Marathon Monday



I have the television on to the marathon coverage as I write. Yesterday turned out to be an enjoyable day. Arlene joined my sisters, brother in law and I later in the day. There was much laughing as we all told various stories and memories. My sister reminded me and told the story of the night about 40 years ago. My sister and I were returning from a friends house. It was near midnight

and as we rounded a bend, on a street that empties out on to our street directly in front of our house. We made the the bend and our house appeared before us glowing like a beacon. Every light was on. We both thought, "Uh oh! Something happened!"
It was a slow walk from the driveway to the porch. I opened the door to see my father running up the stairs hitting the walls with a yard stick. It sure looked like dad had snapped his twig. And where were my mother and sister? Well it turned out there was a bat loose in the house and though a yardstick isn't the most formidable weapon I can't imagine what kind of damage he would have done with a broom. A broom however turned out to be the bat's undoing. It flew behind a curtain in my sisters room. I grabbed a broom but my father wanted the pleasure. One well placed "thwack" and the bat joined it's ancestors.
On the last blog I didn't tell the Arlene vs. the wild turkey episode quite correctly. I'll skip the beginning part, but Arlene and her daughter had been chased into the car by the turkey. It pecked at the car and stood in front of it, wings spread blocking their path.
Arlene- "I'm going to run it over!"
Daughter- "No Ma you can't! What if it's a federally protected animal or something!"
Arlene- "I'm not letting a stupid bird stop me from leaving!"
She revved the engine, honked the horn and the bird would peck at the car. Well unknown to the occupants of the car, behind them, up the side of a small hill were two maintenance workers who had observed the whole scene and were laughing, as Arlene put it, "their asses off". They shooed the bird back into the woods and the "turkey terror" was over.

At this point all the major finishers of the marathon have crossed the finish line. It is a beautiful day and all has gone well. I like sweets as much as the next person but I don't buy any and only indulge a bit on vacation or holidays. Well yesterday was a holiday and Easter means pizzelles, pronounced "pitzelees" with emphasis on the . I am presently munching on some my sister made. She mimics my mothers recipe perfectly. They aren't thick like the store bought variety. They are delicately flavored with lemon or vanilla.

They go with coffee quite nicely.
As I mentioned yesterday was filled with laughter. My brother in law Jim is a good guy but he has a habit of stating the obvious. Setting himself up for a smart ass response or many responses depending on how many people are there. Yesterday my sister was cutting up an onion. Captain Obvious enters the kitchen and asks, "What are you cutting up, an onion?"
My sister looks up and says, "You know Jim, you make it too easy." Out came the response which I won't repeat here.

People are still crossing the finish line with some 36,000 runners . I am proud of my city as all has gone smoothly with about a million spectators along the route. We had a store on the street where the marathon finish line is. I have worked there during the marathon in the 70's and the 80's but never really got to view it except on a break. Of course, getting home would have to wait no matter what time your shift ended. The street had to be cleared of people, barricades and cleaned before traffic was allowed. So it was a late night downtown. As long as you went with the situation and were prepared to have something to do, such as a fairly expensive meal and just taking in the whole atmosphere. It was and is just one day, it's local, yet international in scope. It's just something that's so local and so Boston.

Now it's time to get back to some serious relaxing.
I'm outta here.