Baseball Memories

In all the years we've been married I've heard many stories, sometimes repeatedly, about Ray's childhood memories living on Sheffield Ave. across from Wrigley Field. This week he had the opportunity to share them to a much larger audience. The last time the Cubs played in the World Series Ray was an 11-year-old and now 71 years later the Cubs are playing in the Series for the first time since 1945.

Rich Nye, a sports reporter for Channel 13 in Indianapolis, learned about his connection to the Cubs and mentioned that he would like to do a story before the Cubs first home game. On Tuesday morning Rich made arrangement to interview Ray at the Community Life Center where we play Pickleball. We set our recorder to record the interview and Rich also sent a link and we were able to share it with many friends and family. It's been a lot of fun!

On Wednesday afternoon, my sister Judy and Tom arrived for a visit on their way from Grand Rapids back home to Hillsboro, Texas. After dinner we enjoyed watching the Cubs beat Cleveland 5-1!

The next day we took a road trip south to Medora to see the newly restored covered bridge billed as the longest historic covered bridge in the U.S.

The bridge was built in 1875 and spans the east fork of the
White River and was closed to motor traffic in 1973.
In 2010 restoration began and today an annual dinner on the
bridge is held the first Saturday in August.

Measuring by the span (​a part of a bridge between the
 uprights supporting it) the Medora Covered Bridge is the
 longest historic covered bridge in the USA.

A local Medora resident, artist and active supporter of the
bridge happened to stop and took a photo of the four of us.
 He also lettered the caption on each end of the bridge.

The enthusiastic young man also directed us to
this round barn located not far off the county road.

Preservationists are hoping to save the historic Medora
Shale Brick Plant that operated from 1904 until 1992.
The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana
placed it on their list of the Ten Most Endangered Landmarks.

With no World Series game we had time to play some euchre Thursday evening and in the morning said goodbye with hugs all around.

Friday was a long day away from home. We played Pickleball in the morning and then headed to Indy's northside for the Heartland Film Festival at the AMC Theatre. The previous week I had won several vouchers and we would forfeit them if not used since the Festival concludes today. "Wild Prairie Rose" is the 1950s story of Rose who returns to South Dakota and falls in love with a deaf man.

The second film we viewed was a documentary based in Indianapolis: Night School. We learned that Indianapolis is one of the few cities that offer adults an opportunity to earn a regular high school diploma by attending night classes. Many students have challenges of daily life in addition to roadblocks that many low income Americans face.

We continue to have above average temperatures and are now enjoying fall leaf colors. October has been a great month and I hope that November brings equally great weather.

Cubs Win Pennant!

Over the past weeks I've mentioned the Cubs a number of times. Their season has been one of the best and now they will play in the World Series for the first time in 71 years against the Cleveland Indians beginning Tuesday evening. Ray has memories from 1945 when he and his family lived on Sheffield Avenue and hosted fans on the front porch of their second story flat. Were they the original entrepreneurs that started the trend of rooftop seating? I really don't know if they were but anyone who is a baseball fan is probably aware of the many rooftops that surround Wrigley.

Rooftop seating when we visited Wrigley last July.
Ray lived in the middle building from the
time he was 8 until his teen years.

During the division series against the Giants and the series against the Dodgers, we often went to bed not knowing the outcome. But that changed for the last two games when we stayed up to see who would prevail. Personally, I don't know much about the Indians but I hope the Cubs can continue to win and become world champions again, the first time since 1908. That's a really long time to wait!

Besides the Cubs win, I also won two tickets to the Heartland Film Festival Opening Night. I received the notice on Wednesday for the Thursday night screening of the film "The Book of Love" with Jessica Biel as one of the main characters. The male lead was Jason Sudeikis and Maisie Williams played a young teen attempting to build a raft to cross the ocean to find her father. The film will open in theaters in January. I'm not sure how many stars I'd give the film--perhaps 2.5 or 3. One thing I miss when viewing film in a theater setting is closed captioning and so I miss some of the dialog which makes it difficult to follow the story line.

And before I finish this post, there's one more event I'd like to share. Last Tuesday on a warm fall day, five of us spent an afternoon working in the flower garden of a member of our church family. Most of the time I weeded the space while the others planted and watered. We all went home tired but feeling good about what we had accomplished.

Genny, Sam & Ben (all on school fall break) & Ray

As I close, please join me in cheering on the National League pennant winner when they play on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. If needed games 5, 6 & 7 are scheduled for Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Let's hope we don't need to go more than four games!

Celebrating Ray's Birthday!

A few weeks ago I considered having family over for Ray's birthday and if the weather was still warm we would plan to have a picnic using the pavilion here at Copper Chase. A week ago I put the plan in action but this morning the windy conditions caused us to think we might need to change plans. Then when it started to rain lightly we knew that an outdoor event was out of the question and we changed our venue to the Clubhouse.

The food is ready--waiting for our guests.

Lots of puzzle books and a jar of cheese balls--a favorite!

Jayden spied the fitness room and we all spent a few moments watching him run on the treadmill and working out to build muscle.

Personal trainer Nancy coaches Jayden!

Building muscle!
(observers mirrored in the background)

Say "Happy Birthday" everyone!

When we were finished with the festivities, I invited Jayden to go geocaching with me at nearby Freedom Park. I knew where we could find one cache and Jayden spotted it immediately. I had hoped that we would find another but that didn't happen. Then we drove to another site where Ray and I had found a cache recently and with a few hints, Jayden found another cache.

An unusually large find was hidden in the trees and shrubs.

