Little League Stadium, Williamsport PA
It’s been an emotionally draining period these last few weeks as we brought my father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s back to this area from Florida. It’s been hard watching him in his diminished physical and mental state and placing him in a local nursing facility where he could get the care he truly needs didn’t bring a lot of relief. There’s a constant mild anxiety, a sense of worry mixed with sorrow and just a little guilt.
I know that it will get better by degrees but that is small comfort in the moment.
Yesterday, I finally picked up a brush for the first time in a few weeks. I knew I had to get back into it because of obligations I have but more so because painting has been my escape route through the years, that place of retreat for me from the problems of the world. I have found that I can translate my problems, my concerns into paint and off my shoulders. It felt good yesterday but I still wasn’t able to fully get a foothold in that world. I was still straddling that calmer place and the new world and environment of my father.
I am sure it was partly because his situation represents a change in my normal routine. I am an extreme creature of habit and have worked for years to build a healthy and productive routine. So this change was an upheaval that will take some time to work around and rebuild a new routine that works for me.
I am hoping that today finds me closer to that other world in the paint. I feel that it will. But if it doesn’t do it today at least I have another constant, another part of my routine to which I can turn with the assurance that it will almost always have something to offer.
Baseball.
The baseball gods can be merciless. Ask a Chicago Cubs fan. But sometimes they show a little tenderness and mercy, giving you a wonderful gift (or an escape route) when you really need it.
Over the past few weeks it has been a real boost and diversion to watch the emergence of rookie catcher Gary Sanchez for the Yankees who has been putting on a historic power display as the heir apparent to the legacy of Ruth, Gehrig Dimaggio, Mantle and Jeter. There’s a buzz every time he steps to the plate that is a thrill to behold. I know that it can’t last at this pace but when the baseball gods smile you have to just enjoy the moment.
Plus these same baseball gods even decided to give a local Little League team from just down the road in Maine-Endwell a bit of magic as they made their way to the final game of the Little League World Series where they play the kids from South Korea today for the championship down in Williamsport.
So today I will visit Dad, try to find a world in the paint and root for those kids from Maine-Endwell. For this Sunday’s music, here’s a great song from Mabel Scott that pays homage to those baseball gods. It’s Baseball Boogie and the video features some great footage of Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Willie Mays and Ted Williams. Take a look, let your toes tap and have a great day. Go, Maine-Endwell!
Redtree Times 
I’m no baseball fan, but I know how much you enjoy it. May those gods keep smiling – and I hope “your” kids win today.
Thanks so much, Linda.
So sorry about your Dad. I know how hard it is not to be able to communicate or be understood. It’s a terrible disease, and one we all fear as we get older. I’m glad you are able to get back to your routine, as your paintings are never “routine” 🙂
Hi There,
I’m Steve Shimer. I wrote a blog post a few years ago that you liked, reviewing your show at the Fenimore House and you sent me a card and an art piece. Now here we are Endwell is about equal distance between and apparently we’re both baseball fans. So I’m sending you this link to Steve Goodman’s classic lament about the Cubbies as you are a Cubs fan. (I’m a Yankee fan, because my Dad liked Babe Ruth). And so it goes. But I, as does practically everyone, have a soft spot in my heart for the Cubs.
And the other day I was lamenting putting my father in a nursing home about 4 years or so ago. I couldn’t leave him alone because he’d already almost died from taking insulin and not eating. So I’m offering a shoulder, as I received one from to a friend just a week ago. My friend told me, you made your best decision. Forgive yourself.
So there is that in case it is some consolation.
I hope to get out to the West End Gallery before Sept 2, and I’d like to shake your hand. But if I don’t, well here’s a lament that is meant to cheer you up. I suspect most Cubs fans have found it since its pretty old now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xBxZGQ1dJk I think it is light hearted in its own maudlin way. I hope you find it funny as well.
Thanks for doin’ what you do. if it helps, you should know, it helps us to see what you make and to read what you think.
Steve Shimer
Thanks, Steve! I appreciate your words of consolation about placing my father in a nursing home. I know that it was the only thing we could do and that it will indeed get easier as time passes. It’s that period here at the beginning that takes time to get past. But we will.
Also, thanks for the Steve Goodman song. I was thinking about using this song for the blog today but opted for a little more upbeat boogie. I am not really a Cubs fan at heart although I was a big Ernie Banks fan as a kid and am definitely rooting for their current team. I, too, am a Yankees fan by blood, my grandparents having honeymooned in NY in the early 20’s to see Babe Ruth play– he hit a double and a triple in one of the games they saw.
Thanks for keeping up with my work as well, Steve. It’s folks like you that feed my need to paint. Hope to meet you one of these days. All the best to you!