a first-baseman worth remembering.

um, i mean first-basewoman.

dorothy kamenshek － or dottie or kammie to her gal pals － was likely the best woman baseball player ever.

but what may have made dottie best known among modern generations was her inspiration for the lead character of the 1992 film a league of their own, about the all-american girls professional baseball league.

the movie character － dottie hinson played by geena davis － was a composite. but dottie was the league's clear superstar.

dottie, named among the top 100 female athletes of the century by sports illustrated,
played first base for the rockford [illinois] peaches from 1943 to 1953.

the ohio southpaw was only 17
when she was picked as a peach.
the league's expectations were clear:
look like women. play like men.

which meant shoulder-length or longer hair,
full makeup on the field,
and sliding into bases
in short skirts and bare legs.

strawberry city. and dottie was the mayor.
dorothy kamenshek stole 657 bases during her ten-year baseball career.

she was also the league's top batter,
with a career average of .292.
with 3,736 career at-bats,
she struck out only 81 times.

dottie led her team to four league titles.
she was chose for seven all-star teams.

she was once recruited for
a men's professional team, but refused
the offer, believing it was intended
as a publicity stunt.

dottie retired from baseball in 1953.
the league disbanded in 1954.

dorothy kamenshek went on to earn her degree
in physical therapy at marquette university.

she moved to practice in california, where
she became chief of therapy services for
los angeles county children's services.

she retired from her second successful career in 1980.

dottie died ten days ago at the age of 84
of stroke-related causes.
she never married and left no survivors.

just an inspirational legacy for women athletes
about how a different kind of diamond
can be a girl's best friend.


image source: nola.com, yahoo!

hither & yon.

here & there. all over the place.
that's me right now.

exhausted from all the may mayhem.

a lot
disappointed in yesterday's big blowout
final fifth-grade all-day field trip
with big girl.

swimming = swell.
games = lame. [& it was mostly games.]
lunch = ick. [seriously *ick*.]

a little
depressed, because my big girl
won't be at elementary school
anymore
ever again
as of next week.

pms?
yes.

upon my high-school graduation,
my mother told me,
"life is just a series of endings."
[mom's sort of a pessimist.]

of course, it's true, though
i think of it as
"life is full of change; it's the only constant."
[change = endings + beginnings]

and though i know
old endings necessitate new beginnings,
today,
the endings are getting the better of me.

feeling too many
too soon.

mama needs a cupcake.

who's with me? :\

image source: blognetnews

15.

15 years ago,
we became a family
of two.

beautiful happy day.

today,
i had a nasty cold
& am feeling more run over
than just run down.

today,
big girl was tardy
completing some forgotten homework.

today,
the two of us shared a lunch
of soup, fruit,
& all my children.

today,
15 yellow roses
came to call.

today,
little boy finally got
his happy meal toy at mickey d's.

today,
we had leftovers
for supper.

today,
sweet husband put together
the final pieces of the kids'
new study space.

today,
i fell asleep
sitting up on the sofa
just like my mother.

today,
we laughed.

today,
we are a family
of four.

we are love.
we are blessed.

beautiful happy day.


:)

as seth & amy might say, *really*??!?

if you're a mom, then there are 27 countries where it's better for you to live than the united states.

27.

really??

greece, italy, ireland, iceland, bosnia, croatia, herzegovina, slovakia, the baltic states, latvia, lithuania, montenegro, singapore.

all better spots to be a mom than the u.s., according to save the children's 11th annual mothers' index.

really!? really.

so how did the u.s. of a rank so low?

1. one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world － 1 in 4,800 women dying of pregnancy-related causes.

2. an above-average under-five mortality rate － 8 in 1,000 births.

3. one of the lowest preschool enrollment rates in the developed world.

4. the stingiest maternity-leave policy, in terms of both time and money, among wealthy nations worldwide.

really??!?

the very best places to be a mom? norway, australia, iceland, sweden, denmark, new zealand, finland, the netherlands, belgium & germany.

norway's women are well-paid, have easy access to contraception, & are provided with one of the world's most generous maternity-leave policies.

the very worst? equatorial guinea, eritrea, sudan, mali, congo, yemen, guinea-bissau, chad, niger & afghanistan.

afghanistan has high infant mortality, low female life expectancy, & the world's worst primary education rate for girls.

another great reason to be grateful i'm not an afghan woman.

but 28th, america? really??!?


image source: gil hanson

two more weeks.

may comes in a close second to december at our house
as far as extra stuff to remember + do.

birthdays. anniversary. travel.

track & field. field trips. class parties.

special events. staff goodies. teacher gifts.

it's easy to become too deeply entrenched in all that outer
& neglect to tap into all this inner － my center, my needs, my deeper self-care.

i simply forget to feed me.

good morning, tuesday. i'm hungry.
now, soul, what do you want to eat?

quiet.

gentility.

sleep.

movement.

healthy eats.

portion control.

reading.

journaling.

decluttering + settling.

scrapbooking.

songwriting.

getting out in nature.


this is my food for thought, my menu for action.
just for now, just for may.

because summertime is just around the corner.
goodbye, busyness. hello, slow.


image source: photo by aaron straus @ oprah.com

get out of your own way.

ah, monday. here we are again.

another awesome mother/daughter weekend at kickapoo kamp with my big girl, my best friend & her daughter, lovely cabinmates, & oddly cooperative weather.

today, serious catchup work to be done.

housework. laundry. workwork. exercise. eye checkup. etc. etc. etc.

so for today, one of the funniest videos of all time.

call it crazy. call it dumb. call it zen. call it monday.

& enjoy!!

the secret of the octogenarian girl sleuth.

it all began with a dime-novel genius who ran a sort of fiction factory.

and a dark-blue convertible.

now, amateur girl sleuth nancy drew is celebrating her 80th anniversary [though she's aged only two years － from 16 to 18 － in the series].

and over the years, her car has also been green, yellow and maroon.

edward stratemeyer of the stratemeyer syndicate created nancy, but died just two weeks following her debut on april 28, 1930, in the secret of the old clock.

his daughters, edna and harriet, stepped up and ran the syndicate for another 52 years.

nancy's author, carolyn keene, was just a pen name for various ghostwriters. the first carolyn keene was mildred wirt benson, who wrote 23 of the first 30 books. harriet stratemeyer adams wrote volumes 31 and 33-56.

since her debut, nancy has solved over 500 cases － but in the classic series [volumes 1-56], never solved murders. over 200 million nancy books have been sold worldwide.

the first 34 volumes were reduced from 25 to 20 chapters, and were revised to omit racial stereotypes.

all three women supreme court justices － sandra day o'connor, ruth bader ginsburg and sonia sotomayor － have noted "daring, intelligent, with tons of initiative" nancy as an early influence.

oh, yeah － and oprah's a fan.

happy happy anniversary to everyone's favorite amateur girl detective, her best friends bess & george, her beau ned and her dog togo － sleuth on, nancy!!


image source: nancy drew sleuth unofficial website