I've meant to write about this for a while, but just got a round tuit.
Yeah, that's an old joke, but I remember Mama telling it to me, so...
you're welcome.
Back to wrapping things up before this year steps out the door, shall we?
Yes, let's.
The most recent event, for me, occurred on September 19th.
That was a Monday, a fairly ordinary Monday in many ways.
I'd spoken with Christina, as I was trying to arrange to attend a soccer game, but this week was now off as one of her girls was sick.
I'd spoken with Smitty, and he'd agreed to go to a dinner with me to learn about Medicare.
(I took care of his August sales tax report online, too.)
I'd read an article in "Smithsonian" about Mary Sears, the woman responsible for mapping the oceans during World War II, and resolved to give that issue to my great-niece Caitlyn.
Then, I turned on the TV to see what might be of interest in the afternoon...
and stumbled right into the end of the procession of Queen Elizabeth II's casket through the streets of her beloved London.
Wow.
I had missed the first five hours of the eight-hour broadcast and tuned in at exactly the right time for the return to her castle with its view of the city, her casket carried and surrounded by Royal Navy sailors at a stately and solemn pace, then transferred to the hearse for transport to Windsor Castle.
And I realized as I watched that this was a moment not witnessed in almost a century.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor had reigned for 70 years.
That made it a rarity.
I had to wonder if the passing of her beloved Phillip last year had contributed to her death.
Their 75th anniversary would have been two months later, on November 20th.
Sweet, but sad, to think of their great love having lasted so long.
The first event I considered unique was on May 7th.
It followed the first communion of my great-nephew Sebi.
I'd spent the rest of the Saturday afternoon at home, watching Walter Matthau trying to coach a little league team, then following along with Indy in a modern-day version of Cinderella, interspersed with taking care of household chores.
Then I switched on the telly to see what might be on...
and caught the race of the 148th annual Kentucky Derby, watching in disbelief and amazement as Rich Strike made history and won!
I was right there, camera poised, ready to snap, and caught this shot.
That's the winning horse, up against the rail (the inside track), moving up fast and actually managing, against the odds, to overtake the favored steeds.
When I say "against the odds", I mean it: the track had him 80 to 1 for winning.
Yet, that's just what he did, this horse that wasn't even slated to run until a position suddenly opened up.
Magical, just magical to watch him run!
I don't think I've seen one of these races since I was a kid.
But there I was, at just the right time, to see something that hadn't happened there in more than a century - a relative unknown had won the derby.
Wow.
So, I made a note of it on a bit of paper, but never got around to posting about it.
Then, about a month later, another rare event occurred.
Truly, the event on June 2 was unique, not just rare.
It was a Thursday and I'd spent part of the day trying to talk with DFCS in an attempt to move along Christina's adoption of her girls (for Miyah, it's been better than 5 years in the making, a bit of a marathon for such things).
I'd also attended two online events at AARP, one about Tony Plana's acting project for seniors and the other a MFG about the man who designed the Sydney Opera House and Lloyds of London, among other things.
Then I turned on the television, to see what might be on...
and I caught the final hour of the 94th Scripps National Spelling Bee and witnessed middle-school-aged kids battling it out to list the letters in impossible words, watching attentively as the competition came down to one girl and one boy, both so equally matched that it became necessary to pull out something never done before: a spell-off round!
Harini Logan and Vikram Raju had made it through the first 11 rounds, then spent the next 7 rounds - to the 18th round that usually marked the end - in a tight race that ended in a tie.
That would have caused a problem with awarding the winner the traditional $50,000 prize and the runner-up with $25,000, as well as the other prizes.
A true winner had to be declared, so the spell-off commenced.
How exciting!
Each student had 90 seconds to spell as many of the 41 words as they could.
The winner would be the one who spelled the most correctly.
It ended up 22 to 15, in Harini's favor - wow!
How very impressive!
And, no, that isn't her in the photo.
That girl is Keke Palmer, in the 2006 "Akeelah and the Bee", which I'd seen recently.
Is the Bee a competition I usually watch?
Never.
I had tuned it in on a whim and got caught up by the excitement of these kids spelling words that I'd never heard before, requesting etymology and uses of the words in context.
Wow.
How very cool to have witnessed these three events while they were occurring, not as a video rerun after the story had already broken in the media.
Right place, right time.
i thank You, God.
Now, I have four of my favorite episodes of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" to enjoy as this last day of 2022 draws to a close.
Each deals with transformation.
Willow the teen witch finds in "Doppelgangland" that she's a goth vampire.
Buffy and some others find out "Beer Bad" as they go from drunks to cave-people.
Giles becomes "A New Man", namely a demon that only Spike can understand.
Zander gets split by a demon into two selves, an "Odd Couple" type of "Replacement", with his Oscar slouch and Felix neatness needing to recombine for him to survive.
Hey, like I said, I like these.
Happy new year, y'all.
No comments:
Post a Comment