The Blimp, And I Do Mean Goodyear

Imagine a quiet Saturday evening here at Chez Knit. The day is almost done. The sun is going down. Peace and quiet reigns.

And then there is a noise.

It starts out slow and sort of hum like. Then gradually gets louder and louder and right over the house.

HHBL: Man that plane sure sounds like it is flying low and over our house.

Me: Yes it does, and sounds pretty…..Hey WAIT A MINUTE! 

I run to the windows and look out, totally freaking Max out with my over exuberance and interest. 

Holy COW!!! Where is my camera! I have to have my camera! Dang it I don’t have the 85mm on it!! I will just have to make do.

Holy Schlomoly Andy it is the Goodyear Blimp!! Just slowly floating by on the breeze.

Right over our house. 


These photos were taken with my dinky little stock lens 18-55mm so that tells you how close this thing really was. And LOUD.


Max the Magnificent was totally freaked out by the entire experience. He didn’t know what it was but he knew he had to bark at it and run around in the yard to keep it away.

YOU MAY NOT COME IN MY YARD!!! DON’T YOU LAND IN MY YARD!!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE BUT YOU BETTER NOT COME IN MY YARD!!!!

Sorry for the less than stellar picture. Chalk it up to low light, standard lens and the fact that I was laughing.


But all too soon the blimp drifted away from the house and on to wherever it was going. Perhaps back home since it is docked in Akron and that isn’t too far away.


Good bye Mr. Blimp.

It doesn’t take much to make me happy evidently.

Out For Their Morning Constitutional

I love the area that I live in.

Do you know why?

It is because on any given day you might be going to work, in this case I was going to an early morning photo shoot.

You can park your car.

Get out.

Look behind you.

And see……

Coming quietly up the street in orderly fashion…..

An entire pack of hunting dogs from the local hunt club out for their morning stroll. They even stopped so that I could take a picture.

And then just calmly resumed their morning constitutional.

And the person on the bike?

She was in charge of the “poop patrol”.

Lucky her.

Happy

 How could you be sad when in the presence of these.

Hibiscus are such happy flowers don't you think. They make me want to skip through the meadow and sing happy songs.

Hmmmmmmm?

What?

You think it is odd for a 51 year old woman to skip through the meadow and sing happy songs?

Loosen up!

 

Things That Make Me Happy (Vol 5, maybe)

The sun is shining here in The Frozen Northeast Ohio. And the temperature is, good golly, 65F. That is unheard of for November. Well, it is heard of but not particularly often.

And so I feel the need for a “Things That Make Me Happy” list. These are in no particular order of importance. And if I have repeated these in previous lists, well, just cut me some slack.

• When a new recipe works well, fulfilling it’s promise. It is such a disappointment when a recipe doesn’t work.
• The smell of fall
• Immersion in a good history book.
• Blowing all the leaves off of the deck.
• Honeycrisp apples. I wish I could get them all year long.
• The Chronicles of Riddick. Don’t judge. It is a good movie. STOP that laughing right now Cartoon Girl!
• a desk that is neat and clean. It is a good think that you can’t see my desk right now. Come back in a hour though and it will be good.
• grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches with dill pickles. Oh be still my beating heart.
• a really good beer. None of that sissy stuff. Microbrews and I are really good friends.
• knitting lace. My new passion. I could knit lace all day long.
• listening to Barbara Rosenblat read through all the Amelia Peabody mysteries. Heck, listening to her read anything just makes me smile.
• the first snow of the season. Notice that I said the FIRST snow. If you ask me about this in January I am going to have a totally different answer for you.
• Heavy snowfalls that stop the world outside. Hmmmm, this may negate the last item but whatever. These days just give me an excuse to stay in my jammies and read a book.
• the encouragement of KnitSibs
• deep fried okra. It is one of the essentials of life.
• OBVIOUSLY cleaning things out makes me happy.

And on the thought of cleaning out I will leave you. It is too nice a day to sit here and play on the computer.

Things That Give Me Joy

Some of the things on this list may not speak all that well of me but, well, what can I say. I am what I am. And if you don’t like me then it is your loss. I am eminently likeable.

It is a cloudy, cold, rainy day. Ah Spring in the Frozen Northeast Ohio. I just needed to do a little list of things that bring me joy to perk me up.

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When I receive those unsolicited credit card requests that make me crazy. The ones that clog up my mail box and are just a waste of postage and trees.

I open them up, pull out the pre-paid postage envelope, shred the rest of the contents, and send the shredded materials right back to them. Hoping all the time that it clogs up their machines.

I am sorry but there it is. If the credit card companies would just stop then so would I.

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Very early mornings.

Yes, I know that I am wired wrong. It has been mentioned before. But I am sorry to tell you that the best part of the day is first thing in the morning.

And when I say first thing in the morning I mean 5:30a-7a.

The most perfect time of the day. Especially in the summer. But really any time of year.

