Things that go Thump in the Night

It makes life interesting to have something to look forward to. Did I say interesting? I mean tolerable! Now that the summer is winding down and fall is upon us, my thoughts turn towards spring and my birthday! Can you believe it? Joe has been on the computer looking up rates for a stay in Key West!!

This is going to be a calm weekend. Nowhere to go, no events have been planned that need to be explored, no parties to attend, no races to run, no bands to chase around, no road trip to Louisville. Sigh. Guess I will have to tackle that pesky attic that has been calling me for about 10 months to clean up. Cripes!

Now next week end is a different story. Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson are having a concert on Friday night (I hope its Friday!!), the Woodland Arts and Crafts Show is all week end, the State Fair is on in Louisville, and we are having a family Birthday celebration on Sunday! All in one week end! It is always like that. Feast or famine. I plan to attend them all!

On a lighter note, I think this house may be haunted. It is not that old, maybe 60 years, but I am not familiar with its history. Maybe something happened here, I don't know. Several months ago I awoke early in the morning (around 430am) to the sound of something in the bed room. In my groggy state, half sleep and half dream, I thought it might be one of the mice that enter our home every once in a while. As I came to a little more, I sensed it above me, making noise on the ceiling. Flying mice! I must have turned on the bed side lamp and HORRORS!!!! a bird was flying around the ceiling in concert with the hanging fan! I leaped out of bed and drew the bed cover over my head as I ran out in panic. A BIRD!! The thing flew towards the window and that was the last I saw as I slammed the door shut behind me. Well, as slammed shut as a 60 year old door can get.

When I calmed down enough to make coffee and think about things...how did that bird get in the house? Maybe its a bat? (we have found a bat in here before)...so I crept back to the room and opened the door with broom in hand to defend myself.....and nothing....nothing.

I have thought about this for several months. Where did it go? Was I dreaming?

Then last night, right as I was falling asleep, in that once again half sleep half dream state, I felt the presence of someone....hovering over me. I felt the pressure of someone, and once again in my dream state thought it was Bridget climbing in bed with me.

Then came to and realized Bridget is now 24, not 4.

Creepy. But not enough to really scare me. Or frighten me. Just make me aware that there is a lot of things I can not explain away.

Much Better Photo

 

Found this on a web site!  Must have been taken by a professional who did not have a pint sloshing around in the other hand!

 

 

This is not the concert I attended, but it sure looks like it.  The Roadie is in the strips and no hair on left.  Omega and I think the one on the right (his back to us) who just stood on a little platform and danced and played the tambourine and sang back up, was their un-employable cousin from Tuam. The family begged them to take him on.

OH WHAT A DAY!

OMEGA IN HEAD ADORNMENT MEANT TO ATTRACT SAW DOCTORS  

My sister Omega and I drove the four hours to a suburb in Columbus Ohio known as Dublin. They have the second largest Irish Festival in the country. It is massive! We purchased the three day pass Friday evening and began to explore the village. We had to park and be shuttled to the event. Parking near to the park was impossible, so the bus was a nice treat.

The Dublin Irish Festival is Music, Food, and Beer. Their are four major stages with various styles of music and dance. The Traditional Irish Music tent at the North entrance was the largest of the four. I think because it appealed to the broadest audience. The food courts were situated everywhere so no one ever went hungry or thirsty!

Omega did not sleep well Friday night and dropped me off early in the morning. I wandered around by myself till mid afternoon. I had a wonderful time. I even found a small musician tent that was so reminiscent of the Music festival in Ennis (Ireland). The musicians were all jamming together. Violins, bodhran, Irish whistles, mandolins playing the traditional Irish music......transported me back to those wonderful pubs Joe and I stumbled into in late May.

The Celtic Rock tent was tucked back in the far end of the park. I had located it on the map of the festival and was determined to find it well before the Saw Doctors took the stage at 10pm that evening.

So, I was there scouting it out at 1:30pm. Low and behold, the band known as TEMPEST was playing. Has anyone in the West Coast heard of this band? They absolutely rocked the tent down. Advertised as Folk music.... I have never heard folk music performed quite that way before . They had the best stage presence I have seen in some time. And the instrumental driving rock defies description.....they were so good, I purchased an album!

When Omega finally arrived, I had staked out an area left of the stage on the grass situated right in front of thearrival area of the musicians. One guy came over the fence and was heading into the crowd, he had a Saw Doctor pass around his neck. I caught his eye and asked  him if any of the Saw Doctors were there yet.....he said, "No, they go on at 10pm"

Guess what, he was a Saw Doctor...I felt like a FOOL!

