HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here are some pictures from this past weekend's Halloween Parties. I hosted a small party for my nieces and nephews, and then I went with Kathy & the kids to my friend Rita's party. She throws the best kid's Halloween party you can imagine.

The kids at my place.


"A" came as a hamburger, and was affectionately dubbed "Burger Boy".

"D" was a bag of French Fries.

"J" dressed as his hero, Buzz Lightyear.

"K" chose to be an exotic Cleopatra.

"E" as the Wicked Witch of the West.

Here I am with the party guests. I was dressed as my alter-ego..Spiderella.

Playing pin the spider to the web.




"Bozo" buckets...Cool Whip style.



Hot potato, played with a black cat (stuffed of course).

Burgerboy wins the game!

Warlock Mike, Buzz, and FrankenPapa.

Nana looking on.

Are you a good witch...or a bad witch??

Here are some pictures from Rita's party.

A game of hot potato...

...played with a real potato!

The popular Mummy game.


HAPPY HAUNTINGS!!

Riddle de do, riddle de dee

Here is this week's riddle. Hope it takes all you riddle experts more than 5 minutes to figure it out!

I am slim and tall,
Many find me desirable and appealing.
They touch me and I give a false good feeling.
Once I shine in splendor,
But only once and then no more.
For many I am "to die for".
What am I?

Quote of the week

Humor makes all things tolerable.

-Henry Ward Beecher

Word of the Week

Here is this week's word:

HUBRIS

hu·bris /ˈhyubrɪs, ˈhu-/ [hyoo-bris, hoo-]

–noun excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.

[Origin: 1880–85; < Gk hýbris insolence]

—Related forms
hu·bris·tic, adjective

Halloween Sites

Here are a couple of Halloween game sites for the children, or for those of us who are child-like. Just click on the words below, and....Happy Hauntings!


HangmanGame

PumpkinCarving<

Concert Review/Pictures

SHOW A LITTLE FAITH, THERE'S MAGIC IN THE NIGHT.....

Another concert you ask? No, two more. I went to the back to back Bruce Springsteen concerts on Sunday and Monday at the United Center. Those of you that know me, realize this is not at all odd. My sister and I are huge fans and will take every opportunity to experience the ultimate in musical performances.

To begin, I have to say I have never liked attending concerts at the UC. It's fine for hockey and basketball or ice shows, but for a concert, it is a poor venue. The first night our seats were behind the stage, which was not as bad as it may sound, since Bruce acknowledged the viewers behind him plenty of times, and we were pretty close. There were screens set up the worked ok.

The second night we were so far away from the stage, we couldn't quite touch the ceiling, but almost. The viewing screens weren't nearly large enough (unlike the Van Halen set up). Parking was expensive and a pain to get out of the lot. The concessions were costly and the floors were very icky as usual and the place always smells like warm beer to me. At one point Kathy turned to me and said she tried to tap her foot, but couldn't, cause it stuck to the floor! Yuck.

Ok, enough complaining, down to the good part. Night one was great. He played 24 tunes, 9 from the new CD. The encore was jammed packed with rocking energy, but the earlier stuff was just ok. The show seemed formulated, and lack spontaneity, but the quality of the performance was still good. The new CD called MAGIC was just released this month, so I do not fault him for playing a lot of songs from there, which for the most part, were good. We are so used to Bruce putting on shows for 3 plus hours, but maybe age has set in a bit, and he only played for a bit over 2 hours both nights.

The second night was even better than the first. It had more whimsy, and he replaced some of the songs from the previous night with much better ones. Bruce and the band seemed more relaxed and playful.

Kathy had hoped for "Candy's Room" and got it. He had played it on this tour before, so it wasn't a huge surprise, but it made her night. I wanted "Thunder Road" which would be a long shot. Then for the encore, some kid in the front row said something and Bruce talked to him. He said "what are you, 12? There are a lot of youngsters here. Ok, I'll play you a song from my younger days, I haven't played it in 5 years, but we'll give it a go." Then he proceeded to play THUNDER ROAD. It was truly a fantastic moment for yours truly. That song is my all-time favorite so just hearing that performed live again, was an ultimate concert highlight.

The crowd was mixed, there were quite a number of families with kids at both shows. I'd say the age ranges went from 6 to 60. The crowd knew all the songs and sang/clapped along at all the right parts. If you have never been to a Bruce concert and heard how he and the crowd together perform songs like "Born to Run" and "Badlands".. then there is noway I can describe it. It was simply....incredible.

Bruce is the BOSS, and if he wanted to sit there and read the phone book, as far as I'm concerned, that would be just fine by me. He's my guy!

You could check out the set list and more info at the web site of "Backstreets" by clicking here
.....YOU AIN'T A BEAUTY, BUT HEY YOU'RE ALRIGHT
OH AND THAT'S ALRIGHT WITH ME

Easy Riddle?

I'm sometimes white,
and always wrong.
I can break a heart
and hurt the strong.
I can build love
and tear it down.
I can make a smile,
but more often bring a frown.

What am I?

Quote of the Week

"Wisdom is knowing the right path to take...integrity is taking it."

--M.H. McKee

Word of the Week

Here is this week's word from the list of "100 words every High School Grad Should Know".

JEJUNE

je·june Pronunciation[ji-joon]

–adjective
1. without interest or significance; dull; insipid: a jejune novel.
2. juvenile; immature; childish: jejune behavior.
3. lacking knowledge or experience; uninformed: jejune attempts to design a house.
4. deficient or lacking in nutritive value: a jejune diet.

