We had an easy 80 mile drive from Natural Bridge to Malena and Dan’s home.  We timed our arrival while Dan was at work and Malena was just getting ready to take the boys into town for a lesson and later for baseball practice.  With a minimum of pain we got Gee2 set up in its usual place in the driveway, electric and sewer connected and plenty of fresh water in the tank and available at the spigot when needed.  We expect to stay about three weeks.  Carol and I are still negotiating the route to Rochester.  I want to stop by Falling Water, the house FLWright built for Kaufmann outside Pittsburgh.  Carol agrees but she also wants to stop in the Lancaster PA area.  We also want to make a stop in Niagara Falls to see a coach at Colton RV.  Not sure how we make all that happen.

Activity at the house is intense.  Both boys are playing baseball at Cove Creek, an amazing facility with at least 7 fields ranging from a “T-ball” field for the youngest players to a regulation field with 90 foot base paths.  Most of the fields are little league standard.  I have not referred to this a Little League facility since it isn’t formally affiliated.  When the county wanted to build a baseball facility in the area there was a lot of objection because they insisted on lighting the fields and there is an astronomical observatory nearby and the light pollution  would have blinded them.  John Grisham lives in the area and he agreed to build the facility with no lights on his own property at his own expense.  I do not know why it is not affiliated, but it may have something to do with his independence streak.  It sure costs less than participating in the Charlottesville Little league which runs $250 per child.  This is only $40 and the travel teams are paid for as well, parents are expected to pay their own expenses.  It’s nice to have money and spend it on something you love that benefits the entire community.

All of that is to explain that every spare minute is devoted to practices and scrimmages at the park, which fortunately is only 15 minutes from the house, including getting out to the highway down the long gravel road.  We have gone to the park several times each already and I expect there will be more trips during our stay as practice ends and season play begins with each boy in a couple of games a week.  Naturally they are not on the same team so do not have the same schedule. I did say spare minute.  They don’t have many with music lessons and other activities such as Alexander’s volunteering at the library.

Seder was at Latifa and Peter’s home.  She is a leader of the Renewal Chavurah that Dan participates in and  also Alexander’s Hebrew teacher.  The time slipped by unnoticed as we followed the Order (Seder).  From sitting down a 5:45 I first noticed the time at 10 PM as the meal was cleared.  To dwell on the Seder is considered meritorious, but I won’t do that here other than to acknowledge that the first question we were addressed before the formal beginning was “who is not here that we could wish were by our side?”  I realized that although she had not been present at any Seder of ours in many years, this was the first Seder since my mother died and all of sudden I missed her terribly.  Strange how that sneaks up on me when I least expect it.