The Whirring of Wings and Whizzing Softballs

The hummingbirds are back. It took a day or two before one must have found the feeders and told their friends. Tonight the air on the lake side of our house was literally alive with birds.

The martins were chirping noisily on the long perches on the monster house Gerald built for them near our deck. Then suddenly they or a group from yet another martin apartment building on other side of our house would take flight. Too many birds to count would fill the air flying up and down and swooping over my head seeming to rejoice at their ability to do acrobatics together in the air.

At the same time, the tiny hummers were flying in and out and onto the feeder in front of me with their whirring wings adding to the twilight bird music. I relaxed after a lovely day of Bible study, worship, and family time until with daylight gradually fading, it became too chilly to linger outside any longer without a sweater.

On Friday, Gerald took the van up to the Rehabilitation Institute to bring Katherine home from Saint Louis, so that her husband David did not have to miss work. Along with a beautiful bouquet and special cake and goodies, David and son Sam had a huge welcome home banner waiting for her as she rolled into the house. She seems considerably stronger.

We were all watching the Georgia Bulldogs play a tremendous game of softball against Alabama, but as soon as possible we left for the farm to see the end of the game there while the Cedar family were together again after two and a half weeks. Unfortunately, despite the tremendous game pitched by Erin Arevalo, one home run left the ending score 1-0 in favor of the Crimson Tide.

That put our Georgia team out of their single elimination Conference tournament, but we were comforted by knowing that earlier that day, our Southern Illinois University Salukis had beaten the number one seed and would be playing for the Missouri Valley Conference championship the next day.

Yesterday after a hurried lunch, phone calls assured us that Mary Ellen and Brianna had arrived from their home in central Illinois and would go with Gerald and me to see SIUC play. They were waiting beside the road at the new farm house their family recently bought to give Brian yet more acreage. MET and Bri jumped in, and we stopped only to leave a car seat at our sister-in-law Opal’s house. That was so our niece Vicki Sue could pick it up and have safe transportation for our great niece Emerson from Wyoming. Vicki picks up Gerald’s sister Ernestine, her daughter Leah, and little Emmie in Saint Louis this coming Friday.

Mary Ellen could not keep from being upset at not being able to take time to visit with her Aunt Opal, who was outside with a plant sale going on opposite her neighbor’s yard sale. But we had to hurry onto Carbondale and the stadium. Gerald dropped us off at the gate and found a place to park while we found seats inside.

What should have been a thrill to see SIUC place second in their conference was diluted by the lopsided score, but we still clapped loudly when that second-place trophy was awarded. That trophy does not come without lots of dedication and hard work by young women who also manage to study and take final exams as well as attending practices. But meeting our granddaughter Erin for pizza at Pagliai’s after their team meeting did soften our disappointment.

We agreed to meet again at Woodsong for lunch today although Gerald would have gladly taken us out to eat for Mother’s Day. But I’m not too enthusiastic about waiting in line at an eatery on a holiday. So I thawed a couple small roasts and stuck them in the oven with veggies before we left for our village church at 9 a.m. The Cedars came out, and I was able to hear a little more of the new therapies that the St. Louis multiple sclerosis doctors are recommending for Katherine. Also good news is the return of a favorite young woman aide from a couple of summers ago, who is moving into their spare bedroom.

Our evening ended tonight when Gerald and I watched the NAAC Selection Show for Division I Softball. The 64 teams in the nation who will be playing in the sixteen Regionals this coming weekend were announced. Number 10 ranked Georgia will be hosting their regional in Athens, and I am sure Erin was happy to see her alma mater Texas A&M ranking 8th and hosting their regional. Our entire family was bound to have been pleased to hear praises for Mel Dumezich at A&M, who is a Southern Force alum, and, of course,for Georgia’s Erin Arevalo. Their whizzing softballs have earned them well-deserved recognition.

Now I suppose the birds are bedded down for the night, and Gerald is as well after falling asleep in his recliner the minute the selection show finished. Probably it’s time for me to also come to the end of a good day as soon as I make the morning coffee.

Longest Game in History

Gerald and I just watched the longest softball game in both Georgia and Louisiana State University history. UGA won 1-0 in the 15th inning. The pitching duel between LSU’s Rachele Fico and the Dawgs’ Erin Arevalo was amazing, and as the announcer said as we watched Game Tracker, neither pitcher deserved to lose.
Until the 10th inning, Arevalo had pitched a no hitter. After the one hit then, she struck out 13 consecutive batters.

Georgia got several hits off Fico, but could not score and kept leaving runners on base. The announcer and everyone thought they had scored in the 14th when a runner came home from third, but then found out the batter was called out for hitting out of the batters box. So the game continued through the bottom half of the inning when Arevalo quickly shut LSU down again.

