Humboldt Heat Wave!

I am not sure I truly believe that "84F" recorded in Kelvin's car via iPhone yesterday 4/24; however, it did feel as thought it reached the 70s, which is downright balmy for this area. While I saw numerous people sunbathing around our neighborhood and skateboarding around the Arcata hills shirtless, I had a hard time abandoning my light sweater.

Now it's about 50 and cloudy; that's more like it.

Doppelgänger

I know that I'm guilty of posting a lot of pictures of our doggie; however, since we don't have kids, can you blame me? At least I don't inundate Facebook :)

(thanks to Katherine for sending this graphic our way)

Kelvin came across the above photo on a the FB page of a friend, who was dog-sitting two dogs, including "Paris"  pictured above.  When we saw the the photo, we were amazed at the similarity to our pooch Pepper, whose coloring (and face) we have found quite unique among shih tzus.

We finally found (à la How I Met Your Mother) Pep's doppelgänger! Have you found yours?

Jackie Robinson and 42

 

 mentalfloss.com

I am not a huge baseball fan. Despite loving watching most sporting events and being a bit fanatical at times (K's statement to me during the final rounds of the recent NCAA tournament was, "It's probably a good thing we don't usually watch sports with lots of people because you're acting kinda craaazy!"), I have a hard time getting into low-scoring or slow-moving-at-times sports, including golf, hockey (perhaps it's more fun in person?), soccer (ugh; all-time worst-- please see past World Cup post) and even baseball. I had a period in my late elementary-school years where I thought that life and death depended on the success of the Minnesota Twins and spent summers on my grandparents' farm watching or listening to (and mostly mourning) Twins' baseball.  However, in the present day, I probably couldn't match most baseball teams with their respective cities (how can they move around so much?!) or name more than three active players. I did not watch (gasp!) any of last year's World Series games, when the relative "home team" SF Giants took home the trophy (do they call it that? Or is it a pennant?).

On my suggestion, however, we did go see 42 this weekend, which is a film which chronicles Jackie Robinson's entry to the lily-white world of baseball when he broke the color barrier and was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.  Being partial to tearjerkers as well as (per Netflix) "social or historical dramas," I knew I'd find appealing the social/racial injustice part which really gets me riled up (did this really happen in our country, this recently?), mixed in with the "underdog" and sports theme. I have to say that it was a great film.

Not having read many sports autobiographies or biographies (or much about baseball history), I learned a lot from the movie. I also learned more from some online reading done after we came home from the theater. Apparently today, April 15th, (obviously a date around which the film's release was timed) is actually recognized as "Jackie Robinson Day," a day which commemorates his debut in the major leagues in 1947 at first base. His number, 42, was the first number to be retired in American sports in 1997 and each year, on April 15th, all major league players wear #42 in his honor. If I watched any baseball, I probably would have noticed this.

However, now I am motivated to do some more reading about this amazing man. Jackie Robinson: A Biography (by Arnold Rampersad) and I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson are atop my Amazon "Books to Read" wishlist (a.k.a. my library queue).... which means I will try to read them soon! If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend it!

The Coastal Trail/Hidden Beach

On Saturday, we checked out another Humboldt hiking Trail... the Coastal Trail by Klamath, CA that goes to Hidden Beach.

It was very windy, but sunny and the views were great (sunglasses doubled for sun- and pollen-protection... my allergies have been horrible these past few days!).

 

 

Pepper loved Hidden Beach!

She had a pretty good time on the rest of the trail, too!

Louisville - highs and lows!

Despite not having a very good early bracket in this year's NCAA tournament (see prior post), I ended up finishing 5th in Apurva's bracket due to Louisville men winning it all (with my hubby coming in sixth)! The championship game against Michigan this past Monday was a great Final (although I'd picked Louisville to win the tournament, there was a large part of me cheering for the underdog, Michigan and in that sense it was a great game to watch, as [as RARELY happens] I didn't really mind any outcome). Despite Kevin Ware sustaining a horrific open leg fracture during Duke earlier in the tournament (I'm a medical person and the replays were gruesome to watch!), the Cardinals rallied to win it all!

I became a fan of Lousville's women's basketball team after seeing them take out Baylor (they almost choked away large lead but hung on to win it) and then Tennessee. It was pretty heartbreaking to see them be dominated by UCONN in the Final (did I mention that I hate favored/perpetually No. 1 teams?), but they have a lot to be proud of this season.

Until next year's March Madness... here's onto April!

Don't'cha know

Kelvin recently forwarded me this funny buzz-feed: 38 Things Minnesotans Are Too Nice to Brag About.


I often don't really feel that I have a "home state." However, while I went to HS and college in Virginia and have spent the last 6 years in California, I would probably call Minnesota as "home a state" as I have. I fondly remember most summers of my childhood which were spent in MN where almost all of my Dad's family still resides, and I spent a very memorable, cold four years of med school there in Rochester, too (yeah, No. 24 [The Mayo Clinic]!).

It's easy to poke fun at the Minnesotan accents like in "Fargo," [which is actually in North Dakota, where I have other relatives, but close to the border].  However, as you can see by the article, Minnesotans have a lot to be proud of!

They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet (so nice, in fact, that in medical school we termed the polite response  [which was really NO!] to "Do you want to do..... x, y, or z?" the "Mayo-maybe." I love my MN buddies and family!

Pardon some of the language/images in the pictures; however, I still found this post amusing, and it made me a bit nostalgic. Lucky Charms really was the cereal of my Minnesota-summer-childhood.

I also love the (No. 16) tater-tot casserole (or HOT DISH), but where's the "jello salad" in this list? (MN is notorious for anything, even without fruits/veggies, being labeled a "salad").

Did you learn something new about the Land of 10,000 Lakes?

Agate hunting and a Birthday

On Saturday, to celebrate Alyssa's birthday, a group of us went out to the beach near Big Lagoon to go agate-hunting. While this is a hobby that is quite popular in the North Coast (as it is in areas south, too), it was my first time.

 Caley, Irene, Peggy, Alyssa, Amber, me

Hunting for agates requires a lot of patience (unfortunately, not something I have much of), and a very good eye. You have to crouch down and sift through lots of ocean-polished stones to find the clear, swirled rocks. I am sad to say that I was quite unsuccessful.

Here are some very large agate (sliced and polished), which are very rare.

We were looking for much smaller rocks, on the order of 0.5- 1 cm.

Alyssa, who grew up going agate hunting and tidepooling, was the real expert.  Whenever one of us found a questionable rock, we had to go to her for verification/confirmation of its agate-status (her response was, most commonly in her very kind manner, "I don't think that's an agate, but it's very pretty!).

(this photo isn't very good, but here is a real agate that Kristen found)

 Caley, Alyssa, me

After getting our soles all sandy at the beach, we relaxed a bit and got pedicures, which was an activity I enjoyed more as it had a much more favorable result (something pretty to show for it!) :)

It was Amber's first time getting her feet pampered  (check our her apprehensive expression!)

The special birthday girl!

Thanks, Alyssa, for introducing me to this new activity! I hope you found some nice stones and had a wonderful day!