Category Archives: concert

Aug29

A pain in the knee

Posted on Friday, August 29, 2014 by Dianne

Sorry I have been MIA. I have had knee issues since I posted about the 80s flashback band last month. That night, back in the middle of July, we stood watching for over 2 hours. Afterwards, we located a geocache in a lamp skirt which I knelt to retrieve and must have twisted the ligament to the right of my left knee. I started to wrap it in an Ace bandage and even went to Urgent care about it as I thought it had to be worse than a strained ligament.

On August 2nd, we went to the Billy Joel concert at Citizen’s Bank Park, usually home of the Phillies. I had my knee wrapped and as we (Brian) crossed the street to the venue, I felt my knee pop! And the pain was awful! I debated what to do, but there was Gavin DeGraw, Billy’s opening opening act singing his heart out. We were at the 1st base area and needed to get to the 3rd base. I believe it took me a good 45 minutes to hobble there. Then I had to face steps and step over a few people. I look back at all that and do not know how I did it.

This was our view for the Billy Joel concert. I thought our tickets would have been a bit better since I ordered them in March and the price we paid. That is a yellow pole we looked around.

So if was even rougher getting back to the car. We should have gotten a wheelchair. We walked right past the medic room. It was so crowded, I didn’t want to make a scene. I was in tears and had to stop many, many times.

When we got home I was crying out in pain when I tried to get out of the car. I decided I could wait until the morning for it to get looked at. I learned to slide along when I had to go to the bathroom.

Sean took me to the ER about 1:00 pm. After x-rays, they agreed with the Urgent care, that it was a strain. I got ‘stabilized’ in a long leg brace and given a walker! I decided to go to the orthopedic doctor and he thought where it was hurting me was maybe a torn meniscus. They need to be operated on. Oh great. He ordered an MRI., The day before the MRI, we took a drive up to Hershey Gardens with my mom. I had gotten tickets that were going to expire. I had visions of both of us being pushed in a wheelchair. We did get one wheelchair, but I had to switch out with mom half way through! I was stopping in pain every 10 minutes. We had a nice lunch right at the gardens, so that was nice. I feel like I put a damper on the trip, especially when we stopped at the museum and both mom and I said no to the 45 minute walking tour. I will show some photos in my next blog post. It is a lovely place and next time I will be stronger when I go.

So I had the MRI, just my lower half was in it and my head could be outside of it. I went back to the ortho doc and it should no tear, but a twisted or pulled ligament. I was really surprised hearing this as it’s so painful. I hope he didn’t miss anything. He gave me a shot and it felt better maybe one day, but it gets stiff and achy. The doc recommended physical therapy and I guess I will have to go for it.

I decided not to go back to work with the kids at the church until maybe the end of September to the beginning of October. I am not strong enough to help out yet.

I also have to go to a GI specialist on Sept. 9th. I had blood work in June and some tests were high. I have Lyme disease and the tick bit me right near my liver. I have been having elevated readings since 1998. The GP wants me to get checked out, so I asked for the best liver doctor in the practice. I certainly watch myself for symptoms of a disease. I have gained, not lost weight because of menopause.My arthritis is worse and my teeth have been mostly capped. I will be glad when that visit is over, but I won’t be surprised if he wants more blood work and a test.

Rest in peace Robin Williams. My heart is still sad. Thanks for the laughs and sharing your incredible talent all these years.

Next-gorgeous Hershey Gardens!

Jul24

Replay America

Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2014 by Dianne

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Since I have the laptop open, I decided to do another quick post tonight! It’s easier than the tablet too.

So I love a good deal. We see lots of musical events and enjoy restaurants through LS and GO….you know who I mean correct? 😉

So a concert called ‘Replay America’ was touring with Martha Davis, Patty Smyth, Naked Eyes and the Go-go’s! I had to look up some of the artists just to refresh my memory a bit, but after I did I thought it would be a fun concert to attend. Their music is still on the radio! It was on the grounds of the PPL soccer stadium in Chester, PA. We had never been. I didn’t see where it said ‘grounds’ but Brian did and said to bring chairs. I didn’t listen to him and he didn’t push the fact that it would be a good idea, and he didn’t show me the website either. I’m thinking seats in the soccer stadium-no.

