Awake: 6:05am Temp 40 sleep 6+48 sunny overnight @ Nicktown.
K & I attend 8:00 am Mass & then, with permission, skip the KK meeting & hang out with the Foote family for most of the day. When we arrive, Melissa, Matthew, Andrew & Nathan are ready to walk to Giant Eagle for groceries. Kathy jumps @ the chance to join them & Matthew prefers to “stay with the big guys.”
In lieu of doing real work, Kevin prefers Matthew’s idea of going up to the 3rd floor & simply playing with the train tracks; so, for a good hr, we do just that. Each having our own small train to push around the different tracks, making train noises & stopping @ intersections or crossings when necessary. I’m confident that Matthew really enjoyed this hr with his Dad & “G” daddy.
When the girls & young boys return from grocery shopping, Andrew & Nathan are given a nap. 12:15pm was wake up time & then all of us walk downtown to Philadelphia Avenue where the Celebration of Jimmy Stewart’s 100th Birthday is taking place. About (3) blocks of this street are closed to traffic; along those blocks were a parked fire truck & a good dozen or more antique & classic cars. Matthew & Andrew were invited inside the fire truck to check out their equipment & for sizing of hats. All the hats were a little too large so they couldn’t be qualified as a firemen yet.
Just in front of the Jimmy Stewart Library & museum, a good number of dignitaries were assembled; stories were told: memories of Jimmy’s life as a father, an actor, WWII pilot, Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserves, etc. Exactly @ 1:00pm, an Air Force C-130, a (4) engine cargo plane, flew moderately low over Philadelphia Avenue to commemorate this special military recognition. The Blairsville high school band played some patriotic music & the Air Force guard & band further played military march music. Both the twin Stewart ladies were present (Judy & Kelly) & good friends, Rich Little & his wife + quite a few other good friends who enjoy visiting this small but mighty College town.
Mid afternoon, the Foote family & we ate our lunch on the grass in front of the Court building. Then we visited the Boy Scouts of America display & activities & each ate a piece from one of the available (4) huge cakes that were made for Jimmy’s birthday.
The Foote family & we walk back to the Foote Castle & it’s time for us to return to Nicktown. I was duly impressed with the large crowd gathered to honor their home town celebrity, Jimmy Stewart; born & raised in Indiana, PA.
K & I attend the 6:00 pm vigil Mass @ Nicktown & afterwards, talk with 2nd cousin Jeff K. & his family outside.
Dinner: leftover chili with potato chips & corn chips.
Katrina calls from Denver; she gives us an update on her activities & talks about her up-coming auto trip of (3) weeks.
Skype with Nick, Eriko & little Jerry; using our (2) landline phones & watching the video of Skype, we are able to enjoy over an hr of good talk & action happening @ the busy Condo on Queen Anne Hill.
Finish watching the DVR movie: “The Awful Truth” with Irene Dunn, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Cecil Cunningham, Mary Forbes, Molly Lamont, etc. Hilarious screwball comedy: Cary & Irene divorce, she to marry hayseed Bellamy, he to wed aristocratic Lamont; each does his best to spoil the other’s plans. 1937. Yes, it was a screwball story but we did get some genuine good laughs over it.
Late evening Documentary: “Hooked on Drugs & how they got that way.” We watch ½ .
High temp=66 Lights out: 12:30am
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