matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

the girl

Orlando Return

Thursday 23 June 2022 | 0 Comments

6

Driving back from Orlando today, I got to thinking again about the writing project I've been considering, and I came up with yet another organizational idea for it. Indeed, not just another organizational idea, but a somewhat altered focus. So two initial drafts get shoved aside for a third. Fortunately, I was only a few thousand words into the other two drafts, so there's no real loss there. I'm excited about the new approach and began jotting notes on my phone as I took the dog for a walk.

But the whole way, I think the Girl relived the highlights of competing in nationals.

Orlando 4

Wednesday 22 June 2022 | 0 Comments

7

Our first experience with nationals is now over. The Girl's team finished 124th place out of 200+ teams. That's not great, but it's not terrible.

It represents the end of a strange volleyball season, one of several ups and downs, thrills and disappointments. The Girl improved a lot, both in her sense of court real estate (knowing and moving around the area of the court in a smart, effective manner) and ball handling.

The end of this year brings a bit of sadness with it, as do all endings. In this case, it's due to the fact that it's very unlikely these girls will play together again. Everyone will be going their separate ways from here. Since they don't go to high school together, they'll probably be opponents if they're on the volleyball court again.

So the third year of L's club play is officially behind us, and what lies ahead? The Girl has big hopes, big dreams. She wants to come back to nationals and win it -- or at least place in the top ten. She wants to play college ball, using her academic success with her academic skill to work her way through college.

Teams Scattergories

In the end, though, the true friendships, whether among players or their families, will always last.

Orlando 3

Tuesday 21 June 2022 | 0 Comments

8

Another day, more games, more frustration. It's tough watching the girls not doing their best, but there's something admirable in their effort, no doubt.

Orlando 2

Monday 20 June 2022 | 0 Comments

Day 2 in Orlando didn't go quite as well as day 1. We have two more days, but the girls have a bit of a hole to dig about out of tomorrow. The girls are capable of it. It's really just more of a question of will, perhaps. Or maybe there's more going on.

Orlando 1

Sunday 19 June 2022 | 0 Comments

10

Today was a mixed bag for the girls in their first days at nationals. They lost two and won one, but they should really be able to compete with a lot of the teams here. They didn't get their butts kicked: instead, they got outplayed a little and kicked their own butts with silly errors that gave their opponents too many free gifts.

The Girl got some really big hits, and she got at least one monster hit that shot like a bullet to the back corner, the sound of the contact still echoing when the ball hit the court. It was a great hit.

The Boy discovered the joys of riding up an escalator and back down and back up and back down and back up and back down.

The Boys in the Creek

Monday 13 June 2022 | 0 Comments

E's best friend came over for the afternoon today. At first, they did what boys these days do: play video games. However, we have no gaming console in our house at all. No Xbox, no Play Station, no Nintendo Switch. In fact, I only know those things exist because I hear students and teachers talking about them at school. And of course, E brings them up occasionally.

And it's a little surprising, to be honest, how many adults with no children or with grown children still invest time and money into gaming systems. To each his own, I suppose, but I always thought there was a time when people outgrew video games.

Not having a gaming system has several advantages, not the least of which is the simple fact that since we don't buy games for our PC either, E's gaming options are severely curtailed. Which means he and his friend grow tired of them eventually and head outside to find other things to do.

Like catching minnows in the creek behind our house.

As for the Girl today, she was out of the house for most of the day: physical therapy, volleyball strength training, and driving instruction took almost all her day.

Messing and Swimming

Friday 10 June 2022 | 0 Comments

Oh, and this

End of the 2021/22 School Year — Countdown Begins

Monday 06 June 2022 | 0 Comments

Today was the final day of school for me. The kids didn't have school, but teachers have to go in for at least one more day to get things squared away for the summer: materials returned, documents completed, papers signed, report cards mailed. During my first year at Hughes, I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we had to do. Since then, teachers' "To Do" list has been drastically simplified. One whole task, which often took hours, has been assigned to others. I use the passive voice there because, quite honestly, I don't know who made that change, but I am grateful nonetheless.

Getting this last day out of the way is such a relief because I reach a point where I can finally stop thinking about school for a while -- I'm not even planning on doing any prep work this summer. For one thing, I have too much to do this summer:

  • Trim the Leyland cypresses (a two-day job in and of itself)
  • Clean the outside of the house
  • Pressure-wash the deck
  • Apply ample coats of water-proofing to the deck
  • Pressure-wash the concrete portion of the drive
  • Complete the furniture assembly for the remodeled basement

Then there's all the travel:

  • L's final tournament in Orlando
  • L's job
  • L's physical therapy
  • L's volleyball conditioning
  • L's individual volleyball lessons
  • E's play dates

Still, this is a fairly short list for the summer, but this is all in the next three weeks, for in just 23 days, we'll be heading to Poland as a family of four for the first time since 2017. Five years. Five years. It's the longest period of time I've not visited Poland since I first went in 1996. K and E went last summer; L went on her own in the summer of 2019. (Or was it 2018?) But it's been five long years since we all went.

That means L was E's age the last time we were there. And L has gone from being a pre-teen to an almost-licensed (driver-permitted?) employed teen with all that entails.

L on the day we arrived in 2017

The Boy has one from a little five-year-old thrilled with everything new to an increasingly cynical (but still fascinated by many things) ten-year-old.

The Boy on the day we arrived in 2017

We'll probably take the same walk we always do on the day we arrive, and we'll definitely enjoy Babcia's rosół the day we arrive, but everything will be just a little different. And that's probably good.

Memorial Day Walk

Monday 30 May 2022 | 0 Comments

We decided today to visit Greenville's newest park: Unity Park. According to the website,

Greenville’s newest park features four state-of-the-art playgrounds, including a 4,100-square-foot splash pad, two expansive green spaces, covered picnic tables and a 10,000-square-foot welcome center with restrooms, a first-aid station and flexible event space. The 60-acre park also features basketball courts and a historic baseball field located on the site of the former Mayberry Park, which was built in 1925.

Unity Park Site

E and I rode our bikes by it on our last trip on the Swamp Rabbit trail, but it was still under construction at that point.

After exploring the new park for a while, we walked downtown to the tried and true Reedy River Park.

An overall lovely day.

Working Girl

Thursday 26 May 2022 | 0 Comments

The Girl has her second job: this time, she's working at Dairy Queen. I guess there's a certain continuity with last summer's job at Culver's, but only vaguely.

When she was applying for the job, I suggested that she shouldn't leave the reference section empty.

"They're so desperate for workers," she explained, "that it doesn't matter." I recommended that she reconsidered; she didn't. She got the job.

It helped that she did have experience, though, that she could go straight to work, that she knew how to work a register. The first day on the job, they put her behind a register and got her working with almost no immediate training.

The other afternoon, our family friends went through the drive-thru to get a little snack. L didn't realize it was them until they pulled up.

This is now one of my favorite pictures of her.