Take Me Out to the Ball Game

 Baseball has been a part of Tom's life since he was a kid.  He is a proud Yankees fan. In 2013 when the Hops came to Hillsboro, it was a time for celebration. A local team was playing games only a fifteen minute drive from our house!

The Yakima Bears moved to Hillsboro after their 2012 season and became our Hillsboro Hops. The Bears decided to relocate because of the lack of progress on a new stadium that would meet league standards and a declining local economy back in Yakama. 

The Hops are a short-season Class A Northwest League team, that is a farm team of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  They play at Ron Tonkin Field, a new stadium that was built especially for the Hops in 2013. The Hops replaced the Triple-A Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League, who relocated to Tuscon at the end of the 2010 season.   

* The Beavers were a minor league team that was established in 1903. After many incarnations, they left Portland in 2010 and after Tuscon went on to  Texas to become the  El Paso Chihuahuas.    

 Portland went without a minor league team in 2011 and 2012.  Poor Tom. The Hops opened in the 2013 season at Salem on June 14 followed by the home opener of June 17. Their first win came at that home game playing Eugene. They set a franchise record for attendance for the 2014 season and won their division and league championship.

Tom wearing a replica Beavers Jersey, holding the biggest foot-
long hot dog I have ever seen! It was truly close to an inch and a half wide!
We both shared it for seven innings, and threw the rest away.

The teams name is a reference to hops,  the plant used in beer brewing.  Oregon is the second-largest hop producing state by volume. School children in Hillsboro got to vote on a name for the team mascot (a hop cone wearing a blue baseball cap). He was named Barley, which is another plant used in beer brewing. Barley makes the rounds at every game visiting and posing with fans.

Watching that foul ball.

That McDonald's arch is an inflated one.

Lots of teams attend the games, waiting for foul
balls and horsing around. Fun to watch too.

Of course, as the food obsessed writer of this piece, I must touch on the concessions.

Conferring

Leaving the stadium at games end

Baseball, the All American Pastime   :-)          

Since the Hot Dog Incident we have sampled (and hope to sample) some of the other offerings which are many and not too high priced, including but not limited to:
*Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches
*Red Tomato Mexican food
*Japanese Grill and Filipino food
*Chicken and Waffle sandwiches
*Slider Cart- meatloaf sliders topped with mashed potatoes and gravy, Salmon Cake sliders, and mini Cuban Sandwiches and...
*Dessert Cart- Strawberry Shortcake(from local farm), Bavarian Pretzel with Maple Sugar and Cream Cheese Icing, Dessert Nachos etc.
They were also making some kind of Sub Zero Ice Cream where they put cream and fruit into a container and froze it for a minute or two with freezing guns and constant mixing. I will have to explore that further.

Time to Read Books

School is out, Tom had his 4th chemo treatment this morning, it's Allison's birthday, and we are at Starbucks waiting to meet her. ( It is now two weeks later and Tom is having his 5th treatment, but what the heck, I'm slow getting these book reports done.)    For a while there, I was posting at least twice a week, but things are happening in a slowed down pace these days.  Tom is still feeling well. We both read lots of books and magazines.

The photo in one of the previous posts showed Tom reading on an iPad.  I downloaded the Tom Petty biography so that we could both be reading the same thing. We both enjoy rock biographies.
Actually, I enjoy all kinds of biographies and have found some  great graphic biographies at the library. Here are some of the books we have been reading.

In The Arab of the Future: growing up in the Middle East (1978-1984): a graphic memoir,   Riad Sattouf draws and writes about his nomadic childhood growing up in rural France, Gaddafi's Libya, and Assad's Syria. His bookish French student mother is as modest as his father is flamboyant. Riad is a big eyed blond child that all adults adore, but middle eastern kids consider him the outsider and insult him with the ultimate insult by calling him Jewish!  His dad is always chasing paradise just around the corner.  Food is scarce, local kids kill puppies for sport, and because locks are banned, the family comes home one day to find another family occupying their apartment.  Riad is a master cartoonist and I thoroughly enjoyed this story of his eccentric family in an absurd Middle East.

