Learning to Read

I just came across a really cool quote from a book I am reading called, "The Graveyard Book." It is written by Neil Gaiman. The main character in the book is a young boy (he doesn't know how old he is) named Bod, short for Nobody. He is being raised by the dead in a graveyard. That is all I am saying about the book, go read it!
The boy is learning to read and discovering the power of letters and wants to know when he will learn about "joined-up letters." Then realizing what joined-up letters and reading will do for him, he is thrilled. "He imagined a future in which he could read everything, in which all the stories could be opened and discovered."
This line made me realize how much I (we) take reading for granted. Reading opens up stories; it opens up the past. We know what we do because of the power of letters, symbols written on paper or on a screen, on a wall, in the sand. The words help us learn and grow. In this day where moving images on television, on a movie screen, on a computer screen, on our phones; tells the story more often, the images don't fill in the blanks. We want more (or should) and we should go to the written word in a newspaper, magazine, book, or the Internet. Reading fills in the cracks; it is the cement to our learning. Bod realizes this and he reminded me of it too.

Bitter Sweet Season

As the All-Star game approaches in two weeks, I have to say that this baseball season has a bitter sweet feeling for me. First, I have to establish that I have two favorite baseball teams. One my lifetime favorite, the Chicago Cubs and the other, the Detroit Tigers, evolved out of the failure of the Chicago Cubs. In 1984, when the Cubs completely blew it to the San Diego Padres in the NL championship series, I swore that if the American League team that played the Padres in the World Series won, I would be a fan of that team. So, since 1984, I have been a Detroit Tigers fan along with the Cubs.
But now, with interleague play, the Cubs have played the Tigers in two seasons. The first time they faced off I was really excited and enjoyed the games. But this season, as my "life sentence" as a Cubs fan is wearing a bit thin, I watched the three game series with weary eyes, as the Tigers completely dominated a Cubs team that in pre-season was clearly the favorite to win the NL Central.
Now, I don't want any confusion, I am not a fair weather fan. I still cheer for the Cubs. I do love the fact that Lou has called up all sorts of rookies like Jake Fox and Sam Fuld. But, after the drubbing the Tigers laid upon the Cubs in June, I have to say for the first time in many years, the Tigers are first in my heart this year. The Tigers have figured out that it doesn't take an all-star line-up; it takes solid clutch hitting and timely, effective pitching. I wish the Cubs could figure that out. They have had "great" pitching, but hitting that leaves runners on base seemingly every inning. I will enjoy watching the Cubs' young players, and hope for a solid winning streak. But this summer, I am really watching the Tigers!

Baseball

Opening Day!! A day full of hope. A day where anything is possible. A day that promises warmer weather and green fields. A day when the "Star Spangled Banner" is followed by "play ball!," and then seven and a half innings later followed by "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Opening day is a day where hot dogs and chips become a staple in my diet. It is a day where play is not measured by time, but by strikes, hits, runs and outs. The crack of the bat. Triumph. Defeat. The ball snapping into the leather of the catchers mit. The calls and cries of balls and strikes. The home run cheer. Rounding the bases. Dust after a stolen base. The swing and a miss. The bat slammed on the ground. The high fives and pumping fists after a win. The white "W" flag. The box scores in the paper. Fantasy teams. The call of the beer and hot dog vendors "Beeeeeeeeeer here! Ice Cold Old Style! Hot Dooogsssss! The chocolate malted with the wooden stick spoon. The crowd. Harry Carey. Pat and Ron. WGN. KMOX. Cubs. Sox. Cards. Tigers. Damn Yankees. Late night West coast games on the radio. Falling asleep in the third inning. Waking up in the eighth. Foul balls. Peoria Chiefs. Wrigley Field. Comisky Park. Busch Stadium. Comerica Park. Called third strikes. The Heater. Line drives. Duck-snorts. Bobbles. 4-6-3 double plays. World Series. God, I love baseball.

End of March

It is not my favorite time of the year, but there are several things about the end of March that could, arguably, make it a candidate for "Best Time of the Year." First is basketball. While basketball is not my favorite sport, I can't help but be drawn into the March Madness experience of high school and college. Living in Peoria is a dream for any basketball purist, when the high school state tournaments come to town. I try to go to the games every year and this year my high school Alma mater, Oswego, made it to the championship game for class 3A. I did make it to that terrific game even as Oswego lost by two points. It was a hard fought game that started out with lots of long range three pointers (not my favorite type of basketball), but then both teams started going inside the paint for hard fought baskets (my favorite kind of play). Then, that night I watched from home on T.V. as Michael Jordan's son played in a great game for the 4A championship game. This is one of the reasons I love living in Peoria, and March may be the best time of the year.
Second is college hoops. The tournament is fun to watch and predict. Two of the five or so teams that I root for are doing very well in this year's post season tournaments. Notre Dame is in the final four in the NIT tournament and Louisville is in the elite eight after demolishing Arizona last night 103 to 64. Exciting games.
I also enjoy the end of March because the earth is changing. We move from the grays, browns, whites of winter to the blues, browns and greens of spring and summer. Just yesterday, I noticed that the trees are starting to bud leaves. Green stems are starting to sprout out of the ground and the soil is soft. I can smell spring in the air with the warmer breezes and thawing ground. It is very nice and gives hope of warm, short sleeve weather up ahead.
Finally, baseball is just around the corner! In two weeks, the boys of summer will break out the lumber and start smacking baseballs around stadiums and baseball fields across the country. I can never quite articulate it, but baseball just has a characteristic about it that relaxes me, excites the competition in me, and slows down a summer afternoon/evening to a liveable pace. I love the game.
March, while it doesn't match up to June or July or August or even October, is filled with lots to be excited about.

