Fall

Have I said that it is beautiful here? The trees are slowly turning into all those fall colors we read about in California. Some do it slowly. I don't know any of the names of these trees. Is it the maple that slowly changes from green to orange? And what tree is it that all of a sudden, pfoomp, turns yellow?

Even my car is happy to have soft deciduous leaves covering its windshield wipers instead of pine needles and oak leaves. They were never this pretty. And thinking about those live oak leaves, these leaves are easier to walk on bare-footed.

Another sign of Fall is baseball. I celebrated the baseball playoffs by reading the book Faithful by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King. It was written during the 2004 baseball season. These two authors and old friends decided to keep journals about every game the Boston Red Sox played that year. The Red Sox hadn't won a World Series since early in the last century. Their book was based on the premise of how faithful the fans remain despite never winning the big one.

Of course the book is well written and it has the wonderful ending of the curse being broken. (No spoiler alert needed, unless you really don't like baseball. And then you won't care.) One of the things that I've come away with is that these guys play way too many games. The season starts in cold weather and may end on Halloween. We got to watch the players play for several innings in the rain in the final game this year. We all like to make a lot of money, but I think the TV stations, team owners and players need to get a grip. Too much, guys.

In any event, Faithful takes you into the minds of guys who wouldn't mind if the season was longer. What do I know?