7/6/2008
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
Happy birthday to Rosalynde! (I’ll be saying happy birthday every week for a while, now.) What a delight to have children in each wonderful stage of life, from Rosalynde to Eva. I wish I could go back and be a classmate or colleague with each one of you in your current circumstances. I would love it. What a delight to have such wonderful children, overflowing with talent and personality like Christian, to personality like Eva and Brigham, to brilliance like Abraham and Benjamin, to charm and beauty like Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi and Rachel. (Of course I could exchange names and adjectives and everything would fit just as well – Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Rachel, Christian, and Eva are as brilliant as Benjamin and Abraham, and you all have such outstanding talent as Christian, etc., etc.)
Hip Hip Hooray! For Mama. The instigator and protagonist of Grandma Camp. And lucky me – the beneficiary of it all. I am sure Elena, Joseph, Brigham, Jack and Mosey all loved it. I will keep the kids here forever – I do not want to send them back! Mama worked very hard at it – even though it was delightful. With Camp, there is always a fun activity to do – whereas for kids just at home, the expectations are different – chores, reading, etc., but camp is something special. Well, Mama made sure they got something special! I didn’t get to be part of too much of it. It was about bed time for the kids by the time I returned from work. But I did come home early Wednesday and went with Mama and the grandkids camping at Chilao. Little boys and fires are a great combination. They just enjoyed being outdoors. They helped start the fire, they put the wood on the fire, they roasted their hot dogs and marshmallows without too much help from us, they played in the dirt without any help from us. Brigham, Mosey and I saw a couple of deer as we drove up in my truck. They each got a brief look at the moon and Jupiter with its 5 visible moons. I couldn’t find Saturn, or we would have been able to see the rings of Saturn. (I just looked up the position of Saturn – it is near the sun – the rings are edge on toward the sun, so we would not have seen much. I said to Mama that I should have taken you kids camping at Chilao more during the summer seasons midweek, when the campgrounds are essentially empty. Can I somehow recall those years? I drove home Thursday morning, and I was still in my office by 10:00 AM.
I just walked back in to the house after a rousing game of soccer with Joseph, Brigham and mosey. Joseph was the keeper, Brigham the field player, and mosey was just around. He hadn’t quite got the concept yet, so he would pick up the ball and throw into the goal, somewhat to the dismay of Brigham. They had a lot of fun and I am all sweaty.
I haven’t seen much of Eva this week. What a lovely sight to see her Friday evening at the talent show. Then she helped me with the canoeing and kayaking trip to Santa Fe dam. When I loaded the 13 foot canoe into the back of my truck with an 8 foot bed (including tailgate), Eva told me that I was illegal – nothing could extend beyond the back of the vehicle more than 4 feet. (As you can tell, Eva has certainly learned the rules of the road in studying for her learners permit.) So what could I do? I said, “Oh”, and ignored the comment. What kind of example am I setting? Fortunately, the several police and highway patrol cars I passed didn’t bother me. We took all five kayaks, but we only set up four when we got there. Elena, Joseph, Brigham, and Eva were in the kayaks, and I took Mosey and Jack in the canoe. We spent about two hours on the lake or right nearby. Elena really liked the kayak and was soon paddling very well. Brigham also really liked it. Joseph didn’t quite get the hang of it too well, and was not quite as happy. He later came in the canoe with me. Jack wanted to try the kayak. He did quite well, but the kayak and paddle are pretty big for him, so several times when he got tired, he grabbed the rope on the front of the canoe and hitched a ride with me. When we were about finished, two older teen Hispanic girls walked by with their dog and cell phones. They looked at the kayaks as if they would really enjoy it. I told them to get in. they asked me how much it would cost. I said nothing, they were my kayaks. After several urgings, they handed me their cell phones and the dog on a leash, and climbed into the kayaks. They went out with Elena and Brigham, but they didn’t really do to well – but they had fun. I put their dog in the canoe and went out by them. The dog never really liked the canoe too much. Then some curious teenaged boys came by. I knew they wanted to try it out, but I was already disassembling the kayaks to leave. I told them that if they had come by earlier, I would have been happy to let them take the kayaks out. When we returned, they wanted to swim and to take the kayak in the pool. So I put one of the kayaks in the pool and they had a great time.