Omega was put out with him and wanted to shake her fist at him all day Sunday and yell at him "I'll 10 o'clock you!!!".  She thought he was a roadie. HA.

 

GET THAT WASP OFF MY SANDWICH

THE SAW DOCTORS

Words fail me. I knew that I love the music and  that the band is famous for its exhilarating shows. I was prepared to have a rollicking wonderful time, but I was totally blown away at just how dynamic, exuberent, tight, how much fun this band was live! I knew it, I felt it. I was not disappointed and then some, and then some and then some.

Omega and I saw them Saturday night at 10pm, the final act on the stage, and then again Sunday afternoon. Both shows were spectacular. Each different due to the diversity of the two crowds. Saturday night being the drinkers and late night rockers. The singing along with the band was more pronounced Saturday, but Sunday there was more energy in the crowd which included a lot of kids. Dancing and singing and just the most wonderful group experience I have had in a long time. Seeing the Saw Doctors is a Happening!

The die hard fans were up front to dance and sing along with the band. Yet, when it was time everyone under the tent was able to sing along with HAY WRAP! How hard is yelling, HAY!! HAY!! The song is delivered in machine gun rapid fire intensity with the Irish accent. But Omega and I both knew when to scream...I mean sing.... "GET THAT WASP OFF MY SANDWICH!" 

I truly wish I could have taken you all with me. Maybe next year.

Its been a while since I have had so much fun.

Missing A Midsummer Night Run

I'm going to miss the 20th annual running of A Midsummer Night Run.  Isn't that a wonderful name for a 5K race?  As it sometimes occurs, too many things happening on the same weekend.  

I have been running in the Midsummer since 2000.  It was the first race Joe and I ever ran.  I cannot begin to tell you all how it feels to cross finish line the first time.  Euphoric is a good word.  Even thought I feel bad about missing it, I am not ready at all to run  three miles!  I did begin to train again but incurred an injury about a week ago.  I was watching TV and this fitness guru came on and told us how jumping rope burned the same amount of calories in 10 to 15 minutes as running did in a half hour.  Being the big show off that I am, I got out Joe's jump rope and proceeded to show him how I earned the title of  Jump Rope Chmapion in grammar school!  The next morning, getting out of the car.....Jesus, Mary and Joseph! What have I done to my HIP!!!!!!  My pesky right hip was on the disabled list ..... again.  Not the first time I have injured the hip.  As a matter of fact, I thought I had arthritis in that hip and endured years of pain!  Actually it was just a simple joint inflammation cured with ibuprofen!!!   

What I will miss the most will be the little kids vying for the title of Fastest Kid in Lexington.  They have hundreds of kids in various age groups all running the 100 yard dash in heats.  It is so much fun to watch them.  I was positioned close to the street taking pictures when one group, they must have been the five years olds, took off running.  They really have not mastered the concept of competition just yet. They have a tendency to look at each other, wave at the crowd, stop dead in their tracks, or just quit right before the finish line.  Good entertainment.  

One small kid tripped right in front of me!  Fell flat on his face!  He laid there in the prone position with his little face kissing the asphalt.  I believe he was thinking, "If I don't move no one will see me."  Me and the gentlemen next to me went under the crowd restraint  to rush to him.  We rolled him over and he still do not move.  He appeared dazed and humiliated and in "statue" mode.  His father was there in amatter of seconds and picked him up.  That little man was a real trooper, and shed not one tear.   

I'm going to really miss all that.  

I'm going to be in Dublin, Ohio at the Irish Festival!  

Amusement Park

Hot hot hot.  Why is it that when I go to an amusement park it is so HOT!   I imagine it is all the concrete and so little green foliage to absorb the heat.  This was my first trip to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom.  When I realized this, it surprised me because the park has been around for a long time, since the late 80's.  It always seemed the second destination point after Kings Island, which is only another 45 minutes away from where I live.  

I rode one ride, the giant Ferris Wheel.  It was thrilling to be so high and look out over the park and get my bearings on where everything is situated.  Other than that, we rode nothing.  Not one singe roller coaster, not one single water ride, not one single yell till you think you are going to pass out ride!  The Slingshot looked like the Mother of all rides too.  Two people are strapped into a huge open ball and then virtually snapped up into the air much like a slingshot.  Bungee Jumping in Reverse.

