Published: April 21, 2008 12:45 am         

Marvelous time at Ballpark (even though Rangers lost)

Last week, I tried to list all of the events with which the folks at the Kellar Estate will be involved during the month of May ... and I barely scratched the surface.

But before I get to that, a couple of other quick notes:

— One, about the Floor Show. We do intend to go to the event this year, now that we understand that the seniors dance has been added back in. For some reason, people felt that what I wrote in last week’s article about how Vida, my wife and the winner of the Kellar Estate version of “So you think you can dance?”, and I were upset with the plans for the show was some sort of slam against the Flaming Flashes, the Floor Show or both. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Again, all we were upset about was the plan to exclude the dance between parents of senior band members and their kids. It was a moment which we had been looking forward to. Now that the dance has reportedly been returned to the show, then we really have no problem at all with the event. If Nick gets a chance for his shout-out from the rest of the band, that would be cool too, but if not, we’ll be doing the shouting from the stands.

— The members of Girl Scout Troop 565, including our daughter Jaylynn, almost 9, did one of their special excursions on April 13 and attended the Texas Rangers game at the Ballpark in Arlington. It was far cooler than normal, so much so that I had on a T-shirt, sweater and light jacket and was still cold as we waited in the wings for our chance to join the Scouts for a walk along the perimeter of the ballfield before the game. I, a long time (and therefore obviously frustrated) Rangers fan, was thrilled with the opportunity, but Jaylynn and most of the others in our group were less than enthralled with the journey.

Still, we wound up with great seats in the warm sun along the left field line and, in between shopping for shirts and hats and consuming several rounds of ballpark goodies, I tried to pass along some of the finer points of the game to Jaylynn, who was a little disappointed that no one was hitting any catchable foul balls our way.

Shortly after the anticipated seventh-inning stretch (I also taught Jaylynn all the words to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”), one of the Toronto Blue Jays outfielders who was playing catch with a Rangers’ ball girl apparently mis-judged his throw, the ball sailed into the stands and (according to our friends the witnesses) nearly collided with Vida’s noggin before landing on the steps, to be claimed by another fan.

Neither Vida nor I saw the whole thing, but our friends were electrified, noting how Vida was lucky not to have come away with at least a huge knot on her forehead, if not worse. It was then I noticed Jaylynn was sniffling and about to burst into tears. I tried to comfort our daughter, telling her Mommy was all right, when Jaylynn turned to me and cried “She should have caught it for me!”

Still, we all wound up having a marvelous time, even though the Rangers lost in 10 innings.

— Now, as to the other big events we have lined up in May, one of the biggest is the graduation of our very good friend Amy Martinez from Texas A&M-Commerce. She now is looking forward to entering law school and we are happy not only for her, but for the fact that in a few years we might have another real, live lawyer in “the family.” Congratulations Amy! We are proud of you!

— And, of course, we have marked on our calendar one day in May during which we will make the annual Kellar Family Excursion to Waxahachie for Scarborough Faire. Regular readers will recognize how we go to the Renaissance Festival each and every year, for a complete day of incredible shows, arts and crafts and especially food. Hopefully the recent fantastic weather will continue through the end of the month.

— And, please note, we have also been plenty busy during these weekends in April. Anyone who drove up or down Stonewall Street anywhere near the Estate Saturday morning would doubtless have noticed several young girls either standing on the corners holding up poster boards advertising the Troop 565 Yard Sale, or perhaps stopped at the Estate and purchased an item of clothing, baked goods or knick knacks from one of the Troop’s smiling members who worked the event. Such wonderful advertising and customer service combined with Saturday’s perfect weather and the fine assortment of merchandise to result in the Troop earning its goal, which will be applied to the total being gathered to help pay for the Troop’s big vacation trip to San Antonio this summer.

So, as you might well imagine, everyone at the Estate is already getting ready for that first weekend in June, during which we have scheduled something very important; at least one full day of doing absolutely nothing.

Just a thought ...



Kellar is a Herald-Banner staff writer