Showing posts with label Yankees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yankees. Show all posts



§ Quilting, and drawing, and government..oh my!!


  • Watched a video this week that I wanted to see in the theater a long time ago but never did. "Take the Lead" starring Antonio Banderas. According to the beginning credits, this was based on a true story. About kids, troubled kids, who became a goal of sorts for the dance teacher [Banderas] to help them out by teaching them to dance. It was a typical movie; very predictable, but still a good family movie. It is more about the kids of "Harlem" in NYC, but the story, the story is also about the teacher...a dance instructor. Wikipedia has this:
      Pierre Dulaine (born 23 April 1944)[1] is a well-known ballroom dancer and dance instructor. He invented the Dulaine method of teaching dance. He also developed Dancing Classrooms, a social development program for 5th grade children that uses ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of the children and their families. Notably, his early works with children was fictionalized in the film Take the Lead, starring Antonio Banderas as Pierre Dulaine.
    Pierre Dulaine being the teacher of course. The DVD was found in the $5 bin at Walmart. It'll be one we trade in, but it was worth watching a one time.
  • It went like this...:::crash:::
    "Oh man-n-n-n!" "It's probably busted." "Yep! I need a new one...."
    Bud inquires: "What happened now?"
    "The blender just fell onto the floor after I washed it by hand!!" "The base of the pitcher shattered...look at all the pieces on the floor."
    As Bud helps pick up the shards [even flew across the room near the garage door into the litter box]...smirking, he asks: "How did that happen?"
    "It just fell!"
    "You should watch more carefully what you're doing Anni."

    After the mess was cleaned up, Bud started to clean his coffee pot carafe since there was hot soapy water in the sink from my cleaning chore.

    :::bang:::

    "Dammit"
    I come back into the kitchen, "What happened now?"
    "I hit the sink rim with the glass pot, and it cracked."
    In disbelief, I thought right away, "Irish Luck", but I think I was quoted saying "You should watch more carefully what you're doing..."

    We had to make a trip to buy a new coffee pot and a new food blender before the next day's breakfast hour!!
  • Bought the batting for my quilt project. Pieced together a back side for the quilt. I added a hand cut witch's hat on the back quilt piece. On the panel with the little girl witch that instigated this whole project were some extras on the side of the panel...some Jack o Lanterns, bats, and a crooked, twisted witch's hat....I cut out the witch hat, one of the jack-o-lanterns, and pinned it on my back panel and 'appliqued' it with the machine in orange. All the front blocks are sewn, the batting is on the floor all stretched out...will begin the sewing after a few days' quilting hiatus. I find it better, if I take a day or two away, the project doesn't seem so demanding. Besides, working on the floor getting this all together takes a toll on the back muscles I forgot I had!!
  • During the days away from working on the quilt, I finished another bird sketch that I started a couple weeks ago after I drew the woodpecker. This time it's an American Redstart. I remember the first time I saw one in the wild. I was walking around the Audubon Society's preserved Oak Motte on the island near Packery Channel, and I saw this black and orange small bird fly from the outer branches deep into the motte. It never came back out. I didn't know what bird species it was as I had never seen the likes of it before!! For longer than a year's time I never saw one, again, 'til this past Spring!! I got several photos of the male [they're the black and orange ones] along with his mate...she is grey and yellow! Anyway, I wanted to draw one. They are beautiful. Of the warbler family I believe, and very flitty, busy, and one of the most difficult birds to photograph; never staying still long enough to get a proper focus on the camera. The male is so very handsome with its dark black plumage on its backside with bright red-orange in its tail feathers and partial breast...while the belly is near a pure white. When courting, the male and female fan out their remarkably beautiful tail feathers to display their breeding colors. Here is a link to the Ornithology website of bird IDs. And, here is my completed sketch [obviously I added a bit of red-orange colored pencil to my sketch this time 'round to match some of its coloration] ...

