Louisville Impressions Part 10 (April 26, 2008)

It was so windy last night, the Balloon Glow was cancelled. This morning it was still windy and wet, so the balloon race has been postponed; they’ll try again this evening.

There’s a marathon/mini-marthon going on this morning. Check out the site for the event here: http://derbyfestivalmarathon.com/
7:25 AM – Derby Festival Marathon Wheelchair Division begins. Looks like there were 8-10 entered in this division.

7:30 AM – Derby Festival Marathon Runners Division begins. TV announcers are saying there are 12,000 entrants. There are 4 runners who’ve been in it 35 times – since the first one in 1974. One of these entrants is 73 years old.

Think I’ll go try to see some of it, more later!

Continued:
I walked south to Breckenridge, got to see some of the early, low number runners – even got this shot of the man wearing #1.


Not many people were out watching, but it was only 08:30 and cold and damp. After cheering some of them on, I stopped for breakfast, then did my grocery shopping at Kroger.

After putting the groceries away, I went out again and headed north to Chestnut St. Here the runners of the full marathon were on their way to the finish line. I followed along the route until I got to the end on Market St.

Coming from Boston, and fighting hoards of people to be near the finish line on Boylston St., it amazed me that so few people turned out here to watch. There were empty seats in the bleachers and open spots along the rail. Maybe it was more crowded earlier when the first runners were arriving, but it sure wasn’t evident by the time I got there.

It was fun to be so close and cheer people on; couldn’t be a better time to be in Louisville!

Until next time, peace to all, Judi

Louisville Part 9 and More

Happy Earth Day! Hope you take the opportunity to show your love for your “mother” and do one new thing that will help the planet. For instance, as your light bulbs need replacing, why not replace them with compact fluorescent ones? Or consider recycling even the tiniest pieces of paper, every little bit helps.

After work tonight I went to the Tuesday night exercise class taught by the young woman who works in the gym. Tonight’s session was called “Butts and Guts” and wow did we work ‘em. Since I haven’t worked out for over 4 weeks, I fear major muscle rebellion by the morning. It was fun, for something that seemed to be killing us!

The weather was great yesterday and even better today – spring is finally here! Flowers have popped open all over the place and it’s comfortable to be outside without a coat on – my kind of weather.

Peace to all, Judi

Louisville Part 8

On Friday last, April 18, as most of the world now knows, there was a 5.4 earthquake in New Salem, Illinois. It was fairly early in the morning. I was up and packing the last items I was going to take home for the weekend.

First the closet doors rattled, then the mirror on the bureau began to shake; at that point I headed for the doorway as I’ve been in an earthquake before. Out here one expects tornados and even other bad weather – but until now I had no idea that this area is sitting on a very large fault line! There was no damage here, and as far as I’ve heard, no one was injured even nearer to the epicenter.



The visit home was great, although far too short. The weather was great, the flights to and from were uneventful, spent time with most of the people I care about, ate some seafood (even by the ocean!), and slept in my own bed for 2 night – whoo hoo!





After arriving back in Louisville, I decided to try the bus system to get from the airport to my local abode. I did have to wait about an hour, so got dinner while I waited, had a great experience on the bus. The airport route has a stop right at the end of my block, what could be better?

It was back to work today, and yearning for the next trip home. Miss you all.

Peace, Judi

Louisville Part 7

Yesterday was the event that kicks off Kentucky Derby season – 3 weeks filled with 70 events. Thunder Over Louisville began at 3:00 PM with an air show. There were civilian and military aircraft flying over the Ohio River and the city until about 9:30 PM. The last of this show included planes with fireworks shooting out of their wings – spectacular. Sadly I was not in a position to get any shots of this as I was in the crowd heading towards the river and just couldn’t stop; my impression is it was like watching birds flying with comets trailing from their wings.

The event continued with a 30-minute fireworks display that rivaled the Boston 4th of July event on the Charles. Some of the items were shot from the 2nd Street Bridge, including the shooting of Howitzers for added thunder! The waterfall-type show near the end was just amazing.

