Tag: Fall

  • ODDS and ENDS: Sports Jerseys, Let Me Get to That, and Pre-Autumn

    ODDS and ENDS: Sports Jerseys, Let Me Get to That, and Pre-Autumn

    (Will our ball club win the pennant?)

    Today at school, the kid could wear a sports team jersey if she so desired. Being that she is in middle school, and the school has sports teams, sports are now a bigger part of her academic experience. Funny thing is that the kid doesn’t own any team jerseys. She asked me if I had a jersey that she could borrow for today, and sadly, I also don’t own any team jerseys. What I do own happens to be a Dallas Cowboys (Let me get to that in a bit), and a Tottenham Hotspur t-shirts. I was hesistant to give her the Cowboy shirt because clearly, the Cowboys aren’t a well respected team here in New York City. So that left the Tottenham shirt, which I offered to her. She declined the shirt, stating that the people who know who Tottenham is will only end up making fun of her, and it wasn’t worth it to her. I tried to explain that Frank is taking the team in a new direction, but the kid wouldn’t hear it.

    (Best if you read this part in a very thick Texas accent, which I have after drink several Shiner Bocks and getting all rilled up.) I jus’ wanna say this to Mr. Jerry Jones, which is that I think he is bein’ a damn fool when it comes to Micah Parsons. Now, Mr. Parsons is a franchise super star caliber player, a type of player who can change the momentum of a game, and if the Dallas Cowboys have any intention of reclaimin’ a Super Bow’ – they need Mr Parsons. To that end, Mr. Jones should’a paid Mr. Parsons what he wanted. Now, this whole idea that Mr. Jones is puttin’ out there that, this is all part of some “master plan to win a championship” is what is known in the civilized world as a damn lie! Y’ain’t foolin’ anyone Jerry! You gone and screwed up the team again! What is this, like our 30th rebuilding year?!?! Could you possibly get the cart outta the way of the horse for a change so we might have a chance of just winning the Division? Good lord man! You takin’ years off my life…

    I’m pulling out my sweaters and sweatshirts. Might have to wash my flannel shirts this week. I know it’s 78 degrees today, I don’t care. I want Autumn

  • ODDS and ENDS: My Head Hurts, (Place Holder), and SOUP!

    (Revved up like a deuce…)

    I didn’t sleep well last night, so I know that’s the main reason, but man, my head hurts. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being barely there and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, I would say I am at a 2. But the pain in behind my left eye, going up the left side of my head and ending at the back of my skull. Usually, when I get pain behind an eye, that is the red flag of a migraine. But like I said, the pain is low and that leads me to believe that this will become a dreaded migraine. In fact, it’s been years since I had one. I used to get migraines a handful of times a year, while normal headaches would happen at least once a week. You might find this hard to believe, but this would happen to me back when I was working a normal 9 to 5 job. I think it had everything to do with stress, and now I don’t live as stressful of a life, but there are still stresses.

    (Place Holder for a good idea)

    You know who loves soup? Me and my wife. You know who hates soup? My kid. You know who is willing to try any food you put in front of them, except soup? That is also my kid. I find this so confusing about her. I’ve asked her often, what is it about soup that you hate? And she just says, I don’t like soup? But she likes ramen. She loves when we make a Japanese hotpot at home. She loves getting pho. But soup. Even a normal basic chicken noodle soup, she hates. And this hatred for soup has been growing. The kid won’t touch a stew, or gumbo. My friend made a really great gazpacho the other day, and she refused to try it. The wife and I are getting a little worried as we are getting closer to Autumn, and we have soup plans. (And I realize how funny and odd that last sentence was.) There’s a clam chowder I want to make, and the wife has her eye on a couple of different French stews that she wants to try. We both found a mushroom soup recipe that we want to try, and I found a video of a Japanese vegetable soup that think would be perfect for a cool Fall lunch. I mean, we are going to move forward with the soup plans, I just really don’t want to leave the kid behind, nor turn her off to the idea of soup for the rest of her life. You know, like how people who ate too much canned tuna as a kid can never have anything with tuna in it, no matter how well prepared it is. I don’t want that to happen to the kid. But… soup. SOUP!

