Even if you aren’t a race fan, NASCAR has an interesting format now for their playoffs. Like other racing circuits they had a points system for a long time and changed it a few years back. In the old system, as the final race of the season occurred, if there was a wide point gap, then the Championship was already determined because it was mathematically impossible for anyone to make enough points in the last race to overcome the leader. As a reminder, all drivers continue to race and a driver who is not eligible to win the Championship can still win the final race of the season and count that as a career win (which is always a good thing). Anyway, NASCAR went to a combination of points and elimination to narrow the field of what is 40-43 drivers in regular season to sixteen in the playoffs. The reason for points is because even though a win automatically puts a driver into the sixteen, there will rarely be sixteen different winners in a season. So, throughout the season, drivers get points for how well they finish each race or for example, leading laps during the race. Those points accumulate and let’s say at the time to designate the playoff sixteen, only eight drivers have won races. That means the eight drivers with the highest number of point accumulated round out the sixteen.

During the playoffs – and I don’t remember how many races there are – once again, a win makes you “safe” for the first round of elimination which will narrow the number to twelve. Today’s race was the second elimination to narrow the field to eight. The team we root for is Stewart-Haas and only two of those drivers made it to the sixteen. Only one made it after the first elimination race. He had a slight margin with points and throughout the race Sunday, he lost and gained points. It came down to the last minutes as a late wreck caused typical havoc on the track and in the closing laps our guy managed to cling to the playoffs by two points. That makes him vulnerable going forward, so we’ll see how next week goes. A win would of course be the best answer to allow him to move into the “Final Four”, but strong runs and good finishes will help some.

I am a Country and Western fan and while I appreciate many of the really old pieces and musicians, I generally prefer the changes that came about around the 1980s. I do also appreciate the pioneers of the genre and there is no denying Loretta Lynn was of a special stature. And like so many of the few that actually made it to super stardom, she came from impoverished beginnings and a hard early life. “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” released her first song in 1960 and when I checked on a couple of the sites announcing her death they summed up her major awards. “Lynn was the first woman ever named entertainer of the year at the genre’s two major awards shows, first by the Country Music Association in 1972 and then by the Academy of Country Music three years later.”

“Throughout her career, Loretta won three Grammy Awards of 18 nominations, scored 24 number-one hit single and 11 number-one albums, and was named the Academy of Country Music’s Artist of the Decade. Four years before her death, Loretta was presented with the Artist of a Lifetime award at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony in 2018.”

She did have a stroke a few years ago and passed at home in Tennessee peacefully this week at age 90. She influenced stars like Dolly Parton, Reba McIntire, and the newer generation of Carrie Underwood. Aside from her musical talent, she was known for the lovely dresses she always wore, good works she did within different communities, and bringing her life into focus with the autobiography of, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, later made into an Oscar-winning movie. We lifted a toast to her at a luncheon yesterday and I’m sure that has already been repeated millions of times around the world.

We’ve been to several of these over the years and last night was a fundraiser one so they did things a little differently. It was a Kentucky Derby one and they had like 24 or 25 characters. Instead of handing out descriptions of them, they had one set posted on the wall. Some folks did take photos on their phone. There really were too many to mess with and the building where it was held is incredibly noisy. I decided early on not to bother with trying to figure this one out and just socialize. Tickets of course were not inexpensive since it was a fundraiser and the two things they did differently for extra funds was “sell” 2 and 3 of clues. By sell, that ,means each set was $250 so the lady taking the cash walked around and collected whatever people contributed until the total reached at least $250. The other thing was to have a paper bag marked with each character name and you could buy tickets to then place into the bag of the character you thought was the murderer. Oh yes, then they bid off the opportunity for you to be the first person to say who you thought the murderer was with a prize to be had if you were right. As it turns out, one of the guys at our table had the highest bid, but didn’t get the correct character. He “won” the basket anyway for some reason I don’t exactly recall.

The dinner would have been good as the food – choice of prime rib or chicken was tasty. Unfortunately, most of the meals were not hot and some were said to be cold. The salad was excellent and they did have key lime pie. Although large crowds are always tricky, I’m really not sure why this seemed to be a problem across the board.

Anyway, we have a completely different event tonight and dinner after at a nearby restaurant. That should work better.

It’s been extra hectic, although that shouldn’t come as a big surprise.

Anyway, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II does bring an era to a close.May she rest in peace.  Aside from the fact my middle name is Elizabeth, her coronation took place in Jun 1953, only a couple of months before my birthday. I am not what one can call an Anglophile, however, the constitutional monarchy has served the UK well and she has reigned through many changes. It is a different time now and I have no idea how King Charles III will be. At the risk of incurring shocked comments, I was never a big fan of Princess Diana’s handling of their divorce and haven’t paid much attention to Camilla although I think she has probably been long preparing for this day. There will no doubt be a great deal of pageantry over the coming days and while I won’t watch any of that either, I do appreciate the traditions that will be followed. And unlike some of what has happened recently in this country,I doubt they will permit politics to enter into the multiple events.

My husband of course thinks the entire monarchy is long past when it should go away. I don’t have any firm feelings other than I see the functionality of it until such time as the culture might change and there be a referendum. For those who have read or might read, “To Play on Grass Fields”, I chose the intent for the King of Malathos to transition to a constitutional monarchy because it does have a workable structure as seen in a number of countries.

Another couple of days slipped by as multiple extra tasks were added in. As I mentioned when writing about the May trip, we went through Abita Springs on the way back to have a short visit with my brother and sister-in-law. We did not have time to go to their new place and will schedule that for perhaps next year. They are almost completely transitioned from the house in Mandeville to what is sort of a “family complex”. My sister-in-law’s mother made it to her 100th birthday and passed away several months ago. There had been the agreement she would stay in her home and while both sons were able to help and there were visiting nurses involved, a large part of the assistance came from my sister-in-law and brother. She left the house to them and there are some number of acres where the two brothers live nearby. (I;m not entirely clear on the proximity). Anyway, my brother and sister-in-law have always taken in strays of everything – and I mean lots over the years. If I recall correctly, at their peak there were like 6 or 7 cats, two dogs, and a neighbor’s pot-bellied pig that seemed to constantly come over. At some point I think there were guinea pigs, too. In all fairness, my sister-in-law did have a business for a while before they married doing children’s parties with a pony and maybe a few other animals. That was in addition to her extraordinary creativity as a fabric artist and a horticulturist.

Anyway, they have space at the new place to where a friend was going to give them a goat as a housewarming present and according to my sister-in-law, goats are social animals. They now have two goats and while they can be great fro helping keep brambles, weeds, etc, under control apparently there are other issues to be worked out with eating the wrong shrubbery and flowers. Ah well, I’m sure they will all come to agreement.