Sweeney Todd...

This weekend Claude and I went to the Lexington Opera House for the 1st time since moving to Kentucky. This is a beautiful 122 year old building. It is one of only 14 theaters built before 1900 in the United States that is still operating. They have teamed with Broadway Live to bring performances during the year to Lexington. We decided to go see Sweeney Todd for our first venture to the Lexington Opera House. We heard a little about this man on a History Channel story and some when the movie came out with Johnny Depp (a Kentucky born actor). Sweeney Todd is a real character who was a barber and murdered many people on Fleet Street in London. Needless to say, this was the darkest play we have ever seen. Stephen Sondheim wrote the original music and lyrics. It was an epic-sized spectacle with cranes, descending catwalks, an organizest, a 27-piece symphonic orchestra, a 30-member cast sining the score. Huge extravaganza. In 2005 John Doyle, a British director pared down Sondheim's production to a 10-member cast who also perform all the music. These were talented young people that performs. They music at times reminded me of 'Into the Woods' another Sondheim play I really like. It was like watching a choreographed dance number to see them move the props on the stage to create a new scene when actually it was one stage setting that just had items moved to make you think you were at a different scene. Claude and both came away wishing Jake could have been there to critique this one. Even though it was well done, we wouldn't recommend to anyone who hasn't had some really fun musical theater performances under their belt. But one of the corporate sponsors was the 'Kentucky Blood Center'. They chose their performance to back well since this was a gory story. As we left the theater, each attendee was given a handout. It is actually a letter opener and not really sharp. But it was a really cute idea and gave everyone in the theater a chuckle.

From Fishes to Eagles...

We took a little trip yesterday and today. Several months ago I got an eMail alert that the Eagles were coming to Cincinnati for a concert. If you are tooooooo young to remember the Eagles, well, my counsel would be to find some of their music and get hooked. It's still just as great as it was when Claude and I were young marrieds. Claude told me to get the cell phone alert and get the ticket no matter the cost. I got the cell phone alert and immediately headed to my computer to secure tickets. We decided that we would take a couple of days and use this opportunity to see some of the sites in the northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area. I did our Internet research and made a hotel reservation. Yesterday, Tuesday, November 18th, we headed to Newport, Kentucky. We arrived about 11:30am. We first drove to the US Bank Arena to get our bearing in the daylight for where we would be that evening. This is in Cincinnati, Ohio right across the river from Newport, Kentucky. There were 5 or 6 enormous tour busses for the bands and that many tractor/trailer rigs for all their equipment behind the arena. Once we were sure of our potential parking spots and roads to drive we headed back across the river to Newport On The Levee. This is a great shopping and dining area right on the Ohio River looking across to the Cincinnati skyline. We had not eaten breakfast so we were ready for a really good lunch. we found a restaurant named Mitchell's Fish Market. We had a great seat by the windows overlooking the river and skyline. I tried their crab cakes. They were really good, not as good as Pelican Pete's but really good in their own right. Claude had some steak meal that he totally enjoyed. Then we headed to the Newport Aquarium which was right next door. This was our first visit there and it a delightful afternoon. We watched a huge sea turtle named Denver swimming in an enormous tank. Turtle is my favorite work and I have quite a collection of the little creatures in my home. We watched them feed sharks, sea otters and penquins. We even petted sharks. They had Dippin' Dots ice cream which is one of my favorites. Then we headed to our hotel room for a rest before the main event. We left the hotel at 7pm to get to US Bank Arena. There were already lots of people there. We had great seats and settled in for a wonderful evening of music with the Eagles.

We were entertained while waiting with watching the guys get up to the cat walks to work lights and stuff. They entered the floor level with harnesses on their backs. A rope was lowered to them with a clasp on it. It was attached to their harness and then they climbed a little rope ladder to the top of the arena to the catwalk. The first picture has a man climbing the rope ladder right to the right of the bottom blue light. The second picture has a man that had climbed the rope ladder, walked across the first catwalk and then stepped across to the catwalk that goes down at an angle. He is standing on the end edge of the angled catwalk. Claude and I are both agreed they could not pay us enough to do this.

