Days sans Petanque: The Best in Sonoma

You know who you are.



It is not only the game I love, but the people—specifically, the mix of people. The variety of ages, professions, body and personality types, backgrounds and energy levels. Its like a beautiful symphony where each of us plays our solo when we step into the circle.

I can hardly wait until we make music together again.

Carlos

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"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." ― Marilyn Monroe

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"The things we love become the fabric of our identities. They make us feel understood, less fearful, and less alone. The things we create create us in return." —Matt Berninger of The National for  The Case for Creative Work

Spring sans Petanque: Dogwood

We planted a couple Dogwood trees in our front yard shortly after moving to Glen Ellen. They are finally giving us their spring show off. I know some of you must have really spectacular gardens. Why not share some photos and cheer up our Secluded-in-Place spring?

Or in the case of Tim Wetzel how the home petanque court is going?

Days sans Petanque: The Good Old Days

I'll be 73 this summer, but inside I feel like I'm still 70. Oh for those halcyon days of my misspent youth, when all I had to worry about were North Korean missiles over Japan, China manipulating currency, Iran developing a nuclear bomb, Syria's Bashar-Assad gassing his people with Chlorine, the Caliphate in Iraq, Greece bankrupting the Euro Zone, and an American president undermining two hundred years of democratic progress. (OK, I still worry about that last one.) I'm glad my kids aren't in the house anymore so I can not constantly tell them about the good old days when I played petanque in the park most afternoons, without wearing a mask. When I would shake friends' hands when we ran into each other at the grocery store. When Sheila and I would have breakfast INSIDE, SITTING DOWN AT A TABLE, at the Sunfolower Café. When I didn't have to wait for half an hour in line to shop at COSTCO. Yeah, those were the good old days of two months ago.
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Unsubscribe now and you won't have to read about me going on about the good old days.
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"You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past."
― Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor

Days sans Petanque: Victory Garden

Did anyone else get a Victory Garden package from the Ecology Center that were handed out at City Hall? Sheila wanted one so she sent me. I arrived a full 40 minutes before the scheduled 10 a.m. start time and there were about 100 cars ahead of me. I ended up in the line near The General across from Mary's Pizza. The cars were lining up behind me fast. They started handing the garden starts out about 9:40, probably because all the cars were beginning to be a traffic problem. Once things got going it moved pretty fast with the the Center's Director and Biologist directing traffic onto Broadway 6 cars at a time.

Not sure what the packets are supposed to be Victory over. I assume later in the year as the beans, tomatoes, lettuce etc start ripening we will buy less at the grocery store. For us it's just fun to go out in the garden (some things planted in plastic buckets) and watch things grow and eventually bring things in for salad fixings. Anyway, I'm glad the Ecology Center came up with a community spirit idea and made it happen.

I stopped by Peet's on the way home for coffee and a snack. It's like all the businesses are making street food. How third world of us (in a first world sort of way). I saw a message that they may start reopening parks soon. Thank you Dave for the letter in the paper supporting our cause. Yea! Dave.

So be good, and if you can't be good, at least be real.

Carlos

Unsubscribe and I will promise not too cry too much when next we meet at the park. May it be sooner than later.

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"Think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was that I had such friends."
― William Butler Yeats

Days sans Petanque: The Rebellion

Sure they're fighting for the future of the universe but we have petanque to play, so we are making the most of our final moments before the end of life as we know it here on Earth. So what do say petanqueros? They can take our freedom but they can never take our petanque! Barry! Don't just stand there with your hands in your pockets. Grab a circle and toss some steel. This game isn't over yet. Not by a long shot. Not by a tirer au plein fer. Une mène royale!

I AM Peter Mathis! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to play as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you Petanque?"

Petanque and you may die. Shelter in place, and you'll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take… our petanque!

