Back to Normal

Happy Saturday morning. Well, well, I’ve completed what will probably be my final ‘volunteer’ journey for the year. Like the previous ones, I loved it and learned a bit to boot.

One of my brothers said that after my “Kentucky Bourbon Experience tasting” stint I should now volunteer to serve communion at a nearby mega-church. Hmmmm.

But currently, I’ll sit back, grab a coffee, and put my feet up while listening to some tunes. I somehow got caught up listening to this little number and now can’t get it outa my mind. Here it is, for you to enjoy!

Millenia old ‘dad’ jokes – Since I started off on a good note, let’s continue. And yes, puns and ‘groaners’ have popped up here and there going way back throughout time. I thought it might be fun to post a ‘dad’ joke from the Roman times. Here goes:

A Roman walks into a bar. Lays down on an empty pillow and holds up two fingers and says, “Five beers, please!”

Get it?
Groaning?
No? Answer found at the bottom of the Ramblings.

Boats heading home – The majestic steamboats boats finished up Sunday evening. Boilers stoked up, Calliopes’ pumping out tune favorites, they made one final parade upriver and turned back. At our riverfront they were welcomed one final time, all aglow in lights as fireworks lit the sky.

Block Party – I nearly forgot, but yes, this year our neighborhood did hold our annual block party. And as usual one of the streets was blocked off, a massive grill was lit, lots of side dishes and desserts emerged, and for the first time we had live music.

Since Marcia and I moved from our home on Red Bud we noticed that the area has filled up with little tykes – the cycle of life. We were sought out by the new owners of our old home (they moved in last August). They just had to gush about their pure love of the place – they adore it! It absolutely made our afternoon.

These events, simple as they are, always strike a warm chord.

Halloween Decorations – have already sprung up. Some very subtle, some way over the top. Since I walk a fair bit through all our nearby neighborhoods I’ve started to both inventory and rate these homes as the decorations spring up from their home in basements/attics/or garages. To date, here is my winning home entry. It’s in adjacent St. Bernard, a village where they always go all out for each and every holiday.

HUGE – This coming, Tuesday can’t come soon enough. The reason being that Kirstin gave both Adrianne and me an early Christmas gift. “And the reason,” you ask? It turns out that an amazing performer will be in town, and we each have a ticket to see him (great seats to boot).

We’ll spend an evening seeing Jon Batiste at concert in our Taft Theater. In case you didn’t know, Batiste plays about six instruments, sings, and performs everything from classical piano, R&B, Jazz, hints of Country, Gospel, and can even do some Rap. Oh, and he composes much of what he plays and sings. He’s about as good as it gets.

Batiste holds a Masters in Music from the Juilliard School and has “seven Grammy Awards from 22 nominations, including an Album of the Year win for We Are (2021)”. You might remember his rendition of the National Anthem he sang at Super Bowl 59. Yes, he’s truly about as good as it gets.

Upon getting the news, Adrianne swooned. Me? I skipped a heartbeat. THANKS Kirstin!

St. Bernard – I mentioned the village because it’s also the place where our nearest Dairy Queen is located. As a walk-up, it only serves ice cream and this past week shut down for the season. Just think a mere 120 days till its re-opening (also about the time everything else breaks out in bloom)

The other – and maybe main reason I mention the DQ closing/opening cycle statistic is that yesterday it was World Statistics Day as designated by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2010.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

Groaner answer: Customer wants 5 beers; remember it’s in Rome: 5 = ‘V’ (2-fingers make a ‘V’)

BONUS POINTS:

A new Stanford Medicine-led study shows that premature babies — born at least three weeks early – when exposed to recordings of the mothers speaking, a total of 2 hours and 40 minutes a day promoted development of …………… In other words, there was a recognizable boost in their……….

1) “language-center development”
2) “breathing & early lung functioning”
3) “body’s ability to deal with jaundice”
4) “sleeping patterns”
5) “initial eye contact with the parent”
6) “improved feeding suckling strength”