Go, Marley!!

This is from the Winter Haven (FL) News Chief yesterday -- Marley is our 12 year old granddaughter (Teri's oldest):

St. Joseph's starts season with wins

WINTER HAVEN - St. Joseph's Catholic School opened its varsity volleyball season with a win over Grace Lutheran, 23-25, 25-12, 22-20.

Ali Mann had six aces and six kills and Meredith Mancini had six kills.'

Mann added two kills on Sept. 17 in a 25-10, 25-22 win over Ressurection Catholic School.

Marley Messner had seven aces.

The team is 3-1 and will host Grace Lutheran on Oct. 16.

I don't think I'll try this any time soon!!

Tyler gets around really fast on this scooter.... I'm glad he can because somehow, I doubt I would even balance on it an any point!! He literally flies -- well, relatively speaking!!

The Clarinet -- the oboe -- bassoon!

I always enjoy hearing from my Aunt Wanda (my mother's sister) and I really enjoyed getting this note:

Linda, you mentioned on your blog today that your Mom played the oboe. Both she and Cecil started on the clarinet, and then she played the oboe some and ended up with the bassoon! She was also the first female student director of the H.S, band.

I must be a little crazy!!

I was talking to Kamen about his 'clarinet' and told him about my mother playing the oboe and promptly said he was playing the 'oboe' .. you would think I would know instruments better than that! Oh, well ....

"The Ark of the Governor"

I love it when grandkids come up with the cutest things -- my dad asks me often, "What cute things have your grandkids said recently?"

So, here's the latest from Tyler, who will be 8 in November:

He sat down next to Sandi this morning and said, "Hey, Mom. Can you explain more about the 'Ark of the Governor'?"

Sandi was stumped. She had no clue what he was talking about so repeated it back to him. "The 'Ark of the Governor'?"

He said, "You know, Mom. That thing that's holy -- that you're not supposed to touch it and if you touch it, you die." (He demonstrated the 'die' with a slice at his throat.)

Tim spoke up, "You mean the 'Ark of the Covenant'?"

Tyler was quick to respond. "Yeah, the 'Ark of the Covenant'."

I'm sure that when I hear about the 'Ark of the Covenant', this conversation will pop into my mind!!

Bring back the trumpet!!

Remember my expressing a need for a sound proof room .. a trumpet had somehow accompanied Kamen home! Well, today, he proudly marched in with an oboe -- and not all the sound that came out of that instrument was necessarily pleasant to the ears and I began to wonder why the trumpet had taken flight to somewhere.

Come to find out, the music teacher sends home a different instrument every two weeks -- this gives the students an opportunity to find their instrument of choice -- wonder if that's related to the old buzz term, trying to 'find yourself'.

I don't think Kasi was here the evening he brought home the trumpet since just a few moments ago, she begged him to take "that thing to your room"!! Maybe the 'kids' room is more sound proof than I thought or Kamen gave up momentarily.

I understand that drums are somewhere on the docket ...You may hear me then reminding myself for the need of that 'soundproof room' although Chris assures me that Kamen will bring home some sort of drum pad that will keep the noise level down. We shall see!

Sisters

I don't think there is anything quite like sisters (other than daughters!) My sister, Rachel, is almost 15 years younger than I am but we truly are the closest of friends. I thought about that again today after we talked on the phone for almost an hour. (Thankfully, we were both on Verizon cell phones!) We are able to talk about personal issues and since she (and my brother, Joel) is my dad's primary care resource, we can discuss those challenges as well. Our dad is in a nursing home but he calls on Rachel frequently to take care of picking up something he needs (or thinks he needs).

Today she shared some funny experiences with their kids -- they were "keepers" and she probably would win some prize somewhere for sharing them -- but it won't be here!

I'm not sure how she keeps up with her schedule -- two girls in college, piano lessons for three (about an hour away from home), volleyball games, church meetings, funerals (two this week!), etc., etc. And, of course, keeping a household of 4 children (at home) fed. Today, she was running errands so we talk while she drove!

It's hard to believe that her oldest is 21 -- then again, it's hard to believe that my oldest is 38! I'm glad our girls have these kinds of relationships -- with four girls, our oldest two are close -- and our youngest two are close -- except those two were far from being close during the growing up years! They can share some stories -- and have!! Scary!

Okay, so now I'm beginning to feel old so think I'll stop for now!