Team Spirit

Some of you might know, the Super Bowl Football game was here in my home town of Indianapolis. I must admit, when it was announced about 3-4 years ago, I questioned whether our town, which used to be called Nap Town, would be able to boldly host a colossal event as this is.
I, myself, have never gotten into football so I just assumed it was a regular game... you know they run with a ball and fall down, and people have parties on a Sunday night and eat massive amounts of munchies and drink massive amounts of beer. They said they were planning a big event and you could tell that buildings were being sandblasted clean and everything was shined up. I just wondered what would all the people from out of state do for entertainment.
My town. Indianapolis was a sleepy city where the sidewalks rolled up at 5:30pm every night in the 1950's and '60s. Everyone that worked there lived in the suburbs and never thought much about urban renewal. It was just a place to work and pretty blah. You came home from work and never thought about the city again until the next trip into the office. Christmas time you all gathered in the family car or took the bus and went to see the animated characters in the department store windows of the two major stores downtown. The month of May was the celebration of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing..the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Those two times of year the city came alive..each for a month at a time. Then nap time again.
We had a mayor in the 1970's who had a vision to improve the city with investment but Indianapolis needed a 'draw'...something to lure venture capital in and make the sleepy people excited. He and his committee decided sports would be the ticket. A basketball team was born~we built an arena and our people were excited and rallied it on. Investors were interested and we cleaned up the city and united some of the suburbs. We have a huge global pharmaceutical company based here and they invested in a convention/exposition center. A sports dome was then attached and as they say, "if you build it, they will come". We didn't have anyone to play in it, but because we had a fabulous facility and patiently waited, we were recognized as a contender for a national football league. We were in competition with Phoenix, Arizona but our already built and waiting 'ballroom' won out over a "we can build it for you" competitor. The Baltimore Colts needed a new stable and ours just happened to have the colors of their team. A fortunate twist of color fate.
People here are no longer napping but are exhilarated and lively and it is like that every day of the year.
Lady Victory, our grande dame on the top of the War Memorial of Monument Circle in the center of our city, was beaming brightly over the crowds and she, I'm sure, shed a tear of pride as she looked down on all the citizens of her beloved city that she has reigned over for over 100 years. I could see the torch in her hand blazing like golden fire. We visit her often, especially on moon lit nights and I have never seen her more radiant.
I am so proud to have been able to partake in the biggest party Indianapolis has ever seen in it's existence. The end of January and first of February are notoriously icy cold days, but not this year. The weather was just slightly chilly...perfect football weather...which lasted for over a week. The amazing expert planning and commraderie that every one showed each other must have brought the warmth. It had to be. Team Spirit, I'd call it.

A January Friday Diary

This morning I worked at the dental office as I usually do on Friday mornings, for about 4 hours and it is usually very calm and quiet as I am there without patients. Thought about getting a lot done this morning..while listening to Mellow Jazz.com and being able to actually hear it with out the dental drill (even though after 25yrs+I don't really 'hear'it any more) but alas 2 people called in first thing with emergencies and I had to call the 'our beloved darling' dentist out of a conference meeting into the office on this cold morning. I also made a new patient appointment for a lovely sounding lady from China with a name that sounds like bells ringing when you pronounce it. I told her that and she said 'You are very musical'. Awww that made me feel happy.
I came home after being tailgated the entire way by a young girl who would not have been able to stop her car without running into me so I just went very slowly until about 6 miles she left my lane..I couldn't even see her in the side rear mirror she was that close..geez.
I went to the grocery for a few things and couldn't even get down the fresh produce aisle because 2 men were stocking items and had all their wares blocking me and this little old lady who had boxes on her cart...didn't ask her what those were for even though I had to keep picking them up for her as they fell off. Then another lady who had on a beautiful full length coat that looked like mink but was not, kept getting in my way whenever I wanted to look and choose ...she wanted to look and choose the same items...I liked her coat though so it didn't bother me much...we have a very small neighborhood grocery store.
I finally got to the parking lot to load my groceries and it had started sleeting so the passenger side car door was frozen shut...ok, so I used the driver's side even though it was gonna be harder to get the groceries out when I got home.
I arrived at home to see many lime green vested Hispanic men in every tree in my back yard and on my street..with tree trimmers and power saws. Aughhhh! I ran out and shouted to a man high in the top of my tree over the pond. He shook his head vigorously and called to someone named Rigo to (I am assuming) talk to the Senora. Around the corner and through the fence gate came Rigo who spoke English very well. I asked what are the men in the trees doing? They were just here 3 years ago and hacked a big chunk of my crabapple tree down. Are they taking my trees down? He assured me that they were only trimming small limbs away from the power lines and they are sent to do this every 2 years by the Power and Light Company. Oh, ok then, but I wished that KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong was home from his day off errands. Rigo noticed all my bird feeders and squirrel feeders and all the black oil seed shells that have formed a thick cushion of mulch under them. He said "Ah, the birds and squirrels must love you for feeding them" and as he said that they came in a flock and waited in the bushes for me to fill their feeders. He was in awe that I am like Snow White.
When they were finished trimming and walking away with their saws and clipped brush I had the thought that I needed a few branches clipped away in my pear trees that are now growing into the powerline that comes to the house. So I asked one of the men that I knew could not speak English if he would trim them for me. I pointed and then did a chop chop hand motion and he understood and did a really fast clean job. KennyRogersblahblahblah came home as I was out there sign languaging (he thought I was talking to squirrels until he saw all the lime green jackets in the neighors trees). He was very proud of me for breaking the language barrier and relieving him of the task that might have electrocuted him. That would definitely not be good.
We then went to the flea market as we still had our coats on and it just wasn't the same as it used to be when we were buyers and sellers in that realm. I didn't even find anthing that I don't already have. That was disappointing but a revelation of how much stuff we really have. Skeedaddled off to grab some dinner and I saw a man dining alone. I felt sorry for him..he seemed lonely with a cast on his leg...I always make up stories about people in my mind when I observe people at random. I heard a cell phone ring and he answered it and I then realized that he was no longer lonely..as long as people have cell phones that ring loneliness may not loom so big after all. So tonite as the sleet and snow and wind is falling and howling, I am thinking of the bell ringing name and the birds and squirrels that come when I call and the notsolonely man at the restaurant. Huh....a January Friday....

