Happy Monday!

Yeah, well, I thought I would give it a try. Positive thinking and all that. Things here are as crazy as always, but I'm still smiling. The good news is that Thursday just might be a day for me instead of a day at the office. Fingers crossed! I know it's not a day off when you just finish off the week's hours well before the week is over, but those positive thoughts are powerful.

Mr. Engineer gets the nod for garden produce guru of the day. We have a friend who has even more fruit trees than we do and the apricots are ripe! I brought home a small set last week and Mr. Engineer is drying them in the food dehydrator tonight. Yum! The bonus is that the whole house is starting to smell like apricots. We don't need any smelly plug-ins, we have the real thing!

It's Apple Season

Yes, already! The poor branches of our apple tree are heavy with fruit and the apples are starting to fall to the ground. This makes our tortoise very happy, but it keeps us busy picking up fruit to keep from encouraging fruit flies. The only downside to this variety is that the fruit is soft and doesn't keep well. Once an apple is off the tree, it is only good for a day (if that). I spent the day waiting for inputs from others to work (Work! On a Sunday!), so I didn't make the chunky applesauce that I had planned. This will have to be a several evening project during the week.

Summer of Socks - Pair #1

Pattern: Twin Rib from Danniknits
Yarn: Opal Cotton
Needles: US 1 dpns

Notes: Quick and easy knit. I made these with a shorter leg than usual because it's summer cotton socks still need to be comfy. I do love the way this pattern looks and I know I will keep on making it. This is the third time I've used it for self-striping yarn. The yarn is different. It is a cotton/wool blend so it is still stretchy and not too splitty. I'm glad I like it because I have another skein of it in a different colorway waiting for me.

Next up are Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks. I think I'll keep working on my Opal stash.

Garden Along, But It's Not Pretty

Today is Garden Along update day, but I forgot to take any pictures before the sun went down. So, instead of lovely pictures, you get words and more words.

In the main garden, things are progressing slowly. There are at least two tomatoes that appear to be getting close to ripe. With a little luck, we should have BLTs on Sunday. Tomorrow we need to stake up one of the peppers. The poor little plant is producing loads of nice, long peppers and the little trunk just can't stand up to the weight. A few of the peppers are starting to turn red. They are so much more tasty when we leave them to ripen!

Moving out of the garden and into the orchard things are far more exciting. The lemon tree is in desperate need of a good pruning and it is weighted down with huge, yellow lemons. This is coming just in time because we always make several gallons of fresh-squeezed lemonade for our July 4th block party. The lime tree is quiet for a change. It has little green limes, but none are ready for margaritas. We finally started picking the oranges last week and have been drinking fresh-squeezed orange juice all week. It is pretty funny when Young Man asks if there is any juice in the house besides FSOJ!

The other tree begging for attention is the apple tree. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to grow apples in Southern California. Our tree is an Anna and it doesn't require any chilling during the winter. This is good because we don't get any chilling around here! The Anna also doesn't require another tree around for pollination. Again, this is good because our "orchard" is full!

Booking Through Thursday - Definition

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?

Oh, my, there are so many ways that I could approach this. I think I will stick to a somewhat inclusive definition. For me, a reader is someone who has the skills to decode written language and has developed those skills sufficiently to be able to understand the material presented and enjoys the process. With this definition, Young Man became a reader in Kindergarten thanks to the wonderful Mrs. C who produced a room full of readers by the end of the school year. Young Man attends a Carden school and the method is amazing. It really works. A wonderfully enthusiastic teacher helped encourage Young Man until he really enjoyed what he was doing. The summer after Kindergarten he really enjoyed reading to the child of one of our friends. Seeing those two little boys curled up together enjoying a book was one of the highlights of my summer!

I include enjoyment to my definition because I have a friend who hates reading. She can do it well and must read a fair amount (she is finishing up an advanced degree), but she doesn't like it. Diving into a book brings her no joy. I don't understand this at all, but I do accept it. She doesn't describe herself as a reader so I will not either.

It's Too Early To Be So Behind

Whatever possessed me to enter the Most Socks Knit contest for SOS'08? I guess I was thinking of other summers when I actually had a full two-week vacation. Or maybe I was thinking of summers when I wasn't working proposals or mentally preparing myself for the contract we might win (and I will work). In any case, I am finding that the completed sock photos on Ravelry are causing me more stress than pleasure. This is not why I knit! I may just have to take a break from reading the completed socks threads. My natural competitive nature makes stepping down from a challenge very difficult.

