Is it ever going to warm up enough here West Michigan for me to set aside my bulky winter clothes? I doubt it. Right now, it's raining, and if you can believe the weather report Alex gives out upon request, it's 47 degrees outside. Inside, I'm still in my long flannel nightgown and bathrobe made out of sweatshirt material and I'm still cold. It's almost time to take my morning pills (10:00) and get my day officially started with what Victorian era women called their "morning absolutions." aka time spent on a chamber pot, taking a sponge bath, or in our time taking a shower, and getting dressed. Being a slave to routines, while on the 'chamber pot'---yes, I just went there, no pun intended---I play three games on my Kindle: one each of solitaire, the New York Times' Wordle and the Daily Quiddler at setgame. I judge my entire day's mental acuity by how well I play those games and I'm happy when I win all three games on the first try.
I've been up since 8:00 drinking coffee and stalking cyberspace for some pop culture of interest. Currently, Savannah Banana Baseball clips keep popping up on my Facebook Shorts. |
| Dad's team |
Of all the sports in the world, baseball (and golf to a lesser extend) are the only ones I have a passing interest in watching, but even with them I watch more for the memories that connect me to my dad and the fact that I can multi-task while they are on TV. Dad played on a baseball team of adults that was sponsored by local businesses in a city-wide league.
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| Dad is holding flag |
And with golf, Dad caddied as a kid and it was a life-long passion of his to play and watch. Fast forward to a time when Dad was dying of cancer and Tiger Woods just broke the color barrier in professional golf to go on to win the 1999 PGA Championship. Dad was so proud that he had lived long enough to see America’s race relationships change that much. I read him every magazine article I could find on the Tiger. To this day I can't see Tiger without being grateful that he became a catalyst for the stories my dad shared about his childhood living in the south. Some were hair raising like the time he was a kid hiding in the woods watching the Klu Klux Klan hang a black man. He also saw cross burnings and the Klan raid houses in the Italian neighborhood where he lived, stealing anything of value they could find. His pride in what his generation accomplished is one of those things that makes me so upset with our current president who is set on destroying all the accomplishments I felt my generation was leaving behind.
Back in my early twenties which I call my Chameleon Days because I would change my likes and dislikes to match which ever guy I was dating at the time. I didn't do it on purpose, but it was the early sixties and I must have felt like that was the way the world worked. Wives (or those of us auditioning for the parts) followed the man's lead. Anyway, back then I took eighteen golf lessons and learned that I didn’t like following a little ball around but it earned me a few dates with a guy I liked. Just like it did when I took downhill skiing lessons. Tennis was also a lessons obsession of mine. That relationship lasted a year but my game never improved enough to give the guy a good enough partner on the court. He was an all-round jock and in hindsight I'm glad I didn't end up with him. I would not have liked a life of making game night snacks and having a living room designed entirely around a big screen and puffy furniture. I took the breakup hard. But now I can see the wisdom the universe dispensed when we didn't end up together.
The Savannah Bananas and their archival, the Party Animals, have brought a different kind of energy to the game of baseball and they are fun to watch. Don't pass up watching the 20/20 YouTube video below. It will explain the popularity, vision and history of the Bananas better than I can. But if I have to describe them, I'd say they are like the Globe Trotters are in basketball only the Bananas play baseball.
I once mentioned the Bananas here at the continuum care campus and no one knew what I was talking about. I was not surprised. My fellow residents are crazy about college basketball and football and will talk endlessly about coaches and players to the point I'd like to gag myself with a spoon. They wear their favorite team colors and have flags and memorabilia decorating their doors. Once in a while I'll sign up for a viewing party but will leave right after the food is served. I just don't get it but I'm sure they don't understand how I can spend an hour every morning looking at Facebook Shorts.
We all like what we like...unless you're stuck in Chameleon mode and I suspect a woman that just moved in with husband is stuck. He taught theology in a Christian college and was also a minister for a couple of decades. She looks at him like Lady and the Tramp looked at one another in their famous spaghetti and meatball scene. I do not think I'm going to like this couple---they seem phony---but she has demoted me from the 2nd to the 3rd fattest person living here so I'm happy about that turn of events. ©
I just love the Savannah Bananas and just wish I could dance as well as the Banana Nanas! I really enjoy watching whenever their reels pop up. I'm not a sports person. I worked for several years for an agency that was big into "team building". And usually the "team building" activity was tickets to a major league baseball game. I would be the one to volunteer to man the office and answer phones. I also took golf lessons to meet cute boys. Those lessons are the only times I ever golfed. The summer of 73 I think? lol. Your new couple sounds nauseating.
ReplyDeleteIt's just fun to watch them having fun on the field.
DeleteI really tried to like golf. My dad, brother, niece and her husband all golfed but I'm more into crafty activities that you can see at the end of two hours what you accomplished.
Thank you for telling us about the Savannah Bananas. Good for them! We could use something like that now.
ReplyDeleteThey have six teams now and are looking to play Banana ball year around.
