As usual, I had a great birthday on the first day of spring. My tulips from Ted are opening nicely, and I’m looking forward to the other three bulbs in the pot blooming soon.

At our Pilates class, the group sang “Happy Birthday” to me. I asked how they knew it was my birthday and the answer was “Facebook.” Even though I’m not active on Facebook, I guess my birthday notification still went out to my FB friends. After class, Ted and I went out to lunch and followed that with a little shopping. I bought myself a birthday present.

For at least two years, when family members asked me for gift ideas, I’ve told them I’d like new speakers for my desktop computer. Mine are so old (25 years?), the rubber on the control dials has deteriorated and become sticky and gummy. Well, that’s not a problem any more.

Next, Ted took me out for dinner tonight. Check the etching on the glasses to see if you can guess which restaurant we picked.

Answer: Maggiano’s Little Italy. Is that what you guessed?

We saw Maggiano’s about six months ago and have been meaning to eat there ever since. We shouldn’t have waited. We had a hard time deciding what to order, even after we narrowed our choices down to four items. Everything was absolutely delicious, and now we can’t wait to go back to try something else from the menu.

Because it was my birthday, the waitress brought us a complimentary dessert–complete with candles.

On our way home from Maggiano’s, the clouds cleared enough for us to see the last supermoon of 2019. Throughout the day, I’ve had cards, texts, emails, and phone calls from family and friends, wishing me a happy birthday. It was a perfect day, as usual, so it’s no wonder I always enjoy my birthday–and the beginning of spring.

The official kick-off date for my birthday season this year was Tuesday, March 12. I had a birthday coupon for a free entrée at First Watch, so Ted and I went out to lunch.

I also had a $20 birthday discount coupon for another restaurant, so we went out to dinner this evening. Check the logo etched on the glasses to see if you can name the restaurant.

Answer: Weber Grill. (Groan if you feel you must.)

. . . it’s off to work I go.

Thom and Katie are working hard to launch their new business in the coming weeks. Thom knows I’m good at grammar, so he sent a few things to me and asked me to look them over. I did so, made a few minor comments (I also made sure my children knew good grammar), and offered to review/edit anything he needed checked in the future.

I worked as a writer-editor at the Bureau of the Census when Ted and I were first married and lived in Washington, D.C. My job was to compile the material, compose the text, and prepare the quarterly BoC catalog for print. We did not have personal computers at that time (1970), so all copy had to be typed perfectly, and printer’s marks for every single thing involved in the typesetting (yes, actual setting of type) had to be included for the printer.

Before meeting with the printer, two other writer-editors and I proofread the material together, taking turns reading it aloud. That experience showed me how valuable it is to have someone else’s eyes review your work–especially if that person is unfamiliar with the content. No matter how careful we are, when we read our own writing, we see what we expect to see and we often miss minor errors; when someone else reads it, the chance of catching those errors increases greatly. My intent was to offer a secondary reader’s eyes to Thom and Katie.

Thom told me he’d appreciate it if I would do that, and while we were all at Jeff’s house in February, Thom mentioned to Jeff that he has his first volunteer employee. Jeff didn’t expect to hear that it was me. I had an email from Thom a few days ago with my first official assignment.

My new job has flexible hours (as needed), a nice work environment (home), and good bosses (Thom and Katie). This is so exciting!

The Lego Movie 2 will be released on February 8. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has become such a public icon that she has a small part in the movie as a Lego figure. The RGB Lego character will be available for purchase, and I bet it will be a big seller for Lego.

Tonight I finally had time to play with my Christmas toy. For many years, Thom and I have exchanged a small Christmas Lego set. I don’t remember exactly when we started doing this but, given the number of Christmas Lego sets I’ve received from him, it was a long time ago.

When Thom and I started our Lego exchange, the sets were sold at the check-out counter. They were small, wrapped in a cellophane envelope, had about 15-20 pieces, and cost $5.00 or less.

Lego has evolved over the years and the pieces have become very specialized. In addition, a lot of people apparently like the Christmas Lego idea, so the individual holiday pieces have become multi-figured scenarios. They now sell for a lot more than $5.00 per set.

Every year, I enjoy selecting a new Christmas Lego set for Thom and I look forward to the one he sends me. Thank you, Thom. I love our Christmas Lego tradition.

It was a dark but pleasant evening. After dinner, I felt like taking a walk and working off some energy. Kathy offered to walk with me, and we had a very enjoyable walk and talk. Soon after we got home, I reached up to remove my necklace and discovered that the chain had broken and the pendant was gone. Surely someone at the dinner table would have noticed that the two ends of the chain were hanging down from my neck, unconnected and without a pendant. Since that didn’t happen, it seemed likely the 52-year-old chain had broken in some mysterious way while Kathy and I were walking.

I thought there was little chance of finding a pendant that’s only a half-inch in diameter in the dark, so I decided to retrace my 1.5-mile route in the morning. Between evening and morning, the overnight rain in the forecast could wash the small pendant down a sewer drain; a vehicle could drive over it and damage it; someone else could find it and pick it up; etc., etc. The pendant was a birthday gift from a man I dated during my freshman year of college and it had my birthstone (aquamarine) mounted on it. It wasn’t valuable, but I always liked it, I wore it frequently, and it gave me joy. I didn’t expect to find it, but it was worth a try.

