I think Michigan keeps you sane and on an even keel through the ups and downs. In Michigan, I do fireworks, shovel snow and live life.
Jan4
Category Archives: Life
Jan4
when a logical brainiac drives an emotional imaginator
baby b – “ we’re going on “bacation” in our car, we’re going to the beach!”
baby j – “I’m a mermaid!”
baby b – “you can’t be a mermaid we’re in the car!”
—
If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution – Emma Goldman
Jan3
and on the third day, she rested.
with the first blizzard of 2014 still ongoing, and crazy outdoor games behind me, 12-18 inches of snow on the ground, and temps with a high of 2f, it is a day to sink down into the cottage, away from the outside world, the cold, the snow, the people, the noise, the light.
today is all about books and music and movies and cup of my chernoblyl blend coffee and time spent creating art and writing and napping and a warm bath, and soft pajamas and softer blankets – calm, warm, peaceful, quiet, cozy, comfort. and i will embrace every slow minute of it.
Be he a king or a peasant, he is happiest who finds peace at home. –Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Jan2
winter warriors
now that my i have regained a bit of feeling in my fingers, i am able to type yet another hockey post. i went to another outdoor hockey game yesterday, yes that’s 2 days in a row. this time it was the winter classic, just a mile away from my little house in the big house, michigan stadium. usually the site of my university of michigan wolverines football team. this time it had been turned into an outdoor hockey pond and was a matchup between the current detroit red wings and the toronto maple leafs.
it began early in the morning, the temperature had dropped yet again, it had been snowing all night, continued on throughout the entire game, and is still snowing today. no matter, we began with a beer at the local wolverine brewery, donned our gear, and began the walk to the stadium. after about 100 feet, a van of wings’ fans picked us up and gave us a ride the rest of the way. it was a good sign.
upon arriving at the stadium, spirits were high, people were packing all kinds of whiskey and warmups into their hoods, security was impossible due to the bulky clothing, and i kicked many a beer can on my way in. fans from both countries poured in, excited, fired up, and oblivious to the weather.
even some of the wings and leafs players had a bit of soccer fun outside of the stadium before the game
once in, we quickly made our way to the concessions, where there was hot chocolate and both american and canadian beers to be purchased, and i encountered 2 very friendly canadian fans.
we then found our seats and settled in for the game. in a show of support, players from the alumni game the day before were in attendance, along with the usa women’s olympic hockey team. it was so cold and snowy, no one minded huddling with the enemy, and drinks and hand warmers and blankets were shared all around. loyal cheers and comments abounded, ‘now THIS is hockey!,’ ‘what it’s meant to be!’, ‘this is kick-ass!’, heard from fans nearby. cold drinks froze within minutes, and hot dogs and pizza were cold within seconds. could’ve used the suzy cozy beer mitt for this game. that is, before they ran out of molson, and hot chocolate, and pizza.
they played their hearts out and had to keep stopping the game for a crew to come out and snow shovel while skating.
in the end, it went into double overtime, with a stop of game right in the middle of our captain, zetterberg’s rush on goal, in order to trade sides and be fair, and resulted in a sad shootout loss for the wings. but they played like warriors, and that includes all those in the stands.
as we left the stadium, exhilarated and worn out, and walked a mile back to our brewery through deep snow and the ongoing blizzard, clad in layer upon layer of heavy clothing, (Imagine being a sumo running up a sand dune), we knew it had all been worthwhile. even if we couldn’t feel all our digits. upon arriving back at my cozy little cottage, i took off my layers, went directly into a warm bathtub with a glass of wine, and was asleep and dreaming about this magnificent day by 7:30pm.
the discarded layers: polar full length down jacket with hood, hoodie sweatshirt with hood, turtleneck, neck warmer, wrap around scarf, knee high lace up boots, thermal tops and bottoms, wool tights, red wings hat, 2 pairs of thermal socks, hand and foot warmers, blanket, seat cushion, ski band, thin gloves, ski gloves, running tights, and chapstick. bring it, winter.
Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory. – William Barclay
Jan1
old legends never die, they just take off their skates
it was bitterly cold, with snow and wind and ice all around. the perfect setting for the detroit red wing alumni game against the toronto maple leaf alumni, long time rivals, and two of the original six teams of hockey. the fans came out in droves, from both sides of the border and there were hockey sweaters and hats and blankets of both blue and red, as they played in comerica park, home of the detroit tigers. it was hockey, as it was meant to be played – outdoors, and in the elements.
the day was a fitting tribute to these men who spent much of their lives on the ice, playing a game that is incredibly hard on the body as well as the mind, and yet, they all came back for one more day, for a chance to experience what it felt like again, and for the fans, myself included, to have one more chance to remember what they did with such passion.
they all returned, a bit older, a bit slower, a bit shakier, perhaps, but with the spirit that brought them to the ice in the first place. some didn’t wear helmets, some didn’t wear teeth, one goalie wore an old-school face mask, but they came to play as a team, just one more time.
so much history, so many stories, good, bad, and somewhere in the gray area in between, all here together again, they all came, for one day, the wings, so loved in this hockey town – all here:
the legends of the game – gordie howe and ted lindsay, tossed out the puck
the beloved former captain, steve yzerman, who hadn’t been on the ice in 7 years, since his retirement
sergi federov, who left the team for his own reasons, forgiven and welcomed back for a reunion with the russian 5, including konstantinov, so horribly injured during a stanley cup celebration
lidstrom , one of the greatest defensemen of all time, who took on the captain’s role when he retired, hard shoes to fill, now also retired
red berenson, mickey redmond – on the ice in their 70s, now having moved on to coaching and commentating, yet never having lost their love of being on the ice
scotty bowman – their legendary coach, came back to coach his stanley cup winners one more time
jiri fisher – who tearfully had to retire early, due to a heart problem, the only man in this 30s on the ice
joey kocur – wearing the jersey in memory of his hard-living teammate, bob probert
the enforcers, the scorers, the grind line, the goalies – lapointe, chelios, mccarty, ciccarelli,, draper, osgood and on and on
they came older, and broken, and most somewhat the worse for wear, but for a moment, they lived their glory days on ice once again. and they’ve learned the the meaning of life off the ice since then. and they won both games, but that was the least of it.
Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul. – Douglas MacArthur
image credits: m-live
Dec31
2013 in review
many thanks to all of you who stopped by for a read or a comment and took a seat at the sydney opera house with me this year. best, beth
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Dec30
nun the wiser
one of my favorite christmas eve memories, was when my aunt, a catholic nun, mother superior of her order, came to town for the holidays. she came over early, to chat and hang out at my place. the rest of the family was running late, so for some reason, my daughters and i decided to keep her busy by playing a holiday game of ‘quarter bounce.’ open-minded, liberal nun that she is, she asked the rules and played right along with us. she actually did quite well, and we secretly wondered if she might have played once or twice before.
later, when the whole family arrived, we decided to play ‘would you rather?.’ imagine our joy and endless laughter, (including hers), when the card she drew asked, ‘would you rather – a) have no breasts but saucer-sized nipples -or- b) huge breasts and no nipples? could there have been anyone better in the family to have drawn that card?! sometimes the universe just lines up perfectly and offers you an unexpected and joyous gift. she chose the huge breasts option, by the way.
