Sportingly Yours - 2024 Paris Olympics

  

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...", these are the opening words to "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.  Reading the reviews of the opening ceremony for the Olympics in Paris somehow brought those words to my mind. It seemed you either loved them or hated them.  I didn't watch them on that day, but we recorded it and watched it the next day. Well....much of the beginning of it reminded me of when I was ill and had some drug induced nightmares. So much dancing!  It seemed to me much better when they focused more on the magnificent buildings in Paris! And there were moments that surprised me, the opera singer standing on that bridge and singing the National Anthem? What she wore and the way that she was posed during the entire song, it was most effective. Celine Dion singing from The Eiffel Tower? Wonderful! Oh, and the rain! Goodness me, it seems Paris has had wonderful sunny weather since that Friday! Oh well.  C'est la vie! 

Do you like sports? If so, you must enjoy the Olympics too! You know I do. It has been exciting to watch!  In my last post, I told you that I know the words to the French National Anthem. I sung along with Leon Marchand as he stood on the podium having won the Gold in the 400-meter individual medley!  It was fun to watch him swim the breaststroke, every time he surfaced, the crowd let out a huge cheer! Obviously, he was in his home country!

Ah, Paris! I have never, EVER seen it, but I think I love it! I am reading a book just now...

                           "Eiffel's Tower" by Jill Jonnes!  

While the Eiffel Tower itself is most astonishing, you would not believe all the characters associated with the tower and with the World's Fair in 1889 in which it was introduced! What characters? How about Thomas Edison, Paul Gauguin, Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley? Not to mention the man behind the tower, Gustave Eiffel! (And where would we be without elevators in the tower? Another character to learn about, Mr. Otis from Otis Elevators!  "All safe, all safe".)  It is taking me some time to read this book as I keep looking up more information about each and every person that is highlighted.

Thomas Edison! How I think he would marvel at the Eiffel Tower when it lights up every hour from sunset until 1AM.  (AND the lights actually move and sparkle for the first five minutes for every hour after dusk!)  Instead of a torch for the Olympics, Paris chose a cauldron that looks like a hot air balloon! To me, it looks amazing in the day but just imagine it at night! At sunset, the balloon rises up 60 meters and returns to the ground at 2AM. It is not fire! Water is sprayed and beams of light are projected onto the mist using 40 LED spotlights.  Once again, I can't help but think of Thomas Edison loving this!

The French swimmer, Leon Marchard, that I told you about who won the Gold Medal, had written to the coach at Arizona State University (the same one who had coached Michael Phelps!).  He asked him if he could possibly help a young French swimmer like himself. Sure enough, he attended that university and now lives in Austin, Texas!

 Here's a little detail that I love - he signed that letter, "Sportlingly Yours".

The architecture in Paris is amazing, isn't it?  I have a photo from Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is from the old train depot there. If I can't get to Paris, I will appreciate what I can!

Oh, Say Can You SING? (National Anthem)

 

Last night was the Home Run Derby which is always at the beginning of the All-Star Break for Major League Baseball.  Of course, before it began there was a rendition of our National Anthem.  Now, it is a very difficult song to sing but this morning it was all on the news that it was a terrible rendition.  I could give you a link to it but honestly, you can look it up, if you like....it was by a country singer named Ingrid Andress.  (As I am typing this post, Richard just told me that the singer said she was drunk and has now admitted herself into a facility. Oh dear, let's hope she gets the help she needs.)

I quite enjoyed watching a lot of the Euros. (I spent loads of time looking up the history of each and every city in Germany where the games were played!)  Richard made sure to record the ten minutes or so before the games started just so I could hear the National Anthems. (I only know the words to two of them, "God Save the King" and "La Marseillaise"- the anthems for the United Kingdom and France. I sang along to them both!)

For all the countries, I liked seeing how many of the players and coaches sang along to their national anthems. Quite often, they sang with great gusto and that also included many of those in the audience. The National Anthem for the USA is "The Star-Spangled Banner" and I while I really like the song myself, it IS a truly challenging song to sing!

I am not the first one to say that we really should change it to "America the Beautiful".  There, I said it and I say it again..."America the Beautiful" for the National Anthem! 

Did you know that it used to be the custom for the National Anthem to be played at the end of the films in British theaters? Yes! Ray Bradbury wrote a story about this, "The Anthem Sprinters". He must have found it very amusing when he was spending time in Ireland and heard of men who tried to run out of the theatre before the National Anthem started. The guys would race out as fast as they could, the last man out would have to buy the drinks at the pub! 

I looked this up and it states that this practice stopped sometime in the 1970's but it seems to me that Richard and I went to a play in 1985 in Eastbourne, and I was surprised that "God Save the Queen" was played at the end. Maybe this was still done in certain places, or perhaps in live theater? 

Of course, it didn't bother me one bit - I sang right along!

Now, if you have a chance, do YOU sing along?  During baseball games, we are asked to sing along to "Take Me Out to the Ballgames".  People do sing but without a lot of enthusiasm.  Such a shame! 

There are a lot of videos of "America the Beautiful" but I am very fond of this version by Ray Charles.  He did this just after 9/11 and it was much needed. Hope you like it!

Okay now, I have to be practical. I doubt that the USA will ever change their National Anthem. In that case, it should be sung with a special consideration. Here, let's see if I can find one that we all will like.... Trish Yearwood!  Hey, guess what?  Both these artists, Ray Charles and Trish Yearwood are from Georgia. 

                                                     "God Save the King"

                              "La Marseillaise" 

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In other news, our night blooming cereus bloomed!  This is very exciting!  Just as the name states, it only blooms at night, you have to get up very early to get a photo of it before it closes up.

Richard and I were invited to a garden party, and you know we attended! The gardens were lovely as was the home.

     Who is that crazy lady trying to hide behind the potted ferns?

Lots of videos on here for you but hey, I could have found more! HA! Take care!