1. Today was the last day of the US Open Tennis tournament. I watched CoCo Vandeweighe and Ashleigh Barty's dramatic and scintillating -- and might I add, thrilling? -- women's doubles championship win over Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic. Vandeweighe and Barty survived three match points -- two in the second set and one in the third -- and tenaciously played their way to the championship. I loved their celebration, their uninhibited joy, when the match ended.
I then settled in to watch Novak Djokovich and Juan Martin del Proto put on an engrossing display of power tennis, but, in the end, Djokovich was the far superior player. His game is remarkably complete, especially his talent for covering the entire court and his nearly unworldly skill at returning serve and returning his opponent's shots. Djokovich triumphed in straight sets and after he won the tie breaker in the second set, it was difficult to imagine del Proto mounting a comeback, hard to imagine him winning three sets in a row.
Both players, especially del Proto, have been stymied by injuries and I enjoyed seeing both of them appear to be in good shape. But, honestly, I'm not sure there is a player out there who could have beaten Djokovic today.
2. Before heading over to Christy's for family dinner, I watched the start of the baseball game between two American League titans: the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox. The game was tied 1-1 when I left, but, when I returned, the game was now tied at 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, thirty-three year old Red Sox veteran Mitch Moreland, hacked a bloopy single off of Hector Rondon the opposite way to left field, scoring pinch runner Tzu-Wei Lin. This game was the third of a three game set. Houston had won the first two and avoiding the sweep meant a great deal to the Red Sox as evidenced by their ecstatic mobbing of Moreland and their unbridled celebration after the win.
3. Christy prepared a superb family dinner tonight. She fixed us each an Old Fashioned while we snacked on asparagus spears, nuts, and Gouda cheese. For dinner, she prepared one of her favorite recipes, handed over to her by the Sisters at Mt. St. Michael, overlooking Hillyard in Spokane. It's a zucchini chowder. Alongside the chowder she presented us with delicious wedges of roasted cabbage, baked with a sauce of butter, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, Dijon mustard, and seasonings. Here in Kellogg, the temperature is starting to dip into the autumn range and this meal was a perfect compliment to the cooling temperatures. I love the comforting foods we can eat with the end of the summer heat and this meal perfectly comforted and nourished us.
You can find the baked cabbage recipe Christy worked from right here. The chowder recipe is typed out on paper and not available online!
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