... at the old ball game!

The JUCO tournament is coming into the home stretch. Yesterday was our last two-game day, and tonight's game might be the championship game. It's a quirk of the double elimination format that if one of the teams left hasn't lost any games (and that's the case here) you won't know if this is the final game until it's over. Just another cool aspect of this most unpredictable game in the world.

That team that hasn't lost any games—Howard College from Big Spring—is the one we've been sort of rooting against the whole time (because of their favored status—remember, we're underdog fans of the first order). But they looked pretty awesome last night in eliminating our Western Nevada Wildcats. So we might just have to tip our caps to them. We'll see what happens tonight against Santa Fe [oddly enough, not from New Mexico, but from Gainesville, Florida].

Enough with the baseball, though, since I suspect most of my readers aren't as interested in these details. Today I have a collection of photos that I hope hints at the atmosphere off the field at JUCO, what makes it such a big deal around here and such fun to be a part of.

One thing that strikes you right away about the crowds at the games is their age diversity. You'll see old-timers with walkers that, possibly, haven't missed a game since the tournament started being held here in 1959, and don't want to break their "Iron Man" streaks.

Plus you'll see lots and lots of kids, from babes in arms through teeny-boppers, for whom the tournament is the social highlight of the year. Some of them actually watch the games, like the young men in cool shades above on the left, but a large number spend their time under the stands in various giggly mating rituals. An anthropologist studying adolescent behavior would find this an easy gig—just sit at one of the picnic tables with notebook in hand and a dissertation's-worth of data will present itself every night.

There are plenty of younger kids, too, like the cutie above, clapping along with some of the infectious between-innings music, or the young group on the right, enjoying the sunshine and being out of school for the year.

One of the big attractions, especially for young fans (as opposed to kids who just go along with parents and play in the stands) is the accessibility of the players. Autographs of JUCO players are much sought after among the 8-10 set—on programs, balls, bats, and even clothing, as you can see from this young man's shirt, covered with signatures.

It's possible that some of these autographs might actually be worth money someday, since a very large number of JUCO alums have gone on to have major league careers, including such luminaries as Curt Schilling and Kirby Puckett. But the main attraction for the kids here is that big kids, baseball players appearing on the biggest stage this side of Coors Field in Denver, are hanging out in their home town and are imminently approachable.

And sometimes the players pass along more than just signatures. Here is a story about a young man on the team from South Carolina who was born with under-developed fingers on one hand, getting to meet and inspire a boy with a similar disability here. The fact that the ball player was his team's leadoff hitter, hit three home runs in one game (one of which was a grand slam) PLUS is a starting pitcher for them, made his role model status all the more impressive.

Food for the spirit isn't all we get around here, either. There are all kinds of tempting goodies in concession stands at Suplizio Field, from delicious—and actually rather healthy—kettle corn to these ungodly fried concoctions pictured on the left that give me indigestion just looking at them.

The kettle corn lady pictured here is a friend of Joan's. She says they make half of the yearly profit from this business during the week of JUCO, and I believe it. Most of the kids around us in the stands are continually eating something. I myself have had a couple of full meals out here, as the roasted corn is quite good, as are smoothies, dippin-dots and, of course, the kettle corn, which is a very lightly flavored popcorn that's just scrumptious.

Equally scrumptious, I would say, are the views from the stands when you're not even looking at the cute guys playing baseball. Here's what we saw last evening, a thunderhead above the hills south of town. What a show!
We're headed to the Mesa today in advance of the [might be] final game, and plan a trip to Arches National Park tomorrow [game or no]. So there will be more scenic photos coming up in the next few days.

More on monumental rocks

This is the view from near the top of the Serpents Trail, a short hike in the Colorado National Monument that we took Sunday as a break from baseball. The valley beyond the impressive canyon wall here is where Grand Junction is located, at the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado [formerly called the Grand, according to wikipedia, until 1921] Rivers. Pretty spectacular, eh? Wish I could include the charming sounds of canyon wrens with the picture, but that techie skill is beyond me. However, the helpful ornithologists at Cornell make this audio available.

Certainly a worthwhile apex of the gentle climb of Serpents Trail, but, as with many things in life [and more as I get older] the journey was just as worthwhile as the destination. There were all kinds of interesting rock formations along the trail, including the one shown above on the left. Does it remind anyone else of the Starship Enterprise, or was I just looking forward to seeing the new movie again? And what about a friendly offer to New Hampshire to replace their Old Man in the Mountain with the rocks on the right?

Perhaps a craving for cake with generously-applied frosting made this formation look especially delicious:

Whereas the following balancing acts might make one feel a bit tipsy, especially as the trail winds near them:

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What made the hike especially enjoyable, though, was the company. Thanks to Joan's friend Garry for taking this portrait of three baseball fans on the trail.

Wordless Wednesday: Monumental rocks

View from the Serpents Trail, Colorado National Monument

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose....

