One time after Mass, many Sundays ago, say circa 1964, instead of just going home like usual, my father drove all of us to Griswold Airport in Madison, CT.  He paid “Old Man Griswold” (“OMG”), (ok now that’s funny, his nickname initials are OMG! I just cracked myself up!)  So Dad paid OMG I think $25.00 (equivalent now to prob $500.00.  Back then, on a teacher’s salary, it was probably more like $5 gazillion dollars!) anywho, he paid OMG to take 3 of us kids, no parents, just us kids up in a little dinky plane to fly up and down the shoreline.  Billy was 7, Timmy 6, and I was ~5.  Jerry was ~ 1yrs old , and I think just last week he told me his ribs finally stopped hurting from Mom holding on to him for dear life as she watched 3/4 of her children fly off into the wild blue yonder!!  (Rumor has it, earlier she had dropped 7 mos old Jerry on his head the moment she heard JFK was shot. That could explain a lot!! Jk, Miah 😆)

You are correct! Mom was NONE too happy with this spur of the moment adventure.  Not only did Dad hand over enough money for a week’s worth of groceries, he put us 3 kids in a flying death trap, I might add, with a smile on his face!  Not a creepy, maaaybe we’ll see ya later, you little brats, smile…just a sincere have fun, smile!!

Mom has since told us, that was THE longest twenty minutes of her life!  Sorry, Jerry, we ruined your “only child gig!” It was good while it lasted, right?  What’s that? 20 minutes wasn’t long enough? Run that one by Mom, I’m sure she would disagree.

Nope, I’m not Dunn yet. The flying adventure continues….

Being 5 years old,  I really didn’t know what the heck was going on. (Ok, funny, funny, I know, I still don’t!!)  All I know is Dad said, “how would you like to go fly in a plane?”  A plane? A real plane?Where?  Simple. Take a right out of the church parking lot instead of our usual left. (Miss waving “Hi” to Buddy Vece as he cuts threw the yards to his house.)  Drive up Grove St, left onto RT 1, cross the bridge by the Ice House,  say the obligatory “were in Madison!” a total of ~17 seconds after leaving St. Mary’s, bada bing, bada boom, there we were at Griswold Airport!!  Wow! There’s an airport right here, who knew?!!

I remember seeing Dad talk to someone near, I guess, the hanger or maybe it was an office.  A few minutes later, Dad came back said, “Okay, go ahead, you 3 climb in.”  “Really??!! Where you gonna sit, Dad?” …..

Into the plane we went. First, Billy, then Timmy, then me.  I sat closest to the door.  Oh, I can still see that old rusty door, with shades of blue and white.  Yes, that door, the one that I was right next to, was NOT latched all the way!!  I kid you not.  I don’t know when I figured it out, probably at our cruising altitude of, to a 5y/o was “near the moon”, but I know I saw it.  Luckily, I was smart enough not to try and shut it.  I just left it alone, it hadn’t opened yet, better not try now!  It wasn’t, however, easy NOT to lean against it because the three of us were crammed into the seat. I’m guessing we had some kind of seat belt, but who the heck knows? I do remember thinking, “how come I have to be right next to the door, why can’t one of them?”

Despite worrying for twenty minutes that I’d fall out, or worse, get pushed out, I still had a great time. Perhaps it is why to this day I love to fly!! I really do!! I usually sit near the window so I can watch the world go by from 35,000 ft and 650 mph!  Love it!!  They only difference between my 1964 OMG flight and JetBlue, I do pay close attention to make sure the flight attendant SALLLAMS the door shut tightly!!

Xo, Kate

11/21/17 I should be peeling 10# of potatoes for TG tomorrow, but this was more fun!

 

About a year ago, my then 86 y/o mother said to me in disbelief, “My God, I’m looking like U-turn Mary!”  I said, “WWhhat did you say??  A bit louder she said, “Yes! U-turn Mary!! Now in complete frustration,  “I canNOT believe I’ve become U-turn Mary!!!,,,oh, that poor old lady!” Still, I had no ideaR what she was talking about.

About two months earlier, she had hurt her back doing yard work.  I was unaware because she doesn’t like to “bother” me and didn’t this time either.

