Sausauge Fest 2010.

The Sausage Fest is an

annual event put on by

catholic church St.

Thomas of Aquinas.

It is basically a neighborhood

event where they eat sausage,

drink beer, gamble and listen

You just never know who you meet there.

Here is my youngest son Scott who

was there his new friend and her daughter.

Scott got tired of waiting in line for the face

painter who was a busy lady with a long

line of kids. He gave her the tickets and asked if he could

do the job himself..

I think he did a much better job

than the lady as you can

see here.

Here is the finished job on Lina who

had the best butterfly face at the fest.

All the bands performed free

and I am always amazed at how the

little girls just love to dance at

these events.

My friend who is on the Sausage Fest

committee said they had exceeded

all of last year's profits by the very

first night.

My Marian University moment!

Last Saturday August 21
I attended my 1st Marian
University tennis
alumnae match. It was a fundraiser
for the team. We were
supposed to be paired one alum and one current player.
The skies opened up and playing was canceled.
We had to go around the room introduce ourselves
and tell where we were from as well as the year we
graduated.

The head coach is Cassie featured above
in the yellow Marian T-shirt

These are members of the ladies as well

as men's team

All of the alums who showed up were young men

who graduated after 2005 as well as 2 other

ladies who also graduated after 2000.

When it was my turn I asked if I had

to tell the year I graduated. After announcing my

1968 graduation and that I still play USTA tennis,

I received a big round of applause.

One court was dried out and I paired with

one alum lady named Jessie versus the other

alum lady named Heidi who played

with the coach. They beat us 6-4.

I consider that a victory.

I wished there had been a tennis team

when I attended College. I am sure

I would have worked hard and

made the team. After all at 5 feet,

I played on the basketball team which

was the only sport they had for women.

How I envied these young kids and their

opportunities.

Jamaicans out to lunch!

Peter is a Chinese Jamaican friend whose
sister was married to my brother. He was on
his way from Toronto back to Florida where
he lives when he decided to pay us a visit.
We really enjoyed all the reminiscing and we
had wonderful fun times growing up in Jamaica.
Here we are lunching at a Thai restaurant that
has fresh water cocoa nuts just like the
ones we used to have in Jamaica. It is the
cleanest taste and you can also scoop out
and eat the delicious meat. It is good to
clean out your kidneys.
Doreen , Carol and I loved our
chilled cocoa nuts.
The "Thai Taste" is on 82nd street
and Doreen says it is quite authentic.

Upclose and Personal!

In a small venue you can

really get up close and personal.

Blake did not

play with the

girls but he

was getting

ready for the

men's section

starting the

following week. Bartoli

made it to the

semis.

Look who's watching. Yes it

was hot hot hot.

I think the heat contributed to the

empty stands. The stars were all there

except for the Williams' but that did not

bother me. You really get a sense of how

hard they can hit the ball.

Petrova got ousted but played some

doubles. Here we have the Russians

Azarenka and Kribilenka.

Cute Anna

Ivanovich

is from Serbia

and she also

made it to

the semis.

Here is Jankovich who was yanked

out of the tournament by Amanmurodova

a somewhat masculine player from

Ubekistan

Above is the gracious super "Mom"

Kim Cljisters being interviewed.

She beat Penneta the scrappy Italian

player who was asked to pose with a

fan and who graciously complied.

This is Wickmayer from Belgium who

was doing a ball drill just outside the

player's lounge which is a good place

to hang out if you want to see the stars

come and go. I think this will be now and

annual event for me. By the way spell check cannot get these Russian names right so please

excuse me if I have some errors here. I am

too lazy to look them up. Besides I have to

go watch the semis on TV.

I Just Met a Girl named Maria!

Well, I really never met her officially
but look how close I was. On August 12
and 13, I was in Cincinnatti for the ladies
U.S. Open Olympus series tennis. We just
happened upon Maria Sharapova's practice
and Kathy got her autograph while I snapped
these 2 photos. She was so friendly to the
kids. She was always my favorite player
and still is though I really like Cljisters and
Ivanovich. They will get their own blog.

It was USTA member day and we could

get our photos with the trophy. So look

at these fans posing. Great way to spend

2 days despite temperatures soaring into

the 90's.

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS!

Penny was diagnosed with

breast cancer and did her

surgery on July 23 and just

one week later we took dinner

and paid her a visit.

We saw she had received 53

cards and had them artfully

arranged in a circle symbolizing the circle of

love.

Betsy had not sent a card

so she quickly made one out of

a paper plate but she also made

some very tasty empanadas and

visited. She was absolved.

Notice how so many of us had on pink.

I think it was a total coincidence.

Check out this other circular

art piece.

For the record she is recovering nicely and

will start radiation in one week. No lymph

node involvement made her happy.

She has had a rough 2010, remember she had

the head trauma just months ago.

She thanks everyone for their support.

Where in the world are we?

Where am I on a Thursday?

Are you guessing Italy?

Maybe you said Greece?

Actually we are at Holiday Park

in Indianapolis where they

give free concerts every other

Thursday in the summertime.
People seem to enjoy themselves

There is a very eclectic crowd

Below is a neighbor of kathy Willis'

who was surprised to see that

her neighbors could misbehave.

They really weren't misbehaving unless

dancing and acting silly counts.

The band was "Living Proof" and they

played a lot of great stuff that was

so danceable.

Look who was dancing below

p

Mystic Pizza!

Cindy lives on Mystic bay a hidden secret

lake community right in the middle of Indy.

Every Monday friends gather to play tennis,

eat pizza or maybe a southwest salad,

share wine and goodwill.

we swim on hot nights also

and gather on the screened in porch

or the deck

The condo is fabulous
and is a work in progress.
This is one of the cool light fixtures
on the porch.

Sometimes we go out on a
pontoon and cruise the lake

Below is Mary who is the contractor,

designer, chief cook and bottle washer.

They have a great sound system,

music piped all throughout the home.
Neighbors drop in even if they

don't play tennis.

Cindy is in the green T-shirt below

and is the most welcoming person.

We are really lucky to have this great lake

condo to hang out at.