In the morning light, Kathy, Annette, and I started walking, keeping our eyes on the road and scanning the concrete for my pendant. After a little more than a mile, I spotted my pendant lying face-up and undamaged in a hollow spot on the road surface. I shouted, “There it is!” and the three of us went into happy mode. We were all surprised but grateful that our hunt was successful.

Today I bought a new chain for the pendant and I wore it home from the jewelry store. It gives me joy again.

The St. Charles Christmas parade was so much fun last year that we–Kathy and Annette, Kari’s family, and me (Ted wasn’t feeling well)–decided to go again this year. Last year, the weather was very cold and blustery, and there was snow on the ground. We were more comfortable this year with sunshine and a temperature in the low 50s. We started the afternoon with lunch at Pizza Hut, which is always a hit with Kari’s boys. After that, we headed to Main Street for the parade. Perfect timing–we had five minutes to select a good viewing spot before the parade leaders came into view.

Since pictures of the period characters in the parade look very similar from year to year, I decided to “people watch” instead.

Santa and Mrs. Claus in their horse-drawn carriage are the last people in the parade. The parade-watchers fall in behind Santa and follow him to the bandstand at the riverfront.

The parade and send-off were finished, so we went shopping in a few of the Main Street stores. Fun, fun, fun!

Ted started feeling a little bit sick on Saturday, December 22, the day before Kathy and Annette arrived for Christmas. He is still running a low-grade fever today, so he wasn’t able to go the St. Charles Christmas parade with the rest of us–Kathy, Annette, Kari’s family, and me. He doesn’t have much energy and feels achy. He should be feeling fine by the time our family Christmas is over and the girls have returned to their homes.

Kathy sent me a care package to cheer me up after my surgery.  One of the things she included was a jigsaw puzzle with a modernistic image of the Eiffel Tower.  Her accompanying note reminded me that, even though we had to cancel our Bali-Australia-New Zealand trip, Ted and I will be going to Paris next July to celebrate our 50th anniversary.

I wasn’t sure how far I’d get with the puzzle after Ted’s and my aborted puzzle experiment, but 300 pieces was far less intimidating than 1000 pieces.

Getting started–Turning all the pieces over and finding the edge and corner pieces.

Voilá!  I thought of Paris all the while I worked on the puzzle, and was further inspired by the Swarovski Eiffel Tower Ted and I bought in Paris in 2016.

I found an anniversary card I’ve saved for years.  It makes me smile every time I see it.

Front of card

Message inside card

Ted and I went to a movie at the mall today.  On our way in, I saw this dress.

Yes, that’s real Christmas garland around the hemline.

Even better!

Wings at the shoulder in the back, complete with twinkling lights.  Oooh!

Question:  Is it my style for Christmas?

Answer:  Definitely not.

Tomorrow the pool crew is coming to winterize and cover our pool.  Tonight, the temperature was 60 degrees.  It was a perfect evening for our first firebowl night of the year.  We have a brand new firebowl (the old one wore out/burned out) and new plastic wine glasses (thanks, Thom and Katie), and we enjoyed it all–the pool lights, the fire, the wine, and–most of all–sharing the time together.

Ted has the pool lights on, the fire lit, and the wine poured.

Together–our favorite thing.

This year, PBS partnered with libraries and bookstores to identify America’s favorite novel.  The 100 finalist novels were chosen in a national survey of 7,200 adult readers.  The list was very eclectic and included some surprising contenders and some surprising absentees.  For example, Margaret Mitchell made the top 100, but William Faulkner did not.  There were high-brow and low-brow favorites; contemporary novels to classics; an international selection of authors; gender and ethnic diversity; and a variety of genres.

Book lovers (including me) will tell you that it is very difficult to select a single favorite novel, but Bill Gardner, vice president of programming and development at PBS said, “We’re not trying to tell people what the greatest novel is, and does it really matter who wins?  We’re not doing a vote-you-off-the-island type of thing.”  The mission of the Great American Read, said Gardner, was to promote a positive conversation about books.

The 100 finalist novels were highlighted and discussed in an eight-part series of programs on PBS beginning on May 22.  The reveal of the top ten selections was made on October 23.  I’ve read nine of them (not The Lord of the Rings) and my personal favorite (if I may choose only one) would be Gone with the Wind, followed closely by Little Women and To Kill a Mockingbird.

It’s the Hallowe’en season, so there’s a lot of seasonal candy on the store shelves, and a lot of costumes and haunted houses designed to make people say “Eek!”

My favorite “eek” this year comes from Mars, Inc. manufacturer of my year-round candy weakness, m&m’s®.  They made an apparently limited edition of “Ghoul’s Mix” m&m’s® for the 2018 Hallowe’en season.  I assume it’s a limited edition, because Kathy and Annette bought these m&m’s® at the Kirksville Wal-Mart, but I couldn’t find them anywhere in the St. Peters area.  Sensing m&m’s® distress in St. Peters, the girls sent Ted and me a trick or treat package of Ghoul’s Mix m&m’s®.

Eat them if you dare!  Na-ha-ha-ha!  (Evil laugh)

Today’s weather was gorgeous, so Ted decided to spend some time in the pool this afternoon.

