THE GREAT FOREST PARK BALLOON RACE

The first time I attended the Great Forest Park Balloon Race was about 29 years ago when I worked at KMOX Radio. The race is a "hare and hounds" race, and the radio station's balloon served as the "hare" balloon for several years. It would take off first, and the other balloons would then take off and "chase" the hare and attempt to land as close as they could to that balloon. Now, the hare balloon drops a sand bag and the "hound" balloons toss down sand bags and try to get theirs as close as possible to the hare's.

At my first race, I was part of the crew to help inflate the balloon. Very interesting how that's done. Joining us that year was one of our co-workers, Bob Costas. He wasn't there for the inflating, of course, but was there for a personality appearance. Only he was very late. The attendance was so huge that the park was grid-locked. He told us he ended up having to park his car several miles away and running to the park. He had spoken with some police and fire officials who were very worried about the gridlock. If there had been an emergency that year, they would have had a very difficult time getting emergency vehicles in and out of the park.

A number of years later, Energizer Battery developed its "Hot Hare Balloon", which took over serving as the hare balloon.


More information about the bunny balloon can be found here; such as, the fact that the balloon is 15 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty; the ears alone are 60 feet tall; and 84 miles of thread are used in the stitching.

The above photograph is not from today. The conditions were too windy for the bunny rabbit, which did not get to keep going and going and going. In fact, only about 20 out of 70 balloons were able to take off, and most of those were balloons of traditional configurations. The larger balloons and specialty balloons were not able to handle the winds.

But Forest Park couldn't have looks more beautiful for the race; in large part, thanks to the efforts of Forest Park Forever which has been working on beautifying the 1200 acre venue.

I took the Metrolink to get there, and walked in through the Municipal Opera grounds.





I actually passed this fountain on my way out. It's on the eastern edge of the park, near the Kingshighway entrance.


As is the tradition with fairs and festivals, there were pony rides for the kids......




and a variety of meat served on a stick. Not seen here is the tent selling sweat meat on a stick (I have no idea) and, of course, funnel cake. Due to the size of the crowd surrounding the tent, I couldn't get close enough to that to get a picture of that sign. I know that SOME PEOPLE (Bob) have to get their funnel cake fix at such events, but I passed.



Finally, we began to see signs of balloons being inflated......


....and the substitute "hare" balloon took off.





Other balloons started to bubble up from the balloon field .........


















and take shape.....





















....and one by one they took off.







As the next balloon was being inflated, some young men behind me were talking about it. One said "It's a rat balloon." His friend began to rap about ballooning. Then the balloon took off, and I heard "Oh. RaT balloon. I got nuthin'."
















This balloon is named "Rapture". Yeah, I didn't get it either.




This was the "Goldfish" balloon -- as in Pepperidge Farm Goldfish. But it wouldn't turn the right direction for me to get a picture of the logo.



This one is the National Ovarian Cancer Awareness balloon. The sign saying that is on the other side.



As the Mayflower balloon was being inflated, some international students nearby were discussing the name of the balloon and were impressed that we were paying homage to our country's roots with this balloon. An American student with them said, "It's actually a balloon sponsored by Mayflower Moving Company."

They sounded dismayed.



Then came the saga of the Alpo Dog Food Balloon. It almost didn't take off. But when we thought all of the balloons had gone, we were informed that the Alpo pilot decided to give it another go. First, it drunkenly wobbled to the left......




and then the right......




and then W-A-A-A-Y to the right......




.....and finally.... SUCCESS!!!



The race announcer informed us that the winds were taking the balloons over Lambert Airport and that the FAA had given them clearance to fly through that airspace. Can you imagine being in a jetliner and seeing a can of Alpo drift by?





And then the last one launched.



But where do they land? When you think about it, ballooning is a sport based on trespassing. Years ago, the pilots used to keep a bottle of champagne on board and would offer it to farmers when they landed in their fields and trampled their crops. I'm told that now days, they ALSO keep a copy of their insurance on board.

PARADE TIME!!!!!!

Subtitled: Why is Ridley Pearson afraid of the Giant Leetie Head?