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Reading a book that I have read a thousand times before. One that I know all the words by heart and can tell you at any given point in the book what is going to happen next and what has happened before.

That kind of book just brings me joy.

That must be why I started a re-read of Lord of the Rings on Saturday. I just knew that I had to do it. I am not sure how many time I have read it since my first venture into Middle Earth when I was in 7th grade.

But it is a lot.

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Chipped Beef on toast.

Don’t judge.

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This picture brings me joy. My Grandpa Pringle and I. My compatriot in crime. My raw green bean pusher. The man who could always be counted on to have a stick of gum, which he would gladly rip in half and share with me.

Some day I am going to buy a bottle of Listerine and a bottle of Old Spice and mix them together. And then I am just going to sit and smell. Cuz that is what Grandpa smelled like every day of my life. Listerine and Old Spice.

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The Real Housewives of New York City

The Real Housewives of Orange County

The Real Housewives of New Jersey

Suddenly I feel like I should go and take a shower.

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Gorgonzola cheese straight up.

Lord. Have. Mercy.

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Pansies. You cannot look at pansies and not be happy.

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Devil’s Food cake, baked in a 9x13 pan and then frosted with a can of white frosting.

Heavenly.

I need some right now.

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OK, I am done now. I think I can get through the rest of the day. But suddenly I feel the need for Gorgonzola cheese and Devil’s Food Cake.

Strange.

Big Red Through the Years.

I am absolutely clueless about blogging today. I have been to the airport for the second time this week. I am trying to cook beans for the soup tonight. I have bread rising and HHBL and I spent 30 minutes blowing up the air mattress so that Cartoon Girl’s roomie (who is with us for Christmas) could have some place to lay her weary head.

Recipe? Nope don’t feel like it.

Maxwell’s latest exploit. Nope, he has been a good boy since the Fruit Dip incident.

The weather? Well it is snowing but I am sick of thinking about the weather.

So I just thought I would show you pictures of Big Red through the years.

I am pitifully desperate evidently and have nothing of any merit to say. And now you will all leave me.

Aunt Hilda, Uncle Pat (and his ever present cigar) and some girl. I think it is my Aunt Sue. Red looks particularly youthful don’t you think.

Wow, solemn much? That would be Papa in the gray suit with my Amsler Grandparents and Aunt Kathy.

Look at how shiny and red and new Big Red looks. Wow.

Papa, my parental unit and his little sister. And I do mean little. I believe that there is 16 years difference in their ages. Big Red is ageless however.

Who is this child and why is she in my chair. Is this Aunt Sue?

  Yes, I am sorry to say that it is I sitting in Big Red. I am not sure the look I was going for with my hair but I have a feeling that I did not achieve it. I do remember that jumper dress though. It was too tight across the mammilary area and I couldn’t breathe. Perhaps that is why I have that pinched look.

Or it could just be that I was a teenager.

And here he is now. A bit more weathered. A tad cracked around the edges (just like it’s owner). But happy once more.

Now if I just had time to sit in him and read. But not today.

Mary and Joseph

What are your favorite decorations for Christmas? Last year I told you about the plethora of ornaments that are my favorite.

But by far my favorite Christmas decoration is my china Nativity. It isn’t Christmas until I have put it up.

It isn’t the only Nativity scene I happen to own. I have some from Peru, Israel, Egypt, Mexico, Africa, Germany, Toledo. At last count I have

Fifteen

That isn’t too many is it?

But every year I get out my favorite one.

I go down to the basement and I bring up this box. It is just an old soap box. In fact I am not sure how old it actually is. The nativity came to me in this box and I will explain why in just a second so don’t be so anxious about it.

I open up the box, yes I know that the box is upside down but that is the way that it is. The top is on the bottom. Just like me to have something that is upside down.

Where was I? Oh yes, I open the box up and the first thing that I do is I take a giant deep breath, filling my nose with the smell from the box.

Why you might ask? Because the inside of that box smells like my Grandma Amsler’s house. You see, before the nativity came to me it dwelt for a time with Mimi. But it came first from Grandma A. This year was especially poignant because Grandma went home to the Lord in February.

I miss her.

The box used to be her toy chest when she was little. She told me once that it was covered at one point with green canvas.

Inside of the box is treasure. Grandma very kindly wrote out where the box came from and where the nativity came from. She then taped them to the inside lid.

I love the notes because they are in Grandma’s handwriting.

The nativity itself was purchased around 1970 in Germany on a trip that my grandparents had long anticipated and planned. They were visiting my Aunt Kathy who was serving in the military and stationed in Germany. Grandma bought it at Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s mountain retreat, and carried it home on the plane.

Just as an aside, Berchtesgaden is a really neat place to visit if you every have the chance. I’m just sayin’.

At any rate. I open up the box. I take the time to look at my grandmother’s handwriting and remember her.

And then I contemplate all the mummified remains that I have to unwrap. Really, they sort of look like something that I dug out of King Tut’s tomb, only with a bit more plastic than he might have had.