The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf

A Chinese Life is an autobiography in graphic novel form.  It traces the author's remarkable personal journey from the creation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the present. It is wonderfully drawn and the author tells the intimate story of his family through the rise of Chairman Mao Zadong and the often cataclysmic changes and visions he had for China. The author, Li Kunwu has spent more than 30 years as a state artist for the Communist Party.  Some people know I have a fascination   for China and Chinese history.  This book gives one a fresh perspective from someone who lived and experienced all the changes.  As I read about the devestation caused by the Great Leap Forward and the suffering of the Chinese people in the late 1960's, I kept thinking about my life at that time and my problems concerning boys, school and what shade of Yardley lip gloss to buy.  

A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu and P. Otie

Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart

Rosalie Lightning is a touching graphic memoir by Tom Hart about the untimely death of his daughter Rosalie. This is a tearful, painful book that describes the experiences of grieving.  It is powerful and heartbreaking and seems to be a way for the author to process his feelings. At the end of the book he ( or his wife) says that even if he had known that his daughter's life would end the way it did, he still would have wanted to experience her joy and life for the almost two years she was with them. This is a touching, emotional read.

The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: headhunters, Luna Park,
and the man who pulled off the spectacle of the century.

The Lost Tribe of Coney Island by Claire Prentice is the story of the Igorrote tribes people who were brought from the Philippines by Truman Hunt to be displayed at Coney Island in the early 1900's. Amusement parks were huge at the turn of the century as was displaying humans. Forty-nine Igorrotes were chosen to come for one year and make enough money to live the rest of their lives well off.  Well, that was the plan. At first things went as planned and they were treated well, but Truman's lust for money and sensation soon unhinged things. He kept them in the country, seperating them and exploiting them while he collected all the money promising them that they would get it when they returned to the Philippines.  I'm sure you know how that turned out.  The author documents Truman's descent from impresario to shameless promoter to petty criminal. You get to know the tribes people well and find out what became of them at the end of the book.  This was a worthwhile and entertaining book.

This is a taste of what is being read at the Gorman residence.

( along with countless newspapers, magazines and other books and ebooks)

We have the time!

Horseshoes

Tom has always loved to play horseshoes. He learned as a boy watching his Dutch grandpa and his buddies smoke clay pipes, drink beer (I'm guessing) and play after a hard day farming in Banks.  Tom remembers these old farmers as experts.  He still throws the way his grandpa taught him and he plays quite well.  Years ago his best buddy Mike lived next door and had a horseshoe pit.  Those were the days.  Mike played poker and horseshoes, two of Tom's favorite leisure activities.   When Mike passed, the horseshoe pit didn't get the action anymore and Tom pretty much stopped playing.

Recently he has begun to drive to Skyline Tavern to practice.   Sometimes the ping-ping of the shoes hitting the post draws interested parties wanting to play.  Sometimes I drink a cider and watch him practice.  Although I will throw a frisbee or football with him, or play poker, I just don't like throwing those heavy metal horseshoes.  They hurt my delicate lady hands!   He also  recently set up a practice area on our driveway where he throws at home.  

Practicing at Skyline Tavern

Taking a break by the belt trees. People have wrapped
belts around the trees.  Don't ask me why.

This is one of the horseshoe playing buddies Tom met. Jill is from the
Midwest. She likes horseshoes, and knows our neighbor Janice (Mike's wife)
from playing french horn in the symphony with her. 
That rain puddle has since evaporated.

So if you would like to play horseshoes with Tom, get in touch and he will meet you at Skyline or Shute Park in Hillsboro.  But beware...he is getting HOT!

Guess I Better Post Something

Alli and Logan at Multnomah Falls on
Father's Day.

Several weeks have passed. Tom is halfway through his chemo and feeling OK.  No bad side effects!  He surely feels better than he did a few months ago.  So we have been carrying on with the business of figuring out what retired people do.  Here are a few glimpses. 

My last class on the last day of school.  I will miss them.

A path to the beach near Twin Rocks.

Tom training squirrels.

The cookie Tom gave me at the Tuesday Marketplace.
(I wonder how it got so small?)

Hunting our dinner at the beach.

Tom at Multnamah Falls.

Tom reading on an iPad.  First time!!! He is entering the new Millennium .

We stopped by St. John's Pub on our way home from Kaiser.  It was my birthday, so I got a stamp in my McMenamins Passport, completing an "experience" page and earning me a $20 giftcard.  I enjoyed a delicious cherry cider along with a salad and assortment of crunchy snacky things.

I liked the way the ceiling looked.

Cindy on the upper bridge,
Multnamah Falls.

