Let’s open with a nice tune today. At 34D, “Spanish grandmother” is ABUELA. My Lianna, who is half Peruvian, has one. This song was shared by Rex commenter Son Volt. It’s called “Abuelita.”
With all this nonsense coming up around Supreme Court Justice Alito and those silly flags, Owl Chatter sent Phil over to meet with him to clear things up. Apparently, it’s all a ridiculous mixup, Alito explained. He is completely neutral on all issues coming up before the Court and any aspersions cast to the contrary are just hateful gossip. Alito was gracious enough to invite Phil into his private office for the meeting.
Who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? Not me! I love her to pieces. The puzzle today at 30A had the clue “Tiniest change,” and the answer was DIMES (get it?). So Rex treated us to this song of Dolly’s called “Nickels and Dimes.”
Remember the story from a few days ago of the baseball fan who got two foul balls on two consecutive pitches at a game in Seattle? Well, Liz McGuire didn’t do too well on the foul ball hit her way Friday night in Toronto. She turned away from the action for just long enough to miss the swing. The ball came screaming towards her at 110 mph, and, well, it did a little damage.
Fortunately, she’s okay. And when word got out (via her post, see below), the Topps Baseball people thought she was worthy of a baseball card! They produced 110 copies of the card pictured above, one for each MPH. Liz didn’t recover the ball that hit her, but the Jays gave her one signed by Bo Bichette (the batter). Get this — after receiving medical attention for getting bonked, she returned to her seat and watched the rest of the game.
Here’s the message and photo she posted on X: Hey @BlueJays I got my face mashed in by a 110mph foul off Bo Bichette’s bat. I didn’t even get the ball. I even stayed till the end of the game. Any way you can hook a girl up?
Any single Jay would be crazy not to call her, amirite? She’s quite a catch, IMO. Oops, maybe not the best word.
Speaking of crazy, did you see the piece on Kennedy’s running mate Nicole Shanahan? It’s squarely in the You-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up Dept. Here she is.
So in 2011 she began dating a guy named Kranz, and told her friends she converted to Judaism for him. They planned to marry in August of 2014 and he bought a penthouse in SF for them for $2.7 mil in July. During that same July, however, she attended a yoga festival in Lake Tahoe, and you know how crazy those things can get — right, Georgie? Well, she meets a guy named Sergey Brin there — the founder of Google! — and they become very very very friendly in no time. [He googled her.] Kranz finds out about the affair just a few days after the wedding. Ouch. So they get divorced.
Shanahan’s memory of those early days with Brin are “magical” (her word). According to The Times she recounted wandering around the campus at Stanford with Brin “and discussing quantum physics.” [Owl Chatter readers know quite well what a turn-on that can be.] They married in 2018 and had a daughter they named Echo. But the pandemic was hard on them and they drifted apart. Reports surfaced that she had an affair with Elon Musk, but she denies it. In any event, she and Brin are through. She’s hanging out with a guy named Strumwasser now and working on the campaign.
Here’s how the article ends. “She announced she gave another $8 mil to the campaign and said. ‘I think I know what they are going to say — that Bobby only picked me for my money.’ Her remark drew laughter from the crowd.”
Oy.
A 11A today, the clue is “Quirky bit of running footwear,” and the answer was TOE SHOE. You ever see these? They are like gloves, but for your feet.
Gotta go! Sitting for the g’kids tonight. If I’m not back by tomorrow, call for help.
The Wellington Files 