A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 By Special Request: A Delayed Olympic Broadcast

Hey..I heard ya'all talkin about me!!!!

BLUE BELL....eweeeieee...I keep them in business!!! Try their coffee ice cream...

They run sales on that stuff around here just for me...I buy 3 gallons at a whack...

And yes, *she confesses* I eat more than my share of ice cream sandwiches!!! And don't EVEN get me started on banana popcicles!!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen! Ave, Messieurs et Mesdames! Gathered here today at the XXXth Olympic Airfield, we are bringing you an Event that will be sure to take your breath away...Stunt Flying!

And look at the spectators lining the runway where the very best of all Ace Flyers anywhere have brought their vintage aircraft to this most amazing venue!

Let's keep an eye out for that magical pilot Francine from Laval, Quebec (USDA planting zone 5a for our gardening viewers interest). Oh! Here she is now, folks! Francine and Keith are walking her 150 hp Curtiss Jenny down the airstrip into starting position!

Not since the 1920's barnstorming and cropdusting days has a Curtiss Jenny looked so good in a public appearance and it seems as though Crazy Franny is the one to fly her with distinction!

Oui! Yes! We are receiving a live feed from planeside...that IS Francine climbing into the cockpit. She has secured her white silk throat scarf to protect her neck from leather collar burns. She has put her goggles firmly over her eys. A big grin and a wave to the crowd, Franny gives Keith the thumbs up and he TURNS the propeller and she is OFF!

Taxiing down the runway...gaining speed...nose up and there she goes into the sky! Up, Up, And Away she goes! t'est capable, Francine! YOU CAN DO IT! Listen to that Hispano-Suiza engine rooooaaaarrrrr!

And Franny is circling, and she is flying upside down and here it comes folks, she is doing the barrel roll right over our heads! The crowd is crazy with delight and cheering in the hope that Francine might hear although she's far above us. And what a fine show of Ace Flying it is, too!

But wait! What has happened?! Oh no, THREE struts on her left wing have come loose from this vintage plane and the bi-wings are shaking in the wind! Oh what will she do, ladies and gentlemen, what will she do? Landing now will only forfeit her chance at GOLD and she has worked so hard to win Or Medaille at these games! Choices! What choices! Francine is no losing perdant! She is a girl with a will to always come out on top, to always be the winning gagnant! But can these loose struts keep a good girl down?

The crowd is training binoculars on the cockpit, everyone is craning their necks to watch and oh, I can't believe it is true, but Francine has secured the control stick with her belt and is climbing out on the wing! Oh, she is wing walking in the old-style we haven't seen in 60 years! And there she goes, walking right out on that wing, securing those loosened struts, undaunted by the wind in her face or the sight of the ground speeding past far below her feet! And she's done it, folks! Crazy Franny has done it!

And she is back in the cockpit and the crowd is wild and she is rolling that old beautiful Curtiss Jenny in a sommersault of JOY!

And it's GOLD! It is GOLD for Francine! Just listen to that crowd roar in two languages! They are yelling: "Personne peut faire mieux que toi, Franny! or "No one can do it better than you, Franny!" and here she comes in a landing as smooth as butter and the spectators are jumping the fence to greet her!

And the crowd has pulled her out of the plane just as in the days of Lindbergh and she is riding on shoulders and being showered with an enthusiastic flow of champagne from these delighted fans. And she has secured her place in history, taking the GOLD today!

She is laughing! She is crying! She is saying "Merci, merci!" No, Francine, we THANK YOU for a wonderful air show medal performance today!

Merme

Yeah! Francine beautiful show!

And as always our wonderful announcer continues to amaze us. English and French dialog. WOW!

Dang it, Merme, I got so excited when she wing-walked I spilled my Chardonnay all over the keyboard!

Merme, if I could half-way write like you I'd make up a good Gold Medal story for ya!

You may have to settle for a theme song, though!

Afgrey, you flatter me, my friend! And gee...I've never had a theme song before!

AND can you believe it that women did actually wing-walk during the barnstorming era?

Scary, what?

I spilled my Chardonay just WRITING about it!

Oh, and Triss ~ That's not just any old French, you know the Parisian kind. THAT'S French Canadian French and our favorite Canuck helped me with the dialog!

Merme

Well then, I am even more impressed.

So I have to ask, is anyone here on the forum talented in the art of caricature?

I would so love to be able to print out all of these along with a full page color pic to go along with them and print them up.