I'm going to take my 3/4 complete sock and enjoy it. I'm even going to enjoy the next one. Mostly, I'm going to try very hard not to get sucked into guilt. NO GUILT! Knitting is fun, dammit!

2 Much 2 Do

Here are some wispy clouds for Sandy. These just struck me the day that I saw them. We don't often get clouds of any kind so I do notice when something different shows up.

This proposal is kicking me. Plus, it comes during the same week that Young Man is in a half-day camp. Now I remember why I have always avoided these. I am just very, very glad that there are four moms with pools willing to take on 5-6 boys for an afternoon. Young Man wasn't sure he wanted to go for more than one of the pool afternoons, but he had so much fun today that he really wants to go tomorrow. Yay!

Not Today

As I drove in to face another day of working up a proposal, I heard the news that just flipped my day upside-down. RIP, George Carlin (yes, I linked that sketch). We just lost a very, very clever man. Okay, okay, I'll also include the link to my two very favorite Carlin bits: Football vs. Baseball and Blue Food.

Sunday Socks for Summer

Here is my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks 2008. Okay, it's half of my first pair of socks for the Summer. These are coming along quickly. I'll have to line up another pair for knitting soon because these will be finished well before the week is over. I think this Opal Cotton looks a bit like rainbow sherbet, don't you?

Yes, the left foot has stripes. At the last lacrosse season of the year I forgot to sunscreen my feet. Luckily, a friend had sunscreen with her and I was able to avoid a burn. For some reason, she reminded me to sunscreen my feet, but she forgot about hers and did burn!

First Summer Saturday Sky

Today's Saturday Sky is brought to you courtesy of Air Conditioning. The entire family made a frontal assault on the lawn work this morning and are now enjoying the view from inside the cozy, cool house. The curb appeal was greatly enhanced (i.e., the house no longer looks abandoned) and Young Man earned $2 for digging up thistles from the back yard. Yes, I do pay him for jobs that are above and beyond the norm. I also really hate thistles.

Today is also the first day for the Summer of Socks campaign. I cast on just after midnight (EDT, so it was 9 p.m. here), but I have already ripped out my start. I was going to begin with the wonderful pattern that Wendy created for us, but it really doesn't work with my yarn so I'm going back to a tried-and-true basic quickie pattern. It has been over a week since I had socks on the needles and it felt really weird!

What Norma Wants, Norma Gets



The intrepid leader of the Garden Along 2008 has declared that Friday is the day to show garden progress. I can't argue with that directive. Okay, so I probably won't post garden photos every Friday. I'm not a complete lemming.

Here is my garden as of this evening. It isn't very big and there isn't a lot going on in there this year. There are three tomato plants and four peppers. One of the tomatoes is a Roma variety and one of the peppers has a spicy nature. Actually, there are four tomato plants, but I don't think one will produce fruit. I have a volunteer growing just outside the garden. I fear that its days are numbered. If it weren't so beastly hot here, he probably would have been mown down today. As I reported Wednesday, the first tomato has already been picked. I harvested a couple of peppers over a week ago. They were yummy.

Harumph! My apologies to anyone reaching this point on the Garden Along webring and then getting stuck. For some reason, the buttons aren't working. I'm sure there is a fix and I'll find it.

Booking Through Thursday - Flavor

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

This is a tough one. I think there are two things that draw me to an author. The first is characters. They have to be believable even when they are doing something completely impossible. I don't mind fantasy, but the characters have to be consistent. The other important thing for me is that the author has to very firmly set the location in my mind. I want to be taken away from wherever it is that I am. Again, the descriptions of the location have to be consistent and provide enough detail for me to believe them. In the last novel I read, The Archivist's Story, the author did a fabulous job of setting the stage for his novel. His writing style matched the surroundings and the entire book came together. Even an action scene from Clive Cussler has to make me see what the characters see (and he does).

First Fruit and Visitors

Lookie! My reward for weeding the garden tonight was to find the first tomato! I forgot to include something in the photo for scale, but this treat is about 2.5 inches in diameter. Yummy! I am very glad that no one got to this one before I did.

