baseball — Page 4

Signs of Spring

April 4, 2015 at 9:31 am by Claudia

4-4 redsox&eggs

An iPhone/Instagrammy photo that captures this beginning of April: fabric Easter eggs and the Red Sox. Opening Day of the baseball season is tomorrow. The Red Sox are looking good this year. We’ve already watched a few exhibition games during Spring Training. Oh baseball, I love you. Welcome back!

I walked out to the leaf covered big garden bed the other day and uncovered a small area just to assure myself that something is happening out there:

4-4 sedum

I knew I could count on the sedum – always the first to show new growth. I keep the leaves on the garden beds until there’s no danger of below freezing temperatures. I’m hoping that will be in the next week. We have almost two acres here and there are woods and lots of trees and dead leaves and fallen branches and several garden beds to clean up. Brambles have to be cut back – ouch.

All the stones (called Item 4, for some reason) from our driveway that the snow blower propelled onto the grass need to be put back where they belong. That, by the way, is one of the most painstaking and irritating jobs there is in early spring. Last year, Don and I sat out by the driveway with pails by our sides, gathering up all the rocks that weren’t where they were supposed to be. And that was before we had our own snowblower that had to be used several times this winter. This year, there are even more rocks on the lawn, rocks on the patio, rocks in the garden. I used to rake them up, and I still do as much of that as I can, but last year I enlisted Mr. Sparks in the whole thing and I’m going to do that again this year.

Someday, we want to pave the driveway. Most people around here, however, have the same kind of driveway we do – part of country living, I guess.

It’s a quiet weekend around here. We have no big plans. We watched The Wizard of Oz last night on TCM. Glorious. And, after decades of watching it, I still worry when I don’t see Toto in a shot. Where is he? Is he okay? Did he run off with Dorothy unaware that he’s missing? Then, he’ll suddenly come into the shot from offstage and I relax. Don understands, bless him. He knows I worry about that sort of thing.

What are your plans for today?

Happy Saturday.

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Wandering Around Chautauqua & Tony Gwynn

June 17, 2014 at 7:48 am by Claudia

Sunday was a picture perfect day around here. It was sunny with temperatures hovering near 80 degrees. Ideal weather for my one day off. As expected, I did some wandering around Chautauqua. I have lots of photos which I’ll share with you over the next couple of days. On the docket today: more of the cottages of Chautauqua.

chaut-gingerbread

This yellow house is charming with two large porches. But what I really loved is the green and white gingerbread detail near the roof.

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Small, for sale, and…note tree growing through the awning.

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This house faces the lake. Oh my goodness. Look at all the detail. Victorian at its best.

chaut-lakehouse

The houses that face the lake are rather palatial. Apparently most of them are still inhabited by single families and haven’t been divided into separate apartments. Wouldn’t you like to sit on that porch?

chaut-white-cottage

Love this house and the simplicity of its design. The hanging ferns are perfect.

chaut-funkyhouse

As far as I can tell, this might be the funkiest house here. It looks neglected and in need of repair. I had a brief fantasy that someone would admire my work on A Raisin in the Sun so much that he/she would feel compelled to seek me out and reward me with this house. A little rehab would be involved, but if the house was free….

A girl can dream.

As I was walking, I noticed this cat walking toward me.

chaut-cat1

I pulled out the camera, thinking that surely this fellow would run off when he saw me.

chaut-cat2

Nope. He calmly walked right up to me and proceeded to lay on his back. Apparently, he was in need of some belly scratching.

chaut-cat3

When he had his fill of affection, he got up and walked off.

Of course, I forgot about my encounter and my allergies flared up. Whoops!

chaut-brown-cottage

Adorable.

Today will be a twelve hour day. Lots to do before we go into tech and dress rehearsals next week.

Tony Gwynn died yesterday. Don broke it to me over the phone. Tony Gwynn was the reason I grew to love baseball. When we were living in San Diego, we started to watch the Padres games on television. Before that time, I had never had any interest in our national pastime. Tony Gwynn changed all that. Here was an amazing athlete and, even more important, an amazing man. He was a role model for everyone in and out of the game. He worked hard, had time for everyone, helped others and stayed humble. He turned down offers for more lucrative contracts in order to stay with the Padres his entire career. He lived life with integrity and joy. He simply loved the game of baseball.

I became a big, big fan – such a big fan that when I couldn’t see his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, my father-in-law recorded it for me and sent it to me all the way from San Diego.

We lost him way too soon. He was only 54.

Thank you, Tony Gwynn, for making baseball exciting for me. For showing me how to play the game with class and humility. For being an incredible role model in these days of inflated salaries and egos and multi-million dollar deals. For being the reason I love baseball.

Happy Tuesday.

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A Little Niche for the Desk

October 27, 2013 at 9:46 am by Claudia

We won’t talk about the killing frost that decimated my zinnias and morning glories. Or the irony that nightly lows for the upcoming week will be nicely above freezing.

No, we won’t.

We won’t talk about the controversial call in last night’s World Series game that handed the win to the Cardinals and kept me up half the night composing angry messages to the umpires and Major League Baseball. Or the cuss words that came out of my mouth when the call was made.

No, we won’t.

Instead, let’s talk about a little idea I had yesterday. Do you remember the desk that Don found on the street and brought home? The one I re-imagined? If you don’t, you can read this post. It’s been sitting in a corner in the den and has become a dumping ground for all my stuff. But I rarely sit there.

When I was in Hartford, all my blogging took place at the desk in the apartment. I liked having my calendar there and all my To Do lists and a pinboard above it. I still like blogging in my chair, don’t get me wrong. Anyway, I discovered I liked the option of sitting at a desk and the old yearning for a little office space of my own came back. Not a corner of the den, which competes with the blogging chair. No, a little niche just for me.

We have a little spinet desk that has been living against the staircase wall and we love it, but we don’t use it. And the only desk chair we have downstairs is there.

What if I switched them out? The spinet desk could go in the corner of the den. It’s lightweight and would be easy to move when it’s Christmas tree time. It would take up less space in the room. I could move my desk to that staircase wall and I would have a little office space of my own, off by itself. A little niche I can go to with my computer or my coaching research.

So, yesterday afternoon, I did some re-arranging. Don helped me carry my desk, which is heavy.

deskalcove

desktop

I figured out how to hang that little piece of architectural salvage, which I love and is, of course, in my favorite color. I also wrestled with how to hang the pinboard. That little door under the stairs has molding around it which makes the wall surface uneven. Finally, I thought of hanging it from a spindle with some ribbon. Perfect. If I need to get in the cupboard, I can pull the desk away from the wall, open the little door and then move everything back. I was already doing the same thing with the spinet desk.

doorstopdesk

desklamp

Isn’t it cute? I think I will use it much more in its new home. That fabric covered shelf, by the way, pulls out and I usually set my laptop on it.

Imagine how pretty this whole area will look when the quilt is finished and hanging on the wall.

Oh boy!

Don, as usual, puts up with all my ideas and offers his keen eye and valuable advice. I’m going to try to get some more photos this afternoon when the light is better (although this little area is notoriously hard to photograph) and I’ll share them with you tomorrow.

Happy Sunday.

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Signs of Spring

Wandering Around Chautauqua & Tony Gwynn

A Little Niche for the Desk

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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