The concert really got started about 8:11pm. We were told to turn off cell phones, no photography, etc., etc., etc. We are usually very law abiding people. But I really wanted a picture of the Eagles singing. No recording, no videoing, just a snapshot. Claude tried with his cell phone and, well, you can tell we were all having a rockin' good time...

Sorry about that kids. We try to set a better example but this was my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we tried to take this picture. All our favorites were played and sung and many new ones as well. It was just great to have this entire arena singing along to some of the old favorites. Claude got Hotel California during the concert and Desperado during the encore. I got Love Will Keep Us Alive and Dirty Laundry both during the concert. Someone sitting a few rows up from us spilled their drink. It flowed down under the ladies chair behind me and stopped under my feet. I didn't realize there was a puddle until we stood during the intermission. After assuring myself I wasn't leaking anything pink onto the floor, I spoke with the lady behind me and she told me she was in a similar situation. During the second half of the concert she and I both tried to move our shoes only to find them stuck in the red goo that was firming up. Fortunately we neither carried a purse so we had nothing on the floor absorbing this mess. During the concert Glenn's guitar string broke. You could see it hanging down. A young man in black came to the side of the stage with another guitar exactly like the one he was playing just in case he needed to make a change. Between each song these guys always had someone bringing them a different guitar for the song they were going to perform next. I wish we had a count of how many guitars they used. Each of them had at least 3 and some more than that. Amazing!! After the Eagles finished their concert, we all stood and applauded so they would come back for an encore. Soon all the cellphones were out, including Claude and mine, and we were waving them back and forth like they used to do with cigarette lighters years ago. I was very amused at the guy in front of us. He had loaded a picture of a candle to his cell phone and that was what he was waving back and forth. We didn't buy t-shirts. But we had a great time and can't believe we were fortunate enough to get to go. We made it back to our hotel room by 12:30am, put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and headed to bed. Check-out time was noon, we left at 11:30am. We headed to MainStrausse which is the German community in Covington, Kentucky. We found a fun restaurant for lunch. Claude had the Covington Hero and I had a quesadilla with 3 kinds of cheese and bacon. We split a crab-cake appetizer. It was a great meal. Then we walked to the monument of a little girl holding ducks. Then we walked to Goebel Park to see the clock tower. This tower is based on the story The Pied Piper of Hamblin. Every hour the story is told from a recording in the tower. There is a porch on the tower with doors and they are supposed to open and 21 different figures are supposed to come out as the story is told. Claude and waiting in the freezing cold and heard the story but never saw the figures. Maybe in the summer. They probably didn't want to come out in the cold either. We then headed for home. It was a great couple of days and we totally enjoyed seeing things we haven't experienced before and eating great food.

Gratitude...

I am thankful for smiles. On Wednesday afternoons I join my father and mother at the nursing home where Mimi resides. Papa always sings for an hour and when I am in town I sing part of the time with him and visit with mom. When I arrived today, they had taken Mimi to her room to clean her up. She got to coughing and the threw up. So they were getting her cleaned up. She sat across a table from me. She was reaching for a piece of paper that was in front of me. It was a page out of a coloring book and from the look of red on her hand I figured it matched the bit of red on the coloring book page. I assume she had been coloring earlier. She was stretching to get this piece of paper so I gently pushed it towards her. As she saw it coming closer she looked up at me with those big brown eyes and in the sweetest voice said, "Oh, thank you!". Such a little gesture and such a great reward as a grin spread across her face and her eyes wrinkled at the edges with the smile. It amazes me that even with all that she has lost in abilities, some of the basics she still retains, like saying 'thank you'. How important to make sure we say that to each other, OFTEN. And then to remember that a smile just makes everything better. Such little gestures but so important. Thanks mom for another lesson.

A Little Bit 'O History...

