Tomorrow, October 26, is Dear Husband’s birthday. He isn’t much for celebrating birthdays, but that doesn’t matter. His daughter is orchestrating a big surprise for him. He thinks she’s going to take him to play Bingo. She asked him how he’d like to celebrate, and he quietly mentioned Bingo and shuffleboard. Personally, I think she SHOULD take him to play Bingo. Maybe next time he’d give a more reasonable answer when someone asks him what he wants to do! *G*
Sunday, the kids and I, Elegante Mother and Frankie, will take him to dinner at noon, at a favorite Italian place. What he doesn’t know is that extended family and friends have been invited to the house for coffee and dessert when we return from dinner. I have to see to beverages, plates and napkins, and cleaning the house. My step-daughter is taking care of everything else. It was a deal I couldn’t turn down.
Dare I tell you which birthday this is? Nah…..I’ll be a good wife. Go ask Frankie, (my sister). Maybe she’ll tell you! *G*

Elegante Mother and I go to an exercise class three days a week. We started this tradition about seven years ago, when I wanted to help her get ready for a trip to the Chelsea Garden Show in England. I was concerned that she needed to be prepared for a long day on her feet, so off we went to exercise.
Three years ago we had a change of instructors. We didn’t quite know what to expect. This new leader had a back round in Asian exercise forms, and we were exposed to Tai Chi for the first time. I have to tell you that our Dragon Lady has grown on us, and I hate to miss a class with her. She’s become our exercise “guru.”
Unfortunately, our guru’s mother is seriously ill, and she needed to find a substitute for several weeks. She had all but one day covered, and she asked if I would do the class for her. My response was….”If it’s a case of no class, or my leading the class, I’ll do it.”
Dragon Lady gave me an outline of the music and which exercises she does to them, and a copy of the music. I’ve had it for two weeks, easily. Each day, I listened to some of the music, and started counting the beats to see how many repetitions of the exercises we would need to do. I think this is where I have to tell you about my bad habit of leaving things until the last moment…
Last night I finished planning the number of repeats for the exercises, and then started to write the movements on poster-board, so that I would have a “cheat sheet.” I finally finished close to midnight. It would have been MUCH wiser to get this done earlier so that I could have had a good night’s sleep, but I am a confirmed procrastinator, I’m afraid.
Dear Husband woke me at 5:00 this morning. I showered and dressed, read for a bit, answered some e-mail and had a banana before it was time to leave for class. I took extra music for those who come early to walk, and got the room set up.
I was beginning to get a little nervous, and the term “flop sweat” flashed through my brain. Right on time, I welcomed the class and told them I hoped they would all help to make the day a success. And it was!
Despite a few miss-cues, we got through the session. The class chortled when I stood still at one point and asked…”What the heck does THAT mean?” in reference to a description of an exercise on the cheat sheet. I was astonished at how fast the time passed. I decided that we would use the Tai Chi balls rather than poles for the arm exercises, and inadvertently saved myself from the class pranksters. They had rolls of duct tape and masking tape, and were planning on taping me to the poles and stuffing me in a closet. Neener, neener, neener!
The class was very supportive. They worked hard, and had kind things to say when we had finished. I have GREAT respect for Dragon Lady, who can do this, facing the class, cuing us to travel left when SHE is actually traveling right. And, she can do it without notes! My hat’s off to her. I’ll be very glad when she is able to return to us.
I plan to maintain my “Apprentice Guru” status, but I hope that it will be a long time before I do this again.

Well…at least on my part. The girls may be a little disgruntled.
My nieces’s marching band came in third at State! Of course, they were hoping for second, or even better…first. They won third last year too, and expected to keep moving up the ladder. In fact, they did. Their score this year was even better than last.
It’s really tough to convince teenagers that there is honor in placing anywhere other than first. I wish they could have seen the entire field of ten bands compete. They would have been so amazed at the competition, and they might have felt better about their standing.
We left the western suburbs of Chicago shortly after 5:00 a.m. The trip to Indianapolis took us less than five hours. With an early stop for lunch outside of town, and crossing a time zone, we were at the ticket booth of the RCA Dome by noon their time. The class C competition started at 1:05.
I was blown away by the performances! It’s astonishing what 70 to 138 kids can accomplish in three and a half months. The uniforms were incredible, the music was thrilling. The pageantry of the flags and rifle work stirs your soul. Each performance was spectacular, and I feel blessed to have been able to see all of them, not just my nieces.
What a memory these kids will have.

