A Little Bit of Americana...

...a Little League Playoff Game.

It was 77 degrees at 7:30 this morning with the temperatures predicted to hit 100, so took our coffee with us and headed over to Spring Lake. A lot of people had the same idea of beating the heat and finishing their exercise early. Ozzie made a beeline for the lake, where two men were headed out on their rubber rafts for some fishing, the geese were guarding their goslings who were obliviously sleeping on the path and the dog walkers were respecting the furiously hissing geese, and taking a wide detour around the whole group.

Leaving Ozzie in the house with the air conditioning on, we drove down to Petaluma for Peter's first Little League Playoff Game, getting there just in time for the introduction of the players, the Little League oath (really...they say it at every game...) and the singing of the National Anthem (a very drawn out recorded version of a song that is notoriously difficult to sing) and then it was...Play Ball!

After lunch at our favorite bakery, Della Fattoria (yes...I confess I bought some chocolate chip cookies too, and some pumpkin seed bread and, oh yes, some biscotti), we drove back to Santa Rosa as the thermometer crept closer to the century mark. There were no cars OR people at Spring Lake. We are rounding off the day (our actual anniversary) watching Day 1 of the 100th Tour de France.

We've travelled a long road from child bride and groom back in 1963. I had completed my freshman year at the University of California, and OilMan had just gotten his M.S. at CalTech. We were laughing at lunch today about my inability to cook (our first meal was crunchy spaghetti with burned sauce eaten out of a Corning Ware pot at our rented dining table). OilMan was convinced that we had Spam once a week, but I felt it was maybe once or twice. (I did dress it up with cloves and some sort of glaze.) I remember marveling often those first years that I was somehow managing to keep us both alive!

We've grown a healthy family tree, despite the fact that we didn't always know what we were doing or even do the right thing. We have survived the storms and the tree has bourne fruit. I don't think either one of us could have done it alone. Now, we are finding time to enjoy each other and our life together. We are truly blessed.