My mother had 2 siblings. A little sister named Margaret. In their day little girls wore only dresses. One day the Clarence Fisch family was burning leaves. Little Margaret's skirt tail caught fire and she was very badly burned. Gramma Fisch made her little underwear and since there was no elastic available, she used thin strips of inner tube from tires. This rubber burned most severly around little Margaret's legs and waist. She suffered for several days before passing. From that point forward my mom wore pants at home. It may not have been fashionable but it was much safer. We have no pictures of little Margaret. Mimi also had a brother named Clifford. We loved Uncle Clifford. He had a jeep with no top and he would take us for rides through the woods and streams and we thought that was just the coolest thing around. Uncle Clifford passed away when I was in Junior High School. He was getting gas from a holding tank and fell in and died. Uncle Clifford was married to Aunt Billie and they lived not far from Gramma and Grampa Fisch near Starks, Louisiana. They had 3 children about the same age and me and my sisters. The pictures above were taken Christmas about 1960 (I'm only guessing here!). The one on the left is me with Sue. The one in the middle is Jean with Junie. The one on the right is Burton with Neffie. There pictures were taken in the front yard of the old home place way out in the country. This old home was sooooo much fun. It had no running water or electricity and no indoor plumbing. There was a long lane from the road to the house. It had huge fields and timber on either side. There was a big dirt area in front where people parked cars when they visited. We loved to create in that dirt. We would build little rows and make streets and houses, etc. When facing the house, on the left side of the entry lane was a field. At one point there was a cow there we called Bossie. There was also a bull that we stayed clear of. Sometimes there was a mule there as well. Next to this field was a building that you see in the back of the pictures. It was a garage. It had a lean-to on the back that was the hen house. I remember gathering eggs in that coup. Next to the garage was the barn. I remember straw in the hayloft and peanuts being mixed in the hay. It was fun to climb up and have a snack. To the right of the entry lane in front of the house and separated by a fence was a big field. I remember a tree in that field that Junie loved to climb. She was very athletic (I was not so much!). I just remember Junie being great at shimmying up that tree. I remember having a dog (I think it was Prissy) that was chasing something and didn't see the fence separating the house and the field. She ran smack into it and had little fence imprints on her face. It didn't hurt her really but it was amusing anyway. The house was a frame house with a long front porch. On this porch sat green adironack chairs and sofa sets. There was a swing on the end. To the edge of this porch was a huge (about 6 ft. across and 4 ft. tall) water barrel. The rain water ran down the gutters and into this barrel. It was your water storage for the home. There is not much in life greater than sitting in that swing during a gentle rain watching and listening to the rain go down the gutter into the barrel. The front of the house at the other end of the front porch had a little room you could enter and go through to the kitchen. This little room was the pantry and all the canned foods went there. Down the middle of the house was a big hallway. At either end were doors that could be closed to keep out the weather. During the summer these doors were always open to keep the house as cool as possible. Each afternoon my mom would take blankets (homemade and stuffed with kapock not batting) and lay them on the floor. We called these pallets. We had to lay down and rest each afternoon. Now, like the rain and the water barrel, this is one of those experiences that you remember when you feel a certain breeze in the summer. Laying there you would get the best breezes with the freshest air. It makes me feel peaceful just to think of it. The left portion of the house as you face it was 2 bedrooms. They had iron headboards and were piled high with those quilts in the winter to keep you warm. Gramma Fisch also had these flannel sheets that were pink and felt sooo good on a cold night. The bedroom at the front of the house had an old trunk in it. On top of this trunk was where Gramma Fisch kept all the extra folded blankets. In the back bedroom was a box and on top of it was the feed sacks. Feed for the animals came in beautifully colored print cottom fabrics. Gramma Fisch would carefully pull these sacks apart and launder and iron them. Then they were folded and stored here. When we would visit, my mom would carefully go through them and make the patterns and then make us clothes from these beautiful sacks. The light for these rooms was kerosene lanterns. You would carry one back with you when you went to bed and then turn it out before jumping under the covers. There was no indoor plumbing as I mentioned previously but there were chamber potties by each bed. If you needed to go during the night, you used one of these. The next day they had to be taken outside and emptied and cleaned and put back in the bedroom for the next night. I also remember big Coca-Cola calendars in the back bedroom. One had Santa on it and one had a blond lady in a bathing suit. Very modest by today's standards. The other side of the house had 2 big rooms that went from the front to the back of the house. The one closest to the hallway was a living room in the front and a bedroom for my grandparents in the back. No divider. They had a naugahide (spelling is phonetic here) sofa and a chair. There was an old pot bellied stove for warmth. Lanterns like you would camp with were used for light or kerosene lanterns. There was a battery powered radio I can remember Grampa Fisch listening to at night. I remember a Farmer's Almanac hanging on a string on the wall. Gramma Fisch had a table on either side of the big bed. She caught me snooping around in those tables and asked me what I was doing. I looked at here and said, "I'm just punderin' Gramma, just punderin'." The would is plundering in case you are wondering. I remember burning my hand on one of the lanterns. There was also a deer heat that was mounted and hanging on the wall. This was the room we gathered in at night until it was bedtime. The long room on the outside edge of the house was the kitchen. The front cooking area was at the front of the house. There was a big window facing the front. Along the outside wall was the stove and a table where we put a dishpan full of water to wash the dishes with. The table was tall and long and homemade. Along one side was a bench. Along the other sides were chairs with the seats made of cow hide. Gramma Fisch had a little dish filled with lemon drop candies. On the back side of the house and behind the kitchen was the back porch. This was where we bathed. We would prime the pump and then pump enough water to fill the wash tub. Some of it was heated if needed. Then you set all this wash tub up on the back porch and that is where you took your bath. This home had a huge garden in the back that was Grampa Fisch's and another huge one to the kitchen side of the house that was Gramma Fisch's. There was a pig pen at the entry to Grampa Fisch's garden. Gramma Fisch's garden had the enormous strawberry patch. The yard had pecan trees, satsuma orange trees, pomegranite bushes and fig trees. I'm sure there must have been peach, pear and maybe an apple tree but I can't place them. I have lots of fond memories of playing at this house and in the land around it with the tree cousins pictured above. I'm sure as time goes on I share more of those memories.