Some visitors are welcome. Family from far away or just good friends make for pleasant visitors. Some visitors are less welcome and some are downright annoying.

Gardeners know all about annoying visitors. My sister and mother have had to put up fences around their gardens to protect the tender goodies from herds of deer. My mother also has to occasionally guard against loose cattle from my brother's farm next door. Unfortunately, the fencing does nothing to deter the gophers and 13-striped ground squirrels who think that it is great fun to eat the produce from below.

As an urban gardener, my visitors are usually more mundane. The neighborhood cats seem to think that a nicely tilled garden is a specially-prepared litter box. One year we had a cat who fell in love with the lemon grass. He didn't like it so much when it was laced with Tabasco. Our pet tortoises think that the garden is a personal salad bowl. Given that tortoises don't really climb, we are always amazed at how resourceful they are in finding ways to get into the raised bed. A few well-placed paving tiles have stopped that intrusion.

This morning we found that we were sharing our apple tree. I have known for some time that the neighborhood opossums like apples, but today's visitors were much more exotic. Being late for a scintillating course on earned value management was the price I was happy to pay to get some photos of the two green parrots who decided that the apples were delicious.

Ten on Tuesday - Ten Favorite Moments in Your Country's History

Oh, boy, one of them happened yesterday, but these are in no particular order

1. Same-sex marriage legalized in California. Yesterday was a very happy, very overdue day for lots of people and today was even better.

2. Emancipation Proclamation. Again, long overdue and shouldn't have even been necessary.

3. Signing of the Declaration of Independence. Without it I'd be talking about some other country.

4. Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon.

5. Women get the right to vote. Yet another moment that came much later than it should have.

6. Invention and popularization of baseball. We all know that Doubleday didn't really invent the game, but it's a nice story.

7. Minnesota Twins win the World Series (twice)!

8. California Angels win the World Series!

9. The end of prohibition. What is it with the stupid ideas that we have to go back and fix?

10. January 20, 2009. Please, oh, please, oh, please, let us bring in someone who has a clue!

Summertime Shawl?

Project: Woodland Shawl, by Nikol Lohr

Yarn: Trekking Hand Art in Tundra (~1.2 skeins)
Finished (blocked) size: 49" x 20"
Needles: US 6 (4.0mm) circular

Notes: This was a very quick and easy knit. It would have gone more quickly if I hadn't had so many doubts about the color. All lace looks like barf before it is blocked, but I couldn't get past how dull the colors of this yarn looked when it was all wadded up. I stretched it out several times and finally decided that it was okay. I also decided that one skein of yarn wasn't quite enough so I bought a second and used some. Hopefully I left enough for a pair of Nutkin socks. The final stole is very pretty and will be a great fall/winter item. Mr. Engineer even noted that the greens and reds will make it go well for Christmastime. Where did he get all that skill in encouraging the discouraged? This is why he is such a great supervisor.

It's always hard to get a closeup of lace, but here is the best I could do. I think it turned out very well. The extra yarn made it a bit longer (49" instead of the pattern's 40"). I also continued through the second to last row of the repeat before adding an ending ribbing. I liked the symmetry with the beginning. I don't think it really mattered, but I like the finished project.

Curl Up With a Book Sunday

This week I have my pick of two books that I have finished recently. I think I'll go with the one that was a book club selection. We are discussing this one on Wednesday, but I have a day-long class (on earned value management, oh, boy!) and will probably miss the book club meeting.

The Archivist's Story is Travis Holland's first novel. In some spots, that seemed evident as there were a few rough edges. However, his overall crafting of the characters and their plights is very good and there are much more experienced authors who would do well to study Holland's skill at creating and maintaining a mood and getting into the mind of a character in just a few pages. This is a very short novel (256 pages), but the sense of place is complete. Holland is concise, but not overly sparse in his use of words. This is a study in censorship and the destruction of ideas, but it is also a view into the destruction of hope and of humanity. When we lose our words, we lose ourselves.

Make no mistake, this book is not a happy, feel-good novel. Given the setting, I don't think I'm giving anything away by telling you that there is no happy ending. Then again, Holland does leave open the possibility for some happiness. It is just out of reach in the story we are told, but there are some who do escape and might just find it. The last novel I read, The Gathering, also was definitely not a feel-good novel, but I felt much better at the end of The Archivist's Story than I felt at the end of The Gathering. I found Holland's characters more complete and their choices more consistent than I found Enright's.