Here’s what a man of leisure looks like.

This might be the last good day of the swim season.  The next ten days look more like firebowl weather than pool weather.

I’m always sad at the end of the swimming season.  I love the warm (even hot) summer weather, but sitting around the firebowl sipping a glass of wine has its appeal too.

Ted and I went about 35 miles west to Warrenton’s Fall Festival today.  The weather was perfect–sunny and dry, with temperatures in the upper 70s.  Neither Ted nor I was overly interested in the festival as a whole, but there were two good bands we wanted to hear–one in the afternoon and one in the evening–and we thought it was a good day to sit outside, listen to music, and hang out with some country folks.

Butch Wax and the Hollywoods played 50s, 60s, and 70s pop music from 1:00-4:00 p.m. on the east end of Main Street.  They’ve been together a long time–well over 30 years, I think–and they play a lot of St. Louis venues.  Ted and I had never heard them before, but the word on the street said they’re good.  They were named one of the three top “Best of Rural Missouri” bands in the rural electric co-ops’ 10th annual survey.  Yep!  They’re playin’ up country in Warrenton.

A clue to the Warrenton culture might be the oversized bail bondsman’s ad on the left side of the stage.

If the bail bondsman’s bandstand sign struck a chord with you, Dan the Man had a booth on Main Street where I presume you could hire him, or at least get his business card.

This guy literally stood head and hips above the crowd.  He danced on stilts while Butch Wax et al played.  Yes, Warrenton’s got talent!

This little guy isn’t into rock ‘n’ roll, but he was happy for a long time making a pile of stones in the gutter.

When Butch Wax left the stage, Ted and I walked down Main Street to check out the booths, the food, and the car show.  There were a lot of vehicles on display, but two were my favorites.

Read the rear window.  Humorous Warrenton attitude present here.  See Dan the Man for your bail bond if neccessary.

Aaahhh, memories.  I went steady with David for two years in high school and he had a car just like this (even the same color)–except for the engine.  David had a factory-installed engine and a normal hood on his car.  

The bars along Main Street were open, and many had live music on the sidewalk for those not wanting to hear the headliners.

The evening show featured the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  Some of the members have been replaced over their 50+ years, but the new guy was Bob Carpenter’s son, and the next newest had been with the band for 30 years.  The music was good and the people-watching was even better.  There were so many people smoking, I wondered if the few clouds overhead were atmospherically generated or a result of all the cigarettes around us.  A lady next to us kept her matches in her bra where they were handy for her chain-smoking habit.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band performed on the west end of Main Street–right at the corner of City Hall and the jail.  Handy for Dan the Man, right?  I assume the people on the roof work at City Hall or at the jail or know someone who does.  They had a bird’s eye view of the concert.  Some of the prisoners peeked out of the windows before the music began, but that’s the last we saw of them.  I suspect they didn’t want their friends and neighbors to recognize them.

When you literally perform on the street, you get speed limit signs beside the stage.

I repeat, the weather was beautiful, both bands did a great job, and Ted and I had a wonderful time.  We can tell that summer is officially over tomorrow–it was dark before the concert started at 7:30, and we needed jackets for the cool evening.

Smokey and the Bandit, Burt Reynolds’ most popular movie, is showing in theaters around the country for one week in remembrance of Burt.  Neither Ted nor I had ever seen the movie, and we’ll be traveling during the week it’s playing, so we invited Gary to see it with us.  I thoroughly enjoyed the show.  It probably holds the record for “longest chase scene,” since the entire movie is about Smokey (the police) chasing Bandit (Burt Reynolds) for transporting Coors beer from Texas to Georgia.  In 1977, Coors was only sold west of the Mississippi.

Bandit was well-known and popular, so people all along the five-state route used creative ways to detain the police.  That made it possible for Bandit (in his Trans Am) and Snowman, his partner in crime (in the 18-wheeler loaded with 400 cases of Coors beer) to meet the delivery deadline and collect the $80,000 fee.  That wasn’t much different from the kid who played hooky from high school for a day with help from what seemed like the entire city of Chicago in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

It was a PG-rated movie and good entertainment.

Ted and I drove to Madison, WI today.  There’s only one rest stop on I-39 between Bloomington, IL and the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, bu-u-u-t, . . . at that rest stop, there’s a playground.  Ted and I took a break and enjoyed the swings.  Everyone else at the rest stop drove in, parked, used the rest room, and drove out, so there was no one to take a picture of both of us in the two swings.  I went almost high enough to break the tension in the chains.  Whee!  Ted was more cautious.

We spent about ten minutes on the swings and felt great when we finished.  Surprisingly, all of our muscles seemed looser.  We discovered, however, that with these new-fangled sling swings, you can’t jump off the swing–you have to stop and remove yourself safely from the sling.  It was more fun to jump off the old-fashioned board swings.

The free outdoor summer concert season is winding down.  Ted and I made a return visit to Beale Street (our least favorite concert venue) in St. Charles tonight for our second-last concert.  The street is a boulevard, with tall plantings in the center.  Marquis Knox was playing and singing the blues at one end of the block, centered on the street.  With all the plantings and the light poles, it’s hard to see the band.  Even worse, the venue is like an outdoor bar scene where people come to meet each other, have some food and drink, and talk, talk, talk.  Because the band’s volume didn’t burst our eardrums, it was difficult to enjoy the music over the noise of the chattering crowd.  What we could hear was our #2 favorite concert of the season.  (#1 was Dogs of Society.)

