Baseball

We can mark another first for our family. Alex had his first baseball game on Sunday. Of course we were there watching. I remind this group occasionally that I am the one who taught him how to hit.

Well it was an entertaining and great game. (Some of these kids still look like toddlers, they are so small.) And with only two practices as a team, it was amazing.

Alex happened to miss the practice when it was explained to stop at first base. So consequently on Alex's first time at bat, he had an in-the-park home run. It was awesome. Even though he did pass up the runners on 2nd and 3rd, and leave them on the field.

Sharing Others Thoughts

Not much happening midtown these days. So I'll just share a few of the things I have learned by reading the Writers Almanac every day.

April 2nd was the birthday of Hans Christian Anderson who was extremely neurotic. He had a great fear of being buried alive and would prop a note next to him as he slept saying "I only appear to be dead."

March 26 was the birthday of Robert Frost. He actually led a very sad life, many of his children dieing, and suffered bouts of depression. Of life he said, "I do know one thing, it goes on."

March 27 is the birthday of Patty Smith Hill who wrote "Happy Birthday to You."

Nelson Algren wrote the famous advice: Never eat at a place called Mom's, never play cards with guy named Doc, and never go to bed with anyone who has more troubles than you.

Leo Rosten wrote in "The Joys of Yiddish" that chutzpah is "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan."

It Could Be Spring

Happy Birthday dear Myrna .. . Happy birthday to you.

I'm feeling much better, thank you. In fact I spent much of the afternoon in the yard doing -- what else -- yard work. As I type I am feeling energized by the fact that I am getting over this cold virus, and that I do like my back yard and am amazed by nature. I am also sitting with a heat pack on my lower back, because I am a weekend warrior.

As I was crawling over bark mulch, bypass pruner in hand, pulling up what looked like a weed, now & then; I was struck by the sound of a flute or piccolo clearly passing over the yard. Someone was practicing outside. It sounded so pretty. Nothing recognizable mind you, except maybe a few times I thought I heard a few bars of "Amazing Grace." It was such a calming feeling, hearing the music, pulling those weeds.

Something that annoys me terribly is when someone in the neighborhood is working in their garage or washing their car, and they think the neighborhood wants to listen to their music. A lot of it not even music. Just a bunch of blue language. What gives? Isn't there a point in Maslow's theories, that everyone come to the point of self actualization? And upon reaching that point, realizes that there are other people in the world. I think there are way too many not reaching that point.

But this afternoon was not one of those. The air was great and the sound of the instrument with no discernible tune was perfect.

Hope your Sunday was good, too.

A Few Sick Days

As I mentioned during weigh-in blogs, we have been sick here in our household. Bob & I are both going on our third week of this cruddy virus/cold. Coughing and aching is where we're at now. Now if either of us mentions this to friends or family, we are not getting much empathy. The standard reply has been, "yeah we had that, too. You're gonna cough another couple weeks." I don't like feeling like this!! I don't like aching joints and shivers.

So where is this leading? I don't want to be sickly in old age. I want to feel good. I want to beat that #6 workout on the Elliptical. "As God is my Witness, I will never be hungry again." No wait wrong movie. Play theme from "Rocky" here. Drink a glass full of raw eggs, No wait -- I don't like that movie too much anyway.

Let's just say -- the time to get healthy is now. It's gonna make a big difference in the long run.