Spring break

Too bad there weren't digital cameras when I was a kid because
then I wouldn't have wasted film on a thousand pictures like this one!

R. has amazing eyes.  We looked out the window and she
said she could see the windmill at the science center.

The spring part of spring break.

This was on the neighbor's tree lawn.  If you know what it is please share!

We found a Little Free Library on our walk.

Home of my heart!

Holiday photos

Our April Fools' Day tradition no longer fools the kids,

but I still buy the fake deviled eggs and mix them among the real ones.

My friend's mom fooled her by telling her the Clintons were separating.  I thought the New York Times was fooling when they wrote about which numbers are acceptable for college basketball players.  I told Z.'s mom she was wearing underpants, but that was about all I did.  That was why I was so pleased that at the end of the day I was getting ready for bed and found a little something from a little someone.

If you want to make your own here are some instructions.

Slice of life

Another day, another few memories stored away.  My ankle was too tender to run but I had a great swim with a friend

A. had a great game in goal and

was cheered on by parents, grandparents, a great aunt, and a first cousin once removed!

Later he played with friends and their sister, followed by a swim in the neighbors' pool.

D. ran an incredibly successful (68 kids and 63 adults in two hours) NanoDays event at the library.

It included a chance to cut an ice cube with graphite and

learn about kinetic sand.

Some people got homework done
and despite its imperfections, everyone looked forward to having dessert.

In my backyard

Not literally, but the trailhead is only two miles from our house.  I head there with friends about once a week and we don't always take this exact route, but when it isn't too hot it is a great hike!

I saw lots and lots of lizards and was surprised to see a snake.  I wanted to get my shoe in the picture to provide a scale, but I was a little scared and so was the snake!

Unfortunately I was so excited that I was only three steps from the end 

of the hike that I missed a step.

So here I sit with my ankle elevated, posting on my blog.  

At least I fell after I got such great pictures!

Still my baby

He may still be my baby, but he is growing up!

He is into skateboarding, which won't a problem when he is at the intermediate school 

(seventh and eighth grade) next year because they installed skateboard racks.

He can catch lizards with his bare hands.  I was worried he broke the tail off,

but he pointed out that the tail would not have grown back so much already.

Even more amazing than these things is the fact that his feet are now bigger than mine!

Brackets

For my first couple years of college I volunteered with the swim team by taking splits at meets, helping at the scoring table, and other odd tasks.  I loved being around the sport and getting to know the people.  After a junior year on exchange I decided to volunteer in the athletic department instead.  It was a different world, dominated by football and men's basketball (known only as basketball, as in Mascot and Lady Mascot).

In the department one person's job was to make sure all the NCAA rules were followed, which was a challenge since most rules were written with football and men's basketball players in mind.  I was amazed by how much those two sports dominated the time spent on enforcement.  It made me wonder why there wasn't a farm system like they have for men's hockey and baseball.

Nowadays I do not spend a lot of time following college sports and I am still uncomfortable with the system.  Articles about football coaches being the highest paid person in the state, or at least on campus, don't change that.

So what happens when March Madness rolls around?  I get annoyed that some papers list basketball games and women's basketball game.  Second, I find myself cutting out the blank brackets and filling them.  I know people complain about how their brackets are messed up, but if they just filled them as games were played they would have no problem.

Also, writing in all the games helps me notice where the upsets happened, which teams have both a men's and women's team in the tournament, and interesting scores.

For example, so far there has been only one game in which a team has scored over 100 points and it was a women's game (Oklahoma 111, Quinnipiac 84).  I'll keep filling them in and enjoy the stats and set aside the other issues.

p.s.  Quinnipiac University is in Hamdem, CT.

Birthday celebration

On Saturday, March 21, 2015 – Johann Sebastian Bach’s 330th Birthday – musicians will fill the world with his music. 129 cities, 39 countries and growing.Join Us!

Check out the carbon fiber viola!

A friend who plays cello posted that she would be part of a quartet playing, not in the subway, but in a public plaza in town.

Maybe it was originally planned for the subway in order to protect instruments from bad weather, but here it was a beautiful day to sit with people and enjoy friends performing music by Bach.  Happy 330!