(please step carefully, you may slip on some community pride that is in abundance here)

This is the season of the small-town festivals, and this weekend is Kirkwood's Greentree Festival. The theme this year is "Kirkwood: A Storybook Town!" (with Mr. Pearson serving as the Grand Marshal)

And, in my humble opinion, Kirkwood is a storybook town.

We have our picturesque City Hall



which sits across the street from Station's Plaza; a condominium, retail and restaurant complex. I can be found here one or two evenings a week outside on the plaza enjoying dinner, wine and/or an open-air concert.




Station's Plaza is katy-corner from; what else, the Kirkwood Train Station.




Whis is just down the street from the Kirkwood Farmer's Market.




Also in the neighborhood is this street corner park




And the OK Hatchery. (note; big difference from an ok hatchery; it is THE OK Hatchery.)


The Bug Store.......


And Moonbeams.





















This was the setting where people waited for the Greentree Parade,





Including the local contingent of the Red Hat Society.




I had the Giant Leetie Head with me. She had travelled around the country in one form or other, or or other or or another.... and attended several of the booksignings for Peter and the Shadow Thieves. I had one version of her with me today, hoping to catch Ridley's attention.





Imagine my dismay when it appears that Ridley sees the Giant Leetie Head, and proceeds to take evasive action!!






And then just totally ignores it!! Either that, or he was ordering snowcones for his daughters from the enterprising young men with the snowcone stand in their front yard.





And then he makes his escape.



It was then that my camera batteries gave out, and I had to use my camera phone.

The Kirkwood High School Marching Band.



Lucille Rapp Dance Studio (That girl is not about to fall on her butt; she just successfully completed a flip)


The Moolah Shriners and their teeny tiny cars



Our community band, AIM (and some day I'll learn what "AIM" stands for. Right now, they are sitting.)



The Kirkwood United Methodist Church Jubilee Band (my church, by the way)



And then the memoy on my camera phone was full. I didn't get to take any pictures of the great entries for "Kirkwood: It's a Storybook Town!"

Phooey!

I'm now heading out to get fresh batteries and go get some pictures of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race.

SEPTEMBER 11

Yesterday, I attended a church service with my daughters and son-in-law. The message was delivered by a missionary who had been serving in the Congo for the last 25 years with his wife. We learned that since 9/11/01, the Congo has lost several million people. The daily loss of life there is around a thousand people due to the civil wars.

This information wasn't given to us with the attitude of "9/11 was nothing, you should see what's going on over there."

He quoted a Bible verse that gets him through the day. I Timothy; 1:7. "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and good thinking." Living in fear is not the answer.

The following are photos taken this past July of the 9/11 Memorial on Staten Island. The overall image of the memorial is that of two postcards fluttering in the wind; the inside of the memorial are profiles of those from Staten Island who lost their lives on 9/11; and one who died in the bombing in 1993.

THIS JUST IN FROM NASHVILLE.......

.......Federal Duck is alive and well.

I talked with the little duckmeister earlier tonight and he wanted everyone to know he hasn't migrated south for the winter.

Yet.

But there is reason to be concerned. His roommate was a professional cheerleader, a woman of the female gender. He moved out and got his own place.

Voluntarily.
.
.
.
.
.


Is that normal?

Since it's been awhile since we've heard from him, here's his photo to refresh your memories:



UPDATE: By the way, Fed is promising to launch his new blog soon. Watch this space for further details.

I'M TRAVELING; ERGO, AIRPORT RANTING TIME -- WITH UPDATE

The rest of the world is wanting the United States to start using Racial Profiling in its war against terrorism.

This post is not going to be a statement either way, as this is not a political blog. But I just wanted to say that while we do NOT conduct racial profiling, and certain people may or may not be searched on a random basis; I just want to assure the rest of the world that my sweet little mother will not ever again be able to sneak a bomb on board a plane.

I know, I can hear your sighs of relief.

Because my little gray-haired mama (which is dyed brown, but that's another story) made the mistake of undergoing a knee replacement last year, she can never travel by air without being throroughly wanded, probed and searched.

