Phillies, Baking and Mercy

I can not seem to catch up with my writing (or pretty much anything else) lately. And there has been some good stuff happening.

Last Thursday, my company had a bake-off to raise money for MANNA, an organization that provides food for less fortunate. I’m not much of a baker, but I do have one thing that I make very well: Jack Daniel’s Carrot Cake, so I figured I’d enter for the hell of it. Well, out of 28 entries, my cake won! There were several entries that I thought trumped mine but you can never underestimate the power of booze in your recipes. So, there you have it — I’m a Bake-Off champ.

Saturday, I spent some time trying to get the overgrown lawn tamed. It wasn’t that big a deal until the rain started – I was about halfway done when the drops started getting big enough to bounce off of me with an audible ‘plop’. That was tolerable enough and I kept going. But by the time I finished the fellow was finished and I was soaked head to toe. But strangely I didn’t mind – I even went out and picked mulberries for my father in the rain (hey, I WAS already soaked).

On Sunday, Shari and I were able to enjoy a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park, her first game at the new ballpark. Our seats, courtesy of an old high school friend I’ve reconnected with on Facebook, were awesome: 5th row along the right field wall. There weren’t many plays in our direction, but our view was spectacular and the weather was great (a little hot at times for Shari but after all the crappy weather, we endured with a smile … and ice cream). And we were treated to a good game and a Phils’ win over the Red Sox, a good way to end the weekend.

Softball

My own athletic foray this week wasn’t as successful, although I did well personally. Despite my contribution of going 2-2, 1 RBI, we were manhandled by a score of 18-3. I made some good plays in the outfield, which I haven’t played all season, but also had an error when a rolling grounder suddenly decided to jump up and over my glove (I’m blaming a sudden gopher appearance).

Our team isn’t as bad as our 1-6 record but we ARE always finding ways to lose, sadly.