We think that we have hit that time when our egrets and herons take off for their winter homes. We’ve been watching for the past week, and have seen just one heron. An armada of geese have taken over the pond where we see the egrets in the morning, so we think the egrets have taken wing.
We’re always sad to see them go, but my driving should improve, now that I’m not rubbernecking to see those lovely birds!

Saturday morning at O:dark:thirty, we will be heading for Indianapolis to watch our nieces compete in the Indiana State Music Association high school marching band competition. Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I will roll out early to make the trip. It’s down to crunch time.
I know that kids will look at you squirrelly if you tell them that it’s an honor to be selected to go to state competition. They feel that you are preparing them for a bad score, but that’s really NOT the case. Only ten bands in Class C will have the chance to go to Indianapolis tomorrow to compete in the Marching Band competition. The kids in those ten bands, and the parents, and the band directors and the staff worked their BUTTS off to get there. It’s not an insignificant achievement.
Trying to convince the kids that going is reward enough is made more difficult because their band earned sixth place three years ago, fifth place two years ago and third last year. Every single one of those kids are wondering: “Will we be second this year? First??”
There’s no way to predict what will happen. At Regionals they were one of five bands chosen to go to State despite the fact that their sound board died just as the band took the field. They must have done something right to overcome the difficulties. With attitude like that, anything could happen. I don’t think this band is going to be overconfident. They’ve watched their competition, and they know it’s going to be tough.
When the competition is over, you’ll be likely to see one band scored higher than the others, and then several will be clumped together, with scores that are hundredths of a point apart. Part of the band director’s job is to help the kids understand the honor of going. He has to validate the effort they put into the past four months regardless of their score.
He won’t have to make any effort on my part. I’m blown away by what these kids have done, and wish I could have been there for every performance. All I can say is:
CONGRATULATIONS, KIDS! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

You could say that I’m fixated on the price of gas, and you’d be right. Today, I filled the tank and paid $2.039 per gallon. We’re SO close to less than two buck gas. Will we make it? Somehow, I doubt it.
The oddest thing about this is that what I paid today was LESS than what they were charging in central Illinois. I suspect the cost is artificially increased there because of all the farm trucks being used right now.
It’s always something!
I blogged earlier about the obscene amount the CEO of Exelon, the parent company of ComEd, is paid ($27,000,000 a YEAR!). I have to agree with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, of Illinois. He says that the company, which is seeking to raise the cost of electricity in Northern Illinois by 22 to 55%, needs to consider tightening their belt first.
I realize that rates for electricity have been frozen since 1997, but an increase of 22% the day of deregulation is purely greed. “We can, therefore, we will” take you all to the cleaners, and there’s not a darned thing you can do about it.
Conservatively, I’d guess that we pay approximately $1,500 a year for electricity. ComEd is proposing to increase that by $330 to $825 for the year.
I have the sense that we are recreating the golden age of the Robber Barons.
For more information on this situation, visit this site.

I know….you don’t belive me.
We were in North Central Indiana, getting ready to start the drive home. I stopped to fill the tank before we hit the road, and there it was……$1.969 per gallon! YES!!
It seems that a lot of places closer to where I live are starting to edge back up again. I’ll refill at $2.059 tomorrow, and I suspect that will be the lowest it will get in this area.