Marquis Knox is the soloist (center) and the others in the band are his back-up.  He learned the blues from his grandma, and she taught him well.  We would like to hear him play again, so we checked his website.  He has a lot of dates scheduled in the St. Louis area, so we’re not the only ones who think he’s good with the blues.

It was a perfect evening to sit outside, listening to music.  The outdoor seating at the Beale Street restaurants was filled.

Here’s Ted, ready for some blues.

Unfortunately, most people seemed to have come to visit with each other, rather than to hear the band.  Look at all of them standing in our line of sight to the stage.  This is during the concert.

The people ahead of us came prepared to amuse themselves.  The wooden slats on the ground were rolled up in the orange case under the man’s chair.

Attach four legs and two support pieces to the unrolled slats.

Presto!  A table!

With a beer for each of them and their Ultra Pro Dice Tray, they were ready for the concert.  They rolled dice for the entire two hours.

The concert was scheduled for 6:00-8:00 p.m., and sunset was at 7:14 p.m. tonight.  Surprisingly there were no floodlights for the band.  They performed with only the streetlights to showcase them in the dark.

Here’s Beale Street after dark.  It’s a great entertainment complex (stores, restaurants, bars, residences, movie theater, hotels, etc.), but not a great concert venue.  After the concert, Ted and I had dinner in a restaurant in the complex.

My favorite shoe store is having its big fall sale.  I had $60 in rewards plus a 15 percent discount, so I decided to get to the store on the first day of the sale (Friday) while the pickings were good.  I found two pairs of shoes that I liked, but wasn’t sure which color I wanted for one pair.  The salesman knows me well, so he offered to hold the shoes for me and to work out the details of the colors, rewards, discount, and payment by phone the following day.  He even offered to ship the shoes to me so I wouldn’t have to make the 30-minute drive back to the store.  I went home to check which colors I have in that style shoe and called him back the next morning with my decision.

While I was checking my shoes, I realized that I have half a dozen pairs piled up where they don’t belong because there is no space in my shoe storage areas (I have about 100 pairs of shoes), and now I’d bought two more pairs.  It was time to clean out my shoe inventory.  I threw away 18 pairs of shoes that were worn out, out of style, or haven’t been worn in several years.

The next day, (Saturday) was cool and rainy, so I decided to take my summer tank top shirts upstairs to my off-season storage closet (formerly the boys’ closet) and to bring down some three-quarter sleeved shirts and some jeans.  While I was doing that, it made sense to me to go through the shirts and to get rid of the ones I get out and put away each season, but haven’t worn for years.  That project expanded to going through all of my shirts (summer and winter), and then it expanded again to include the other clothes hanging in the closets.

With the closets cleaned out, I thought I should do the same with my cedar chest, where I store sweaters.  I used to wear a lot of sweaters, but then fleece was invented and I like it better than sweaters.  I now have 13 fewer sweaters.

The only things left to clean out were my dresser drawers and my jewelry box, so I forged ahead.  I figured I might as well finish the purge.  Do I really need to keep four old pairs of glasses that don’t have the correct prescription?

And what about all those bags I get as gifts when I buy things at various stores?  I threw out 16 bags and I still have at least a dozen to use for travel, etc.

It’s definitely true that you have to be in a pitching mood to get rid of stuff you don’t use.  I did well.  The picture below shows the folded clothes ready to put into the Goodwill box, as well as the costume jewelry and shoes headed for the trash can.  It doesn’t include the bags, the glasses, or the well-worn clothes that are already gone.

Ted and I are both happy with the cars we chose, but we wish they were smaller.  We’d both like all the nicer things about our new cars included in the size of our previous cars–my Celica and his Prius.

Today, Ted was washing my car when I went into the garage, and I was impressed by how “small” my car is when compared to his.

I asked if I’ll have to buy a full-size van next time to make his car look smaller.  He said no.  Whew!

Ted and I went back to Music on Main for the August performance in St. Charles.  Tonight’s band was Pepperland, playing a Beatles revue.  According to their website, Pepperland “plays songs of the Beatles in a new way while still paying tribute to the genius of the Fab Four.”  My critique:  They played very well, but they sure can’t sing!  That minor detail didn’t seem to bother any of them because, except for the bass guitarist, they all took turns enthusiastically singing Beatles’ favorites.  Maybe their singing style was their new way of performing Beatles music.

Historic Main Street welcomed us to the concert.

I’m not sure what was special about tonight, but the street included a balloon arch.  Pay no attention to that man in the corner.

Pepperland played lots of good Beatles tunes.

We’ve seen this couple dance at other concerts, and they perform like professionals–lots of dramatic dips and complicated turns.  They only dance for one song each time, so maybe they’re advertising dance lessons.  (His shirt had a company name on the back.)

And then, about an hour into the concert, I noticed a change in the sky.

The sky was blue in the north . . .

. . . but had a menacing cloud in the south.

I checked the radar and it didn’t look good.  The red dot indicates where we were sitting.

And then, . . . then there was rain.  Heavy rain.

