RED SOX PRE-GAME CEREMONY

I just tuned in - you can watch it live on redsox.com.

live streaming video;

This game is honoring first responders, EMT's; the Governor is there, police officers.......and the ordinary citizens of Boston who ran to help people instead of running away. AND, David Ortiz is BACK ! We haven't seen him yet this season. He just pointed out that their jerseys today say BOSTON, instead of REDSOX.

What a week. The worst five days in the history of Boston. I am so happy to be watching this red sox game instead of coverage of terrorists - the relief is palpable.

Red Sox return home to emotional Fenway Park

Watch a special pregame tribute as the Sox, who are wearing special home uniforms, pay tribute to those impacted in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Contribute to Boston victims through The One Fund

Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino have announced the formation of The One Fund Boston, Inc., to aid those most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15. Learn more

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  Watch a special pregame tribute as the Sox, who are wearing special home uniforms, pay tribute to those impacted in the Boston Marathon bombings.
  

Neil Diamond flew in to sing Sweet Caroline in the 8th inning - awesome......then Daniel Nava hit a 3 run homer + we won the game.

SUSPECT CAUGHT, IRENE, KEN + FRIENDS

Drained. Relieved. Grateful. Sign above from Citi Field.

They found him hiding in a tarp covered boat in someone's backyard in Watertown, alive.

Major League Baseball's teams and fans expressed relief in ballparks across the country Friday night, when it was learned the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings had been captured. Read here.

Ken called yesterday, checking in. Molly and I were in touch all day. I'm glad the blog was helpful.

Ron checked in via email from Willits, CA. He had the right idea - move to a small town in a rural area. Living in large urban centers is getting to be....dangerous....

Irene Zorfas just called to check in .......she's living in New York now near her daughter Judy. Irene + Shirley were first cousins. They grew up together in Dorchester. Irene's mother and my grandmother were sisters. I heard from Irene after being out of touch for 20 + years after Shirley left. So it was just terrific to hear from her today - some of my best childhood memories are of visiting Irene at her house in Nantasket in the summer. I'll have to fire up the scanner; I have lots of photos of Irene and her daughers, Meryl + Judy. She just told me she was a little closer to Roby because he was closest to her age and that Roby played the piano. Later on Irene moved to Peabody and we visited with them while living in Malden which is close by.

SHELTER-IN-PLACE

As soon as I posted this, the Shelter-in-Place restriction was lifted. Five minutes after that gunfire started in a backyard in Watertown. The media says they found the guy, hiding under a boat in a backyard. Police are evacuting residents. Stay tuned - I found this photo on Redsox.com. Our game was postponed due to the Manhunt. Click here to see Kenmore Square deserted, empty streets which would ususally be filled with B.U. students and thousands of Red Sox fans.

Empty streets in Boston. click here

BOSTON UNDER SIEGE

Red Sox game postponed. The MBTA is shut down. Streets are empty in the city of Boston. No one has ever seen anything like it. Massive manhunt launched. The "new normal" see below. Now we know what it feels like in other countries where this terror activity happens  more frequently. Our charmed American lives, over........this is not supposed to happen where I live....I felt exactly like this in the Earthquake of 1989, however that was a natural disaster......

Police patrolled through a neighborhood in Watertown, while searching for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. All residents of Boston were ordered to stay in their homes as the search continued.

Summer street heading into the financial district - empty - ghost town - 

"The lock-down paralyzed Boston, Cambridge, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, and Brookline as residents hunkered inside, under authorities’ order."

"But it turned Watertown into an occupied territory as armored vehicles and police, clad in 
riot gear and hoisting machine guns, hunted for a terrorist on suburban streets." 

read more here:

TERROR IN MY BACKYARD

It's official. I am now living in my very own Martin Scorsese movie. Suspect #1 'armed + dangerous, on the loose - Watertown looks like a war zone - helicoptors, SWAT teams. No one on Beacon St., no traffic - weird, surreal, spooky.....police are looking for three individuals, not just one !

Watertown is about 20 minutes away from me - they are on Arsenal St. where the Arsenal Mall is where I have gone shopping at Target............

News conference with the Governor + the Mayor - stay tuned....boston.com.

WAKING UP TO TERROR

I am now living under 'Shelter in Place' conditions. I went to bed last night to the latest news of an MIT policeman being shot + killed. This morning I woke up to a wrong number phone call from a window cleaning company. The fellow asked me if I knew what was going on. Then he told me he was in Watertown - "the whole city is under lockdown because they shot + killed a bombing suspect but the younger brother is still at large."  Yikes ! I just got a phone call from management. We are not allowed to leave the building. Boston, Brookline, Allston, Brighton, Belmont, Cambridge, Newton, Waltham and Watertown are all under shelter in place orders. No MBTA, no driving, - it's affecting a million people.

You know it's bad when the reporters are saying they have never reported or seen anything like this. Stay tuned -

Armed guards at the Park Street T stop - increased police presence - there's the Boston Common where I used to play when Shirley went shopping in downtown Boston.........never, never have I seen anything like this ............except Israel............I went to Israel when I was 20 years old on a summer program. I'll never forget going to a department store in Tel Aviv. At the entrance, armed Israeli soldiers with Uzis. They searched everybody's bags. Not used to seeing armed soldiers walking around the city - downtown Boston is now a ghost town - surreal............