Days sans Petanque: The Legend of Hellacious and Loquacious

If you don't know the story, well, you should. Because every kid in town hears it from the time he wears his first face mask. You see, the whole town was on lockdown. It was a bad time. We were living on takeout from Mary's Pizza Shack and The Girl and the Fig. I know it's hard to believe now, but there was—no petanque. Sure people were tearing out landscaping to toss a boule whenever they were sure the Shelter in Place vigilantes weren't around, but a full game of 13 was impossible. And players from Oakmont and Novato… forget about it. Mothers were getting desperate. No play dates. No school plays. No soccer matches. Some dads were even learning to change diapers. I tell you, I was scared, and you would have been too.

In a final act of members of the, then suppressed VOMPC took up a collection and sent runners out after dark to try and hire someone, anyone really, who could bring some sense of order to the town. Well, when they came back with two of the meanest, cussedest, shoot'em-on-sight, lawmen in the county, Hellacious and Loquacious. We didn't know if we were saved or about to have the branch we were hanging on sawed off at the trunk.

Those two organized a rally in front of city hall and had everyone right then and there call their congressmen and demand some action.

Then they rode out to the capital and locked all the senators in a room. What exactly went on nobody's sayin' but when they came out, they'd passed a bill that made all the billionaires in the country fund research into a cause and cure for our dilemma, and keep funding it until a cure was found. Wouldn't you know, within 30 days a cure was found and vaccines were free to everyone. 
A grand petanque tournament and dinner was held in Depot Park honoring Hellacious and Loquacious for delivering us from those dark times. A parade around the plaza capped off the day after which to two of them simply rode off to a new adventure. We never heard from them again. However nine months later two babies were born with surprisingly similar looks to our heroes. But with no mustaches, they were just babies. Their mothers named them Holly and Lynda. Probably just a coincidence.

What? Oh this coffee can? I'm taking up a collection to have their two statues commissioned and placed standing behind the General. I call it the Hel-Lo fund. Hello? What do you think?
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A hero is someone who does what must be done, and needs no other reason. —CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN & NANCY HOLDER, Sons of Entropy

Days sans Petanque: The Way of the Mandalore

This is the way, I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold. Now which one of you yelled "Foot fault!?"

Days sans Petanque: Rogues Gallery

If it is possible to be asymptomatic, infected with the coronavirus, and contagious, then it is possible for anyone of us to be the Terminator who wipes humanity from the face of the earth. Well, anyone except the T-800 becasuse he won't be back.

You put a 45 Longslide with laserlock sight pistol in someone's hand and everything looks like a target. Go ahead shoot the cochonnet.

Some do. Some watch.
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Walter Mitty: To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life. ― James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
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Come with me if you want to live. —Original Terminator

I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle. —Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

I'll be back. —Every Terminator

Marcus Wright: Everybody deserves a second chance. This is mine. —Terminator Salvation

T-800: Our relationship is not physical. She appreciated that I could change diapers efficiently and without any complaints. I'm reliable, I'm a very good listener, and I'm extremely funny. 

T-800: My past has caught up with me. And, I won't be back.—Terminator: Dark Fate

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Chantilly lace and a pretty face and a pony tail hangin' down — Jerry Lee Lewis, Chantilly Lace

Days sans Petanque: The Good Old Days

When I talked about the good old days I used to mean, the fifties when gas wars meant 30¢/gal., drive-in movies, watching Zorro on b&w TV, and Little Richard singing Long Tall Sally. Then there was the sixties with the Beatles, Summer of Love, and the Ford Mustang. The seventies—Well there was Star Wars, and Apple Computers—cool, and Apollo 13. The 80s—meh. Pac-Man and the Rubics Cube. Now when I talk about the good old days, I mean about two months ago, when we could eat breakfast at Sunflower Cafe, take a walk in the park, and shake hands after a game of petanque. The year 2020. Yippee. Yikes.

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In 50 years, I don't think you're gonna look back at 2006 and say, 'The good old days.' —Brandon Flowers

Days sans Petanque: Two Hats and a Handful of Boules

Guidelines say plumbing is an Essential Occupation. That goes without saying. I mean, as they say "when the shit hits the fan" and I don't even want to know how that saying got started let alone picture it, you don't want to wait for the government to decide when your plumber (and why you would call anyone other than VOM Plumbing is beyond me) can come to your house and save your ass (so to speak). No. You want them and you want'em now.