Today, people at church looked at me and asked, “What happened?” I replied, “Which story do you want me to tell? I could tell you that I fought off a force of 500 terrorists at LAX single-handedly yesterday. Or I could tell you I got into a barroom brawl like the scene out of the latest star trek movie. Or I could tell you Christie told me to say, I was acting like a juvenile out on the soccer field. But at least I won the header.” About 5 minutes into the game, the attacking team sent a high ball over the defense. I rushed back with the inside track on the ball just outside the goal area. I leapt high and headed the ball to safety. Unfortunately, an attacker, one of the high school boys, came flying in too late and I received the full brunt of his missed header on my left eyebrow. I crumpled to the ground and just lay there. I can still hear the sound of our head colliding. People asked me if I were dizzy. Fortunately, there was no dizziness, so I know there was no internal problem. I lay there for several minutes, then got up. As I started to walk, I almost crumpled again – I had tweaked the outside ligament in my right knee. So I hobbled to the other end of the field, lay down in the shade, and put ice on my eyebrow. Several of the players were very solicitous and helpful. I feel rugged. Do people perceive a different level of anxiety when I go down, compared to an 18 year old? I rested for 5-7 minutes, then put on a little brace on my right knee, and got back into the game. At half time, since we had about 33 players, we divided into three teams, each playing two 15 minute periods, with another 10 minute period with all players back on the field. Abraham and Benjamin, we had Alex, Kyle Danielson, Ernie, and J.T. out to play, along with our usual contingent of high school and club players, and the others. It was enjoyable, although I did come back a bit beat up and worn-out.
But that is not the only soccer story. Thursday evening, I played in our LA City muni league. The game started at 8:45 PM in the dirt at the John Ferraro fields near the 134 – 5 interchange. We only had 8 players show up, and we were playing the top team in the league standings. Needless to say, I did a lot of running in my defensive mid-field position. We felt pretty good that at the half, we were only down 1-0. But in the second half, the other team finally figured out how to attack us, and they put a lot more people into the attack. By the end of the game, it was 4-0. But we still had fun. With a full time, I am quite confident we could beat them. One of the referees was a silver-haired gentleman, with a short hair cut. He complimented me on my hair color. I told him he had good taste. I said, however, that I am only 39 years old, I mean 40 years old (it is a 40+ league). He said he was only a year older than I.
I am attaching some photos in Mama’s new blog spot I created for her. The blog spot is:
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Dear Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Brigham, Rachel, Benjamin, and Abraham!
Happy birthday to Rosalynde! (I’ll be saying happy birthday every week for a while, now.) What a delight to have children in each wonderful stage of life, from Rosalynde to Eva. I wish I could go back and be a classmate or colleague with each one of you in your current circumstances. I would love it. What a delight to have such wonderful children, overflowing with talent and personality like Christian, to personality like Eva and Brigham, to brilliance like Abraham and Benjamin, to charm and beauty like Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi and Rachel. (Of course I could exchange names and adjectives and everything would fit just as well – Rosalynde, Gabrielle, Naomi, Rachel, Christian, and Eva are as brilliant as Benjamin and Abraham, and you all have such outstanding talent as Christian, etc., etc.)
Hip Hip Hooray! For Mama. The instigator and protagonist of Grandma Camp. And lucky me – the beneficiary of it all. I am sure Elena, Joseph, Brigham, Jack and Mosey all loved it. I will keep the kids here forever – I do not want to send them back! Mama worked very hard at it – even though it was delightful. With Camp, there is always a fun activity to do – whereas for kids just at home, the expectations are different – chores, reading, etc., but camp is something special. Well, Mama made sure they got something special! I didn’t get to be part of too much of it. It was about bed time for the kids by the time I returned from work. But I did come home early Wednesday and went with Mama and the grandkids camping at Chilao. Little boys and fires are a great combination. They just enjoyed being outdoors. They helped start the fire, they put the wood on the fire, they roasted their hot dogs and marshmallows without too much help from us, they played in the dirt without any help from us. Brigham, Mosey and I saw a couple of deer as we drove up in my truck. They each got a brief look at the moon and Jupiter with its 5 visible moons. I couldn’t find Saturn, or we would have been able to see the rings of Saturn. (I just looked up the position of Saturn – it is near the sun – the rings are edge on toward the sun, so we would not have seen much. I said to Mama that I should have taken you kids camping at Chilao more during the summer seasons midweek, when the campgrounds are essentially empty. Can I somehow recall those years? I drove home Thursday morning, and I was still in my office by 10:00 AM.
I just walked back in to the house after a rousing game of soccer with Joseph, Brigham and mosey. Joseph was the keeper, Brigham the field player, and mosey was just around. He hadn’t quite got the concept yet, so he would pick up the ball and throw into the goal, somewhat to the dismay of Brigham. They had a lot of fun and I am all sweaty.
