“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
Today is a delight, the perfect fall on Cape Cod day. The sun is hot, but away from the sun the air is breezy and a bit cooler. It is flannel shirt weather at 66˚.
We had quite the audience in Hyannis. Many of them stayed the whole concert, the whole hour. I had a great time. Our chairs were in the sun and the warmth was wonderful. The crowd clapped after every song, and many of them took videos. I felt like a musician.
The Sox were unbelievable last night with two grand slams and another homer just for added effect. The next game is tomorrow. I figure poor Nala will have to wear her neckerchief again. She actually wore it until the end of the game.
When I was a kid, girls’ sports were almost non-existent. I played softball summers at the park where I pitched and played first base. When I was in the seventh grade, I played CYO basketball. I was a guard. In those days, guards couldn’t go beyond half-court and couldn’t shoot for baskets. I used to throw the ball inbound across most of the court and close to our basket no matter where I stood at half-court. The other team was usually taken by surprise. It was fun.
When I was 10, I joined the junior drill team. We practiced Saturday mornings at the armory. I loved that building. It had wooden staircases and lots of wood in all the rooms. There were flags everywhere. Upstairs there was a huge hall like room where we practiced. I remember the floor was always dusty. The junior drill team was a feeder unit for the senior drill team, St. Patrick’s Shamrocks. I had two aunts who marched in the early days so it became a family tradition. When I joined the senior drill team, I was eleven. Many of the other members were much older, 18 and above. I remember the bus rides to competitions. I didn’t know any of the songs at first. I have no idea why, but the one song I remember is called Junior Birdman. My favorite lyric was, ” For it takes: 5 box tops, 4 bottle bottoms, 3 coupons, 2 wrappers, and one thin dime.” You had to hold the dime note, dimmme, for a while which is why I liked that lyric.
I still have friends with whom I marched close to sixty years ago. We do have occasional reunions which are always like old home week as my mother would have said. My friend Maria calls periodically so we can keep in touch. When we see each other, it is as if no time has passed. Old friends are like that.
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October 17, 2021 at 6:10 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was gorgeous with some high clouds and a high temperature in the mid seventies. When we awoke the temperature was a chilly 48°. Today we visited The Nash Farm in Grapevine. The farmhouse and property has been restored and preserved as it was in the 19th century. The Nash family settled the land in what’s now Grapevine in 1859. The property is used to demonstrate how agrarian life was back then, with animals and crops that were grown on the property. Then, we ate Chinese food.
Watching the Cowboys stumble around in the red zone during the first half. Go Cowboys.
October 17, 2021 at 7:59 pm
Hi Bob,
Now it is tied in the 4th quarter. Quite the game!! The Cowboys pulled it out!! Now I have to root for the Sox tomorrow night.
We too had a gorgeous day. Now, though, it is getting cold. Tonight should be down to 54˚. It will be the same most of the week. Cold weather is coming.
It sounds like you had a great day.
Old Sturbridge Village in the western part of the state is similarly restored except it is a whole town. I haven’t been there for years, but I enjoyed it.
October 17, 2021 at 8:41 pm
The game was a nail biter but the Cowboys could have blown out the Pats except for penalties. I will also root for the Sox. The Astros are in the same division as the Rangers and are our South Texas nemesis. 🙂
October 17, 2021 at 9:30 pm
Yesterday’s baseball game was a slug fest. I hope the Sox stay red hot for the rest of the series.
October 17, 2021 at 6:19 pm
I’m glad you had a good concert. It sounds very satisfying.
October 17, 2021 at 8:00 pm
Rowen,
It was fun. The crowd was wonderful and so was the weather.
October 17, 2021 at 6:42 pm
Sounds like a great day out!
It was a sunny day here too and we went to the river by bike. Many Canada geese were there and also the lovely mixed pair we saw each time, a Canada goose and a white domestic goose swimming side by side. Must be love. We never saw them with goslings but it’s unlikely anyway.
You wrote about your drill team before but today I finally looked it up. The translation is Drillteam. That didn’t really help. Okay, wikipedia. I remember vaguely that I had seen it in American movies. The german page only had the military drill team and I don’t think that kids did it here in post-war times. Well, no surprise with our past. I think your kind of drill team is comparable to an old carnival tradition with mocked military resemblances which is still alive in carnival loving regions but not really where I grew up and live.
October 17, 2021 at 8:19 pm
Birgit,
It was a fun day. I enjoyed it more than the last time we played in Hyannis.
Maybe the swan is lonely. They do mate for life. Perhaps, she wanted a bit of the wild side!!
The drill teams back then were composed of marchers and a color guard. We performed maneuvers during competition, but not military maneuvers. In the summer, competitions were every weekend, sometimes both days. The winter was indoor color guard competition season and practice time to learn the next year’s maneuver.
Competitive drum corps, bands and drill teams attracted so many kids. It was an amazing activity. Now, there are some drum corps and competitive color guards but they do not resemble the corps of old. I tried to find a YouTube video of drill teams, but I only found drum corps.