back in the saddle, again

I rode my bike today

     Now that may not seem like a big deal, but I have not ridden since around July 4.
     That was when my heart doctor's office nurse called and said there was a little blimp in my plumbing system.  And she did say I could ride my bike, just to take it easy.
     Well, old Gandolf (yes, I named my bike.  And yes, it is based on the Ring trilogy.) seemed to take a very threatening stance after that comment.  I swear, there was a skull and crossbones in the spokes and flames coming out of the handle bars.
     Take it easy.
      I'm glad I did not know I had a problem for the MS bike ride.  John and I rode 15 miles, into a 90 mph wind!  I had to pump hard just to stand still!  Carrie, being younger and more fit, rode 35 with that wind.  But I am no spring chicken, so 15 was fine.
     But it was taxing.
     Take it easy.
     Well, I had to take it easy today.  I managed 4 miles, but my butt was dragging by the time I got back home.
     I did two laps around the subdivision....not exactly Tour de France level, but it was 4 more than I had ridden over the past 5 weeks.
     It felt good.  Hopefully, Saturday will offer a good opportunity to take a longer ride.  Maybe 5 miles.  Taking it easy.
     With that, I bid you all adieu.

wolfbane, anyone?

I do remember some stuff from my youth

Whether a man be pure at heart
and say his prayers by night
may turn into a wolf
when the wolfbane blooms
and the Autumn moon is bright
Yooooooooooowlll.  yep, yit, yooooooowllll!

     Spell checker should have a lot of fun with that.
     I use the blogspot program and the spell checker is weird.  Everytime I type learned, as I learned that in school, it tells me it is spelled wrong.  It should be learn ed.  I beg to differ.
    It also tells me prize is spelled incorrectly.  And tonight it is telling me that spelled is wrong!
    You want to screw with an old guys mind?  Invent technology that goes against the hundreds of years of learning to do things the same way.
     I can't text because the keys are too small for my suddenly gigantic fingers.  And when I flip the phone sideways to create a bigger keyboard, it will not flip.  It only flips when I go to read a message and I have it sideways.  But if I go to type, it reverts to the narrow keyboard.  Texting takes me forever.
     Tonight there is a possibility of seeing the northern lights.  I will go look, but like the meteor showers, the blood moon, the asteroid that came within two inches of earth, and the government airplanes spraying chemicals over the clouds to create monstrous storms, I don't believe it will happen.
     That being said, it is time for bed.  I may make it before 11 tonight, ending a streak of 11,459 days of staying up past 11.
     That may be an exaggeration, which could be spelled wrong.  I am no longer sure.

Peter, paul and mary

I'm not leaving on a jet plane

    But the kids are.
    I don't know why I always get so nervous when people fly.  I lay awake at night worrying.  Call me crazy, but that's how I am.
    We got to the airport 3 hours before boarding.  Plenty of time to get though the nonexistent security lines before boarding time.
    This was a late flight....10:25 or so.  Usually when Jackie and I leave, our plane takes off at 5 p.m., but we go through Zurich and they went through Copenhagen.  Everybody ends up in the same spot, Geneva.
    They had a load of luggage!  Julia orders stuff for us to schlep over, and schlep they did.  Sheets, a rug, clothes, linens, shower liner.  Of course most of the items had the image of a certain mouse on them.  I think she has the entire Disney catalog in Switzerland.
    Emily was very concerned that I knew how to get home.  I guess she remembers the last time I was unaccompanied at the airport with the directions to circle and park, but I ended up going down Mannheim to some car rental lot, where I had to make a U turn and figure out how to re-enter O'Hare.(To be honest, that is a fear of mine...that one day I will go to town and will be found in downtown Memphis, looking for my house.  Seriously.)
    I did not get lost tonight.  I made it out of the airport, down 294 onto 88 and back to Rochelle with only one stop, that to get a little supper.
    Explain to me why I have to stop three times on the way to the zoo for a bathroom break, but I had just as much liquid today and did not have to stop at all!
    The bladder is a mystery.
    Safe travels, John and Emily.  And have fun with Julia.  And Julia, have fun with your sister and send chocolate!!

take a chance, take a chance

I like ABBA

     But that is not the topic for the day.
     I cleaned out my little paper holder on the fridge.  That's the place we put coupons, raffle tickets, lottery tickets and other neat shtuff.
     I tossed out losing tickets for the Heritage Festival 50/50 drawing.  It was only $10 worth.
     I tossed out losing tickets for the Amboy Depot Days 50/50 drawing.  The prize last year was something like $130,000....but the winner this year only got $120,000.  That is her prize.  I spent $10 there.
     Then I started looking at my lottery tickets.  I never check the numbers.  I figure if someone from Rochelle wins, then I will check.  But since I buy my tickets in town, I never check numbers.  Never.
     So today, I started checking numbers.  I hoped I would win at least a dolloar or two.  Out of the 13 Powerball games I played I had one (1) number.  That cost me $26.
     Out of the five MegaMillions I had.....zilch, zero, nada, nil.  That was $5.
     So out of the $51 I spent on lottery tickets, I won nothing.
     But for a while I did get to dream about what I would do with all my money.
     And the $51 was over a three month span, so I guess that isn't so bad.
     The rub is..... I am a pessimist!  I always look on the negative side. Yet here I am, buying lotto tickets, always expecting to win.  And I am not counting the weekly Rotary lotto, or the side of beef lotto, or the other games I have tossed money at.
    I always think I will win.
    Am I a pessimist?  Optimist? Or fool?
    I just hope I remember to get my Booster Days raffle tickets tomorrow.    Somebody has to win, and I know it will be me!
     Guess I answered my own question.

