A happy Saturday morning to everyone, a little late, but then we didn’t get home till close to the midnight hour. Had a coffee prior to the drive home, and here I am, drinking the stuff again.

More about last evening’s event below, but here’s a (very) short YouTube to give you a hint. This was a piece of the encore part of the performance:

Chaos & Mayhem – yes it continues. This week I looked across the street and noticed the fire-hydrant lying in the middle of the sidewalk. There’d been no noise, no busted car, just the plug. It was a stealth thing.

Tuesday morning I received this from the city: “Thank you for contacting the Cincinnati Customer Service Request System. Your request has been entered into the system and has been routed to the appropriate agency for action.” As of this morning the hydrant is still in the middle of the sidewalk, only now a small piece of yellow “Caution Police” tape has been attached.

Break Time – Adrianne and Tevita needed both a bit of a break and also some time to work on the condo. Opa Dirk to the rescue. First, it was Vai, Vili, and Opa who went to see our local Madcap Puppet Theater perform The Wizard of Oz.

These folk are amazing, two young ladies acted out all the well-known Oz characters in front of an audience of about 200 and kept everyone captivated – kids as young as Vili and younger, kids creeping towards teen-hood (think Vai), and even Q-tip characters (think Opa Dirk). Fun time!

But there was more. The performance lasted just an hour so I needed to cover some more time. The Park! And with Spring in the air that was the perfect place. Here was climbing stuff, a Zip line, a 15-story observation tower, and more; all designed to ‘suck’ the excess energy right out of young bodies. It was a blast.

Over the Rhine – It’s been years that we’ve been following Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler who are the husband and wife team making up Over the Rhine (named after having spent their early together years on Main street in our town’s iconic Over the Rhine neighborhood).

Last evening they threw a CD Release (titled: Love & Revelation) concert at the historic Murphy Theater in the little town of Wilmington, Ohio. Considering that the place filled up I was more than pleased that Marcia and I found ourselves in row three.

Linford’s lyrics have always been great. Now, after thirty years performing and writing together, their current stuff is delightful. And their concert was brilliant (as my British friends would say).

After the performance there was a little time for a ‘greet-and-meet’ and off we went. Since they live on a farm I thought posing as American Gothic was apropos.

The way home experienced the last of our ‘weather’. Meaning, we were buffeted about by the wind the whole trip. Driving south on I-71 we have to cross the Jeremiah Morrow bridge over the Little Miami River gorge. The bridge is 2200 feet long and about 240-feet above the river and the winds were strong enough so that we noted a Semi slow way down to a ‘blinker-on’ speed as we crossed.

The Bomb-Cyclone – At first I thought that I was listening to some more ‘weather-weenie’ jargon with this Bomb-Cyclone stuff. Wrong, it was for real. Looking at the weather maps on screen I believe that they grabbed any color they could find on their color-chart.

Thursday began with some rain. Then the temperature began to climb towards the day’s high of 72. Soon the sun broke through and it was a lovely day. Then, in about an hour the rains came, soon every cell in the city (except mine since I refuse to give Google my location) was screeching a Tornado warning. Then we heard the sirens, so I knew it was for real.

Within minutes we could not see across the street for rain. The winds were being clocked gusting at approaching 70-mph. and even at our corner of Chaos and Mayhem traffic stopped totally. In the mist no car was visible, just a small glimmer of their headlights.

Yesterday, no sign that we’d even had rain. But, the temperature had dropped into the low forties. Nevertheless, I noticed buds on a Weeping Willow tree and some of the early spring flowers are blooming. I think we’ve turned the corner.

Finis – Yesterday Kirstin, Derek, and Kellen were at the airport at 4:00 am. Last evening close to midnight she and I were texting; me at home and she from O’ahu, Hawaii after a safe trip – aloha!

Derek (and his fellow Tubies) were the lucky ones. All band members had to bring their instruments. Woodwinds were instructed to not check in their instruments, but do carry-on. Then the Tubas; they were told to just bring their mouthpieces and that the instruments would be provided in Hawaii.

Kids are pliable and flexible; nevertheless, the leg room on the equipment provided for an 8-hour flight is totally REDICULOUS! Major fail United Airlines!

My calendar just notified me that it’s time for me to cancel my Serius.XM radio subscription and then to renegotiate next years plan at their reduced rate. They have such a horrible business model.

Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day:

” One night, Mrs. O’shaughnessy answers the door to see her husband’s best friend, Paddy, standing on the doorstep.
“Hello Paddy, but where is me husband? He went with you to the beer factory.”
Paddy shook his head. “Ah Mrs. O’shaughnessy, there was a terrible accident at the beer factory, your husband fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned.”
Mrs. O’shaughnessy starts crying uncontrolably. “Oh don’t tell me that, did he at least go quickly?”
Paddy shakes his head. “Not really – he got out three times to pee!”

Do well and make it a safe week.
Ciao
Dirk