Weekend Recap, april 22
Monday, April 22, 2013 at 08:27AM 
1. Baseball heaven | 2. Boston Strong | 3. Friday walk | 4. "It" is NOT dead | 5. Carpool snack | 6. Friday night gathering | 7. Ice Cream treat | 8. Presents! | 9. My planner | 10. Baseball | 11. Baseball | 12. Baseball | 13. Front yard heaven | 14. Spring sunset | 15. Fiddler! | 16. Medicinal | 17. Inspiring | 18. Medicinal (again) | 19. Guard beagle | 20. Catch in the front yard | 21. Hankering for cookies | 22. Rocket watch | 23. Sighting | 24. Sighting | 25. Grill master (every time) | 26. Fireside supper | 27. Faithful
No school! No school! No school! Ahem. I may have mentioned this, but there's no school today. Somehow those administrators know just when we need a break. Noreen will understand this, I bet, and all the mamas and papas, but time speeds up un the spring. Like, seriously speeds up. Crazytown. Last week wore us all out, and now Neel and I both have colds, and I'm fighting my typical miserable cough. But whatever. Life marches on.
I want to march our weekend back a bit to last Thursday. That baseball picture was not taken last Thursday...it was taken the Tuesday prior where the field we played on had chickens wandering in the outfield. Loved that! Last Thursday however, was the Big Deal. Aside from a tournament loss very early in the season, our boys have only lost one game this season (when my dad was here of course), and we went back to play that team on Thursday. On their field. Despite some questionable calls (Ahem. Can middle school coaches get thrown out of games? Cause I thought for a minute ours was going to!), our boys got up and stayed up and won 10-4. A symbolic victory, but, we learned later, bigger than that. The team we beat has been undefeated for the last two seasons. We handed them their first loss. In fact, it was the first time any of our baseball teams have beat them in, get this, EIGHT YEARS. If you follow the MLB at all, you may know of BJ Upton of the Atlanta Braves. He graduated from that school. Drafted straight out of high school to the major leagues. And we beat them.
It was a bit of a thud to come back down to earth and have to do homework after that.
Who wasn't mesmerized by the events in Boston on Friday? No matter where I went, those images and that fear seemed to follow me, but what a relief to have such a stunning outcome. Seems so heartbreaking for everyone. And now come all the questions. More of those than answers, I guess.
Our quiet weekends have gone by the wayside. Cal had a hitting lesson on Saturday and we went to an amazing performance of Fiddler on the Roof that night. It was directed by our friend Mark Paladini and featured college and graduate school students at Regent University in the cast. They were ah-maz-ing. Blew us away. As our friend Tracy, Mark's wife, said, Fiddler's just a show that everyone should see at least once. You know what else is amazing? Our friend Mark, the very same Mark, was a finalist in the New Yorker cartoon caption contest this week! Looks like voting is closed, but we're anxiously awaiting the results. I'll keep you posted!
I took to my bath twice this week to try to kick my cold. To no avail, really, but it felt good at the time. I was astounded and inspired by an article in this month's Bon Apetit about home chefs that I'll chat about another time, I think, when I've had a moment to reflect on it more, and then I baked some cookies. They're pretty good. They made Neel very happy.
On Sunday we dashed outside at 5PM to peer into the heavens to see a rocket launched near(ish) our house. It was, I have to say, pretty flipping cool. There are two lines in the middle photo (#23), and you can barely see the first line. That's the rocket. How cool is that? Wings on the grill, eaten al fresco and prepared with the help of our trusty grilling sous chef. They remind us that despite the chill in the air, spring really is here.
Despite some appointments (back to the ortho and the passport office), Cal and I have a nice day planned. I have some work, and he has homework, but Neel has a dinner tonight, so my boy and I are headed out to see 42. Gonna try not to cough my way through.
Oh, and one other thing. Erin asked what wasn't working about my calendar, so I popped in a quick picture of it. Here's the deal. I like the fact that it has months and weeks, but I use my days of the week for to-do lists. So the fact that each day is divided into morning/afternoon/evening is, well, disconcerting to me. I try to ignore it, but it's still sitting there bugging me. Also, I just need more room. Apparently I write big. Hmmmm.
Reader Comments (7)
I heart that you use a paper planner - somethings (okay, a lot of things) are just better on paper
I think the most exciting part about your whole weekend is the New Yorker cartoon caption finalist that you know!! Well, and Fiddler on the Roof (I burned a hole in that soundtrack when I was younger, I listened to it so often) and Cal's awesome game! Which is incredible! Now I definitely need to make it down to a game, these boys are on a hot streak! The Boston thing consumed our entire Friday night (and Thursday night, too, and we fell asleep with the tv on and Jeff woke up at 4am to watch more coverage). That was insane, the whole thing, wasn't it? Insane! I'm glad you guys were able to have a normal and productive weekend despite your colds. I'm getting over mine now, but as you know it took a lot out of me! Hopefully yours is quieter and quicker going :)
The "grill master" shot cracked me up!
ha! the calendar thing would throw me off too. i think i am too literal and too much of a rule-follower to ignore such a thing. i totally get it. i think i might have woken up this morning to signs of a cold. none too happy about that. spring is naturally busy and i have busy placed on top of that so i am afraid it is just going to fly by. must make sure i take the time for nice spring walks, we are suppose to be back to warmer weather this week, yahoo! last week was a little much so i am hoping this week will not be quite so much.
i think the boston thing also threw me off, along with the rest of the country. it's difficult to digest on so many levels. trying to understand how people are capable of such monstrosities, though it's a futile attempt to do so at best. to wanting to know who did it, to finding out who and then grappling with the media coverage and reactions of that. it's scary to think about healthy well-adjusted kids being led down a path to do such things. it's all just too sad.
oh yes, i understand, and you're right - life speeds up! at our school, we're ramping down homework for our little ones. no more after may 8th or so. they're too busy with sports, etc. how wonderful that you had today off!
i'm sorry to hear you're sick. when cal had the ear ache, i thought, that's a secondary infection from his allergies. and now you and neel. hot tea and some soup to you!
also, i can see why that calendar is not working! it's divided so boldly! i use a paper one bought at coach. the months and weeks are separate, but like you, i write all through the weekly ones.
how was 42? know nothing about it. good health and joy to you and yours, n
Man, that was some crazy stuff on Friday. Well, I suppose all of last week can be categorized as crazy.
I think Fiddler on the Roof was one of the first musicals I had ever seen. I was in middle school and I watched the neighboring high school perform it. I remember telling myself that I would audition when I got to high school. Never happened. I guess I chickened out.
Hope you guys enjoyed some downtime today. It's always nice to have a break from the routine. Happy new week! xo
That was an awesome victory for Cal and his team. Congratulations!!
I am not a fan of calendars that are divided like that. Recycle it, and buy something you love.
I hope your birthday week is wonderful xx
Thanks for your kind words about Fiddler and the caption contest! As always, love the photos and the blog!!!