Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts

Monday, December 11, 2023

2023 Dec 8, German Christkindlmarkt Cullman, Al

We traveled 157 to Cullman to see the German Christkindlmart. We saw Ice Skating, a Christmas Carousel, Mrs Clause, Christkindl Express, several warming tents, and vendors selling unique merchandise there.

Cullman's Christkindlmarkt 
Cullman's Christkindlmarkt  before dark

To ride the Christmas train or Christmas Carousel, all you have to do is purchase your tickets via a virtual queue system that allows you to virtually get in line without having to wait. Cost $3

Christmas Carousel
Christmas Train 

We didn't see Santa Clause, but we did see Mrs. Clause and Christkind.

Lots of activities for little ones to do.

Toy making with Santa, 

Painting with Emily

Decorating cookies with Mrs. Clause

Snow Globes with Mrs. Clause

Charm Bracelets and Wooden Toy Trains with Mrs. Clause

Making ornaments with the Grinch 

Elf yourself with Buddy the Elf 

Nutcracker painting with Christkind 

And Ice Skating. 

 pretzel bratwurst

We walked around the square a couple of times, stopping for a pretzel bratwurst (delicious) and a drink. 

We sat at a large picnic table enclosed on three sides. There, we met a couple from Birmingham. A member of Good Bellows stopped and Played Jingle Bells while I played along with the handbells.

Played Jingle Bells 

We sat and talked for several minutes. The couple left, and we followed suit.

Manger Scene 

We also saw the manger scene. 

We saw North America's largest Christmas Pyramid Lights.

Did you know that nativity scenes are the heart and soul of German Christkindlmarkt?

These festive markets are not just about shopping they are also a celebration of tradition and faith. 

Despite evolving styles and changing times, nativity scenes remain a cherished and enduring tradition. 

This extraordinary handcrafted Nativity display, a true work of art, was skillfully crafted by the renowned German company Erzgebirgische Holzkunst Gajlenz- the same talented artisans behind the Welhnachten pyramid. 

But that is not all! The Cullman Parks, Recreation, and Sports Tourism maintenance team played an integral role in constructing the stable that houses these exquisite figures. This collaboration between tradition and modern craftsmanship brings to life a Nativity scene that beautifully embodies the spirit of Christmas. 

We finished taking pictures and headed to the car. 


Saturday, March 28, 2015

2009, Tuesday, June 2, Caught in an electrical storm on the Singing River Bridge


I had a dentist appointment at 9:00 A.M.
After the dentist, we rode so I went to Kohl’s where I bought a pair of shorts and a top.  
Next, we went to Sam Club where we bought two lawn chairs to use at music in Wilson Park on Wednesdays. 
We stopped at Ruby Tuesday where each of us ordered a rib plate we had a buy one get one free coupon.
We went to Lowe’s where we bought a thermal for our swimming pool and two screwdrivers.

I had loaded my bicycle into our Vue and was planning to ride it across Patton Island Bridge later that day.

Hubby's iPhone had issued a weather alert, it said a storm was brewing in Mississippi.
I felt like the storm would not reach Florence until after I had finished riding my bicycle across the bridge and back.

Hubby unloaded my bike while I went to the park's restroom to change into the shorts and top that I had bought. 

It was very hot and clear when I started across the bridge, but before I reached the end it had started to sprinkle.
Don’t know what I was thinking because I did not have my cell phone with me, or I would have called hubby to come pick me up, but  I had forgotten it.
So I turned my bicycle around and started back across the bridge.
I was almost all the way back when the rain started to pour down and lightning was dancing all around me.
I remember looking towards the locks of the dam and thinking to myself, I sure could use some windshield wipers to clear my sunglasses that were covered with rainwater.
All I could remember was trying to get safely across the bridge away from the storm but it was too late, I was caught inside the cage on the bridge in an electrical storm, and had lost my short-term memory. 
I was lucky that was the only thing that happened to me with lighting dancing all around me. 