I suspected trouble when I felt the gust front pass through and the temperature dropped.  The wind was strong enough to break Ted’s umbrella and to send all the balloons flying.

The band announced a 30-minute break and quickly covered their equipment.  There was a roof over them, so don’t worry about the uncovered drums.

(Most of) the audience packed up their chairs and ran for cover from the pouring rain.

Fifty minutes later, the band dried off their equipment . . .

. . . the little kid found a puddle . . .

. . . and about half of the audience returned for the remainder of the concert.  Good times!

Tonight’s outdoor concert was at O’Fallon Civic Park, about 15 minutes from our house.  It was a cloudy day and it started raining after 4:00 p.m., so Ted and I didn’t know if we’d go to the concert or not.  The rain stopped at 6:00, and the concert started at 6:30, so off we went.

This was probably the friendliest, most laid-back venue we’ve gone to.  The swimming pool closed for the season last Sunday, but there was a playground on the left side of the bandstand and a track around the park where we saw some people walking before settling in for the musical part of the evening.  It was a small crowd–maybe 500-600–but that was more than twice as many people as we saw at the Municipal Band concert.  There were actually five food trucks, as opposed to the two or three we’ve been seeing, and Ted opted for the wood-fired pizza.  It was delicious!  He asked the vendor if they also have a restaurant where we could enjoy more pizza.  He was told that, at this time, they have only the food truck, so I guess we’ll have to chase down the truck if we feel an urge for their pizza.

Here’s the bandstand and the early crowd.  Part of the walking track is visible across the center of the picture.

Some of the kids enjoyed the playground more than the music throughout the evening.

Tonight’s band was Platinum Rock Legends, self-described as “the most exotic and awesome rockers” in the Midwest.  Their theme is “Live the Legend.”  They obviously have a positive opinion of themselves.  The program tonight featured their supershow with a boy band tribute.

Live the Legend!

As soon as the band came onstage, Ted and I recognized the first dancer to hit the floor.  We had seen him at The Meadows concert in late July.  He swapped out his blue shirt for a white one and added a new dance move tonight:  on the fast songs, he double-timed his one-foot-other-foot step.  He had plenty of partners–a number of women sought him out and danced with him.

This guy literally danced to every beat of music for 2.5 hours.  I wonder how many calories he burns at concerts.

Tonight’s security force was Cops in Carts.  They toodled around the area a little bit, but were out of sight most of the time.

The crowd filled in nicely and so did the dance area.

That’s a sturdy little ice chest!

Platinum Rock Legends regularly sings covers for 20 rock legends, complete with signature costumes.  I lost count of how many we saw this evening.

Here’s Queen, singing “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.”

Michael Jackson had the best costume, but it was hard to see him.  PRL loves the smoke effect and regularly clouded the stage with it.

Of course Prince sang “Purple Rain.”

This is the first summer concert at which we’ve seen one of the performers go into the audience while singing.

Because of the rain, traffic on I-70 was slow and the band arrived a few minutes late.  To make up for it, they played past the scheduled 9:00 p.m. finish.  Because school starts tomorrow in O’Fallon, at 9:00 p.m. it was time to pack up the kids, take them home, and go to bed.  The audience was significantly smaller by 9:05.

When it’s time to go home, it’s time to go home.  It was another enjoyable concert for Ted and me.

Tonight’s free outdoor concert was at the Chesterfield Amphitheater–our second visit to this site.  So far, this is the nicest and largest venue we’ve attended for free music (seats 4,000 people) with the best bands.  The Chesterfield Parks Department must have a bigger budget and richer sponsors for their free programs.

The featured band tonight was Silver Bullet STL, presenting a Bob Seeger tribute.  Prior to the main act, we were entertained by Boy, a singer / keyboard player.  He was a lot better than Ricky Kiel, who entertained us while we waited for Dogs of Society two weeks ago.  Boy won’t be ready to headline for awhile yet, but at least people sort of listened to him–more than they did while Ricky Kiel performed.

Bob Seeger music apparently attracts a different kind of crowd than Elton John music.  For starters, while we were in line to enter tonight, the lady behind us (clean-cut, our age) told her friend she’s waiting for Missouri to legalize marijuana so we can just bring it in.  (It’s on the ballot.)  At the security entry check, lawn chair bags had to be removed to make the contents visible.  Compare that to the EJ concert, when a quick squeeze of the bag to verify the feel of a lawn chair was sufficient.  In addition, some of Chesterfield’s finest were milling around, and there were more security people at the stage.  Ted and I didn’t notice any problems, so all the security people earned easy money tonight.

Boy sang some nice, mellow songs and has a decent voice.

It was a perfect night to be outdoors, and the crowd filled in quickly.  We saw people from babies to baby boomers–not just old folks like at the St. Charles Municipal Band concert last week.

Security was twice as tight as last time–two guys looking bored.

Of course, there were several beach balls going around.

Silver Bullet STL takes the stage.  They were loud!!!!  We were in the 5th row and the sound was nearly painful.  They  played all my favorite Bob Seeger songs.  My Number One Favorite?  “Old Time Rock and Roll,” of course!

It took 15-20 minutes for people to start dancing.  There was always room to dance–not like the Elton John concert when the dancers could only sway in place.

