Jesus SAVED Us!!

It's true! For those of you who need visual proof in the power of Jesus, look closely at this photo. That tiny pitcher on the baseball mound? That is Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jesus Luzardo. And when my friend Lisa and I went to see the Phillies play the Cubs this past Wednesday, Jesus saved us from losing another game! (And for those of you wondering, Jesus is regular-sized - I took that photo from our seats.)

It's been a rough few weeks for our Phils, but on Wednesday they beat the Chicago Cubs 7-2. And my fave player, Kyle Schwarber, hit a home run which I am sure he did because he heard I was there. 

😂

Lisa and I try to go to one game together every year. We text a thousand times every day, but generally only see one another this one time. We've been friends now for about 25 years, since we were co-workers. She left to give birth to twin boys, and I moved to other jobs. But we always kept in touch. And she is the one that met my niece Amanda ONCE, and immediately added her to our text chain! The three of us are the ones keeping each other accountable in our exercise routines.

Lisa is hilarious just in general, but she is also one of those baseball fans, that knows *everything* about each player. I swear if you asked their shoe size, she could answer immediately. She's also really impatient with them. Whenever they win, she is on cloud nine, but when they lose and/or play poorly, she texts me: "Sell the team." So it was a really fun afternoon, and though it was warm it wasn't humid, and we were under an overhang, so it was especially nice to be out of the direct sun.

Apparently, the person that Lisa bought the tickets from is a regular, and part of a group that are always there for afternoon games. When we first got there, the two guys behind us asked "How do you know Brian?" And a bit later, when a young woman and her friends arrived, she said to me "Are you Brian's wife?" to which I responded that was "that bastard's ex-wife and he lets me have tickets for one game a year." She looked slightly surprised, but I doubt as much as Brian will be when she asks him about his ex-wife! They were all a fun group of people though, so it made the whole game even more enjoyable.

*****

A bit later this morning, I'm headed out to get my hair cut. I'm trying a different place in my neighborhood, so wish me luck. I like the person I usually go to, she is very nice, but the last few times I've gone, she has just been on autopilot, and not really tried anything I want to try. Plus, we are getting to the time of year when I want my hair short all over, and she doesn't want to do it that way so that I don't "look like a man." 

So I'm trying out a different place, which is slightly more money, but if I can get a haircut even close to what I'd like, it will be worth it. 

I just hope I don't go there hoping for a cut like this

And come out looking like this:

*****

This weekend, it is of course supposed to rain at least some of the time. Tomorrow we are headed to the No Kings protest here, but that is our only specific plan for the weekend. Since our weekends are generally pretty quiet and uneventful, we'll likely need Sunday to recover from doing something out of the house on Saturday! We always joke that, if we are like this at our current age, if we are lucky enough to live to be 80 years old, we'll only be able to do maximum two things a week, so that we have time to recover!

Whatever plans you may have, I hope you can enjoy your weekend. Even if you also get some rain, at least a lot of the plants and flowers are enjoying it, right?

I Think I'm Finally Back On Track

Have you ever had a week where for the ENTIRE week, you are mixed up about what day it is and what the date is? That was me last week. I spent the whole week either a day ahead or behind, or just confused altogether like someone who just arrived from another planet and had only a tenuous grasp on how time works here.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I was back on track, and it's a good thing, because I have obligations every single day this week. This morning was a doctor's appointment, which thankfully was short and sweet. So I should be good to go for this week, having started it out successfully.  I told my brain that I hope it enjoyed its vacation last week, but there was no response. I don't think it likes sarcasm.

Anyway, June is moving along here. In general, I like June - or at least I used to. It was always the month when it was summer, but not SUMMER. Fortunately so far we've only had a couple of miserably hot/humid days, and I think we're supposed to have one or two this week. So I have been enjoying things so far, and even though we've gotten a lot of rain, it has supposedly helped with the drought, so I think I can live with that.

Alfie had a good birthday. He got one of those catnip "kickers" - it's like a tube filled with catnip, that cats grab onto with their front paws, and then kick with their back paws. It was a big hit, with everyone to be honest. And there were kitty treats and some fancy canned food, so they had a good time. I bought a small cake for The Tim and I to share, and Alfie was both mystified and annoyed by the birthday candles. 😊

Not much is going on around here. I was knitting away on a project I'd started a couple of weeks ago, and realized that I had completely messed it up. So I frogged what I had - not a whole lot, but more than 6 rows - and put it away overnight. This afternoon I sat down and restarted it and to be honest, since I know more what I'm doing, it actually looks a lot better. So maybe all's well that ends well with that. 

I finished the first sock of a pair I'm knitting, though I haven't woven in any ends yet. I like the pattern, and enjoyed knitting it, but haven't cast on the second sock yet. Not that there's a big hurry to have the pair, but I also don't want to let it sit too long. I made a couple of modifications and don't want to forget what they are/were. Why yes, I could write them down, but so far I have not ...

I met two former co-workers on Saturday for lunch, and one of them told the funniest story. She said that a couple of weeks ago, she had stopped to get coffee, and while she was waiting to pay, a guy came in that she saw from a decent enough distance that she couldn't see him clearly, but she noticed he was really good-looking. A few minutes later, he got in line to pay for his coffee and she realized it was her ex-husband, who she had a bitter divorce from! So she tried to get her stuff together to walk away quickly before he saw her, but her headphones got tangled in one of those signs next to a jar that asks for donations for some cause or another, causing it all to fall onto the floor and spill the money! She said that normally she would stay to clean up the mess she made, but she just ran out the door. "I dont' think he saw me." Hm. 😂

I guess just being confused about the day and date is pretty much a non-event compared to that.