I was feeling sorry for both pitchers knowing they must be very tired, but the announcer kept saying that Arevalo just got better and better during those last record breaking innings.

There will be another game tomorrow and the next day, so they should be very interesting.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s softball team will be observing Senior Weekend at home when they play a double header against Northern Iowa tomorrow and a third game against them on Sunday.

We are hoping all the Dawgs win tomorrow—Georgia Bulldogs and Southern Salukis. In the meantime, Gerald has just put our little dog Jake up for the night, and we are heading to bed here at Woodsong. We are tired from all the excitement.

"Just hang around,,,"

Probably many places use the same motto Southern Illinoisans often do: “If you don’t like the weather, just hang around and it will change.” It has likely been said here many times the last two days.

Wednesday afternoon Gerald and I drove over to Carbondale under a bright blue sky decorated with fluffy mountains of white clouds so beautiful that I could hardly take my eyes away.

At the Southern Illinois University softball stadium, I pulled out the sunscreen and slathered my sun-warmed arms and was grateful for my straw hat. I had to pull the hat far down on my head so it would not blow off and occasionally even then had to grab it, but that breeze felt good in the heat. We were disappointed that SIUC lost to University of Illinois 5-2, but enjoyed seeing Chelsea Held make her first homerun of the season. Gerald has been cheering her on since her Southern Force days.

We heard it was to be cold the next morning, and it was. Gerald worked outside all day yesterday with heavy winter coat and hat. I stubbornly did not put on a sweater when I worked in the garage or made a brief errand outside, and I chose a jacket last night to keep from having to put on a winter coat for our Southern Illinois Writers Guild meeting.

Our speaker was held up at another meeting, so after our business meeting was finished, there was time for some group sharing and then to visit awhile. Don Barnett of DuQuoin was there for the first time with his debut novel They Shall Take Up Serpents. Working full time, he took four years to complete the novel based on his award-winning play written while obtaining his masters in playwriting at SIUC. From his comments,I felt he must have have done considerable research.

Barnett said his novel takes place in Harlan County, KY, where his family had roots, and the book tells the fictional story of a snake-handling preacher there and of the courtroom drama after a man died from a snake bite. Don was wearing a black cap and T shirt with “Bloody Harlan” in large scary red letters given to him when he visited for a signing in a book store there. His hotel also let him set up to sell his books in the lobby.

Don delights in hearing stories. I am sure he listened well in Harlan County and heard many local tales while gathering material for the second novel he is already working on about the Hinsley family. He discovered while writing the book that his great grandmother, who is terrified of snakes, actually participated in a snake-handling service in that county. Now I have one more book waiting on the counter upstairs making me wish I had nothing to do but to read books.

Our son-in-law Brian had come down yesterday to farm. After I got home from Writers Guild, I was still at the kitchen table reading Springhouse magazine that had come in yesterday’s mail when he came in from the field. So at 11 p.m., I heated up the left-over Mexican chicken pie that I’d fixed for Gerald and my lunch.

We woke up this morning to a cold drizzle mixed with bits of snow, so no one was too eager to go outside. But I had to leave at noon and head back to Carbondale for an echocardiogram and annual visit with cardiologist, who said I was doing just great. (I take one little pill a day for a fast heart beat and really have no problem.)

I had loaded the car trunk this morning to relieve the garage of our large accumulation of recyclables. Carbondale is the only place I know that takes glass, and I was glad to get rid of it and all the newspapers, plastic, cans, catalogs, and phone books.

I still had some time, so I decided I should stop at the mall. Today I knew I had to wear a coat, but I should have left it in the car when I went inside. After a mocha and a breather at the coffee shop, I went on to the nearby department store and I actually found a larger crock pot I wanted on sale in the kitchen department. Of course, it was in a huge awkward box and I started carrying it in hopes there might be a place to actually purchase it close by although there was no clerk to ask. The coat had made me hot and the box instantly seemed much too bulky and heavy to search for register. I put it down, took off my coat, and headed to the car to join the 5 p.m. traffic to Marion and then to the farm.

Gerald was already in his office following the Georgia softball team playing the University of Florida at Gainesville on Game Tracker. I quickly loaded sandwich fixings, baked chips, and fruit and delivered our “picnic” in a basket to join him for supper as we cheered Georgia to a 10-7 victory in the 7th inning. Brianna Hesson’s homerun was the thriller today.

SIUC in the meantime had their softball game tomorrow against Creighton cancelled because of the snow in Omaha. They will play a double header on Sunday if the weather allows. Bet folks up there are hoping, “Just hang around and the weather will change.”