  • Speaking of witches-------I've been waiting on pins and needles all summer, actually an entire year from last August...waiting for August to arrive at Tuesday Morning! Each year, this store, after putting the Spring and Summer goodies on an unbelievable mark-down, make room for their Autumn, Winter [Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas] items to go up on their shelves. Yes, I know...some of you think it's way too early for this. I don't! And I'm one of those that shows up at the store front waiting patiently for the opening hour. [well, I'm not that much of a nut-case, but awfully close] Anyway, I ended up at the store early one morning as it's across the street from a Walmart [and yes, Shelly, these both are located in the Staples Street construction area! LOL] where I had to get some cat litter. I walked in and saw no Autumn stuff...I was in shock...nothing in the front of the store that even pertained to Fall or Halloween!! Ack!!! But, as I turned the corner to the aisle they usually display them, the witches called my name!!! "Anni!! So glad to see you again." I bought four. I tellya, last year we went in the middle of August and the witches were either sold out, or not much to choose from: The early bird........... I got pictures of my quad witch group, but I'll refrain from postin' them so soon.
  • Any baseball fans out there? What do you think of the NYY's fiasco with Alex Rodriguez? All I know is, the Yankees really suck this year!! What happened? They really should just kick A-Rod and his ultra-ego out of baseball for life and get on with playing ball!!!
  • By the way, for more than just a few months, I've been following the civil rights movement of our government/president -our American right to bear arms for protection of our property and lives...and I hafta admit...I'm all for this:

    The national movement called "Come and Take it America".

    Those who agree with taking our gun rights away should remember:
    1. Guns set us free from the English Monarchy [Revolutionary War}
    2. The war of 1812, and the Spanish American War
    3. Guns set Texas free from Mexico...[The Alamo]
    4. Guns freed slaves from bondage
    5. Guns set us free from: The threat of Hitler, Japan, Middle East, etc. etc.
    6. The use of a gun [locally] protected a young boy from being shot by intruders that murdered his parents in a prominent neighborhood...not just the poor where violence is a given and oftentimes wrong. But this is not about violence and gun violence...it's about the freedom to bear guns, not to have that right taken away because of what happened in Colorado, Texas, Arizona, California or any given area of America...it's about the right to carry a weapon for protection.
    7. I admit, I'm scared to death of all the wrongs done with guns in the hands of some...The shootings in Houston and the colleges and universities just recently where my son teaches political science...a subject that could easily instigate an act of violence and random shootings. But, my son is a proud American, as am I, and our fore-fathers gave us this right to protect ourselves * in other words the 2nd amendment adopted in the 1700s is all about this "...a right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state..."
  • Taking away the right to bear arms/owning guns is NOT going to stop mass killings!! Look what happened with airplanes...9/11...is an airplane now considered a weapon then? And if I may, for those of us that know killing is wrong, I ask: What about all the killing by the hand of God? i.e., In Genesis 19:28 [turning Lot's wife into a pillar of salt] - the entire city of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis - then there is, by the hand of God and his fire, hundreds of people burned [Numbers 16:35]- oh and flooding; killing many people AND animals ---to me, even with the commandment thou shall not kill ---seems a bit "do as I say not as I do". Murder and mayhem occurs in history [even the Good Book], fiction and non-fiction...it's a fact of life, and part of human nature---and it's not ALWAYS from the actions and repercussions from a gun.
  • Now, to abate the debatable here from my bill of rights fragment, I wanted to leave you on a much more fun frag.... Scenes from Goose Island near Capano Bay, in South Texas...the beautiful sky and the 'white hot' sunshine of summer, the sea coast, the shadows, the cooler temps of a shaded pathway and park bench...


  • § ...goodbye Big Puma!!






    1. Was your dad named after anyone? Ya, somebody in history with the title "The Great".

    2. What do you think is the minimal age to get married? Well, 'age' has nothing to do with marriage...it's more 'maturity'. I've seen some that are more mature at teenage years than some 30 year-olds.

    3. What’s the longest time that you‘ve been involved with the same person? Over 60 years....myself!

    4. What actor/actress do you consider hot at the moment? Leo. Johnny. Oh...so many.

    5. What is you favorite album by a band? Oldies but goodies like GnR, Aerosmith...the new ones don't faze me one bit.

    6. What is your favorite album by an individual artist? Too hard to name any album...I guess it's Rod Stewart's "It Had to Be You".

