Of course, I'm not complaining

But today has been as miserable a day in the desert as I would ever expect. Dark rolling clouds dumping heavy rain followed by gusty cold winds - I might as well be home in Minnesota. In fact I soon will be.

Yesterday, my cousin and I attended a spring training game between the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland A's. The game began with a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner that was breathtaking - sung by a girl who could not have been more than five or six years' old. Singing A Capella in perfect tune, she added an awesome octave jump on the word "free" that brought a gasp from audience, including me. As I recall, her name was something like Athena Cleeve, but don't quote me on that.

The 7th Inning stretch produced a crowd of loud Cubs fans singing "root, root, root for the 'Cubbies'" - Oakland was the home team, and the fans could just as well have sung "rout, rout, rout for the home team", as that is what the Cubbies did. We left in the middle of the 8th Inning with the score at 10 to 1 for Chicago. As we walked to the car, someone from the A's hit a two run homer, but it was still a rout.

Cloudy day with a chilly breeze, but the rain held off until later out of consideration, I'm sure, for my cousin from Cedar Rapids. A cool day, with a chilly breeze, a somewhat ominous precursor to the Twins playing in April and September at our new outdoor field. Baseball as it was meant to be played in all kinds of weather. Actually, I think I won't hurry to go "out to the ball game" in Minnesota. But I am happy to be hurrying home soon nevertheless.