The downside of F O O T B A L L and other stuff!

Yesterday presented all the perfect parts of a great high school football day!  It was Friday, the sun was shining, the temperature hovered around 55, and with my Cheboygan High School Athletic Fund donation comes my own reserved parking place and my personal section of the press box!  Perfect!  That is until the Escanaba Eskimos ran onto the field!  First of all who would name a team the Eskimos????  Nothing personal toward any authentic Eskimos but really?????  And I know it gets cold with lots of snow but really?????  (After watching them play for a bit, Emily decided they were a "prison" team!  And I agree!)  Then to make matters worse...I think the referees came from Escanaba too!  They were ALL blind to the rules like roughing the kicker, personal fouls, illegal motion, false starts, and trust me, I could go on!  But the big one that got my attention and my concern and my over the top anger was a face mask penalty by #62, UNCALLED, that pulled the helmet off of Garrett Lindgren!  That's enough!  Emily gets very upset when I scream and "hollar" because she's a teacher and has an image to project, but yesterday I told her I was a grandmother and of an age when I didn't care what anyone thought of my image (like I ever did)!  So the shouting began!  And keep in mind I'm up in the press box with the window open, right next to the announcers.  Do you think I could be heard?  My favorite two word "shout-out" was "KILL 'EM"!  Well, enough said.  You get the picture.  Garrett has a concussion and will be on the sidelines until the doctor releases him.  He's not happy at all because that boy just really loves to play football!  And I came home and created a #62 "voodoo" doll out of aluminum foil, and I called the penalties!  Years ago when the children were young I adopted the ever popular mindset that when you hurt my children, you hurt me and you have stepped over the line!  That feeling pales in comparison when you hurt my grandchildren.  With my grandchildren, there is no line!  Back off and leave 'em alone!  Cheboygan JV football lost to the Eskimos 21 - 0.
OK, it's Saturday morning now, and Garrett feels fine but is still upset about the "sidelining"!  Thank you Lord for watching out for him!

I do want to tell you about two good things that happened last week.
The first one is I hired a company to come and wash all my windows inside and out, and they came Wednesday!  Oh my gosh!  I am so happy!  I love clean windows I didn't have to clean!  I have 53 windows in my home!  A team of six arrived at 8am and were gone by 10am!  I would have still been cleaning windows (if I had started)!  Thank you Lord for people who know what they're doing!
Secondly, ever since I moved to Topinabee (and several years before I got here), there has been a little victorian cottage for sale right in the middle of beautiful downtown Topinabee.  I finally asked my son-in-law Brett (the candy man but also a real estate agent) to show it to me.  He kind of ignored me so after summer was over I asked him if he thought ignoring my request would make me forget it.  He smiled.  I promised him if he showed it to me and it was horrible, I would remove it from my mind and never say another word about it.  Well, he showed it to me.  It was worse than horrible!  Black mold on the walls, the hardwood floors were so warped, doors would not open inside the house, the smell was overwhelming, and Brett and I both thought we would be sick if we didn't leave immediately.  We saw what we could and trust me when I say...I'll never say another word about it.  It does hurt my heart though that people would let a beautiful home become so neglected.  It was very nearly falling in on itself.  Thank you Brett and thank you Lord!

Well, as I have been writing this, I have been baking a pineapple upside-down cake.  It's done and looks beautiful.  Taking it to dinner with friends this evening.  And now I must close as it's 11:44am.

GO CARDS!!!

               

F O O T B A L L!!!!!!

As many of you know, I L O V E football!  Michigan grandson Garrett has already begun playing JV football for his high school, and I have already made my annual donation to the Cheboygan High School Athletic Fund so I can sit in my warm and dry press box for each game.  Yea Me!!!!  At the beginning of each game, they play our National Anthem.  Tears always come to my eyes.  Is it because I'm old and my emotional nerves are closer to the top of my skin or is it that as well as being older, I am much better informed about life and the situations our country finds itself in?  (I'm sure that's a run-on, complex, or just plain poor sentence, but you get my drift!)  Anyway, I do love to hear the band play it and the crowd give its' best effort to sing it!

Since I live in northern Michigan, it's not often I can watch U of L play football on our local TV stations.  The first game of the season was broadcast on ESPN so we did see that one, but last week's game was on ESPN3 so we were gathered around the laptop for the "streaming" thing!  It was a small screen but great playing.  One thing I miss about watching the games on TV is you miss the pre-game and half-time shows.  Well, MISS THEM NO MORE!!!!!  My amazing friend, Ray Kirkland, is videoing (word ??) the band performances, and you can find them on YouTube!  Go to YouTube, enter Ray Kirkland and search for the game date and watch and listen as Steve Kirkland, the Official Voice of the University of Louisville Cardinal Marching Band hosts these performances.  It's wonderful!  I'm sorry last week's half-time show didn't include EKU's performance so I could have watched for my friend, Kelsay!  That would have been awesome!  But I know his mom and dad were there and enjoyed his performance...not so much the heat!!! I love watching the band perform.  Talented friend Amy is also on the field as she is the marching band director.  Amy, Steve and Kelsay are only 3 of the inspirational young people who are making a huge difference in our world.  I'm sure each of you know many more, so always give them a big "shout out" when thanking God for role models!  And as always, Ray is there to add his expertise to any and all events!

I've spent the last three weeks with guests from Kentucky visiting.  It's been a blast!  Tomorrow Rick and Barbara and Julie and Phillip head south, and I am left wishing their stay had been longer.  In mid-October I'll have my last visitors for the year (unless any of you out there want to head this way).  I love having company and when they leave I anxiously await the next group.

The leaves are beginning to turn here.  I've spotted them in the trees.  The temperatures are definitely cooler and there's that "fall" smell in the air!  What is that smell?  You know, when the gentle breeze or mighty wind passes by your nose and leaves behind that crisp (cool), tangy (apples), smokey (camp fires burning), musty (dried leaves), and burnt sugar (toasted marshmallows) smell!  (It's that memory smell thing again!)  Don't you love it?

Peace be with all of you!  xxoo

Prayers still needed for EE and CH and Trish.  Please and thank you!

OH MY GOSH - I completely forgot to tell you something.  The Preacher called me!!!!!!!!  That's a story for another time!