Bittersweet Derby Day

After last night's Looptopia (which proved to be too much walking for Suzanne and I to handle after the long week), we rented a DVD of Dan In Real Life (the Steve Carrell flick with Dane Cook and Norbert Leo Butz!). This morning, I picked up my car from getting the glass bolts replaced after the recall, changed a few light bulbs, and seriously cleaned my hardwood floors. Andrea, Jooyoung, Jamie, and Robyn came over shortly after 2, and we set in to play some Hand and Foot amid chips and guac, carrots and hummus, cheddar and apples, 3 mugs of coffee, a mug of tea, and 2 bottles of wine. Jamie and Jooyoung won Rounds 1 and 3, Andrea and I won Rounds 2 and 4, and Jamie and Jooyoung won the game. Also, today was the first time we've not used any of my cards to play. I have pink, green, and light blue cards which we used to use all the time for ease of post-game sorting, but when we played in early March, we ordered new decks. I got Lavender, Jamie got Berry, Jooyoung got Yellow, Andrea got Green and Orange, and Robyn got Burgundy. Today, we played with Orange, Yellow, Berry, and Burgundy. It was a lovely autumn-colored combination, that I look forward to using when I return in the fall.

Toward the end of Round 4, I paused the game to watch the Kentucky Derby. Earlier, I'd googled the favorite, and was rooting for Big Brown after they sang "My Old Kentucky Home," and wouldn't you know it, Big Brown took the Roses! I went right back to the game and it wasn't until later that I learned about the tragedy of the race. Eight Belles, the filly who gave those boys a run for their money and placed second, broke both her front ankles and was immediately--and shockingly--euthanized. The articles I've found when I googled Eight Belles, referred to Barbaro, who shattered his right rear leg running the Preakness after winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby. This morning, I heard an interview on NPR with his jockey Edgar Prado, whose book, My Guy Barbaro: A Jockey's Journey Through Love, Triumph, and Heartbreak with America's Favorite Horse, was released by Harper at the beginning of last month.