How often is Kazakhstan in the sports news? Maybe we should get used to it. The brilliant and beautiful Elena Rybakina is from there and she just outdueled Aryna Sabalenka to win the Aussie Open. How impressive was Elena’s win? Sabalenka is ranked #1 in the world, and to reach the final Elena had to beat Iga Swiatek, ranked #2. The final went the distance and was as stressful as it gets. Elena was a rock, as Sabalenka suffered a flurry of unforced errors.
Elena is 26 and not married. Her hair has been tangled up in her racket for several days now, but she is hesitant to cut it. We don’t blame her.
This tiny love story is from today’s NYT and is by Nicole Hardy.
Two days after Christmas, Maxwell called. “Might drop dead tomorrow,” he said. A loud-talking, adorable joker from Jersey, he hired me as a deckhand narrating Seattle boat tours in 1996. We fell in love, felt invincible with the Space Needle and Kurt Cobain’s house in the distance. Fast forward to Parkinson’s, heart failure, a D.N.R. “One to ten, how scared are you?” I asked. “Seven,” he replied. My heart dropped. “Do you still believe in God?” I asked. “Tell you tomorrow,” he joked, and we laughed ourselves breathless. “I love you forever,” I said. It’s always been true.
Annals of good sportsmanship. The ump has just made a call in your favor in a matter that is not reviewable, but he got it wrong. Do you correct him, or silently reap the benefit? Silly question, right? You have the right to remain silent and that is clearly what you do. Unless you are Macklin Celebrini, who plays pro hockey for the San Jose Sharks.
MC appeared to be the victim of a high stick, and the ref called a penalty on the perpetrator. But he knew the stick never touched him. He went over to the ref and signaled, “No, don’t call it.” The ref called it anyway, but Celebrini’s impressive gesture has been noted. We asked Owl Chatter Sports Consultant Sarah Fillier for her thoughts on the matter. There is no tougher competitor on the ice than Sarah. “Of course, he did the right thing,” Sarah said. Wait, did she just wink?
Song Sung Blue is a wonderful movie, no matter how well you know Neil Diamond’s hits (which go way beyond Sweet Caroline, it stresses), starring, overwhelmingly, Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, the latter garnering an Oscar nom for her work, and the former, IMHO, deserving one. We saw it down near Princeton with friend Minnesota Mary, who concurred. Favorite scene: in the Thai restaurant. Bring tissues.
Can a lake be both “great” and “superior?” Sure, why not? Lake Superior is both, and, according to the puzzle yesterday, it’s the “largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area.” Wow. In the world. The Ojibwe called it Gitche Gumee, to use Longfellow’s spelling, which means great lake. Gordon Lightfoot popularized the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” which memorializes Superior at its fiercest.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
But here’s Laura Cantrell.
At 122A today, the clue was “Embarrassing items to have revealed on an airport X-ray,” and the answer was SEX TOYS. Tee hee. I shared this story with the gang:
On airport security (but not sex toys). Seeking a gift for my daughter in Dublin, I went to a “cheesemonger” and explained my mission. He spun right around, grabbed a giant slab of Irish Cheddar, and scraped me off a taste. That was easy: I had him wrap up a pound for her (and had to have a small chunk right away for me).
For the trip home I stupidly elected not to pack Caity’s cheese in the bag we checked, but to carry it on. What could be threatening about cheese? (Hijacker to pilot: “I’m taking over this plane: I’ve got a pound of Irish Cheddar in here and I’m not afraid to use it!!”) But, sure enough, after my bag took its little trip through the scanner, it was shunted aside, a guard pulled out the cheese, asked me to wait, and went to some back room with it.
At this point, I had two fears. I figured there was a 50% chance it would be confiscated because of some cheese security rule I never heard of, and a 5% chance I would be arrested, and spend the rest of my life in some Irish version of Midnight Express.
Happy ending: After a few minutes the guard returned with the cheese, gave me a big thumbs up and a smile, and placed it back in my bag.
Caity loved it.
Josh Boyes, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) posted the following: Does anyone know what these square white things are at the bottom of my pool in Cabo Verde? It’s causing far too much excitement for a ‘Holiday’. Thanks!
Robin Smith: It’s a cover for a drain. It stops toes getting sucked into the whirlpool of water leaving the pool.
Avi Liveson: So where do the toes go?
Wayne Coxon: I worked as a life guard for a few years, I’ve messed around with plant rooms, drained and refilled pools and dragged hair out of places you wouldn’t expect it so let me tell you that I have absolutely no idea what this thing is.
AJ Hart: I’m more concerned that the steps are on the right, meaning you have to enter the pool and go left… when in fact written English goes left to right. So the pool is totally wrong. … Is the photo reversed?
We agree that the pool is totally wrong. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 