"Take Me Out To The Ball Game"

"Take Me Out To The Ball Game"
We have had quite a week starting with getting a call that an elderly friend of ours who had driven up to River Falls, Wisconsin to visit friends had fallen and broken her dominate arm just above the wrist. She needed help in getting herself and her car back to Cedar Falls. So we met the friends who assisted in the shuttle in Rochester and took her the rest of the way back to her home, getting her mail picked up, car unloaded and "fridge" stocked. We were just glad to know that she is OK or will be and that she is where she is comfortable and has access to her normal doctor, church and friends. That was Monday, so the week started out with a "bang".
Sunday we were invited to join friends that live in Cedar Rapids for a Kernel's baseball game. If you haven't been to one of these, it is a great evening's entertainment for about $9.00 a ticket (or that was the price for the seats that we had). We decided to make a day of it, deciding that we deserved a day off after this past weeks adventures. We hit the Olive Garden as we were both in the mood for "Soup, Salad and Breadsticks". They keep filling you up with this one and I have always loved their "Pasta e Fagioli" with a wonderfully crisp salad and warm bread sticks. Den opted for "Zuppa Toscana" for his soup. We topped it off with Tiramisu. Italy is so generous with the foods and flavors that they have shared with all of us. I like Olive Garden because I don't have to ask what region of Italy the cuisine is from. The north is more French with lots of creamy sauces and mild flavors, the south is spicy and hot when you are eating Sicilian foods. Some regions like to add fennel to meats and sauces and if you aren't a fan of fennel, and it does tend to be a love/hate thing, you can be pleasantly surprised or woefully disappointed. Being a comfort food lover, I tend to like to stay out of Sicily.
After stuffing ourselves, we took a walk around Noelridge Park at the corner of Collins Road and Counsel Street NE. They had just put the bedding plants in about a week ago and thing were not as lush as they usually are when we stop at this beautiful spot. The iris and peonies were in their final flush and the new beds looking all babyish with new plants it was just a pleasant wonder from one planting bed to another to see what they had chosen this year. This is one of those holding hands kind of places, a place where you can sit in the shade and dream a while. But we had a ball game to get to.
We met our friends at their house and drove over to Veterans Memorial Stadium together. The day had started out foggy after the rain of the previous two days and cool but Sunday evening was perfect. The game was between the top two farm teams in Iowa, as I understand it, the Kane County Cougars, the top ranking and the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the second ranked team. There was lots of extra things for the kids to enjoy as well with the Tiny Spirits cheer team, the first pitch by one of the kids, the racing pizza wedges and eyeballs. These form kind of an intermission between tense inning changes.
The game was hard fought with the Cougars shutting the Kernels out of any points and the Kernels holding the Cougars to only 2. We cheered but the Kernels still lost.
The Kernels are a farm team for the Anaheim Angels and therefore a professional ball club as are many of the teams in the area. Sure, it isn't Yankee Stadium but this is Iowa. Visit the Kernel's site, http://www.kernels.com/ for home game dates and other events as well as ticket prices and sales.
I learned that the tournament games in the movie "The Final Season" were all staged and shot at this ball park. This movie is one of my favorite of resent times. I'm old enough to have seen a great many movies, you have to remember.
This same weekend I was torn between attending this game with our friends that we had committed to weeks ago and attending the rope pull that the Greeley team was having the same day. I hope Dave Kruse and his crack team of pullers won the day without our cheers from the sidelines. As I understand it the next one will be in Hiawatha. We will have to see about the date and time on that one.
Hope to see you around the corner, enjoying the great state of Iowa and all of the treasures that it offers.
God Bless,
Linda