Hi guys.  I've been a horrible, neglectful governess lately.  Thank you to the folks who stepped in to create Rumpus Rooms while I've been away.  

Admittedly, I needed a break.  There was finally a moment of this long season that left me hopeless before the elimination could even be confirmed mathematically.  As some of you know, I am typically that asshole who tries to remain hopeful until the bitter end; but my end was bitterly met this season prior to any singing Liz's.  

After a long and exhausting week of moving, involving no less than a gazillion trips up and down stairs, I was unpacking boxes and watching as the Sox somehow managed to blow a 7-run lead, allowing the Tigers to chisel away towards a win on the Saturday that started this month.  

I was officially listless.  Infuriated and over it.  Ready to claim what was left of my summer evenings, and Seattle was all too helpful by throwing a couple weeks of 80s+ weather our way at the same time.  I needed to seize that vitamin D; and I'm glad I did since this Monday was the unofficial end of sunny days in Seattle, for approximately the next six months.  

I'm going to miss baseball horribly.  Winter is always rough on the ol' ticker.  Despite a brutal and frustrating Sox season, this year will not be an exception.  I'll still long for those first pitches and cracks of the bats.  The crocuses returning to Capistrano, if you will.  A clean slate of hope and excitement for the long season ahead.  It'll be here soon enough.

For now though, I'm getting some writing done, cooking nice dinners, going for bike rides along the Puget Sound, and making peace with the finality of another season.  Relieved to be cut loose from the emotional roller coaster of an under-performing team led by an uninspired manager. 

With the offseason right around the corner now, I wish everyone well with their own peace-making; and I look forward to our SSS book club and banter to get us through until Ps & Cs.  Cheers, everyone.