Before going through the metal detector yesterday, she told the agent she had a knee replacement. He waved her on through.

bee bee beeeee beee beeee

They asked her to step to the side and the TSA agent called for "female assist". A seemingly nice lady came over and brought my mom to the conveyor belt and asked her to point out her possessions. Mom started to pick up her jacket and touched my father's shoulder.

The nice female TSA agent immediately morphed into a Gestapo officer.

Female TSA Agent (Brusquely): Do NOT touch anything or anyone. That is why I told you to point them out!!

My Mom, Dad and I turned to look at the Kommandant. "Seriously?" I asked, just barely escaping Gitmo for my brashness.

We soon watched as Mom assumed the position as she was being wanded, and then watched as her belongings were meticulously searched.

I observed another agent following the same procedure with a gentleman who appeared to be slightly older than my mother.

Go to sleep tonight, America, safe in the knowledge that these people will always been thorougly screened each time they fly, so they can no longer be a threat to your security.

UPDATE: While waiting for church to start on Sunday, I was digging around in my purse for an ink pen, and in the bottom, found a knife/corkscrew combination tool. I had it with me a week or so ago when I'd gone to an outdoor concert so I could open a bottle of wine. I forgot all about it, and while my mother was being thoroughly wanded and probed by the TSA agents at the airport, I apparently snuck this by the screeners:




On our return trip, we were running a little behind time, so I dropped Mom and Dad off at the terminal before I returned the car. I explained that gave Mom some extra time to get through security.

After driving to the car rental place, returning it, and taking the shuttle back to the airport, I checked in and went to find my parents. I found Dad, who informed me that Mom had just finished with security a few minutes earlier and had gone to the ladies' room to collect herself. He said they had taken a very long time with her. She joined us just then and told me that her sweater was the problem. I looked and noticed she had teeny tiny silver metallic bits woven into the fabric. Duh!

Gotta wonder how many knives snuck through while they were wanding my elderly mother's knee and sweater, making sure she wasn't sneaking something on board.

BLOWING RASPBERRIES AT SPAMMERS

My archives have been hit by spammers. OK, I'll admit they are "polite"; congratulating me on my content, blah blah and saying how interesting they find my site. Then they leave links to their own sites.

I tried ignoring them, but the hits are increasing. So, for the time being, I'm going to have to moderate the comments until things settle down.

Hopefully they'll get tired and will go after someone else.

*spreads super glue on the blog floor in hopes of tripping up spammers*

DUE TO A CLAMORING FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY...

....ok, "clamoring" may not be the right word. Heckling might be more like it.

Last week, I sent the following e-mail to some of my friends and family. And this really happened, by the way:

You know how some people say they are chained to their desks?
I managed to get myself glued to mine this morning. Superglued. I had 4 fingers glued together and stuck to the desk and stuck to papers.
And then.....I remembered someone said that saliva will dissolve superglue, so I leaned down and started licking my fingers.
And that was how one of the partners found me when he opened the door because I couldn't clearly say "Just a minute" when I had my tongue stuck to my fingers which were stuck to my desk.

Can I go home now?

Little Sly's response was "That's brave of you to tell THIS family about that!!!" (some day, I'll tell you the stick-shift and floormat story about her and how fast those e-mails went through the family)

I received the following e-mails today:

From Peanut Gallery Member #1: I've been monitoring your blog to see the "My Tongue Is Now Glued To My Desk" entry. Too embarrassing for public consumption?

From Peanut Gallery Member #2 (whose name I forgot (tee hee): pssst...Jerry....maybe she doesn't remember the event...shhhh

So, there. I posted it.

Amazingly, that little incident did NOT get reported around the workplace as I feared it would. My credibility is still intact. And after a visit to the salon, so are my nails.

For most of the last week, I have been trying to upload photos of Jenni and Tim's new house; but the server is being difficult. I had about 5 uploaded, and then it deleted all but one. But I'll get them posted here if I have to nail them to the blog.

!

Maybe I should use super glue.

A QUIET NIGHT AT THE RITZ..............

Or not.

Another Friday night listening to Hudson in Lobby Lounge at the Ritz.