[Origin: L jéjūnus empty, poor, mean

—Related forms
je·june·ly, adverb
je·june·ness, je·ju·ni·ty, noun

Pictures/Concert Review of the Week

Last night I attended the Van Halen concert at the Allstate Arena. Van Halen has united for a grand tour that did not disappoint. As a four member band, they played incredible music. As the king of camp, lead singer David Lee Roth put it, the band is now "3 quarters original and 1 quarter inevitable".

Along with Roth, original guitarist and founder Eddie Van Halen was joined on stage with his drummer brother Alex. The new bassist is none other then Eddie's 16 year old son Wolfgang, who was looking a lot like his mom, Valerie Bertinelli. (He replaces original bassist Michael Anthony).

They played all of their classics and rocked the house! One downside was the sometimes poor sound quality on vocals. Also, the highly anticipated "Jump" finale wasn't as fire charged as it could have been. But the rest of the show was great. Highlighted songs that I enjoyed tremendiously were "Jamie's Crying" ,"Running with the Devil" and "Panama".

The best part was watching (thanks to the huge TV screen behind the stage because our seats were waaaay far from the stage) and listening to Eddie Van Halen play the guitar. He is a legend and I am so glad I finally got to see him play. The sounds he made were fantastic, and his extended solo was one that I'll never forget. He said he wrote it for his son before he was even born, and told how amazed he is that his son was in the band, and how he felt "blessed".

Oh sure, they're getting older like the the rest of us. Diamond Dave's kicks aren't as high as they used to be and he no longer has his long blond hair, the band has been through a lot of ups and down, and Eddie is out of rehab for hopefully the last time. But a new generation of fans were certainly present at the concert, more youngsters than I expected with their parents, sharing together the enjoyment of classic rock that will live on through the ages.

Riddle....Part 2

Kathy got today's way too fast, so I will post another one for you riddle enthusiasts.

Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?

Ready for a Riddle?

I come in different shapes and sizes. Part of me are curves, others are straight. You can put me anywhere you like, but there is only one right place for me.

What am I?

Quote of the Week

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal: Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

- Thomas Jefferson

Word of the Week

This week's word is

MITOSIS

mi·to·sis /maɪˈtoʊsɪs/

–noun Cell Biology. the usual method of cell division, characterized typically by the resolving of the chromatin of the nucleus into a threadlike form, which condenses into chromosomes, each of which separates longitudinally into two parts, one part of each chromosome being retained in each of two new cells resulting from the original cell.



[Origin: 1885–90; < Gk mít(os) a thread + -osis]

—Related forms
mi·tot·ic /maɪˈtɒtɪk/

Trip to the Dells

For the last four summers I've taken a trip up to the Wisconsin Dells. This year my parents, nieces and I added a bonus trip and went there last weekend. The fall weather cooperated and we had a great time. We stayed in good old condo #5 again. The complex has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, a play ground, exercise room, activity center and all the comforts of home. It's so close to all the attractions too.

We were able to do many new things, such as a speed boat ride on the upper dells. Dad, E and I were the brave souls that ventured onto a boat that held about 30 people and had a daredevil driver who did crazy 360 degree turns and quick stops. Needless to say, we got very wet. Emma had a death grip on me for a while, but started to have fun with it all and screamed that fun "roller coaster" type scream whenever we would experience treacherous maneuvers. Dad had a seat in the back and got drenched, I mean totally soaked. I have to say he was a good sport about it all and meticulously removed the drenched contents of his wallet upon our return and let them dry out overnight. I have no pictures of this adventure, the camera stayed dry within the protective bag they provided. The ride was a lot of fun, since the driver gave a good tour of the area in between all the splishing and splashing.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy from a short but fun trip.

Both girls have taken to the water quite well.


Fun at the park.


Word of caution: After spinning a child on one of these crazy things, look before you back up, because you may just trip on the ridge going up and fall upon your butt!


Whatever you do, don't call her CHIPS!

Contrary to what certain people thought, DUCKS DO FLY!


The fishing was high in quantity, but as you can see, low in quality. There are
goldfish bigger than some of these bluegills. E and K can now cast independently. E has almost gotten taking a fish off the hook down, and next year, K will give it a try. They are becoming quite the fishergirls.





We took a horse drawn cart ride through the LOST CANYON. It had very narrow passageways and was quite the scenic trip.




Our horse guides, Pat and Dan. Whoa!

We went to a broadway style dinner/theater to see an AMERICAN MUSICAL REVIEW. Both the food and show were great. Everyone had a good time there. Here is a picture of myself and a couple of little future performers.


Here are some photos from an old time train museum located in the middle of nowhere, about a half hour south of the dells and just west of good old Baraboo. (Someday, I'll be settling down there, but that's a story for another day). We took a ride on a train from 1903. It went through the country side, passed through a little town, and then they uncoupled the engine, put it on the other side of the train, and brought us back. The place had a small museum with restored train cars from the olden days.



BillyJo, BobbyJo, BettyJo, is that you swimmin in there??

Some old time trains to look at.



The park had nice fall decorations.

Waiting for the ride to start.



Look, flying ducks!

Keep your hands and heads inside at all times...oops.

This was our conductor, whose name is Jim Connor, I kid you not.

Nothing says Wisconsin like a stop at the HOME OF THE COW PIE.

I say MOOOOOOO to you!

On the trip home Monday we stopped in Madison to see the state capitol building.

The Dome.


Lounging in the Supreme Court.


Mom and Dad looking at the replica Liberty Bell.


And the trip was completed with a stop at Culvers. Niece K had vanilla.


And E with chocolate!


And a good time was had by all!