We got here a little early and found a geocache right outside where we would be standing. As we walked toward the cache area or ground zero, another cacher was coming around the corner with his GPS pointed there! I said ‘oh a cacher’, pointed to the lamp skirt, and he grabbed it first. That was funny! He said there were a few others around the stadium. We got one more later.

We got our tickets, and walked over to the grassy area, behind the reserved seats. I should have paid a little more to sit down! We ended up near the metal barrier and I was talking to a nice couple from Reading, PA. Even though we stood for a few hours, it went by fast. It would bother my left knee though. (Urgent care visit a week later)

The lady from Reading took our photo at the venue.

When the final act, The Go go’s came on, we moved to the other side of the venue to kind of beat the crowds when the show was over (Ya, they’ve got the beat-lol). That’s Belinda Carlisle in the middle. She is a year older than me and has great moves and her voice sounds the same.

I really enjoyed Patty Smyth! She is the ex of John McEnroe and hasn’t been around for a while. I liked ‘I am the Warrior’.

Everyone sounded great! One group pulled from the tour, Cutting Crew. I don’t remember them.

Here is a link with some of the performers hits.

We paid $17 each. Cant’ ‘beat’ that!

We were almost under the Commodore Barry Bridge to NJ, that was pretty neat.

Nov27

Scenic shots of Atlantic City

Posted on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 by Dianne

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Last Saturday, Nov. 23rd, the three of us went to Atlantic City for the last ‘rah rah’ of 2013. I shouldn’t say that, because now I am scoping out places that will be decorated for Christmas like the home of President James Buchanan in Lancaster County. So the special treat was for Brian and me to go see one of my favorite singers ever, Bonnie Raitt. I even crocheted a scarf to give to her!

Bonnie was playing in Caesars and we stayed in the Tropicana for the 1st time. We have stayed in 5 out of the 12 now (actually the Sands was torn down, so it’s 4 now).

Brian and I were told taking a jitney was our best bet to get to Caesars. We went and stood a few minutes in the cold and one came along promptly. We had a more interesting experience heading back.

We bought a dinner and show package and had to find the restaurant. It was tucked in the corner of the 3rd floor. We both had Caesar salad and salmon. Brian chose cheese cake and me creme brulee. It was a nice meal!

We had some time to kill, and went over to the mall which wasn’t busy at all. We looked around a few stores, but I was anxious to get back to the venue and see who I could give Bonnie’s scarf too. The ticket guys really didn’t know and it took a bit for them to check to see what to do. Finally I was to give the present to a security guard.

We bet 2 whole dollars-that was it! Good for us!

The theater wasn’t really large and we had good seat in the second row of the back section. Unfortunately people kept climbing over us! We had to stand up at least 7-8 times!

Marc Cohn was the opening act for Bonnie and this was his last performance with her. I grabbed this shot off his Facebook page. Thanks for the memories Marc!

Found this on youtube, but what a strange angle!

I will treasure this evening forever! Bonnie sang ‘Rainy Day Man’ by another one of my favorites, James Taylor; Angel from Montgomery and so many of her new and older hits. The little boys above are the sons of Marc and his wife reporter Elizabeth Vargas.

So we had a little trouble getting on the right jitney on the return trip. First we got on one going the wrong way. We thought they turned around maybe? Then the second one was the incorrect number for the Tropicana. So finally we got on the right one, got out and didn’t know how to get in the right area for the hotel part. We had to walk from the bottom level and finally found the right area to go. Sean was gone for a bit longer. He was having fun checking out the night life, but not eating a very filling meal.

We never sleep well the first night and it was warm in the room. We had a difficult time getting up for breakfast, but I did grab the Canon for these shots.

I’m sure that water was a bit chilly!

Caesars is in front of that white parking garage. We have stayed there, the Taj Mahal and Revel, the place with the mirrored windows and the globe on the top. The lighthouse in Absecon (which I have climbed) is down the middle near the water-it’s a white dot here.

The curved roof building is convention center where the Miss America contest is now held again.