The tags for each of the pieces are also in Grandma’s hand writing although the wrappings inside have changed over the years.

No one ever said that we weren’t inventive in our wrappings. Yes that is a wash cloth. Several years ago the tissue paper and paper cloths that the pieces were wrapped in sort of disintegrated and I needed something to wrap stuff up in. I had just bought a big bunch of cheapy washcloths for something else. Voila!

I take the time to unwrap and inspect each of the pieces. Some of them have had little “mishaps” over the years though not on my watch.

I will admit that Joseph’s broken staff might have been during my tenure as Nativity keeper.

It is amazing that all the pieces aren’t smashed to smithereens because several years ago, when I was taking the box back to the basement after Christmas, I caught my slipper on the step going down. You know that moment when you know something really bad is going to happen and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.

Yup, I was right there, precious box in hand and still three steps up from the floor. I had a choice to make. I could drop the box, grab the railing and save myself.

Or I could hold onto the box and go down like the Hindenburg.

I chose the later. The Nativity was saved…..but the ligaments in my left ankle were not.

But the Nativity was saved.

After everything is unwrapped and inspected then I have to set the proper placement of the pieces. That involves things like a string of lights, a piece of navy blue velvet. And these….

Well the angels have to stand on something don’t they?

Move pieces here. Move pieces there. Stand back and observe. Move things a bit more.

Didn’t I have another camel?

Finally everything is set.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I think I need a cup of Elixir, a piece of Christmas Candy Crack and some peace and quiet.

Deb’s True Confessions

I feel weighed down by the burden of my weirdness. I feel I must unburden myself. And since I tell you everything. I feel I must confess…….

- I live most of my life without makeup on. I just forget to put it on. That means I, GASP!, go to church without makeup more often than not. I definitely live my daily life without makeup. I am a lazy bum.

- I do not like bananas. I continue to buy them and eat them because they are good for me. But I do not like them………

Unless they are baked into Banana Bread or Banana Chip Bars of course.

- I do not like any orange juice that hasn’t been fresh squeezed that day. I will drink other OJ but I don’t like it. And when the package that you bought at the store says “Fresh Squeezed” it definitely doesn’t taste like it.

- I love my toe rings. I might have mentioned that before. Looking at them makes me happy.

- I cannot sleep on my back. I must sleep on my side so that I can pull the sheet and covers over my ear. Not all the way over my head but just so that it covers my ear.

That is so the vampires cannot suck my blood………

I might have watched too many Dracula movies when I was younger.

- I love roasted chicken skin or turkey skin. I would eat that all day. Of course, then I might not be able to get through the door.

Thanksgiving is in two weeks and Pilot Man is doing TWO turkeys, one on the grill and one in the deep fryer. Oh be still my beating heart.

- A perfect afternoon snack is a big bowl of black olives. Oh how I love them. I don’t indulge in that one any more but I still think it is perfect.

- Beets are God’s perfect veggie. Steamed, with a bit of butter. Oh. Yum.

Or pickled. Shivers.

- I could watch “The Hunt For Red October” every day and be happy.

“Some things in here don’t react well to bullets, Ryan”

I think I will have to watch it this week.

- If it has cilantro in it I will eat it.

Did you know that people either like cilantro or they don’t. The Mom Chef really doesn’t like it.  And most people who don’t like cilantro say that it tastes like soap to them. That is because cilantro and soap evidently share a common ingredient.

That is your factoid for the day.

- I hate to wear high heels.

That is why I have Shoe Queen. She can wear high heels for me.

I wear clogs in the winter, or boots. And in the summer I wear flip flops.

It makes packing for a trip very simple. Flip flops, or clogs, or for the most part my hiking sandals.

Well, I think that is all for now. I feel so much better having gotten that off my ample chest.

I Guess I Like Where I Live

The sun is shining here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio and that is such an odd occurrence that I am in the mood to do a small list of the things I like about this place.

It also may be that I am just confounded as to what else there is to blog about. I could tell you about the banana bread in the oven or the fact that the grass is again covered with leaves and the fact that it is REALLY hard to see the “gifts” that Max leaves in the yard when they are covered with leaves. You just need to remember to step very carefully.

But I digress. Lets think about the things that I like living here in semi-rural suburbia…..

1. The postal clerks know me and seem to like seeing me. In fact, we are to the point that they tell me their problems when I come in. I seem to have a face that just makes that happen.

2. I can turn left out of my street, drive about 300 feet and see sheep grazing in a yard. Or horses on the other side of the street. Drive a bit further and I will see alpaca.

3. Great Lakes Brewing Company. Specifically their Octoberfest or Burning River. Yum.

4. My postal lady knows me, knows the dog, and always seems to be happy to see both of us.

5. Perogies. Enough said on those little pillows of carbohydrate goodness.

6. When out and about I see people I know all the time. I don’t think there is ever a trip to Wally Mart that doesn’t bring someone I know.

