Nail Biting

Boy, the 49ers don't make it easy, do they?  With score at 25-20 and the Ravens within touchdown range with 6 seconds left to play, the 9ers managed to help the clock run out to win the game, but sheesh.  Cardiac arrest time!

We started watching the game late, midway thru the 2nd quarter, and I decided that after half time, I would go to my mother's and watch the rest of the game with her.  There was no possibility that she would have known there was a game on, or remembered to turn on the TV if she had.

When I got out of the car and approached the front door to the place, I had to giggle at the cute bit of wishful thinking here.

See that the temperature is nearly 80 and yet there is a bag for your umbrella, should the skies suddenly decide to open, though actually they apparently did have rain in nearby Vallejo, enough to cause streets to flood.  But Davis is kind of like the reverse Joe Btfsplk from the Little Abner cartoon.  Remember, the guy who walked around always under a black cloud?

We are doomed to be some sort of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  My thoughts on that were further strengthened when I was leaving Atria and looked off to the west to see huge black clouds and thought "oh good, it's going to rain after all," and then to the east and saw more black clouds, while Davis remained under blue skies.

They tell me that two of the cities where we are to land on our upcoming cruise are currently "under water" so I have hope of seeing rain again in my lifetime.  Just not here, apparently.

My mother was pleased to see me, of course, and surprised that the 49er game was on.

She will never again watch television by herself. They have changed her cable system to what is now actually much nicer, as it includes a built-in directory, so you aren't just flying blindly in your station choices.  But it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to work it (quite simple, really, once you understand the directions) and I know that there is no way on earth that she would ever be able to do it.  However, when I left, I did leave the TV set to CBS, which has a lot of shows she might watch, including news and Good Morning America, so maybe she will be able to watch if  the set doesn't switch back to the home screen.

Of course, I think she watches almost no TV at all these days, so it's probably not a big concern.

But we enjoyed the game. She did get into it and only asked half a dozen times if they were playing "here or there."  I was delighted that ether the ethnic makeup of the teams at the moment have changed or she has forgotten that she used to obsess about the number of African Americans on the team.  Didn't mention that once, though we both commented on the number of tattoos some of the players had.

All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon and I'm glad that I went over there.  I'll have to do it again next time there is a 49er game that I happen to remember.

I was smiling as I left with her laundry, knowing how happy Tom must have been at the win.

Social Butterflies

My word has this been a busy weekend.

It started on Friday night with going to review Something's Afoot, about which I wrote as the Saturday entry.  

Saturday morning I woke up and made cookies for the party we were attending in the afternoon.

Malcolm was celebrating his 79th birthday.  We have known him and his family for most of the 40+ years we have lived in Davis.  Our kids went to school together.  We were all involved with the Davis Comic Opera Company, and, among other things, we all belong to that same damn club that nobody wants to belong to:  Their son, Ken, died several years ago.

The party was a real celebration.  I told Malcolm at one point that looking around at the crowd, I thought that the only people who weren't there were dead (a few exceptions, but there were a lot of people there!). We saw people we once knew well, but haven't seen in many years.

The march of time was readily apparent on all of us.  We were greyer, more wrinkled, more stooped.  There were people with new hips and new knees, and people with canes and one person with a medicine pack that was doing something about monitoring levels of something or other. The guest of honor had a stroke several years ago, and though recovered a lot, still suffering its effects. But it was good to see so many old friends again and once more stand around the groaning board in the family's dining room and partake of all those goodies we brought to share.

The party put us in great shape for the show we were seeing that night, Closer than Ever, a musical review for those of us who are not teeny boppers any more.  One song, "The March of Time" started out with the lyrics

I wasn't ready for the burnouts
I wasn't ready for the jokes
I wasn't set for seeing cellulite
Or being parent to my folks...

In my review I said that "this little 1989 off-Broadway revue shows that there is still relevant material to appeal to an older audience."  I don't often find it easy to review new to me material, but the review for this one just about wrote itself.

Today was the 49er game, another great win (can we do it one more week in Seattle?) and we went to watch the game with my mother and her stepson, Ed.  

When the game was over, we stayed for lunch in the restaurant and then came home to get ready for tonight's event, a combination testimonial and roast for Jeff Kean, the retiring managing director for the Woodland Opera House.

Jeff has been the director at Woodland for 18 years and we have known him most of that time. I interviewed him earlier this week for a story I'm doing about his retirement...I even turned off the Golden Globes to go to the reception (thank goodness for DVRs).  

