Still Got It in French Lick

Let me take you on a little trip for a glimpse of an expectedly great time in a little southern Indiana town on a Friday night. I say expectedly because KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong and I always have an amazing time when we go to visit Aunt Margie!
Aunt Margie is 89, has a boyfriend 3 years her junior and never misses a dance in the famous little town of French Lick, Indiana, home of the Beaux Arts hotel and spa that was built in the early 1900's touting the health giving Mineral spring waters of the valley~Pluto Water~What Nature won't do, Pluto Will! The boyfriend can still drive and see at night and knows everything about everything and everybody in Orange County. But if you aren't as lucky as Aunt Margie, the Senior Party Bus will pick you up at your door. You'll know it's coming..you can hear the whooping and hollering from a far! There is a dance every Friday night without fail! Aunt Margie's son's band that is famous in southern Indiana plays for those dances about once a month. He packs the rockin n'rollin' seniors in when they know he is playing! There is no liquor in the place but you wouldn't know it..those seniors revert right back to their younger days as soon as the music starts...the years seem to melt away when you watch their bodies move in unison to the lively beat. They dance the dances with real footwork and body moves from back in the day. Even if some of them can't move as fluidly as the others, they still don't hesitate to get on the dance floor and shuffle around a bit.
One man eyed me from the end of the long dinner table. As soon as KennyRLABTPSWW got up to dance with Aunt Margie, my Ex-POW came over and sat down by me. He asked me if I was going to dance with 'him' as he pointed over at KennyR. "Not at the moment"
I replied. "Well, then would you dance with me?"

My Ex-POW shared his 5 marriage relationships, saying the one thing he can't tolerate is a cheater~I wonder if he was looking for #6... He shared his POW story during WWII being captured in the English Channel. He said he was treated well actually. I love the stories and these senior people always have the best stories! His most recent girlfriend just moved to another town. He gave me a copy of his birth certificate that he carries with him and also a picture of himself in 1947.
At the end of the show Bobby Easterday wraps up the show with his much anticipated Elvis segment. He's still able to do the splits! He's still got it!

My Ex-POW lamented that this time next week I will have forgotten this evening and him. No, friend, I will not forget.
You know what.. I've been told I've still GOT IT, but what is IT and am I sure I want IT?...

New Blogger Blood

Blogging soothes your psyche, it is infectious, it is addictive, it helps work out problems, it helps express emotions, good, bad, ugly, but as Catherine of A Thousand Clapping Hands lamented blogging is really difficult to describe to a non- blogger. Once you free yourself of the resistance of the written expression..you have a freedom in a world you never knew existed. You are never alone in this ethereal world.
First time bloggers are inspiring my mind to think new thoughts; to meander through someone else's thoughts..I am always amazed at the skill of thought 'telling'. Please have a gander...here...Meandering Muse.

Bathroom and Sleeping Car Robert

Morning bathroom time is a communal bonding time in the sleeping car~Very early in the morning while it is still dark,everyone stands in the tight hall with their pajamas and slippers waiting for the one person toilet and shower to become unoccupied. While you wait and chat (hopefully not whispering about how many butts y'all saw pressed up against the windows during the night)the person at the back of the line near the coffee pot and the O J fills the glasses and cups and passes them up the line.
Well, finally it came my turn to go into the tiniest toilet room I have ever seen except for an airplane. I am a publictoiletphobiac~ so this was a challenge for me trying not to touch anything and hold my breath at the same time. Just as I got all settled down in the dimly lit water closet after completely draping the stool with seven layers of toilet paper..the lights went out.. AUGHHHHHAAAAAAY Hey!Hey!Help!I screamed "Sleeping Car Robert!What do I do now!I'm still on the john!" I could hear a roar of laughter. I timidly emerged to passengers doubled over as Sleeping Car Robert explained the train cuts power when it goes over the Mississippi River so nothing gets flushed into it!
I miss the train!