So say hello to your two best friends when you need a friend. Dave and Alan, not only do we need you, we love you, even when we don't need you. And thank you for hosting the last Octoberfest. You are the best!

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"I told my wife the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me the truth: that she was seeing a psychiatrist, two plumbers, and a bartender." – Rodney Dangerfield

"If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber." – Albert Einstein

Days sans Petanque: Friends

Once in a while everybody has a crappy day. Not the end of the world. Not a day to kick the dog or flush the goldfish, but a day when it's nice to have a friend you can call on the phone and just vent. Someone who will listen and when you are finished will simply let you know they understand. And after a bit of silence you can sigh, and ask them how they are doing. And they will tell you—the truth. And you will be there for them. That's what friends are for.

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When the road looks rough ahead
And you're miles and miles
From your nice warm bed
You just remember what your old pal said
You've got a friend in me
Yeah, you've got a friend in me

—Randy Newman
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"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." ― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever." ― Alfred Tennyson

"You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes." ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Days sans Petanque: It's a jungle out there — Take care

"I've seen things you've only seen in your nightmares. Things you can't even imagine. Things you can't even see. There are things that hunt you in the night. Then something screams. Then you hear them eating, and you hope to God that you're not dessert. Afraid? You don't even know what afraid is. You would not last five minutes without me." —ROBIN WILLIAMS as Alan Parrish

And he was only talking about the Wine Country Open VOMPC Petanque Tournament warm up. The actual playing? Brutal.

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Unsubscribe now or things that go bump in the night may bump you tonight.

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"Thou art of the jungle or not of the jungle. And I am only a black panther. But I love thee, little brother." – Bagheera

Days of Petanque: Talking to Writers

The problem with talking to writers is that they think everything is material. No sense of privacy. For them all the world's a stage and they are the playwrights. So one can hardly be blames for being circumspect around them. Of course none of that applies to me as I am not a writer but but just a humble bumbling petanque would be lobber, who fiddles about with Photoshop and email. You can trust me.

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Listen, do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?
Whoa-oh-oh, closer
Let me whisper in your ear
—The Beatles, Do You Want to Know a Secret

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MORPHEUS: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill — you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
…
AGENT SMITH: The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease. A cancer of this planet.
…
AGENT BROWN: Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions…

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How much longer can you put off unsubscribing. It's why you wake up at three in the morning and lie there, your mind as restless as you are tired. Go ahead. Do it. Then remember what it was like to sleep the night through.

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Another favorite of mine on Youtube is, Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz8v-ALADJo). It only has one star on Rotten Tomatoes but three and a half on imdb. Only give it a try if you are a hopeless romantic.

Days sans Petanque: Family ties

Hans is one of a kind. I will give him that. And whatever else he is, he is a generous spirit and an artist.

He has welcomed me into the petanque family and I love him for that.

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"I look my best when I take my helmet off after a long motorcycle ride. I have a glow and a bit of helmet hair." ― Eric Bana

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I think that your unsubscribing from these posts would likely end the pandemic between 7 and 11 days earlier than otherwise might be the case. Can you go to sleep tonight with that on your conscious? It might even give you immunity from all future pandemics of the social disease type.

Days sans Petanque: In the park

My brothers and sisters who play
I can hardly wait for the day
when we petanque in the park
until it is dark
and by moonlight we shoot and plombée

The cynic that lives inside me let his guard down long enough for me to enjoy these oldies but goodies versions of "We are the World"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL5ewQaC8Wg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI

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"WE MUST LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER AS BROTHERS OR PERISH TOGETHER AS FOOLS." —Martin Luther King Jr

Re: Days sans Petanque: Haiku time

I don't know how my father-in-law would feel about a Jewish Godfather!?! LOL!