Time to catch up on the blog... Wednesday, November 5th sang at the nursing home and did some home teaching/visiting teaching. Thursday, November 6th was Hayden's 4th birthday. We called and left the birthday song on the voice mail at his home. He called and we talked for a long time. He was very happy he got to take chocolate covered donuts to his pre-school class to celebrate his birthday. Friday, November 7th we headed to Louisville early in the morning to go to the temple. Spent the morning there. Then headed to La Grange to join Hayden at his 1st official birthday party with his friends from Mom's Club. He had a "train" party. If you know Hayden, you know he LOVES trains. It was just a lot of fun to meet his little friends and their moms and to enjoy the afternoon at the party. Andie made train tickets and he greeted everyone at the door with a ticket he punched so you could enter the party. Another great thing Andie did was make little train engines for each child that attended the party. They were made out of copy paper boxes . Friday night we got to be the sitters for Hayden & Bailey so Michael & Andie could have a much deserved night out.

Saturday, November 8th, Andie took Hayden into La Grange to get a train. I traveled with them. While we did our errands and had our outting, Claude and Michael stayed home with Miss Bailey. That is fair--two grown men to one little girl not quite 2. She and grampa spent a good deal of time making things out of playdough. Andie invited Papa out to have the family portion of Hayden's birthday. So Papa came out for lunch and we ate, opened presents and had cake & ice cream. Hayden got the book Polar Express and we all took turns reading it again, and again, and again. That night we took the Marx's to Chick-fil-a (might have spelled that wrong) for dinner and to play at their playland. Miss Bailey climbs all the way to the top now. This time we didn't even have to climb up to help her out.

Sunday, November 9th, I had a meeting in Louisville. Claude enjoyed the grandmonsters. He even put Hayden down for quiet time. Then Claude and I hurried home in the afternoon to get him packed for his trip this week.

Monday, November 10th, Claude left in the morning to work his way across Kentucky for meetings. First at city hall in Sadieville, then to Georgetown for a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, then to Lexington for a BADD meeting. Not that the meeting is BADD but it has to do with and area development authority. Then on to Bowling Green, Kentucky for a training that will last until noon on Friday. I am left to my own devices this week. So I started my day with my 30 minutes on the tread mill. I love this portion of my day and have not been able to keep up with it because of poor health for the last couple of months and tripping on that silly stair and twisting my ankle. So it felt good to get back to my walk and to get back to reading Josephus, my book of choice for walking. Then I started working on my purse. In 2005 Claude and I made a trip to Israel. I purchased a great quilted purse to take on that trip in Berea, Kentucky. It was not the least expensive purse I have ever purchased but I really loved it for traveling. I wore it out last winter. I purchased 1 yard of quilted fabric I liked with the intent to try make me one. A few weeks ago I finally got around to taking the old purse apart to use for a pattern. Tonight I finished making my new purse from the old purse as a pattern. It is just great! Now I can make them whenever they wear out for a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new one. I was so proud of my efforts I called Claude in Bowling Green to share my joy at success. He was appropriately pleased at me. I also visited Papa and Mimi this afternoon. They are both doing fine. Mimi has been experiencing some days of bad health but today she was happy and chattered away.