The weather prediction for the event was 30-50% chance of rain, but thankfully it held off. It was extremely cold, however. Good thing I flew here with wool lining in my raincoat, a knitted hat-scarf, and lined gloves – I wore them all over several other layers. Checking out some weather information on line, it’s been colder and messier here than in Boston the last few days. Hope you’re enjoying the weather where you are.

Today it’s been raining for several hours and it is still in the 40s. The area is under a freeze watch for the next couple of nights – hello, people, it’s April 13th. At home I’d be starting to turn the garden and put in some of the cold weather crops; isn’t this part of the county in a warmer planting zone? Oh, well, soon enough it will be hot and we’ll be complaining about that, right?

Don’t know what other events I may get to, but please come back often to check it out here.

Peace to all, Judi

Louisville Part 6

The weather has finally turned a corner it seems. Yesterday morning was in the 40s and I wore my raincoat with wool liner to the office. By evening I went for a walk wearing a skirt and sleeveless top and was just comfortable. Those who know me well know this means it was quite warm out! Today was about the same and temps in the 70s are predicted for the upcoming week. Too bad they are also predicting rain – been so much flooding here already this spring.

This coming Saturday, the 12th, is an event called “Thunder Over Louisville”. It will kick off the Derby festival season. There will be an air show during the day and a huge fireworks display at night. Stores all over the downtown area will be closing early or not opening at all that day. And since the 2nd Street bridge will host some of the fireworks, it will be closed at least part of the day as well.

In case you’d like to know more, here are some links to what’s going on here:

kdf.org
WHAS11
WLKY32
WAVE3
Derby 2008
Hosting a Derby party
The Mayor’s Health Initiative
Famous Muth’s Candy Shop
Muth's famous treat-The Modjeska

Peace to all,
Judi

Louisville Part 5

It will be two weeks tomorrow I've been here; time is flying by!

Massive amounts of rain last night, so much flooding this morning that school openings were delayed all over the area. Many vehicles were caught in flash floods. Roads closed all over the area. Seemed as bad as a blizzard in Boston for the disruption it caused. Picture on the news showed a pickup truck nearly covered to the top of the cab with water.

Shopped at a nearby gift shop this evening. While signing for my purchase the cashier offered me a bourbon truffle. Now I’m no bourbon drinker, but mixed with the chocolate it was awesome. Next time I’m in there I’ll pick up a box or two!

Planning to go play tourist again tomorrow, hopefully more photos and a longer update.

Peace to all, Judi

Off Current Topic

Jenn passed the baton to me, so I will pick it up and run with it:

What Ifs:

What if I could meet someone in the art world to chat with?
First I’d want to meet Ansel Adams to learn as much as I possibly could about making great photographs. Next would be Camille Saint-Saens – Danse Macabre is just so fabulous – I’d love to know what the inspiration for it was. There are so many painters I admire it would be tough to choose just one – John Singer Sargeant, Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, Manet, and Van Gogh, just to name a few.

What if I could have one wish granted for the benefit of all mankind?
I agree completely with Jenn who wrote “Ensure the survival of our planet for every future generation.”

What if I could travel anywhere in the world? Hawaii, Ireland (again), France, England, Scotland, Italy, Egypt, Australia, and too many other places to mention. Please note, Louisville was never on this list, but there’s lots of cool stuff to see here!

What if I could live in a period other than the present, for 24 hours?
There are two times that came before I’d love to have 24 hours to see what it was really like. One of these was the Middle Ages and the other was the time period of Little House on the Prairie.

What if I could make over three areas of my body? Butt, Gut, Thighs!

What if I could become an animal for 24 hours?
It would have to be a giraffe as I’ve been drawn to them for so many years now. Maybe because I’m 5’2” all the height is so appealing, and they have such beautimous eyes!

What if I could bring someone back to life for 24 hours? Again I agree with Jenn, to bring someone back and lose them again would be just too difficult.

This is so totally unfair – I have no one to pass this on to since I don’t know of anyone who reads my blog and writes their own except Jenn. So, I guess the buck stops here.

Peace to all, Judi