I think the lady on the right recorded the entire show.  Her arms were probably numb when she went home.

Here’s a view of the stage from the back of the amphitheater.  We were w-a-a-a-y in the front center.

For years, Ted and I have seen notices of free summer music and always said, “We should go,” but we didn’t.  Why did we wait so long to enjoy these beautiful evenings and free concerts?

Ted’s new car (December) was injured in the parking lot by a hit-and-run driver.

The car is scheduled for restorative surgery in the car hospital (body shop) next Monday.  Can you believe this is a five-day job to repair??!!

In my recent Beach Boys post, I included this photo.

The big screen onstage showed 1960s video clips during the performance.  A vintage car was parked on the right side of the stage.

My brother, Tom, sent me an email with some information about the vintage car.  He said it wasn’t “a ’30 Ford wagon and we call it a woodie,” but might be a “Little deuce coupe / You don’t know what I got.”

Well said, Tom.

Tonight, Ted and I went out-of-state for an outdoor summer concert in Alton, IL.  The Beach Boys performed at the Liberty Bank Amphitheater on the east bank of the mighty Mississippi.  We made three major river crossings on our eastward route to arrive at the concert–twice across the Missouri because it flows north and then turns toward the south again, and once across the Mississippi.  After having beautiful summer evenings for all of our free concerts, we had drizzle on and off during this entire concert–the only one we paid for!

This is what the weather radar looked like when we arrived (left) and when the concert ended (right).  The red arrow indicates Alton, IL.  It was a damp evening.

I was hoping the concert would be postponed, but the amphitheater website said all concerts are rain or shine with absolutely no refunds or exchanges.  So there!  It rained more heavily in the afternoon, but decreased to intermittent drizzle during the evening.  Adding to the discomfort, the temperature was in the mid-60s all day and evening, although the normal high at this time of year is 89 degrees.  We put on jeans and long-sleeved shirts with our waterproof hiking shoes, gathered umbrellas and waterproof jackets and pants, then headed for Alton.

You’d never know it’s July in St. Louis by the way this crowd is dressed.

In spite of the weather, it’s summer (at least on the calendar) and the Beach Boys exemplify summer music, so here we are.

We’re in the right place–the big screen says “The Beach Boys.”

We were early enough to pick the best available lawn seats–where the hill was steep enough to see the band over the future umbrellas that would be in front of us.

That’s the Mississippi River in the background.  It flows west to east past Alton.

The big screen onstage showed 1960s video clips during the performance.  A vintage car (not a woodie) was parked on the right side of the stage.

As we looked around, Ted said the umbrellas reminded him of the Balloon Fiesta we attended in Albuquerque last October.  Compare and decide.

This Beach Boys tour is called “Now and Then” and features the 1960s Beach Boys’ music as well as their more current songs.  Mike Love is the only remaining member of the original Beach Boys performing with the group.  He should have quit a long time ago, because his voice is long gone and his range is minimal.  I’m not exaggerating when I say Ted would have done a better job singing the lyrics than Mike Love did–no insult intended toward Ted.  Mike’s son, Christian, is one of the vocalists, and he sounded good when they let him sing lead on one song.  They should have let him sing lead for the entire concert.

The band started playing together in 1961.  When Ted and I heard they’re still going strong after more than 50 years, we looked at each other and said, “They’re still working?”

Presentiinnngggg The Beach Boys!  Does it feel weird to still be a “boy” after 57 years?

That’s Mike Love in the center (vest) and Christian Love on the right (white jacket).

A few brave people were dressed in colorful beachwear (not swimsuits tonight), but most were bundled up.  There were at least a half dozen beach balls bobbing around all evening.

The weather was crummy, but the concert was good, and the beat is still that familiar Beach Boys’ summer sound.  Prior to and following tonight’s performance, a mix tape of 60s songs was playing.  As we left the amphitheater, the song we heard was “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”  The concert was good and so was the hot shower when we got home.

Tonight, Ted and I went to the free concert at Chesterfield Amphitheater to hear Dogs of Society, an Elton John tribute band.  (“So goodbye, yellow brick road / Where the dogs of society howl. . .”)  They.  Were.  Great.

This is from the band’s website, and that’s exactly what I said to Ted after the concert and before I even looked at the website.

As we headed for the concert, the weather radar looked like this.  The rain went just northeast of Chesterfield.  Whew!

Tonight was our first visit to this venue.  It was really nice.  We sat in the center front section on the fixed chairs, although we had our lawn chairs with us, just in case the limited number of fixed chairs was filled.

As we’ve seen at the other summer concerts, security was tight.  (Or at least present.)

Unfortunately, the warm-up act was “special guest” Ricky Kiel.  These guys need a lot more warming up themselves before they can be “special.”  I don’t think anyone (except their attending family members, if any) paid attention to them during the 30 minutes they played.

If the start of the dancing indicates the quality of the band (see my “Music at the Meadows” and “Music on Main” posts), Dogs of Society wins.  This guy was ready to dance 30 minutes before the concert began.

. . . And then Dogs of Society came onstage.  They played nonstop Elton John music for 2.5 hours!

