Life of Wry

I just love my kid. In all his forms, I just love him. I post these in the hopes that one day, some distant day in the far future when he’s sitting around with his kids (he wants three, you know), flipping through the pages of grandma’s journal, he’ll be pleased that I documented some of these moments of his life, though they may seem, to him, so utterly unremarkable now.  Pleasant, fun and full of the stuff of high school memories, sure, but small moments, nonetheless.

This batch comes from last night’s game at Raley Field. Since Peter’s a pitcher only, his spotlight moments come few and far between.. and maybe getting fewer and farther as the season ramps up. But it’s all part of the deal and he seems quite okay with it. And if he is, we are. It’s all good.

(He did say he missed hitting and wouldn’t mind getting a chance at the plate again, maybe this summer. To what end, I’m not sure, but I’m sure it’s hard to watch all the hitting going on and not be a part of it.)

The Raley Field game is a big to-do. It’s not like the field’s any bigger, but the experience of playing in a huge stadium, under the lights, beneath the Tower Bridge and Sacramento skyline, with big fancy stadium announcers.. well, that part’s pretty neat. I hope it’s neat for those guys who don’t play (like many of the younger classmen and pitchers only). I think it is.

Varsity guys sat in the stands and watched JV guys play in the first game… Solly, Peter, Ian’s mouth and a few unidentified ears:

And provided their own commentary, no doubt… AWalk and Peter (smilin’..):

The JV team scored the game-winning, go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh on a towering walk-off double by Griffin Duisenberg, which was a crowd pleaser (to put it mildly… super exciting). Then the varsity squad took the field for warm up… Peter (smilin’ again) and Ray, fellow PO:

Assembled along the third base line for official game-opening protocol (we brought along our DHS treble choir for the Star-Spangled Banner honors, which made everybody feel right at home). Backsides of: Tyler M (gosh, he’s tall for a freshman..), Mason, Peter, Brendan, Ray and EWalk:

For the record, the JV won 5-4, and the Varsity won 2-1, both against the formidable Rocklin. Highlights for DHS included a powerful pitching performance from Walter, very fine relief innings from Brendan and Ian, some great hitting from Drew, a gorgeous bunt from Andrew B, and totally solid defense. I hope this all portends a solid season with way more Ws than Ls. So far so good.

And here’s just another photo I saw on the Davis Enterprise site that I loved and again shows the smily side of Peter. It was taken at last week’s game up in Woodland. This was a mound visit, though I don’t remember any occurring during the innings Peter pitched (always a good sign). Still, it’s on the mound, Peter’s still got the ball and, importantly, he’s smiling, so clearly he’s not getting called out for anything.

That ready smile is one of the things I love about Peter. Pictured here: Q, not sure, Nate, Peter, Kenner, Danny and Hunter. Danny’s also very smily. Love those guys.

This is a very illegal borrow of a photo that I totally don’t have the rights to, thus the “proof” stamped across the bottom. I took a screen shot of the image and plan to purchase it from the Enterprise. Promise. Wayne Tillcock gets all the credit on this one.

It IS going to be a big day.. this thing I’m prepping for. I’m looking forward to it AND am a wee bit apprehensive. This thing is a reunion, of sorts, with a handful of women who go all the way back to kindergarten days (with one minor exception). It’s what happens when a benign Facebook thread about some random reference to elementary school days goes from an oft proffered we should get together sometime to when are you all available?

And before you know it, dates are proposed, venues are considered, plans are sketched out…

And, eventually, a real live date approaches on a real live calendar and then the weekend arrives and real live logistics get worked out.

(Eeeeeek! I’m totally game, but it’s also been a couple of lifetimes since I saw most of these women and even then, as it happens, none of us really hung out with any of the others… so we are, for all practical purposes, strangers, except we went to kindergarten together (more or less) and spent about thirteen years attending the same schools. What could go wrong?)

And that’s how six of us came to make plans to see one another this weekend up in Colfax, CA.

So… I got the car washed, because Wendy K is going to ride from Davis to Colfax with me. Here is a photo I took as I was leaving the carwash… a little treasure trove of stuff the crew dug out from the hard-to-reach spaces. Whatcha get when sharing your car with your son. They did remove all the stickiness. Yay.

In preparation, I also assembled some trail snacks… my modest contribution to the day’s eats.

Decided on blue cheese-stuffed olives, medjool dates and almonds, this standard combo—two good thing to have on the trail–juicy and salty: prosciutto and melon…

(looks a bit disgusting doesn’t it?)

and my latest fave, red bell peppers and oil-cured olives…

Something about that combo…it’s the sweet, watery crunch of the pepper and the super salty, oily texture of the olives. Yum. Discovered by accident one day last week when making a pizza…
The silliness of making an hors d’oeuvre out of pepper and olive reminds me of that episode of That Girl (1966-71) when Ann has to come up with an appetizer for guests her boyfriend, Donald Hollinger, is bringing over to impress. She has nothing in her kitchen so comes up with the idea of putting small dabs of peanut butter on cornflakes.  Zany huh? Typical 60s sitcom ya?

Anyway.

Looking forward to Saturday’s rendesvous.