Life of Wry

If you’re a pitcher on a baseball team, especially a pitcher-only, you only see action on the days you pitch, which early in the season can be sporadic and even unpredictable. The coaches are trying to assess the pitching staff and figure out who will be starters and who will be the various relievers. Once the coach settles on his rotation, there will likely be a rhythm to the whole thing, but at this point in the season it’s a pretty fluid situation.

Under the most generous of circumstances, your games may be days apart, or even a week apart. Either way, pitchers spend a lot of games in the dugout with their fellow pitchers.. and others.

Peter seems to love this arrangement. There are on days and off days; lots of time to chill and just hang with the team.

These are a couple of pictures Wes took earlier this week (or last).  More great Wes photos! I’m posting them because there was a home game today, second of the week, and it was a dugout day for Peter.

Here are Coach Ariola, Tyler M., Gabe, Solly, Ray, Peter. Not sure who the end folks are.

And below are the Walker twins, Ray, Peter, Daniel, Solly, Ian.

We hear Peter’s on the schedule for Friday up in Yuba City.  More to follow.

Of course.

Guess who’s doing a little family cooking?  Moi.

A fact I am sharing only because I have no other pictures. And pictures I snapped this evening only because I had no other subject to write about.

(And also because I never cook, except in rare cases when the mood strikes or holidays or when Jim’s out of town.. not that I don’t enjoy cooking, just that Jim’s so good at it.)

So, I’ll just pretend this is something to be proud of.

We shall start with one each Village Bakery pizza shell (the best ever), brushed with olive oil. Add red onions:

Then, um, let’s see.. add some steamed asparagus and red bell pepper:

Then the good stuff: some steamed broccoli, kalamata olives and feta cheese:

I sprinkled it with some rosemary salt from Eatwell Farms, which, in my opinion, made it jump. Bake at about 375 for about 15 minutes. Whatever.. make sure it doesn’t burn.

That’s all folks.

Some ceanothus (say THAT out loud five times in a row; let me know how it goes):

(As seen on B Street.)

And some daff action:

(As seen on 4th.)

(And hey, it’s nice to be able to walk the hood a bit more.)

I’m not complaining. Really. There is a lot in life that is terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad (to quote Alexander)…. but working through the travel logistics for a European vacation is not one of them.

Still… oh my god, looking for the perfect hotel accommodation in a faraway city is tedious and just a TAD. BIT. OVERWHELMING. A search for hotels in, let’s say, Paris, turns up, oh, you know, about 20,000 options. Narrowing your search by arrondisement (if you’re me and never took french, that’s Air un DIZE ment) or price points or a particular je ne sais quoi (I believe this is the second time I’ve used this phrase in the last month, not bad for a non-french-speaking person) helps, and looking at the customer ratings and comments helps even more, but it’s hard to know what to trust, and wow, but there are a LOT of choices.

We spent a huge amount of time today on Expedia, when we weren’t on Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Orbitz… Found other travel planning sites I didn’t know existed, like Hipmunk, which seemed useful, but it quickly became just too, too much. It’s easier to ask people for their favorites, and we did, but their favorite hotels never seemed to be in areas where we wanted to stay. So the web it was.

We finally just concluded we’re not going to spend a lot of time sitting around hotels anyway, so who cares. We booked rooms in Oslo, Geneva and Paris. Many more details yet to work out, but progress was made.

And, with a bit of satisfaction, I renamed Expedia: Extedium.

About a week ago, I brought home some tulips. Perky, erect little soldiers in their narrow-mouthed pewter vase. A couple days later, I walked into the kitchen at just the right hour of the day when the sun, low in the sky, shines through the living room window and blasts the butcher block counter top. Gasp. The tulips were already beginning their downward drop, though at least they still looked like tulips:

And today (same time of day) I barely have room on the butcher block for the room they take up… and they have lost all structural integrity:

Couple other shots because I’ve decided WordPress offers me unlimited photo space (it doesn’t; I will come to regret how many pictures I upload to their site):

And another cool macro of muscular yet delicate petals:

And because the last few days have been insanely gorgeous:

Yesterday in Woodland just before our night game, looking West from Rd 98, up near Beamer.

Yesterday afternoon in a mustard field in South Davis:

And today at Farmer’s Market:

Gosh, huh?

Jim thinks on the bump is a bit precious when it comes to spiffy sports lingo used to describe pitchers and that elevated place from which they throw. Too bad, too, because it’s one of my favorite ways to identify Peter’s spot on the baseball diamond these days. I guess I’ll have to start playing with the many ways to use (and abuse) the word mound instead. He’ll rue the day he gave me a hard time about the bump.

So, today, how ’bout mounds of joy? Get it? (Makes me wonder why Mounds candy bars aren’t a standard at baseball games…)

Mounds of Joy indeed! Last night, under the lights at Woodland’s historic Clark Field, Peter got the starter nod in game two of the season. He pitched a solid first three innings and but for a few small goof ups in the fourth (the walk and hit batter were his fault, but a fielding error and a questionable call by the field ump on a great pick-off–Frame to Henrickson!–were not) would have had a fantastic total outing. As it was, despite a dramatic fourth, he got credited with the 6-2 win and I think feels pretty good about his contribution.

We are enjoying Peter’s recent high profile outings, because it won’t be long before DHS’s star pitcher Kris Prince is back from the injury list and Peter shifts to reliever status. If there is a third starter slot this year (the #1 and #2 are set with Walter and Kris), there are several pitchers in addition to Peter vying for it, including: a seriously impressive hotshot, lefty freshman; a super dependable, confident, experienced senior; a very hard to hit, hard-throwing side-slinger sophomore; one of Peter’s best buds on the team who’s solid, steady, and deeply talented; and a work horse of a senior who will be a force when his knee injury finally subsides. And there are lots of other position players who can fill in when called upon. Or, you know, the coach could call someone up from JV. Happens all the time. So.. definitely enjoying the opportunity Peter’s had to show what he can do.