When Jeff was still living at home, I remember having a discussion with him about how many notes it takes to recognize a song.  (Think Name That Tune.)  I said I can name some songs after one note, but Jeff insisted that was impossible.  To give him the benefit of the doubt, he was younger then, so maybe he didn’t know as many songs or hadn’t heard them often enough to recognize them that quickly.  I can recognize quite a few songs by the opening chord, and I’m not the only one who can do that.  Dogs of Society played the single opening note of “Bennie and the Jets” and then just waited for the applause to die down, because the entire crowd knew which song was coming next.

“Sir Elton” claimed he only wears this jacket when he plays Elton John’s music.

This couple wore their E.J.-style eyewear.

People started dancing during the first song, but when “Crocodile Rock” and “Saturday Night’s Alright” came up, there were so many dancers, there wasn’t room to do anything except bounce in place.  Before starting “Pinball Wizard,” the band members sent four silver beach balls into the crowd to mingle with the other beach balls already going around.  One is in the upper center of the photo.

What a concert!  Ted and I wanted to hear Elton John in Las Vegas last fall, but he wasn’t in town on the same days we were.  This concert was definitely the next best thing–and it was free, not $400+ per ticket for the cheap seats in Vegas.  Seriously, I think Dogs of Society could play Las Vegas.  Another great evening of summer music and the best so far!

Tonight’s free summer concert was at The Meadows, an outdoor shopping mall in Lake St. Louis.  Ted and I invited our friends, Mike and Liz, to join us and the four of us had a good time together.

The  venue was the center circle of the mall, which features a clock tower and several sculptures of cattails.

Because of the plantings around the circle, it was hard to get a good crowd shot.  The food trucks were behind the cattail sculpture in the left center and that entire street (about a block long), plus part of the street on the right were filled with people in lawn chairs.

Music was provided by Vote 4 Pedro, described on their Facebook page as “a St. Louis wedding band.”  Here’s what V4P has to say about themselves.  Don’t you think they ought to stick with one way to spell the name of their group?

Here’s the band.  None of the musicians is named Pedro.

They were good!  The only down time between songs was the girl singer saying “Thank you, Lake St. Louis,” before she moved into the next song, apparently without taking a breath.  Evidence of their good beat was that people started dancing on the first song, unlike Music on Main when it took an hour and half of the two-hour concert to get people dancing.

This guy started dancing when the first note was played, and he never missed a song for the entire two hours.  This is pretty much his only dance move, unless you count doing the same thing with his other foot.  He had energy, though, and smiled all the while he danced.

Raise your hand if you see a resemblance between Fletch (Chevy Chase) and Dancer Guy (above).

This little girl lip synced every song and really had some good dance moves.

We sat beside a family of 15 who brought dinner for everyone in their group.

The “dance floor” went about one-third of the way around the circle–wherever there wasn’t a lawn chair–because so many people were dancing.

It was another good night of summer music.  Next concert:  Saturday night.  Tune in for the update.

Tonight’s summer outdoor concert was in historic downtown St. Charles and featured Serapis, a St. Charles garage band.  They really started in a garage more than 30 years ago and bill themselves as a “classic American band.”  Wikipedia told me the cult of Serapis was introduced during the third century B.C. on the orders of Pharaoh Ptolemy I as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm.  I doubt if the band is a cult trying to unify the people.  I think in this case it means “old guys with guitars, drums, and a keyboard.”

The music included rock, blues, reggae, and cover hits and was really nice.  Because St. Charles has noise ordinances, they could only play the music loud, not at ear-splitting levels.   Personally, I liked it better than the tremor-inducing volume of Superjam last week.  The weather was beautiful for outdoor music, and the music was good, with lots of variety among the band’s different musical genres.  It was another wonderful summer evening with Ted.

This.  Is.  Serapis.  Look behind the guitarist on the right to check out the drummer’s beard.  It was more than halfway to his waist.

Two blocks of the street were closed to traffic and the entire space was filled with people–a good crowd.

At a street concert, this is what front-row seating looks like–footrest included.

Security was pretty casual.  The horse on the right probably had to rest his feet and his back after the concert.

The restroom sign pointed to the next block.  Ted thought that might mean “use the river” which borders the next block.

During the band’s break, it was time for the groupies to chat with the band members.  This is a St. Charles band–they probably all went to school together, and the band probably plays at every class reunion.

It took an hour and a half of the two-hour concert for the band (or the beer) to loosen up the crowd enough to start dancing.

When that wooden suitcase-type thing was open, it was a small picnic table with four attached seats.  Cool!

After the concert, Ted and I went out for dinner and had another summertime favorite for dessert:  Fritz’s ice cream.  Ted splurged on a banana split.

Ted and I decided to make this summer the year we attend outdoor concerts.  We’re off to a slow start because of my colonoscopy complications (including two flare-ups/setbacks after I came home from the hospital), but we finally attended our first summer concert this evening and have three more planned for July.  Tonight’s band was a local group from St. Charles:  Superjam.

Here’s the band in a promo photo.

This is the band’s mission statement (from their website).  Very lofty, very Rock with a capital R (see the first line), and complete with a spelling error in the second line.

Here’s Superjam at work, performing from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Streets of St. Charles complex.

The block-long street was filled with people walking around and sitting in lawn chairs.

To serve the crowd, restaurants in the complex served food and drinks from under tents set up along the sidewalks.

