Chatbug Karen

Today was Memorial Day. It is the day we honor those who have lost their lives in service of protecting our country. I am grateful to all our service men and women. Freedom is certainly not free.

This was the fastest three day weekend on record! Both of our adult children are home and we are enjoying their visit. We have been eating at home a lot because they both like to cook. Woo hoo for us! Our daughter, Stacy, has been trying out new recipes and we have been her guinea pigs. Everything has been good so far. Greg made a two layer chocolate cake that looked too pretty to cut. We did cut it and it was delicious. Thank goodness for Stacy’s determination that we go for our daily walk. We need to work off all the extra calories.

Lynn and Stacy went to the Indy 500 race yesterday and enjoyed their spot in the stands. Three wrecks happened right in front of them. They also have a good view of the cars when they go into the pit so that makes watching the race extra fun.

I made two laptop bags, which you can see on my sewing blog at Winding Threads, for a customer and finished putting hanging sleeves on the quilts I am entering in a show in two weeks. It is good to have those projects finished.

My hands are a mess from weeding. I wish I could stand to wear gloves. My cuticles would appreciate the protection. Oh well.

Our seats for the Indy 500 were on the fourth turn. We saw the cars come out the short chute and around the curve towards the pits. It was a great place to sit. We saw some action as a few cars hit the wall or each other. This picture is of the first car to leave the race and also of Sara Fisher’s blue car. It was the end of the day for them.

I had not realized it but I had never sat in the grandstands for the Indy 500. I have attended but always wandered around the infield. It must have been 30 years since I had attended the race. I had no idea it had been that long. When we were in our twenties, Lynn and I went down the night before and spent the night in a friend’s yard. I cannot imagine doing that now. Oh the carefree days of our twenties. LOL
We left Sunday morning and our first quest was to find Krispie Creams. Do you know that some convenience stores do not receive donut deliveries on holidays? Well, it is true and a travesty if you ask me. Having that Krispie Cream is what starts the day off right. After finding donuts and coffee, we headed toward Indianapolis.

Traffic was not as bad as we expected until we neared the speedway. I kept thinking of the price of gas as we inched our way toward the parking area. We passed a high school that was earning money by parking cars in their lot. I would have gone in but hubby said it was too far to walk. I could see the track and thought it surely wasn’t that far but he has done this the past few years so I trusted his judgment, thank goodness. We traveled on and parked in a field.

The field was full of campers and tents of those who had come down the day before. They had grills set up and were playing Frisbee and lawn darts. Oh, and they were drinking whatever tickled their taste buds. We walked past many inebriated souls.

Some of the campsites were cozy. They had all the conveniences of home. There were many large motor homes. There was a tragic event this year. A motor home’s exhaust went into the vents of a nearby camper and asphyxiated the occupants. One man died and the rest of his family is still in the hospital.

We walked quite a distance to get through all those campers. We arrived at the road leading into the grandstands and joined the others wading their way toward the gates. It felt like we were cattle being herded toward the slaughter house. Thank goodness the weather was beautiful. If it had been hot, I’m sure I would have felt claustrophobic. Our wait to get up to the gates was long. Each bag had to be checked for contraband. Some folks did not know of the size limit on coolers allowed in the seating area and so there were coolers left along the road.

More later.