Nurse Kate got the call on her BatPhone from Sargeant Jerry.  He doesn’t call me often, so when I see his name on caller ID, it’s like the Bat phone lighting up.  I know it’s not good.  “You better get down here, Mom’s CRYING!”  Jerry and I don’t need to say much, we just know.  (Btw, as the self proclaimed Rose among 4 thorns named Billy, Timmy, Jerry, and Neil,  Jerry’s the closest I have to a real live sister! I’ve even told him this!! His response was,,,, Well, I really can’t repeat what he said, but rest assured it was filled with brotherly love. Not!)

Anywho, Mom ended up being diagnosed with compression fractures in her lower vertebrae.  Her pain was excruciating!  You see, my mother never, ever complains. Ok, maybe she does, but not about anything that you or I’d complain about, and definitely never of pain.  For instance, she might complain when “one of those damn Republicans win!” (little does she know I switched from Dem->Rep a few years ago. (Big surprise!) Ok, maybe I did tell her, but not my dyed in the Dem. blue wool, father, and don’t you either, it’s Top Secret!) She will definitely complain when the Not so Fighting Irish of Notre Dame lose a football game.  Ok, and yes to lousy weather, but then who doesn’t?  But, but, complain about pain? Nope, she just lives with it.  Believe me, she’s got plenty of it!! She’s riddled (it’s not funny) with arthritis…. For Jerry to see her in tears?!! Yup, I got called.

A compression fracture is exactly what it sounds like. The vertebrae actually collapse, get crushed, crammed, crunched, compressed, squished, squashed, squeezed… Now remember, the vertebrae protect what? The spinal cord: the Biggest Kahuna of all the nerves!  Squish anything and it hurts, right?  Squish the Big Kahuna and it really hurts!!! The initial injury or acute phase is down right excruciating, hence Mom’s tears. In time, the fracture heals over and the pain subsides and yes, the vertebrae are now smaller and you are shorter!!!  They don’t re-inflate! (There is a special cement that can be injected, this was offered, but no way, Jose’ did she want “cement”…)

Was Mom, post healing, now visibly a little shorter?  Ehh, maybe. Was her back even more twisted, hunched over than normal? Yeah… Did she look like U-Turn Mary? Not sure, but are you getting the picture yet?

Finally, she filled me in. Flashback to 1930’s, Mary was a lovely little old lady who answered the door at the Rectory at my mother’s childhood parish in New Haven.  Apparently, Mary was so hunched over, that to a kid, she literally looked like a U-turn!! My mother saw herself now as U-Turn Mary.  Omg, not a good flashback!

I’m sure my mom and her childhood friends shared a few laughs at Mary’s expense.  Karma? I doubt it.   My mother’s a saint and there’s NO U- TURN about it.

Xo, Kate

11/21/17

 

 

Not sure why, but we’re re-watching the 1986 movie, “Platoon.” Talk about Hell on earth. I’m so dreadfully sorry that the Vietnam Vets were treated so disrespectfully when they returned to the States.
I vividly remember watching the 6pm News on TV every night and checking the death totals. I do remember being so scared that my older brothers would have to go to war. (Did you remember that Johnny Depp was in this movie? I didn’t.)

Pray I don’t have crrrazy dreams….
After watching the movie Platoon, we then watched a documentary titled, “The Last Days of Vietnam.” Neither Joe nor I reallllly knew (or remember?!) the EXTENT of the evacuation of the of S. Vietnamese out of Saigon. A total of ~75 US Helicopters repeatedly landed at the US Embassy,
picking up 40+ people each time, flying them out to US naval ships in the Saigon River. This went on for 18 hours straight. (When they said they were fatigued, they were told, “Marines don’t get tired!”) All the while, the N. Vietnamese were barreling into Saigon on tanks… One S.V. pilot stole a Chinook Helicopter, flew to his own neighborhood, picked up his family and then flew out to one of our ships. The Chinook was too big to land ON this ship and they waved him off…so his younger kids actually jumped out of the helicopter onto the ship, his wife even threw their infant child out the open door towards the ship. The baby was caught by some naval personnel who then caught the mother. The pilot hovered the Chinook about a ft above the water for several minutes while he took off his flight suit. Then he ditched the chopper one way while he jumped out the other, yes in just his in shirt and underwear. (Flight maybe would sink him, anyone?) He was saved by the sailors via dingy.

What were you doing in April 1975?
I was a sophomore and catching for Morgan’s softball team, aka, pretty oblivious!!

Bridget Eileen, you should really take the time to watch this, (not the movie Platoon, but the documentary seeing that you know several Vietnamese nuns and seminarians.)

Xo, Kate

11/18/17

Day 4 of my blog….You still flying with me?!