I haven’t seen much of Eva this week. What a lovely sight to see her Friday evening at the talent show. Then she helped me with the canoeing and kayaking trip to Santa Fe dam. When I loaded the 13 foot canoe into the back of my truck with an 8 foot bed (including tailgate), Eva told me that I was illegal – nothing could extend beyond the back of the vehicle more than 4 feet. (As you can tell, Eva has certainly learned the rules of the road in studying for her learners permit.) So what could I do? I said, “Oh”, and ignored the comment. What kind of example am I setting? Fortunately, the several police and highway patrol cars I passed didn’t bother me. We took all five kayaks, but we only set up four when we got there. Elena, Joseph, Brigham, and Eva were in the kayaks, and I took Mosey and Jack in the canoe. We spent about two hours on the lake or right nearby. Elena really liked the kayak and was soon paddling very well. Brigham also really liked it. Joseph didn’t quite get the hang of it too well, and was not quite as happy. He later came in the canoe with me. Jack wanted to try the kayak. He did quite well, but the kayak and paddle are pretty big for him, so several times when he got tired, he grabbed the rope on the front of the canoe and hitched a ride with me. When we were about finished, two older teen Hispanic girls walked by with their dog and cell phones. They looked at the kayaks as if they would really enjoy it. I told them to get in. they asked me how much it would cost. I said nothing, they were my kayaks. After several urgings, they handed me their cell phones and the dog on a leash, and climbed into the kayaks. They went out with Elena and Brigham, but they didn’t really do to well – but they had fun. I put their dog in the canoe and went out by them. The dog never really liked the canoe too much. Then some curious teenaged boys came by. I knew they wanted to try it out, but I was already disassembling the kayaks to leave. I told them that if they had come by earlier, I would have been happy to let them take the kayaks out. When we returned, they wanted to swim and to take the kayak in the pool. So I put one of the kayaks in the pool and they had a great time.
Today, people at church looked at me and asked, “What happened?” I replied, “Which story do you want me to tell? I could tell you that I fought off a force of 500 terrorists at LAX single-handedly yesterday. Or I could tell you I got into a barroom brawl like the scene out of the latest star trek movie. Or I could tell you Christie told me to say, I was acting like a juvenile out on the soccer field. But at least I won the header.” About 5 minutes into the game, the attacking team sent a high ball over the defense. I rushed back with the inside track on the ball just outside the goal area. I leapt high and headed the ball to safety. Unfortunately, an attacker, one of the high school boys, came flying in too late and I received the full brunt of his missed header on my left eyebrow. I crumpled to the ground and just lay there. I can still hear the sound of our head colliding. People asked me if I were dizzy. Fortunately, there was no dizziness, so I know there was no internal problem. I lay there for several minutes, then got up. As I started to walk, I almost crumpled again – I had tweaked the outside ligament in my right knee. So I hobbled to the other end of the field, lay down in the shade, and put ice on my eyebrow. Several of the players were very solicitous and helpful. I feel rugged. Do people perceive a different level of anxiety when I go down, compared to an 18 year old? I rested for 5-7 minutes, then put on a little brace on my right knee, and got back into the game. At half time, since we had about 33 players, we divided into three teams, each playing two 15 minute periods, with another 10 minute period with all players back on the field. Abraham and Benjamin, we had Alex, Kyle Danielson, Ernie, and J.T. out to play, along with our usual contingent of high school and club players, and the others. It was enjoyable, although I did come back a bit beat up and worn-out.
But that is not the only soccer story. Thursday evening, I played in our LA City muni league. The game started at 8:45 PM in the dirt at the John Ferraro fields near the 134 – 5 interchange. We only had 8 players show up, and we were playing the top team in the league standings. Needless to say, I did a lot of running in my defensive mid-field position. We felt pretty good that at the half, we were only down 1-0. But in the second half, the other team finally figured out how to attack us, and they put a lot more people into the attack. By the end of the game, it was 4-0. But we still had fun. With a full time, I am quite confident we could beat them. One of the referees was a silver-haired gentleman, with a short hair cut. He complimented me on my hair color. I told him he had good taste. I said, however, that I am only 39 years old, I mean 40 years old (it is a 40+ league). He said he was only a year older than I.
I am attaching some photos in Mama’s new blog spot I created for her. The blog spot is:
That’s all for now.
Love Daddy
Daddy,
ReplyDeleteYou're awesome.
Love Daddy