I think I did, once

Memory is a funny thing

     As I was standing under the hot water in the shower, I had a memory surface.       It was about a time when Steve owned a two flat, or a three flat, and his sister rented one of the floors.
     This was years ago....and I had buried that memory.  I thought I just learned that he had a sister, but I guess I knew.  Just wasn't on the top floor.
     I also remembered an incident with Marc....whom I have not seen for 50 years until Saturday night.
     We were maybe sophomores in high school and decided to go to the Riviera, a movie house up near Lawrence and Broadway in Chicago.  Now it's a music venue, but back then it was a theater.  It wasn't opulent like the Uptown, but serviceable.
     It must have been a James Bond film we went to see.
     There were two cute girls working the concession stand.  I tried flirting, but I was not very good at it.  It's hard to flirt when you are shy.
     After the show, Marc and I opted for the L to Belmont, where we would change for what was then the Ravenswood.  Now it's the Brown Line.
     We were sitting on the first train when the two girls got on and sat at the other end of the car.
     It was either early fall or late spring.  Jacket weather.  I remember because Marc had these white gloves in his coat pocket.  It was not glove weather.
Anyway, I got up, went to the back and started talking to the girls.  I told them we were nice guys, blah blah blah.
     Before we got to Belmont, I told them that my friend wanted to join us.  Then I cautioned them that he was a little strange, but not to worry unless he put on gloves.
     We all got on the Ravenswood train and were sitting across from each other.  Marc and I were doing our best but it wasn't going well.  All of a sudden Marc reached into his pocket and pulled out his gloves!
     The girls got silent and I just leaned back and said, "Uh oh...now you've done it.  Marc, stay calm."
    The girls had a horrified look on their faces, Marc had a confused look and I just started laughing.
     The curly red headed girl captured my heart.  Sure, her stop was two after Montrose, but I rode with her and then walked her home.
     She did give me her phone number and as we stood in front of her house, I knew this was the girl I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
     The next day, when I called her, I figured she must have mixed up the numbers because nobody knew her.
     And when I tried to find her house, they all looked the same.   But somehow I feel if I recognized it, the red headed love of my life wouldn't be there either.
     I don't remember going back to the Riviera after that.
     I just wish I had remembered that while talking with Marc......

50 years ago

We went to a 50th anniversary celebration today

     Fifty years was a long time ago.
     The Cubs were rebuilding, leading up to the disastrous 1969 team, which blew a late season lead over the Mets.
     Man was not yet headed for the moon, although that was our goal.
     The Bears drafted Gayle Sayers and Dick Butkus, two darn good football players.
     Thousands of young people went to San Francisco, many with flowers in their hair.
     And my friends Frank and Barb got married.
     They had a celebration tonight, and I saw people I have not seen in....well, 50 years!
     I met the sister of a friend.  That was a big surprise, because up until recently I didn't know he had a sister.  I always thought he was an only child but he is not.  I must have missed that memo while growing up.
     One of the guys from the "good ole days" is in the cinema field in California.  He hasn't changed much, I still recognized him.  And folks, that is kind of a miracle.
     Long time friends of the bride and groom and us were there....and it was great catching up with them, although we really didn't have a lot of time to talk. (Marilyn....  My nose is fine, thanks for thinking of me.  Check your fingers.)
     We grew up together, went to class together, played alley baseball and football together and warped each others minds during those formative teen years.
     And there were friends there who I still do things with, like camping and baseball games and promising to get together again soon.   With so much time on our hands, we always seem too busy to do that.
     A couple of people were supposed to come, but didn't.  And another oldy but goody could not attend.....or didn't want to.
     Good food, great cake, fine dancing, (No Beth, I did not dance.  Too much junk in my trunk, if you get the drift.) and the best part, celebrating a couple's 50 years of love.
     What a nice evening.

who is who

I can't tell people apart

     I know, not this drivel again.
     But it drives me nuts.
     I was watching Hard Days Night and I could not tell who was Paul and who was John.
     Granted, the movie is 40 plus years old, and people do change.   But I could not tell them apart then, let alone 40 years later.
     I think I knew them by the end of the movie, but I am not positive.
     Watching it was a great experience!  It brought me back to the 1960s, the good part with the British Invasion and all the great music it brought to the colonies.
     And the boys looked like they were having so much fun making the movie... brings pains to my heart that they broke up, and John and George are dead.  Paul is in his 70s, and now I wish I had seen him when he was here a month ago.
     During those crazy 60s, two groups dominated the music scene:  The Beatles and the Stones.
     Who would have thought back then that the Stones would still be rolling along, although they too have been hit by death.  Didn't Mick die years ago, or does he just look dead?  At least he is thin.  Still.
     When  I have time I want to watch  Help and the Ron Howard film on the Beatles, which was in theaters last year.
     Maybe it's because the older I get the more clingy I get to things in my youth that pleased me, but whenever the Beatles or the Stones come on the radio, I have to crank it up....and sing along.  Even if I don't remember all the words.