Outline of the evening: Geek convention; Fashionable Window Treatments; So You Think You Can Dance; Dancing Geeks; Dancing Chinese Doctors; African-American "Pat"; Cold Ditching on the Dance Floor; Don't Make Eye Contact; Local Celebrity Stood up by Local Minor Celebrity

It was quiet in the lounge when we arrived, and that meant we got a good table close to the action without being in the middle of it. A sudden profusion of nametags and laptops alerted us to a geek convention. Seriously, laptops in the lounge bar on a Friday night? I don't think so.

During the first hour, there was very little dancing; people were staking their territory; sofas, chairs and tables were arranged to suit the needs of individual groups.

One group made us think of a Mormon with his 4 wives and mother-in-law. He looked like a combination of Roger Ebert and a local prominent businessman who will remain nameless. Let us just say, it wasn't a good combination. A couple of the women were untastefully attired in various window treatments. Mom was wearing white crocheted kitchen curtains. A full slip would have been helpful. Wife No. 2 was wearing white cafe curtains. Wives No. 1 and 3 did not chose their wardrobe from the drapes; and maybe they should have rethought that decision. Wife No. 1 was dressed like a pudgy gym teacher; black tank top banded in white and a black jersey skirt. Wife No. 3 chose for her evening's costume a slinky red dress, complimented with a pair of loafers and topped by a beige cardigan. She did somewhat conform to the rest of the family by accessorizing with ceiling fan chains for earrings. We were sadly disappointed that no one dressed like Scarlet:










The dancing started in the second hour. A group of Hudson followers are swing dancers. They are an eclectic group mostly in their young 30's that chose a retro look; spats, baggy trousers, shirtwaist dresses, etc. One young man reminds me of Mark Wahlberg, very good looking, expressive dancer. He and his partner were giving a very sensual interpretation while dancing to "Theme from a Summer Place". To keep from bursting into flames on the dance floor, he deftly turned from sensuality to comedy and started striking poses.

A geek couple decided to give Marky Mark some competition in the hot dancing department. It was painful to watch. She was a female geek who tried to be a hawt geek. She would have pulled it off if not for the tummy pooch.

An enjoyable sight is a middle-aged Chinese couple; the Dancing Doctors. That's my name for them. I don't know how I knew it, but I knew he was a doctor. Hudson joined us during a break and informed us that they are both doctors. Their moves are flawless and they never take their eyes off each other. While Marky Mark was hamming it up, the geeks were grossing everyone out, men doing the "white man overbite" and women dancing together trying to look cool, the Dancing Doctors would smoothly glide past it all, totally owning the dance floor.

I had gone to the ladies' room during a break, and when I returned, Hudson was sitting at our table talking to Kathy. I forget how she knows him; I think he's a friend of a friend. When we were there last month, she went to buy one of his CD's telling him that she just broke up with her boyfriend and he has the CD. Hudson gave it to her, calling it the "Ex-Boyfriend Rule". His CD's are a fun listen; (hint hint).

A member of Marky Mark's group is someone I call the African-American "Pat". This person is a combination of James Brown and Whoopi Goldberg, only about 35 years of age. We guessed the individual was male as his partner was always female; but that's not necessarily a given.

Making an entrance around 10:30 was a local celebrity (fifth from left). He sat at the table in front of us and arranged a chair on either side of him. He obviously forgot our having lunch together back in the day when I worked in promotions at a local radio station, and I opted not to remind him. It was more fun anonymously observing him.

After awhile, various women in the room gravitated his way to try and strike up a conversation. One of them was a slender, tanned and toned honey blonde who was very touchie feelie. She was dressed in a black tank top and low-riding white jersey skirt. The effect was to show off her abs and ass. Dammnit, it worked. Her "wingman" for the evening was a less striking brunette decked out in a screaming orange tank top edged in gold spanglies.

A football lineman looking guy in a red blazer asked honey blonde for a dance and she complied. For ten seconds. Then she coldly walked away from him and over to Local Celebrity, sliding her arm across his shoulder and leaning in close to whisper in his ear. He popped up and quickly joined her on the floor for a dance. Then they went their separate ways. He sat back down with an empty chair on either side of him. People would try to steal a chair, but he wouldn't let them, insisting he had someone joining him. Periodically, he would make a call on his cell phone, sticking his right index finger into his ear to the first knuckle so he could hear better. WHEN does that ever work?!?