    7. What is something that you‘d rather be a bit dirty? Dirty? As in demeanor or soiled as in DIRT? There's pay-dirt, there's dirty laundry, there's dirty stories/jokes. I think I'll go with dirty jokes. I like 'em.

    8. What was the last TV show that you watched? Not a 'show' per sé ---FSN's Houston Astro's game.

    9. How many people have you met from the blogosphere? Who are they? Let's see, Melli from Insanity Prevails, Amber Star, Barb, ...at the time I met these each at individual times, none of us were bloggers tho...oh heck, several.

    10. What's your philosophy on life? To stay alive 'til the end. What kinda question is that?!!

    11. Do you think prescription drugs are over prescribed? Ha...I'm always ranting about the over use of drugs and prescriptions!!! That's all the dr.s can think of these days, instead of actually working out a healthy routine...they'd rather pump drugs into us and make them look good!

    12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest? I'll never tell!!

    13. What is your favorite memory in the last year? I can't remember last week, even.

    14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure? F-O-O-D!

    15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you: I roar...I am woman!!

    16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they? Be thinner, be richer, be younger. In other words, sh!t in one hand and wish in the other....see which fills up faster.

    17. Who would you want to get together with and make a cake? Well, with Chocolate it'd have to be....ummmmm, Denzel...and with Vanilla it'd have to be Joh----OH wait, I see what you mean now, and actual CAKE?!!! Okay, scratch my answer. Move on.

    18. Which country is your spiritual home? Need you ask. I live in my own little world, so it'd be MY OWN.

    19. What is your big weakness? See #14.

    20. Do you think Judd Corizan is a good person? Ummmmm, who?

    21. What was your best/favorite subject at school? English [Grammar AND Lit!] Then math and science. I excelled in all three.

    22. Describe your accent: Mid-western....no, actually, MINE...my accent.

    23. If you could change anything about yourself, would you? Probably. Would you? Of course. It's only human to want something you don't have.

    24. What do you wear to sleep? Stuff.

    25. What is your favorite casual outfit to wear? Shorts & T shirt

    26. Do you use cigarettes or alcohol? Ya.

    27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!) Let me ask first....are the twins involved?

    28. Rate the memes that you play generally. Use any scale or just in order. I look forward to Watery Wednesday. Naturally. I live so close to water...it's everywhere I look!




    - - -<><><>- - -

    For us Houston Astros' followers, we're going to have to get used to the idea that our 'regular' first baseman is now playing for the American League. It will not be the same not having him standing on first base when the team is on the field. His last days playing for the Astros, he went out in a grand way tho...a grand slam! Yes, he has been in a rut for the last few months, and yes, he did have a 'no trade' clause in his contract...but asked for the clause to be waived. His words were "if it'll better the team, I'm willing to be traded". Okay...all well and good. At least the interview came across as very diplomatic of him. But, I still can't help thinking in the back of my mind that since the new manager came in for the season, the old players that have played for the Houston team their entire career, just didn't like the new layout of the manager, the way things were headed. I do have to agree tho, that a team with players in a rut and ones that haven't showed their best for such a long time need to be traded and young blood with more enthusiasm for the game and the team perhaps can begin to prosper. This season, the Astros have been near the bottom of the standings for the league's division. That tells us fans, along with the owners and franchise, things should be changed. Okay, enough home plate umpiring from me....Lance Berkman is now a Yankee Designated Hitter. Rumor has it he'll continue to wear his number...number 17. I understand that once in a while he'll also take Teixeira's position when Girardi decides to give Mark a day off. I've always watched the Yankees' games as often as television in Texas allows. It IS my favorite American League team. And besides, one of my favorite pitchers [another who grew up in Texas and former Astro, Andy Pettitte] will be his cohort and teammate. We fans also lost another 'star' pitcher...Roy Oswalt, last week. I won't really miss him as much as Berkman. Ya, he was good when he was good....but lately, he too has been not even close to par in his winning ways. I think, too, he was discontented with the new manager....you see, my way of thinking, there musta been a lot of disagreements lately...all of a sudden the veteran players ask to be traded?! Oftentimes, it's never given to us straight...always being politically correct and quite artful within the verbal and written interviews we hear and read...but, hey...when it comes about in such a short time after some new guy comes in and manages the team....what else could we think?