It took me about 20 minutes to ride my bike about four miles that are two miles across and two miles back. 
The storm hit at 12:53, I must have started about 12:33 P.M.  and I was at the hospital by 2:30 P.M. 

It was reported later that day,  that it had been a terrible storm over the Tennessee River.

I was dripping wet when I arrived back at the park. 
The storm had frightened hubby, he drove the VUE across the bridge to look for me, and he saw me coming off the bridge.
I did not remember riding across the bridge or changing out of my wet clothes at the restroom at the park. 

Hubby said I kept repeating myself all the way home, where did all those wet clothes come from?

When we got home I ate a snack bar and drank a can of soda, I remembered nothing.
Hubby thought I had a stroke, and he said that I needed to go to the hospital, but I kept saying nothing was wrong with me.

Hubby called my daughter, he handed me the telephone, my daughter asked me some questions, and all I could say was give me a minute to think.
My daughter asked me if I remember riding my bicycle on the bridge and I said what bridge? I could not remember anything. 

I had been inside an electric field caused by the lighting.
The lighting had hit the cage that was attached to the bridge, where I was riding my bicycle.
Somehow, my daughter and hubby persuaded me to go to the hospital, and I was seen by doctor Robert Coble. 
They drew blood, took a brain scan, and checked my urine, the doctor was puzzled by the results. 
He said that the enzymes in my heart were going crazy and I would have to stay until they stabilized. 
My family stayed while I recovered.
It took several hours but my short-term memory started to come back and I was released at 7:30 P.M. 
All I wanted to do was go home and go to sleep. 

The next day I felt a little better but the right side of my head still felt a little numb.

Information on Lighting:
Lightning injuries are usually the result of five different mechanisms: 
Direct strike, — direct strike injuries occur when lightning strikes a person directly
Contact injury, Contact injuries occur when a person touches an object that is part of the lightning current pathway
Side flash (splash), Side flash or splash injuries occur when lightning arcs from the object struck to a nearby object.
Ground current (step voltage), Ground current or step voltage injuries occur when the lightning current spreads peripherally through the ground from the site of the strike
Blunt trauma, blunt injuries occur in two fashions. 
In the first, the victim's musculature contracts diffusely, causing the victim to be thrown a distance from the lightning strike. 
The second mechanism is the consequence of large fluctuations in temperature associated with a lightning strike. 
Lightning causes instantaneous superheating and expansion of the air, which is followed immediately by an implosion as the air is rapidly cooled. 

The duration of heat is so brief that thermal injuries seldom occur. However, the explosion and implosion of air can lead to blunt trauma of major organ systems such as the brain, liver, and spleen.
Because the duration of a lightning strike is extremely short, little of the massive energy is transferred internally to the victim. Rather, the majority of the energy flows externally over the victim's body (a "flashover"). 

However, enough energy passes through the body to disrupt and short-circuit electrical systems within the body, especially the heart, vasculature, respiratory center of the brain, reticular activating system, and autonomic nervous system. 
The major cause of death in lightning injuries is cardiopulmonary arrest due to asystole. 
However, asystole can be readily converted to a coordinated cardiac rhythm with timely and aggressive cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Why were the enzymes in my heart elevated after being caught in ground current lighting?


Weather observations for June 2, 2009, Muscle Shoals, North West Alabama Regional Airport 

SCT055 means scatter clouds at 5,500 AGL scattered means 3 to 4 eights cloud coverage.
BKN090 were broken clouds at 9000’ covering 5 to 7 octas of the sky. 




Monday, February 9, 2015

You’ve touched my Heart


You've given me a reason
For smiling once again,
You've filled my life with peaceful dreams
and you've become my closest friend.

You've shared your heartfelt secrets
And the trust you've given me,
You showed me how to feel again
To laugh, and love, and see.

If life should end tomorrow
And from this world, I should part,
I shall be forever young

For you have touched my heart.

Unknown author





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