Blue Ridge Parkway
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Baking
One Crazy Day
Reworking Pictures from 2013
Playoffs, Game 1
The girls took Blythewood (I think — I’d never heard of them) in straight sets tonight. Monday, we face River Bluff. We took them in straight sets last year, but we won each set by the barest margin, so we’ll see how things go Monday.
The Plan
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Practice
When the Girl decided she wanted to play volleyball, when she tried out for the team as a sixth grader and didn’t make it, when she became really determined, she’d come ask me, “Padre” (She’d started calling me that by then) “can we go out to the front yard and practice volleyball?” I’d toss her balls, simulate spikes, help her practice running for balls — all the basic skills someone of my eager volleyball means could help with given our lack of a net.
At some point, she asked me for the last time to go help her practice. I didn’t realize it was the last time she would ask me, and to be honest, I don’t know if I even agreed to it. She might have asked, and I might have made some kind of excuse. Or maybe we went and practiced one last time.
She hasn’t asked me to do that in years now. She probably never will again. The last time, passed without knowing, fully past with complete knowledge.
So when the Boy asked if, instead of swimming tonight, we could practice basketball, I agreed. I didn’t really want to: I wanted to get some serious exercise in the pool. But he’s that age: how many more times will he ask? When will be the last time?
The Boy Returns
Our first camping trip with scouts was exactly six years ago this weekend — I didn’t know that until I checked the way-back machine at the bottom of the page. I was with the Boy during that trip, and I made sure he kept warm. And there was no rain, so keeping dry was a simple issue.
This weekend he was alone, and I had no idea how it would go. We went about our weekend, including a lovely walk this morning, as if everything had gone perfectly.
Still, the questions from Friday’s post lingered in our heads:
Did we prepare him well enough? Is he going to keep warm and dry this evening? Will he accidentally put his pack up against the wall of the tent and get his stuff wet? There’s no way to know until Sunday.
“Camping“
And so today, we found out.
“Did we prepare him well enough?” No, not really. We didn’t send him with a tarp to put under his tent, so he had to bunk with two other boys, crammed into their tent.
“Is he going to keep warm and dry this evening?” Most definitely not: the tent leaked.
“Will he accidentally put his pack up against the wall of the tent and get his stuff wet?” No, he didn’t do that, but the tent leaked badly enough that almost all his clothes got wet, so he was stuck with one tee-shirt and a pair of shorts for the rest of the trip.
But did he have fun? Most definitely.
“Did you want to give up?” we asked him.
“Yes, that first morning.” But after he and the boys he bunked with hiked back to the cars with one of the adults to get a spare tent and take back all their wet stuff — which was almost everything — things were fine.
Fine, but tiring — which you can see from the picture of his return:
Once we got home, and he took a shower and had some warm, tasty home cooking, he settled down with a cup of hot tea to relax for a couple of hours.
Company Picnic
Camping
The Boy has headed off on his first solo backpack camping trip. They left today at four, with the plan of hiking about an hour to their first site.
Tomorrow morning, they pack up and head further into the Foothills Trail, camping one more night before heading back Sunday.
And of course, it’s raining there right now. If it’s raining like it is here, it’s a light rain that shouldn’t cause too much trouble.
But it’s rain nonetheless. Did we prepare him well enough? Is he going to keep warm and dry this evening? Will he accidentally put his pack up against the wall of the tent and get his stuff wet? There’s no way to know until Sunday.
Volleyball
The Girl’s team had their final game of the regular season this evening. They won 3 sets to 1.
End of the Quarter
How in the hell is it only the end of the first quarter? I feel like I’ve been pulled through a knot hole backward, as Papa would say, and we’ve got to do this three more times?!
And we had a faculty meeting today?
Getting Ready for the Trip
The Boy is going on his first solo camping trip this weekend. He and seven other scouts are hiking in to the first site Friday afternoon, getting up Saturday, hiking most of the day, then setting up another site for the night. Sunday, they’ll head back out.
This is not the camping he’s used to, with a car nearby, potable water on tap within walking distance, and the ability to carry whatever kind of food one wants. It’s all dehydrated meals and the like, and filtration for water after his initial supply is gone.
He’s very excited about it.
Using Tragedy
Of course, this asshole has been prophecying Jesus’s imminent return — complete with dates — for about five years now. He sets a date, the date passes, and he sets another date. Over and over and over and over.
John Rock
Clearing
My Girl
Another Big Win
We were spoiled last year: with the number one hitter in the state on our team (number 11 in the nation, as memory serves) and another hitter who was a powerhouse coupled with a libero who made the kind of diving saves that make highlight reels, we went into most games expecting our girls to win. And win they did, all the way to the state finals.
This year, we thought it would be a tough year with some major losses, and we have seen our girls humbled a few times. But they’ve held their own, winning against teams who’d beaten them earlier in the year, winning games that began with a lost first set, and generally showing grit.
Tonight, they played JL Mann, who’d beaten them earlier this year. We beat them in straight sets both times we met last year, but as I said, that was last year, this is this year.
We lost the first set 17-25, and we were playing so clumsily that I was worried we would lose the game in straight sets. But if there’s anything I’ve learned in watching girls’ volleyball, it’s this: things can turn around instantly. Our girls pulled themselves together and JL Mann partially fell apart, and we took the second set 25-13.
The third set would be decisive, I thought. I guess I’m just a pessimist: perhaps they could have lost the third set and still won the match, but I don’t know. They haven’t won a lot of five-set matches. As it turned out, they won the third set 25-21, which seemed about right considering they’d both pummeled the other team completely once: it suggested they were fairly evenly matched.
Then we had the fourth set, and before we knew it, our girls were up 17-11. But if I’ve learned anything watching girls’ volleyball, it’s this: things can turn around instantly. Suddenly, it was 17-15, and JL Mann looked like they had all the momentum. But if there’s anything I’ve learned watching girls’ volleyball, it’s this: things can turn back around instantly, and within moments, our girls were up 20-16. They managed to maintain that lead and add one more to it, winning the decisive fourth set 25-20.
This Evening
Bloom