DeleteLoved this even though I am not into sports of any kind
ReplyDeleteHard not to like it when people are having good, clean fun.
DeleteI agree. It seems like it's never going to warm up this spring. I'm still wearing sweats and wool socks. The weather forecast looks promising, and I'd be happy to be able to put away winter clothes. Your dad experienced much in his lifetime. I cannot imagine watching the horror of the Klan. That had to haunt him. I got so tickled when you described the new couple at the CCC--and the wife's weight status. Jean, you're something else!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't dare speak about about the people around here like I blog about them.
DeleteI have never heard of Savanna Bananas but I am not a sports fan unless my kids or grandkids were on the team. I did not know about your dad witnessed the activities of the Klan, how horrible. Things are better today but you are right the leader of our country appears to want to set us back in what has taken us centuries to establish, God help us. I do remember your dad telling how he played golf every day and I think he meant year round. He sure was a fun uncle and always made all of us cousins feel special. As far as people judging a person on their size that too is a form of bullying and shame on them. I would hope they would think about the fact that each of us have some sort of addiction and if theirs is not as visible, degrading others is wrong. Being a ministers wife she should lead by example but apparently she missed that class. JJ
ReplyDeleteMy dad even taught golf for a while. After retiring he did play every day but you can't play in the winter when the courses are shut down. He truly loved the game.
DeleteThe new minister's wife didn't say or do anything to draw attention to our weights. If anyone is guilty of body shaming between the two of us it was me and just in my mind. The reason I don't think I'm going to like her is that she talks non-stop. But they are new here and trying to get acquainted so I need to cut her some slack. But I already know we have zero in common.
That was a fun video about the Bananas. What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI hope you give that couple a chance. I was surprised about your reaction to them and wonder why you had to mention her size. Of course, I don't like everyone I meet, but then I just leave them be. I'm glad to see in your comments that you will cut her some slack.
I've only spent three lunch hours with the couple (with her doing most of the talking ) and I feel that's enough time to know that we have zero things in common. I mentioned her weight because mine bothers me and I like that I'm no longer the 2nd fattest person living here. It was all about me, not her. Stephen King in his book on writing says if you don't plan to be honest when you write, don't do it. So I don't hold back even when I know I'll get called out for 'body shaming.' But in person, I would never make that same observation out loud.
DeleteNew people moving into a place like this have to find their Tribe so to speak.We meet at group lunch tables and if we click others will invite them to share reservations in the main dinning room---show them the ropes of how that and other things around here work. Almost everyone wants to meet the new people and if we find interests in common we'll share what is going on here that they might like or suggest someone they should meet who shares their interests. Happens all the time.
The Bananas sound fun. We have the Lansing Lugnuts. We need to take the boys there this year!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great name for a car factory town team!
DeleteI don't understand peoples' obsession with a sports team or even a political party for that matter but I guess the first one is a harmless hobby. As for the 2nd...I've heard many here in Canada say that they will vote a certain way because that's what their family does or has always done. I guess that absolves them from having to actually listen to and think about what "their" party is espousing and whether or not that still aligns with their values. Our election is on Monday and I am hoping that we don't end up with a mini-Trump here!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't able to watch the Savannah Bananas video (not allowed in Canada for some reason) but I will see if I can search them out on my own. Thanks, Jean.
Deb
It's the same way here with a lot of people voting the way their family always has. When it gets right down to it, there is a fundamental difference in the way each party views the government's role in our lives and if we grow up believing it should help the poor and build stuff good for the community as opposed to believing everything should be based on how much money such and such can make. ...Just saying it's hard to change what is ingrained in us at an early age but the problem is the parties have changed and don't have the same values they did when we were learning at our parent's knees.
DeleteThat is true here as well! Our Conservative party is not my parent's conservative party - they have gone into far right looney tunes land, like your Republicans. In fact, they are copying the Republicans almost word for word.
DeleteI live in a very "red" city in Texas. Once, my husband and I were waiting in line to vote in an election and we overheard a woman remark that she was just going to check the box that allowed you to vote a straight ticket (in her case, all Republican.) She said, "That's what you're supposed to do, right?" Sure, no actual thinking involved. Easy peasy.
DeleteSave me from women who can't think for their selves.
DeleteP.S. I forgot to mention that my dad also witnessed a hanging - as a child in WW2, he saw a man being hung from a street lamp in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. I believe the man was suspected of being a collaborator. Still not something anybody - especially a child - should witness.
ReplyDeleteNope and to think there was a time when people packed a picnic to go to town to see a hanging.
DeleteHahaha. You sound like me. Go long enough to eat and then sneak out.
ReplyDeleteThey never notice...or care.
