Back in the swing of things

Our baseball travels this year have been pretty much nonexistent. We had planned to go to Opening Day in Tampa, had our tickets and flight, and our Stella became ill. We would not leave our furbaby while she was sick, so we cancelled our Tampa trip. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, we lost her to liver disease. If you've ever loved a pet, then you know that I just wasn't up to planning fun getaways.

 Then my retirement festivities got in the way of travel time.

 Randy said we would do anything I wanted to do on Mother's Day, so we made a quick trip down to Charleston to a really cool little Minor League park to see the West Virginia Power. The day was hot and the crowd was small, especially early. But it was a nice time.

The Toast Man is the Power's Super Fan. He actually makes toast and throws it to the crowd when the opposing team strikes out. Actually, his name is Rod Blackstone. He is the Deputy Mayor of Charleston and attends all home games. We are planning to head back down there one night this week.

We have a trip to Minneapolis (#16) planned for the end of August and a Miami  (#17) trip in September. We are also thinking we may be able to fit in San Diego or Dallas and Houston if we can get around to planning it. No surprises there, we have kids living in San Diego and Dallas.

Speaking of my retirement, the staff planned a baseball-themed party. Here are a few shots.

My staff did a fabulous job with these decorations, and the party was a blast! And yes, we wore shirts from our favorite teams. The guestbook was a Louisville Slugger.

Since I am retired now I have nothing but time. I attended the Homer Laughlin China (Fiestaware) Collectors Association annual conference. The theme of the first night social was The Seasons of Fiesta, dress as your favorite seasonal activity. It was pretty awesome to run into Santa at a dish conference. I mention the conference, because on "Theme Night" my sister, Peggy, my daughter, Rachel, and I wore Baltimore Orioles gear.

We've done several entries on Baltimore. The reasons for this are that the Orioles are my favorite team, and we try to see a couple of Orioles games each year.

Since we'd been without Major League baseball all summer, we headed to Baltimore last week to see an inter-league game between the Orioles and the Braves. 

After a quick stop at Pickles, the bar/restaurant we like across the street from Orioles Park, we went to the stadium and discovered Randy had scored these awesome seats! Of course we invited #1 O's fan, my sister Peggy.

Peggy had given me as a retirement present a huge gift basket with Orioles goodies. Shoes, wallets, you name it, it was in there. My favorite item was my very own scorebook. I've struggled with some of the nuances of scoring, but I'm hanging in there. Luckily, Randy is a pro, so I have my own personal tutor with me.

Scoring a game forces me to pay attention.  I've actually enjoyed looking back at my scoring and remembering what happened in the game. I see very few people keeping score, though. Why do you think that is?                                                  

The highlight of the evening for me was seeing Chris Davis hit home runs in the first and second innings. The Orioles won 7-3. Peggy and I were merciful toward Randy, a lifelong Braves fan. 

And enjoying the hardest working bird in the MLB.