HAPPY FRIDAY

Yesterday was a very nice day.  Not anything truly earth shaking.  Not anything that will stick in my mind forever….but very nice.

It started off with a text message from my dear friend, Judy.  Judy and I have been friends for probably close to 50 years.  During most of that time she has been a volunteer at the Cincinnati Zoo.  So, the text message informed me that on Friday morning, the TV show Good Morning America was going to be doing a live segment from the Cincinnati Zoo.  Of course this was very exciting for her, and of interest to me. 

The one minor glitch from my end is that I am rarely out of bed before 8 AM.  GMA starts at 7 AM.  I decided to at least wake up by 7 AM and I could watch from bed.  It would have been helpful if we knew precisely what time the segment would air, but of course there was no way to know that.

So, Friday morning, I woke up about 6 AM, rolled over and fell back to sleep, hard.  Woke up again at 7:30!!!  I was somewhat concerned that I had missed the segment, but laid in bed just in case I could still catch it. 

OK, I don’t mean to be a bitch….but who watches this show??  In no time I was aggravated because it was 90% advertising and 10% content.  The content is so brief that it barely gets your attention.  But I hung in there. 

Around 8:15 or so, up came the Cincinnati Zoo segment!  It was adorable, for the short time it was on, it featured baby otters.  So, cute.  I would have loved more, but ya gotta love what you get and I did.  A little later they did a 90 second highlight of Ohio, part of their celebration of the US’s 250 anniversary.  They are featuring all 50 states over the course of the next year. 

Anyway, they did a nice job of those 90 seconds and I learned something.  Never knew that Ohio was the birthplace of professional football.  Who knew??!!  Interesting that they mentioned that but didn’t mention that the Cincinnati Redlegs is the first professional baseball team.  Oh well!!

Moving on, the rest of the day was a typical Friday in the life of a retired lady, me!  Right up until 7 PM Friday night.  At 6 PM Pete and I headed south to Bethel, Ohio where our 3 grandsons live.  Our middle grandson, Eli, has been a star football player on his high school football team, the Bethel Tigers.  And last night, as a senior, was his last game of his high school career. 

 

 Eli & Pete

Oh the memories.  I have gone to every game that I could possibly get to for the past 4 years.    I missed the last 2 games due to my fight with my gallstones.  But I did make it last night. 

He is just so much fun to watch, not just because of the game (my least favorite sport of all of them), but because of him!  He is the most generous, caring, fun loving guy ever.  I can read him like a book from the stands.  When his hands are on his hips.  When he slams his helmet on the ground.  When the coach is leaning on him.  When he jumps for joy from a play that ended well.  The whole 9 yards.  I can’t even express how much I’m gonna miss this time.

 

Last night, he was the last guy to leave the field, saying goodbye to one of his great loves.  There is a path forward, just can’t wait to see where it takes him.

 

I AM NOT A PSYCHIC ….BUT

 Is it purely coincidental that many major US cities, now have military occupation just as the “No Kings Protest” is approaching?

Those of us who are Baby Boomers vividly remember the violence of protests in the ‘60s and 70’s.  Protests that started out peacefully, but all it took was a innocent slip of ‘whatever’ on either side, and suddenly a vicious war broke out.  The protesters were always the losers since they were not equipped as the police/military presence was.

I will be totally surprised if we get all the way through Saturday without an incident, somewhere.  I am totally expecting multiple incidents everywhere.  And since Trump himself has suggested to the military that US cities could be used for military practice, the results could be catastrophic.

If that occurs, I fully expect to read that Trump says, “See, I told you so.”  And since the military presence is only in 'Blue' states, then of course all the chaos will be the fault of Democrats.

You don’t have to argue with me, save your words.  By Sunday morning we’ll know if I’m a Psychic or not.  I sincerely hope I am completely and totally wrong!

FALL IS HERE

             I can tell in a couple of different ways.

First, baseball season is over….at least for the Cincinnati Reds….darn it!!  I didn’t used to try and watch every single game of the season, but I think there must be a genetic element that gets activated by family life cycles.  By that I mean (jokingly of course) my Dad was a huge baseball fan.  My earliest memories are of running around baseball fields as Dad pitched at whatever game he was playing.  He and his brother Harry tried out for the St. Louis Cardinals in their early life.  Neither made it.  When we moved to Florida in 1957 I remember him lying on their bed listening to Reds games over the radio on WLW.

Then there was my brother, who was a huge sports fan of almost any sport.  He played baseball, basketball, soccer, golf and bowling.  When he moved in with me and Pete toward the end of his days, he was torn between the Rays and the Reds, and he was a fan of both unless they were playing each other.  Then it was always the Rays.

It was after Jim passed that I suddenly had the urge to watch every Reds game.  I guess I figured I had to carry on the tradition.  I haven’t quite figured it out yet. 

Then there are the Halloween decorations that are now everywhere.  Geeze, they even showed up in yards in mid-September.  I enjoy the holiday as much as the next person, but witches and goblins up in your yard in September???  A little too soon in my book.

