random snapshots

Just a few little snippets of stuff today: 

~ ~ I'm kind of enjoying the pared down banner now ... not sure why, but ...

~ ~ Went to a balloon festival last weekend.  It is held on the grounds of a small, private airport about a mile and a half from my house.  LMD and I got up at 6:45 am on Saturday to walk over and watch the ascension.  We got up, threw on some clothes, put some coffee in our travel mugs and walked the rolling backroads of COTU (the center of the univese, as LMD and i call our town/home).  We didn't actually go IN to the festival ... we stood in the parking lot and watched from there, but even standing outside the "launching area" it was really cool to watch.  Those things are so BIG (check out the proportion of the basket to the balloons) and they are so quiet (except the sound of that occassional blast of fire to heat the balloon to keep it aloft ...).

And since we live so close to the airport, we could also see them on their final "run" of the weekend as we sat on the back deck the following night as we ate dinner.  Just delicious.

~ ~ Folks have been asking for an update on Dancer/Skater/Cutie niece (thanks folks) ... and the news is good.  She is still spending a lot of time in bed per doctor's orders, but she is also hobbling along on crutches here and there, and she got a wheelchair so she could go see a play and a Dixie Chicks concert that she'd had tickets to for a while.  And bonus: because she's in a wheelchair, she wound up getting seats that were much closer to the stage in both cases.  So great that she had those outings, cause she's getting a serious case of cabin fever. (but better cabin fever than the other possibilities she could have suffered, huh?)  She also turned 17 this week.  I find myself cringing with that news - how is it possible that she's SEVENTEEN already?  And then, in the next breath, remembering what could have happened and thinking: thank god.

~ ~ Took her brother Baseball Boy to see a local minor league team game the other night.  Dancer/Skater/Cutie niece has been getting loads of attention these days (as you might suspect), and although Baseball Boy says he's enjoying all the company in the house (many of her friends are his too), I thought it wouldn't be a bad thing to take him out for a little focused attention time. He is, at just two months short of 14, not yet in the pain-in-the-butt teenaged stage.  And I wonder if he's going to be one of those kids who bypasses it; he's always been such a little sweetie ... and it IS possible. (one can hope ...)  So far, there's no hint that spending time with his Uncle Debbie is annoying, it's still a treat.  And baseball?  The kid eats, sleeps and drinks baseball.  So he was in heaven.  When we weren't paying attention to what was happening on the field, we were goofing off and riffing on any silly thing we could come up with: poking fun of the young girl who sang the National Anthem; seemed she was working on her American Idol audition ... trying to drag out each syllable with that annoying vocal pyrotechnic thing made famous by Whitney/Celine/Mariah.  This girl dragged out each word so long that the song lasted - and I don't think I'm exaggerating - almost 5 minutes.  "For the laaaannd of the fre .... e ... e ... e ... eee; and the hooo ... oh oh oh ... me of the ... brrrr ... aaa ... aaa ... aaa ... [oh end it already girlene!] aaa ... aaa ... ve ... vah!"   (when did vocal pyrotechnics replace the ability to really SING? [oh god, i sound like such a crotchety old fart, don't i?] ... perhaps i am ...)  We also goofed on the way the announcer guy told us who was coming to bat: EDgaaarrrrd ClemmmmMENNNte!  Keeeeviin NICHOLLLLL....son! (perhaps the announcer and our american idol wannabe went to the same school of vocalization?)  The home team didn't win, but that's not why we went.  We just went to hang and have some fun.  And that we did.

Once again (repeat after me): Life is good.

Comments

[maria]

Yes indeed -- life is good. :-)

So glad to hear Casey's recuperating well and getting out more (... and appreciating some of the 'perks' of her condition, like better concert seats!)

I've been to the balloon festival a couple of times, and it's really awesome to see them all go up at once, especially up close ... but I've never seen the morning ascension ... just the evening one. How cool that you can just walk there! I do recall the traffic being a nightmare, and thinking how all the residents in the area must not love all the traffic jams the festival brings.

... and I've also been to see the Patriots with Ryan a few times when he was younger ... what a fun time that is ... and so much easier and less expensive than trying to see the Mets or Yankees. The piece about the girl singing the anthem just cracked me up, though. I could just hear her in my head as I was reading. Too funny!