What a lovely weekend!
We left at 9:00 a.m. on Friday heading south and east for north central Indiana. We both detest Interstate 80 where it leaves Illinois and crosses Indiana, so we choose instead to make a slightly longer trip through the Illinois farm fields.
Harvest is well under way in both states. Farmers were working to get as much corn harvested before the rain comes this weekend, as possible. Perhaps half the bean fields were cleared, too. We had to slow for a few tractors pulling bins of corn to the co-op, but for the most part, the roads were in good repair and sparsely traveled.
We stopped for lunch at a truck stop sort of a place just into Indiana. We both had soup, a sandwich and fries. It was too much food. It’s a wonder Dear Husband was able to stay awake. He drove the entire way.
Before we left, I selected about a dozen CDs to play. DH is a Mozart aficionado, so I chose about six CDs by different performers. We listened to two hours of Mozart Piano Concertos played by Rubinstein, before we stopped for lunch.
We stopped at a small bakery on the way, and practically bought them out. Sprouted wheat bread, Challa, and Cinnamon bread, lemon bars, Texas brownies, pumpkin bars and cherry-oatmeal crumbles, and cranberry-nut muffins! We had enough for a WEEK! lol My brother-in-law brought home apple cider and a dozen sugary apple donuts (that were to DIE for!), and bagels from Panera. Nobody had to make anything for breakfast of snacks all weekend.
We arrived before the first of the family returned. Frankette #1 drove up after school, and let us in, moaning that she was supposed to clean her room before we arrived. Unfortunately for her, our visit always means that she has to give up her bed, so there were sheets to wash and dry, and re-apply. She got it done in record time.
My sis, Frankie, was the next in, followed by her husband. We were introduced to two new members of the family….Hawkeye, a kitten that was rescued from the fields (having been dumped off by some despicable person!), and Tommy, a long-haired black and white tomcat of a remarkably calm disposition. My brother-in-law made jokes all weekend about sending one of the cats home with us.
Friday night I helped pack uniforms on the trailer, and then we spent a pleasant evening at home with the family. Sis made pasta e fagiole that was really yummy. We all crashed reasonably early. The girls had to be at school well before 6:00, when the bus was leaving.
We drove to the site of the competition and found seats up above the 50 yard line. We lucked out that the stands shielded the field from most of the wind. It was a brisk sunny day in the 50s. The band has a huge number of props that are used to delineate the performance area, and wind could have been an issue. Luckily, everything stayed in place for the performance.
The girls were in the very first band to perform. This is definitely NOT the spot you would choose IF you had a choice. The judges are reluctant to give a perfect score the the first band because they are aware that another band might come along later which could top their performance. The scoring of the top bands is usually fairly close. Often the difference in scores turns out to be just hundredths of a point. So…the girls gave their absolute best performance and hoped that the judges would recognize quality when they saw it.
I didn’t realize it, but most of these bands are now amplifying the flutes and clarinets electronically. Frankette #1 is a clarinet player, and she told me that the equipment on her clarinet malfunctioned just as they took the field. Beyond that, the sound board died as well, so none of the flutes or clarinets could be heard up in the stands. I suspect the music judge was one of the two judges on the field, and that he knew what was happening. Their director chose very challenging music, and it was well performed. Even if WE didn’t hear it, the judges did.
We watched fourteen bands perform over about three and a half hours. The awards ceremony followed the last performance. You heart is up in your throat, and you’re in agony, waiting to hear what judges thought of “your” kids. They announced ratings in the order of performance, so we were the very first to learn that we had earned a GOLD! YES!!!!
Then, we had to wait for them to announce which five of these bands would be going on to compete at State this coming weekend. Again, they reeled them off in performance order. WE were the first announced!! YES!!!! The stands around us erupted with screams of joy!! (My voice may be off for a few days. *G*)
The kids loaded the busses and went to have a late lunch. We headed home to wait for them at the school. Parents lined their cars up facing each other across a wide aisle. Just before sunset, the local fire truck lead the busses into the parking lot. The busses pulled up three abreast and every parent laid on the car horn, saluting the entire band. It was marvelous to see!
We stayed with the kids to watch two videos of their performance. After having seen all 14 of the bands, it was instructive to see their performance again. It had incredible depth and challenge. I can’t wait to see it in the RCA dome in Indianapolis next Saturday.
The girls joined us and we had a wonderful dinner. Three of the six of us at the table were celebrating October birthdays. We had yummy meals, but passed on the desserts. We were too full…and just to tired for any more.
Everybody fell into bed, and slept late. MY sister fixed an incredible noon-time meal (Sunday DINNER for those of you who are interested what we call that meal). We all had the chance to chat once more, before Dear Husband and I took off for home.
We had a lovely trip back. I drove about half of it, and despite my stopping four times along the way, we made good time getting home. Dear Husband has saved me a trip to Morris. We stopped at “Big R” to pick up six 50-pound bags of black oil sunflower seed. What a sweetie.
Half my face is sunburned. My lips are windburned and chapped. My voice is fractured from screaming with joy! I’m stuffed to the GILLS, but I had the most wonderful time! Thank you, Frankie and family, for making our stay perfect! Congratulations, girls! See you at the Dome!