I hope your week starts out well, take care!

P.S. I have no idea why the first paragraph is indented like it's "special." And I haven't been able to fix it, so there you go ...

Scenes From A Walk Along the New Part of the Schuylkill River Trail

Hello! I hope you are doing well this week, and that if you are someplace where the heat is showing up, that you can find a well to keep cool. I know I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, when it is supposed to be 91 degrees (Fahrenheit) here. Ugh. 

But sadly I can do nothing about it. Sigh.

In the middle of May, a new portion of the Schuylkill River Trail near our house opened. It's been under construction for a while, and had gotten to the point where you just kept thinking, "Come on, that looks finished, let me see!" 

A lot of my walking takes place on the trail, for either part of a walk or all of a walk, so I was really excited to see what it was. It's lovely, interesting, and at certain times, you can't really believe you're smack dab in the middle of the city! My Merlin app on my phone identified American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Ospreys, and Baltimore Orioles on my first walk as being the birds providing me with background music. I saw the robins, and an osprey, but not the others. I would especially love to see an actual Baltimore Oriole - it was one of the first "special" birds I learned about as a kid, and it also fascinated me that there was a baseball team with the same name (my childhood brain didn't make the connection that the team was named after the bird ...)

Anyway, this past Monday, I made myself stop and take some photos along the way so I could share them here and on social media, so you may have already seen some of them. But in any case, here are some scenes from along the new part of the trail. I hope you'll enjoy them.

   

We've had lots of rain lately, so you can see that the river is pretty muddy!

See the Center City Philadelphia skyline in this one?

This tunnel means you can walk under Interstate 76 aka the Schuylkill Expressway.

I love the way the bridges look! And they added lights to them, so at night they twinkle and look so fabulous!

Of course, once you get off the trail, and back into the neighborhood on the way home, you remember that you're in the city. But fortunately, our neighborhood is actually pretty quiet - I mean, it's not like you don't hear anything, but for living where we live, it's kind of surprising it's not a lot noisier. The loudest noises are sirens (no surprise there), and one big-mouthed guy who lives on the street and talks at a volume that would lead you to think everyone here is hard of hearing.

So I hope you have enjoyed the new parts of the trail. As you might imagine, it's been getting a ton of use with our nice weather over the past few weeks. Right now, if you started at the southern end of this trail and headed north, you could walk/bicycle/whatever all the way to Valley Forge. (I will not be doing that ...). And there are plans for extending it even more, but like all things related to infrastructure, money has to be found. But in the meantime, none of us are complaining!

*****

The fact that I am writing this post today is a salve to my heart and brain. I had a laptop incident a couple of days ago that made me certain that I had killed my laptop. But so far, so good. 🤞

Who Knew My Hidden Talent?

Hello all - I hope if you were in the U.S. that you had a nice long weekend. We traveled to West Virginia, and had a wonderful visit. Besides my sister and brother-in-law, there was my niece Amanda and her husband Pat, my niece Liz and her husband Greg, and my great-nephew Zach.  It was especially nice to see Zach since the last time we saw him he was in middle school - and now he just finished his first year of college!

The weather was magnificent - maybe in the mid-70s (Fahrenheit) during the day, and then the 40s (again, Fahrenheit) overnight. So we were able to enjoy ourselves during the day, and then cozy up by the firepit at night.

On Saturday, we went to a local outdoor festival. One of the things there was a set-up of a tent where you could do ax-throwing. Which was quite a revelation for me, I have to say. You got one practice throw, and then 4 "real" throws for $10.00 Well, Amanda and her money are soon parted, and she wanted everyone to have a chance to try. My goal was to at least make it to the wall, and if the ax stuck there, that would be a bonus. Once all was said and done, my practice throw made it to the wall, and then I had three bullseyes! Here is a "highlight" video - I'm first, then my brother-in-law Patrick, then Zach, then my niece's husband Pat. No one was more surprised than I was, let me tell you!

(Video by Amanda - annoying music added by her husband Pat)

Who knew that my [extremely] hidden talent was ax-throwing?? The Tim said it was "very scary." And everyone was telling him that from now on, he should sleep with one eye open!

Zach: Wow, Aunt Bridget, you're a badass!

😂😂😂

And the Weather Was Good

Friday night, we headed to Citizens Bank Park to see the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Philadelphia Phillies. This is always the game we try to go to, since both teams are dear to us. We both grew up in/near Pittsburgh, so the Pirates were our team, during the Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell years. They were terrible until they were not, much like they are now. And the Phillies are our team where we live now, and though they are having a good run these past few years, trust me, they know very well how to be a losing team!

Unlike most times we've gone to a Pirates vs. Phillies game, the weather was glorious! It had been a beautiful day, in the high 70s and sunny, so the evening was just perfect. It was really enjoyable to watch the game and not be sitting in the killer sun and humidity, feeling like a pile of dirty sweat.

It's funny though - I still have a hard time cheering against the Pirates. And when we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," I have to remember not to say "Pirates" as well. Proof that old childhood habits are really deep. 

I'm going to one other game, in a couple of weeks, with my friend Lisa. It's the Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, who are one of my other beloved teams, from living in Chicago both as a child and an adult. So I'm looking forward to that as well, though once again, I'll be cheering against a team that I've really liked for a long time. 

Life can be confusing and contradictory at times. But a night at the ballpark is fun and when the weather cooperates, there are few things better than the feeling of cheering on your team(s).