I'm back home now writing this post and listening to the Cubs' 2nd game in the National League Championship Series and also the Colts vs the Texans as Ray switches between the games.

Waiting for Game 3

The Cubs have won their first two games in the best of 5 series in the post-season. Their third game with the Giants in San Francisco doesn't start until 9:30 Indiana time. Since I didn't post anything yesterday, I now have some extra time to jot down a few of our happenings from last week.

Last Monday Ray and I stopped at church after we left the "Y" to help finish the packing of quilts and school kits for Lutheran World Relief.

A few quilts were draped over boxes
and several school kits were on display
at the Sunday worship service

Basically, we folded a few quilts and then sealed and labeled all the boxes. We had a total of 25 quilts and 46 school kits for Lutheran World Relief. Another couple is planning to deliver all the boxes to a pick-up point in Fort Wayne this coming Saturday.

14 boxes ready for delivery
to Lutheran World Relief

On Tuesday afternoon Ray finished the brick border that he had started the week before. I went along and tried to help but mostly he did the work. The woman who lives at this house worked for Ray many years ago but now she is handicapped and needs help with maintenance and other projects around her house.

Edging the plantings with bricks

On Wednesday Ray visited the dentist again. How many times this year? I've lost track. He needed to have a crown cemented in place after he accidentally loosened it when flossing. Let's hope this is the last visit this year.

We helped celebrate Dustin's 21st birthday on the actual date, October 6! He sported a new haircut but I didn't get a good shot of that. His official party was Friday night but both Ray and I had already made other plans. Being officially legal probably meant a lot going on that I didn't want to join in.

Count them! There's 21 pennies plus a check

Concordia's annual Women's Retreat was this past weekend. I made Chicken Sloppy Joes for the Friday evening meal accompanied by Asian Cole Slaw. Ray and I were both invited to a weiner roast but, since I was planning to go to the Retreat, he went solo. I missed watching the Cub's first win on Friday night and their second win on Saturday night. Actually I was home by the start of the second game, but I was very tired from lack of sleep the previous two nights that I went to bed early.

The game won't start for another 40-45 minutes so I won't be able to post the results. It would be great if the Cubs won tonight and then they'd have time to prepare mentally for the next round--the National League Championship. If they don't win tonight, they would have another two games to win the Division Championship.

Final Quarter of 2016

Ray reminded me the other day, that the end of September closes out the third quarter of the year. Even though the end of 2016 is fast approaching, we aren't seeing much color in the trees but sometimes that changes overnight but the temperatures this past week have been cooler a sure sign that fall is here.

Last Monday afternoon we met up with one of Ray's former co-workers and his wife for a short trip to Brown County where we had lunch at the Farmhouse Inn. Connected to the restaurant is a large nursery and greenhouse. There was a lot of product for sale and I was wondering if they will be able to keep it safe through the winter season. Do they ship it away to southern states or just let nature take its course and let plants die as the weather gets colder and colder?

Ray and Bill enjoy visiting and talking about their working days while Karen and I talk about gardening, plants and other day to day happenings. Bill is going to start working out at a boxing gym. His physicians have suggested this as he has many symptoms of Parkinson's. We hope this will help his balance issues. Both his father and brother had similar symptoms. We're also concerned about the woman who was our mentor when we started playing Pickleball. Linda is a 15 year breast cancer survivor and she announced several weeks ago that she is no longer in remission. Since then her diagnosis is that she has Stage 4 and has already started chemotherapy. A special tribute honoring her for her contributions to the local Pickleball community is being planned.

We had our annual eye exam the next day and Ray passed with flying colors! The doctor was impressed at how well he was doing after his cataract surgeries about a year ago. For quite a few years I was using bifocal contact lens but during the past year have hardly used them and was relying on reading glasses. I learned that I could not get a higher strength bifocal lens. However, before the advent of bifocal contacts, I had used one contact (AKA monovision) and I suggested that maybe it would work for me again since he could prescribe a higher strength when just used for one eye. Today is the 5th day of monovision, and I'm very happy with the way it's working for me.

On Thursday a group of 7 from Concordia spent 2-1/2 hrs at the Orphan Grain Train warehouse in Jonesville, IN, about an hour south of Greenwood. Most of us sorted donated clothing into bins for women, men, children, teens, winter, etc. When the bins or barrels are full the contents are transferred into banana cartons. Ray worked on filling the banana crates and enjoyed that since he didn't have to decide on size or where to place the articles of clothing like the rest of us had to. I can't even estimate the number of banana boxes already shrink wrapped and ready for shipping from the warehouse. Amazing and awe inspiring.

Last evening we had game night at church for the 50 Plus Group. I played euchre and Ray tried his hand at Texas Hold 'Em and did quite well. Of course, we enjoyed the snacks that everyone provided. Before the evening fun, the management at Copper Chase sponsored a community event for its residents. They had a bounce house for the kids and food in the clubhouse. Our usual diet was kind of messed up yesterday!

I have one photo to share this week. Today was LWML at  Concordia with a small display near the altar of the quilts and school kits we've completed in the past year. The quilts and school kits are heading to  Fort Wayne in a few weeks for eventual shipping to Maryland and then to places throughout the world.

We filled 46 school kits and knotted many quilts.

Later this week, I'll get a final count of the number of quilts, but for the small group of about 5 or so who work on the project, it's pretty amazing.

Well, it's time to sign off once again. When I started this post, I didn't think I had anything to write about, but I kind of surprised myself. Hope you, dear reader, have a blessed week.