Teri

-----Original Message-----
From: Carlos
Sent: Apr 19, 2020 1:58 PM
To: Don McPherson
Cc: cnchavez1.bitsy@blogger.com
Subject: Days sans Petanque: Haiku time

The abandoned piste

Echos of steel boules rebound

While Dave waits to play

Days sans Petanque: Going stir crazy

Days sans Petanque: Haiku time

The abandoned piste

Echos of steel boules rebound

While Dave waits to play

Days sans Petanque: I never thanked you

I can never thank you enough for what you have shared with me this last couple of years.

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"Think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was that I had such friends."
― William Butler Yeats

Days sans Petanque: The man with the arm of clay

A

The trouble with achieving a certain level of competence is that people expect you to deliver that quality every time you step into the circle. When you deliver the goods, it's taken for granted. When you fail, you disappoint. We live in a "what have you done for me lately" era.The price of success is that is so far to fall. At my current petanque skill level it is not an issue. It is certainly the reason for my not practicing during this enforced break. When I fall I don't bounce as well as I used to. If I happen to do something well, it surprises me as much as anyone. So, here's to mediocrity. May it ever reign. Blessed are the average ones. Stability is our reward.

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Days of Petanque: This little piggy went to market

Date: February 12, 2020 at 8:54:37 PM PST

Now that Wolfie has released the ball, if I were the cochonnet, that little piggy who never had a chance to go to market, I would be squeezing my eyes shut, covering my face with my little trotters, praying that his boule hits the big dumbass steel boule next to me and leaves me out of it. I mean what have i ever done to El Lobo there. It's all well and good to give John Henry there a good schmakendinger once in a while, he's a total air head, nothing inside there. No chance of traumatic brain damage—no brain. While I, on the other hand, am the soul of sensitivity. I come from a long line of respectable boxwoods. I can trace my ancestry all the way back to the Buxaceae of the Marqueyssac gardens in France. While the metal-head here with his fake french accent is actually the dolt offspring of a Chinese-Thai mining corporation. I will admit there are a few chips in my paint, but one does the best one can under the circumstances. So next time you prepare to launch me into the suborbital flight of six to ten meters, have the good graces to touch the earth and remember it's not the size of the pig in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the pig that matters. Or something like that.

You never know what shinanigans these petanque players are going to be up to on any given day.

And they will try anything on a bet for a cocktail.

Days of Petanque: It changes you

Date: February 15, 2020 at 9:25:40 PM PST

It changes your relationship

to each other

to the world

to your future

It changes how you see yourself

How everyone you know thinks about you

How you spend your days

your nights

What you think about in moments of stillness

What you talk about with people you trust

What you talk about over breakfast

What you think about how your parents raised you

How you will do things differently

How you will do things the same

How you deal with uncertainty

How you touch and are touched

How it feels to touch her hair

How it feels to change her diapers

How it feels to bathe her

How it feels when you hold her when she sleeps

It changes you

How could it not

Days of Petanque: The Fastboule

Date: February 13, 2020 at 6:47:09 PM PST

Before Kevin fired off one of his patented fastboules he cautioned everyone to turn away lest they be blinded by the glory of his shooting. One small unanticipated problem with the heat generated by the speed of his shoot is that it tended to burn and occasionally vaporize the pig scattering bits of bacon across the terrain. This tended to draw unleashed feral cats, dogs, ravens, turkey vultures and voles.
As a result the City, Cal Fire, the EPA, and the park maintenance crew have requested Kevin "The Kelvinator" restrict his shooting speed to subsonic ranges. He reluctantly has agreed, but has suggested the club has a deep state problem that is intent on keeping him in that  infernal eternal second place.

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As always, if you can't stand to have the real alternative facts delivered to your inbox, submit your request to be terminated to our fixer and we will do what we can to see that you are eliminated. From our list.

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No baseball pitcher would be worth a darn without a catcher who could handle the hot fastball. —Casey Stengel

Days of Petanque: Afternoon pleasures

Date: February 14, 2020 at 7:54:00 AM PST

I walk between the eucalyptus trees and horseshoe pits to the petanque courts
plunk my boule bag onto the picnic table and sit to watch the play a while.