Another harbinger of Fall is the harvest season is here.  With a long genealogy of farmers in my past, I kind of pay attention to what’s going on in the farm fields around us.  Today is the first day I saw the soy bean fields being harvested.  So glad we don’t live near those anymore.  If you haven’t had the experience, it is dusty, dusty, dusty work.  Can’t even begin to keep your home dust free during this time if you live nearby.  Soon I will see the corn fields also in harvest mode, and of course the farmer’s markets are at full bore. 

Finally….it appears the hummingbirds have headed south.  We have two feeders up, one right outside our front window.  I love sitting in my favorite chair watching them flit over the feeder or fight each other for dominance at the feeder.  Well, it’s been 3 days and no activity has been seen.  I’ll give it a full week and if there is no sighting, will take the feeders down for the season.  I’ll miss them through the winter.  But it will be another reason to welcome Spring in a few months.   

Every once in a while, you get these goofy surveys on Facebook asking different questions.  When I get the question, “Which is your favorite season?” I always answer, ‘all of them.’  I do love them all….how can I choose? 

A QUIET SUNDAY MORNING

 

          Typically, our Sunday mornings are very quiet….not today!!

          It started out quiet.  I was out of bed around 8:45 AM, in time to start my usual routine of watching Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley while Pete fixes breakfast. 

          I was returning from the kitchen when I noticed a visitor at our front door.  I usually have the front door open with the glass storm door allowing more light into our living room.

          There standing at the door was a black, pit bull mix.  I’m a little more cautious than I have been over the years, since I was attacked by a dog and had rather significant damage done to my right leg.  But this guy, he was kind of bouncing all over the place, wagging his tail and smiling that cute doggy smile. 

          Pete hesitated for a moment but then I went out and he was very friendly and managed to work his way into the house.  I knew immediately that he wasn’t a stray as he made his self very comfortable very quickly.  I could tell right away that he was rather young, maybe not even a year yet, as he had plenty of strength and again, was very bouncy. 

          We managed to hold him in one place for a second and found no information on his collar.  While we haven’t had any dogs since Sonny and Cher, I still have an old leash, got that attached to his collar and then headed outside with him.  Pete thought he might belong to a neighbor across the road from us. 

          I headed across the street, knocked on the door, and was greeted by a nice couple who said, “No, the dog is not ours.”  She offered to take his photo and post it to see if we could learn where he belonged.  While that was going on Ashley, another neighbor came over and shared that he had been hanging out with her ducks this AM.  Ashley, said, he might belong at another house a few houses down, so we walked down there but again, the answer was no.  That lady also offered to take his photo and post it. 

          So, then Ashley and I headed back to my house, I let him loose in our fenced in back yard while we discussed next steps.  Ashley went to her house to get some dog food and bowls in case he was hungry, and by the time she was headed back, she had found a post where he was listed as missing.  His name is Shadow and the owners lived about 2 miles away.

          Within about 15 minutes the owner showed up in his truck and was very happy to retrieve his dog.  Ashley suggested that he might want to put a phone number on his collar for the next time he gets out.

          Wish I had thought to take a photo, but I didn’t.  He was adorable and I’m very glad we found his owners. 

          It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

THE END OF SUMMER

           Labor Day Weekend is one of my favorite holidays, for 1 very specific reason, it is the weekend that since 1977 the WEBN Fireworks has taken place on the Ohio River.  

                                                    Joe Simon For The Enquirer

In some ways, Cincinnati has a very unique personality.  It was the first city west of the Alleghenies.  It is home to the first major league baseball team.  It also hosts, since 1977, the Midwest largest fireworks display…..not for Fourth of July (oh no, that would be far too obvious), but rather for Labor Day Weekend, celebrating the end of summer. 

I remember the August 30, 1977 first Riverfest celebration very well.  I had returned to my home just a year prior from my wanderings between Alaska and Guam.  I was working at the University of Cincinnati.  WEBN was the hard rock radio station that was no doubt the most popular in the city.  WEBN wanted to celebrate its 10^th anniversary so came up with the idea of a fireworks display that would be huge, and boy, did they deliver. 

The display was put on by Rozzi Fireworks and was the largest and loudest that I had every witnessed.  Fewer than 70,000 people attended that first year, but we all got a spectacular fireworks display.  On both sides of the river people were going nuts. 

The one image that stands out most clearly in my memory was at the end, as we were all leaving.  I passed a group of people who were circled around a dog who had collapsed, obviously in distress from the very loud, prolonged finale of the display.  I walked pass, wondering how stupid could someone be to bring their dog to an overly crowded, excessively loud display.  I often wondered if the animal survived. These days there are rules 2 ….no alcohol…..no pets.

