl's struggling with his recovery and rehab for another couple of months, but there will come a time when he will be able to hike with me again.... hopefully soon. MY LEFT HIP - Actually....it will take ME a couple of months before I can go hiking again. A week ago Sunday, I broke my left hip running agility with our dog, Smoky. He and I were running a pattern of three jumps leading to "c" shaped tunnel, with both ends pointing towards the jumps. The object was for the dogs to go over the jumps, enter the tunnel on the right side, come out of the tunnel on the left, and go back over the jumps. I put Smoky in a sit/stay, walked halfway down the jumps, and then called him to jump and "go tunnel". After he went over the jumps, he headed for the left entrance to the tunnel, instead of the right side I was indicating. I called, "Smoky.... here! Here!" He turned on a dime and headed for the correct entrance, but I didn't move fast enough to get out his way, and he knocked my feet out from under me. I landed with my full body weight on my left hip. - Actually, I was most fortunate.... I didn't BREAK the hip, I cracked the femur. Luckily I have big, strong, dense bones, so I didn't need a hip replacement, just three titanium screws to hold the crack in place until the bone heals. The only trouble is I am not allowed to put any weight on my left leg for at least four more weeks, so I am limping around the house using a walker or crutches. The walker is good because it has a basket to carry things around, but it really slows me up! The crutches are faster, but I have to be very careful while I'm using them. If I re-injure the hip, I will have to have hip replacement surgery...... YIKES. So I am being VERY careful and patient so the bone will heal good as new. - So, here we are...two injured people.... recuperating with the help of my wonderful younger sisters and nieces, who have been here since I got out of the hospital, and will be here, in shifts, until January 3rd. After that, my terrific neighbors will help out a bit until I can throw way the crutches... hopefully by January 11th. OUR CREATIVE LIVES IN PRESCOTT - I am doing some creative things, but nothing big. I took part as an actress in an "old fashioned radio show" at the Prescott Fine Arts Theatre on Prescott Ghost Walk night during Halloween. Although the show was presented live on stage, we acted an original mystery script, written by a local writer. It was lots of fun and was great to be part of an ensemble again. The experience took me right back to my days of community theatre, and I will probably do more of it if asked. - I also sang (donating my performance) as part of the Prescott Jazz Festival, held in Prescott every August, and presented by Mike Vax, a terrific trumpet player and jazz educator. He brings in top quality jazz artists from all over the country to perform in various venues in the Prescott area. I dug out some of my great Sammy Nestico Big Band arrangements and performed with the big band here in town. It was great, because I was just part of the show...I sang five songs, I think. It was kind of a relief not to have the entire show depend on me. - I have been doing a lot of dog agility with our 18 month old blue merle Australian Shepherd, Smoky. I always wanted to do agility with Adelaide, but we were on the road all the time, and I never had the time to work with her. Now she is almost 12 years old..... feisty as ever, but a bit too old to be learning agility. - Smoky and I are also in training to pass the Delta Society Hospital Therapy Dog test in late January. Once we are certified, he and I will become part of the therapy dog volunteer teams who visit patients and their families once a week at our local hospital. His father, Moon, was a beloved therapy dog who worked at the hospital for six years. Sadly, Moon died of a virulent cancer just two months after Hubble died. He was only eight years old. Smoky has his daddy's sweetness and gentle nature, so I know he will carry on Moon's legacy with honor. - I have just started working on a theme song for our agility club, TOP DOG. I'm really doing it for fun, and to keep myself creative. I am at a stopping point now, because I need Daryl to do a track for me based on what I've written. Unfortunately, Daryl doesn't have his recording area set up yet, and now that he has had knee surgery, he won't be able to do it until he can get up and down from the floor easily (all the plugs and outlets are down low to the ground). - I can honestly tell you that our touring days are over. Neither of us can stand to fly, especially as things are now. Daryl's tremor embarrasses him so much, I doubt if he will ever appear onstage in public again, which really puts an end to Captain and Tennille, since I will never do those songs without him. He has always been the sound of C&T. There is no one quite like him. - Now I have brought you up to date. Our lives, I'm sure, are not that interesting to you now. We've gone back to being just regular people...kind of like we were before all the hits. I plan to contribute my talents in smaller ways, but hopefully meaningful ones. I hope to always be creative in some way. My deepest thanks to all of you who have been such great fans over the years. We have loved hearing from you. If you like, I will try to write a TONI'S TAKE every now and then. Mostly I will just write about what's going on here in Prescott. - I hope some of you are enjoying our Christmas CD, THE SECRET OF CHRISTMAS. You aren't likely to find it in stores, but all of the online stores (Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, CD Universe.com) have it available. In the meantime, have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful Holiday Season, and..... Keep A Song of Joy Inside Your Heart. - |
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