Chilly Weekend in Southern Illinois

Two pairs of stockings. Two pair of slacks. Two tops covered with corduroy jacket. Warm snuggly gloves, Warm hat down over my ears and to the top of my glasses. And a winter coat over it all. That’s how I dressed yesterday to go to Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s first home softball game.

We awoke to a very rainy Saturday and learned Erin and others were hard at work with the squeegee trying to get the field ready for their home tournament. Although I was ready to jump in the car and make it to the stadium if they played at 12 as originally scheduled, Gerald and I did not think that was going to happen as the light rain kept coming off and on. So I fixed our lunch and learned the noon game was cancelled, two teams were playing at 2, and SIUC would be playing the Kentucky Wildcats at 4.

Our car showed the temperature as 40 degrees when we parked it, and I felt smug that I knew how to dress for cold weather as we walked to the stadium. Inside we were able to find plastic seats with backs as opposed to the aluminum benches that are tortuous on cold days. Obviously not too many people were willing to brave this chill after it finally quit raining. Immediately I realized I had forgotten the most important thing for cold weather softball: bring a blanket to cover up with. I thought longingly of all the wasted blankets at home, but I also noticed others with less warm gear than us. I decided not to whine. The Kentucky team had a young but fine pitcher, and after six straight wins away from home, our Salukis lost 9-6.

It was still 40 degrees when we got back to the car. When Erin met us afterwards at Fazoli’s for supper, we knew we had made the right choice. The bread sticks came to us almost too hot to hold, but they sure felt good to winter-cold hands,

Georgia’s tournament games were cancelled yesterday, and we figured Gerry was wishing he could have gone with Vickie, Geri Ann, and Gma Shirley to his third grandson’s first birthday party. We would have liked to have been there for that also, but it was just too much of a trip and we had other obligations.

Usually I only assist my young friend Kim Barger with the preschoolers in our Sunday School class, but she was away taking her mother on a long dreamed of cruise. Despite her mother’s health problems, Kim had permission from her doctor after explaining a cruise was on her mother’s bucket list. With all three of her daughters, her brother and wife, and some grandkids on the cruise, I am feeling confident that Joan will come home very happy even if exhausted from the trip. I am eager to hear about it.

That left me and Deana Starnes responsible for our preschoolers. Since we were studying Genesis 1 about God making the light and the dark, our activities focused on that. We had some cards with pictures on both sides to illustrate night and day and with punched holes for the kids to lace through with yarn. I am not sure this group had ever done that before, and they enjoyed it and immediately decided to take the cards home for their mothers.

Last week, they had been using some toy plastic saws during their free play, and I did not like their trying to saw on the little red rocker because I was pretty sure it was going to be scratched. Kim brought some short pieces of lumber for children to hammer nails into when we talked once about building a couple of years ago. But those were no longer available. So Gerald made us short blocks to saw on out of some of the scraps of lumber in his shop. The kids appreciated that.

SIUC was playing today at 1 and 4; and although Gerald was tempted to go back over to see them play, today the temperature was 30 degrees, so he chose to stay home and listen to Georgia’s game. They won, and SIUC split their games today.

I went in to see Katherine, and she and I watched Robert Duvall in the 1983 movie Tender Mercies, which won him an Academy Award for Best Actor. I so rarely watch movies that I knew nothing about the movie. We both liked the understated way the film showed time lapses with no attempt to bridge the scenes together letting us do that in our own minds. I loved the set with a realistic house so like many homes I have seen. Katherine commented that the brown and white afghan on the living room couch was just like one in their closet passed down from David’s grandmother

Gerald and I met up this evening to hear his friend Wendell Garrison’s sermon. Katherine was not quite up to getting ready in time to go, but she wanted to free up David to go and pick up Sam who would be there after his youth meeting. I wanted to stay with her, but she wanted me to go be with Gerald. She also wanted some alone time and this was her opportunity. During the afternoon, she had enjoyed the yummy brownies that Mary had sent home with David for her this morning. Mary says she loves to cook, and sending homemade food is her ministry. I was able to tell her how much Katherine enjoyed them as I bet the whole family did after evening church. We’ve made plans to go to lunch with Wendell and Mary soon and are looking forward to the opportunity to visit a little longer.

Gerald suggested going for a sandwich before driving to the farm; and since I had nothing at home to feed him except what I had fed us at lunch, that seemed a good idea.

After coming home tonight, I discovered that Tender Mercies was directed by Australian Bruce Beresford who did Driving Miss Daisy and another of my all-time favorites Breaker Morant. Somehow finding that out gave me a pleasant ending to the day.