Whadyaknow?

So as it turns out, new things happen to me kind of a lot.  This past week, I've been superbusy (like regular busy but with a cape!  Just kidding--the kind of busy that leaves a person too exhausted to type at the end of her day), so I didn't really plan a New Event to take place.  However, in the meantime, these are the activities that took up my week:

On Monday, I twirled fire batons for the first (and if we're being honest, probably last) time!  I had no intentions of twirling fire batons, but this is how that came about....  I have a friend named Jen, who has a friend named Rachel, and Rachel has twirled batons of all sorts since she was little--on teams, even, that competed--and she dared Jen to twirl fire batons.  Jen, never one to back down from a dare, agreed to do this, and I, being nosy, wanted to see this go down.  Jen and Rachel and assorted other teachers from our faculty also wanted to see this fire baton twirling extravaganza, so we went to record this (for Twitter, Instagram, school announcements, anywhere we can think of to share this feat) at Rachel's house.  And lo and behold, she did indeed set not one but TWO batons aflame and proceeded to flip them around and toss them and look, in general, like a bona fide professional.  And then it was Jen's turn.  Just so you know, when one stops twirling a fire baton around in fast circles, the flames get BIGGER.  Like Jen's eyes when she took the fiery baton into her grip.  But she did it!  All the while, dancing and spinning about, squealing with delight!  And then, THEN, she handed--or moved close to me in order to hand--this flaming stick of doom to ME.  No way, Jose.  But eventually pride and curiosity (fancy name for nosiness) won out, and I took the baton from her.  And made tiny twirls--mostly to keep the flames low.  Kind of screeching the whole time, as it turns out (I don't remember making the pterodactyl noises, but on film, they can clearly be heard).  So thus concludes the manner in which I twirled fire batons. 

Then, a couple of days later, I went to play golf with the ladies who do the scramble on Wednesday mornings at the Energy golf course.  I enjoy golf, really.  When the weather is nice (80's), and I'm wearing my favorite outfit (darling golf skirt and lavender shoes), and it doesn't take too long (9 holes), and the sun is out, and I'm hitting well (making contact with the ball and sending it forward), and I can have a cheeseburger with the fixins when I'm done.  So all of these conditions met on Wednesday, and I even had a supply of pink balls to chase around, and life was sweet.  But!  On THIS Wednesday, I outdrove my mother for the first time!  Wooooo-hooooooo!  She plays rabidly--anytime she can be on a golf course, she is on a golf course.  She has taken lessons, bought a membership at Pine Lakes, purchased allllll the golf equipment, and she practices with my dad all the time.  And my drive outdrove her drive.  Neener, neener.  :-)

But Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent preparing for a yard sale with my bestie, Michele.  She and I always swear that THIS will be the last yard sale EVER, but we pretty much do one every year.  Nothing new happened here--we priced, organized, sold treasures, and then, on Saturday at 3:00, we delivered our unpurchased items to Goodwill. 

Sunday, though, brought another new event--Michele and our game-night group went to Walker's Bluff to see Pat Benatar in concert!  While I have been to concerts there, I'd never seen Pat Benatar, so I feel this counts.  It was great--we went to IV's for dinner first, and then hauled our lawnchairs and equipment to find a good spot on the lawn at Walker's Bluff (scored seats right on top of a little incline--perfect!--up high enough to see, and no one can set chairs on the incline, so there was some space in front of us).  The heat was pretty intense; it has been in the 90's for a couple of days, but two little rain showers sort of cooled things down to about 86 with some significant humidity.  We had umbrellas and water bottles, though, and battled the heat until the concert started.  I will tell you that at 61, Pat Benatar still does a GREAT show--tons of songs and great stories about her career with her husband, who has been in her band since 1979.  This show was her 35th anniversary tour for her band, and her 32nd anniversary year with her husband, who co-writes many of their songs.  So glad we went!  Great time had by all!  Even BETTER time had by the people in front who were GIANT FANS of Pat Benatar's.  They knew every word to every song and even had little spontaneous interpretive dances to go along with the music, inspired by either immense love of Pat or immense quantities of Walker Bluff's finest vintages.  People-watching is amazing at concerts, fairs, and airports.  I highly recommend it as a pastime.

So even though my week had pretty mundane plans set in the beginning, it turned out to be a pretty great time.  Lots of time spent with my favorite people, lots of great food, lots of new memories, and some feelings that if my life continues with these friends and families, 40 isn't going to sting too badly.