7. I guess I have to admit that I like all the wild life, even the rats with hooves deer. I had a buck zip across the road in front of me the other night. Very cool once I confirmed that I hadn’t wet my pants in fright.

8. I live in an area that brings the world Dennis Kucinich. Every place needs a clown.

9. Summers here are wonderful.

10. Of course, summers are offset by winters here which are not so wonderful. But then, we get snow and I can occasionally afford myself a snow day.

11. I live in a town that is big enough to have a Starbucks and a movie theater but small enough that people don’t, right off the bat, know exactly where the town is. And by the way, I don’t like Starbucks so I never go there….but at least we have one.

12. We have a major league baseball team. Not a good one but we have one.

13. Small town politics. There is nothing like it for a really good laugh. Or tearing your hair out.

14. Rolling farm land not all that far away.

15. The Amish. I am fascinated, and a bit obsessed.

16. Lake Effect Snow. It amazes me. Our side of town gets a lot more snow that even 2 miles further west.

17. The Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom Music Center.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I don’t want to overwhelm you with the splendor.

20 Things You Should Know

I am in a reflective mood today. I apologize in advance for this but I am hoping that if you are here it is because you want to be and that you will love me no matter what I say…

You will won’t you?

1. I value my sleep. I live for bedtime and when 10p rolls around I had better be in bed or heads will roll. Ask HHBL if you don’t believe me. I roll up my sidewalks at 9:30p and if you make me stay up later I am a crank the next morning. Beware.

2. I love the sound of train “whistles”. I hear one and I am just happy deep inside.

3. I love chocolate cake baked from a box with white frosting from a can. I am sorry but there it is. And if you pair that with your morning cup of Joe. Heaven.

4. I suffer from a severe and I am afraid incurable case of Bibliographic Obesity. This translates into shelves full of books, or rather right now boxes full of books since this happened around here. This dread disease also extends to my Nook ereader as I scour the internet for free books and download books from the library. I cannot seem to stop.

And perhaps I don’t want to.

5. I love staying at home all day for days on end. I am never bored and the possibilities are endless. Now if I could just do this while wearing my pj’s it might be perfect. But I just have to get dressed. It is a flaw in my character I am sure.

6. I do not like swimming in the ocean. Jaws scarred me and scared me for life.

7. I love Musicals. In fact, I might just watch one today if I am so inclined. What is better than “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” or perhaps “The King and I”.

8. Perfect Day? Rain all day, nothing to do but have a cup of tea and read or knit or both.

9. Until just recently I couldn’t stand to walk barefoot anywhere. It gave me the heebie jeebies, even in my own house. I am working to conquer this odd phobia, in fact I am without foot wear even as I write this. But I am still not going to walk in the grass because…….we have a dog. Got the picture.

10. Anything with banana flavoring makes me gag. I can eat a regular banana occasionally but not often. Blech!

11. Organizing things calms me down.

12. When I take on something new or want to learn something new it is sometimes all consuming. I don’t like not knowing something. And when I am in the midst of this all else fades to the background.

Case in point, I was zooming along on this post but then got caught up with playing with some new software on my computer relating to #4 on this list. The next time I looked up an hour had past and I was deep into figuring things out.

13. I get claustrophobic in large crowds. I. HATE. LARGE. CROWDS. I would guess that I am never going to be in Times Square on New Years Eve. I would rather have a root canal.

14. I like to stick my face in the freezer section at the grocery store. I just try not to let anyone see me do it.

15. I love the smells in foreign countries. Even the bad ones. I also love the sounds in foreign countries.

16. The smell of old library books is like catnip to me.

17. I could watch “The Hunt for Red October” every day.

18. If I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life it would be good bread with butter and homemade jam. I remember that was the best part about breakfast in England, Germany, France, Mexico and Peru. Fresh bread for breakfast.

I am now hungry. I think I will have just that as I have three loaves of freshly baked bread in the kitchen and I mad Peach Blueberry jam yesterday.

19. I hate to exercise. But I do it because I have to. I think the “runner’s high” is a myth perpetrated on us by athletic shoe manufacturers. 