Logan holding court with Tom and Amanda by the Bridge of the Gods, Cascade Locks.  
We stopped at the old Char Burger  Restaurant which has not changed anything
but it's name to Bridgeside.

Yummy Peach Cobbler at the
Offshore Grill, Rockaway.

Passing us on the way to the beach.

We want one.

Sunset, Twin Rocks, Rockaway.
That's all for now.

Chemo 101

Tom started chemotherapy last Tuesday. The center at Interstate is an attractive place as chemotherapy injection centers go. Each patient gets a semi private area with a big, adjustable recliner, a TV, books, magazines, snacks and in Tom's case,  big windows with second story tree views. I tried to take a photo of Tom in his comfy chair, but this was one time that he asked me not to take a picture. He was given a half hour of anti nausea medicine before starting.

When I started reading about the numerous chemotherapy drugs, the only one I could remember was 5-FU. I think it is an appropriate and easy to remember name, being as chemotherapy drugs are poisons that are added to the bloodstream, to assure they reach all parts of the body. 5-FU has been used for decades to treat colon cancer, but now it is usually used in a cocktail (a mixture of drugs that compliment each other) with two other drugs. This cocktail is nicknamed FOLFOX.

Chemotherapy drugs work in these four ways.

The drugs Tom is taking are 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin.  

5-FU is the most common drug used to treat colorectal cancer. It is an antimetabolite. It prevents cells from making DNA and RNA by interfering with the synthesis of nucleic acids, thus disrupting the growth of cancer cells.

Leucovorin (folinic acid) is a biomodulator, a biologic agent that mimics some of the natural signals that the body uses to regulate growth. Leucovorin calcium is a vitamin used as a "booster". It helps 5-FU work better and kill cancer cells more effectively than 5-FU can alone.

Oxaliplatin is an alkylating agent, a chemical agent that works directly on DNA during all phases of the cell cycle to prevent the cancer cell from reproducing. 

How does chemotherapy work?

Chemo drugs target and kill rapidly dividing cells, such as cancer cells. Of course they also effect other rapidly dividing cells such as bone marrow, hair follicles,  and the lining of the digestive tract. Although most normal cells can fix themselves, this harming of good cells is what causes side effects. The two weeks resting period between treatments allows the good cells time to regenerate themselves.  Cancer cells can't regenerate, when they die, they are dead.

Tom received his FOLFOX for about two hours at the center.  He came home with a small black bag (a pump) which kept administering the drugs until two days later when we returned to have him disconnected.  

The day after starting chemotherapy, Tom got up in the morning and said "Chemo rocks!".   It seems that some problem that he had been dealing with was resolved.  He felt better. On the way home from the center on that first day he requested pizza  with the works for dinner. The next day he wanted a junior whopper meal at Burger King.  Guess those anti nausea drugs work! Except for being a little less energetic than usual,  he is feeling fairly well at this point.  Round two coming up next week.

And pizza and Burger King!

Cemetery Picnic

On Memorial Day we met some relatives (Tom's sister Susan, her daughter Shanon, Shanon's husband Fritz and their sweet daughter Lucia) at the St. Francis Cemetery in  Roy. Tom's mother, father and brother are buried there.  His dad was a German prisoner of war and Tom is an airforce veteran, so we thought a visit and picnic in the cemetery was appropriate. It is a beautiful country cemetery set in rolling farmland. We had good food, good company and a just perfect sunny day.

St. Francis Cemetery, Roy, Oregon

Tom and Lulu playing frisbee!   Run Lulu, run!

I was saving this to post on Tom's birthday, but I was so busy with the bowling pictures that I forgot! This is the receipt that Tom's mother got from St. Vincent's Hospital when she left the hospital after he was born.  The normal stay was 10 days, but look, she got a discount for only staying 7 days.   Ahhh the good ol' days.

Bowling Birthday

Tom has mentioned numerous times over the past two years that he would like to go bowling.  Not being much of a bowler myself, I always smiled, nodded and replied, "That would be fun". So it being his birthday last Monday, I thought it was time I made that happen. We met family at the Four Seasons Bowling alley in Hillsboro with the Sports Look restaurant. Tom first headed to the pin ball machine.

Group shot. Tired after three games.

He's a pinball wizard!

Tom and his brother James enjoying good food from
the Sports Look.
Drinks and food delivered to our lane.

Logan and Alli (Leelee)

Tom checking the score.

S

STRIKE !!!!!

His wish was fulfilled and a good time 

was had by all :-)