That’s the Borgata with the gold windows and the train station area (I think) and highway.

They do use wind machines for power!

What Atlantic City looked like before the casinos. I remember we stayed in a place similar to one of these when we were younger. Not that great.

When we were headed down, we stopped in Marlton, NJ where Sean works now. It’s really a haul for him each day. It’s good experience and if he needs to move closer he may have to as it’s 120 miles a day trip for him!

We stopped a few times coming home, but I wasn’t in the mood to shop and actually snoozed in the car. Yep, it was a long night, but a memorable one.

Nov4

Every man should sing like Josh Groban!

Posted on Monday, November 4, 2013 by Dianne

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Really, I am not kidding at all. Can you imagine your hubby or significant other belting out ‘You Raise Me Up’ for your birthday or anniversary? I know some guys can sing, but how many can hold a candle to Josh?

A Group-on deal came up to see Josh down in Philly-$25 each-holy cow, that’s the price of a concert in the 1980s! Brian and I decided to go. I guess it was like a date night. I knew it would be a low key crowd also.

We left a few hours early which was a smart move. We got a great parking spot and no lines at the ticket booth.

We had to wait to get in, but we didn’t feel rushed. The usher pointed us to what we thought was the correct row, and we made ourselves comfortable.

Beyond the railing were floor seats. As I said, wow, not bad for the price. The big screens helped a lot!

The opening act was a lovely lady named Judith Hill, I couldn’t place her at first. Here she was one of the finalists in last season’s ‘The Voice’. How neat is it to tour with Josh. She sat at a piano and sang a few snippets of songs, including ‘You’ve Got A Friend’. Woo, love a gal that sings a James Taylor/ Carole King song. She was on about 1/2 hour and then Josh didn’t come on until 8:30.

He ran out singing ‘Brave’

So I thought this was called ‘Gotta Run Away’-lol

Josh is only 32 going on 33. He has such a mature voice, you forget he is such a young guy.

Here is Josh’s duet with Judith singing ‘The Prayer’. He said he was asked to sub for Andrea Bocelli (stuck on a plane)with Celine Dion at the Grammys one year which made him well known.

He sang a nice array of songs, some in Spanish, maybe French. I was waiting for him to sing ‘You Raise Me Up’ and he did as an encore! That song makes me fill up as one time when my uncle was sick, it made me feel better and more hopeful that he would get better.

We thought the show was over and I used the ladies room and he was singing ‘Smile’. I love that song too!

All in all a nice evening except the man next to me was way too large for his seat and he really overflowed into my space. He should have turned toward his wife. He had a big beer and I knew he’d have to get up sooner or later and I made Brian change seats. Alas, he never sat down again! And here we were in the incorrect row! We should have been down one as the young ladies who were suppose to be in our seats came in late and I pointed to the ones below us. I wish we could have sat down there.

Jul14

Lights and Music pt 2

Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2012 by Dianne

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I got my mom on Wednesday and wanted to treat her to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I’ve been to the one in Lancaster and found some of the sides a bit salty. This one is halfway between mom and me, so we stopped. Lucky for us we got the ‘early bird’ special for $7.99 each. We got a 6 oz piece of sirloin, two sides and roll for that. We also got onions and mushrooms-$2 more (each). Very good steak. We like deals like that. I think it’s Monday-Wednesday, but double check. And were the sides salty-the green beans had ham in them and they certainly were.

Yesterday I took mom down to the Habitat resale store and she enjoyed looking at the books for 10 cents each or 10 for $1.00. I only bought 3 books, a stainless steel serving bowl and a Birthday bear. I will buy a bear once in a while if it’s really cute-and it was $1.

We went over to Longwood Gardens around 6:15 or so and Brian came too. We got mom a chair and we headed over to the little cafe. She couldn’t decide what she wanted. I knew I wanted the cream of mushroom soup and I got some cold lo mein which I didn’t care for. Bri got half a large ham and cheese and mom finally got mac and cheese and a hot dog (from the kid’s menu). I didn’t know she had eaten a Hershey bar until I found the paper left on the sofa! She had eaten it beforehand and I think it killed her already weak appetite. We all nibbled a chocolate pecan tart.