If you are looking for a well-crafted, well-researched novel that examines what happens to self when compromises begin, then you must read this one. I look forward to Mr. Holland's next novel.

Saturday Sky With Apple Tree

Yes, the apples have spots. If you grow organic apples (and are an incredibly lazy gardener) you have to expect to share some of the fruit. Since there is no way that we will be able to eat all of the apples from the tree, this isn't a problem for any of us. I do need to start picking. I foresee chunky applesauce in our near future.

Yesterday I shocked a friend when I mentioned that I needed to pick apples. She wants to know just how big of a lot we have. Actually, we have a very small city lot. I think we are 59 feet by 100 feet and our 1630 square foot house takes up a lot of that. The backyard is only 59 feet by 25 feet or so. In that space we have four trees and a garden. The trees are one each of apple, orange, lemon, and lime. The garden is 15 feet by 5 feet and there is a triangular extension on one end for herbs. This year the garden has only tomatoes and peppers in it. Usually we have a few other things, but that didn't work so well last year. We are keeping things simple this year. I call it my salsa garden. We used to have grape vines along the back wall, but something killed them off and we didn't think it a good idea to replant in the same space.

Our Day

Day Two of Summer Vacation went well. Mom was a bit on the tired side, but Young Man had a great day. We spent an hour or so at the local science center checking out Animal Grossology, then came home for lunch, swimsuits, and sunscreen.

I'm not sure what to call this dive, but it sure looked like fun.

To end the day, we checked out what is growing in the backyard.

Booking Through Thursday - Clubbing

Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (or, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?

Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

I am currently in one active book club. I have attempted to participate in some virtual book clubs, but that never seems to work out for me. I guess I need the face-to-face meeting to give me enough incentive to continue to participate. We are a small group that meets over lunch each month at work. In one sense, we are not very diverse, because we are all either engineers or engineer support folks. However, we do have a full range of political and religious views and we try to keep most of those out of our discussions.

When our group first formed, we decided to have a different genre each month. Twice a year we have a book selection meeting to pick six months worth of books. Members nominate books for each genre and then we vote at the book selection meeting. There is sometimes lobbying and we sometimes bring in copies of the nominated books. In the end, the nominated books with the most votes are selected. Usually, the person who nominated the book also volunteers to lead the discussion. If one person has more than one month, he or she will usually ask for someone else to lead. We rotate such that each person rarely has to lead a discussion more than once per year.

Having the choice dictated (so to speak) did seem rather odd at first. I have found that this pushes me to read books I would not have chosen on my own. For instance, I rarely pay attention to award winning books, but we pick one each year. If it weren't for this selection, I never would have read The Gathering. Even though I didn't like that book, I am glad that I gave it a try. I also never would have read titles by Jodi Picoult, Ann Patchett, or Sue Monk Kidd. They didn't become favorite authors, but I feel that my life is richer for the experience. I also really enjoy sharing these new experiences with my book club friends. We have one guy who would read pretty much nothing but classics if we didn't drag him into other genres and others who stay in sci fi/fantasy without urging. All bring their experiences to the discussion.

My appreciation for a book isn't affected by whether I chose it; I stay true to my convictions. Still, I find that I am more likely to finish a book that I don't particularly like if I know that we will discuss it. I greatly dislike having the ending given away during a discussion, so I will try very, very hard to finish. Reading for the club does give me incentive to read just a little more slowly and think about what I am reading more than if I were just reading for my own pleasure. If I am the discussion leader, then I spend much more time thinking about themes and questions to pose to the group. Sharing a discussion with others afterwards often brings out ideas that I had not considered. There are times when I end up with more respect for the author than I initially had.

One other thing that the book club has brought me (outside of an even bigger selection of books) is the opportunity to win prizes! My work has an annual Diversity Week celebration, which just happens to be this week. The Young Engineers group puts on a Diversity Jeopardy game each year and this is the second year that our book club has entered a team. Last year we did very well and came in second overall (and we each took home $10 gift cards to a restaurant). This year we didn't do so well and didn't make it to the final round. Maybe the third year will be the charm!

Wordless Wednesday - Looking Forward to Summer Games

Note that this is not Young Man, but is one of his best buddies on the team.

Beginning or End?