Wes, once again, comes through with the best picture of the game:

Things to note: pushed up pants and the DHS striped stirrups; pinstriped traveling uniform; the hole in Peter’s right knee (came that way). Had my doubts that this ensemble would work, but they all looked great, I thought. I particularly love Peter’s expression here–determined, focused–because I love this guy, love watching him play and can just hardly believe that after, what, eleven years of looking ahead?, he did indeed make the varsity team.

Joy joy joy.

Definitely feeling like I’ve arrived at a new chapter of my life. The old chapter. I hadn’t really noticed it so much until about now…but as I sit here (on a heating pad with my feet up) and do an accounting, I see that the list has gotten quite long.

Like, for instance:

• I have a potion for bleaching those brown age spots. Because I have brown age spots.
• I have been weaving my hair for a couple of decades, but in the last few years, it’s become largely about covering gray hair. Also? Gray hair is coarse and wiry, just so you know. It doesn’t behave like normal hair. Also again, apparently other texture things change as we age so that what was once more or less straight hair is now super wavy and frizzy. Oh my lord.
• Sun exposure’s finally caught up to me and I have to be uber vigilant now about skin cancers, so have to do horribly uncomfortable things involving seriously toxic substances applied to embarrassingly visible locations on a fairly regular basis to keep it all at bay. I even take pictures of this which I’ve been asked not to post.
• I now have hearing aids that I sometimes even wear. Hearing aids. I have nothing to add to that.
• Then there is the matter of presbyopia. I didn’t know it had a name, but it describes me. Says the literature:

Presbyopia, a word that meant “the elderly eye” in Greek, is a symptom of aging eyes. As you age, the lens of your eye becomes increasingly rigid and inflexible: it can no longer adjust its shape as easily to allow you to focus on both near and distant objects.

Many people notice the effects of presbyopia in their early to mid-40s, as they find themselves holding reading materials at arm’s length in order to focus clearly.

Monovision contact lenses [which I’ve worn for a long time now] are one of several common ways that people correct for presbyopia as they age. In order to address the difficulty in changing focus between near and far, one contact lens is prescribed for near vision and the other contact lens for distance.”

Except now? My eyes get tired like nobody’s business, working as hard as they do to focus on every damn thing. I’m reminded of my beloved Grandma Mary who was always rubbing her eyes. I get it now.

• I’m not processing data like I used to. I’m just not. It’s weird; I have to write stuff down a lot more to keep sh*t straight. Always been a list-maker, but now, whoa. I was going to say something else about that, but forgot what it was. (I’m not kidding.)
• And never mind the boatload of changes that greet you on the other side of menopause. These are legendary and you know them. Expect them. But man.
• And then there’s my most recent unhappy situation: the maybe diagnosis of arthritis. I’m holding out just a little longer before accepting this as fact because of its ridiculously sudden onset, but XRAYS show “moderate” degeneration of bone (or something) in the areas where it hurts, so maybe. I didn’t believe the mean doctor (whose name, appropriately, was Dr. Haight, which I did), but the second doctor was so convincing she made me cry, so it could be true.

Today, I went to the Davis Food Coop to see what they might suggest for adding turmeric to my diet.. besides just spicing everything with turmeric. Turmeric, as it turns out, has anti-inflammatory properties. (As I understand it, bone degeneration causes tissue irritation, irritation leads to inflammation. Inflammation restricts movement and causes a lot of pain.) The Coop has a wellness section and, maybe you didn’t know this, a wellness specialist on hand to answer questions exactly like this. I didn’t know this. I also didn’t know they have an entire area of their wellness section devoted to bone and joint health. There are two shelves alone containing nothing but turmeric products.

Turmeric, it turns out, is totally a thing.

Here’s what I bought today:

I boo bood on the arthritis gel; in my haste I picked that up thinking it was arnica cream, which I was intending to purchase.. so may return that. And the fish oil was just a “gift” for my purchase of the Bone Strength thing. Basically, I was after turmeric and cal/mag.

For them bones.

The IRWS, as much a mouthful as Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter, is still in effect, so I’m still a weekly morning driver, which, I have to say, I sort of love. It requires a 5:30 alarm, which would work better if I went to bed earlier, but sleepy or not, the views are peaceful and a great way to meet the day (and the reason for getting up worthwhile, as well).

Come 8:00, I feel like I’ve been up for hours, which I have. I understand the appeal.

Here are a few low-light, low-resolution pictures from this morning. I still like them for their mood, but damn, maybe it’s time for a real camera.

Getting to the church on time. Driving east here on Covell on way to University Covenant, where numbers were low this morning, due, likely, to the weather warming up. About 23 people today.

Approaching the Mace turn:

A couple of sunrises… sun rising over downtown Sac:

Sun rising over crops:

And this road that bears off to the east then turns north (I think) as you’re driving back into town:

Not unexpected. As soon as I realized I’d been too long at Mishka’s, I knew I’d likely find one of these on my windshield. Boneheaded, all I can say.

Don’t say it… car’s dirty, too.

Sigh.

I’m loving pink season:

Still learning the macro setting on my iPhone… trying to figure out what it focuses on when and where. Goofed here, but I like it anyway:

These magnolias look oddly muscular:

It’s also a great time to look up:

White on white:

On a day like this, everything looked great: