TGIF

I'm really not too superstitious or into astrology...but I do have to admit that there is something to that full moon stuff. We've had a special kind of crazy going on the past few days. Like residents asking us to help them "get their bowels out," or confused residents talking about how confused other residents are, or the guy who showed up to supper soaking wet and acted like he didn't even notice. Oh, and how can I forget the potential resident whom I met for the first time this week? I knew her for five whole minutes when she proceeded to tell me all about the man she was married to for 20 years before he decided "he liked the boys," and continued to refer to him as "the queer" for the rest of the conversation. Oy.

Then we have Little Miss Chatterbox, who has taken to wearing the lab coat daily. I heard someone ask her if she was a pharmacist. (They were serious.) Gladys thinks Naomi has been taking her teabags while she's out of the apartment. 98-year-old Maude tripped and fell. Before I could even ask if she was alright she threw her cane and purse and yelled "Damn it all to hell." Apparently she was still mad later. She dumped her salad on the table at lunch because the man she was sitting with didn't want one. I guess she doesn't like eating alone? There's more, but I need to cut it short because I can hear Joseph coming (his walker wheel has a distinct squeak) and he's going to want to know about mass. Again.

Here's my Friday Photo! I'm eight years old, and on the left (as you look at the screen, Big Bro. Or the right, if you turn your back to it. Geez.)

I ran twice this week. Next week will be even better. Happy weekending!

TGIF Photo Friday

Here are some shots from this year's circus, taken by a friend of mine who is both a photographer and a clown. Not many people can put both of those titles on a business card.

This is the only 7-person pyramid in the world comprised of all females. It was taken from the catwalk. It is an amazing feat, performed by young girls all under the age of 19.

I love this picture because it was always one of my favorite acts to perform. I wish I was still that bendy! The hoop is hanging by the neck of her upside-down partner.

This was also taken from the catwalk, and shows how big our circus band is. All volunteers, and all fun.

And these little piggies....well, I like to play my flute barefoot. What can I say? At least the red polish covers the dark purple toes, still courtesy of Grandma's Marathon. (and I have no idea why he snapped pictures of my feet, but like I said, the guy is a clown.)

Photographer credit: Thank, C U Smile!

From one circus to another...

The thought has occurred to me before that being at Rock Ridge has great similarities to the circus, so I'm not feeling sad about Circus Week ending. For me it seems to have continued right on into this week, which has been insanely busy. Or just insane. That would be an apt description as well.

I have spent most days this week avoiding Little Miss Chatterbox, whose daughter apparently told her she had dementia. So now LMC wants to remove said daughter as her POA and also wants to talk and talk and talk and talk some more about it. (Random question: Does anyone think it’s a good idea to tell someone with dementia that they have dementia? In case you aren’t sure…the answer is no. As in NO WAY.) I’ve never bitch-slapped anyone, well I don’t even really know what a bitch-slap is, but if I did and I was going to….I would bitch-slap Little Miss Chatterbox’s daughter.

I've also spent a good amount of time reassuring Gladys that I'm going to kick some Naomi ass because that dead bag keeps stealing her stuff. It makes Gladys giggle when I tell her I’m going to beat up Naomi, and she giggles even harder when I show her my guns. Even when she has told me a million times in one day that Naomi stole all of her makeup, I love her like crazy.

Tomorrow I’m going to Boston, for what I'm guessing will be another circus-similar experience. I have a family reunion this weekend. I’m sure I’ll have a story. Or four.

Happy Weekending!

TGIF Photo Friday

I wish I had to time to find and scan some old circus pictures, but all I have right now is this group picture taken in 1989. Trust me, I'm in there. You can't miss the hair.

This was a few years ago in the "back lot," which is where all the kids hang out waiting for their act to go on. We have a big circus family! Hubby was the back lot door nazi, my sister (in purple) was a rigger, my niece was a performer, I played in the band, and my mom was an usher. My dad was just along for the show in this picture, but he used to rig when my sibs and I performed. Fun stuff.

Happy Weekending! I'll be at the circus!

May All Your Days Be Circus Days

Our town is steeped in circus history, dating back to 1884 when the local livery owner opened the Wallace and Company’s Great World’s Menagerie and International Circus. It was a huge success and soon grew to be one of the largest and most renowned circuses in American history, using our hometown as headquarters. Many circuses followed suit using the town as their winter quarters because of our convenient location on both a river and a railroad. History continued to be made here for the next sixty years until 1941, when Ringling Brothers bought out the small shows, still struggling to recover from the Depression. Our history is amazing, really. An important piece of Americana… right here in our small Midwestern town.

