Candlelight Dinner

Here I am at the second annual Candlelight Dinner where 79 hostesses take bare eight-foot tables and set and decorate them for eight guests each using any theme they wish.

Two creative hostesses had chocolate fountains as their centerpieces. Another used red roses to highlight silver candelabras. Two promoted support for the US troops overseas, another the US Navy.

Disney princesses were prevalent along with a table encouraging ladies to help find a cure for juvenile diabetes. From South Africa to Haiti to European countries tables were filled with travel memorabilia and photos. From honoring ancestors to celebrating a birthday to spending time on the beach, hostesses used every bit of creative genius to bring their ideas to life.

The speaker was hilarious yet had a message. The food was delicious and those special centerpieces (cakes, fruit, chocolate fountains) were enjoyed by everyone passing by the tables. The committee was exhausted after months of planning and two days of setting up.

And, as they say, a good time was had by all.

Not A Proud Moment

So, we were at Senior Night for the high school soccer team. Grand daughter Taylor's last hurrah on the home field. After the game parents walked their seniors across the field to the applause of the fans who had stayed around to celebrate. I stood, a little elevated, on the bleachers to get a good shot of Taylor walking across the field. I waited through the first players announced and positioned myself to get a good shot when her name was called .

When out of nowhere I hear, "Sit down."

I turned to see who might have spoken and a woman who was sitting a few rows above me said again so I would not miss that it was she who spoke, "Sit down!"

I motioned with my camera and said, "I'm just going to take this one picture." And I turned back around to face the field.

She, a little louder and more insistent, said, "I don't care, sit down, I can't see."

I slowly turned back to her and suggested in my quiet, syrupy-sweet, mother-to-child voice, "Then stand up."

Not my proudest moment, but I did get some great shots of Taylor with her friends congratulating her and hugs all around.

And that's what I'm thinking about today.

Enough Already

One month to go before the national election. I hope you are registered and I hope you vote.

I have seen 11 presidential elections. My candidates did not always win. Sometimes when they didn't the country was probably better off; other times I'm not so sure.

Yet I believe the big winners on election day are those of us who can again gain some control over the TV, radio and print media. We can go back to mindless programming of our choosing. The bombardment of negativity and who said and did what and to whom will be stilled for a time.

This election has dragged on longer than others I remember. And through those eleven national elections there has been a downward spiral away from real issues and into gossip, innuendo
and downright mistruths...(commonly called lies, but we must be politically correct and not hurt any one's reputation or self-esteem by calling people liars).

We have the checks and balances of three branches of government. No two people (president and vice-president) will wield the amount of power that their opponents warn us against. With more say-so than the Queen of England, they have much less than the Sultan of Brunei. With authority somewhere in between, they represent our country to the world.

For four years.

And then we can begin all over again.

Vote.

Autumn

Fall has, well, fallen upon southern Indiana. This is the last week of soccer. Nights are cool; days are warm but without the humidity. The mums are in full bloom, the two we planted...the other two dried behind the pool wall and never saw the dirt of earth.

Orange and brown dominate the store landscapes as Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations lure shoppers with the guilt that each house, yard, mantel, table and door front should have a hanging artifact that declares to the world that you, the homeowner, know that the seasons have changed and are embracing the change. And I know that some of you reading this are sporting pumpkin pins and sweatshirts....(note to self: add this to the list of old people behaviors...see previous blog).

Do you sometimes wish we could change our lives as easily and with the same lack of fuss that we change seasons? Prescribed colors, holiday themes and slogans make seasonal change a no-brainer. Sometimes I wonder if we embrace the seasonal change with such passion in order for us not to have to figure out the colors, themes and slogans of our own lives.

That's what I'm thinking about today.