A SPRING TEASE

We are having a little glimpse of Spring here in the Bay Area. After being enveloped in lingering damp grayness since December, it has warmed up o the mid-sixties and the sky is impossibly blue.

I saw patches of yellow daffodils and some flowering plum trees in blossom. People are out walking, riding bikes, tops are down on cars, dogs are being trotted around the park. I suspect the sale of sunglasses rose a bit in the local shops.

I cleaned off the BBQ last night and grilled a flank steak for my Valentine. And I barely complained at all about going to Ally's soccer game, I just turned my face into the warm sun and soaked up the vitamin D.

NIGHT SOCCER

We planned the entire day around the 4 pm soccer game. Ally has been having some knee pain so she and I went to the gym at 2, worked out and she sat in the whirlpool. She had her Tylenol, her hydration and her knee brace on. She was warmed up and ready to go. Got to the field and - Oops. The coach had not seen that the league rescheduled the game for 6 pm.

So we went out to get an early dinner and go back an hour and a half later for a game under the lights. The girls were kind of excited. At least the ones who didn't have dates or other plans for Saturday night...

I stopped at home for blankets and sweatshirts and got to the field just before the 6 pm start. No lights.

We waited. No lights. A couple of the parents turned their cars toward the field and put their headlights on. The girls were running around playing soccer in the dark - laughing and shrieking.

At 6:30 we all gave up and went home.

QUICK TAKES FRIDAY

After reading Suburban Correspondent's posts the last couple of weeks I checked out the site her 7 Quick Takes Friday came from and decided to join in. Everyone who posts a list then links from the site - a fun way to find interesting new blogs.

1.) Driving to soccer practice I saw a big banner stretched across the fence at the Middle School announcing the fall fundraiser. Last year it was cookie dough - this year it is MEAT.

2) We are now at the point where was can laugh about Ally backing into the garage door and damaging not only the truck she was driving and the door but the car inside the garage as well. We are calling it a "Garage Sandwich."

3) I actually won The Women's Colony raffle this week - $200.00 at the Piperlime website featuring shoes and handbags!!! I spent about 3 hours today looking at shoes and drooling all over my keyboard...I'll post what I choose.

4) The September heat has been climbing and will continue through next week in the high 90's and 100's. The brightside is that my tomatoes are finally ripening on the vine. I am looking forward to a Caprese Salad...

5) Has anyone ever managed to pick a really bad watermelon and then taken it back to the store? I am usually an excellent judge of melons, but I just cut my second bad one - it tastes unripe and sort of chemical. I think I will try to return it...

6) Watched Survivor with Tom last night. It isn't a show that I like much and last night reminded me why. There is a new contestant who is so smarmy and sexist that I was squirming in my seat. I don't think I'll watch with Tom again - at least until he is voted off the island!

7) Two soccer games this weekend plus picture day. Only 2 years and I will never have to be a soccer mom again!!!

SOCCER FULL CIRCLE

I first experienced soccer in the cold and wet Pacific Northwest. My twins both decided they wanted to play this somewhat suspect European game. I, up to that point, was a baseball mom - for both my girl and boy. That's the way we rolled in Cali.

Soccer was immediately incomprehensible to me. It looked like they just bunched up kicking at the ball and making good use out of the shin guards we bought. Games involved running around, kicking the ball. Then there were oranges, then running around some more. This was done on a hard sand and dirt packed field in all weather. The parents roamed up and down the sidelines following the play - (actually, trying to keep warm.)

Zac figured out pretty quickly that it wasn't for him and we let him drop out. Maggie stuck with it for YEARS, rain, cold, snow - she played. Then Ally took it up, too. At least by that time we were back in California and it was warm and they played on grass. Here the parents line up down the sidelines in folding chairs with umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun.

So I have been going to soccer games for 13 years. I hate soccer. I have never understood the rules, stategies or undying love people have for this game. Including Ally. She LOVES to play, but today may have been her last game. She is not playing for the school team, and the rec teams sort of peter out after this year.

So today, in the unseasonable rain, wrapped in a blanket and under an umbrella, I may have attended my last soccer game.