Atlanta Braves - Until Next Year!

 

The Atlanta Braves baseball season is over.  In the Wild-Card playoff last night, the Braves lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.  The final score was 6-3 and possibly could have been closer.  In the 8th inning with two on base, Andrelton Simmons hit what should have been an easy pop-up, instead the ball fell between the shortstop and the left fielder, which should have been ruled an error, in my opinion.  Instead, it was ruled an infield-fly and the batter was out.  The Braves manager, Freddie Gonzalez, came out to argue the call and later, he filed that the game was now being played under protest, which was denied.  The really bad thing about it: just after the call, SOME fans started throwing things upon the baseball field,  cans, bottles, cups, and most likely, anything these people could get their hands on. There was a delay of game for 19 minutes while the ground crew picked it all up.  Such an awful thing, and Joe Simpson, who is one of the Atlanta announcers was appalled and let us know that not only was this debris on the field, but it was also hitting the people sitting on the first few rows of the stadium.  A true fan of baseball would never do this.  You always want your team to win and you hate it when a bad call might possibly affect the outcome of the game but one should never use violence and I call throwing things onto the field a violent act. Someone could have been seriously hurt.  I would like to point out that I remember games at Shea Stadium when the Braves would play the Mets, that debris would sometimes be thrown on the field but other than that, I have never seen anything like this.  (And the Mets fans would chant "Larry, Larry" in a very jeering and mocking way when Chipper Jones would come up to bat, Larry being Chipper's real name, and what did Chipper do?  He named one of his sons "Shea"!
That's Chipper for you!)

 

It was sad to end the baseball season this way in Atlanta.  It was the last season for Chipper Jones, who has been with the Braves for his entire career which is most unusual in the major leagues.  Typically, Chipper Jones did not blame the loss of the game on the infield fly rule call. "That one play didn't cost us the game.  Three errors cost us the game".  Exactly so. I will miss not only his excellent playing but also his straight talk and knowledge of baseball.

 It has been a wonderful season and the Braves have had some amazing come-from-behind victories.  Last night, it was not meant to be.  You win some, you lose some...and some get rained out!  Until next Spring when I can hear that wonderful sound of the bat hitting the ball and you know in your heart it is a home run, until I can cheer the manager while he is arguing a call with "Freddy, Freddy, Freddy", until I can chop along with the crowd, until I can call my Dad and we can watch the game together on TV, until then I will be waiting with great anticipation for a new baseball season with the Atlanta Braves!  GO BRAVES!

Flight Of The Butterflies

  There is a wonderful movie that I heard about on NPR radio and you may find the story here

 

The movie is "Flight of the Butterflies" and is about the Monarch butterfly and the fantastic migration of the Monarchs to Mexico.  The story of how the Monarch butterflies were found in Mexico is almost as startling as the butterflies themselves.  A Canadian, Dr. Fred Urquhart, who from a very early age had a great interest in butterflies, ran ads in newspapers in Mexico in 1973 asking for volunteers to find the Monarch butterflies.   A couple answered the ad, a Mexican woman, Carlita Aguado and her American husband, Kenneth Brugger.  They were young and obviously energetic since they went around by jeep, motor home and horses.  It must have been quite the moment when they discovered the Monarch butterflies by the hundreds of MILLIONS.  The British director, Mike Slee, has made a 3D IMAX film about this story and it is in IMAX theaters now.  

How did Carlita Aguado describe her feelings after viewing this movie?   This is her reply:
"After, what, 36 years? I can say wonderful, fantastic and glorious — and whatever other words, but I cannot describe the feeling. It was magical," Aguado says.

My feeling, even when I see one lone Monarch butterfly on top Arabia Mountain, is also the same...magical. A photo or a movie is nice but there is nothing like seeing this right in front of you, in all its fluttery, breathtakingly marvelous beauty!