At one point, Kathy mentioned that for decades, Local Celebrity's hair color has not changed, never any sign of gray. (St. Louisans will catch the irony there) She said he must dye it. I said "Or buy it" and said "check out the line of demarcation in the back." That's something you don't see during a broadcast.

He was later joined by Local Minor Celebrity and his date. After a few minutes, they all left and their chairs were quickly claimed by various groups.

One of the Elderly Creepy Brothers Who Cruise the Lobby Lounge (regulars at the Ritz) came over to ask Kathy to dance. She had apparently broken the golden rule when it comes to the ECBWCTLL -- don't make eye contact. She declined. One of the brothers has a son who attends the dances; he looks like an aging Arthur Fonzarelli in Don Johnson's Miami Vice clothes. Just try to picture that. Hurts, doesn't it.

I tried to get photos with my camera phone, but it was too dark. One of these nights, I'm going to have to take my camera and get some shots to share with you all so you know I'm not making this up.

Seriously, these people really do exist. Kinda scary, isn't it.

.......AND THEN HE KISSED ME

Tonight was a book signing at the St. Louis County Library for Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, promoting their book "Peter and the Shadow Thieves". The event was the library's second annual Family Reading Night. I have to say, it was a huge success for them.

Dave and Ridley have been traveling around the United States for the past month on this book tour and tonight was the last signing before heading home. As feeble memory serves, I believe St. Louis was the finale for last year's tour as well. Maybe it's because Ridley lives in the area.

I was running horribly late due to work constraints, but my good friend Judy went to save me a seat. Fellow DB bloglit, Sharon, was also there. I told Judy to look for her; then while I was talking to Sharon to tell her I was running late, I heard Judy's voice asking if she would be Sharon. We discussed logistics, hung up.

I quickly called Sharon back. "Judy just got back from Ireland, you just got back from England. Discuss."

With the two of them being so shy and introverted, I thought they could use a little conversation-helper from me.

(HA!)

Another friend of mine, Kathy, was supposed to be there also. But I received a text message from her that she was still sitting in the airport at Midway waiting to get home from a business trip; and they quit giving them departure times.

Bummer.

Anyway, after breaking several landspeed records and a few traffic laws, I got there and found a "create your own parking spot".

As I walked in, I thought I was at some sort of medical convention, or a meeting of the People Who Are Very Afraid of Pandemics. There were giant posters of Germ-X everywhere. I daresay, there were more posters of them than there were of the book. This particular book signing had sponsors. A number of them. Germ-X, Commerce Bank, Mont Blanc, and Plaza Frontenac.

The Bank was nice enough to give out $100 savings bonds. Of course, you had to be between the ages of 10 and 18 and be one of the three to have written an award winning review of Peter and the Shadow Thieves.

Germ-X gave us all Germs. OK, not really. They gave us all complimentary bottles of their product and a pencil.

Yeah, I didn't understand the pencil, either.

At the end of their reading, the Mont Blanc guy said he would like to present Dave and Ridley with a little something. Then he fumbled around for a few seconds before Dave said "Then do it!" Of course, they received pens. You'd think they would have recieved Mont Blancs, wouldn't you. Don't know how those Bics got in there.

I don't think any of the other signings had a master of ceremonies, but ours was Julius Hunter; a local celebrity. As he was talking away, I noticed Sharon giving him a puzzled look. I asked her if she knew him and she admitted she didn't. I told her that he had been a news anchor for several decades and now is VP of Community Relations of St. Louis University, and an all around ambassador of goodwill for St. Louis. The picture I took of him tonight is really bad and I have too much respect for him to post that one, so I'll link to one on the internet:

Julius Hunter

He warmed up the already warm crowd with some "it's so hot in St. Louis how hot is it jokes."

OK, I'll admit it. It wasn't his best material.


Then the boys came out. Trust me, the photo I took of Julius was worse than the one I got of Dave and Ridley.



Even though they've been strumpetting for the past few weeks, they were as sharp, fresh and witty as though this was their first event of the tour. It appeared as though Dave had recently had his hair cut, and I didn't recognize his shirt at all.

