Softball in the snow

You've got to hand it to Seattle weather -- you can't say it doesn't have a sense of humor. It wasn't enough that recent precipitation rendered the Green Lake softball fields a slippery morass of mud and duck goose poop; it also had to start snowing right in the middle of my first Underdog Sports League team practice. The people on the team seem nice, and frighteningly athletic compared to me. They were making great plays in the infield and outfield, and while I more or less held my own, I may end up being the weakest link.

I might have made a mistake in marking "3" as my level on the sign-up form; Underdog has five levels, of which 5 is the strongest and 1 the least skilled. The clever little tagline that went along with 3 was, as I recall, "I know what I'm doing, but... go easy on me, okay?" I thought that characterized my level of play pretty accurately, but my teammates appear to be the sort of players other teams would beg to go easy on them. That said, it's nice to be part of a team where the women can really hit, and it's also good to know that I'll be forced to hustle a little more than a weaker team would make me do.

Our self-appointed team captain, a tall, brawny fellow in a backwards Texas Longhorns baseball cap, told us he doesn't usually yell at players unless they commit softball's cardinal sin: playing outfield and not backing up the infielders. He emphasized how important it is to back them up. "It can win games," he said. "I shit you not." He also revealed that he dislikes losing, and that he came to practice hung over from the previous night's bachelor party. Anyway, our first game is next Sunday, with another practice preceding it on Saturday at 2 p.m. Here's hoping next weekend delivers less snow and a bare minimum of goose poop.

The planes may not be airborne at Sea-Tac...

...but my friend Sasha's sled was. Gracious.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are covered in snow

Be careful out there, kids. I thought my toes were going to freeze off earlier tonight, as I made my way back from a walk down the Ave. My fellow Kibbutznik Deborah and I encountered various eccentrics in the U District, including a guy who shouted "Get away from my car!" at some students playing in the snow and then told them he was kidding, it wasn't really his car. He laughed and laughed. Then there was the portly guy who engaged strangers at the bus stop in conversation about Vikings and the bubonic plague. Oh, and the Native American who claimed to be "Eskimo" and told a string of jokes about Native Americans ("Indians") that would have been offensive if he hadn't been Native American (and pretty much were anyway). He also told a joke about toilet paper that was harmless, if somewhat gross. (By the way, I didn't take the above photo of a stuck bus; it came from a P-I reader.)

More snow

As usual, Blogger is taking forever to upload my pictures, and I lack patience. But here are a few taken around the Kibbutz. Click on 'em to make 'em bigger.

KEXP soundtracks the cold weather

I've noticed that Kevin Cole, host of KEXP's "Afternoon Show," has a real knack for picking songs that go well with the cold, sunny weather we've been having. Yesterday, the Long Winters' "Cinnamon," from their album When I Pretend to Fall, exuded a jangly acoustic warmth that felt extremely welcome, and the title alone seemed to cut through the cold. Today, Bishop Allen's "Like Castanets" evoked a warmer place (Chile, to be precise), especially during the horn parts, and emphasized the all-too-brief afternoon sunshine while creating a lovely counterpoint to the snow on the ground. These are songs that make my car radio like a little sonic fireplace.

Snow!

Since it's a Red Blue Green tradition to celebrate the season's first snow with pictures, a poem, and an iTunes mix, here's this year's crop. First, the photos:



Next, a poem by Mary Oliver:

FIRST SNOW

The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles; nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain-not a single
answer has been found-
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.

And, finally, an (edited) iTunes mix, the result of using "snow" as the search term:

1. Snow Crush Killing Song -- The Mountain Goats
2. Velvet Snow -- Kings of Leon
3. Snow Cherries From France -- Tori Amos
4. Snow (Hey Oh) -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
5. Angel in the Snow -- Elliott Smith
6. Snow Camping -- Laura Veirs
7. Snow Lion -- Readymade FC feat. Feist
8. 20 Years Of Snow -- Regina Spektor
9. Snow On The Sahara -- Anggun
10. Snow -- Loreena McKennitt
11. Snowden -- Doves
12. Snow On The Sahara -- Stanford University Harmonics
13. Snow Is Gone -- Josh Ritter
14. Snowflake Music -- Mark Mothersbaugh

Actually, since that's a partial repeat of last year, here's a "winter" mix to grow on:

1. Faded From The Winter -- Iron & Wine
2. The Winter Solstice -- Sufjan Stevens
3. Wait For The Wintertime -- Yeasayer
4. Winter Wonderland -- Aimee Mann
5. Winter -- Tori Amos
6. Winter Is Gone -- Nick Drake
7. In Winter Still -- Dot Allison
8. In The Bleak Mid-Winter -- Shawn Colvin
9. Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind -- Barenaked Ladies
10. The Winter Song -- Eisley
11. Dead Of Winter -- Eels
12. Summer Dress 1 (All Her Winter Clothes) -- Plus/Minus

Snow!

Here's a random snow poem by Robert Frost (thanks, Google):

DUST OF SNOW

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

And here's the playlist iTunes gave me when I used "snow" as a search term:

1. "Angel in the Snow" -- Elliott Smith
2. "Snow Camping" -- Laura Veirs
3. "Snow Lion" -- Readymade FC featuring Feist
4. "20 Years of Snow" -- Regina Spektor
5. "Snow on the Sahara" -- Anggun
6. "Snow" -- Loreena McKennitt
7. "Snow is Gone" -- Josh Ritter
8. "Snowflake Music" -- Mark Mothersbaugh