having a ball with Mister Willie!

... and I meant that quite literally!
Why does the man have a beach ball in his hands at a baseball game?
Well, you have to recall that going to a Savannah Bananas game is akin to "a circus [where] a baseball game broke out."
Ryan Flores sure did nail that one!
Here, Willie managed to grab some of the fun and is looking for a kid to receive his throw -
and he found one, about six rows down from his seat!

(This photo turned out amazingly well, considering I just pointed my whited-out screen in his direction and clicked the button. My SIM card is at fault and I have not replaced it because I don't want to redo my phone book. Hooray for serendipity and fortunate circumstances... and a couple of years of practice of shooting blind!)

That photo was taken around actual game time.
This particular one was taken much earlier -
like, two hours earlier.
Why was I there so early on a Tuesday?
I had agreed to chauffeur Mister Willie for the game
and he prefers to arrive very early, to hobnob
with the staff and the ballplayers.
I call this "five o'clock shadow" -
a little inside joke, a pun, if you will.
(smile)

Now the darkened image thrown by Grayson Stadium upon the field has grown appreciably, and only in an hour's time!
Thus, this is the six o'clock shadow.
There's a lesson to be gleaned from this image -
the front of the stadium faces west.
That keeps the sun from being in the players' eyes
when they're trying to catch high-flying balls!
(smile)

Here's the seven o'clock shadow, confirming the theory that I proposed above.
The players are all lined up for "The Star-Spangled Banner" and those in the infield are almost totally protected by the building's edifice from being blinded
by the light.
(Pardon, but I needed a time-out for fun! After all,
it's summertime and school is o-u-t!
Can I get an 'Amen, sister"? Hallelujah!)

Alrighty then, back to the ballfield orientation talk.
By 8 PM, when Clay Dungan dinged the ball far enough into left center field to allow two runners to attain the safety of home plate, the entire field was in the stadium's cool shadow.
That made the Bananas' score "5" in the 4th inning.
The Lexington County Blowfish got their only run in the 5th inning, losing the game by four runs.

I credit Mister Willie's lucky yellow socks for the win.
As I recall, the last time he wore this footwear,
the boys of summer emerged from the game as victors -
that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Come to think of it, that game had been against the Blowfish, too!
I guess I'll have to make sure he's wearing this apparel for the next outing the home team has with these particular foes.
(smile!)

This was the photo that gave Willie pause.
He had just hollered "Settle down, pitcher", followed by the "Talk to him, catcher" advice...
and turned to see me take this shot.
"What do you do with all those pictures you take?"
"Well," I told him, "I entertain myself with them."
Most assuredly, I do, especially by including them into the postings sent sailing into the ether, like messages in a bottle... or like the many letters I would write home to Mama, regaling her with my adventures abroad,

Including numbered photographs to attend the descriptive passages and my impressions of events.
Please realize that I did such writings for others, too, but Mama was the primary recipient.
I loved sharing my life in a form that could be held in her hands after being held in mine...
neither of us felt quite so far away from each other.
Back on topic, this would be the "nine o'clock shadow", with the sun almost gone and the field lights on.

What else did I commit to still life?
Well, as I was there so very early, I was treated to batting practice, with the boys clad in only T-shirts
and shorts.
That was fun!

What was more fun was watching the five designated dancers practicing their moves!
The song was Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" -
love that one!!!
I was able to enjoy part of it over and over and over as these young men perfected their choreography -
yeah!

I was also treated to the practice of the Bananas Pep Band, seen here venturing onto the catwalk.
How marvelous to have music above my head!

And did I happen to mention that today was
"Bark in the Park"?
Well, it was!
Only thing is, I kept referring to it as
"dog day afternoon",
but with a healthy dose of mirth!

The mirth continued throughout the game,
to the 8th inning's cleaning of the bases
and right on to the end!
By the way, today marked the birthday of
this little French maid -
such a shame for her to be working, n'est-ce pas?
(sourire)

And what have we here?
The flag of this country I call mine,
the land of the free
and the home of the brave,
flying proudly in the face of a cooling breeze.
Nice...
What a perfect ending for the night.
I'm so glad I could bear witness to it all.
i thank You, God.