    - - -

    Lance Berkman was lovingly nicknamed "The Puma" by his devout fans. The photo used here was borrowed from online Google Image Search...no infringement intended.






    POSTED: Sunday, August 1st, 2010
    6 A.M.



    § ...it's Flag Day! Fly high, fly free!!



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    Duranta Blossom
    After the
    Sprinkler System
    turned off...
    water droplet
    from the bud
    and on
    the flower petals!!














    - - -<><><>- - -



    I'M TALKIN' BASEBALL....



    I haven't talked much baseball this season so far. There really isn't much to say about the Houston Astros. Pffft....pathetic team this year. I just have a feeling it's about egos...isn't it always? Thing is, they have a new manager this time around. I don't know what to think of him...I can't get a handle on his ways. He seems a bit aloof in the dug out...it's difficult to really know what the players think of him. I don't think I like him...but as I say, I can't get a true feeling on what he's doing with the team. Of course, I'm always the couch umpire and or coach....just ranting on and on about plays and calls and players. I figure some will disagree with me when I say they shoulda traded Michael Bourn [the center fielder] instead of the shortstop...Matsui. But again, whadda I know? It seems to me that Michael Bourn is only in the game to steal bases...he hasn't been worth a crap for weeks.

    This week and into the next is interleague games. That means American League and National League teams are pitted against each other in games. This weekend was a special treat for me...to watch my favorite American League team...the Yankees. Altho, I'm a huge fan of National League...always have been...I do love the Yankees. For what they stand in baseball history. And of course...Derek Jeter!! LOLOLOL The manager for the Yankees isn't bad either. Much better lookin' that Torre by a home run!! [snort] Oh ya, where was I?

    Astros vs. Yankees.

    Well, let me introduce you to the two most hilarious color commentators I've listened to in ages...for the Astros....they follow the team to their games. J.D. and 'cohort' -Bill Brown are really like the cherry on top of a sundae...it wouldn't be complete without them; especially J. D. J.D. short for Jim Deshaies. He has not only surpassed Dierker [the past commentator of long time gone], he has perhaps surpassed every other analyst in baseball!!! A former starting pitcher...for the Yankees and then went on to be the rookie pitcher for Astros....His first full season was with the 1986 Houston Astros. Still considered a rookie, he posted 12 wins, good for the Astros' rookie record, later broken by Roy Oswalt in 2001. He still holds the major league record for most at-bats without an extra base hit, with 373.

    So yesterday, after the previous day game and the Yankees' catcher Posada hitting a grand slam batting right handed...Posada hit another grand slam against the Astros on Sunday!! Batting left handed this time. But one inning took forever to end...it lasted over 30 minutes. And the comedian comes out in J.D. then....to keep us from getting bored. He's so good at it. For instance one game the duo was following, it was a very very long game--I can't recall just how many extra innings it went into...but it was high teens...as the camera panned out to the stadium to show us how emptied out it was...there was one lone soul in the middle of the seats. As the camera zoomed in on him, J.D. noticed the man had a shaggy beard. The first words out of his mouth was "When the game began this guy was clean shaven." Well of course it was really funny at the time. Then, during yesterday's game...it rained heavily. As with all interleague games they can't call the game and reschedule...either they play IN the rain, or call the game over...the team ahead at that time is declared the winner. They can't reschedule interleague games because of the difficulty with the teams' schedules and such...it makes it impossible. Okay...so, picture this: 30+ minute 1/2 inning.....2 out...pitches galore...either high foul balls keeping the play going on and on. The two begin joking around....the cameramen show the stands and the fans all huddled under their rain gear. Then, one instance the camera closes in on Derek Jeter...J.D. would say something like: "He'll be #11 before the inning is over." Jeter is #2 on his jersey. It's the little things like this that makes him so pleasant to listen to; unlike so many other game analysts who speak in a monotone and do nothing but baseball stats.