Enjoying the Credits

When I go to the theater, which isn't often, I find myself conforming to the crowd when the movie ends and credits begin; I file out of the theater with the crowd. Sitting through the credits used to be a very enjoyable experience. I used to stay to see if anyone in the hundreds of names sliding up the screen shared my name. Then, I learned that the music is usually great! It became the music that kept me. The credits are the place where a viewer can actually take time to listen to and appreciate the music. For example, sitting through any of the Star Wars films will get you an almost private concert with music by an Oscar winning composer, John Williams. The Lord of the Rings movies offers some powerful music that during the movie subconsciously drives our emotions, but we are so wrapped up with the visual sense that we don't realize the music also has us on the edge of our seats.

The last time I sat through the credits (either one of the Lord of the Rings movies or maybe even Chicago), the experience was kind of ruined. After most people have left and I was settling in to enjoy the music, the lights slowly started coming up and employees entered the theater. Nothing like enjoying the full TMX (or whatever) sound of a theater while being surrounded by vested employees weilding brooms, bags and those little dust pans on a stick.

Next time I stick around, I will imagine that they are characters in some dramatic endgame. They will battle it out to see who can get the most dropped popcorn, shells of soda cups with the watery left overs of ice floating around in the bottom, and the Milk Duds that were rolling around on the floor. It will be quite a battle in the shadowy theater as ushers duel it out with their brooms, clashing in front of the screen as one tries to shove the other into his dust pan box on a stick. All the while, the dramatic music from whatever movie I just watched plays in the background. The post movie experience just might be even more dramatic than the feature.

But, then I will miss the complete experience of enjoying the music uncluttered by the visual sense. Alas, I guess I will have to settle for the sound track.

Simplify

Sometimes I just have to get out walk in the woods. It was the first weekend of November that I decided to stop at a forest preserve and just take a walk. Henry David Thoreau says in his book Walden, "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" I try to carry this simple concept with me, although, even though he warns of this, I just seem to complicate and fill my life and time. So, a walk in the woods is good for me to reconnect to Earth and myself. Thoreau also writes in Walden, "

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn What it had to teach." 

So, there I was in the forest, listening for what it had to teach. 

Once Upon a Time...

With the change in the weather outside, I couldn't help but think back to this summer. Theses are pictures of the cruise we went on with Angie's family. The picture above is our approach to Haiti. It was a warm, windy morning and there was still a haze in the hills as we got near. Even this far out, we were passing little boats each carrying two fishermen. They had to be two to three miles out and still heading away from the island when we passed them at about 6 a.m.

This picture on the left shows the communication tower of the ship. There was something neat about seeing this, especially at night. The technology that allows clear navigation of the seas is very interesting. They had a viewing window above the captain's bridge and all the different radar/sonar screens, controls, and navagation computers made the bridge look more like the bridge of the USS Enterprise. I kept looking for Spock and Captain Kirk.






To the right is the running track that was on the top level. With Kaleigh on board, we didn't get to run or work out as much as we would have liked, but the couple times we got to use the track was definitely a fun experience. Running forward, in the direction the ship was going, was just like running into the wind, but running to the back was amazingly easy and when I tried a running jump, it felt like I was really making an amazingly long jump. I'm sure I wasn't, but it felt like it. It was neat to look out and see endless ocean while running. It made me feel quite small.








Below, I included a couple of my "artsy-fartsy" pictures. I realize that I am no photographer, but it was fun to play with our new camera.























How could I not conclude without a sunrise picture? This was early morning on Father's Day. We were greatly anticipating seeing and getting on the ship. Since we were up early (having never slept in anything except her crib or pack and play, Kaleigh did not sleep but maybe two hours on a bed lined with pillows and mom or dad on either side), we decided to take a walk to the ocean. We were in Coco Beach (no Jeanie sightings).

Today, November 18, with the high of 38 degrees, I look at this picture and remember the cool, damp, soft sand under my feet; the warm breeze off the ocean; and the excitement of the trip ahead. I certainly do miss warmth and scenery, but would not trade the anticipation and fun of the seasons of central Illinois.