.... and sometimes it rains.* Although usually not so much of the latter here in Grand Junction, right on the edge of the Great American Desert. But believe it or not, the scene below is really about the best it's been, weather-wise—we've had around two inches of rain since the tournament started.

All the games have been played, and we've seen our share, but there have been lengthy rain delays a couple of times and we gave up on the game yesterday afternoon because we were not only wet but cold!

The atmosphere at the games has been great, though, and we've seen some really good baseball. Teams are here from all over the country (although a few regions are no longer represented, since 4 teams have been eliminated already) and the stadium honors their home states by flying all the state flags for the JUCO teams. Here's a shot of part of the stands with a portion of the teams' flags in view (in addition to U.S. and Colorado flags filling out the display):

We've rather adopted the team from Nevada, who lost their first game and are hence having to play elimination games every day (as you can learn from the JUCO website, it's a double-elimination tournament—a format we're really fond of). I'm hoping the rain will stay away this afternoon so I can see them again. Go Wildcats!

How do you pick a team to root for? We have several criteria, including, but not limited to: coolness of uniforms, attractiveness of players, presence of player(s) with our children's birthdays, presence of players from towns we like, sportsmanship exhibited by fans (or lack thereof resulting in a rooting-against decision), defensive/baserunning execution (which we find more impressive than team power), grit and determination (the come-from-behind factor), etc. We'll see how our "scientific" selection process works out over the next few days.

In the meantime, however, in between showers, we're having a terrific time. As is a sizeable fraction of the Grand Valley's population. The fine amenities at Suplizio Field include yummy snacks, well-maintained restrooms, great views, and a terrific selection of between-inning music choices, including cheesy favorites such as "YMCA" (see at right) and the macarena, but also some great oldies.

We did take a baseball break Sunday afternoon for a hike in the Colorado National Monument (seen in the background of the photo at the top of this post) and I'll be broadcasting photos from that excursion in the next few days.

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*For more wonderful Bull Durham baseball quotes, check out the ever-handy Internet Movie Database.

Take us out to the ball game....

.... and to the Mesa, and the Monument, etc. Tomorrow I'm off to visit my little sister in Grand Junction, Colorado, a visit which just happens to coincide with the Junior College Baseball World Series. [known to all aficionados and residents of the area as JUCO] I took it in several years ago (it's always in Grand Junction) and had such a blast I've been wanting to go back ever since. And this time I've even got Sally [my daughter who is sadly also infected with the baseball geek gene] to join me.

The games are lots of fun, although it's really rather difficult adequately to explain what a hoot the whole thing is, especially to non-fans. But there's no trouble appreciating the location. Take a look at the Wikipedia link above for the Mesa and you'll see a panorama of the fabulous scenery surrounding GJ. We definitely plan to work in some hiking and sightseeing around the baseball games. And of course there will be plenty of time for visiting and for sampling some of the area's (admittedly) surprisingly diverse and excellent eateries.

I'll have my camera and plan to do some blog posting from Colorado. Since I'll be there all week [last time I left before the finals of the tournament and have regretted that ever since!] I should have time and there will obviously be lots to write about. So tink! tink!* Play ball!

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*Although the scientist analyzing the sounds of batted balls in this link calls it "ping," we think "tink" is a better onomatopoetic approximation of the sound of ball meeting aluminum bat. Any fans wanting to start a discussion on this topic, or any of the other infinitely interesting things about baseball, please leave a comment!

Wordless Wednesday: tree textures

Lunch Lunch

My husband is an expert at finding places serving good, cheap lunches. And when I take a day off from work, as I did Friday, I can sometimes benefit from his previous research. As it happens, this particular place has attracted some wider attention as well [see the photo at the bottom of the post] but it still fits his criteria of cheap and good. With the added benefit of fast, at least once you get seated.

That's the only problem with Taco Taco—it's tiny, tiny. So you wait in line outside until there's table space. Or counter space, which is what we opted for to get in a little earlier. They were great seats, as it turned out, right next to the chip bin:

We also had a good view of the fresh tortillas being made, right on the other side of the counter:

Pretty authentic dining experience, eh?!

I'm not sure I completely agree with the Food Network, but the tacos were good, as was the rice on my taco plate. The beans not so much, but then I'm not that much of a refried beans fan. Our tortillas de maíz [I'm linking to a recipe I doubt I'll ever use—why bother? when it's so easy to let the experts do it!] were quite tasty, however, and we know they were fresh!

Wordless Wednesday: exotic food

Purple potatoes from Central Market prior to roasting

Belated Happy Mothers' Day

I'm a bad sister and only sent my little sis a Mothers' Day email, while she sent me this very lovely card. So I felt I must develop my vague idea of an M-Day post into a full-blown, if belated, blogger's kiss to all the moms I know.

Unfortunately I can no longer send cards or emails to either of my moms (that's Granny and Tootsie, my mother-in-law) or my grandmothers. But of course they are all remembered and loved very much in absentia. And we have tangible reminders of all of them. Some of the lovely day lilies in the bucket on my back porch—which have started blooming profusely the last week or so—are from Mom's yard. But they date back even further in family history.