DeleteWomen who don't or can't think for themselves and need a Man to do the Thinking for them are just sad and pathetic. I'm glad a lot of Strong Women are now being Raised and realize their value to Society, they're going to need it since the Regime is trying to take us back Centuries. I've gone to one Pro Baseball Game that our Paternal Aunt took us to and her Boss had a VIP Box and gave it as a Gift to her for that Game. It was different seeing it in person, not so boring. I always attended our Kiddos Sporting Events, The Son, when Young, was very Athletic and excelled in almost any Sport he participated in. The Daughter was very involved in Cheerleading and Volleyball. I was Athletic as a Young Woman and The Man was very Athletic most of his Life and was on some Military Teams in his rare spare time.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when I would have liked to see a pro-baseball game but now I look at the crowds and wonder how long the bathroom lines are. Same with the music concerts. I do have opportunities to go to those but the cost and the fear of bathroom lines make me glad I "lived" a full life when I was young.
DeleteI'm always wondering how long to get OUT of the Parking Lot after these Events, so, I never stay 'til the end when we do go. *LOL*
DeleteYes, I think that's the reason most people leave early---to beat the traffic.
DeleteI never had heard of the Savannah Bananas, but describing them as baseball's answer to the Harlem Globetrotters made them immediately understandable. It also reminded me of a great story my mother told, and that I confirmed through an old newspaper article. In 1932, give or take, the Harlem Globetrotters were just starting out, and they were making the rounds of high school gyms in Iowa. They were supposed to play in my parents' town, but it was March, and you know what March mud is like. Their Model A's got stuck and they couldn't make it to the game. I don't know if it ever was rescheduled.
ReplyDeleteIt tickled me to read about your Dad and Tiger, too. My mother adored Tiger, and she never missed a match on tv if he was playing. She had played golf socially, but wasn't really dedicated to it. When I asked her why she was so interested in Tiger, she said, "I think he's cute." I still laugh when I remember that.
I didn't realize the Goble Trotters had been around that long! But now that i think about it I did see them play one in person and I believe I was in high school.
DeleteLove your mom's reasons for liking Tiger. My dad thought he was such a polite and respectful young man and humble about his accomplishments. I was glad my dad didn't see his personal downfall with sex addiction but the more I read about him during that era it made since and was forgivable. Yes, I still read everything printed about him.
I discovered the Savannah Bananas a few years ago when I read all about their origin/history. Fascinating. They actually came here to play a year or two ago, but I was travelling and missed them. I was so disappointed!
ReplyDeleteSpring has finally arrived here in northeast Ohio, so it can't be too much longer for Michigan. We certainly deserve it after this lingering winter and rollercoaster early spring. Ugh.
Laughing. I do the Wordle every morning in my dressing gown, which is fuzzy. Look, I was married in 1963, and I have been following my man's interests ever since, although making space to follow my own as well. To give him credit, when I ran for the schoolboard he supported me and told everyone to think of him as the babysitter. And he was, as the board's meetings were often in the evening. He rigged a speaker system so that he could work outside and listen for the kids, the kids being the other thing you did if you got married in the early sixties.
ReplyDeleteWordle took me four this morning. Fail. My son in law got it in three, the rat.
Sounds like you got a keeper. Until I met my husband none of the other guys I dated took an interesting in what I liked to do...it was a one way street. Wordle took my four tries this morning too.
DeleteChameleon Days! That a wonderful way to describe a time in your life. I took golf lessons in high school, my mother thought I should. I didn't like golf at. all. so while I learned how to play I refuse to play. Good for other people, not me.
ReplyDeleteI've never really regretted any of the lessons I took. I consider them part of learning to appreciate the world around me. My brother played football in high school and I learned that game and never really enjoyed watching it back then or now. But while I understand most sports I'm just not a sporty person.
DeleteJean, we attempted to get tickets to the Savannah Bananas twice now. Sold out all of 2025. It's not real baseball but it's a nice family outing I think. Just good old fashion fun. Did you see them last Sunday on CBS Sunday Morning ?(Jane Pauley)
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't but I'll look for the interview. They say the game itself is not scripted and I know it's not 'real' baseball but it would still be fun to see live sometime. All their games are free on line.
DeleteI'm not interested in any sports and never have been. Not even the Super Bowl but I do watch the commercials the next day.
ReplyDeleteIn my cotton mid calf nightgown and a pink terry cloth robe, I skim the NYT and the local paper then enjoy the NYT mini crossword, Wordle, solitaire and recently added Hidden Objects. In the evening I play Words with Friends. And skim the WSJ. Lots of Facebook as well.
Thanks for blogging!
All activities that keep our brains healthy and working well, in my opinion, even if we do them in our jammies and robes.
DeleteI've not been interested in sports except for being a Green Bay Packers fan. My dad was a sports editor and sometimes we would travel to Green Bay and sit in the Press Box up high. That was super fun. I just turned 80 and posted some birthday pix today.
ReplyDeleteSo you have the same connection to sports because of your dad as I have to sports because of my dad. Interesting!
DeleteI laughed out loud at your depiction of the new couple reminding you of Lady and the Tramp, and your being "demoted" to third fattest in the community - making her a net plus!
ReplyDeleteYes, it does! Funny thing ....I haven't seen them since I wrote that. We must be on different schedules. That happens around here.
Delete