October Harvest Gone Awry

While we slept soundly in St. Louis after the World Series win, 

 mean-spirited night-walkers trespassed undetected in our front yard 

and whisked away twenty or more farm grown pumpkins. 

The pick of the bunch.

 The plumpest pumpkins in autumn's finest hues.

Why so sad? 

Each seed was sowed with expectation.
Weeded, watched and weighed in my mind since spring.

Clipped from tangled vines like babies from their umbilical cords. 

Cradled one by one and wiped clean of earth, then
 transported home and earmarked
 as autumn gifts.
Robbed of the pleasure.

Cards Bluffed it Out to Win it All

 

Despite ominous skies, we watched the first game of the 2011 World Series from a sky box high atop Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The hometown Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers 3 to 2 that night and went on to become the World Champions in seven games. When I hemmed and hawed about traveling to St. Louis in the middle of a busy week at home, Jeff said it was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity (second for him) thanks to our generous and thoughtful friends whose companionship is more easily enjoyed near sea level or lakeside in Wisconsin, Chicago or Arizona.

The air was electric with spectator excitement and patriotism as Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden paid tribute to the military and their families.

The fall classic signals something else besides the best of summer baseball. The coming of winter and the mad rush to the end of the year holidays.