Life of Wry

Couple things to note in this picture. One, it’s not quite spring yet. In fact, it wasn’t that cold–not as cold as the blankets and woolens might suggest–but it was windy, which made it seem cold. Still. It’s not spring yet.

And two, these are my bleacher mates for the 2016 Varsity Baseball season. And I adore them all.. especially in the aggregate, as a species: the parents/supporters/fans of my kid’s team. All our kids’ team. We are so happy to be here cheering them all on.

Game hasn’t started, so don’t mis-read any of those expressions. Mostly, we’re being drowned out by some very loud music, and with a couple of exceptions, apparently, we can’t hear a thing, so can’t really engage in substantive conversation.

So, zigzagging through the stands, we have Tyler’s mom, Ryan’s mom, Griffin’s mom, Daniel’s mom, Ray’s dad, Peter’s dad, John’s parents, mystery man, Eton’s mom, Reed’s parents, James’ dad, Daniel’s uncle, Ryan’s brother, Ryan’s mom, Solly’s dad, Ian’s dad, another mystery man, Ryan’s dad, Pierce’s sister, Pierce’s mom, Griffen’s grandfather, mystery trio of standing guys and Eton’s dad. The other parent fans were there–every single kid had at least one related somebody rooting for them (as it should be)–just sitting in another cluster.

Shortly, I’m going to take my seat alongside Daniel’s mom, whom I could not score without.

~~

For the record, because someone’s always counting, like me: we won 13-4.

This game took place in the manicured stadium of Sacramento City College, a place we love to play when given the chance because it’s fancy. Peter started on the mound–a great big tall mound at that–and pitched solidly for the first three innings. First: He picked off a guy who’d reached on an error (beautiful pick off move, Frame to Henrickson–boom!); then a guy who’d gotten a nice hit was out on an even nicer Jury throw-down to second when he tried to steal; then a nice swinging strike out. Second: Three ground outs to the ever-reliable third baseman Gibson, with a triple in between that went for naught. Third: a three up, three down inning, thanks again to Gibson, and outfielders Holgate and Biers-Ariel. But then the fourth: a pop up. Good. Then two singles, another pop up, and walk and Dan pulled him. Overall, 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, 1 strike out, a nice pick off, in 3 2/3 innings of work. He left the game with a nice 8-3 lead and a 62.5% strike percentage. All good. And oh.. the guy he struck out? He is the 6’5″ son of a former NBA player, and was a first round MLB pick (as a pitcher, but is also the league’s #1 hitter with an average of .476). P struck him out on three pitches. Yay! Eton came in, pitched a very nice 3 1/3 innings and got the win.

You know how Facebook does that thing where they generate for you a memory, something posted to your timeline one or two or five years ago (or whatever) and encourage you to share it?

Well, maybe you do and maybe you don’t, but today, I logged onto Facebook and there was a photo taken five years ago when Karen, Leslie, Laura, Rick and I, under the expert guidance of Homnath and Pradip, trekked about 100 miles–give or take–to and from the base of Mt. Everest. It really took me back!

Here it is (Rick, Homnath, Karen, Me, Laura; and below, Leslie and Pradip):

How cool are we?

Five years ago. Five years and many injuries later (not to mention just general bone and body degeneration)–a reality that makes me wonder if I’ll EVER hike again.

Don’t want to go to that scary place. Everything will be fine.

In the meantime, how about I share a few from that trip, just for old time’s sake…

First stop Abu Dhabi. We visited the United Arab Emirates’ largest mosque (coverage required). Karen, Laura, me and Leslie…

This is also the 8th largest mosque in the world (it accommodates up to 40,000 worshippers) and contains the world’s largest single slab of carpet which, alone, can hold 9,000 people.

Some favorite shots of Nepal…

Spectacular trails with precipitous drops among immense mountains… (and locals traveling from one remote village to the next to shop or whatever, carrying their stuff on their back because that’s the only way):

With culture and Buddhist monuments along the way…

And amazing views…

The above was taken from the top of Gokyo Ri (down by that frozen lake, in the lower left, you can see where our little tea house was, and behind that the enormous receding glacier we crossed the next day).

Here’s me at the top of Gokyo Ri (17k+):

(That easy smile belies how pooped I was at the top.)

And below, a nice shot of Everest (left) and probably Nuptse (right), taken by Rick from the top of Kala Patthar the day after we reached basecamp:

It was a life changing trip spent with these wonderful humans:

Having just crossed a pass into the Gokyo River valley, having climbed out of Machermo. This is adjacent to the first (of 6) lakes in the region. Leslie, Karen, Laura, me and Rick.