Dad and Momoo (Mom's mother) did some horticultural experiments long ago and came up with some new day lily varieties. Unfortunately, when I took samples from Mom's yard, which have been moved from garden to garden (to bucket) over the years, I didn't carefully note which ones were old and which ones new (not very scientific of me, Momoo, I know, and I'm sorry). But I like to think that the prettiest are scions of this family cross-polination.

We have many objects to remind us of Tootsie [perhaps a future post will highlight some of her lovely antiques] but for today I liked this picture of my sister-in-law with her Tootsie t-shirt (from a honky-tonk in Memphis of the same name). She and her husband got drafted to help Henry with boat re-arrangement in our new boat storage facility [previously known as our garage—subject of another future post].

So how did I spend my Mother's Day? On the river, happily, with the only offspring currently residing in the land of E Pluribus Unum. (Got a nice phone call from the peripatetic offspring, whose writings you must see—here and here—if you're not a fan already.) And a fine time was had by all, in spite of heat and low water. Thanks for making the long drive to join us, Sally!

Pomp & Circumstance behind the scenes

Every spring our friendly neighborhood cow palace* gets a makeover and hosts a raft of college (and probably some high school, too) graduations. We at St. Mary's have ours there so that we don't have to limit attendance. We could have them in classier surroundings, but think it's pretty neat that entire extended families, plus as many friends as possible, can attend and cheer, ring cowbells, blow air horns, etc., in honor of their graduates.

Since librarians at our shop have faculty status we get to have to are privileged to attend graduation in our academic finery. We line up and march in en masse to awe and impress the gathered spectators—as well as to show our support for the new baby grads, of course. Here are a bunch of faculty sort of lined up waiting to be marched into the arena.

I've become something of a connoisseur of graduations in the past several years. In addition to St. Mary's affairs, I've been to both of our kids' plus—let's see—I think it's around 4 or 5 niece's and nephew's. It's interesting to see how different places do it.

The best food I've had at one was at my niece's at the University of Miami—they actually feed everybody that shows up! They had a good speaker, too. Best speaker was probably the doc who spoke at another niece's med school graduation—would you believe a standing O for a graduation speaker? Our son's was probably in the best location—outdoors on a crisp spring morning in Vermont.

But we have something no one else has—kids we've seen in the library, or in choir, or otherwise around campus for years. It's sad to see them go, but a treat to send them off into the wide world. Here are three of my colleagues all ready to do their duty and help send the kids off in style:

Congratulations, graduates! Do us proud! And give generously to the alumni appeals!

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*It used to be used for the rodeo but when the Spurs got their new arena they agreed to share it with the cowboys. That's so the Spurs will have a team-building long road trip every February. It's like an executive's retreat. At any rate, the Coliseum is still there next door and available for fan-friendly graduation ceremonies.

Belated Wordless Wednesday: what's on your desktop?

I brought this little bit of Venice home to grace my work-desk-desktop.

Hangin' Green

One of my chores when I was a little girl living in Montana was to hang clothes on the line to dry. We had no dryer, and, with relative humidities rarely out of the single digits and breezes rarely into the single digits, why would you need one? At any rate, it was a chore I used to enjoy or at least with the advantages of hindsight I remember enjoying it.

So when our dryer started showing signs of its age a few years ago I decided to help it out by getting sun and wind to do some of the work for it. We don't have the kind of winds here that soften clothes significantly on the line, so I toss stuff in the dryer for the last bit of fluffing up. And my delicate sensibilities (!) lead me not to display underwear that looks like underwear on the line (sports bras and boxers are okay, though).

Here's an assortment of stuff getting dried for free last weekend.

Even though I'm not a total eco-dryer, I feel like I'm saving some energy and some money by using my little line. Which is strung between the back porch and a very sad-looking basketball goal that really needs to go away. When that eventually happens I'll extend the line all the way to the garage and might actually have plenty of space on sheet-washing days. I hear you can go much more high-tech and fancy with your clothesline, but my very primitive model works fine for the small amount of laundry generated by empty-nesters.

I find it enormously satisfying to do this from an environmental standpoint, but I probably wouldn't do it as regularly if the managing of the laundry on the line wasn't a bit therapeutic and soothing in itself. I guess I'm old enough to revel in a little second-childhood activity now and then.

Why it's good to have children

They grow up and learn things that help you be a better blogger.* Here is the picture of the hibiscus bush I posted yesterday, that I lamented as being a bit anemic-looking:

And here it is after the processing work gently suggested by my son*, who says he wasn't criticizing....

Much better, no?

I promise I will try and remember to use the little bit of photoediting skills I have when they're needed in the future. Since even a little bit of tweaking sometimes has noticeably good results.

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*The suggestion came via high speed wifi in La Paz, Bolivia. Do we live in a wonderful world, or what?!