Family Football Rematch

Hey there, football fans!

Yesterday was the Big Game up at the lake. The long-anticipated rematch ended with the old people coming out on top and defeating the young ones with a score of 10 - 8. WoooWoo!

Here are a few highlights....


Pre-game Show
(Just a bunch of rules really.)





Play Action  or... Watch out, Ashley!

Mandie Scores!

Rusty the Spider Monkey

Mandie Strikes Again

Dad's Running

David's got it!

What just happened?

That one caught me off guard.

Zack Flash

Nice!

Tolkien Trash Talk Leads to Blood

Battering Ram

JJ Scores!

Pretty exciting stuff, wouldn't you agree?

Or perhaps not.

Our one spectator wasn't all that impressed.

Still.


We had fun.



And guess who scored the winning touchdown.



Yep.

It was me.


It was about the only thing I did besides counting apples and videotaping.

I was open and Jeff threw it and the rest, as they say, is history.



Because of me,

We are the Champions...

until next year.

Can you say, "Rubber match?"




And now, a bonus video.

Molly and Other Dollys

Last weekend Jeff's Grandma and I went to

 Mary Ann's Open House. 

Mary Ann collects dolls. 

And once every ten years or so
 she has an Open House

 so people can come and see them.

I wasn't going to go, but Grandma wanted to see it, 

so I said I would take her.

Wow!

After the third or fourth room full of dolls 

I had to go back out to the van and get my camera. 

Her collection is amazing.

Here.

Let me show you.

As soon as you enter Mary Ann's house you can't help

 but notice the very large and beautiful doll standing on her couch.

 It was a gift from her granddaughter, I believe.

 Mary Ann said she tried standing her other places,

 but she'd always slide down to the floor, so now she gets the couch.

These Elvis and Priscilla dolls were also given to Mary Ann.

 The person who had them didn't want them, so they gave them to Mary Ann.

I asked Mary Ann if she knew what they were worth and she didn't know.

 Nor did she seem to care.

Do you recognize this doll?

Yep.

It's Princess Diana, in her wedding dress.

This doll was also given to her from someone who didn't want it.

Or maybe, they gave it to her because they knew

 how much she would like having it.

Mary Ann has lots of friends.

She also has lots of Cabbage Patch dolls...

enough to fill a large crib.

 I'm not sure if those were given to her or not, 

but I know the crib was. 

Mary Ann has lots of cribs that
 people have given to her. 

 

And they're all filled with dolls.

dolls...

 and more dolls.

 

 Some were sleeping.

 

 Some were crying.

Some were just down-right adorable.

 

But some...

some were a little scary.

This one in particular was freeking me out!

 

 My favorites were the dolls from China.

So lovely.

This is one of Mary Ann's favorites.

She said when it arrived in the mail she thought

they had made a mistake and sent her a real baby.

That's Mary Ann, by the way.

She's a very nice lady.

After we had ooed and ahhhed over her

many dolls we stayed for some refreshments

 with a few friends who were also there.

As we visited over lemonade

 I mentioned that I have a doll. 

Her name is Molly. I got her

at the Thrift Store and keep her

 in my closet. 

"In your closet," my friend LaDonna exclaimed. 

"You need to get her out of there and put her somewhere

 where you can enjoy her."

So I did.
 

This is my dolly...

Molly.

And here's her new home.

You're welcome to come by and give her a

hug anytime you like.

She's great at giving hugs.

NOTE: Do you recognize Molly? She was Loonette the Clown's 

dolly on the show "The Big Comfy Couch." 

Here's a clip from one of her shows I thought you might enjoy.

Are you ready
Are you ready...

Are you ready to clown around,
with Loonette and Molly,
a clown and her dolly,
on the big comfy couch!

On Clothes

Ever since the fall, clothes have been a necessity of life. They keep us warm in the winter, protect us from the sun in the summer, and most importantly, keep our private parts private.


There are probably a bunch of other benefits of wearing clothing that I’d only realize if I had to do without clothing for any length of time. But that’s never been the case. I’ve always had clothes.

Lots of them.

Sure. There’ve been times I’ve stood in front of my closet and said, “I’ve got nothing to wear,” but that’s never really been true. I run out of hangers before I run out of clothes.

When I was a kid I had a lot less clothes than I do now. But I still had enough to put them into categories:

everyday clothes - Which we picked out on Monday and wore each day after school until Saturday night when we took our weekly baths.

school clothes - I remember how pleased I was when I started Kindergarten with 5 dresses hanging in my closet, one for each day of the week.

pajamas - Night gowns for summer and footy pajamas for winter.

church clothes - We each had one set of Sunday Clothes. Mine consisted of a dress, tights or lacy anklets, and my shiny black shoes that left scuffs on Mom’s kitchen linoleum if I wasn’t careful.