[wow.. that came with its own caption.. no idea how that happened, but will leave it be.]

We returned to the warm deserts of the UAE, explored Dubai and spent a little time in the dunes with these guys:

Anyway, that was a very random set; there are hundreds more if you want to peruse, back in April 2011… I just grabbed a few since I was feeling nostalgic. Blame Facebook.

Five things in the box today. Do we live in Davis, or what?

My latest art acquisition.

Now, before you get all impressed, it IS a lovely piece of art, and I’m thrilled to have it, and I’ll tell you why in a sec, but this particular rendition is a picture that I right clicked from a Facebook post, downloaded onto my computer and just printed out on regular paper. Then, I edited the edges down to size and put it in a very nice wooden frame I found in my photo project closet (where boxes and boxes and boxes of old photos go to die).

Voila!

I am particularly enamored of this worried rocking woman because 1) it was drawn in 1974 by a friend of mine from elementary school days who moved out of Palos Verdes when we were in 7th grade and I never saw or heard of her again… until she surfaced a few months ago in my Facebook world–the friend of a friend of a friend (each of those an elementary school buddy); and 2) the lines and colors and simplicity really appeal to me.

Wendy (not Sanders anymore) is, as best I can tell, a professional illustrator who specializes in children’s books. I’ve seen lots of her work via FB and see that she is very talented, successful and has done a lot with her art.

I’m still searching for just the right place to hang this so I can enjoy it every day. Right next to my rocking chair seems like the obvious choice.

Yep, another first of a last thing, last thing being Peter’s last league season in his high school baseball career. (Not that I’m a documenter or anything.)

Today was the start of league play and the Blue Devils won!

DHS plays in Division I, by virtue of being a large school. We are part of the Delta League, which in turn is one of seven leagues in the huge Sac-Joaquin Section (somewhere around 46-49 schools total). Our Delta league has eight schools. We hope to win our league and go on to compete in playoffs against the top schools in  the other leagues. Davis has won the whole Sac-Joaquin title three times… it’s too far to look ahead to that, but that is the brass ring. This is all under the auspices of CIF, the organization through with California schools compete.

Anyway, the Blue Devils won their opening game. Officially, league-wise, we are now 1-0. (overall, 13-0). One down, many to go.

The boys started a little slowly, behind Franklin 5-1, which was kind of scary. But in the bottom of the third, we put three more runs up and another two in the fourth, and from there never looked back. We won 10-6. GREAT start to league play.

Pierce got the nod for this game and would have faired a lot better but for a costly error in the first inning that lead to 3 unearned runs. He made quick work of the second, but when he loaded the bases in the third, Dan pulled him and sent Peter in. It was just like the last game: bases loaded, no outs. Fix this. Which he pretty much did: sac bunt and two ground outs.

He ended up pitching 3 2/3 innings, held them to 3 hits and no runs, and happened to be pitching when our bats came alive so earned the win. He started the sixth with a fly out, but when he walked a batter (his second for the outing), Dan pulled him and put in Daniel to finish things off. Daniel held the Wildcats to just one run over his 1 2/3 innings with 2 strike outs, 2 hits and a walk, and that was that (and assorted ground and fly outs). Whee! And the streak goes on.

I neglected to get any photos, but will post a couple here taken by Kristen at last week’s game when Peter relieved, also a home game, so just pretend it’s today:

(Nothing like a strong telephoto lens.. it makes the bleachers at the track–about 125 yards away–look close!)

And here’s another Kristen took last week following the game. This was immediately post the heaping dog pile. I like this one… for obvious reasons…

It was a good day for the boy today, as days go for seventeen year seniors in high school. For starters, he actually joined us for breakfast this morning which was a thrill, since it’s been a few years since he’s acquiesced to our decades-old weekly brunch ritual (it’s still a Sunday morning ritual, but hasn’t included Peter for a very long time). But today, he came along.

We had an agenda: to help him brainstorm what he might say on his 200-word essay about why he wants to go to UC San Diego–part of the requirement for kids who landed on the waiting list, but who really (really) want to attend that particular school. So we did that. The discussion was a bit challenging, but by the end, we got there with everybody’s good mood intact, and some reasonable talking points that Peter can work from. Productive!

Final college application task. Check!

He watched a little of the Masters Golf Tournament; played some online chess; dug up the backyard with some chips and approach shots; went out to the driving range and did some of this:

(A picture from the way back, but I figure it’s fair game… its statute of limitations long expired.)

