Tag Archives: baseball

Happy Groundhog’s Day!

Posted on February 2, 2013 | 3 comments

Do you know why they have to drag poor old Punxatawny Phil out of his lair every year? It’s because he knows that the beginning of spring isn’t tied at all to whether or not he sees his shadow. Like all intelligent creatures, he realizes that spring begins the day that pitchers and catchers report for spring training.

groundhog-enorme-toute-grosse-253x300Seeing as that event is inevitable and preordained by powers other than himself, he’d just as soon stay tucked up in a cozy ball of rodenty slumber. Who wouldn’t?

But those nasty men in top hats and weird coats nevertheless haul him out by the scruff of his neck to stage their little weather charade. You can tell from their antiquated dress that even they recognize, in their heart of hearts, that the whole thing is a sham: meaningless, outdated, and entirely superseded by the National Pastime.

And don’t fall for any of that vernal equinox nonsense, either. Regardless of where the planet is or what angle the sun is at, spring begins on the day when pitchers and catchers report, which this year falls on February 11. I mean, come on: they don’t call it winter training — it’s SPRING training. Ergo, it must be spring.

So the next time you find yourself wondering when spring will begin, don’t go dragging any large rodents out of their dens. Just check the baseball calendar.

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Off-the-cuff poetry

Posted on February 1, 2013 | 5 comments

I’ve been taking a poetry writing class, which is in part why I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been reading and writing and going to class, and that hasn’t left me time to tend the blog. (Sorry!)

One of the class assignments is to respond to daily prompts. Because of my schedule, these tend to be dashed off in half an hour or so, which has been very fun and freeing. It doesn’t necessarily lend itself to great poetry, but it most certainly is great practice.

Here’s what I wrote in response to the prompt “perfect”:

Pitch perfect

the mitt rests against his thigh
throwing arm loose at his side
he lowers his head, blocks the batter
with the bill of his cap
signals flash between the catcher’s knees until
he looks away and brings
the mitt to his chest
his fingers find the seams, wrap
around the ball as he goes
into his motion and delivers
the perfect pitch

 

(By the way, spring begins in only TEN DAYS with the four most beautiful words in the English language: “Pitchers and catchers report.”)

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Lazy Friday blog post: “Stuff about me” quiz

Posted on October 22, 2010 | 6 comments

Seeing as this is Friday, and I am lazy AND running late, I decided to take a short-cut. I hope it is at least mildly entertaining.

A Facebook friend “tagged” me with the following, but since I have no idea what that means or what to do with it, I decided to copy the quiz and use it for a blog post. I may not be tech-savvy, but I’m resourceful!

Please feel free to do the same. If you do so and want me to read it, just leave a comment to let me know where to find it. Have a great Friday!

1. What time did you get up this morning? Alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. Feet hit the floor ten minutes later.

2. How do you like your steak? Medium. Pink in the middle is nice.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Toy Story 3 at the dollar movies. (I don’t get out much.)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Don’t watch TV.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Someplace where I didn’t need a car.

6. What did you have for breakfast? Smoothie made with strawberries, hemp milk, whey protein, and flax seed oil. Yum!

7. What is your favorite cuisine? Malaysian, because it incorporates elements of so many other delectable cuisines.

8. What foods do you dislike? Too salty and too sweet.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Gunan Tahan, Malaysian restaurant in Amity CT that is no more. Alas!

10. Favorite dressing? My friend Dawn’s homemade Italian.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Toyota minivan with automatic sliding door on passenger side.

12. What are your favorite clothes? Loose and flowing, like robes or muu-muus.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Anywhere extraterrestrial

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? By definition it has to be both (I’m a double Libra, after all), but the empty half isn’t really of much use now, is it?

15. Where would you want to retire? Somewhere that I didn’t need a car.

16. Favorite time of day? Evening/late night (10 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. is my peak time.)

17. Favorite Season? Autumn

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? What is this “tag” of which you speak?

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? Again I ask, what is “tag”?

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? I’ll be thrilled to death if anyone even READS it.

22. Bird watcher? When they are in my field of vision, yes.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Isn’t that covered in #16?

24. Do you have any pets? Two cats: one middle-aged and very sweet, one young and very stupid.

25. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share? I’ve been nominated for the Nobel prize in bulls**ting.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? First a doctor, then a pilot, then an astronaut. Didn’t follow through on that too well, did I?

27. What is your best childhood memory? My relationships with trees, the big maple in the back yard and the ancient juniper at church camp in particular.

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Yes.

29. Are you married? Yes. (Is it just me, or are some of these questions pretty uninteresting?)

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes, and my car doesn’t move until everyone else is wearing theirs as well.

31. Been in a car accident? A couple: one very traumatic in childhood, though no one was hurt, and one minor fender-bender (literally) in adulthood. I was not driving in either case.

32. Any pet peeves? “all about me” quizzes that ask stupid and uninteresting questions.

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Anything but anchovies, though I’m rather partial to a white pie with fresh tomato, fresh basil, and garlic.

34. Favorite Flower? Whatever is blooming where I am. In my garden right now that would be marigolds, mums, Verbena bonariensis, hyacinth bean, and roses.

35. Favorite Hobby(ies)? Reading, crocheting, writing, cooking, eating, talking.

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chipotle

37. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? Zero

38. From whom did you get your last email? I believe it was from a gentleman in West Africa who wanted to confirm my contact information so he could send me my inheritance.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Joseph-Beth Bookstore

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? Decided to answer this quiz

41. Like your job? The question is missing a subject and quite possibly a verb.

42. What’s your eye color? Gray/green with flecks of orange when I’m angry, or so my sisters tell me.

43. What was your favorite vacation? The time we went to Vail and I got to hike and read all day and we slept with the French doors wide open all night because there are no mosquitoes at that altitude.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? We all dragged our sorry tails to KFC buffet last night because everyone was too tired to cook. Does that count?

45. What are you listening to right now? My great-grandparents’ clock ticking in the living room and the distant roar of the interstate.

46. What is your favorite color? Periwinkle blue. The color of cornflowers (chicory)

47. How many tattoos do you have? Zero

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 9:17 a.m.

50. Coffee Drinker? Only socially.

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Baseball is upon us

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 2 comments

Yes, I am a baseball fanatic–not a mere “fan.” I’m one of those crazy people who understands why Benjamin Sisco keeps a baseball on his desk in Star Trek: DS9. I actually believe all the mystical mumbo-jumbo in every baseball movie ever made. I own not one but TWO decks of baseball-themed tarot cards: The Tarot of Baseball and The Baseball Tarot. (If anyone knows of others, please let me know.) Now that we live near Cincinnati, my Mother’s Day gift is tickets to see my beloved Reds.

Both my kids are in their fourth year of Little League baseball. Last year they fell into the same age division and were thus on the same team. This offers clear and compelling (to me) evidence of the existence of the gods of baseball: having only one team schedule to follow left me time to grapple with some serious health issues I was facing.

This year the older child has moved up into the highest age division, the major league, while the younger child remained in the minor league. This means that, between practices and games for the two teams, I can count on one hand the number of days each month we will NOT be at the ballpark.

Both teams have played their season openers, and both won. Hurray! I have now logged the first four of 75+ hours (not counting the playoffs) I will spend on unforgiving aluminum bleachers, eating hotdogs and giant pretzels, rain or shine. I feel ridiculously and unaccountably euphoric.

It’s baseball season. And I’m in heaven.

Thank the baseball gods.

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Posted in Tarot, Uncategorized

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