There was a huge crowd; with a substantial number of kids. The crowd was large enough that they had an "overflow" room set up with a screen to watch the reading via video feed. If it hadn't been for Judy and Sharon, I would have been in that room with the other outcasts.

Dave did get booed (slightly) at one point when he ventured into sacred territory. He dissed the Cardinals. He mentioned that their band, Rock Bottom Remainders, had played in St. Louis at The Pageant. He went on to say that a number of us may not remember that as that was when we were in the World Series. "Too bad no one told your team that," he observed.

OK, so it's true, but HEY!

Accompanying me to the signing, of course, was the giant Leetiehead.



I had hoped to get her ironed out, botoxed or something; but that didn't happen. I did raise her up in the air a few times, but not much. There were a number of kids behind us, and I didn't want to block their view. The kids there were really excited and had some wonderful questions for the guys. Each one asking a question received a Peter and the Shadow Thieves tattoo.

Then it was over and time to wait for our numbers to be called to the Signing Room. Judy told me that beforehand, she had gone up to the podium and had left a note "Today is slyeyes' birthday", and knows that Ridley saw it. But she figured they had their patter down and didn't deviate from it.

Quick sidenote about Judy. Several years ago, I was going to a Cardinal game with Jenni and a number of my friends. Jenni asked if we were going because it was my birthday. I told her no one knew that it was, and I didn't particularly want them to know. Jenni blabbed and when I joined everyone at the game, they had banners for me. Then Judy took me by the hand and had me stand in front of our section. She yelled out "This is the woman with the birthday!" and they all broke into song "Happy Birthday" just like she had prepped them.

Then there was my 50th birthday cruise that I went on with my sister and a couple of friends. Judy got the entire Lido deck to sing to me.

I gotta learn not to hang with her on my birthday.

Anyway, she had to leave, so Sharon and I sat down to wait and to get acquainted. We were soon joined by other bloglits who recognized the Giant Leetiehead.



These are Sharon, Ramona/Ramada/Romanda -- she said to pronounce it like "Ramada"; her granddaughter, Britney, and Novanglus. Ramada isn't a DB bloglit, she knows Ridley's family. She and I recognized each other from last year's signing where we had struck up a conversation.

Another bloglit, lind, came by and recognized the Leetiehead and chatted with us for a bit.

After our number was called and we went to stand in the Great Line of Those Hoping To Meet Dave and Ridley, a woman walked by and then came to a screeching halt. "I know her" she said, pointing to Leetie. "Who are you all?" Sharon and I introduced ourselves and she recognized our names. She's Mary, a writer for the local paper, and a reader on the blog, though she rarely comments. We exchanged business cards and promised to get in touch. Her young son walked up (10 or so) and she said "This is slyeyes." He perked up and said "You do the "24 thing?" I said that I was one of the bloglits who comment on that thread. He said "Cool!"

I'll admit it, that was neat.

A young lady whose job title was "The Person To Keep Things Running Smoothly" came by with a pen and post it notes. She asked us if we wanted our books personalized and how. I handed one to her and said it was to be made out to "slyeyes from the blog".

She rolled her eyes.

Several minutes later...........(drumroll).....we entered THE ROOM. The Signing Room. The room in which the signing was to be done. The room full of Germ-X posters, a multitude of actual bottles of Germ-X and a couple of glossy 8 x 10's of Peter and the Shadow Thieves.

As we got closer, Dave looked up and exclaimed, "The Leetiehead is here!" We discussed how the Leetiehead doesn't travel well, and Then he looked back and forth between Sharon and I and asked "Which one is slyeyes?" I owned up to it.

He stood up, threw his arms wide and said "Happy Birthday!" And gave me a big hug.

And a kiss.

OK, it was a chaste little kiss on the cheek, but still.

And through it all, I could hear Sharon say "and we're not getting a picture of this."

And even though the program for the evening said NO POSING WITH THE AUTHORS, we posed with the authors and had our picture taken. The pirate paraphernalia was courtesy of Novanglus.








Sharon and I walked out into the steamy muggy night, said goodbye and promised to stay in touch (and we will).

Then I called everyone I knew and told them Dave kissed me.

And Kathy is still on the ground in Chicago.