THE GOTHAMIST + THE RED SOX

It's a new 'normal'. Things I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime........the traditonal rivalry between Boston and New York is suspended after the Marathon tragedy......when bad things happen, it seems to bring out the best in people - that's what's happened here in Boston. First responders + ordinary citizens - ran to help people on Boylston Street instead of running away to save themselves. People spoke of it at the Memorial service here today, attended by President Obama.

NY Loves Boston:

Messages Of Support 

Light Up From Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Academy of Music was illuminated with messages of support projected in light on the exterior of the building. It is so cool. The 'B" is the same font used by the Red Sox. Read more about it in The Gothamist.

PATRIOTS DAY 2013

We'll never forget it here in Boston. Governor Deval Patrick has told us " to remain in a state of hyper vigilance. Welcome to Carol's world. If one has PTSD, then you are always in a state of hyper-vigilance. It affects every molecule. I feel stunned and nauseous. And this is less than 24 hours later.

Patriots Day. "On the eighteenth of April in '75, hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year." That would be Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem about Paul Revere and his famous ride - that is the route of the Boston Marathon. We all had to memorize it in elementary school. That is the first thing I thought of when the explosions happened. On Patriots' Day.......a day supposed to be about commemorating freedom - essentially that's it. So it's no coincidence.

What cowards.....to kill innocent men, women, and children running a race ....

Paul Revere’s Ride

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

“Listen my children and you shall hear…”

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,–
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”

EXPLOSIONS, PEOPLE HURT AT THE FINISH LINE

Live blog: Explosions in Copley Square

The day was perfect until reports of injuries at the Marathon finish line:

I went outside to take pictures after the wonderful game and heard people talking about something happened at Copley Square. Horror .....

click here: 3 Dead, 140 + Injured, Boston.com

click here:  New York Times

Another explosion occurred at the JFK library.
NO PLACE TO RUN, NO PLACE TO HIDE

I got a call from the Town of Brookline...."Stay off Beacon Street".....
The entire city of Boston is on lockdown. The Boston Police Department has ordered everyone to stay indoors. I'm living in a war zone. .........reminiscent of that earthquake of 1989..........

Got emails from Molly + Bernice and calls from Mike + Joan.......thank you everyone for checking in......

BOSTON MARATHON + JACKIE ROBINSON DAY

Today the Boston Marathon will run right outside my window. They start in Hopkinton and run 26 miles. By the time they get to Beacon Street which is closed to traffic they are almost finished as they head to Copley Square.

Today the Red Sox play Tampa Bay at 11:00 am. Yikes, an early morning baseball game. So far so good - our pitcher, new, Ryan Dempster just struck three guys out. Yesterday, Buckholtz pitched 8 innings + almost got a no hitter - until the 8th inning. First inning today, Ellsbury just got a triple - things are looking good.

UPDATE: 12:23
SALTALAMACCHIA JUST HIT A  HOME RUN - 2-1....
we are #1 in the Eastern Division right now :)
1:30 pm: bottom of the 8th- 2-1 Boston

It's Jackie Robinson Day - all baseball players today are wearing his number - 42 - very cool.

Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images"Jackie Robinson put on a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform in a regular-season game for the first time, thus integrating Major League Baseball forever."

Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

BASEBALL OPENING DAY:APRIL 1, 2013

Shane Victorino #18 and Jackie Bradley #44 of the Boston Red Sox celebrate the win over the New York Yankees during Opening Day on April 1, 2013 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City.

At last, the Red Sox won two games in a row ! Against the Yankees ! It's been a long time since we've seen them win a game. Continuing the Sandler Family tradition, I got a call from Ken who was also watching the game ! I miss talking to Roby about baseball so it was very sweet to hear from Ken and kibbitz. Ken is extraordinarily knowledgeable about baseball since he remembers going to Fenway Park with his Dad as a kid as well as following all the other teams and their players. He used to have an extensive baseball card collection. Unfortunately, lost now. 

Today's game is so good I had to blog about it. We are leading right now, 10-0 against the Bluejays, bottom of the seventh ! It's been a long time since we, in Red Sox Nation have seen that  !!

Tomorrow is Opening Day at Fenway Park ! Stay tuned...

LIVE BLOG UPDATE:

13-0 RED SOX !!!!  We haven't seen a game this good in two years...last half of the ninth inning...

GRIEF

After a seven week hiatus due to inclement weather (as in a blizzard every few days, snow, snow and more snow during february and march) I finally made my therapy appointment. Nothing prepared me for the emotional impact that Shirley is gone. It is very tough. She was like three different people. The 'out of control' schizophrenic shirley (bad, bad, very bad), the good Shirley, beautiful, talented, funny, everybody liked her, she had a lot of friends....and then there was the 'medicated Shirley.' For seven years she was on Stelazine, an anti-psychotic med. Completely different than the previous two. No anger, no paranoia, some middle zone - when I lived in California she was taking the meds. We talked on the phone and wrote letters - I have stacks of her letters in purple ink + purple envelopes. It was possible to have a relationship with her - she said a lot of things to me then that I now realize was the best of Shirley. So.......the Grief....my therapist says we grieve in pieces...it is a process....I have complicated grief - we had a complicated relationship.