1. I felt like Fyodor Dostoevsky today as I spent a few hours writing a detailed document for Christy, Carol, and Paul about Copper and Luna. I know I could have just written "feed them twice a day, keep their water fresh, and scoop the litter pan", but I wanted them to know what my experience with Luna and Copper has been the last couple of months and what that might mean for their care.
I got a little carried away.
2. Two factors contributed mightily to my enjoyment of the semi-finals of the Women's U.S. Open tennis tournament today.
First, over the course of the hours I tuned in, I slowly drank three cans of Rogue's Honey Kolsch and with each glass I poured myself, I began to taste flavors I hadn't paid much attention to before. The best I can do to describe my experience is that underlying its floral elements and that wonderful hit of honey was an earthiness. I enjoyed how this earthiness complemented that bit of sweetness and contributed to the beer's balance.
Secondly, the winners of today's matches, both teenagers, played brilliant tennis and did so with fearless verve.
As the first match got underway, it looked like the older, more experienced, and more physically powerful and imposing Aryna Sabalenka was going to crush Leylah Fernandez. With powerful serves and forehand winners, she won 12 of the set's first 13 points and roared out to a 3-0 lead which soon became 4-1.
Remarkably, the inexperienced Fernandez, 19 years old, made adjustments on the fly. If, at first, she was put on her heels by Sabalenka's powerful serves and strokes, she seemed to adjust to them and she started throwing a variety of shots Sabalenka's way, seeming to frustrate her opponent. Then, at a crucial juncture (was it the 5th game?), Fernandez, serving as if she had nothing to lose, blasted four aces, two of them unbelievably on second serves. She was back in the match and, coming from behind, won the first set tiebreaker.
In the second set, Sabalenka seemed a bit more relaxed than in the late stages of the first set and powered her way to a 6-4 win.
The conclusion of the third set was painful to watch. Sabalenka lost her nerve and when she needed to hold serve, down 4-5; she double faulted twice in row, lost the game, set, and the match.
In the next match, the even younger Emma Raducanu, 18, also faced an imposing opponent, the hard serving Maria Sakkari. Before even entering the 128 player field at the U.S. Open, Raducanu had to win three qualifying matches. Once in the field, she's been on a tear. She's won every set, mowed down every opponent, and, today, she completely flummoxed Maria Sakkari, winning the match 6-1, 6-4 in a match void of any real tension or drama regarding the outcome.
Emma Raducanu is the first player in the history of Grand Slam tennis to reach a final as a qualifier.
Saturday's final between Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu promises to be both epic and unpredictable. Having watched both women play today, I know I have no idea what to expect, aside from one inevitability: both players will bring great enthusiasm and electricity to the match -- we tennis fans also hope that they will also bring their best tennis and entertain us with an exciting and nail-biting match.
3. If you want to know well ahead of time what is going to happen in your life, then you don't want to work things out with either me or Debbie!
Today, Debbie and I talked on the phone about what we might do when we depart Valley Cottage next week and begin our trip back to Kellogg.
We ruled out going to Canada and that's firm.
Otherwise, I'd say we won't know until we are together next week whether we'll tour New England, go to Niagara Falls, head west immediately for Debbie's brother's lake place on Lake Michigan, or so something we haven't even thought of yet.
One thing is fairly certain: we will not be able to say, "Well, things didn't exactly go according to plan" since, as of now, there is no plan!
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