In a Blaze...

Well, another week has flashed by, and by flash, I mean streaked naked in such a blur that I had to ask, “What on earth was that?!”

The opening of the Saturday Market was nothing to call home about, so in fact, I did not call home about it. My parents bless their hearts, after 20 years of Groom and I selling our whimsical jewelry designs on the Park Blocks, are still interested in each week’s report.

I told them that it rained, it hailed, and the sun peeked out: In other words, a typical April day in Eugene.

This photo is of me and another vendor on opening day last Saturday. I found these delightful sock monkey hats at a kiosk in New York, just around the corner from Trinity Church and Ground Zero. After a sobering visit to that area, the sight of these silly hats struck the right note and got me in my smiley place.

I won’t burden or bore you with the painful, feels-like-it-aged-me-ten-years difficult week we had (oh, lament, lament, the grief of loving others who are sick and in pain), but as a take a break moment, we were invited to join friends in Portland on Tuesday for our first NBA basketball game at the Rose Garden Arena to watch The Golden State Warriors take a rubber hose to the Portland Trail Blazers 108 – 87. Ouch! They were neck and neck for the first two quarters and were tied at half-time, but quarters three and four were brutal.

Coach Nate McMillan was quoted as saying, “A bad game. This is one of those games where you burn the tape and move on.”

We didn’t just get to sit in the bleachers, which would have been awesome, but we had the privilege of sitting in a swanky private suite, a deluxe sky box where they wined and dined us. The view was spectacular, the food delicious and the experience an incredible treat.

It never occurred to me how much the tickets might’ve cost as it was one of those businesses scratching each other’s back deals, but on a whim, I decided to look up prices for tonight’s game and I almost choked on my coffee. The cheapest ticket (per person) starts at $115 and goes up to $2,784. Sheesh-a-ma-leesh!

A bad week. This is one of those weeks where you burn the tape and move on.

Tomorrow is week two of the Saturday Market and I hope it prompts me to “phone home.”