We then went over to the main Conservatory and saw this:

Well that’s the lovely Conservatory

Part of the Bruce Monro light show exhibit…I’ll have to come back to see the Conservatory when it’s darker outside

They like Proven Winners plants here-that’s a big thumbs up!

The lake lights were starting to look pretty-we saw them a few days ago when it was pitch dark, so neat.

The Italian Water Gardens looked neat at night-sat this on a wall.

They also had CDs made in water lily shapes

I sat this on the side of a life preserver case as the shutter was getting so slow

It was a hike to ‘The Meadows’ to see this display:

These are plastic water bottles!

The last part was really hard to photograph without a tripod-it was the woods to a tree house dotted with lights similar to the lake lights. Someone said it looked like ‘The Wizard of Oz’

I think my mom enjoyed being pushed around! It was about a 2 mile walk.

Brian and I took mom home and we headed to a few geocaches on the 13th. This was after hitting Chick-fil-a. We didn’t know it was free sandwich day if you wore a cow costume! So… I knew where one was as a fellow cacher told me. We got to it and it was basically out in the open. The other one, which we tried to find a few months ago was right were I thought it was. We then went to a ‘new’ one and that was so neat! We were near trash bins-ugh!! A cache would never be on one of them. There was a fence there and I leaned over and saw a wooden thing in the extreme corner. I touched it and it moved-it was so cool-

I was so pleased with myself!

We skipped dinner and headed to the Maria Muldaur concert up in Kennett Square. She is a spunky, sassy and bluesy 68 yr old now. I don’t think she enjoys singing ‘Midnight at the Oasis’ that much, though I think it was her biggest hit. Afterwards she went to a counter to sign her CDs and didn’t act too thrilled with having to do so. I have seen a few other artists smile and thank people-not her. I didn’t buy one. We went for some pizza and had the place to ourselves.

We had a busy week! More heat expected too. My flowers are just shriveling up. : (

Jul11

Magical night of music and lights

Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 by Dianne

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Our concert ‘finally’ came up. Don’t think we weren’t worried about it being a warm night, but it turned out fairly nice with lower humidity. Wow, it was pretty cool to see an actual movie star like Kevin Bacon, and he’s quite a musician. He came out playing the bongos, but switched to guitar and also harmonica. His brother Michael (age 63) not only plays the guitar, but he played the Cello in a few songs-what a treat.

Sean’s Instagram-really good! We were about 9 rows back, but you can see the view I had of the hugging couple. I also had a 40-something Madonna like lady who couldn’t sit still and had gotten up right at this moment.

The show was about 75 minutes (one encore-Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Released’).

This was a song about being a mummer’s son-called New Year’s Day. It’s a Philly thing, but what happens is the mummer’s who are in the New Year’s Day Parade, go around and recite the part of this song…

After the show was over, we went to the left through the gardens instead of to the right near where the exit was. Well little did I know, we were ‘allowed’ to go see the Bruce Munro light display down by the lake! It was so magical and like a fairyland. I am taking my mom to see the rest of it on Thursday night.

This was one of the teaser displays out front.

We got some ice cream on the way home, so it was a nice evening for the three of us!

Jan3

2011 in retrospect

Posted on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Dianne

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I’ve been a bit busy with work on New Year’s day (12-6, very boring) and running around to after Christmas sales with Brian on Monday. He goes back to work today. I was thinking though 2011 didn’t start out that great, we still got the nice 2005 Mariner at the end of January:

It was my vehicle for a few months until we spotted this one on the internet in July:

Yikes….it’s not a Ford/Mercury (my family loves Fords) and now we have two car payments a month for the next several years. I do love my little Ina who just turned 10. I’ve only seen two other gold PT Cruisers since July. She’s a rare one in these parts.

We decided we needed to take a few trips, not a week…but usually one or two nights.

First we went to Baltimore, MD and loved it there!

Baltimore’s World Trade Center

And we took the ‘side trip’ from Baltimore to Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write our national anthem ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.

(Opps-that’s my funny shot)

We got to see Chincoteague Island and really loved the place too!

Because we had the Mariner, we got to travel more than we had in previous years.