 Joe Simon For The Enquirer 

Over the years the event has become even more massive, 2025 estimate being 500,000.  That means parking is a chore.  In the past I have ridden down to the river on the back of a boyfriend’s motorcycle, which made parking super simple.  I’ve taken the bus down (then had to walk back up to Clifton, as the bus was too crowded to ride).  I’ve attended on both the Ohio side and Kentucky sides of the Ohio River.  Pete and I partied at a friend’s house from 13 blocks south of the river where we had an ideal view of the display (parking was still a chore).  I’ve been invited to a party in a high rise directly on the river with a river facing view so we were literally in the middle of the display.  Over the years it’s been a real adventure.

In recent years though, Pete and I have reverted to watching the display on TV.  No, it is not nearly the same experience.  You don’t feel the explosions on your chest.  You don’t smell the fumes of the explosions.  You don’t have people screaming in your ears.  And you don’t have to worry about how long it will take to get out of the traffic jam of 500,000 people leaving at the same time. 

Instead, after 45 minutes you turn off the TV, head for the bedroom and call it a night. 

It’s a great way to end summer.

YOU MADE MY DAY

     So, I have to share this story from something that happened yesterday.  It is just too darned cute.

I went to AAA yesterday for my usual oil change.  Got checked in, they had my car, when I noticed two young boys running around.  They were probably 5 or 6 years old and looked to be twins.  They were with Grandpa and he seemed to be spending a lot of time in the foyer of this business.

Anyway, at one point, the guy who was checking us in stepped from behind his desk and the first thing you noticed about him was that he had a prosthetic leg.  He was wearing shorts so it was totally noticeable. 

When he stepped from behind his desk the twins stopped their running around and stared at him with something akin to horror in their eyes.  They both stepped up to Grandpa and stayed close at hand still staring at the clerk.

Shortly the Grandpa moved on to another section of the room and the clerk was back behind his desk.    

A few minutes later I walked up to the clerk and said, “You ought to talk to those boys about your leg.”  He acknowledged that he noticed their response as well.  I then shared a story from my distant past. 

For a short time, while I lived in Fairbanks, AK, I was a Girl Scout leader.  One day I took my troop of 11/12-year-olds to the community pool to work on a swimming badge.   As we entered the lobby of the building another group was leaving.  They were a group of people who all had pretty severe mental disabilities.  Just like those twins, my girls hovered around me with fear in their eyes.  I went up to the adult of the group and asked if she could come to our next troop meeting and talk to the girls about her group.  She came, did an excellent job at explaining who they were and why they were in her care.  The girls seemed to get it and asked lots of good questions.

The AAA clerk looked at me, smiled, and then went on with his day.  An hour later, when I was checking out, he approached me and said…I talked to those boys.  They asked me what happened to my leg.  He told them, “I didn’t take care of myself, I didn’t eat my vegetables.”

I let out with a chuckle and went on my way.

I sure hope the message took with those boys, in a totally different way than I was expecting.

And thank you AAA clerk, for being so compassionate and caring of two young boys.  You made my day.

LOOKING BACK

             It’s that time of week again.  Time to sit at the computer and think about the week.  This week, it’s about a book.

          I’ve shared thoughts about books before, so sorry if this is boring for some of you, but for me, books open up tons of new worlds and often touches on memories that need to be refreshed.

          This week the book is Kristin Hannah’s The Women.  Once again, one of her very powerful stories.  The first book of hers that I ever read was The Nightengale which I finished reading in the jungles of Costa Rica.  Thankfully so as the end was so powerful that I couldn’t stop crying.

          Well, The Women has had the same effect except that I am not crying (At least not yet).  It is the story of a very naive young woman who joins the Army Nurses Corps and heads off to Viet Nam.  This story overwhelms me with the research that Kristin Hannah had to do to write such a novel.

          It hits me hard for several reasons.  First, it starts in 1966, the year I graduated from high school.  I remember well some of my male classmates heading out to that war…. some never to return, some so traumatized by their experience that they never returned in a different way.

          I remember the protests and the news coverage that was never ending in those years. 

          What this book opens up is the story of the women who served, not in combat, but who nonetheless were there and were impacted in the same way as the men. 

          And the memory the book resurfaces is of my Mom’s experience as a Navy nurse during WWII.  I grew up on her stories of that war, totally different from what I suppose was the male version of the experience.

          She served in the South Pacific: Philippines, Australia, Guam, and Papua New Guinea among others.  Always immediately behind battle lines.  She never told explicit details from the OR, but this book fills in those blanks.  It provides me an entirely new vision of what her life had to have been like.

          It also explains one mystery.  In 1970 Mom and I went to the theater to see the newly released movie, M*A*S*H.  We were there about 10 minutes when Mom rose up, rushed out and was furious.  The only thing she said was, “It wasn’t like that at all.”  She never explained herself and I had to go back later to see the movie with a friend.  I didn’t understand her fury until I read this book. 

          The description in the book of what went on in those field hospitals is really beyond comprehension and now I understand Mom’s anger….55 years later.

          I love the book, it tells a heroic, tragic, compassionate story.  And my mind lingers on how many men and women had this experience, who came home and lived through it.

          It explains a lot.