It was a beautiful summer evening, the music was loud and rocking, and the crowd was mellow.  (Don’t read anything into that–this is St. Charles, MO.)  Ted and I had a good time and went out for dinner afterwards.  Next outdoor concert:  “Music on Main” in downtown St. Charles July 18.

There are 1,000 homes in our subdivision.  Ted and I estimate that one in ten households shoots fireworks on the Fourth of July, producing the sound of 100 fireworks shows, although distance and volume vary.  Ted and I went up to the lake (higher ground than our house) to watch the fireworks in the subdivision for about 45 minutes.  The ka-booms began around 8:30 and are sure to continue through midnight.  There was a lot of money set afire, but the show was nice and there weren’t any parking problems.  Happy Independence Day!

The finale.  It’s bright enough to light the lake and the entire neighborhood.

Ted and I both loved Hawai’i.  We agree that, if there were only one more place that we could choose to visit, it would be Hawai’i.  While we were there, we toured a tropical flower nursery near Hana, Mau’i.  Ted apparently paid close attention to the fact that the nursery ships tropical flowers anywhere, because he ordered some for me for Mother’s Day.

This is what I found on the porch after the FedEx man left.

I opened the box and found a card wishing me Aloha and love from Ted from Hana.

Under the tissue and a layer of damp shredded newspaper, I found these flowers.

Removing more damp shredded paper revealed two more layers of flowers and leaves.

I wish I were more artistic so I could do justice to Ted’s gift, but this is my best effort.

We learned at the nursery that many tropical “flowers” are actually the leaves of the plants.  Because of that, they are very hardy (they feel almost like heavy wax) and last a long time.  I’m looking forward to many days of having a little part of Paradise in St. Peters.  Thank you, Ted.  I love you so much, and a gift as wonderful and thoughtful as this tells me the feeling is mutual.  We are richly blessed in so many ways, aren’t we?

When we were in Hawai’i in January, we bought two sculptures.  There were quite a few similar pieces to choose from and, because the artist created each one from hand-blown glass, no two were exactly alike.  It took repeated visits to the store to select the ones we liked best.  Recent pictures of the eruptions of Kilauea verify that the artist accurately envisioned his finished work.

Here’s an aerial view of Kilauea erupting from fissures.

Here’s our sculpture titled “Fissure.”

This is a photo of a fountain in an  eruption.

This is our sculpture titled “Eruption.”  Compare its shape to the fountain in the actual volcano.

It’s time to sign up for our next Pilates session.  Imagine our surprise when we opened the website and saw a picture of us as the current example of what the class offers.

For the exercise in the photo, we have resistance bands (green) around our legs and we need to open and close our knees 40 times, keeping our feet and the rest of our bodies on the floor.  If you’re not in shape, your inner thighs will tell you within 2-3 hours.  Ted is in the front (red shirt) and I’m in the blue shirt.  The teacher is in the upper left.  There were more people in the class, but I guess they didn’t all fit in the picture.  We’d forgotten that we signed consents for this photo 1-2 years ago.

Yesterday, Ted and I drove to the Lake of the Ozarks for my birthday dinner at Bentley’s.  It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and it looks like spring might actually come to Missouri.  The grass was green, the budding leaves gave the trees a green tinge, and the redbuds were in full bloom all along the 150-mile route.

Unfortunately, our drive from home to the restaurant was filled with highway adventures.  Due to a tractor-trailer fire a few days ago, the service road along I-70 was closed, so eastbound access to I-70 was not possible at “our” interchange.  It didn’t affect us when we left westbound, and we knew about it in advance, so we took a different exit to get home.  It was early rush hour when we left home, but we knew that too, and it was no big deal.  Then we got to a mile-long back-up on I-70 for an accident on the other side!!!  Our back-up was just the looky-loos watching the accident; it was much longer on the other side because some of the eastbound lanes were closed.  After that, there were some early season construction zones that slowed us down.

The big event of the day, however, was the reconstruction of the exit ramp at Kingdom City where we turn to go south to the Lake.  The westbound exit was closed and detoured.  It took us more than 20 minutes to make our exit and turn so we could continue on our way.  After creeping our way along the detour route, we finally reached US-54 and, in spite of the installation of a traffic light, it was still difficult to make a left turn at the corner to join the southbound traffic.

The traffic coming from the north was backed up. . .

. . . and the traffic back-up continued on the south side of the intersection.  The actual exit ramp (when it’s open) joins I-70 and US-54 way down at the McDonald’s sign on the left.

We called the restaurant to re-schedule our reservation, and had no more traffic problems.  Some other drivers did, though.  The State Patrol was out in full force (end of the month?) and we saw four cars stopped, presumably for speeding.

Our waiter delivered our glasses of wine quickly so we could immediately begin relaxing, and our dinner was wonderful.  It was definitely worth the drive–even with the traffic hassles.

Just looking at the Lake of the Ozarks and seeing trees in bloom was a treat.

Our drive home was uneventful and I think my 2018 birthday season is now at an end.  It was a good seven-week run.

. . . And how you pictured 70 at 40. . . . And how I picture about 210 now.

I love having my birthday on the first day of spring–even if the wind chill was 24 degrees when I got up this morning.  Google and Snoopy are celebrating with me.