Sailing Alone Around The World

 

I just finished reading the best book today and when I did, I had tears in my eyes, it was just that good.  The book is "Sailing Alone Around The World" by Joshua Slocum.  In the year of 1895, at the age of 51, Joshua Slocum left Boston and sailed around the world in a 36 foot sloop, Spray, that he had rebuilt himself.  It took him three years to complete this journey, a distance of 46,000 miles and he did this all alone.  The book was published in 1900 and has never been out of print since that time.  And for good reason!  Casually but carefully and with an understatement that is astonishing, Joshua Slocum writes of all that he experienced on his journey around the world.  At times, you will laugh at his experiences (one of the best gifts given to him on the journey was carpet tacks, which was worth more than gold ...you will have to read the book to find out why that is so!) and other times you will be amazed at the stories of pirates, fierce storms, coral reefs, and the treacherous passage through the Straits of Magellan!  How refreshing to read such a straightforward and honest account of an extraordinary journey.   With all his adventures and all the people that he meets it seems like fiction, almost like the movie "Forest Gump", and yet, this story is all true!

I know nothing about sailing or anything about the sea, but I found his story to be absolutely fascinating.  From the very first page, I was completely smitten with the charm of the writing. In describing Nova Scotia, the land of his birth, to the fond description of his father, Joshua Slocum was already someone I knew I would like, and I hadn't even set foot on the Spray yet!  There is so much to take away from this book, and I don't mean just about how to sail a boat.  There is sound good counsel that we in this computer age of the 21st century should learn from him...

"Keep on the windward side and take the combers end on".

"Even while the storm raged at its worst, my ship was wholesome and noble."

"To succeed, however, in anything at all, one should go understandingly about his work and be prepared for every emergency."


There is so much to enjoy in this book and perhaps I had tears in my eyes after I read this book not just because my journey around the world was over, but because I knew that Captain Joshua Slocum would have some serious legal problems ahead for him (and I seriously doubt that he was guilty of what he was accused of) and also, that he would sail again but would disappear at sea in 1909.

 The great joy about reading:  I can sail on the Spray again and again with Captain Slocum, as often as I choose to re-read this book.  And you know I will!

And why is it that "Moby Dick" is given for students to read in high school and not "Sailing Alone Around The World"?  I just don't understand it...

Let me leave you with the final words from Captain Joshua Slocum...

"And now, without having wearied my friends, I hope, with detailed scientific accounts, theories or deductions, I will only say that I have endeavored to tell just the story of the adventure itself.  This, in my own poor way, having been done, I now moor ship, weather- bitt cables, and leave the sloop, Spray, for the present, safe in port."

A Monarch Butterfly, Just Passing Through

 

A Monarch Butterfly!

 

What a beauty, the wings are like stained glass. You do know about the Monarch butterfly, don't you?  On the West coast, they migrate to the Southern coast of California and on the East Coast, they fly all the way to Mexico, up to 3000 miles!  One decided to stop at Arabia Mountain late in the day on Saturday, Richard and I took photos of this beautiful butterfly just before dark.  It made me think: How late have you ever seen a butterfly?  I can't think how late in the day I have seen them but certainly not at dusk! If you were flying over all these beautiful yellow daisies, wouldn't you want to stop too?  Richard and I were so happy to see this butterfly, we have only seen pictures of it, we have never seen one in Georgia!  We stalked it for quite a while trying to take photos, but all were blurry but this last one was one that I took and it turned out to be the clearest of them all. (This is a very FAST flying butterfly, trust me!) The monarch butterfly larvae only eat milkweed and I have read that there are folks who are trying to grow milkweed in Georgia so as to have monarch butterflies in this state.  If you would like to read more about the monarch butterfly you may read about them here. And also, here.

The Monarch butterfly knew a good meal when she saw one! And Richard and I think it might be a female from the photos that we have studied.   If anyone knows for sure, we would love to know if we are correct.

I was most excited to see some wonderful photos of a Monarch butterfly from Jim's blog from Nova Scotia.  Please have a look at his photos at his blog: Ocean Breezes  It was a cooler day in Canada and I think the Monarch didn't move quite as much as the one that we saw in hot Georgia!  We still have our hummingbirds, we even saw them today during a very rainy day in Georgia, we think we must have gotten at least 2 inches of rain, so no Arabia Mountain for us today.  Never mind, we saw a Monarch on top of the mountain on Saturday, and she was quite majestic!

I Want The Red Truck!

 

Something made me think of this TV ad and I found it here for you.  This really makes me laugh.  "It's a piece of junk" and the boy's expression is priceless!