20. I can wiggle my ears. It is an awesome party game skill.

There She Goes Again with the Car Race

Do you know what today is?
Do Ya?
Yeah, yeah it is Sunday. It is the day before Memorial Day. It is….
THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 DAY!!!!!
Oh yes it is.
I can’t seem to get over my love. We have been together for so long, since I was 9 years old. We have walked many miles together. We have seen many things….
Mario Andretti’s first and only win at Indy. And my first time to attend the race.
Rick Mear’s first of four wins.
We have seen crashes together, a fire filled one right in front of us that I think Pilot Man has on film somewhere. We have seen drunken bacchanalias, bathrooms full of people and other things, more cars and campers and people in one place then you could possibly imagine.
We have heard the roar of the crowd and the unimaginable loudness of the engines as the cars scream by.
We have thrilled with sitting just at the entrance to the pits, an awesome place to be when the Pace Car pulls off and the racers go for the gusto.
We have heard Jim Neighbors sing “Back Home in Indiana”. Not my favorite song, not my favorite singer but you have to go with tradition.
I have taken a tour of the speedway and taken a turn around the track. Now that was COOL. And lest you worry, no I wasn’t behind the wheel although my children and HHBL sometimes wonder if perhaps I am training for Indy with my car speed.
Indy and I we are old and fast friends. We cannot be parted.
These days I sit in my family room and watch in comfort. I have to tell you that I enjoy that. My bathroom is right close by. I can get up and get something to eat or drink and I don’t have to deal with crowds.
HHBL can tell you that I REALLY don’t like huge crowds of people. They make me antsy and I just want them to all go home. And there are LOTS of people who will be at Indy Speedway today. The Speedway doesn’t ever publish exactly how many people attend the race but it is close to half a million….yes I said half a MILLION people between the infield and the permanent stands. That is a lot of people.
Maybe by next years race I will have found some pictures from our various trips to Indy. There are some lovely ones somewhere at the parental units house.
On a personal level I will be rooting for Helio Castroneves. If he can win today he will enter an elite group, those Indy Car drivers who have won four races: A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.
So Ladies and Gentlemen……..
Start Your Engines!!

Edit: I realize that I spelled Jim Nabors name incorrectly. So sorry.

Things that Make Me Happy (Vol 4)

Some days you just need to do a list like this in order to remind yourself that there are things that just make you happy. Especially on a day like this when we have a Winter Storm Warning. Now that isn’t really an unusual thing in my neck of the woods but it is still a pain in the bahookie. I have to go and shovel the front walk from the last snow dump and then I will have to do it again later on. Rats.

It is also good to do a list like this on a day when my head is attempting to separate itself from my neck in a most violent fashion. It isn’t pretty when I get one of these headaches and they don’t happen too often but when they do……just stay out of my way, especially since I have pointy sticks in my hand and I know how to use them!

So without further ado…..

- baking bread which I think I am going to do this afternoon. There is NOTHING that tastes better than freshly baked bread slathered with butter. Be still my palpitating heart. I may have mentioned this one in an early volume but it bears repeating.
- the smell of other countries. Every country has it’s own smell.
- my flannel sheets. Oh how I love them.
- Cuzquena beer. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find it in the USA, only in Peru.
- my mother’s Deviled Eggs. Hard as I try I can’t seem to make mine taste the same. They are SOOOOOO good.
- a lovely, warm cup of tea with milk and sugar.
- my passport. I know that sounds silly but it tickles me when I look at it and can see stamps from Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, India, Dominican Republic and other places.
- the silence of my house, broken only by the ticking of the grandfather clock.
- An Old Fashioned Girl by Lousia May Alcott. It makes me happy.
- a new skein of yarn with all the possibilities still ahead.
- Kalamata olives. Oh the joy. I think I will have some on my salad.
- the sound of rain at night. Not having too much of that right now. Snow doesn’t make much noise and besides, I don’t have the window open.

If you want to see some of the other things that make me happy you can find them here. I can’t promise that there won’t be “overlaps”. I am a simple girl after all.
Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3

Start You Engines!

This is really a repeat of last year's blog post. I liked it so much that I am bringing it out of blog mothballs. I have updated the starting line up so that you know.

Start You Engines!

Today is the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. I can hear you saying, "So what. It is just a car race." JUST A CAR RACE! If you can say that then you have never actually experienced the awesomeness that is the Indy 500. So, strap on your seatbelt as I give you my hommage to the greatness that is the Indianapolis 500. I don't care about any other car race but this one but I do care about this one.

It is called the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" for a reason. What else could you say about a sporting event that is attended by approximately 400,000 people. The exact number of attendees isn't reported by the Speedway but there are 257,000 permanent seats and there are about another 150,000 people that are in the infield and other parts of the track.

Unless you have actually attended the race you can't imagine the excitement of the collective crowd as they wait for the race to begin. If you actually have a seat you arrive early to look for a place to park. There are lots that are open, that you can park in and walk the long walk to the speedway. The speedway itself sits in the midst of suburbia, surrounded by houses. There are also many people who earn some extra money on that day by charging a fee for you to park on their front lawn. Many who plan to sit in the infield arrive at the Speedway very early in the morning (like 2a) to get in line in anticipation of the opening of the gates. The lines of cars, trucks, RV's, motorcycles and other vehicles snake through the suburban streets. People sleep, people walk around keeping awake, people start their tailgate party early. The gates open at 5a and everyone genially files in, quickly finds a spot to park (they tell you where), gathers their stuff up and rushes to the area of the track that, if they are wise, they have already picked out in their head. Then the waiting begins.