Today's Ten on Tuesday is about the things we hate about work. Okay, so I think that whining about my job is not the most appropriate blog fodder. Besides, I actually like my job. Most days I like it. It has its moments, like every job, I suppose. Probably the one thing I dislike most about my job is that I am not independently wealthy enough to not need a job. Still, I am lucky to work with some brilliant people and on interesting projects. Enough about that.

Instead, let's talk about endings and beginnings. Tomorrow is the end of another school year. Logically, the school year ended for Young Man on Friday (he even gave a celebratory yell). This week finds the children enjoying three "fun days" and rehearsing for the end of year program. The students also help their teachers clean out the classrooms and ready the school for summer camp. This year the school will hold its first eighth grade graduation. It should be an emotional night. So, this is the end of one era and the beginning of the next. After this week, Young Man is officially a sixth grader and is also a Middle Schooler. How did this happen so quickly?!

Perspective

It is an interesting thing when a simple change in view can alter your entire outlook. For example, this morning I was driving to work and the voice inside my head (you know the one, it just can't leave me alone for an instant) was making all sorts of ruckus. My voice was berating me for being so late getting in and at least I had the foresight to bring along my makeup so that I could slink in and do that in the restroom before the first meeting. Oh! And just how many meetings were there going to be? How many other little tasks had I forgotten about and why didn't I wear shoes that don't squeak when I walk since I was going to walk all over the site.

Just then, I turned my van onto the drive to our site and there was a new thing. The entrance had been narrowed to only one lane and there was a canopy shade in what had been the other lane (one of those easy-up things that stands on its own and provides a spot of shade that moves around as the Earth moves past the sun and is not nearly as useful as you think it will be when you purchase it). Under the canopy was a guard and he had drawn the task of checking badges or IDs for every single person coming on site. I dug out my badge well before driving up and flashed the guard a big smile and wished him a good day. I figured it was the least I could do since this certainly wasn't his idea of a good time.

Suddenly, my annoying voice made a complete turnaround. Gee, maybe my day wasn't going to be so bad after all. At least I didn't have to spend the day chasing the shade and greeting grumpy people!

On the drive home I had another one of these changes in view. Just a week ago I had complained about choosing the wrong gas station and paying $4.39/gallon for gasoline when I had passed stations that advertised $4.20/gallon. Tonight I drove up to the pump and it was $4.42/gallon and I thought, "Not bad, the station I just passed is $4.49 and the one closest to home is $4.59." Oh, my, how quickly the unimaginable becomes routine!

More Socks!

Pattern: Eleanor, by Monkey Toes (it's available on Ravelry)

Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura

Needles: US 1 dpns

Notes: Quick to memorize, quick to knit, the pattern was great. The yarn is excellent to work with. My only quibble is that there were some odd white tufts that I pulled out here and there. The end product looks fabulous and feels wonderful.

In other news, we went to see Kung Fu Panda this weekend. I was well and truly tired of seeing ads for it, but the movie itself is quite good. It's not as good as, say, The Incredibles, but it is pretty good.

06.07.08

Another Saturday, another lacrosse game. This was the last game of the regular season and the boys had high hopes of better scores than last week. It was a glorious, sunny day. Game time was moved up from 7:00 p.m. all the way to 11:00 a.m. There was a nice breeze as the parents set up and the boys warmed up. The first quarter went by quickly with no goals scored by either team. It seemed like a pretty even match, but I did have a nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. The scene above seemed to happen way too often. One defender with the goalie fending off a close approach. The flip side was that our boys weren't getting close to the goal.

During the second quarter, the opposing team got two goals. Young Man had an excellent breakaway run where he got to show off his long pole cradling skills and cleared the ball at the centerline. He was moving out!

The third and fourth quarters were much the same as the second. Our boys just couldn't get close enough and their long shots didn't get through. Young Man had another breakaway and showed how well he can fly. The final score was 0-5 and the boys headed out disappointed, but looking forward to the summer tournaments. Team practices start on the 23rd and Young Man is also in lacrosse camp the last week of June. The boys all have the raw skills, they just need time together to practice their passing and dodging.

Fly, my son, fly!

