Summer, the way it should be!!!

Unbelievably gorgeous day here. It was around 75 degrees with blue skies and clouds that literally looked like cotton candy spun confections. We biked to lunch and ate outside underneath the cafe unbrella, watching the slow-moving traffic go by. It was a late lunch, somewhere after 2:00 p.m., so we were the only customers in the whole place. I'm thinking that ppl had picnic lunches at the park or perhaps on their patios at home, as our waitress claimed that we were only the 5th group of customers she had had all day. We biked to the park afterwards and attempted to play sand volleyball barefoot. Ouch! The sand was a little too hot and I was not about to dive around the sand in my imported Madras walking shorts, cotton short-sleeved sweater and Bjorn leather flip flops. LOL- what was I thinking??!!?? Great afternoon, none-the-less. Topped it off with bowling. I think I hit my all time Bumperless high score of 137. The funny thing is that when we did Bumper Bowling when the kids were younger, I probably didn't do much better. So given that info, I'll bet my bumper score would have been close to 280. Can't beat those summer prices of a buck a game.

The Effect of Gasoline Prices on Church Festivals

Had a great time this weekend participating in a time-honored ritual of summer: the annual church festival. I worked the Saturday BBQ dinner at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Festival in Anderson. The food was great, but the crowds were thin. In fact, it seemed to me that the foot traffic throughout the festival weekend was on the light side. Friday and Saturday were quite hot, oppressive days but that never stopped people from turning out in earlier years. The BBQ dinner was served inside in the chilly confines of air-conditioned dining halls, and still no takers. I really think it is due to the domino effect of the economy. When your budget has to morph to include astronomical gas prices (like $4.09/gallon), then some things have to go. I'm betting a lot of the festival goers chose to eat dinner at home before coming to spend their hard earned money on entertainment- otherwise known as donations to the church.

In any event, I had a great time. Saw some friends who have been missing since late Spring and had a frozen Margarita or two to hold back the heat. Talk about the true meaning of a brain freeze!! I even met Jeff Cavens, in absentia (see picture), who will be back in person to give his Great Adventure Bible Study program at IHM on November 15th. If you notice, Jeff was smiling all night, despite the heat and the excess of BBQ in the kitchen.

Church festivals................gotta love em!!!

Charmin to the Rescue and no Mr. Whipple in Sight!

Ok, here is a slightly humorous story that will give you a laugh at my expense.......... The soon to be 7th grader had her final basketball game tonight in a summer league. The temps outside were hovering in the low 90's and the gym was so hot and humid that you would be hard pressed to light a match in there. The parents in the stands were fanning their faces, unaware of what my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Doherty, used to tell us kids when we did the same thing on hot days. She told us that when we frantically waved our hands clenched with a notebook (to bring on a breeze of relief), we were in fact really just creating more heat by creating energy with our motions.

Because of the heat and the lack of a concession stand, I decided to hit the water fountain and then the restroom before the game began. For some unknown reason, I hung my keys on the little hook thing on the inside of the stall door and then promptly forgot about them when I left. I probably owe the forgetfulness to the hazy affect the heat was having upon my body and brain. After a great game (we won of course!) and no hand waving on my part, we departed the hot gym for the less hot, but still humid outdoors. Most of the Sharp Shooter families parked in the east lot and I had parked in the west along with The 7th grader's team mate "Nacho" (otherwise known as Anna) and her family. As I furiously dug around in the depths of my purse, which sometimes feels as large as a steamer trunk, I realized that my keys were not there. Hoping that I had not had another toilet incident (that one involved flushing a brand new $350 high end LG cell phone at another basketball game), I was going to race back to the bathroom to check. The 7th grader yelled out to Nacho that we were still stuck in this sickly heat because her (insert pre-teen adjective here) mom couldn't find her keys. Nacho's older brother stuck his head out the sliding door of their mini-van and said that he had found a set of keys with a moon and stars emblem (my P&G key chain) when he was searching for toilet paper since the men's room was out. He turned them in to the referee. Now how many coincidences occurred here:

1. The only team member that we parked near happened to have info on my keys
2. Nacho's older brother actually listened to the girls' conversation about the missing keys and spoke up about it (he will be a freshman next year).
3. He had to use the bathroom to go #2 as we said in the old days and didn't feel embarrassed in the least to tell us that he was searching for TP in the ladies room.
4. The ref was still there and had the keys!!!!

So a major problem averted thanks to the above. I was out in East BFU, so having my husband bring me keys would have been a royal pain while we roasted in the open air or the lovely school gym.

So the lesson is: keep track of your belongings and be nice to all teenagers that you encounter; you never know when they just might have your back!