So Blue, So Cool

The combination of heat and humidity today made today's temperature feel like 115 degrees. I went to the pool, stepped off the side into the water and was enveloped by its blue coolness. I try to make it my rule that, once I am in the water, I do not stop moving or touch the sides or bottom. This might make me the Michael Phelps of treading water, but with so many other people around it's hard to swim lengths. I swam, treaded water and watched the trees undulate in the breeze for an hour while about a dozen teenagers laughed. splashed and ran around nearby. Either way, we all enjoyed ourselves, irrespective of the heat.

On the other hand...

Help meee!! Pleeez! I want to go home! 

Lazy Sunday

Ah, yes, it's humid, hot and I can hear the sounds of chatter in the distance that can only mean that a softball game is in progress. The metallic *PING!* of the aluminum bat against the fluorescent green hide of the ball confirms it. From the presence of men wearing various colors of T-shirts, it seems that a small church league tournament was being played. 

Both of the park's diamonds were in use and there was a healthy smattering of wives in attendance, cheering on their men. The spectators sat on bleachers or camp chairs shaded by trees. The man in the top picture had stopped with his little boys to watch from a left field bench, taking a break from their bicycle ride around the neighborhood. 

There wasn't a scoreboard in sight but while the game was informal, you could tell from the postures of some of the players, long-remembered habits and drills learned as school boys were being lived out;  in their approach to the plate for their turn at bat, the way they trotted around the bases, how they scooped up a ball and threw it to a baseman, it all came back to them for the afternoon. And for a while, in the hot summer sun they were living their dream.