Just Livin'.

Hey guys. Past couple days have been pretty relaxed. Love the all the comments that you guys are giving me. I have read them many times. I have to give this week's winner to Dad. Just a good comment. Tiff and Karly, thanks for burnin up the #1 spot as of late, Alex, I am taking it easy, probably not going to throw another curveball for awhile and thank you for all those sessions...wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, Ian, thanks for the comment...I'm glad you laughed at the Ray Liotta part, Emily, I am positive that two glasses of Calvados would put you under the table, Mom, thanks for the apple butter and I love you so much.

I have been nursing my arm the past few days. I haven't thrown a ball. I got tendonitis cream from the doc and anti-inflam. pills. So it's all good. I feels good right now but I am not going to chance anything. So onto the week.

On Monday, Chris said that he had something in store for me. We were going to a religious relic. It is a monastery by the name of Abbaye Du Bec-Helloin. It sits in a river valley about one hour outside Rouen. It was really nice to get out of the city and see rural scenary. On the way to the monastery you can see fields of gold. It was just a relaxing sight. The gold seemed to stretch forever. Then once we made a couple of turns, you could see the tower of Abbaye Du-Bec rise up out of the valley. It reminded me of one of Tolkien's towers. I got out of the car and took some pseudo-aerial pics. Chris and I then parked our car outside the gates and walked in. We looked around the buildings and the relic of where the original cathedral sat. The place where the church used to sit had to be thousands of years old. I was telling Chris that back in MO that it was impressive to see something from the Early 50's. It is just a different culture here.

We then walked around to the front of the main building and I noticed that a creek ran from the outside to right through the cathedral. It made for a great pic. Chris then told me that he got most of his information for his religion philosophy thesis from the library that they had. He was also telling me how devout the monks and nuns were in this area. He was telling me that they were very precise and practiced almost a zen-like catholicism.
Chris also told me that that day was a religious day that they would hold a special mass where the whole convent would be singing at the mass. So we decided to sit in on it. I was greeted by angelic sounds.

Their voice was one. It filled your body. The power of their voiced made hair stand on end. It was beautiful. That music could pleasantly put me to sleep. The cathedral was a very long hall that had the effect of creating great acoustics for their voices. It was great. Chris and I sat near the back and listened to the readings and procedings. We took communion and I felt like one wrong movement would shatter the walls. Everything was precise and it was expected.
Ok....left hand over right....take the bread....carefully place in mouth...close mouth...take wine...delicately tip...walk back. So I made it back to my seat without disturbing the gods and all was good. It was a great experience. These experiences are the ones that will stay with me.

After the Abbaye, Chris took me back, I went for a run, and then went to bed. The next day, Tuesday, Jean-Luc delivered my medicine for my arm and said he wanted to take me downtown just to walk around. I eagerly agreed. Anything to change scenery is good. What was even more spectacular was that it was T-Shirt weather. We sat down at an outside cafe and had drinks. I had a tall house beer and Jean-Luc had a cafe'. What was even more sirreal was the fact we were sitting right next to the Joan of Arc Cathedral. It was just a nice afternoon. We talked baseball and enjoyed our drinks. I went back home and that was pretty much Tuesday.

Today, I had baseball ALL DAY. I had to sub-in for Sebastian Grimaud, elementary kid's coach, and take the 5-7 year old kids at 10:00am, then I had to run practice for the Cadet team from 4-6, and take the N1 from 6 until the sun goes down. I woke up this morning, had a yogurt filled breakfast and headed for the field.
I was greeted by 7 little kid's curious eyes. I think they thought I was a pro American player and they were asking me all these questions. They were so cute. I tried to answer their questions with laugher following. So I had a ball with these kids. We played a soccer game to warmup, and then we started on some basics. Like step with your left foot before you throw, stop stealing Cami's glove Alexadria, and stop picking at dandilions Maxim. I could easily substitute Ian's name for Maxim. Hahahaha. Had to do it. So we took a photo together and they said their goodbyes. I went back to Chris's house for lunch and then I headed back to the field for the Cadet practice. Most of the kids had been on a 2 week spring break vacation and they were all impressed with the field.

"You guys like it?" I said.
"Ooooo tre bon!" They replied.

You bet your ass Tre Bon.

We conducted a normal practice but this was their first one outside. The only difference in their play was that they were rejoicing at the fact they were outside on their field. It was a proud moment.
So after that team departed, the N1 guys started coming in. I had enough guys to field a team! Normally, I just have about 5-6 guys but I think the sun brought out more of them. So we took an extra long infield, I skyrocketed flyballs, and everyone was just having fun. Once again, this is summer baseball. We took an extra long bp.
We had a little crowd in the outfield because a soccer game just let out and I could tell that some people were thinking....

"What the hell are they doing?...." and "Who the hell is that little American who is barking orders?"

After the team had taken their turn at bp, it was my turn. I have to say I wanted to impress this little crowd. Mom, does this remind you of when I was at the batting cages when I was a little kid? I have to tell you that I am still that little boy who turns his head to see if anyone is watching. I skyrocketed 7 balls out of the park and everyone was all smiles, especially me. A good day.

I hope this will tide you over until our games against Les Andely this Sunday. We should kill them. Miss you guys and love you very much. Au revior.