Batting

Back home again after a satisfying trip south to Vacaville and Roseville. (We even had the good fortune to zip right through Lincoln in record time.) It takes just 90 minutes to get to Vacaville when using the I-505 to cut across the valley and since we hadn’t used that road for such a long time, it was all new to us and we had plenty to see; like thousands of acres of sunflowers. They all had their faces turned towards us and the bright yellow against the green of the fields was spectacular. We should have taken some pictures…

We also learned that Vacaville doesn’t have the attraction for us that it once did. It’s just another shopping center among thousands, or so it seems. We have different priorities in our lives now and they weren’t being fulfilled by wandering around Vacaville.

But…we did go to two of my favorite stores, Mikasa and Crate & Barrel. No, we don’t shop for much there, we just look. Actually, these are my lottery winner stores. When I win the lottery, I will be back to actually shop for something. Mikasa has the plates that I want, all colors of them. Bright and bold! I guess I have plate fantasies. In my post-lottery world, I have different place settings for each day of the week. All vividly colored. And what I can’t find at Mikasa, I will buy at Crate & Barrel. And what kind of plates we do currently own? Plain white. The kind we always have owned. If I can’t have 7 sets of bold…then plain white is my favorite.

Does that story about plates sound odd to you? Should men even care about plates? Yes, they should! It shouldn’t make any difference; great design and beautiful objects aren’t gender specific. But men spend far too much time worrying about being proper ‘men’. Luckily, as you age, you’re allowed eccentricities and real men can stop worrying about this stuff after awhile. Honest.

A beautiful morning, 66 degrees outside and just a mild breeze. It’s time for an early morning swim, as I think the water is close to 80 degrees. It’s still dark but the sky is growing lighter on the eastern horizon. Maybe I can see the bats from a vantage point in the pool.

OK, only one bat and I didn’t stay in the water for long. There was just enough of a breeze to make it uncomfortable. Maybe tomorrow.