Spring, Baseball and My Favorite Things

Hell Yeah! Go Giants!

Ok, fellow Giant's fans...
First spring training game in AZ was played yesterday afternoon. And what an afternoon it was! Temps around the 74 degree  mark, my back yard all to myself and the birds tweeting like a teenager at a rock concert. The game feed was only on internet - if you pay for the subscription - and AM radio... that would be KNBR home of the SF Giants Baseball Radio. No satellite feed - XM - which is usually where I find my broadcast. And here I am frantically looking for a radio from which I can get a signal on the AM band.

It was almost comical as I scrambled from room to room in my house to find the speakers that attach to my "boom box." All the while I was hoping that even though the last time I could not get reception, somehow the radio waves realigned in the universe and it was going to work this time. In the process of looking for the speakers; to which are still hiding in a closet or box in a corner somewhere, I found my old Sony Disc Man. You all remember these, right? Big round yellow case to put your CD and hook up to headphones for your personal stereo listening pleasure... It had a big strap you could wrap around your waist for jogging or working out at the gym. Weighs, like 2 pounds... yeah, obsolete is not even close. Tube type radios and these are almost on par with each other these days. BUT! It has an AM/FM radio too... Hah! I found it on top of a box of old cables and such I don't seem to be able to throw away. (Keep that in mind if you ever need an old printer cable.)

I put fresh batteries in my Disc Man and plugged an accessory cord into the earphone jack ... the other end to an old set of Creative speakers and FaShizzle! KNBR in it's full glory! I was rather irritated that I did not start looking earlier for the equipment to listen. It was already an hour into the game when I tuned in. But as I worked so hard looking for a radio, Someone upstairs was looking out for me because there had been a swarm of bees on the field which had delayed the game for some 45-50 minutes.

I proceeded to clean and prune my lovely back yard in the lovely warm temperature listening to the lovely sound of Mike Krukow announcing the game which ended in a score of 11-1 in favor of my absolute favorite BOYS OF SUMMER!

The game ended, my husband came home and my wonderful break on a perfect day evaporated in a wisp of fairy dust as if it had never been. But I knew better and despite proof of my efforts during the day, the trimmed and tailored look of my back yard, the gossamer and ethereal sounds of summer baseball on the radio drifted softly in my mind as I closed my eyes at the end of the day.

Life is good....

The Little Girl Who Wished for a Green Thumb

There once was a little girl, one of three sisters. She was the youngest. Her father worked all week long very close to home in an oil refinery. Her mother stayed at home and kept the house running smoothly and took care of her and her sisters. The house was always clean, the clothes always washed, folded and put away and dinner was always on the table at 5:00 p.m. every day of the work week.

Now this story sounds much too good to be true, but it gets better! The father's family lived in the same town and even within only blocks of the little girl and her sisters. In the summer they could walk the few blocks to visit cousins and especially their grandparents. The little girl had a very happy life.

One of her favorite things during the summer days when she was not in school was to watch her mother make the yard of their house the prettiest in the neighborhood. The picket fence around the house always had a fresh coat of white paint and the roses her mother grew bloomed bright pretty colors all summer and into the fall and even the winter. The yard of the house had flowers on every side. Some for the shade and some for the bright sun but always there was something blooming and growing up, up, up high.

The little girl's mother had something very special, you see. She had a green thumb! Not really green, but that is what everyone would tell her. It was rumored she could make a telephone pole sprout green leaves! And everyone knows, telephone poles don't grow at all!

Once the little girl grew up and had a house of her own, she wanted to be just like her mother. She would grow plants in pots, in the ground, in the shade and in the sun so there would always be colorful blooms no matter what time of year.

This eventually became a conundrum for the little girl once she did grow up. For no matter what she did, nothing would grow! She would buy a plant at the store and within a few days, it would be wilted and beyond saving. She could grow grass for a little while but it too would brown come winter and again the dirt would be ugly and spotted with weeds in the spring. Only one year did she actually get vegetables to grow in a garden but it was way up north, you see and she did not count on giant hail falling from the sky in August only to bash her tomatoes into the soil and look like a pile of compost when it was done.
The little girl grew older and soon married and became a mother with children of her own and refused to be beaten at this gardening game. For that is what she considered it. A game she had to keep playing until she could win the grand prize of a beautiful yard just like her mothers.
Time passed for the woman (for now she was getting a bit long in the tooth) and they moved from house to house, she and her husband watched their children grow up and soon have families of their own.

And then, a wonderful thing happened. Her childhood which she had treasured for so long, materialized in present time. Lots of the people from that glorious time were gone but definitely not forgotten. Some of the cousins and aunts and uncles were still living in her home town and her family. She came back to live only blocks from the home in which she grew up. The neighborhood was different but very much the same. Some family from her childhood was still close by but most importantly, her children and their families were living so close together that her grandchildren could walk down the street to visit her! They were too young to do this by themselves, so often along with the joy of seeing her grandchildren - for they were indeed a joy - she got to spend much time with their parents - all of whom she considered her own.

The story might end there, for that is indeed a happy ending but it gets even better. Somewhere in the game of gardening, the woman reached her goal! She won the game, you see. Hers was one of the most beautiful gardens in town and everyone who came over exclaimed on the beauty of the flowers in bloom, the green of the grass and the fragrance of the herbs.

She even helped the neighbors across the street along with her family create a family vegetable garden abundant with vegetables, giant pumpkins and the tallest sunflowers you have ever seen!

The woman was very happy. That little girl still inside was jumping for joy. And then even as she thought it could get no better, her son and her husband built her a special room off the side of her house just for her gardening. It was the most beautiful room with a clear roof so the sun could shine in on her while she worked and all her tools were hung from hooks on the wall. And everything she grew blossomed and reached tall for the sky. She was even thinking about getting a part of a telephone pole to try but then thought better. Why push her luck? THIS is the happy ending to this story.

the end.

This is what the garden shed looked like before it was rebuilt by the woman's son and husband. Next posting will show you what it looked like after they built her a new beautiful room!