You sit through high school marching bands and other prerace "stuff". If you are sitting anywhere by the pits then you can watch the frenetic last minute things. The cars are lined up on the track, 33 cars in eleven rows, surrounded by multitudes of people doing multitudes of last minute things. Then comes the moment when, if you are lucky, Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana" (he has only missed a year or two since 1971). The drivers make their last walk out to the cars. Then, what you are waiting for, the announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!" Then the breath holding moment, have all the cars started? Are there any problems? Everyone is a go. The pace car is out on the track. The sound is tremendous. The pace car pulls out and the cars follow, weaving back and forth to heat up their tires (better traction). The cars zoom past at just under 100mph, staying in a rough approximation of the rows. Will this be the lap where the pace car pulls off. No. They go around one more time, the cars streaking past in a blur. How can they possibly go any faster (but THEY CAN!). Finally, the roar of the crowd swells as the pace car comes out of the fourth turn and pulls to the left down into the pits. You look down the track and the green flag is being waved and the race is on.

If you thought that the cars were going fast before and that the sound of the engines was deafening then you were wrong. The pace car is gone, the green flag is out and it is "horses out of the gate". The roar of the crowd (remember this is 400,000 people) is absolutely drowned out by the roar of the car engines as they jump to get out ahead of all the other cars. The cars pass so fast that you can barely see them before they are on down the track.

Then comes the hours of cars going around and around, positions changing, cars giving out, people dropping out. I will be honest, I know that there are plenty of people that are hoping for a crash. When those happen it is spectacular to say the least. I only remember one crash that happened in front of us but I do remember it clearly. Fire, smoke, pieces of car hurtling everywhere and then momentary silence of the crowd as they wait to see if the driver emerges unscathed (he did not).

The race finally ends, after 500 miles (that is 200 laps around the 2.5 mile track) and many hours. We all hope for a close finish but a safe one. Then it is the long trek back to your car, whether you are parked in the infield or outside. Everyone is tired, hot, sometimes wet if there has been rain, but all are full of the fun that they have had at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

So, lets give a great "drive safe and fast" to the men and women who are driving in this year's Indy 500. In order of position they are

Helio Castroneves(winner 2001 & 2002), Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti(2007 winner)
Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon (2008 winner), Tony Kanaan
Mario Moraes, Marco Andretti, Will Power
Danica Patrick, Alex Lloyd, Raphael Matos
Paul Tracy, Vitor Meira, Justin Wilson
Hideki Mutoh, Ed Carpenter, Dan Wheldon (2005 Winner)
A.J.Foyt IV, Scott Sharp, Sarah Fisher
Davey Hamilton, Robert Doombos, Townsend Bell
Orio Sevia, Tomas Scheckter, Mike Conway
John Andretti, E.J.Viso, Milka Duno
Nelson Philippe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alex Tagliani

Ladies and Gentlement........START YOUR ENGINES!

Things That Make Me Happy

Yup, today is a day that just screams for a list of the things that make me happy. I suppose that you could also say one or two of them are guilty pleasures.

- cold pizza for breakfast. Throw in an ice cold glass of Coke (regular ONLY) and that would be perfect.
- watching "The Housewives of Orange County". I KNOW it is terrible. I can't seem to help it.
- my garden. There is something very therapeutic about pulling weeds.
- silence. I love to sit in my house and listen to the silence.
- popcorn, made by me, with just the right amount of butter and salt. Not the pre-packaged microwave popcorn mind you.
- old movies on Turner Classic Movies. I don't care for Ted Turner but this channel is genius.
- trying a new recipe and having it come out just right. This week it was "Pork Medallions with Apple Cider Sauce". Yum!
- when I am reading my Bible and the light goes on and I think, "Wow, I never thought about it in that way before."

An Unexplainable Cunundrum

So here's the thing. If you are acquainted with me you will know that I love rain and rainy weather and cool weather and fall and I hate (HATE) hot weather. If I go too long without rainy weather it effects my mood. Yes I know that is strange but no one ever said that I was like other people. It is just the way that it is and this is the way that I have always been.

So, knowing that about me then how do you explain my absolute love for Arizona? I mean really, it doesn't rain here very often I can tell you. And it is sunny A LOT. And the landscape is dry, dry, dry.

But some how that just doesn't matter. When I am here visiting the in-laws I just love it. I love the mountains. I love the landscape, the brown austereness of the hills and aroyos. I love Southwestern art and history, the toughness that people needed to survive in this unforgiving landscape. I love the casualness of the people and their friendliness.
I love the Saguaro cactus and how there are no two that are alike. How they have to start their life under the shade of a Nurse bush because the sun is bad for them and that they have to be at least 50 years old before they will start to grow arms. I could look at Saguaro cactus' all day and never be bored.

This is one of the unexplainable conundrums of my odd way of looking at life. It is what it is and I don't think it is going to change.

Things That Make Me Happy

I think that today just begs for a list of things that make me happy

- the smell of burning leaves in the fall.
- a cup of tea and a good book on a rainy afternoon
- sore muscles and tiredness after a hard day of work outside (no one said I wasn't a tad weird)
- Dr. Pepper and a Butterfinger bar for an afternoon "pick me up". Delicious
- The first good snowfall of the year
- The Lodge at Apple Pie Ridge. The best B&B in Georgia
- listening to the train horn at the cottage
- that first cup of coffee in the morning
- my Grandma Pringle's apple pie. No matter how hard I try I can't make it just the same as she did.
- Opus (I am so sad that it is done)
- flannel sheets!!!