Then, around 4:00 he decides he’s going to go 1) get a hair cut, and 2) buy a new bike. And, as he’s getting ready to walk out the door, he says, “where do you get used bikes in town?”  

I had little faith in either effort, but he came back about an hour later, mission accomplished.

New old bike. Check!  Haircut. Check!

Again, to mark the occasion, a photo from the way back of a particularly cute haircut, again, statute of limitations long expired.

(He’s feeding a parrot, I believe, at a wildlife center somewhere outside of Palm Springs on a long ago trip… I believe the weekend celebration of my Uncle Bud’s 80th birthday, which would have been eleven+ years ago, and Peter would have been about six and a half.)

He declined Jim’s dinner offering (a whole buffet of leftovers), so is making his own mac and cheese as we speak (I’m actually (quietly) proud of him for this; his kitchen skills are at a low, but steadily improving, level). We are then all gonna watch a couple episodes of Seinfeld (we’re working our way through the entire show and are on season II at the moment.. though Peter’s already powered through all nine (is it?) seasons and is enjoying his second pass with us… a first pass for us).

~~

On a related note: Following Peter’s and Ray’s first effort at writing an entire Seinfeld episode for an English assignment–which was something they had to pitch because it was not the project originally assigned, but which ultimately earned them each 100%–they are writing a second episode. After the first, their teacher told them they could do whatever they wanted with this current assignment, having so enjoyed their work the first time around. Peter shared the outline with us a couple nights ago. It’s hilarious.

One of those days you wish for when you’re feeling jammed and burdened and ready for a break…. a showery Saturday with little to do but have breakfast with friends and watch the Masters Golf tournament with your son. He dozed through the last 5 holes or so, but I still enjoyed watching golf for the first time in about two decades. And boy that hip replacement cannot come soon enough so I can actually walk 18 holes and play again. That’s what I’m thinking today!

Here’s a shot:

Otherwise, I’ll just post some photos of our garden (photos I took yesterday), which runneth over with 1) some unwanted but expected spring growth (bed straw,  most of which we pulled out this week), and 2) a whole bunch of FLOWERS!

In the front…

Our irises are coming up and a few other somethings:

The poppies, too, calendula, arugula, the new pluot, our uber-productive, blooming Meyer lemon, and that other thing that I love (occupying most of the lower left) :

These little pincushions, calendula, alyssum, daffs (done), cat-something, and other things:

And some chard finding a hole in there…

The whole reason I wanted a split rail fence.. so the abutilon could tumble gracefully over its edge:

And in the back…

The mound’s a-grassing… and a clump of Snow in Summer that I love with all my heart…

Another patch of S in S thriving in the back by compost mountain (out of view off to the right). And here we’re also looking between a couple of happy successes… white flowers (forget what) to the left and pink roses (forget the variety) to the right. The California fushsia will bloom later as will that other thing whose name escapes me at the moment.. both under the pink roses. And there are others, but just too many to point out:

This corner of the creek bed is working well:

As is this corner (I really like those orange ones):

And you can see we’ll need to hack back some of these flowers because they’re overstepping their bounds… but I’m liking it for now:

These help me remember what blooms when.. thanks for the indulgence.

And pointing out, with a huge degree of satisfaction: most, if not all, of our flowers and plants, at least the more recent acquisitions, come from UC Davis’ Arboretum All-Stars list, many of which–again, if not all–are available at the arboretum’s sales throughout the year. Drought tolerant, perfect for our region, and PLENTY of color and variety. Yay. (Not a commercial, just a happy, impressed customer.)

The funny little aspect of Grad Night planning that I will come to remember, for no particularly relevant reason, other than the fact it just always comes up, is the sea crates. (I’d say is the sea crate, but there are three of them.)

From my first Grad Night committee meeting back in January, and every meeting hence, to countless emails, all roads lead to the sea crates: When are the sea crates going to be opened? Has Casino found the poker chips yet in the sea crates? Who has the spare keys to the sea crates? Will the sea crates be open on Grad Night? Have you told your people about the next opening of the sea crates?

I had no idea what a sea crate was (other than one of those giant metal containers you see getting loaded onto transoceanic barges by towering cranes down at major sea ports and harbors).

Which is exactly what they are, except the three in question live permanently on terra firma behind Emerson Junior High and they are never going to get loaded onto a sea-bound vessel. These crates do contain an enormous volume of stuff–every set piece, every piece of furniture, all supplies from boxer shorts to the aforementioned poker chips, to fake potted plants, to mini-golf courses, to pillars, to columns, to giant stars broken down into segments carry-able by Grad Night parent volunteers on the decorating committee.

