Day Two of the Spring Training birthday vacation road trip. Today at the Angels’ home stadium for spring training, Tempe Diablo.
Emphasis for the day was “Diablo”!
It got up to 104° and we were in full sunlight for three-plus hours, the Anvil of God!
It was crowded up on the concourse in the shade – not so much out in the sun. Mad dogs, Englishmen, and Angels fans, apparently.
The good news is that we won again, beating the White Sox 4-3. Sweet!!
Filed under LA Angels, Photography, Travel
And winning! Well, the Angels got a nice win, turned 70. It was a group effort. We all had to do our part.
The dangerous, extreme heat across the Southwest messed a bit with our plans – we originally were going to have the baseball game in Surprise at 1:00, then go down to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa afterward. But all MLB games got moved to 6:00 to avoid killing anyone (fans or players or coaches or umpires) in 108°F (44.2°C) conditions.
So dinner was a baseball hot dog, soda, and ice cream. The fundamentals!
Surprise Stadium, spring training home of both the Texas Rangers and KC Royals was lovely. No lines for food or drink all might, except for the ice cream, which had a line over 20 minutes long.9
8° still at 19:45. One ice cream stand. You do the math. But really good ice cream!
It was nice to see the Angels come back late and win, a couple of kids with no names on their uniforms came through to tie it in the 8th and then go ahead in the 9th. ⚾️ They probably still won’t make the big club next week, but they might end up in Salt lake City instead of Rancho Cucamonga, and come September, who knows??
70 isn’t so bad so far!
As for the ‘do, I got a “cool hair!” from a pre-tween who was immediately shooshed by his mother. At one of the AZ rest stops yesterday I got a double take from a macho, stud muffin, manly man truck driver on the way back to his parked rig, followed by a stare, sideye, and what I assumed was an overtly homophobic sneer and snarl. (I waved 👋🏽 HI!! 💋) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
So many miles, so many rest stops.
Outside of the San Gabriel Valley but before Palm Springs on Interstate 10, I found that the winter rains have been a source of massive greenery on the hills.
Out in the Mojave Desert, the mountains are sharp, barren, and raw. You might as well be on Mars! Except, of course, for the air and tumbleweeds and 100°+ temperatures…
Once we got into Arizona there was a huge change. California’s rest stops suck. Old, beat up, filthy, or simply closed. Arizona’s are much better, both in design and in maintenance standards.
Sunset finally caught us about 90 minutes out of Phoenix.
You hit a certain age and you need to automatically add 30% to the Google Maps travel time since if you’re smart you’ll NEVER pass a rest stop. I’m there!
Filed under Photography, Travel
Nana’s garden in Vermont, June 2004. We would have been back there for my 30th high school reunion and visiting her up in Barre at the time.
So much color!
Filed under Flowers, Photography, Travel
It was 42 years ago last night that the Northridge earthquake woke us up in the middle of the night. We were only about five miles from the epicenter, but we escaped with minimal damage (two of the cinder block walls separating our back yard from the neighbors’ back yards went down and had to be demolished and replaced) and a lot of books and dishes and games and clothes to pick up and put back on shelves.
I thought that I might find some pictures from then, but I didn’t have a digital camera then and I’ve only digitized a small handful of my film archives. One of those projects for “someday,” i.e., when I retire and have the time, i.e., six months after I’m dead.
So from 32 years ago, not 42, here are a couple of Vermont summer pictures. I’ve got lots of them in that class, with high school reunions every five years and family who lived there for decades.
The Connecticut River valley from a rest stop near the top of Mount Ascutney, New Hampshire on the other side, stretching off to the east.
An extremely bright roadside flower (coen flower, maybe?) from the rest stop.
Filed under Flowers, Photography, Travel
Because who couldn’t use a tiny little reminder that beauty still exists in the world, especially in light of the horrors going on all around us?
All images from Brussels Cathedral.
Filed under Art, Photography, Travel
My brain was empty, awaiting imprinting or guidance. I ran across a social media thread full of stained glass…
I had stumbled into the National Basilica in Brussels by accident.
Since our hotel was near the city center, my strategy was to get on the subway and go out a dozen stops or so and then make my way back, stopping to see churches, parks, sculpture gardens, architecturally interesting buildings, etm.
This was near the station where I got off the subway and came up, and it was open. At least, no one yelled at me for wandering around like The Ugly American and taking pictures. (I was actually very polite and well behaved.)
The stained glass offerings were pretty straightforward, nothing too abstract or spectacular. But all very bright and lovely.
I found the sunbeams coming in through the dome windows, piercing down into the darkness below.
I’m glad that I stopped!
Filed under Art, Photography, Travel
A statue in front of City Hall in a small city in the Czech Republic, Pardubice. 2016 I was there with my Pepperdine EMBA class, to visit the Foxconn computer factory there.
Kings, Cardinals, Bishops, cherubs, who knows what else. An article I found on the top twelve things to see in Pardubice includes City Hall, the bright white building in the background, but doesn’t mention anything about the statue in front. The “new” City Hall building dates to the 1890’s so one could assume that the statue is of a similar age.
As much as I would truly love to get back to Prague (and also see Paris, Rome, Vienna, Athens, Barcelona, and a couple dozen other European cities), I’m not sure that a repeat trip to Pardubice is high on the priority list.
Filed under Art, Photography, Travel
Tomorrow’s a day off, a holiday?
Yeah. Right. And I’ve got this bridge to sell you.
Maybe I’ll at least sleep in late. Dreaming about being here, if I’m lucky, and not having semi-conscious stress dreams about Excel files and reports that don’t balance.
Sleep well, y’all!
Filed under Photography, Travel
Brussels, Cathedral of St Michael
I always will remember how the final, desperate, last chance, for all the marbles weapon that the humans put together against the aliens in “Footfall” was named Michael after the avenging archangel.
Never an avenging archangel of death around when you really need one.
Filed under Art, Photography, Travel
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 