Life must be lived as play. – Plato
Dec28
the holiday show must go on!
baby b performs a live version of ‘jingle bells’ on her new stand-up mike, only to encounter a lot of action/distraction in the audience and soon realizes that her agent has booked her into a ‘garden level’ holiday party room and she is playing to a tough crowd.
while singing, she is competing for attention with: a big screen tv airing a holiday film, baby j grabbing the mike and trying to eat it when she is stops to adjust her sound system (she is also her own roadie), cousin baby v, stepping in and clapping in the middle of her song, checking to see if she can have a go at the mike, a neighbor baby audience member tipping over and toddling by into the circus tent behind her, baby r jumping around near the couch on the lounge level, as her discounted obstructed view ticket has placed her behind a pole and a massive gift box, and most everyone else who has had a glass or two of a delicious holiday beverage. baby b however, takes it all in, is unfazed, and continues on with the show.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5NWLzPG0hfgR3k4S2J6a2RhSGs/edit
“Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.” Brian Tracy
There’s real drama in performing live. You never know how it’s going to be. – Kevin Costner
Dec27
the games people (try to) play
If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger. – Frank Lloyd Wright
technology has never been my strong suit, to put it mildly. oh, i can open up my laptop with the best of them, and use my cell phone, and text, and email, and write, and listen to music, and even use my electric toothbrush, but when it comes to video games, i realize i am in a totally a one-sided dysfunctional relationship. i consider myself ‘on a need to know and desperate to use level of understanding’ as far as technology goes anyway, and the games really push the envelope. won’t take my word for it? need a bit of evidence? here a just a few examples:
Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born. – Alan Kay
years ago, i was super hyped-up when ‘pong’ came out, one of the very first home video games. i found myself so excited on my first turn playing it, that i snapped the joystick right off of its base. all these years later, my brother is still holding a bit of grudge about this incident, as the game was his dream come true, and my parents also snapped, and said they were not replacing it since ‘we’ broke it so quickly.
when one my daughters was quite young, she told me, (as i was trying to share a mother-daughter quality bonding time with her, by playing video games) – ‘mom, i’m not trying to be mean, but it’s not really fun playing these games with you. it’s kind of boring actually, because you’re sort of slow, and you don’t know the shortcuts and your guys always get killed so fast and you have low points and then you are out and i always win.’
flash forward to more recent times, apparently i have not made a lot of progress in this area. i played wii tennis against my son in law, and hit him with my hand held thing. hard. by accident. once again, i was a very enthusiastic player. i felt like i was really on the court. soon after, the ‘tapping’ incident, it flew out of my hand and hit and broke something in the room. i was ‘asked’ to wear the wristband to protect us all after that.
I play the the Wii without the wrist strap, thug life. – Unknown quote
for my birthday this year, i put ‘one hour of random tech support, (of my choosing), without judgement, snottiness, mocking laughter, or a crabby voice’, on my birthday wish list. coincidentally, all three of my daughters individually decided this was not humanly possible for them, as the conditions i requested were absolutely un-doable. they each said they would rather get me anything else on my list.
my new strategy is to stay one step ahead of the grand babies, as i can sometimes take them in the games at this point, though one is soon to be six years old, so my short reign may quickly come to an end. i’ve decided that i can cross ‘gamer’ or ‘video designer’ off of my list of potential next careers. but – give me a good game of twister and i will show you who’s boss. and perhaps even do so, without judgement or snottiness or mocking laughter, or a crabby voice, though there is no guarantee.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. – Albert Einstein
Dec26
laying it all out on the table
on one of my thrice-weekly visits to the library, while milling around the film area, (one of my favorite things to do), i turned, and what should pop out, but the spine of a film sitting quietly on a shelf of random dvd’s, calling out to me with a movie title i simply could not resist – “Ping-Pong!’
my friend’s reaction was, ‘really? you’re kidding, right?’ au contraire, mon ami! i could not believe my good luck! i had absolutely no idea what this would be, but knew i had hit the jackpot and had to check it out and watch it right away, before anyone else discovered this gem, lest i be relegated to the wait list, anxiously awaiting my chance to see it. (turns out i was the only one who was quite this excited about it, so no real worries there)
weighing in at an easy 70 minutes long, ’ping pong’ is a 2012 british documentary, about the greatest event in the sport officially known as ‘table tennis.’ in this film, the director and crew follow eight players from 5 countries, (with 703 years between them), as they prepare and compete in the ‘over 80s world championships of table tennis’, in outer mongolia.
