Ain't life grand?

This is a reissue from last April, when hardly anyone read my blog. This is more honest blogging and writing from me because I didn't have to "show out" for anyone..... because hardly anyone, except for a small few, came to read.... These early posts are treasures to me though..... before I really got into the community here. It's just me writing.... nothing else but sharing my rural life here in Alabama played into what or why I wrote...

So, from last Spring....

"Softball, T-ball, and bad knees...."

Is there a connection?

I'm sure there is, but I am talking about the condition of my knees after sitting in a foldout chair for 10 + hours yesterday checking out small town softball and T-ball in a marathon of blood sweat and jeers.

Yesterday, We took in 4-5 games of REAL home-style small-town sports and all that goes along with that...... A sense of community, a sense of family, the all American smell of grill whiff floating in the air,and cursing under your breath as to WHY your kid isnt in the game when these other girls are dropping the ball!

I love watching our oldest girl and her team from the school here play junior varsity softball, especially in the tournaments that are held about once a month or so. These are long stretches of living with gnats, mosquitos, sunburn, indigestion and those dreadful little dust storms that get kicked up by the players on the diamond and then drift back through the fanning crowd who spit sand and spit nails at the "blue" (or umpire) as it were for the inevitable bad call..

Of course, there's always the scoreboard with the just enough of the little lights out to not be able to distinguish an 8 from a 9 and there is always the little conversations with your neighbors next to you in their little fold out chairs about the bad calls and unreadable scoreboard. If a game is moving along pretty well and I HAVEN'T had that conversation with the person next to me, then I will be proactive and will bring up the bad call or the score just to have that part of the play acted out. It wouldnt be a proper game unless that took place.

The softball is an intense drama that plays out like a Greek tragedy. It sucks your heart in as you see your team rise and fall with the tide of victory and defeat. You soar with these girls in their victory and your heart breaks with them over a botched throw to first and a game lost in the final inning.

The T-ball is a comedy of errors where the littlest ones simply battle against their own confusion as to what in the hell to do with the ball when it's in their glove. This stress leads to some amazing decisions such as just standing there looking like a deer in the headlights at the parents who are up and screaming like mad for you to THROW THE BALL TO FIRST!!!!! You would think the child was holding a live hand grenade the way the parents animate themselves into a frenzy to try to get these youngsters to THROW THE BALL TO FIRST!!!!! Two of my favorite things to see in the T-ball game are the hit and direct run to THIRD, and the meeting with the WHOLE TEAM in the outfield after a pop fly,so the kiddos can try to decide if someone should pick up the ball and maybe.... do something productive with it....Meanwhile the hitter just gallops around the bases.. THROW THE BALL TO FIRST!!! as the refrain goes on.

It's hard on the knees to do these but it's worth it. I feel that small town ball could be one of the quintessential American experiences.....and it's just a great way to spend a summer evening or a spring day surrounded by your loved ones and friends.

THROW THE BALL TO FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You get to know these girls and their families and you get to know their siblings and with that comes a sense of belonging and a sense of community that only small town ball can give.

THROW THE BALL TO FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The Heart's Mirage"





You were my blossom in the sands
The desolate wastes of the empty quarter
You left me and my outstretched hand
and took yourself beyond the borders....

of this empty place
An awesome wide open space
To find the heavenly voices that called you.....

into this desert wasteland
Where you knelt in the sand and prayed
Just like the ancients did before too

The cruel sun ravaging your face
The wind on the dunes
leaving no trace
of your passionate pilgrimage
to the secret holy place

I watched the sunset for your
silhouette
But you never returned to me
I scanned the endless hope filled horizon
and thought of where you might be......

In an oasis in the valley of death
the cool water washing your skin
as you worship in the Garden of Eden
will you remember me and then.....

return across the dunes
the way that you came
You will follow your heart
and return to the flame

of the one that watches for you
through every long night
There has been no word
There has been no sight

of my lost desert angel
alone in the vast sea
of hot rock and sand
Each step blistering

And so I succumb to the
Sirens of the desert
and I am now lost here in the dunes
I cry out into the Arabian night
but there is no echoing cry from you

I promised to search forever
but I fear the time is coming soon
to fall into a thirsty sleep
alone, in a broiling rocky tomb

At the moment of my passing I finally see
you and I in an oasis of tropical green
Splashing and laughing in the heart's promised land
or is this just another cruel mirage in this shimmering, hopeless
sea of sand.....



"The Heart's Mirage" and photographs --Copyright Scott Scarborough; 2007

Hiya....

Well, I was looking through some pics tonight for something else, but I came across this album.... which is from way before my Blogstream days... These are from a year or two ago....... They are all from Dallas,Texas. The little guy is my son, playing hockey (At the age of 4!!!!) ,which he has gotten really good at (what ever happened to T-ball??!!), and that's Secret in there too, helping him get dressed for hockey and then.... me, Secret and my son later in the day........ I dont know what order they are in, but it should be clear...

I like these pics, so I will share...

I miss my son. I see him in 3 weeks! YAY!!!!