It was my buddy, Steve, who said "If I can wangle some better seats would you come down for a baseball game?" (I've been going to games with Steve for several years but his seats are up in what is not so courteously referred to as "the nosebleed section". The higher up you go in a ballpark the steeper are the rows of seats and in my declining years I had found that I suffered from vertigo up in his regular seating area and had told him I would have to refrain from attending any more games unless he could get some lower tier seats.)
Well, that's kind of rude considering that I get the game for nothing except I pay for parking. But facts is facts as someone (Pogo?) once said. So today Steve said he was working on some lower seats and said I had to make a commitment to come or he wouldn't do it. (He must have won the Powerball or something.) So I did and said I'd see him tomorrow.
That done, I went out the front door, checked the thermometer and returned inside to tell Judy it was 85 degrees but it smelled like rain. She asked if it was going to rain and I said there wasn't any such thing in the forecast. That conversation occurred as I was walking to the back patio door. "Well I'll be darned! It just started raining," I said.
Now you must realize. Here in Arizona, rain can mean either a torrential downpour (rare) or a few light drops that start and stop in a couple of minutes (or seconds). The latter was what we got this time so you can stop envying me now.
If you've got really good vision you can see the few drops on my window that are the leftovers from that "rain". (Dang! Looks like I need to wash that window.)
Last week the skies looked much more promising and I took a picture of them, in hopes of provoking the rain god (Tlaloc, the Aztecs called him. But I prefer the name the Hopis gave him: Shotokunungwa. I can't pronounce it but it's got that kind of rolling thunder look to it.)
Whatever the god, or gods, were not provoked this time and the skies were soon blue again.
By the way, I have a former colleague who talks about the naked rain dance he does out in the street. But he lives in "the town" and that's another story.
I must take exception with your description of yourself. You referred to your declining years. Does that mean you must now say no? Do you mean it as opposed to your inclining years and if that is the case to what were you inclining or climbing or ascending? Does your use of declining mean you have achieved your summit or apex and what and when would that have been? Are you really using declining as a euphemism? If so for what? Aging? Elderly? In either case that is not correct because you are now the youngest you will ever be. So maybe in some Freudian way you are indeed at a time of declining-but probably only selectively. No to sitting up high. No to running a marathon. I have difficulty in seeing my friend the Catalyst in a state of general decline. Temporary decline, selective decline, but not decline as a general condition. Tomorrow you will also be the youngest you'll ever be. Some might argue, well, you'll be the oldest you have been. True, but limited in its description because while you are now oldest you have been, you are not the oldest you'll ever be, so indeed you are still inclining to even greater age, sagacity and wisdom.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, Mr T, do not refer to yourself as in your declining years. We will simply not hear that.
O.K.
DeleteYeah, what Tom said! But I must say it sounds like Steve is one heck of a good friend.
ReplyDeleteI've known both Tom and Steve for more than 40 years. Two rare friendships.
DeleteI'll try to remember, Tom, the philosopher's philosophy. I'm sure it will pay off as I ascend further along the time line.
ReplyDeleteLori
I know exactly what you mean about those upper tier seats.
ReplyDeleteSo by AZ standards are those few drops of rain enough for them to call a baseball game? ;)
ReplyDeleteHave fun!
S
Not the Diamondbacks. They have a retractable-roof domed stadium.
DeleteHopefully they will have the roof closed and the air conditioning on at the ball park so you can enjoy the game!
ReplyDeleteIs your friend sure it's really rain he's conjuring up with his naked rain dance? It's most likely the neighbors hosing him down in hopes of driving him back inside.
Sharon I think you've hit on it! Now you've made ME laugh.
DeleteA naked rain dance? Now that would be an interesting photo. Get to work on that.
ReplyDeleteI think there needs to be a video of the naked rain dance. With some appropriate blurring in pertinent places :) Hope you enjoyed the game even though they lost - boy what a titanic battle (to borrow from your title).
ReplyDelete