Its Saturday morning again and I am at the computer again. Last night we went to see Michael Jackson's This Is It documentary film about preparing for the tour that he did not live to take. I wanted to see it very much but could not find anyone among my family or friends who was interested. While I was willing to go alone, my husband was ultra sweet to me and offered to escort me. It turned out that we both enjoyed it. I don't think it will win Best Picture of the Year (although I think it would have a good chance at Best Documentary) but it shows MJ doing what he was so good at. He still had the voice and the moves. There will never be another like him.

    My husband's other wonderful thing he did for me this past week was to rebuild my closet. He installed a kit to reorganize the closet and it is finished and ready for me to put my clothes back in. In the end, I only gained 4" of hanging space but I'll have about 3' more of shelf space. It will be better organized so I can see all my clothes and they won't get smushed together and wrinkled. My project for today is to put all my clothes back in. Well, not all my clothes, I'm going to get rid of some of the things I don't wear. By a lucky coincidence they are running a clothing drive at work for charity so I can do two good deeds at the same time.

    On Sunday we went with some other friends to visit Nashville, Indiana in the heart of Brown County. This area of Indiana is very hilly and is also known for its fall foliage and covered bridges. The trees were a little past peak but it was a very nice fall day and we enjoyed ourselves immensly. The town of Nashville has become an artists haven. It's full of shops, most of them with good quality goods including glass, pottery, furniture, clothing, candles, food and so on. A lot is from local artists. Don't worry, there are enough cheap souvenir places, too.   

    We ate lunch in a basement dive that was dedicated to Bobby Knight (legendary ex-Indiana basketball coach). Every space on the walls, beams and counters was covered with photos and other mementos of Bobby. Even the conversations (including ours) were about Bobby. It was a fun place to eat.

    My husband and I were especially happy to find something we have wanted for many years, tile house numbers! We have columns along our front porch and wanted the numbers to line up vertically but pretty much everyone makes them to go horizontally. One store had them with frames that could go either way so we finaly have our house numbers up on our porch.

   

     We had a busy weekend. On Saturday the daughter of our good friends got married. It was a lovely wedding and the bride looked beautiful. Here is a photo of her gorgeous dress. She is very tall and wears a size 1.

     I got my husband to dance with me 2 times (slow dances only) but fortunately a large group of our friends were there so I did the cha-cha slide and danced to some more songs with my (mostly) female friends. It was a fun time.

   Now he's saying he does want to stay as a follower to my blog. He also says I am stubborn. And he is doing the dishes. He also got up and painted my closet this morning. So I guess I'll let him stay. I don't know where he gets that stubborn thing from.

    Another Saturday morning and I am at the computer. OK, I used my husband's ID to sign him up as a follower to my blog. I did so because he can be technically incompetent. After all I had to create his blog for him although he has mastered the ability to do his own posts.
   However this morning I discovered that he does not want to be a follower of my blog because, and I quote, "It's boring.". He went on to say that he does not want anyone to look at his blog, follow the link to my blog and think that he has any association to such a blog.
   So I am removing him as a follower.

    We had a fun weekend. Some friends came in and we spent Saturday just going to places around Louisville. We began the day eating breakfast at The Cafe, a restaurant that started out in an antique mall but now has its own building. They kept the same decor with dozens of antique chandeliers peppering the ceiling and old doors and windows decorating the walls.

Then we went to Flame Run, a glass artist workshop where we watched them make one of a set of drinking glasses. Next stop was Bowles Mattress Company to check out the adjustable beds. My husband and I have them and our friends are thinking about it. We were headed into Indiana to the Bass Pro Shop so one of our friends could shop for light weight UV clothing for her upcoming trip to the Amazon. My husband tried out the ATVs but didn't buy anything (thank goodness).

   

    Back downtown we went into the Galt House hotel to the lounge that connects the two towers. See if you notice anything unusual about this bar:

(its a fish tank)

    We also stopped at the 21C Museum Hotel which was rated the best hotel in the United States. Just going to the bathroom there is a treat and the art is grand, high tech, avant garde and fun.
    Just down the street is a large costume and theatrical store, Caufields. You can imagine that Halloween is their biggest time of the year and the store was crowded. We had fun trying out the masks and checking out the animated graveyard scene. We drove out 4th street to Old Louisville, the UofL campus and Churchill Downs.

    No day out on the town would be complete without a visit to Sam's Club to check out the TVs and DVRs. Nothing was bought there either (other than the Hot Dog/Drink combo for a buck fifty).

   For our evening's entertainment we went to the Comedy Caravan where an all-female lineup was on the card. Well, yes, there was a feminist theme going and we were seated front and center so my husband got picked on a little. The women were very funny and they gave us free popcorn so we enjoyed ourselves. The day ended with a stop at the Pie Kitchen on the way home to watch the college football games (UK won).

    At last it is Friday. Just 11 more weeks of working. We are sitting home waiting for our weekend company to arrive. They should be here within the hour. We spent our evenings this week cleaning up so the house looks good and we are ready to enjoy the weekend.

    Tonight is Big Blue Madness, the official start of University of Kentucky basketball. They can start practicing at midnight tonight and the first practice is an extravaganza!

We have a new coach, John Calipari who's brought in a "blue" ribbon class of recruits. It ought to be an interesting year. Their first exhibition game is Nov. 2 and the first game that counts is Nov. 13. Here's a photo from the UK-Alabama game last year. We went down to Tuscaloosa to see the game. It turned out to be the last game for the Alabama coach as he resigned a few days later. Kentucky has that effect on people.

    Here's a quick update. I talked to my Mother today. The surgery to install her pacemaker went well and she was expecting to go home today (she may already be home by now). She was already feeling better.

    This weekend started out as a fun sisters weekend. I met two of my sisters in Chicago where we hooked up with a friend. We planned to visit some of Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods and play games in our suite at the Hilton. Things started to go wrong on Friday because the weather was cold, rainy and windy. After lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the Hancock building, we went to Water Tower Place where it is all indoors. I guess none of us were in a shopping mood because we couldn't find any stores that interested us so we headed back to the hotel to wait for our friend to get off of work.
    We played one game of Scrabble. I managed to make an 8-letter word using all the tiles in my tray (gaining a 50-point bonus). Unfortunately one of my sisters had already used all her tiles and then did it again a few plays later so she beat us all.
    That night the rain had stopped so we headed to Greektown on the bus and ate at a greek restaurant. We ordered flaming cheese (which almost burned my sister's hair). Afterwards we took the bus to Michigan Avenue and walked through Millenium Park where we were able to catch the end of a fireworks show at the Navy Pier. It turned into a good night.

The "bean" at Millenium Park in Chicago

    On Saturday morning we headed north on the bus to go to Sari-town which has Indian shops and restaurants. Halfway there, one of my sisters was overcome with motion sickness. The bumpy ride and frequent starts and stops of the bus were too much for her. We got off at a pharmacy to get some medicine and went to a fast food place to get a drink and recover.
    While we were resting my brother called from Wisconsin. He had taken our mother to the hospital because she was dizzy and her heart rate was extremely low. The doctors were talking about putting a pacemaker in her chest. We returned to the hotel, packed up and headed to Wisconsin. We arrived in the evening to see that our Mother was doing much better. She was on oxygen and stabilized. They had changed her blood pressure medicine to see if that would work but by Sunday they had made the deicsion to put in the pacemaker. Amazingly they can now do that with a local anethestic and an overnight stay. We decided not to stay for the surgey which is scheduled for tomorrow. We have three siblings who live close by that can stay with her so she will be okay.
    Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods will have to wait for another day.

    Somehow I lost my last post, not that it was all that interesting. I was just surprised that it was not there. I guess I forgot to hit the submit button. I do that more and more lately, emails sitting in the draft bin because I never hit send and I'm wondering why I never got a reply!

    We spent last weekend at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Amongst other things, it is home to the National Museum of the Air Force. What a great museum! They had the foresight to save and preserve many of the aircraft that made history and they have them arranged by era from the beginnings of flight through WWII, Korea and Vietnam into the modern era. They also have all the retired presidential planes back to Franklin Roosevelt including the plane that took the Kennedys to Dallas and back. Its powerful to stand on the spot where Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office on that grim day. By the way, contrary to my last post, the Kennedy's presidential plane was not named the Caroline. The Caroline was a campaign plane and it is not at this museum (I can't remember where I saw it). 
    One hanger is full of experimental planes that were either built for testing purposes only, were predecessors to landmark aircraft or were ideas that just didn't make it, like the flying-saucer-shaped autocar.

    If you go, and I recommend that you do if you find yourself in or near Ohio, be prepared to walk because the museum consists of 5 huge hangers and outside displays. We were only able to see about 60% of the museum. By the way, admission is free.

    The week is going by fast, just one day to go before the weekend. Having my husband home keeps me busier. We had something going on every night. Tonight we had to pack a suitcase because we are going out of town this weekend. We are going to visit the museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Among the planes they have there is the Caroline, the plane John Kennedy used when he was president. It's the plane that flew his body home from Dallas. Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office during the flight.