2020 – The Beard and the Cap

We are back to some “safe” ground balls after a two week hiatus. Physically this works for me as I’d like to keep going, whether we end up having a softball season or not (not likely). It’s good to get back out there with the guys and stretch it out. I don’t leave the house without a mask and it looks like that piece of cloth has become another softball accessory. Don’t leave home without it.

In a normal year, August is really the beginning of the off-season in San Francisco. Generally, softballers here are putting away their gloves, after a full season of play and 3 tournaments in July. There is even some softball burnout. It’s a total blank slate this year.

Fogust is alive.
Green wet grass and Softballers masks
Make gray blue.

Mother nature has nothing to do with what’s going on with people, it’s not her department. It’s August or as some of us call it here: Fogust. The cool breeze and the fluffy gray and white sky permeates everything in the mornings. Playing in the Bay Area for the last 20 years, I prefer this coolness. When you’re playing on the road and have to do a game in a much warmer climate, you really feel the heat more than locals. When I see people talk about 114 degrees, in say Palm Springs, this time of year I think: “ouch”.

Otherwise we continue to shelter. The numbers in California aren’t good so it doesn’t make sense to change anything we’re doing at the moment. I know more folks are going out and about, it’s a personal choice but my hope is that folks are remaining diligent about masks and distancing. I’m not advocating living like a hermit, only that folks be careful.

I continue to dream about travel.

It’s now a year since our last trip. We were in London for a week, then NYC for 4 days. There were a number of wonderful shows highlighted by Falsettos in the UK and both parts of the Inheritance in New York. Not having plays and musicals right now is a bummer. As a theatre lover, I have seen a lot of online performances during the pandemic and while it’s been good and I’m absolutely grateful for it, it’s not quite the same animal as being there in front of a live performance. I guess I’m a traditionalist about it.

The close ups in those online performances are weird. I always think: “no…let me look at what I want to see…don’t make that decision for me.” In some ways, it’s like being in a museum with someone standing next to you, pushing your face into what moves that individual. “Look at the color the artist uses for her feet.” I like doing that without the leash.

The dreams are nice actually and almost feel like I’m really there and not in 2020. I do always wake up in 2020 though. 🙂

It’s a bright, cool beginning to July.

The non-stop personal fireworks over the last two and a half weeks have finally taken a day off. San Francisco has been popping nightly, reaching the usual zenith of explosions on the fourth. And the fireworks on the 5th of July were a total surprise, “you mean somebody has got some left after last night.” Garry didn’t go right to sleep on the night of the fourth. The noise finally quit at 2:00 a.m..

My very curious pit bull is more suspicious over sounds than afraid of them. Which I think is weird. There are many dogs in the city that are racing under the bed or couch not comfortable with the sounds but Luna always wants to go toward the sound, as if she can aid in whatever is happening. Perhaps there is another treat waiting! She is frightened of things falling however, always jumping away at something succumbing to gravity. That leap always looks comical because at 60 lbs, she isn’t a petite beast.

Half of a crazy year is in the books. We keep going forward, adjusting to our evolving reality and hopeful that time and science will iron things out. The stagnancy of this period does not eradicate my desire for travel. It’s there, lurking in my subconscious. Occasionally, I’ll see something on TV, filmed outside the U.S. and my brain turns on (okay where is this being filmed). I also randomly search the internet from time to time for airline tickets that I can’t buy yet, “Oh look business class to…” and I’ll see a deal. Who doesn’t like a deal? It’s unfortunately not real. It’s a holding pattern we’re in.

At work, we made it through our busiest time of the year with only a few hours of overtime. Also, a client has been keeping me hopping with website changes; video and audio editing. I do prefer being busy during a pandemic. 🙂 I’m happy to see Garry’s classes continue online. He enjoys doing them and the video feed must be unusually different than actually having live students (small class of five) interact across the living room from each other but that is the way at the moment (and longer).

There is a smaller version of the softball practices that we’ve been doing on Saturdays. It’s the unofficial practices for the season. The season that is awaiting cancellation. It will surprise no one. In fact, if the season happens (fall) that would be a shock to the entire softball community. As players, we get it. I will say, we’re enjoying our Saturday sessions, as both physical activity and mental therapy. We’re careful; masks, distance, and sanitizers. I also shower as soon as I get home. It’s not hard and it’s necessary.

It’s July 2020 and we’re halfway to the end of the year. I’m hopeful even before the year’s out, we will have something big to celebrate for a hopeful 2021, say maybe something in November? I’m confident folks can find fireworks to use for celebrating that.

Tag: 2020

Fogust

Where the Fireworks Pop