To The Victor Go The Spoils...

I am pleased to announce that the Honorable Claude J. Christensen, Mayor Pro-teim, Kentucky Colonel extraordinaire, and general all round good guy won his coveted seat on the Sadieville City Commission last night!!! We created our new tradition, breakfast at Waffle House before going to the polls to vote. Then we headed to our little Sadieville City Hall where we cast our ballots. I used the computerized version and Claude used the paper ballot. Our little town was soooooooo full of people yesterday you couldn't hardly find a parking place. We actually stood in line to have the privilege of voting. The chose yesterday to continue replacing a telephone poll and they were working on our little caboose and the voting and normal traffic. It was truly the countries own version of the DC Beltway traffic. Last night we went to the Scott County Republican party at the Best Western and enjoyed some light refreshments with others concerned about the local seats. Our state senator Damon Thayer was there and receiving the counts by others in other counties as the votes were tallied in our part of Kentucky. It was fun to be in the midst of this little group of concerned citizens. We left this party and headed to the County Court House in downtown Georgetown. They had monitors set up giving the results of the local elections. On the 3rd floor we found a monitor and watched as Claude's name scrolled up with the other candidates for city commission in Sadieville. He was first on the ballot and 1st in number of votes. So we are set for the next 2 years of service to Sadieville. As Claude and I discussed our voting today, I mentioned there was one candidate who ran unopposed for one of the state congressional positions. Claude was not happy with his performance last year so I asked him how he voted for that position. He did what I should have expected, Claude wrote himself in!!! I could only tell him on the way home, "You sure know how to show a girl a great time!!"

Three Sisters...

I am blessed to be the oldest of 3 sisters. We are each very different. I was born July 30, 1950, Arliss June (Junie was born September 29, 1951, and Laurel Lyneth (Neffie) was born July 29, 1955. So we were close enough in age to enjoy playing together as children. In the black & white picture above (left-to-right) is Sandi, Junie and Neffie. That was taken in 1956 or so. We are wearing dresses that my mother made. They have little pansies on the collars and pansies were also around the bottoms of the skirts. I remember my mother giving her mom some of these to embroider. Then they were cut out and sewn on each dress. We used to have Stake Conference at church every quarter of the year. So 4 times a year we would get a new dress to wear for church. I think these dresses fit the bill for Easter dresses and the new stake conference dress that year. The color picture was taken in March of 2008 at a Mexican restaurant in Georgetown, KY. Pictured (left-to-right) are Junie, Sandi & Neffie. Junie and Neffie made a visit to see Mimi and Papa. We had a great time visiting and practicing music to sing in the nursing home.

The picture on your left was taken in my basement and is Sandi, Neffie & Junie singing, Papa playing the guitar and Mike, Junies youngest son, playing guitar on the right side of the picture. The middle picture is at the nursing home. My mother is on the left, Mike in the middle and Papa on the right. The picture on the right is Papa playing the guitar and Neffie, Sandi & Junie singing. It was really a great moment after all the years to sing together and Mimi just loved it. She clapped and sang along. At this point the sisters are scattered over the United States, I'm in Kentucky, Junie is in Bountiful, Utah and Neffie is in Friendswood, Texas. So to be able to get a moment in time when we could all be together like this and to have Mike join us was a tremendous gift.

Today we went for a drive on Kentucky Roads. We followed Highway 68 over the Kentucky River and then to Perryville Battlefield. This is a Civil War Battlefield. Enjoy the pictures! This is my 2nd attempt at video added to my blog. http://www.slide.com/r/KR61V5Q_5j-kfWuPsGRAtnCVear9cm_I?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original