Joe is unlocking the shed
Ed is spreading sawdust around tree roots
Kevin is unpacking salmon and crackers telling everyone to help themselves
Hans, arms all akimbo is firing one of his twenty percent lifetime average painted boules nine yards out
Peter is launching a Plombée skyward con trail in its wake

Nina blesses us with her megawatt smile

Lanter steps onto the circle and without preamble lobs schmakendinger

Wolfie hands off a cigarette and flips a shot out

Linda flops down in her foldout chair

Shayne holds her arm straight out as she takes aim

Tim is on the rocks practicing practicing practicing

Jean-Michel is in someones face telling them how well he is pointing today

Peter is walking Auggie between the courts

Ruby is chewing on a stick

Erin marches towards Mike as he rubs his very close cropped head

Jack manuvers a circle between his feet before bending to pick it up

Dave holds his boule like a hollowed out Easter egg before pointing

Steve vibrates his reluctant fingers back to life

Marco in chef's whites serves lunch and nourishes our spirits

Several players whom I recognize but cannot attach names to watch as Porto measures 

Ted and Miller chuckle over some closely held observation

Mark and Sandra up from Novato are unpacking boules

Kris and Michelle are toasting bubbly filled cups

Rob is shooting well while favoring his right arm

Debra is laughing at some remark Terri has made

Maggie in a floppy hat is approaching the courts as everyone greets her

Higgins lobs a high one at a close one

Mickey listens as someone asks him for the hundredth time if his baseball past helps him

Barry is showing how a rookie of the year can keep getting better

and Brenden displays his Great Bendini chops.

When I'm sitting in a on-the-way-out facility

blanket on my lap

a bit of spittle about to escape the corner of my mouth

feeling the afternoon sun on my face

I hope these scenes are among the last

to lose their way through the maze that is my memory.

Thank you for the privilege of your company.

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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. – Friedrich Nietzsche

Days of Petanque: Wrong Impressions

Date: February 9, 2020 at 7:46:48 PM PST

Thinking about my last posting, I am afraid I might have given the wrong impression of what type of people make up the Valley of the Moon Petanque Club. The vast majority of the members are fine upstanding members of the community who like most dogs and some cats, who call their mothers, say please and thank you, and use their turn signals. They do not honk the horn when the car in front doesn't seem to notice the light's turned green, and will wait patiently in the checkout line while someone tells the checker all about her daughter's vacation in Italy.

We can, upon request furnish a list of VOMPC members who do not smoke, drink, do drugs, pee behind the shed, talk trash while someone is in the circle, fail to show up for raking leaves, not pay dues, use stretchy tape measures, cast shadows on the jack, talk while Wolfie is shooting, move while Peter is shooting, complement Jean-Michel on his pointing skills, let Dave smoke, tease Kevin about the Niners, ask David what's happening with the lights, call Barry a rookie, or use Chef Marco's favorite saying, "up like lunch."

All in all, quite a civilized (if not particularly fun) bunch of people. Really.

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Politeness is only one half good manners and the other half good lying. —Mary Wilson Little

And it goes without saying, though not without writing, that if you wish, plead or demand never to receive this prattle again. Just ask. But there are no refunds or cash value, and is not valid for purchase of alcoholic beverages. Limit one discount per person.

Days of Petanque: It was a sunny day, Not a cloud was in the sky, Not a negative word was heard, from the people passing by

Date: February 8, 2020 at 8:18:37 PM PST

Match of the Day: Wolf v Damien

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Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.  —Charles Lamb

Days of Petanque: Just another day at VOMPC

Date: February 9, 2020 at 5:42:37 PM PST

When you are actively playing pétanque your perception heightens as you wait for the shooter to act.
Your focus takes in details like divot patterns and depth.
Colors become more saturated.
You take note of the looseness of the terrain, 
the distance and alignment of boules on the ground to the circle.
You judge the likelihood of the shooter hitting the mark and the consequences of a miss.

As the shooter begins the backswing time slows.

You can almost count your heart beats.