You might want to have a chat with G-mom about that, Triss. She mentioned something about maybe making a booklet of them of some sorts. So perhaps the two of you could collaborate?

Merme

I will do that. I just think it would be the neatset thing.

o.O woah! This thread is AWESOME!!!! *sits and watches*

~Phoebs

Francine when your struts came loose my lovebirds Gertrude and Heathcliff and my cockatiel wolfman were screaming go Franny go. My sugar gliders wanted to help shore up your wing and spread their little webs out for you to glide in on. Merme you spin one heck of a tale making us laugh and hold our breaths and cheer each other on. Speaking of cheer makes me wish I drank so I could toast you but oh what they hey one time wont hurt. Everyone lift your glasses of Zinfinsomething high lets all toast our Mistress of ceremony and announcer extrodinare MERME
Jimmy

* clink*clink*......cheers


awesome

I am cracking open my bottle in the fridge--
toasting high to "our" Merme.... best writer I know --- would love a book of these if you guys do make it-- can't draw at all though so can't help with it-- what a neat idea!
Nana

I second that!!!!

Tonight, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered for a very special artistic presentation by the wildflower girl herself, rue anemone. Please, as she makes her entrance, remember to withhold your applause as our rue is a very shy sort of a girl. Think of her show as your lullabye tonight...

The strains of the lovely Blue Danube come up softly as the tight spot aims at the entrance. There is rue anemone, the artist we have all been waiting for. She skips in so lightly, folks, so lightly! ...a vine of honeysuckle entwined as a halo for her hair...

As the music swells, the spotlight widens into a richer shade of blue and rue spreads her hands dropping what appear to be sparkling seeds. And magic they must be, my friends, for everywhere these unusual seeds fall, a fountain of wildflowers spring up from nowhere and open into brilliant bloom!

There is Sweet William and Black Eyed Susan and Lupine all in an undulating trail behind her. Now butterflies join her dance as the lance coreopsis, gaillardia and cimifuga grow up around her!

The music quickens, the soft hues of the lights change as though with rainbow theme and rue anemone hastens her sprite-like dance as Queen Ann's Lace and Bachlor Buttons flower along her path to the center of the meadow.

A fountain splashes to life in the midst of this display, surrounded suddenly by ferns and the smell of a shady woodland glade. There is something that looks a bit like lilies, I'm not sure what it is, but the tender color breaks the heart to look upon it.

As rue anemone softly slips away on the new grown mosses from the waters edge, a deer comes sipping. There are rabbits now, and tiny furry creatures of every description nuzzling into the dense plants so sweetly in bloom.

The music fades, the lights dim....

Good-night everyone and safe away home.

*afgrey smiles!*

Merme, you have a great gift.. thank you for sharing

These are so great,Merme

I've been saving every one of them and have started working on getting them printed up for a book for everyone. I found a great border with gold crowns,that is quite appropriate.

Got Catlovers done yesterday

School supplies are on sale so I wiil be getting folders for them. A copy of everyones event in each one.

I'll need everyones address,so I can send them out.

G-Mom

Merme, I sure did enjoy these Olympics. Thanks for making it all so much fun. I had to whiz thru them this morning to play catch up. It sure was exciting!

Meg

Oh that was beautiful Merme. A fitting end to the day!

Oh say, but I am glad everyone seems to have enjoyed our very special Olympic games. I did so have a blast writing them for you all. AND I'm terribly touched at the idea of having the whole collection made into a booklet...what a splendid idea!

Although to be honest, some of the responses were funnier than the original posts!

For instance, when I ended duckie's tremendous swim with "Stay tuned for a commercial break from our sponsors" and afgrey replied "Aflack!" I hit the deck laughing with that!

Or Phoebe saying she was sitting back to watch and Vanessa wanting to get popcorn.

Not to mention all the very sweet stuff from JV and Triss et al...

Enjoy your GOLD medals, everyone! You are all big winners in my book!!

Merme

Oh Merme how sweet.

giggling softly as I skip along and trip over my huge feet!

DAG-NAB-IT merme! you are GOOOOOD! course i've known that for years


afgrey ----- "wildwood flower" is my alltime favorite song! i can only play the radio! forget singing----i whistle instead! used to sing all the time but decided to cut my "audience" a break!


and merme----what is what is what?!?!


i think the book idea is t-i-double grr iffic!

meg love the little glow worm poem! how true!

Thanks biml. I thought it was a cute thing when I read it too.

Meg