Anybody else watching Reah Lemini’s documentary, now series, on the lies, fraud, abuse, power, rip-off$, and deceptive practices of Lie-entology (L-ogy) ?   If your answer is “I thought you were gonna say, isn’t that Wash, D.C.?”  Well, yes, you got me, but that’s another topic for another day, or two, or three trillion! (Stuart Smalley, dog gone it, are you still worth it?)

Truly, if you haven’t seen any of her shows, do check them out. I have watched on that magical station, Netflix.  No time? Consider binge watching during your next GI bug, cause you’ll vomit either way!

Talk about eye opening!!  Holy, Holy, Holy, I want some maccaroni!  The whole “thing” is massively sickening and so destructive. (Any other students of Eliot School’s Mrs. Emmerman have guilt using the word, thing?)

I canNOT believe how L-ogy messes with people’s minds, rips apart families, and yes, interesting enough, pre-Reah’s show!! forced women to have abortions, all in the name of their god, or pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, wizard, H. Ron Lubbard (HRL).  He is the author of the book L-ianectics and creator of this so called, “religion”, L-ogy.  He’s no longer alive, as he decided to leave his body (aka, he had a stroke) to continue to do his work elsewhere w/o it!! How nice, he’s still working, hasn’t he heard of snow-birding in FL, yet?!  Maybe he’s living and working outside of his body in Clearwater, FL. (No lie, Lie-entology is yuge there!)

The only knowledge I’ve had of this “religion” is that Tom-I’ve gone through 3 wives with a fake smile and forced laugh-Bruise, Captain John-I do enjoy his acting-but maybe not so much now that I know how screwy his “religion” is- T-Revolting and yes, Greta-Van-Fox ship jumper-Suck-Stern are all practicing Catholics….whooops, my bad, practicing Lie-entologists.  Which just means, they’re on Lie-entology’s own yellow brick road to “clear the planet” of any bad thoughts or deeds..etc..  There are so many bizarro facets, levels, theories, rules, and even full head to toe, Navy like uniforms for those extra special (extra special suckers) who are part of the See-(sea) Organization.  I’m pretty sure it’s okay to say that Lie-entology is a full fledged cult!  Please pass the Koolaid.

Once HRL left his body, another wackadoodle or wizard, took over. Mavid Discavage is now the self proclaimed leader of L-ogy.  Three words on him: short man syndrome. Enough said. Not that’s anything wrong with being a short man, although I wouldn’t know, maybe there is, it’s just that some short men just don’t like anyone, especially tall women, like me!

My take away from all this and Reah’s series is: 1. I can’t believe all of this crazy stuff takes place in our country in this day and age.  Uh oh, my bad again, refer to above D.C. Comment…2. How many suckers and extra special suckers there are out there. 3. How sad that children born into and/or raised in Lie-entology are pretty much doomed to a life of mental (and sometimes physical) abuse.

The above musings are just my opinions, I could be wrong.

Xo, Kate

11/16/17

 

The clock on our VCR is still blinking 12:00, how about yours?  I’m old enough to remember when I said to my husband, and I’m totally serious, “We are not buying this new fangled CD thingy thing.  I like my cassette tapes and I’m tired of ‘things’ always changing just to make us buy new ‘things’! (I don’t even think I knew the word technology at this point. Ok, maybe I knew it, just never used it in a complete sentence.)  Well, we now have prob 1000+ CDs (give or take a million, not sure) and listen to maybe the same 20 throughout the year.  Yes, that 20 includes Christmas CDs, too.

• When cameras went digital and Mystic Color Lab closed, I think I cried. Wahhhh. Never again will I get that thrill of seeing the thick yellow envelope stuffed into the mailbox, nor the laughter when you looked at the yes, developed photo of the ceiling or up someone’s nose.  Wasn’t postage free on those envelopes?  Amazon Prime, you copycats, you!

Did you, too, save all 18 trillion negatives in its cute little negative pocket just in case you might want to make a copy?!! “Don’t mix them up, we’ll never find the right negative again!”

