Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Spent part of the afternoon at Yetzirah's, most of it waiting for the Blue Angels to start their performance.  Oh, but it was well worth the wait!

A crucial street to Y's house was blocked off (traffic control), and I ended up going in circles.  I finally made it back to the street I needed to take to her house and told the police officer I needed to go on that street.  When I explained why, he waved me on.  Thank you, Officer.  I don't know what it is, but at a certain point, I lose all sense of direction.  The only way I make it to her house at all is because I've been there several times, and the traffic pattern is sort of imprinted on my mind.

Finally the day's attraction put in an appearance.  With much sound, I should add.  They came roaring smack-dab over the house a couple times, at very low level, and it took several minutes for my eardrums to settle down.  If they hadn't been going so fast, I swear I could have seen the pilots, they were flying that low.

It was hard to tell from which direction the planes were coming.  The sound bounced off the houses as they were approaching.  The houses across the street impeded visual sighting from one appraoch, but once the planes swooped back up in the air, there was no doubt where they were.   Wait a minute.  "Visual sighting."  Isn't that a redundancy?  Oh, well.

Some of the maneuvers were breath-taking.  With "environmentally friendly" smoke coming out the tails, it was quite a show.  And the almost-on-deck flying was a bit scary, to say the least.  The precipitous descent from way up there to almost-on-deck was OMG!  I hope their brakes are good!!!!

I read in the paper that the #4 spot in formation is reserved for a Marine pilot.

There was a total of six planes, but they mostly flew in four or three formations.  Mostly four.  They looked, at times, as if they were wingtip-to-wingtip and right on top of each other.  But it was an illusion.  They really were more than six inches apart.  Besides, there's air pressure to keep them from bouncing off each other.  Well, mostly.  Accidents, tragically, do happen.

The planes are painted dark blue, with gold accents, and BLUE ANGELS in gold painted on the bellies.  Those planes are huge!  I think of fighter planes as being small and agile, but these are enormous.  Well, they're certainly agile, but the P-51s of WWII look like toys alongside the F? (I forget the model) planes being flown nowadays.

The performance lasted just under and hour, but it was worth the drive to Y's house.  I hope the Angels will be coming back soon.  I'll be out there watching with bated breath and many ooooh's and aaaah's.

My internal GPS needed servicing yesterday.  I made three wrong turns and ended up taking 45 minutes getting home--a trip that should take no more than 15-20 minutes.  Also, I left home with only a quarter-tank of gas, which ended up worrisome after the second wrong turn.  Traffic was backed up for miles, and barely creeping.  I did find a gas station before the needed hit Empty.  Whew!

I got acquainted with Sunny.  She's a nice girl, friendly.  But I still prefer to live with cats.  (Read Yetzirah's diary on eau-de-Pee-You).

The weather was sunny, but windy.  I had the foresight to wear thermals under my skirt, and was grateful to myself for bringing a coat along.  It did get chilly.  But sitting outside under a clear blue sky, waiting for the performers of the day, was well worth a bit of a chill.

Shalom