You notice how tightly the hand is cocked to the wrist,
how far back the arm reaches.
As the shooters arm begins its forward motion, you flash a quick glance to the jack and an assessment of the likely target.
At the hand's release of the boule the supercomputer that is you mind 

knows before the boule reaches the apex of its arch whether it is long, short, or on target

Of course that all depends upon, 
how many Modelos you have drained to quench your dust parched throat, 
how many hits of medically prescribed or California sanctioned Cannabis sativa you have inhaled,
or how many flutes of champagne you have sipped dry,
or how many magic mushrooms you have chewed to sharpen your world view,
or in general, whether you state of consciousness is ascending or in retrograde, 
or any two or more of the above in combination.

That's pétanque in the Valley of the Moon.

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"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." ― Mae West

Days of Petanque: Cheers

Date: February 8, 2020 at 9:20:16 PM PST

As I was walking in the parking lot on my way home to walk the dog, I looked up and saw this beautiful moon. I thought, this is the life. I must have done something incredibly wonderful, generous, kind and brave, even heroic to deserve this moment in my life. But I just can't remember what that could have been. Religion might call it a state of grace. I think it's either dumb luck, or I'm living someone else's life and there was a mix up in an assignment somewhere. Kind of like the typo in the 1985 movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGge4rj4v_Y Until they find that typo and want it all back I intend to live it up. Cheers.

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"Think where man's glory most begins and ends and say my glory was that I had such friends."
― William Butler Yeats

Days of Petanque: Three Boules

Date: February 8, 2020 at 3:40:58 AM PST

With three boules and a Vincent Black Lightning 

a man might make a life in this world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrGOs1a1lOk

VOMPC vs PVPC is February 16th. If you're there this weekend, the club plays at 1 pm.  Teri

Carlos, Petaluma tournament is next weekend (Feb. 16), not this one.  Joe

Oh, BTW home vs. Home in Petaluma is the 16th.

This weekend is Melee in Marin 😉  Maggie

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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane 

by those who could not hear the music. – Friedrich Nietzsche

Days of Petanque: Still Life

Date: February 7, 2020 at 9:56:44 AM PST

But in a still life, there is no end to our looking, which has become allied with the gaze of the painter; we look in and in, to the world of things, in their ambiance of cool or warm light, in and in, as long as we can stand to look, as long as we take pleasure in looking. ― Mark Doty

Days of Petanque: All in a day's play at Depot Park

Date: February 6, 2020 at 9:55:17 AM PST

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If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, 

you should go home and examine your conscience. —Woodrow Wilson

Days of Petanque: You can leave your hat on

Date: February 6, 2020 at 8:19:56 PM PST

Match of the Day: Don v Barry. You know what they say: Don't bring a pointer to a shootin' match.

Another typical day at Depot park. 

I don't think you should go around talking trash about people because I think that's how you get your hat handed to you. —LL Cool J

If you watch dogs play, they run and they fight, but they don't fight to hurt each other. They just play. And that's been me my entire life. —Daniel Bryan

Obviously those dogs don't play petanque. At least not in our park.

 Hands up! Hand over the Modelo and no one gets hurt.

There was a little girl

who had a little curl.

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When I'm driving down Arnold on my way to the park, I am going two directions at once,

I am moving forward towards the courts, where with any luck, I will toss a few boules well enough to justify the gas I burn getting there.

Of course nothing is guaranteed, but for the few moments that I am standing in the circle, there exists the possibility that I will take the point.

I mean, what could go wrong?

I am also moving away, from appointments, chores, daily expectations I often do not measure up to and disappointments that I carry.

The time I spend at the park is an island in my life. I know that. If nothing else, I have to return to reality to walk the dog.

But the couple of hours that I manage to steal away for are a prize in the Cracker Jack box that is my existence.

But the Cracker Jacks themselves are not too bad either.

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You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them. —Satchel Paige

As always, if you'd like to be free, free at last! from this drivel, send me a cease and desist note and your wish will be granted.

It's just that easy. And how many things in life are that easy with the assurance of a positive out come.

A chicken in every pot. Shooting fish in a barrel. Easy peasy. Nothing to it. A walk in the park. It's not rocket science.

It is easy to get everything you want, provided you first learn to do without the things you cannot get. —Elbert Hubbard