In 1959, some townsfolk got together and asked the retired circus people who still lived in the community if they would be willing to train a few high-school aged kids to perform acts. They wanted to put on a circus to celebrate our great circus history. The circus people agreed, and that first performance on the courthouse lawn has grown over the past 50 years into an amateur circus with a permanent big top and 200 kids performing annually every third week in July.

So, it’s Circus Week! This is a week when “circus kids” come home. It’s a week when doctors, lawyers, dads, moms and hundreds of other volunteers take off their normal hat and put on the hat of usher, rigger, bandleader, ringmaster, wardrobe mistress, ticket seller, or any of the other countless titles that help make the Greatest Amateur Show on Earth come alive. This is a week when you see everyone you ever knew in your whole life.

Circus Week never fails to awash me in nostalgia. I find my mind’s eye looking fondly upon my tiny 7-year-old self with my hands gripped around an equally tiny trapeze bar. I see a 13-year-old me being tossed between two upside-down boys with big muscles high above a net. I see my 18-year-old self hanging by nothing but my toes 30 feet in the air…and loving every minute of it. I loved hanging upside down and hurriedly searching for the faces of my parents, knowing right where they would be….every single night. I loved nailing a difficult trick, performing it perfectly, my cheeks almost hurting because my smile was so wide, yet quickly slipping out of the role of performer to hurry back into the arena to watch my little sister do her act. I would hold my breath as she flew through the air, only exhaling when her hands connected with the catcher. It wasn’t just my sister I would watch. We all watched each other. This was special…this support of performers. We were all one, everyone wanting everyone else to catch the trick, do their best. We would stand in clusters with our fingers crossed, sending out good circus juju to our brothers and sisters in sequins with nothing being more important than that very moment. We never wanted to see anyone fail, and if someone missed you could hear a hundred kids all groan in sympathy. That collective sense of being a part of something undoubtedly helped shape me into the adult I am today. I also think that is the same thing that keeps everyone coming back year after year.

This is my 30th year of involvement with the Amateur Circus. In some way, every year since that seven year old girl with pigtails put on a pretty costume and styled her first style, I’ve been back. Circus folk say that the sawdust gets in your blood, and I would have to agree. I can’t think of anything better to be infected with.

TGIF Photo Friday

Happy Friday! We've had the Regional Director here at the Ridge all week, so not much happening but meetings. She's still here, but how could I miss Photo Friday? Here is the first thing I found this morning: a picture of "all us grandkids," or at least those who had been born by 1975 or 76. There are 15 of us total, so there were still a few more yet to come. Any idea which one I am? (Hint: the goofiest looking one!)

This little jewel showed up on Facebook a few weeks ago. That's me when I was 15 or 16 years old, hanging by my partner's neck and touching my foot to my head. Crazy, huh?

Fast forward to June 2009. Guess what's in a week!?!?!? I've had a very easy week of running, since I've been coming to the office early and staying late it would have been hard to fit it in, but I think the rest is good. 10 miles tomorrow, a couple of short runs next week and then we're off to the races. Happy Weekending!

Foto Friday

Our internet access has been down at Rock Ridge (how do they expect me to get any blogging, er, uh work done!?), so today's photos are sponsored by my home computer. Sarah, these are for you!

















I live in a town that has an amateur circus, in which I began performing at the age of eight. It is an annual thing, with one week of shows every summer. I performed in various acts every summer until I was 19. I, being from a tiny midwestern town, was so worldy at the age of 19 I thought it would be a great idea to "go professional," as us amateur circus kids call performing in a "real" circus and actually being paid for putting ourselves in peril 35 feet in the air. I layed off a year from college. I performed for awhile at Knott's Berry Farm in California, and then moved to Florida and performed at Cypress Gardens. After the show in Florida folded, I performed one summer with a tent show that toured Indiana. As glamorous as that sounds, one night as I took off my elephant-stinking fishnets in the front seat of my Ford EXP as the old fryer oil from the corndog stand hung in the thick summer air I decided it would probably be a better idea to finish college. So I did. End of glamorous circus career.

These pictures are from July of 2007, when our amateur circus hosted an Alumni Show in which past (aka OLD!) performers put on the show. This is me doing Spanish Web in that show.

I'll have to see if I can find some old pics from the tent show, because that would be highly entertaining some Friday. Ah, the circus life.

Hmmm...I just contemplated this irony: my current job could be considered a circus, too...only now I'm the Ringmaster and most of my performers are sideshows! :)