Three Beautiful Things 10/17/19: Rumblin' Up the Little North Fork, Donya's Gone from CLRR, Ignominious Yankee Loss

1. Byrdman and I rendezvoused at the Trail of the CdA's Enaville trailhead. I piled into his pickup and we rumbled up the paved road to Bumblebee Campground and continued over the rough and potholed gravel road up the Little North Fork of the CdA River for about ten miles. Undeterred by the blustery, rainy weather, we stopped at several points to take pictures of orange and golden landscapes and the beauty of the river. At one point, we pulled into a parking area just off the road and hiked down a moderately steep hill and spent time on the river's bank, enjoying the placid flow of the river and stately pine trees and verdant ferns all around us.

Below, I have posted some of the approximately sixty pictures I took today as I gave my Pentax Q another workout.

2. Byrdman and I then plopped down at the bar at the Country Lane River Resort. I dove into a basket of delicious buffalo chicken wings and a glass of Ninkasi's Total Domination IPA. In keeping with the rest of our peaceful outing, the Country Lane River Resort was quiet. We learned our onetime yakkin' pal at the bar, Donya, decided to move back to Portland. L. E. said it was good move for her well being and for health insurance reasons, but we had enjoyed yakkin' with her when we visited in January and I had enjoyed running into Donya at the Elks Crab Feed in February.

3. Back home, I tuned into the Astros/Yankees playing Game 4 of the ALCS. The Astros look like they might be getting noisy again as both George Springer and Carlos Correa slammed three run homers, spearheading the Astros to an 8-3 win. The Astros trotted out six pitchers who pieced together a gutsy performance. Seven times the Yankees had runners in scoring position with two outs and, each time, the Astros' pitchers prevailed. On defense, the Yankees were painful to watch as two of their normally very dependable infielders, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu, made two errors each. The Astros will secure a spot in the World Series if they win Game 5 and will look to their dominating pitcher Justin Verlander to stymie the Yankees and move ahead to the Fall Classic.

I'm not a Yankee fan, but tonight I took no delight in watching them crumble. Their hitters often looked lost at the plate. Their four errors were uncharacteristic and kind of shocking. And, to add to their woes, the Yankees' beloved pitcher CC Sabathia hobbled off the mound injured. I doubt we'll ever see Sabathia pitch again. He's thirty-nine years old. His body is worn out. He's been pitching in the major leagues since 2001. He's won 251 games. He helped the Yankees win the World Series in 2009. Soon, I'm sure, he'll be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Tonight, he tried to give the Yankees one more short, solid outing, but his shoulder popped, he was in pain, and he was (and, I presume, is) finished.

I saw a game at Yankee Stadium on April 16, 2016 on a clear, sunny, glorious Saturday afternoon. Two major league titans, neither at the top of his game any longer, CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez were the starting pitchers. Neither pitched very long in this game, but, even though I didn't get to see them at their best, it was awesome to see these two in person in the Bronx.

First, a picture from the Enaville Trail of the CdA's trailhead and then pictures up the Little North Fork of the CdA River, all shot with my Pentax Q.