…to see the Wizard… No, No…that’s another trip.
Today, were off to see Frankie and her family. This weekend the Frankettes are competing in the Indiana Regional Marching Band Competition. Their high school has placed fifth and third at State in the past two years, and we hope they will be going to State again this year.
Dear Husband says that I have packed all that I can take. Elegante Mother asked if we needed to tow a trailer. There’s one over-sized soft-side bag of clothes, one hanging bag of clothes, ALL my coats and gloves and scarves, and a LOT of presents. I’m sure we could squeeze in a little bit more!
My oldest sister will be staying with Elegante Mother and our son. They plan to shop and eat and eat and eat, and maybe shop a bit more. Sunday evening they are going to a concert. I know they’ll have a lot of fun.
So….We’re off! I hope you all have a wonderful fall weekend. See you on Monday.

Yup….just this morning. $2.209 for a gallon of gas. Is there hope that we might flirt with $1.999??
It’s a splendid day! Dear Husband and I left the house about 7:45. He was dropping me off to pick up the car, which had needed to have some work done. They repaired the back ball joints, flushed the radiator and winterized it, change the oil, and put in a new battery. The heck of it is, I couldn’t tell it needed all that. I just knew it was time for a check up. We’ll be going to Indiana next week, and I never start a trip without giving the car the once over.
The next stop was the optometrist’s office. My glasses were ready. I was in and out the door in less than ten minutes, and on my way to the Farmer’s Market.
I bought a white pumpkin. I’m still on the lookout for a green Cinderella pumpkin. A woman bought THREE of them right under my nose, and cleaned out the entire supply. As I strolled back to get some leeks for potato leek soup, I discovered that she must have beaten me to all the leeks, too!
I got an armload of fresh eucalyptus, and a dozen deep red glads for the house, and some wonderful sweet peppers: long narrow deep red peppers, and yellow and green bell shaped peppers to use in meals this week.
I stopped at the bank and the post office and the grocery store before heading home. Tomorrow, one of my nieces is coming to visit around noon. We have some work to do to prepare for Elegante Mother’s 90th birthday celebration, and I suspect there might be a few hands of Spite and Malice. None of us give any quarter, and my niece hopes that it’s her turn to win for a while.
I’ve decided to do a tray of things to nibble on because we are going out to dinner tomorrow night. I’m going to roast some garlic, and toast diagonal slices of French bread. Then, I’ll put out chevre, feta, a smoked Gouda and a spreadable cheddar cheese. I think I’ll make a bruchetta topping (the one that Cop Car likes) with tomato, onion, basil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil. And, I’ll add a few crackers, some ham folded in fan shapes, and green grapes. And I have some chocolate-caramel coated popcorn for a sweet. I know….it’s too much, but everyone will find something to eat from that platter! Our house has the best left overs of the neighborhood.
Elegante Mother and I are on our own today. My stepson is off to camp with some friends for the weekend, and Dear Husband is enjoying his last sail of the season. I think I’ll do some gardening, and then work on a quilt for a bit. I may make an elegant little supper of shrimp scampi and rice, with a tomato-cucumber-dill vinaigrette salad. It’s easy to do….looks spectacular, and won’t take me any time at all. What can you say other than YUM!!!!
So, I hope you’re all having a great weekend, too. Happy Fall, everybody!