    It makes a long game worth while listening to this man.


    By the way, the Astros were swept in the three game series. No harm, no foul. I like the Yankees too much to be really disappointed.


    [J.D. image courtesy of gstatic images & team logo courtesy of MLB]



    POSTED: Monday, June 14th, 2010
    12:20 A.M.


    My Thursday 13 & a bit more---

    Since Tuesday's Summer All Star Game between the National League and the American League baseball...I thought while watching it Tuesday evening [extra innings 15---to the wee hours of the morning, Wednesday] and tears welled up in my eyes with all the old players of my youth being out in the field --some of the greats like Whitey Ford, Yogi Bera, films of Joe DiMaggio, Robinson, and dozens more! I grew up with baseball. Each summer we'd go see a game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis [my father's favorite team]. Remembering my brother's caught fly foul ball and he went down and got it autographed by some of the 'greats' of our time! I now, also, have an autographed ball from a foul hit in Coors Field in Colorado. It's a treasure only in my estimation...it's as the commercial goes..."Tickets to the game - $50, A hot dog with everything on it -$5 --an autographed baseball from the Colorado Rockies?---PRICELESS!!

    How sad it's going to be to see the old Yankee Stadium razed. It's been there 'forever' for me, and it's part of American Culture!!! Hence my 13 this time is all about the history of us...even those who AREN'T Yankees or baseball fans, it's still a big part of the American Dream becoming a reality....






    edition #67
    YANKEE STADIUM
    1923


    - - -


    This is the last year of an American Baseball Icon. I found a very interesting article in our newspaper the other day, and after reading it, I naturally, wanted more. So, I went out on the 'net and did my usual research---

    1. Yankee Stadium was the first ballpark to ever be referred to as a 'stadium'.
    2. After construction was complete at the cost of 2.5 million dollars, it opened in 1923 [85 years ago!]
    1. Construction began on May 5, 1922 and opened for the first game on April 18, 1923
    2. The land is 10 acres, purchased for $675,000.00 from William Waldorf Astor
    3. The Yankees team owned it until they sold it to the city of New York in 1972 for $24 million.

    3. After a Yankees Home Victory - the song blares over the field "New York, New York" with Frank Sinatra singing.
    4. Prior to the completion of the stadium, the Yankees never won a World Series. The first season playing in the new stadium they won, beating the Giants in 6 games.
    5. Among the features within the park is Memorial Park...with 37 monuments and plaques depicting the memorable, honorable, Yankees.
    6. Babe Ruth helped 'design' the stadium, suggesting aspects that would help the 'left-handed' players!
    7. It's been dubbed the "House That Ruth Built"....
    8. When Yankee Stadium opened on April 18, 1923 there were 74,200 fans in attendance to see the Babe hit a three-run blast as the Yankees won their first game, 4-1 over the Red Sox.
    9. The capacity of Yankee Stadium has changed 15 times since it opened.
    1. largest capacity among all 30 Major League ballparks

    10. It was renovated after the 1973 season - 48 million dollars
    11. The rebuilt stadium did retain an exact replica of the façade, which now spans the 560-foot-long scoreboard that stretches across the bleachers. Today, the white picket fence-style façade and large line scoreboard in left-center field are Yankee Stadium’s signature features.
    12. Known as the "Bleacher Creatures", the Stadium’s most famous inhabitants occupy the bleachers, which have been alcohol free since 2001.
    13. The Stadium’s main entrance is located behind home plate and has the most congested foot traffic.




    Note:
  • The All American Team, Yankees, played ball in the polo park from 1913-1922 on the polo grounds directly across the Harlem River from where the stadium now stands. [demolished in 1964]
  • Yankee Stadium's Physical address is:
      161st Street & River Avenue

      Bronx, NY 10451
  • The new Yankee Stadium will open April 16, 2009
  • Est. cost: $80 million


  • NYY Logo
    1913-


  • NYY Logo
    1987-Current


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