Now I have tons more clothes. And I’ve had to add a few new categories. My workout clothes, my work clothes, and my skinny clothes, to name a few. I actually have way more clothes than I need or wear. I heard a tip once that you should turn all the clothes in your closet around so the hangers hook backward. Once you wear something you can hang it back up the usual way and then after 6 months whichever clothes are still turned backwards you should get rid of. I've tried it. But as the 6 months draw to a close I look at those neglected things, hanging backwards, and make myself wear them so I won’t have to throw them out. I don’t like getting rid of clothes. Not when there's still some wear left in them.

People are often surprised (impressed or repulsed, I’m not sure) to hear that nearly every piece of clothing I own, I bought from the Thrift Store. When I first got my job at the college I went shopping and got a few new things from Kohls and Sears. But I soon realized, I like my second-hand clothes even better than the stuff I got new. They were cheaper, obviously, but they fit me better too. My body’s not flattered by the new low-cut, low-waisted styles. I like high-waisted pants. They keep my belly from sticking out, and prevent that all too common muffin-top look I despise. And I don’t have the best arms or chest so I prefer to have those areas covered as much as possible. Actually, the more of me I can cover with clothes the better. Maybe that’s why I like clothes so much. I don’t really want people to see me. With clothes I can pick what they see. Pretty colors and soft textures. Everything my aging body is lacking.

I pick out what I’m going to wear each day from my extensive wardrobe depending on my mood, as much as anything else. I like to dress in dark heavy layers when I’m feeling sad or introverted. I wear lighter, brighter things when my mood is cheery. Which works well because I generally feel more cheery in the spring and summer when dark heavy layers wouldn’t be the most comfortable choice. And if you can’t feel pretty in your clothes, you should at least feel comfortable. That’s my philosophy…

...on clothes.

Signs and Sculpture - A Trip to the Arboretum

On Wednesday Jeff and I visited the

 Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. 

I knew Jeff would enjoy all the thousands of varieties of flowers, 

shrubs and trees to look at...which he did.

I enjoyed it too, but my attention seemed to drift

 from the plants and flowers

to other things...

  like this female Black Swallowtail...

 or this fountain...

or this one...

 I was also fascinated by all of the signs I found at the Arboretum.

They tried to be polite....

...but sometimes I wondered...

  

...how many times those signs were ignored.

 

This sign must have been ignored...

...because the pond next to the sign didn't have
 one live fish in it that we could see. 

 

We did find fish in a different pond.

 They were practically begging Jeff to feed them!

 But he didn't.

 I know this sign was ignored.

 

I saw a couple of kids jumping on these larger-than-life earth worms.

 They were spongy. It looked more gross than fun to me, so I obeyed the sign.

 This sign was pretty scary. 

It said,
"CAUTION Contact with this
 plant can cause skin
 to become photosensitive;
exposure to sunlight can
 cause severe blistering."

 We avoided that plant.

We also avoided this one. 

 We didn't want to hurt it's feelings. 

 

But now I wonder if our avoiding it may have hurt it's feelings. 

It's hard to know how to behave around sensitive plants.

This was the only sign we didn't obey.

 Jeff parked briefly so I could hop out of the van

 and take some pictures of this sculpture.

 It was probably my favorite.

We lasted 4 hours before the heat finally got to us

 and we decided to call it a day. 

But I think we'll go back...

 

...some day when the heat index is a little less than 105.



Note: Simply click on any of the pictures in this week's blog for a close up.
 Then hit escape to return to my blog.

Stars and Stripes Forever

Do you have plans for the forth? We do. Which is pretty exciting, because usually we don’t. On Wednesday Jeff and I are going to go visit the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen, and on the way home we’ll be stopping by my mom and dad’s for supper. I'm looking forward to it. Even if it's supposed to be really, really hot that day.

I doubt we’ll be seeing any fireworks. I’ve never been a big fan of fireworks. It seems to me the traffic and bugs and staying up late (10:30 is late for me) isn’t worth the ooohing and ahhhing over a few noisy sparkly things in the sky. But that’s just me.

One thing I have always loved about the Forth is the music. There’s nothing like a good old John Philip Sousa March to get those patriotic juices flowing. My favorite of them all is Stars and Stripes Forever. I remember as a kid watching Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops on channel 2 each July 4^th in their Independence Day concerts. They’d always end with that song, and when the piccolo came in with her lilting counter-melody it always moved me to tears. It still does.

I wanted to include a video clip of old grey-haired Arthur Fiedler directing this piece, but I couldn't find one. So instead, I've selected this rendition by the United States Air Force's Band of Flight. They have a great time with it, and I think you'll enjoy it too.

So now, without further ado, I invite you to clap and cry along with me as we listen to that wonderfully patriotic march...your National March…the Starts and Stripes Forever.

God Bless America!