So the Cardinals are doing quite well–despite all the nay-sayers. I am not surprised. The Cardinals always pump up their mojo during the end of the season. We are hitting away and without one big star hitter in particular leading the way.
I am not worried about that wild card spot.
And, please, all you Matheny-haters, take a chill pill!
(Okay, we lost last night, but we scored 6 runs and gave them a run for their money.)
Go, Cards!
*Photo via Parade Magazine
Last night we went to the see the Cardinals play. It was seriously the most boring game ever.
We left at the end of the 7th inning. When we got home we learned that the Cards came back in the 9th and won 5-4! So typical. Oh we of little faith.
Now the younguns are heading back to Maryland. Sad face. 😦
I just have to say that I get such a kick out of seeing these pictures of the Cardinals’ Skipper sent by my spy down in Jupiter.
The Cardinals have not exactly been burning it up in spring training, but I’m not worried. We’ll be awesome when the time comes.
The Cardinals regular season starts on April 4th with a game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. The home opener in St. Louis is on April 11th with a game against the Brewers. Since there isn’t much else to be excited about, I think I’ll be excited about this.
This past week I have happily returned to my usual work-and-home routine. Over the weekend it was hot, so I puttered around the air-conditioned house a lot. I did get outside, but ever-careful not to overdo it, my endeavors were minimal.
I did find a few estate sale “treasures”, including a small bookshelf which I snapped up. Bookshelves are a priority in this household!
For now it is in the living room, but who knows where it will end up? As you can see from my dual personality’s post on Saturday, daughter #2 has quite a few of my finds in her apartment.
I received a Couroc tray as a wedding present, and ever since then I have loved those mid-century modern designs and have collected them when they turn up at estate sales. This cowboy tray is too perfect.
I also got a chair back from the upholsterer. He had had it for quite some time, so it was a pleasant surprise to finally get it back. It is now back in my office by the window.
Don’t you love that arrow fabric?
I watched several movies over the weekend. I rather enjoyed Mixed Nuts (1994), which frequently appears on worst-movies-of-all-time lists. I was curious to see this “disaster” directed by Nora Ephron, starring Steve Martin, Madeleine Kahn, Rita Wilson and featuring in early appearances Parker Posey, Jon Stewart, Adam Sandler, and Liev Shreiber in a Caitlyn Jenner part. It wasn’t terrible and I thought Madeleine Kahn was hilarious.
I have seen many, many movies that were much, much worse. Why does this movie receive such over-the-top criticism? Perhaps everyone’s expectations were too high.
I also watched El Dorado (1966) in honor of Robert Mitchum’s birthday and, of course, enjoyed it immensely. I especially enjoyed James Caan this time around. He hit it big a few years later in The Godfather, but I bet he never forgot that early outing with the Duke. You can tell all the actors are enjoying themselves in this one.
Also here’s a PSA: August is TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars’ month where they feature the movies of a different actor or actress every day. Be sure to check out their schedule. For instance, Tuesday, August 12 is Robert Mitchum and August 19 is John Wayne. You’ll want to set your DVR!
Over the weekend I group-texted with my daughters who were together in New York City this weekend, daughter #2 visiting daughter #1.
Anyway, it was almost like being there with them (and Nate who was off engaged in bachelor party doings for some friend most of the time)!
And P.S. have you noticed that these guys are doing Awesomely? Well, they are. Awesome.
Fox Sports
Have a great week!
*Samuel Beckett, “Murphy” (1938)
How was your weekend? Mine was pretty uneventful. I watched a good movie (Laura–1943) and a bad movie (Noah–2014).
I did a lot of therapeutic throwing away of things–like old VHS tapes. I tried out the electric trimmer, which I have never used before. Seriously I don’t know why the OM hasn’t been spending all his free time using it. It is so fun. What a feeling of power. I think I could get into this.
Edward Scissorhand’s house and garden
I sat on the patio and looked at the trees.
There was a hawk up there on that low branch, but I wasn’t fast enough with the iphone.
and I drank the last beer of summer.
And I found this on Etsy:
It almost makes me want a cat so I can buy one!
And, by the way, the Cardinals ended the season in first place in the National League Central Division! Onward to L.A. on Friday and post-season stress syndrome.
Have a good week!
*Philippians 2:12 (from Sunday’s 2nd reading)
There are few places in the world more fun to hang out on a beautiful fall day than the beer garden of Grant’s Farm.
Free beer samples and giant pretzels. The best.
Daughter #1 heads back to NYC tomorrow, so I’ll have a longer post then. For now, the Cards trounced the Dodgers in game 6, so it’s on to the World Series!
Washington Post photo
Go Cards!
On Sunday morning I was the second lector in church and read the second lesson which was from Hebrews and included the following:
But someone has testified somewhere,
“What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honor,
subjecting all things under their feet.”
I love the vague attribution by the writer. The quote is, by the way, from Psalm 8. You may remember the less politically correct and gender-neutral version:
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet…
King James Version (KJV)
And while we’re on the subject of humans being crowned with glory and honor, let’s give a big shout out to Mike Matheny, the new skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals.
You’re doing a great job, Mike. And you’re cute. But I’ve always been partial to catchers.
On a side note, the rhododendron bush in our yard has thrown out a few flowers. It normally blooms in early April. What a crazy year!
Well, it’s baseball season again. The Cardinals are off to a good start, managing somehow without Albert Pujols. Growing up in Cardinal-town, I have been a fan for many a year. My first baseball memory is in 1964 watching the final game of the World Series on a little black and white TV in my third grade classroom. I hardly knew what baseball was then, but I knew we were doing something special. I hit my peak in 1967 when we won the World Series with the help of my hero Tim McCarver. I even had a scrapbook. I have fond memories of 1982 and 2006 as well.
My grandfather, Daniel Herbert Hilton Cameron III, was a big baseball fan as well–of the Boston Red Sox! I forgave him for that. He loved the game and played it as a boy.
Bunker Cameron at Camp Abnaki in Vermont around 1911. He's the one on the far right with his elbow out.
"The baseball crowd" at the Feller Institute in Quebec 1916--Bunker is in the middle with the x written on his chest.
The Feller Institute was the French-speaking Baptist boarding school in Saint Blaise Sur Richelieu, Quebec that his father sent Bunker to after he was asked to leave Tilton Academy. I suppose he thought it would be strict enough to handle Bunker, but he was asked to leave that school too. Apparently it didn’t take much to get thrown out of a prep school in those days. (Bunker was thrown out of three.)
Ultimately, Bunker ended up at the University of Vermont back in Burlington without having actually graduated from high school. He would have played baseball there, I’m sure, but he left with a friend to go to Boston to enlist in the army during WWI. The war ended before they could sort out their options.
But we were talking baseball. Go Cards!
The Cardinals won the World Series! Sorry, but we’re still savoring the moment.
The St. Louis Cardinals did it (much to the media’s surprise, as usual) again! And our hometown boy was the hero and MVP. Way to go, David Freese and the Cardinals–World Series winners for the eleventh time! And to quote daughter #1: “Thumbs up flyover states!”
dual personalities 