Mah Jongg

One of the pleasures of summer, or anytime that my daughters are home, is playing Mah Jongg. We were introduced to the joy that is Mah Jongg by my MIL Linda. I don't remember where she learned but once she taught us then we just couldn't stop.

I don't win all that often but it is still addictive. We are planning to log many hours of Mah Jongg when we are visiting the cottage in a couple of weeks. Currently we play a couple of hours a day if we can manage it.
There aren't too many things that are better than sitting around the kitchen table, klinking tiles, playing Mah Jongg and laughing. It makes the day a better one.

Baseball Anyone

Ah summer baseball. I love it. One of Dan's baseball buddies had extra tickets to the Indians-San Fran Giants game and we snagged two of them. Unbelievably this is our fist game of the season. We usually go to about 10 games a year but this year things have conspired against us.


We arrived early at the ballpark to find our seats and get something to eat. Tonight was special for Cleveland fans because Omar Vizquel, our former Short Stop would be back for the first time. Now, there are former Indians players that we "boo" when they come to play (yes that would be you Jim Thome) because they left for more money. When I say money I mean egregiously large amounts of money that should never be paid to anyone who is playing a sport. We can debate later about whether it is OK to boo a player and the salaries of said players. In the case of Omar we didn't boo we cheered. This man is loved here is Cleveland and we took the time to show that with cheers and a standing O not only before the game but when he was up to bat. A quality player all around.

During the first few years of attending Indians games I will admit that the nine innings seemed to go on FOREVER. However, I learned the basic rules of the game and that helped. But it wasn't until my hubby urged me to learn to score the games that I really came to experience the full game (thanks honey!!). He seemed to think that I was "born to score baseball games" perhaps because I love order (some would read that as obsessive compulsive but they would be WRONG). Now I can't imagine not taking my score book with me.

Jacob's Field... alright, alright I will call it Progressive Field even though that doesn't feel right to me. Progressive Field does a fairly decent job of food. I had my usual piece of pizza and half of a watery beer ( because I was too lazy to go and find the good beer). Dan also had a hot dog. Not too bad.



It was a beautiful night for baseball, not necessarily a beautiful game (with the Indians those are few and far between these days). The temp was perfect, the sky was unclouded and there was very little wind. Lovely.

To top in all off we were all presented with our VERY OWN Travis Hafner bobble head doll. OH joy, OH rapture. To make it TOTALLY authentic (OK I will stop with the capitals now) I have added a bandaide to his shoulder since he is currently on the DL. We always want to go for authenticity at our house. Of course the bat broke the minute that I put it together which I think is a sad commentary on how Travis Hafner is hitting this year. Sigh.

Prairie Home Companion!

"Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and the children are above average".

Ash and I spent Saturday evening doing something that always brings us loads of joy. We went to Blossom Music Center to see A Prairie Home Companion.

Our family has been listening to PHC on Saturday nights since the girls were very little. My grandmother first told us about it (Thanks Grandmother!) and from the first time we heard the dulcet tones of Garrison Keillor we were hooked.

Ash and I loaded up our shortie lawn chairs, our deli sandwiches and brownies and our ponchos and drove down to Blossom which is about a 40 minutes south of our house. We like to get there early (the doors were just opening) so that we can find the perfect spot for some shade and people watching. This year our perfect spot was on the upper most portion of the lawn close to the walk way. That way we could watch all the people arriving.


We were done with dinner, we had spent time visiting with friends and it was getting on to time for the warm up to start. It was then that the weather decided to "ramp it up". We had been watching the clouds off to the west of us and the sky above us. The bad weather seemed to be holding off and passing us by but we were WRONG. About 5:30p we started to hear rumbles of thunder and see flashes of lightning.
Now, I love a good thunderstorm with lots of lightning but......I like it when I am inside in my nice DRY, SAFE house. Not when I am sitting on a metal chair surrounded by trees. Ash and I dug out the ponchos and packed everything else back into our waterproof bag and hoped for the best. A little rain wasn't going to be a problem for us and the show would go on despite the rain.

Ponchos are a lovely look don't you think? At any rate the warm up started at 5:45p just as the rain came. And it wasn't just a little drizzle, it was really raining and thundering and lightning. Great. We will be fried. We will die happy, thinking about Powdermilk Biscuits and Guy Noir Private Eye, The Lives of the Cowboys and Lake Wobegon but we will still be fried.

With about 5 minutes to go before the broadcast began officials from Blossom began to circulate through the crowd on the lawn letting us know that we could come and find seats in the Pavilion under the roof. Wow, that was a surprise. We aren't usually fools so we grabbed our stuff and ran through the rain, snagging seats in the last row. Excellent. About the time we sat down the heavens opened with full force as well as wind.