Friday Eye Candy

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees

Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull

Needles: US 1

Notes: These are just too precious! I started them in July while on vacation, but just finished the seaming and end weaving two weeks ago. The baby for whom they were intended has long since outgrown them and is even starting to walk. I'm sure I'll find another deserving baby (aren't they all?). I'm not sure that I'll make another pair of these. They are cute, but extremely fiddly.

Booking Through Thursday - Trends

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

My tastes in books have definitely changed over the years. I go through serious phases and get obsessed easily (me? no!) In high school I was heavily into science fiction (Bradbury and Clarke) and westerns (L'Amour and Grey). Some of that was because of availability. My grandfather had a second hand store and we had trading privileges. He didn't move many books, but he allowed us to bring a box of read books and pick up a box of unread books. Most of the books were westerns or romances. I think I read two or three romance novels and determined that they were all the same (boy meets girl, boy wants nothing to do with girl, big disaster happens, boy and girl fall madly in love and live happily ever after, etc.). I know that they aren't all like that, but I didn't have to wait for Dan Brown to understand about formula writing. Yes, I totally understand that the westerns were just the same, I just enjoyed the locations more. Something about the rough West had stronger appeal to me than the Moors or coasts of New England.

In college I developed the Heinlein fascination. I'm not quite sure if I liked the books or I just kept reading to see how much more outrageous he could get. After college, I discovered Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. They were my favorite reading when I went on business trips. Two or three of those were perfect for each trip. Next up, I started exploring non-fiction. I spent several years reading various books on chaos theory and then its application to management.

Now, I always have several books going. Usually I have one for my book club (currently The Archivist's Story), a history or two (Team of Rivals is nearly finished), and a young adult or kid book (I just got my copy of Well Witched and can't wait to start!!!!).

Breaks & Breaking

I am seriously pondering why I persist in posting every day. It's not like anyone out there is reading this, so I am obviously doing it for myself. I have managed to post every day this year (more or less, I have at least journaled each day even if I have had a couple of technical difficulties in blogging). This is now a habit. Habits can be good or bad. I'm thinking that I may need to take a break from this habit to work on instilling a new one. I am not fit and really do need to be if I am going to continue keeping up with an amazingly active child. Tomorrow will be Booking Through Thursday, so I won't take a break then. There may be some eye candy out there for Friday and Saturday is, of course, lacrosse. Okay, so the break isn't coming that soon. Perhaps the end of the month would be a good time.

As for breaking, Marguerite has the best "breaking" news of all. You simply must go see her hatchling photos. Most impressive.

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Ways the World Has Changed Since I've Been in School

1. World Wide Web - nope, it didn't exist back then. Just after I got out of college, we were able to use obscure search tools to comb are way through what little was out there. Yes, I remember "surfing" without a web. Gopher or Archie, anyone?

2. Itty Bitty Computers - they used to be huge! There was no such thing as a laptop. Even "portable" was a misnomer.

3. Cordless Phones

4. Cell Phones

5. European geography had a lot fewer countries

6. Germany is no longer East and West

7. Reusable space vehicles

I can't stand it. I just can't put down three more things that have changed. I already feel old and crotchety. I am not ready for the museum (even if the first computer I used is in one).

Some Days

I wonder if I should even come out of my shell. Then, I find a sunbeam and maybe some dandelion greens, and it all seems better.

Revisiting the Game

Saturdays are lacrosse days for this family. Young Man and his team had last weekend off, but they were back on the field on Saturday. For a change, they had an afternoon game so I was able to take photos through the entire game. Unfortunately for my shutter finger, the game was a nail biter so I spent more time watching than clicking.


This was the second time Young Man's team faced this opponent. The first time, our boys were hot and tired after one game and faced these boys in the second game of the day. This time, they couldn't claim that they were too tired, but two weeks of not playing together really showed. Each of the boys on Young Man's team was playing well individually, but they just couldn't come together to play as a team. The opposing team was very good at finding and exploiting weaknesses. They made goal after goal by catching our defense out of position. Still, the score was tied at the half. The third quarter started out well, but the fourth quarter was painful to watch. The final score was 4-8 and the Crush parents had some disappointed boys for the long drive home.

The boys have one more game in the regular season. Even with this latest lost, they are in the top three and it is a close race. The team that one this weekend is in first place, but they have played fewer games than the other teams. I think all the parents are ready for the regular season to be over. We have been told that there will be some additional practices before the summer tournaments. Everyone agrees that they are sorely needed.