WE GOT THROUGH IT ALRIGHTY

I never did find the tree in the KingTutTombMinusAllTheGold basement this year. We all searched high and low..nowhere to be found although I'm sure there are caverns untouched in that junk receptacle down under.
But we got through the Christmas eve and Christmas day just fine with out all the regalia of broken ornaments and fake pine needles and dust...dust seems to accumulate faster in December when all the ornaments are on the tree and by December 26 I am usually really ready for Boxing Day...yeah, boxing up the faux branches and blown out light strands that KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong won't let me throw out because he just might work on them next year....we have piles of them from years gone by... don't have to worry about working on the half lit strands next Christmas..now do we?
We can look back and remember the tree last year~ and we can look forward and think about a much better New Year!

!

Is It Over Yet????

Trying to get into the mood for Christmas...but I can't find the Christmas Tree box in the King Tut's tomb of a basement. Here's a picture of what it looked like in the past....along with my favorite ornament of my Mother's..at least I know where that is. I know I saw the tree box in July..I know it's only December 5, but parties and gift exchanges start very soon and I'm not prepared...the more I try to straighten the house in anticipation of finally finding the little tree...hmmm maybe it is stuffed up the chimney for safe keeping? ...the house looks even messier. I think this year the family and friends should just go shopping together and decide that we will buy ourselves what we like and everyone will 'cheer' at our choices! That way every one gets what they want and we have had a great time together..then spend Christmas the way in the true spirit of how it should be spent...

48 Years Ago November 22

I remember most of this day so clearly in my mind.
My mother always had the television on in the mornings as we would prepare for school. The television was a very small modern set ~ we always got to try out the latest models since my father was a television and appliance manufacturers rep. It sat upon the Philco refrigerator.
That was the era of our beloved President John F. Kennedy.
I loved everything I read and heard about him. I loved his regal ways and his speeches..I felt safe with him in charge, but I was always worried for him.
I remember watching one morning when we got to take a visual tour of the White House with Mrs. Kennedy and gaze upon all the decorating she had done. I remember seeing her and the children.
The Kennedy family reminded me of my father's side of the family..big, Catholic family that spent summers together boating and enjoying each others company~lots of cousins and loving aunts and uncles.
The news of the world bothered me as a child as I would worry about the threats of communism. That was drilled into our heads as I was young. I used to lie in my bed at night and imagine going to the Soviet Union and speaking alone with Nikita Khrushchev. I had seen him stamp his shoe on the table in important meetings. I imagined how I would talk to him and convince him to no longer be a threat to the world. I would be the child that would save us all.
I would worry about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs. Those types of worries carried over into my daily life as I walked to school. To this day, I avoid watching the news in the morning on television.

I remember the morning of November 22, 1963. I was standing in the kitchen ready to eat breakfast. I was facing the stove with my back to the television on its refrigerated stand and I heard the news man say that President Kennedy was going to Dallas that morning. I recall an imaginary map flashed in front of my face and I saw that it was the state of Texas. My finger traced a line to Dallas and my mind's eye followed it. I thought to myself.."Oh I wish he wasn't going there." Then I thought better of that and told myself that our President will be alright because he will be with 'our people'.
The news came over the loud speaker in that second floor art class in the early afternoon. I was in the 7th grade. I'll never forget the tearful memory of my classmates and me trying to finish out the class time.
I don't remember finishing out the rest of the day.

Friends by the Written Word

I can sit here at my little desk and visit marvelous interesting people all over the world. I read blogs~some about traveling, some about decor, some about cooking, some about poetry and literature and animals, and some that are so poignant I sit and read and weep. I am never alone and come to read to help myself get through a tough time or enjoy a happy time or just reassure myself that I am amazingly not much different than everybody else. I let my mind wander into another's life of triumphs and travails and just plain everydayness. I can comment and get responses immediately much faster than a posted written letter. I can copy and print these tidbits of wisdom and bits of thought onto tangible paper to read over and over again..so all is not lost to the ether. I have struck up friendships with people I may never meet, and have only seen still photos of~yet we are connected~and yet we are separated by towns, states, countries and oceans. We look at the same moon when it is full and think of each other across vast waters. We try to solve mysteries together and we send each other gifts. We cry for one another, we laugh with each other and we are in awe of each other. We share our lives and are bonded in our friendship by our love of the written word.