We went out to an Arena Football Game. The Iowa Barnstormers played the Cleveland Gladiators and lost 56-70.  Bummer, since they’d won the previous two games.

It was an interesting first experience. The field is nearly one quarter the size, measuring 50 yards long by 26 yards wide. When the ball bounces off something, it’s still live. It takes a bit to get accustomed to the rule changes from the ‘regular’ football played in high school, college, and the NFL.

The Barnstormers’ dance team, the Storm Chasers, kept enthusiasm high. They managed a uniform change at half time, though I’m not sure why it mattered except they could wear something else.

I couldn’t find coverage about the national anthem, but I swear the singer skipped parts of it. She sang a capella, so the music wouldn’t give other clues. I asked my husband, but he had nothing to say.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

I swear she skipped the blue part. Pretty substantial. It bothered me so much, I tried to sing it in my head, but I couldn’t do more than get to ‘by the dawn’s early light’ so I wrote what she sang in my notebook for later reference.

Which lead to me singing “The Star Spangled Banner” to my daughter this morning when she was fussy. She liked it.

This afternoon my mother and my daughter and I went to the Blank Park Zoo. Movement catches my daughter’s attention more than anything else, so she was amused by the koi who were being fed, the chickens, goats, and llamas in the kiddie area, the penguins, and the pandas.

It’s a lovely weekend and a great Mother’s Day. Must be ready to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. Watch out at Novelspot for a highlighted author (me) over the next 7 days!