Sleeping Car Darryl

When you take a long trip on a train, you select a sleeping car for your comfort~Sleeping Car Darryl comes to attend your every need~he makes sure you know when dinner is being served in the dining car~helps you decide which delicious meal to order and he turns your seating compartment into a bedroom retreat~complete with a mint on your pillow. He will bring you soda and ice, a mixed drink or a comforting hot chocolate and graham cracker treat.
My best friend, Lynn and I(with whom I have had lots of travels and more stories to be told) traveled this way from Indianapolis to Dallas several times~after we decided that airplane travel was not her bag. She wouldn't sit down in the plane and wandered around it talking to bounty hunters, estate jewelry brokers/thieves and transvestites~anyone who would talk to her to calm her anxiety (Me thinks a good swift shot of whiskey would have done the trick) Ah, yes, train travel was THE way to go for her.
I had just started seeing KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong. I asked Sleeping Car Darryl to be sure to let me know when we would creep into a train depot so that I might use the phone to call him~cell phones weren't prevalent in that day. Darryl came to let me know that at 2:30am we would be pulling into a small town depot in Nowheresville and he would help us jump onto the platform.
Darryl was a prissy kinda guy~ well dressed in his train uniform. When he came to collect me he gave me the eye. "I'll help you onto the platform, Miss Kim, but I'm not goin' in there 'with' you with that outfit on ya" he stared shamingly. My night train outfit was~from the bottom up~Red suede shoes, yellow socks, a knee length red Dallas night shirt and my red 3/4 length wool car coat! I have to admit, it was a little bizarre but I had to throw on something quick! Darryl helped us jump and I mean literally jump onto the platform and then he swiftly ran on ahead looking all around making sure no one saw him with me. I don't know why he was so concerned~of the 25 people in the depot, my friend counted about 10 people who actually had teeth!
Now mind you, the sleeping births on a train are very compact. By day you have a glass window wall to divide you from the hallway and you become acquainted with the other passengers as they move up and down the narrow passage. By night, your seats fold into beds one on top of the other like a bunk and a curtain is pulled for privacy. The berth on top is only about shoulder width from the ceiling and only about a body wide so there is not much room to thrash around if you are a restless sleeper. If you are claustrophobic..best not sleep there. I felt it wouldn't suit Lynn~remember how she felt confined in the airplane. There is not a lot of room to change your clothes once your bed is made we discovered..kinda makes you think you should have worn your pjs to the dining car...so we decided we would sleep in our clothes since the only other option was to try to contortion our way out of our tight jeans and into our pajamas. Well, that sleeping in our clothes thing didn't last long. Auggh... A charlie horse in the leg is not a good thing to have when you are flailing in 6 inches of head room and a denim leg that's tangled on your ankle. Suddenly I realized that the privacy curtain drawn was stuck in my waist band and my butt whisked it open! I hoped Lynn's night gown didn't ride up in the night!

I miss the train.

Twiggy Branches

Last night I was working on my favorite hobby...dead people...again! This time with one of my best friends. Before we knew it we had been on the phone researching his family together for 4 hours until quite late. Actually made an entire family tree in that time with the help of an old ancestral book he has inherited that we could cross reference. It is so addicting! What fun it is when you find that with the help of Ancestry.com and other families that have traced twiggy branches you can go further back than your ancestors even knew! Big whoohoos scream out...at least by me...when an ancient photo is found!

Do You Think It Is Dead? Maybe It's Just Dying!

I went to get a battery for our cordless phone at Staples last night because try as I might I couldn't revive it~I actually blamed KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong for leaving it on like old people do. The sales guy looked at it and said "whoa I've never seen one like this before!". It was so old they didn't even make batteries for it any more! He slid open the battery case, which I struggled and even tried to pry it off with a pliers to no avail~and the battery acid got all over his hands. He said "Ma'am, (you know you're old when they say Ma'am) I'm going to wash my hands and dispose of this relic right away so it doesn't eat through everything in your purse. I suggest we look for a new phone for you immediately". "Do you think it's really dead? Maybe it's just dying?" "Ma'am, I truly believe it is dead".
Had to spend a little bit of money but got one with 3 extra hand sets for all my other 3 rooms of this tiny house!
I had to apologize to KRLABTPSWW for accusing him of being old and neglectful.
...My son says that my generation holds onto things till they are beyond dead!...

RELATED OPPOSITES

My sister and I have always been opposite..
She liked Cheerios; I liked Wheaties
She liked the egg yolk; I liked the egg white
She can sing, I cannot
She was lively, got bored quicker; I was slower~would obscess all day and never got bored.
She is a swimmer; I am afraid of the water
She is petite and slender~I am taller and rounder
She is shyer~I am bolder
Her teeth were perfect~I wore braces
She wears petite expensive jewelry~I wear BIG 'plastic'jewelry
She is sure-footed~I drop and roll
She wears glasses to read~I take mine off
She looks backward to back the car~I use my rear view mirrors
She studies the live people~I study the dead ones
She walked on the 'path' questioning~I saw the 'path' but I wavered off and didn't need an answer

We have one big thing in common...we love our lipstick