 

 

 This was a very busy day for me today but I still managed to get to Arabia Mountain with Richard just before the sun went down.  Too cloudy for a nice sunset but it is always a pleasure to see these lovely yellow daisies. 

A painting, I tell you, a painting...that is what this looks like to me.  I find this incredibly beautiful.  It astounds me that so little attention is paid to this beautiful wildflower. 
Hopefully,  I will be able to visit all your lovely blogs soon.  In the meantime, hope everyone has a lovely weekend.   

Arabia Mountain Yellow Daisies/Sunset

 

 

Note to Yellow Daisy Lovers:  The Yellow Daisies are at their best during the first part of September at Stone Mountain.  They are equally as beautiful at Arabia Mountain, but it is later, more like the last part of September.  These photos were taken on Sept. 23th and Sept. 25th at Arabia Mountain.

You can still see all the evidence of the quarrying done on the mountain but nature, blessed lovely nature, is coming back..  Yellow Daisies should not really be capitalized but this is my blog and I say they deserve capitals, and they shall have them!

Richard took all of these photos but I must tell you that I asked him to take this one, with the blue Slender day flower amongst the Yellow Daisies! 

 

This photo reminds me of a painting by one of the Impressionists, Monet perhaps? 

 

 

 

This pine tree was in very little soil and had partially fallen over.  It was still alive though, we need to learn from it! Can you see the lines in the rocks on the left? That shows where the rock was drilled so as to crack it along those lines for the rock to be quarried. 

 

 

 

Sunsets are not so easy to see with all the trees that we have in Georgia but on top of Arabia Mountain...

 

Hope you enjoyed the Yellow Daisies and the sunset at Arabia Mountain.  We truly did!

 

Oh, and I asked Richard if he could get a photo of the Yellow Daisies and the sunset in the same shot.  Please tell me that you love this photograph as much as I do!   I think it is stunning! Well, I think they are all stunning to tell you the truth.  Is it just me or is Richard a great photographer or what?

The Art Of Memory

It is just a matter of time until I type a post and someone will leave me a comment and say, "You know, you did a post saying this exact thing on ...(whatever date).   What I mean is...I can't remember things and I have had this problem even as a child.  Of course, now that I am...ahem, getting on in years shall we say, I think that the memory thing is getting even worse. 
For example, in the photos above, have I shown you the lighthouse at Beachy Head?  I took this photo on one of those days in June and it was a very cool rainy day and as you can see, there wasn't one other person around.  Leaving Richard in the Beachy Head Pub with his friends, I told him that I simply had to go outside and take some photos.  The nice chaplains were looking at me very carefully but when they saw me hook my arm around the railing before I snapped these photos, I think that made them breathe easier and know that this was one gal who was planning on sticking around!  I don't mean to make light of it, Beachy Head is one of the top suicide spots in the country.  There are also numbers posted for suicide prevention.  It is a sad fact that this is a place where people end their lives.

There, can you see the pier in the distance? We could walk down there from here, but we will wait for better weather, don't you think?

 

All my life I have relied on little rhymes and songs to help me remember things and I know that this is called a mnemonic device.  I prefer to think of this as "the art of memory".

 

You may read about it here. It's a bit too complicated for me.   Just give me something that rhymes, and it will be in my brain forever, that's all I know.

 

 

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November.

All the rest have thirty-one,

Excepting February alone,

And that has twenty-eight days clear,

And twenty-nine in each leap year.

Of course, everyone knows that rhyme. (And if you know a child who does NOT know it, then what are you waiting for, teach it to him! And there are some adults that could learn it too.)
Here is the interesting thing to me, that rhyme is from the 15th century! And that version is like this...

 

Thirtey days has November,

Aprile, June, and September:

Of twyecescore-eightt is but eine,

And all the remnante be thrycescore-eine.

O´course Leap yare comes an´pynes,

Ev'rie foure yares, gote it ryghth.

An´twyecescore-eight is but twyecescore-nyne.

The literal translation of this medieval version would be:

Thirty days has November,

April, June, and September:

Of twenty-eight is but one,

And all the remnant is thirty-one.

Of course Leap year comes and stays,

Every four years got it right,

And twenty-eight is but twenty-nine.

Earthbound is a song by Rodney Crowell that is several years old now but I think it fits this post quite nicely.