I had a lovely and busy weekend. Friday night my brother, sister-in-law and I drove up to Oroville to catch a casino show by Curtis. He sounded good, the band sounded good and it was the first time I'd seen him since his miraculous liver transplant last September. (Long-time readers will recall that he was diagnosed with liver cancer in the Spring of '06 and not given long to live. Thank you again to all of you who sent prayers and positive thoughts in his direction.) We had a good time and danced several times. Dancing (something I love) has become a rare occurrence for me. At one point during the show I made my way to the ladies room and an older gentleman sitting by the entrance smiled and clapped when I walked by, "I like the way you dance." Guess I have enough little moves left to impress the Early Bird Special crowd... We visited with Curtis after the show and then spent a little time in the casino. My brother went off to play Texas Hold 'Em, giving Chelle and I each a $100 bill to play slot machines. I wish I could say I parlayed that into some hefty winnings, but alas, I walked out with about $82, but we had a good time. Chelle and I hit the bathroom once more before hitting the road and when we met Marty by the entrance, he was standing next to a lone slot machine with an attractive blonde woman who was maybe in her late 30's. Her machine was open and an employee was standing there with a calculator in hand. She'd won a good-sized jackpot and he was calculating her winnings. Marty told her he thought she'd won some real money. "Really? I was playing $5 at a time...do you think maybe I won, like, $700 or something?" "Noooo...I think you won a LOT more than that. I think you might have won $10,000 or $11,000." "WHAT?!" Sure enough, the employee punched a few numbers in the calculator and her winnings were a little over $11,000. She put a $20 bill into a slot machine, played it for 5 minutes...and won 11 grand. She was there alone and was obviously overjoyed: "I'm gonna pay off all my bills!" We all high-fived her and walked out into the night wearing big smiles on her behalf.
By the time I dropped them and drove home, it was 2 am. But I was up early and when I walked outside to water the lawn, I discovered that sometime in the wee hours of the morning, someone had ditched a stolen bike on our curb. I reported it to the Police Department and the dispatcher said she'd report it Vehicle Abatement, but that that enforcement officer only works part-time. She said if it was still there by Monday morning, he'd pick it up. It was gone by yesterday morning, so someone else grabbed it. It had been ditched with the seat missing, which is why I figured it was stolen.
I watered the lawn and then drove to Dixon to watch Ciara's swim meet. She swam well, but the club they were competing against was really tough. But we had a nice time just hanging out. A new shop in downtown Dixon that's a combo ice cream shop and deli set up right next to us to take lunch orders, so we had a nice deli lunch delivered right to us which was a treat.
I took a drive through the country on the way home. It was a gorgeous, very warm day and I zoomed through fields with the windows down and blues blasting on the radio. I stopped at the thrift store when I got back to town and picked up a few things. The thrift store has become like yard sales used to be for me in Portland. I love stopping in there to see what new stuff they have. It's a small, but good one and it benefits the SPCA. I've scored several great finds the past few weeks. When I got home, I putzed around a bit and then laid down on the couch to watch the end of Glory and dozed for a bit until J called. They were in New Mexico on their way home; he was hoping to be home by 2:00 Sunday afternoon. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had junk food, so Saturday evening I splurged and drove through In-and-Out and ate it while watching Stranger Than Fiction (which I loved and knew J would like, too).
Yesterday I was up early, excited at the prospect of Jeffrey's return. He called me about 7. They'd dropped the road manager in L.A. and were heading up I-5. They'd been driving non-stop since they'd left Colorado on Saturday morning. He would be back earlier than expected, but there'd been a change in the route back and I'd need to drive down to Fairfield to meet him. He suggested since I'd already have driven down I-80 a bit that we just keep going and head into the City to do something fun. I said, "Well, gee, we should just go to the game." He didn't know which game I was referring to. It was the Bay Series--the cross-bay baseball rivalry between the S.F. Giants and the Oakland A's. It was the final game of the series and Oakland was looking to sweep. They were playing in S.F. He loved that idea, but I warned him that the game was probably sold out. But, miraculously, within minutes I had purchased tickets online. So that's what we did. I met them at a gas station in Fairfield...he switched all of his gear and luggage from the van to our car...and we drove to the City. But, good lord, the traffic! We got hung up in horrible traffic on the approach to the Bay Bridge and again trying to park at the stadium. But it was our first time at AT&T Park and we were just happy to be there...and mostly just really happy to see each other. We hit the snack bar before grabbing our seats, so after the horrible traffic ordeal and walking to the stadium and grabbing food, it was the beginning of the 3rd inning by the time we sat down. The Bay Series is fun because whether they play in S.F. or Oakland, the visiting team always has nearly as many fans in attendance as the home team. It's all in good fun. Our section was an equal mix of Giants and A's fans. The game was scoreless until the 8th inning when Marco Scutaro hit a one-run homer for the A's. They scored another run in the top of the 9th, and in storybook fashion, Barry Bonds came up to the plate in the bottom of the 9th with a runner on 1st, looking to tie the game with a homer. Everyone stood up for that, but he flied out and the next hitter was quickly out and the game was over. AT&T is a beautiful park in a beautiful setting. But jeez louise! How can people afford to go to ballgames?! J wanted to do something fun to celebrate his return home, so the ballgame was a big splurge for us. But look what it cost us: 2 tickets purchased online (Bay Series games are considered 'premium' games so the tickets were an extra $14/each plus all of the assorted processing fees) - $119...parking - $30 (THIRTY DOLLARS!)...2 hot dogs, 1 large nachos (to share) and two sodas - $26.50. Add $10 for gas and $8.00 for bridge tolls (down and back) and our grand total to enjoy 7 innings of that ballgame was $193.50. But you know what? It was worth every penny, 'cause it was fun and we were just really, really happy to be together and doing something fun. ;)
That's Bonds swinging below, but he grounded out on that one. Barry didn't have a good day--he let two balls drop into center field, but he did redeem himself with one good catch at the wall. Those old 42-year-old legs aren't moving too fast these days.
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