Lesson 375: Get Ready!

Get ready, Readers!

You are about to read the fastest written blog ever published.

The school year has started and Eloise is whooped.

This year I return to school under the leadership of someone who started in the mail room.

Student,

to

Teacher

to

Parent

to

Principal

to 

Curriculum Director

to 

Superintendent.

My new boss knows the ins and outs of what it's like to be a Husky.

Congratulations, Mrs. Hess.

The Huskies and their mushers are off to a great start.

Get Ready, Erie County.

Harbor Creek intends to lead the pack.

The school year has started out rather smoothly,

except for a few epic fails:

Note to my children:

This is not a lunch box ice pack!

It's a hi-lighter!

Note to self:

Invest in a reminder timer

or 

hire a chef.

This was the Wednesday night dinner disaster.

Get ready, Harbor Creek Golf team!

Golf is about to get a little Friday night press.

You've been so quietly and politely doing your thing out on the greens.

It's high time you deserve a little recognition.

Get ready to switch gears to a not-so-quiet-and-polite sport.

Football--

meet Sam.

The outfield now has yard line markers.

The tweet of whistles have replaced the crack of bats.

The clouds that hung low over Thursday night's scrimmage 

give warning to Erieites that the fall cold is not far away.

Get ready!

I don't mind the crispness of fall,

because it brings along with it

crisp, reddened apples,

fat for the picking.

For those of you who ordered a t-shirt from Natalie,

Get Ready!

You'll be poking your head through the neck hole very soon.

Here's your sneak peek:

Thank you to all of those who included notes with your check.

I didn't realize it,

but Natalie can read some cursive words.

Get, Ready Beast on the Bay!

Here we come!

The lesson for this weekend is this thinking question:

What is your weapon of choice?

We live on a beautiful round planet,

rough with sharp edges.

Life hurts sometimes.

We are surrounded by sickness,

disease,

war,

crime,

injustice.

How do we walk through it all unscathed?

Each of us carries a weapon.

I've chosen my weapon and I'm at the ready.

Are you?

Here's a peek into how we spent some of last weekend.

We took a ride out to the Crawford County Fair,

one of the largest fairs east of the Mississippi.

I set this week's photo video to Keith Urban's song about Johns--

John Cougar

John Deer

and John 3:16---

in honor of my own John Andrew.

He's my nephew affectionately known as Jack.

Happy 16th birthday.

It sure has been fun watching you grow up.

Get ready for a great weekend.

ELOISE

Lesson 374: Heavenly Joy

It's the weekend, Readers!

Let's start out this week's blog with a game of

Where Was Eloise?

Can you place this church?

Such a beautiful design of Heavenly Joy.

It has a really great steeple when you zoom it.

Still guessing?

I'll pull back a little.

How about now?

Here's another clue for the addled of mind.

Here it is again between the two stadium lights.

I was seated in section 321,

fourth row from the top.

Yeah for you if you guessed correctly.

A great big YEAH for you if you own a Canon SX50.

Those photos were taken the standard zoom-- no attachments.
I never want to mess with lenses and clunky bags.
Eloise is way too clumsy.

Here's the link to the camera,

as many of you have been asking lately about which one I have.

It does a great job outside,

and a mediocre one with indoor lighting.

You get what you pay for,

but for $350, an amateur shutter bug can't go wrong.

Canon SX50

Pittsburgh sure is a nice city,

just a two hour drive south of the Lamp Post.

We always go a little early to walk around

when we go to a game.

This time we walked the bridges.

Oh, how I love the locks!

I could have stood there all evening taking snapshots.

For the story on the love locks, click the link below.

Pittsburgh bridge love locks CLICK HERE

Eloise also experienced her favorite piece of Heaven on Earth this past week.

We headed two hours east this time to catch another outdoor country concert.

The Zac Brown Band is the real deal.

Such talent!

Darien Lake theme park kindly opened their doors to 

Pennsylvania residents for dollar entry.

Eloise and clan and about 6 million other bargain hunters

all tried to sneak in some last summer fun.

Word to the wise:

Dollar Day at Darien Lake

is very similar to Buck Night at Jerry Uht Park (Erie baseball stadium)

but the people are nearly naked.

And wet.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day.

Look at Sam.

He's so ME!

Sam and Natalie do go on a ride or two to prove they can do it,

usually a water ride or a thriller like Moose on the Loose.

I think this is the only ride hubby ever went on.

It's just his speed.

He was crabby from the heat and crowd by the end of the night,

and as he rode away, 

I couldn't tell who was the bigger @$$.

I'm not knocking my other half, really.

Old Eloise isn't much of a rider either.

I CAN ride something if I really wanted to,

but I just don't want to.

Life is just too short to waste time doing things in your leisure time

that you really don't like to do.

Instead, I hold the bags, money, and phones.

This former yearbook editor also takes all the photos. 

Everyone needs an Eloise to go with them to a theme park.

I hold all the stuff!

I had a couple of large prizes to haul around.

You know the kind---

the big, enticing prizes hanging off of the roof of each and every carnival game.

 Sam would try every single game if he could.

Instead he earns money for doing odd jobs around the house all summer,

just to blow it on chances to win.
The thrill of victory, I suppose.

This time, Sam cashed his paycheck.

Darien Lake has a bowling game!

And of course the ugliest prizes in the park were at that stand.

Sam, on the other hand,

thinks they are beautiful.

Sam headed off to the practice field this week.

His Little Gridders football team is the Oregon Ducks.

Sam says he's moving there after graduation,

when he plays for them for real.

I don't really believe him though.

While we were at the Pirates game on Tuesday,

Sam leaned over and asked me if the plane would pick him up in 

Erie and fly him to the games when he plays for the MLB someday.

He wants to live with me until he's old....like 40.

Oh, Heavenly Joy!

The real Heavenly Joy is this little girl-

Heavenly Joy Jerkins.

She's the five year old cutie pie competing for votes on America's Got Talent.

Check out her audition below.

For a little Heavenly Joy CLICK HERE

As the sun sets on the summer of 2015,

reflect on the joys in your life.

Count them,

list them,

and surround yourself with them.

Soon,

you will find you have a little piece of Heaven on earth.

Enjoy the rest of the PNC Park photos on this photo video set to Burning House
by Cam (short for Camaron).

It's a haunting song,
but as only the second single out
 from this new, west coast born artist,
country music fans will be looking for more from her.

Have a joyous weekend,
ELOISE