Anyway, as the chair of a committee of committees, each with its own chair and large volunteer crew, I’m supposed to show up at every opening to assist my people with whatever they need. Tonight was such an opening.

I don’t want to comment on the thick layers of sometimes-redundant bureaucracy that is the annual Grad Night extravaganza, and why I have to be present at each opening (and end up doing very little of anything when I’m there), I really just wanted to post a photo of what a sea crate looks like.

What do you think–eyeballing here–about 8′ x 8′ x 20′ maybe? They hold a jaw dropping amount of stuff.

And these openings are quite the events, I have to say.

I found myself today in a corner of downtown I rarely go to—way up on the north side (4th Street, a whole two blocks from my usual 2nd Street haunts). I had about 20 minutes to kill before meeting Jim for lunch so strolled a bit.

Wandered into Kim’s to look around…

The guys above bought a bunch of freshly made sushi, which I’ve had before, liked, then forgot about. It’d definitely been awhile since I’d been to Kim’s, though I don’t know why, there’s some great looking stuff in there.  Lots of products that look interesting, and definitely some hard to get produce..

I was curious about these..

… so looked it up when I got home. Found this fascinating little blurb about soju on adventurousappetite (blogspot):

Soju: A distilled beverage native to Korea, often compared to a weaker, slightly sweeter vodka. It was originally made from rice, but most brands now supplement or replace the rice with other starches such as wheat, barley, sweet potato or tapioca. The first bottle was supposedly distilled in the 1300’s.

To say Koreans love this stuff is a huge understatement. According to the world’s leading soju manufacturer, Jinro, Koreans consume nearly one billion bottles of Jinro Soju every month. Wikipedia reports that the average Korean adult (older than 20) consumes 90 bottles a year.

I found out that Chum Churum is a popular brand and I’m tempted to try it one day. A little more from the above blog about Korea’s drinking culture:

It’s considered rude to decline a drink. You’re not supposed to pour for yourself. You hold your glass with both hands when receiving, and place your hand under your right elbow when pouring. You turn away from the eldest when he or she takes their shot.

I couldn’t wait to experience all of it for myself.

My first week here, roaming the streets of my neighborhood, I noticed a bar on every block. People were drinking outside convenience stores. Empty green bottles littered the tables in the restaurants. Businessmen were puking in alleys.

“This is insane,” I said to my co-teacher, who was showing me around.

“What can I say,” he replied. “These people love their soju.”

The aisles in the store are narrow, the shelves are jam-packed and the place was crowded around noon. And a guy was delivering more great stuff:

It was fun for me to look at labels in Koren, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese… because I’ve been proofreading those languages for the last six months. (Am I going to miss this job??)

Moving a door or two down, I wandered into Farmer’s Kitchen..

… and wondered why I don’t go THERE more often! Some great looking baked goods, a bazillion vitamins and healthy-looking things I should probably be consuming, and a very inviting dining room..

I also noticed some progress on the space formerly occupied (for about a hundred years) by Silver Dragon. I detect a theme along this block of 4th:

Thinking it’s time to expand my dining (and maybe drinking) repertoire.

Look who wandered into the press box during yesterday afternoon’s game: Tobin and his Rhodesian Ridgeback Rey, who’s not as much a puppy as she was last time I took her picture, earlier in the season:

That is one good looking dog.

Mostly though, I wanted to share that the baseball boys have extended their phenomenal winning streak to an official 12 (and an unofficial 16), beating Bear Creek (of Stockton) in a 9-8 squeaker.

Two previously-on-the-injured-list players made short appearances in this game, which was nice! Peter had a reasonable 2-inning outing (relieved starter Bell; in fact, came in with bases loaded and no outs and got out of that situation with 2 K, 1 hit and a fly out) after THREE weeks off, and says today that his arm is just normal sore, not injured sore (hmm). The outing was busier than you like to see: 2 hits, 2 strike outs, 3 walks and 2 earned runs (which busted that nice 0.0 ERA), but he threw confidently and seemed content. Daniel threw himself full-body at a ground ball that snuck through the 3-4 hole  during his one inning at first, which seemed not to bother his back at all. Hopefully BOTH are back for the rest of the season. Fingers crossed. Regular league games begin Monday!

It was also nearly 90 degrees out there with lots of sunshine! Feeling a lot more like baseball season is settling in.