Once again I am like a child crossing off days on the calendar, not for my birthday but for the first day of  Daylight Savings time,  which this year is March 14 2010.  This change gives Ms Millie another hour or so of daylight in the evening to gallivant or drive to the mall or do whatever.  And guess what happens only six days later?  We will be celebrating the first day of Spring and  I feel certain that there are great numbers of people feeling the same way. After record snow falls and frigid temperatures, Spring can’t come soon enough.

I know I am ready to shed the sweaters and layers of extra clothing, to keep the chill from my aging, achy body.  Although, I recall even as a child I never really could handle the cold weather.  My fingers and toes were and still are to this day cold to the touch.  Perhaps,  some nice sunny Spring like weather will cheer us all up.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Current Mood: Playful

Ms Millie usually knows her viewing lineup and never really switches her remote to other channels as  I prerecord shows for a future viewing date,  but the past two weeks with the Olympics being in prime time, most of my shows are reruns.  This has given me the opportunity to view other shows when my Ice Skating is not being featured on the Olympics.  ( I just adore the beauty and grace of Figure skating) and all their dedication put into it.

And so today for an afternoon treat, I watched last nights show of American Idol and I was so impressed with the talent of the women that sang.

Tonight’s show will feature the male portion of  performers vying for our votes and I am looking forward to watching it.   My goodness, there is so much talent out there and it is wonderful to hear people sing and compete for a chance to be noticed and perhaps become the star of stars.  It is also a learning platform in listening and dealing with critique.  Some do it better than others but I must say it breaks my heart when I notice how some of them are tearing up.

It beats watching the news any day and keeps the blues away, too!

I am also  enjoying the new combination of judges and Ellen DeGeneres is doing a great job and appears to love what she is doing.  This show will be on my lists of shows to watch from here on in.

Current Mood: Playful

I did quite a bit of singing and dancing in my seat today at my new favorite place to be for entertainment at its best.  The Eleanor Dempsey theatre in Spring Hill, Fl housed in the Bishop Larkin High school is awesome with its comfortable seats and beautiful stage area.  The show today featured John Timpanelli  and other featured singers from as young as 13 years of age.

Their renditions of famous Broadway tunes brought tears to my eyes remembering  “Old Man River from Showboat, Fiddler on the Roof,  Stop the World I Want to Get off with Anthony ’s hit of  “What Kind of Fool am I?” and others that seemed to please the audience by their reaction with loud applause.

The solos were impressive by a few familiar faces that have appeared at the Richey Sun-coast Theatre and it was nice to see them advancing in their careers and performances.   The price was just right for a Sunday afternoon of entertainment and I am looking forward to his next show on March 14.   John Timpanelli has a new season of unannounced shows as of yet, but I know I will be a ticket holder for sure.  Ms Millie will be overjoyed with all the music around me.  Between the two theaters I will be singing and dancing  in the aisles.

Current Mood: Esctatic

They say that things happen in threes and so it did happen this week for me.  An elderly gentleman with an enormous engaging smile passed away at the young age of 95.  He would volunteer at the Richey Sun-coast Theatre  as a ticket taker and he will be remembered for his twinkly blue eyes and his own special way of making you feel welcome.

On Thursday of this week one of  my fellow co-workers from the State Dept of Highway Safety passed away at the young age of  60 from Lou Gehrig’s disease.   He was a Corporal in the Homicide Division and did his job with excellence and carried himself proudly off and on the job.  His son is now a Sergeant in the same troop that he had worked.  I will always remember Rick for his kind heart and soft demeanor as I am sure everyone that knew Rick would agree.

My third bolt of sadness is the passing of my daughter-in-laws Dad.  James Zuber passed away on Friday after living to a ripe age of 90 plus years.  It was only a week ago that a relative that had visited their home remarked that James wore a big smile when he greeted him.  Frank felt that he will always remember him this way.   James was the kind of man that loved tinkering with cars and was good at it and he also enjoyed his family of  four daughters and two sons.  I don’t recall when his wife passed but I do recall they were married over fifty years when she did and that was sometime ago.   My  grand and great grand children will miss him terribly as they lived close by.

And, here sits Ms Millie on this Saturday night reflecting on the past few days and as sad as I am,  I also thankful that I was able to know and care about these wonderful people.   My life is richer for having them in my life.

The sun shone brightly yet the wind was keeping the temperatures at 50 degrees , so we made sure the children were dressed as warm as possible.  So many of our kids don’t have outerwear other than sweatshirts or sweaters as our weather normally doesn’t get this cold for weeks at a time and so we zipped up sweatshirts and hoodies and made sure their tennis shoes were tied and we headed for the big yellow school bus.

The bus ride was exciting as they peeked out of  windows for about a half hour ride to Safety Town.  Waiting with smiling faces were six volunteers that greeted us and then divided the children into groups as we had two other classes with us on this trip.

Each volunteer started their group in a different area e.g. train station RR crossing, viewing a person that had fallen and how to call 911.  Instructions were given and repeated as we went through the town pointing out dangers and how to avoid them.

I think the children enjoyed the bike stop the most as that was where they donned a hair net and then  a bike helmet and rode a bike up a stretch of road and then to a corner, waited for a green light and walked their bike across the road and then rode their bike back to the bike rack.  They received a Safety sticker that they wore proudly as we had our bag lunch and then boarded the bus for the return to school.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos on this trip but I assure you everyone was smiling even though we were chilled with red noses.   Someone took this photo before we boarded the bus, so here we are……

Smiles at Safety Town

Current Mood: Happy