Sean and I saw the taping of a local Philly talk show and one of the guests was ace Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee!

We went to the tribute band event ‘Beatlemania’ down in National Harbor, MD

We took a little time to see Alexandria, VA. and liked it there as well.

At the end of September, we finally got to go to a mini reunion for my high school class in Ocean City, NJ! It was fun and we enjoyed seeing the town of OC and Cape May, NJ also. My mom was along for that trip.

Brian took me up to York, PA again in October so I could attend the rubber stamp and scrapbooking show and we looked around the town a bit, not as much as I would have liked. But we went over to Mount Joy so we could eat at Bubbe’s Pub.

I got to see my little pal Nick and his mom Jenn on his second birthday when we spent the day at Longwood Gardens:

And oh Longwood…I really went there so many more times than I have in the past and hope to do so this year too!

And the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in November up in Oaks, PA was fun too-never been to that either. I found some nice gifts for people there.

So, it was a good year that we got to go places and see new things. We got to spend time with old and new friends and our family. I always like spending time with Brian and Sean, but this group-my ‘almost’ children (and mom too). : )

I want to get back on the weight loss track, one reason I posted photos of me at different angles. I plan to keep walking in the lovely local park and Longwood too!

And I can’t forget about getting the job. I’m wondering if I’ll still be there next week, only time will tell! If not, I’ll be taking a break for a month or so to get the house in shape and do some art.

Aug15

Oh what a night!

Posted on Sunday, August 15, 2010 by Dianne

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Totally messed up a good photo, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Few legends are born that you get to see in person. Sir Paul McCartney was part of a group that changed music on so many levels. He was part of a song writing duo that produced hit after hit. They arrived on the scene just when we needed them. I was 4 going on 5 in 1964 when the band played Shea Stadium in New York. Within a year or so, my older brother was playing their hits. When I turned 13, I absolutely loved the lp ‘Band on the Run’ and Paul! So imagine me at 50 and my husband a few years older getting to see a legend this close?
I was misty-eyed when he sang ‘Jet’-why this song, it was near the beginning of the concert. Sir Paul is a young 68 and his fellow guitarists are 55 and 51!

I thought they were in their 30s they were rocking so well! Hearing so many hits by both The Beatles and Wings (and solo I guess) was a dream come true.
So this concert was definitely meant for us to attend. The place was packed-thousands of people-and I look to my left in a section over, and there is my friend and maid of honor standing there! I hadn’t seen her in years, though we talked on the phone a few months ago. And she isn’t a computer person, so she didn’t know we were going to the concert. During a break in the second encore (when Sir Paul signed a lady’s back as she was a breast cancer survivor and you know his first wife Linda wasn’t) we went over to see my friend Linda. She was so surprised! We took this photo before we went to see her as I was afraid I’d miss a chance to talk with her.

The couple next to her had left, so we stood next to her for the remainder of the show and she got a few hugs and we got to see the big screen we couldn’t see where we were sitting. I took some videos and spliced them together and will burn a copy for Linda and share here too.
The most exciting part of the concert-the piro-techs for the song ‘Live and Let Die’. If you know the song, there is a very loud part-fire shot out of the front of the stage in about 4 cyclinders! It was awesome! You could feel the heat from our seats! And the fire came out twice.
He did lots of tributes-to his first wife Linda, John Lennon and George Harrison-he played a ukelele for George-Something in the Way She Moves.
The concert lasted almost 3 hours! No intermisson! Over 25 songs and two encores!!! I thank Sir Paul for waving the Pennsylvania flag, but not for people handing out brochures about how badly chickens are treated before the show-ugh.
We had to wait a bit to get out of the parking lot, but when we did, we saw a white stretch limo-wonder who was in it?

We were a bit ‘behind’ the scenes, but I’d rather be 75 feet away to grab a photo like this then way in the back of the place where they had to look at the big screen. We couldn’t see the big screen where we were, just a few smaller ones, but who wanted to look at them anyway?
Bri found this video that showed our section of the audience. We are marked with an orange arrow (we are both in black t-shirts) and my friend was behind the guy in the blue shirt a little over on the right. Cool!