We hung out at the Wave Pool and beat the heat that way.  My buddy from work, Ted, lost his Panama hat on the Ferris Wheel.  It flew into the Wave Pool area.  They were leaving the park as we were headed into the pool area.  We volunteered to retrieve the hat.  And we actually located the hat, upside down under a lawn chair.  When I presented it to Ted yesterday he says, "That's not my hat!"....Oooooppppppsssssssssss!!!!  

The amusement park is aptly named.  Not only in reference to the rides and attractions, but for the people watching. What a slice of Americana parading around in 90 degree weather.  It is fascinating and akin to gawking at a car accident.  Children crying, children carrying on and acting up, frustrated parents, arguments erupting between overheated couples, lovers smooching, teenagers trying to maintain the appearance of coolness on the jerking, jarring rides.  For me, that was the amusement. 

That's when you know, that's when it smacks you in the head..."Oh my God!!! I'm over the Hill!!!" Also, I lost my 35mm.  My small canon point and shoot.  That totally bummed me out.

The Birthday Story

Today we are once again going to Louisville.  It is Family Day for my company at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Amusement Parks!  Also, I hope Bridget will come along with us, since she loved amusement parks with a passion for many many years.  It is her birthday this Tuesday, she will be 24.  I cannot believe it, but it is true, I was there when it happened.  All these years, this is the first one she is not living a stones throw from me.  And when she was younger, she would wake me up in the middle of the night and want to hear her Birthday story....

Bridget is a true Houstonian, born in Houston.  When I lived there, everyone was from somewhere else, no one could claim Houston as their birth place that I knew.  I was living there because I was unmarried and my Mother sent me there to live with my Aunt.  As it happened, my Aunt and Uncle went to Pennsylvania for the summer leaving me to house sit.  I was a week away from my due date, working at the Holiday Inn Astro Village as a night clerk, and my parents were driving down from Kentucky to be with me for the duration of the birth.  

I woke up on the afternoon of August 2nd with gas!  Not too bad, but bad enough that I called into work.  Then it got worse so I called my Doctor's office and reported my condition.  "Get to the Hospital" they told me, "Have it checked out."   I went next door to the neighbors to let them know I was leaving for the hospital, my parents were due in that day and I wanted them to be on the look out.  They went nuts! She ran around like a crazy woman telling me there was no way I was driving myself to the hospital in LABOR.  LABOR!!!!! I was just having stomach gas.  

So we went, I let them drop me off and I was looked at and Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I was admitted, I was dilating.  It was 10pm, I was hooked up to monitors and the tv was turned on.  Saturday Night Live, Grateful Dead was the band that night.  Then the pain came!  I would see if coming on the monitor they had attached to me.  Waves crashing!  You could see them building up before feeling them!  "Please give me a wash cloth!"  I would place it in my mouth and bear down on it like Tartan in the movies bearing down on tree bark...funny the things that run through your mind at the time, and you remember them 24 years later.  

The Doctor was not working that weekend, it was his turn to be off.  My Doctor had yet to arrive, being this was my first baby, and I had just been admitted.  I had a young nurse from North Carolina with me the entire time, since I was alone with no family.  She was wonderful and commented to me that there were only three of us in labor that night, which was very unusual for the hospital.  That enabled her to never leave my side.  Thank you God, and I really do mean that.  

My pain was such that it was not even registering on the chart! It was shooting off into space.  "Puff puff puff, like you are blowing out a candle. Push, Push, Push."...so I did and North Carolina requested the Nurse in Charge check me in the absence of the Doctor being anywhere!  She checked me and threw down the sheet, "Don't push anymore!  Call the Doctor, get her into Delivery!"  

I had gone from just barely in labor to ready to deliver in three hours!  I had missed the window of opportunity for an epideral and delivered Bridget as natural as you can get. A doctor I had never seen before delivered me.  He had red bushy hair that resembled Bozo the clown under the surgery cap.  At 2:02 am (central daylight savings) I finally found out that they baby I had been carrying for nine months was a 21 inch girl!  I was so certain she was going to be a boy, that I astonished!  

She was so alert from the very beginning.  The highest APGAR the pediatrician ever registered (so he said).  Mom and Dad came in the next morning, Mom was crying! From that day forward to today, she still thinks Bridget was born on the 2nd!

"What are you going to name her?" Mom asked me, "Nicole."...."Oh no no no no no no no...."she murmured with Bridget in her arms, 'This is Bridget, after my grandmother, there has not been a Bridget since."  

And so, that is the story on how Bridget came to be and of how she came to be called Bridget.