these athletes and their stories are extraordinary, each one over 80, each a happy eccentric, survivors of various life events, a tenacious bunch, who refuse to give up on life, and each with their own motivation for this visit to china, the birthplace of table tennis.
a brief snapshot of them:
les (89) – a living legend, was a sickly child who survived to become a weight lifter who still lifts, a former raf flyer, and the 7-time world champion. wears short shorts, and loves watching hours of old film of table tennis matches.
terry (81) – the reigning world champion, survived a collapsed lung, heart problems, prostate, bone, and kidney cancers. he has just found out that his cancer has returned and has been given one week to live. says, ‘it’s mind over body.’
dorothy (100), the oldest competitor ever, still drives, a mega celebrity in her own right, has been to the world championships 11 times, and has been given advice for this trip by her doctor ‘not to have unprotected sex and no iv drug use’. sent off by her whole australian town. says, ‘i feel like a pop star and i will give it everything i’ve got.’
rune (85), has 27 medals, and is a 3-time silver medalist. she is training by running every day and says, ‘i must go, this is my last chance to get the gold.’
sun (80), the inner mogolian current champion, once retired, he didn’t want to sit home all day, so he took up the sport. indulges in a combination of old ginseng roots, herbs, vitamins, rice wine, beer, and cigarettes to keep himself feeling alive, and smiles a lot. says,‘i’ve been looking forward to this competition for years’
lisa (85), a newcomer at the sport, survived wwII as an austrian in the french underground, married to a pistol champion many years her junior, has a medal room with 30 silver and 120 gold medals, and is determined to become the world champion. says, ‘my style is as irregular as my driving’, ’it’s not how hard you hit it, it’s where you put it,’ and ‘if i die at the table, it’s what i want.’
inge (89), used table tennis to train her way out of the dementia ward she committed herself to, survived a series of small strokes after becoming a widow, doing it to ‘retrain her brain,’ could not even pick up a ball at first, says,’now i can forget my sickness.’
ursula (89), the reigning women’s champion, going there to defend her title, has heart problems and can only walk 14 steps at a time, she has a press agent and reads her own headlines and clippings, says,‘young people are shitting themselves, i beat everyone.’
as they all assemble and finally arrive in china, their british guide gives them a bit of practical advice that will cover most any situation,’if people bother you, just tell them to ‘bugger off’ and i’ll try to find the chinese word for that.’
this is the real thing. they are at the 15th world table tennis championships. with 51 countries represented, in 5 stadiums, and over 2,000 competitors, they are here in mongolia, in spirit, in body, and in mind. there is an opening ceremony, and flags, and families, and coaches, and judges, and autographs, and fans, and followers, and bruises, and inhalers, and muscle pulls.
they work their way through the preliminary rounds, the eliminations, the knockouts, the semis, and at last, the match points of the finals. there is sabotage, (stolen ‘bats’), drama, medical issues, and even trash-talking, (‘I don’t care how good she is, she can’t move!’, ‘ your mother gave you the wrong milk, that’s why you are fat!’, and, ‘i can get this old girl!.’)
they each give it their all with various levels of success. win or lose, what they have in common, is their sense of fair play and a shared philosophy about it all -‘i’ve played for many years, so i’ve learned how to win and how to lose. tomorrow is another day.’ – ‘losing is an honor. i’m glad i came. i learned from them all.’
6 months later: you’ll have to watch to see what’s happened. someone says, ‘i will play again, if i am still alive.’
this incredible movie, about a group of extraordinary people, who consider themselves ordinary, shows the unbreakable strength of the human spirit and the power of living a life true to oneself.
Live passionately, even if it kills you, because something is going to kill you anyway. – Webb Chiles
image credit: banyak films
I didn't have my glasses on.... 