Monday, September 12, 2022

Three Beautiful Things 09-11-2022: So Far It's Mild, Young Players in Tennis, Isolating with Movies

 1. I had planned to shop in Coeur d'Alene this afternoon for a few items at Costco and probably at Fred Meyer. Those plans changed. I took a late morning nap and when I woke up, Debbie informed me that she'd just tested positive for Covid. She's been fatigued, had a mild sore throat, and a mild headache so she decided to test herself. Debbie was hungry so I postponed my CdA trip and bought food and liquids at Yoke's, came home, and fixed Debbie a bowl of pasta with fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, basil, and fresh grated Parmigiana Reggiano cheese. 

Thankfully, Debbie's symptoms remained mild through the day and evening. She combined rest and hydration with preparing lesson plans for the person who will sub for her while she's away from school. I'm not sure how long she'll be out. 

So far, I feel fine. 

I'll hole up mostly in the Vizio room until the Covid coast is clear and do what I can to be of help to Debbie. 

2. While I rustled up a bowl of pasta for Debbie, I also watched the men's championship match of tennis's U. S. Open. The world of men's tennis is experiencing a changing of the guard. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and, because he refuses Covid vaccination, Novak Djokovic are fading away -- Nadal was eliminated in this tournament in the fourth round, Federer didn't play (he is nursing injury and is forty-one years old), and Djokovic, as mentioned, didn't play. Now, keep in mind, Nadal won this year's Australian and French Opens and Djokovic won Wimbledon. When Djokovic is cleared to play again, unvaccinated, he will very likely continue to compete at a high level. But Nadal's physical health is fragile and Federer might be finished. 

So young players are ascending the world rankings.

Today's championship match featured Spain's nineteen year old shooting star, Carlos Alcaraz and Norway's twenty-three year old Casper Ruud, who was also a finalist in the 2022 French Open. 

I didn't give the match my full attention. I was busy cooking. But, in the second and third sets, I saw some stunning points. Both players are fast, covering a lot of the court to run down shots, and both are powerful and also capable of superb finesse shots. 

Alcaraz, though, was ultimately the superior player and, by winning this tournament, he became the youngest player ever to achieve a #1 world ranking. 

It's too early to tell if Alcaraz has a long and successful career ahead of him. It's always hard to tell if young players in any sport will sustain their success when they achieve it early. 

3.  I retired early this evening to the bedroom, mainly so that Debbie and I are maintaining distance from each other. I decided to watch an hour long murder mystery featuring Ian Richardson and Timothy Spall entitled "A Cotswold Death". I enjoy watching Ian Richardson play arrogant characters and he was in great form as the condescending, full of himself Inspector Arrowsmith. 

Not quite ready to go to sleep, I returned to the BFIPlayer Classic channel and decided to watch another British comedy, The Happiest Days of Your Life,  featuring Margaret Rutherford and Alastair Sim, another British actor I've taken a recent interest in, thanks to my recent viewing of An Inspector Calls.

I didn't last long watching this movie, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because I crapped out and fell asleep. 

I'll return to it on Monday. 

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