Ash and I still kept our ponchos on during the broadcast because our seats afforded us the ability to take advantage of the blowing rain but we were still under cover for which we were grateful. The thunder rumbled and at one point the pavilion lost power (for about 30 seconds) but we were treated to a wonderful PHC with special guests Jorma Kaukonen, Robin and Linda Williams, and The Wailin' Jennies (who happen to be a favorite of Ashley). We were treated to The Lives of the Cowboys and Guy Noir Private Eye as well as all the other funny things that one would expect from PHC. It was a good evening.

Start You Engines!

Today is the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. I can hear you saying, "So what. It is just a car race." JUST A CAR RACE! If you can say that then you have never actually experienced the awesomeness that is the Indy 500. So, strap on your seatbelt as I give you my hommage to the greatness that is the Indianapolis 500. I don't care about any other car race but this one but I do care about this one.

It is called the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" for a reason. What else could you say about a sporting event that is attended by approximately 400,000 people. The exact number of attendees isn't reported by the Speedway but there are 257,000 permanent seats and there are about another 150,000 people that are in the infield and other parts of the track.

Unless you have actually attended the race you can't imagine the excitement of the collective crowd as they wait for the race to begin. If you actually have a seat you arrive early to look for a place to park. There are lots that are open, that you can park in and walk the long walk to the speedway. The speedway itself sits in the midst of suburbia, surrounded by houses. There are also many people who earn some extra money on that day by charging a fee for you to park on their front lawn. Many who plan to sit in the infield arrive at the Speedway very early in the morning (like 2a) to get in line in anticipation of the opening of the gates. The lines of cars, trucks, RV's, motorcycles and other vehicles snake through the suburban streets. People sleep, people walk around keeping awake, people start their tailgate party early. The gates open at 5a and everyone genially files in, quickly finds a spot to park (they tell you where), gathers their stuff up and rushes to the area of the track that, if they are wise, they have already picked out in their head. Then the waiting begins.

You sit through high school marching bands and other prerace "stuff". If you are sitting anywhere by the pits then you can watch the frenetic last minute things. The cars are lined up on the track, 33 cars in eleven rows, surrounded by multitudes of people doing multitudes of last minute things. Then comes the moment when, if you are lucky, Jim Nabors sings "Back Home Again in Indiana" (he has only missed a year or two since 1971). The drivers make their last walk out to the cars. Then, what you are waiting for, the announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!" Then the breath holding moment, have all the cars started? Are there any problems? Everyone is a go. The pace car is out on the track. The sound is tremendous. The pace car pulls out and the cars follow, weaving back and forth to heat up their tires (better traction). The cars zoom past at just under 100mph, staying in a rough approximation of the rows. Will this be the lap where the pace car pulls off. No. They go around one more time, the cars streaking past in a blur. How can they possibly go any faster (but THEY CAN!). Finally, the roar of the crowd swells as the pace car comes out of the fourth turn and pulls to the left down into the pits. You look down the track and the green flag is being waved and the race is on.

If you thought that the cars were going fast before and that the sound of the engines was deafening then you were wrong. The pace car is gone, the green flag is out and it is "horses out of the gate". The roar of the crowd (remember this is 400,000 people) is absolutely drowned out by the roar of the car engines as they jump to get out ahead of all the other cars. The cars pass so fast that you can barely see them before they are past.

Then comes the hours of cars going around and around, positions changing, cars giving out, people dropping out. I will be honest, I know that there are plenty of people that are hoping for a crash. When those happen it is spectacular to say the least. I only remember one crash that happened in front of us but I do remember it clearly.

The race finally ends, after 500 miles (that is 200 laps around the 2.5 mile track) and many hours. We all hope for a close finish but a safe one. Then it is the long trek back to your car, whether you are parked in the infield or outside. Everyone is tired, hot, sometimes wet if there has been rain, but all are full of the fun that they have had at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

So, lets give a great "drive safe and fast" to the men and women who are driving in this year's Indy 500. In order of position they are Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon(previous winner), Ryan Briscoe(R), Helio Castroneves(2 time winner), Danica Patrick!, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti( grandson of winner Mario), Victor Meira, Hideki Mutoh, Ed Carpenter, Thomas Schecter, Townsend Bell, Graham Rahal (age 19, son of winner Bobby Rahal), Darren Manning, Bruno Junquiera, Justin Wilson, Buddy Rice (past winner), Davey Hamilton, Alex Lloyd, Ryan Hunter-Reavy, John Andretti (nephew of Mario), Sarah Fisher, Will Power, Jeff Simmons, Oriol Servia(R), EJ Viso(R), Milka Duno, Marco Mores, Enrique Bernoldi, Jaime Camara, AJ Foyt IV (grandson of winner AJ Foyt Jr.), Buddy Lazier (previous winner) and Marty Roth.

Ladies and Gentlement........START YOUR ENGINES!