What a delightful evening it was.  Jeff had told me there would be no food, but he wasn't invited to the reception before the festivities, I guess.  It wasn't exactly a groaning board, but there were some nice mini cupcakes and chocolate dipped strawberries, along with champagne or cider or (for me) water.

While I was waiting for the audience to come into the theater, I was reading my book, "Day of the Locust," for the Shakespeare Book Club (did you know Homer Simpson is a character in that 1939 work???) when a lady come in, congratulated me on reading, said she wished she had brought her own book, and asked what I was reading. When I showed her the book, she exclaimed that was the book she was reading...and asked if I was a member of the Shakespeare Club.   My first Shakespeare Club social encounter outside a club meeting!

We were all given cut-outs of Jeff's face.  There were many different choices.  Ours was from the time he was one of the two actors playing multiple characters in Greater Tuna, which we were supposed to raise whenever we heard the word "Jeff."

The ceremony itself was quite nice.  Jeff and his fiancée were seated in thrones, given flowers, champagne and some Waterford crystal glasses.   

Then, after a funny video, a parade of well wishers came to the stage, including the mayor of Woodland, who promised he would follow through on all the promises he had made to the Opera House (some of which, unfulfilled, had a part in Jeff's decision to leave!).   There was a state proclamation, signed by new state senator, Lois Wolk, which listed Jeff's contributions to the Woodland Opera House, including giving up his office in order to build a larger women's bathroom facility (which we females much appreciate!) In fact, when he leaves at the end of the month, there will be a little plaque installed on the floor of the 3rd stall on the right which says "Jeff Kean sat here for 18 years."

The evening ended with two numbers from Sound of Music (which we learned Jeff often called The Sound of Money), including the "good bye" song, with adults taking the roles of children, and all saying goodbye to Jeff on stage.

It really was a nice evening and his heart must be so full this evening, hearing all the heartfelt sentiments (and the funny ones) directed at him.   He really has made a difference in the city of Woodland (the mayor said he had "energized and beautified downtown Woodland").  He will be missed, but one of his accomplishments was to have built such a competent team that he is leaving the place in very capable hands.

I would like to say that we now have some free time, but actually Monday I'm having lunch at Atria again--my cousin is coming to give my mother a manicure and we are going to try a FaceTime call to Peach, since I have discovered there is wifi at Atria.  Tuesday Walt and I are going to see Book of Mormon.  My Alzheimers support group is Wednesday, I work Thursday and Friday is my eye appointment in Sacramento, followed by lunch with my friend Kathy and in the evening another show to review.

I need to get back to those long, empty days of 2013!

It's Not "Just" Football

You've never really watched football until you've watched a 49er game with Tom.  It's more than a football game, it is a religion. He might have been baptised a Catholic, but his devotion is definitely for the 49ers!

The 9ers were behind when we arrived at his house and things were tense.  But it was early in the game.

This was to be the last game at Candlestick park.  I remember before there was a Candlestick park.  I remember going to Giants game in the new stadium that, no matter how warm the temps were in the city, funneled cold air from somewhere and no matter where you sat, by the end of any game you were chilled to the bone. But the 9ers are moving to a new stadium, a bit south of San Francisco, in Santa Clara, where presumably it will be warmer.

Soon after we arrived, the 9ers made a field goal that tied the game.  Tom started to relax, in his 49er Santa hat eating some pizza he ordered for the gang gathered to watch the game.

Then the niners got a touchdown.  There was much yelling, screaming, and high-fiving.  Bri, in the kitchen eating her dinner, came running in, glanced at the TV, and ran back to report the score to her mother (I was impressed that she knew where to find the score and what it meant!  I don't know why I was surprised; she's been a 49er fan literally from birth.  Lacie doesn't know half what Bri knew at her age [2] and seems disinterested in the game. Perhaps she will grow into it.)

Back at the game, things were starting to look tense, and Tom brought out the big guns--his Joe Montana shirt, autographed by Montana himself (his prize possession). The 9ers got another touch down.

The game went on and toward the end it got tense again, but after a fumble by the Falcons and 89 yard return by Navorro Bowman, when it was pretty clear the 9ers now couldn't lose the game, Tom relaxed and enjoyed the rest of it.

There were high fives all around when the game ended.  It was clear that it was a very lucky thing the team won or else it might have been a bleak Christmas, but there is lots of joy in Mudville today.  I love watching Tom enjoy a 49er game!