Just so you know, somewhere in my kitchen there’s a ziplock baggie (Yes, it’s labeled. Nurse Kate here labels everything, just ask my kids and husband! I drive them nuts, but love saying, “you’re welcome!!” when that annoying “mom label” helps!!) ok, where was I, yeah, in my kitchen, somewhere, I have a ziplock baggie with I think 3 little thingies, what are they called, memory stick? memory card? I don’t know…I’ll just call them, My Lost Memory cards!!  Well, I have them tucked away somewhere, somewhere, where I won’t forget where they are!!  Oh, you’re catching on, right?  Right.  I have no ideaR where they are! But should they ever be found and the “technology” to “develop” them hasn’t changed, then my kids can actually see their lives in photos from age 12on up!  See, I was a good mom, I did take photos, I just never “developed” them.  “MmmmmOmmmm, nobody DEVELOPS pictures anymore!!”  Oh yeah? Well I’m not gonna “develop” any more kids either! So you two are stuck with me!

Computers, internet and laptops, OH, MY!  Cellphones, IPads and Facebook, DONT CRY!  I have this strange urge to first find the right clicker, turn on my Smart TV(are they mocking me?!) , and ask it, yes, I can talk into my clicker, can you? (oh, don’t we know who came up with this little talking into the clicker trick, a baby boomer! I just wish I could figure out if I need to hold it and talk, or just push it and talk, you know like when we talk to our new best friend, Siri?!) Any who, I have this urge to find the 1985 movie (I looked it up ON the Google) “Cocoon” …..we thought they were so weird and stupid, living in a cocoon. Hah! So stupid…….wahhhhhhhh, I want my own Cocoon! Who’s coming with me?  Just make sure you pack the baggie with my Lost Memory Cards!

Xo, Kate

11/15/17

We’ll be making our final approach into Hartford in just a few minutes.  Please take your seats and make sure your seat belts are securely fastened.  The weather in CT: is “NOVEMBER”.  Yeah, that’s right, “NOVEMBER”.

Any real Connecticut-ite needs no explanation.  CT + NOVEMBER = Blahh = 37 degrees, drizzling or raining, damp, cold, pitch black out at 5pm, PJs by 6:30pm, Seinfeld reruns and nap at 7pm, awake at 8:15pm, don’t know if it’s tomorrow already or not, did I even eat dinner?  Ok, enough blahh November talk.  To sum it up with one word, lugubrious.  (I love saying that word, but feeling it is another (blahhging) story, get it?!)

We CT-ites all say at least once a month during the winter, “ya know, this could all be snow!”  Honestly, I’d take the snow!  It’s Earth’s brand new, clean and white blanket.  Boy, I sure would miss all that shiny, glittery, slip and almost break your neck, sleet and freezing rain! NOT!!

Welcome to Hartford, thank you for choosing Kate’s Flight. We know you have many more Blahhgers from which to choose.  We hope you come back soon.

Xo, Kate

11/14/17

“58 is great!” they said.  (Who’s they anyway?)  And if it’s so great, then why am I running on empty physicalLY, emotionalLY, intellectualLY, spiritualLY and musicalLY?  And no, I’m not going to say the other -LY word you’re all thinking of, but that, too.  Just ask my snore-mate. (Remind me to tell you a “little funny” later about that other -LY word.)

Any who, astute and concerned, a reconnected girlfriend via FB from my home town, Jackie, cautiously responded to my persistent, pessimistic, personal, pathetic, pitiful, painful, did I mention pessismistic postings on Facebook of me, by me.

To get my brain back on track, any track, just not an 8-track, and to make use of my “intelligence and wit” (Her words, not mine.  Mine would be common sense and sarcasm.)  Jackie suggested that I start writing a blog.  Wait while I’ll cross my legs…HaHaHaHa!!! Me? No way, Jose’.  After’s hall, I’s tink hat grammER hand righting!  I didn’t even break 500 on the SATs for England!  Besides, I have no ideaR how to start a blog!  She said, “just Google it.”

So,  I “went on the Google” (my own mother asked me years ago if I was “ON the Google?” Come on now, that’s funny!)  and an hour later, (ok, maybe two because this glitch of the capital I️ , I , is a royal pain in my arse right now.)  just like magic, here I am, writing a blog, called Kate’s Flight of Ideas…Cost me $48.00 for the year.  I thought I clicked the free button, figure$.   Let’s hope this is legit and I’m not buying an island in the Philippines, where I’m soon to add “empty monetarily” to the above list.  Snore-mate will not be too happy.   If I did, I’ll be flying to my new island very soon!

Thanks, Jackie.  We’ll see how this goes.  Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll be able to find this website again and remember my password….

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me, (CRS: another fun fact of being 58!) that “little funny” as heard in a GYN’s office…”Who are the ONLY TWO types of people who NEVER have sex?” “ Yup, your parents and your own kids!”  Ewwwwww.

Xo, Kate.