  • ODDS and ENDS: End of Summer, Banana Ball, and Monday

    (Nothing really matters, anyone can see…)

    Well, I know the season of Summer isn’t over, but the kid starts school on Monday, so that means that this is the last weekend of Summer Vacation for the kid, and hr family as a whole. It did go by fast, and I do think all of us were ready for it to come to an end. This was the first Summer that we all chaffed at leaving our routine. I think in a large way, we had all come to enjoy the order that the school year brought us. It was like we had too much freedom. That really isn’t fully true, as we did enjoy going to to community pool, and the kid did love going to camp. The short vacation to West Virginia was relaxing, and calm and very enjoyable. It gave the wife and I a chance to recharge, and like all truly good vacations, it was over too soon. And though we still have at least another four weeks of heat and humidity in the City before we will notice a season change, it is time that we say farewell to Summer 2025. Goodbye, Summer… Goodbye, Summer…

    Okay, I get it; Banana Ball is a whole lotta fun. I will also say this; Banana Ball respects its fans, which is way more than I can same for MLB, the NFL, or NHL, and I’ll throw the NBA on that pile, too. Perhaps Banana Balls success is because it leans more in towards entertainment rather than athleticism, which is not to say the players are not athletes, for they are. Or perhaps Banana’s success is because the fan comes first in this equation. No flex priced tickets, no televised games stuck behind paywalls, no paying to reserve the right to buy season tickets, and basically not treating fans like they’re a mark who needs to have as much money squeezed out of them as possible.

    Speaking of the end of Summer, and stuff starting on Monday. I gotta get back into my writing routine…

  • Autumn Memories, Sort of (Unedited)

    There is a serious Autumn chill in the air today, and it’s awesome. This was the first day that I could put on a button-down shirt, and a sweater, and a coat. Leaves are changing color in the City, and it’s getting darker earlier. My wife loves this time of year because we can leave the bedroom window cracked, making it all chilly in there, and sleep under all the comforters. (But I hate Pumpkin spice, so don’t get me started on that shit.) For a guy who loves Fall, this was like Heaven.

    As a kid growing up in Texas, Autumn didn’t start until November. And even then we had a couple of Thanksgivings were we had to run the air conditioner – not that it stopped my father from building a fire in the fireplace. Usually, by Halloween, it started to noticeably cool down at night, so you’d have to put on a sweater ort a coat. Maybe the leaves would just start changing color. I do remember several Halloweens where we were sweating while Trick or Treating. Depending on what your costume was, this could make the evening a very sweaty affair.

    Sadly, Fall in Texas was not a long season. As soon as it started, a month later it was December, and full on Texas winter. All the leaves had fallen, and it was a chilling 50 degrees out. Basically, you had one month to get all you Autumnal fun in.

    And then by March, it was Spring, and warm again.

  • Apple Pickin’

    Apple picking is hokey, corny, and a sad excuse for city people to play farmer. We drive way out to the country to go to a “farm” and then pay to pick apples, which half of them will rot in our homes as we try to figure out what to do with 10 lbs. of apples.

    I have a fraught relationship with apple picking, but after nine years of it, I have come to love this part of our Fall tradition.

    The first time I went a’pickin’ was when the kid was a baby, and the “farm” was this almost amusement-park-of-a-place why out in the sticks of New Jersey. It took like thirty minutes to get into the place, the parking was so bad. The line for tickets was long, and then when you got in the joint, all the trees had been picked over. (There were pony rides!) And leaving the place took an hour. It was like leaving a rock concert, but with way more produce. I felt silly being there, like I was being conned.

    The next time I went was when my parents came to visit New York, and were staying upstate, as they were traveling in a motorhome. My wonderful wife found an orchard not too far from where my folks were staying. That was a way more enjoyable experience. It wasn’t crowded, lots of apples, a large orchard to wander around, and most importantly, the kid had a good time. With the exception of the Covid Years, we have gone back to the apple farm year after year.

    And as each year goes by, I start looking forward to it, more and more. It has become our tradition, and an activity that we can yardstick our year, and also gage how much the kid has grown and changed. It’s also the gateway into Autumn for us, as the drive takes us out of the City and into the woods of small town upstate. The changing leaves, and Halloween decorations sprinkled about every corner. Maybe it wasn’t as cool as it was last year, and the leaves were more yellow than any other color… but Fall had arrived for our family.

    Which also included the dog.

    (The dog was totes ready for some apple pickin’)