Saturday, January 31, 2009

Fwd: Big weekend

Lots going on around here.

Julie and I just got back from a concert at The Real School for Music.  We heard Guggenheim Grotto, a duo that plays "a decidedly upbeat mix of timeless pop, folk and soaring melodies."  Hearing live music in an intimate setting is very special.  We were sitting in the front row about five feet from the musicians.  At one point they asked us to sing the refrain of the next song so they could sing a countermelody.  I whispered, "Uh oh!" to Julie and they heard me and made a joke about it.  Their whole concert was taped and we were told it was for MTV, so we'll keep an eye out for it.

The warm up band was Sev, who plays great guitar.  Mike Abbott, one of the Real School founders, sat in on saxophone and flute.  Sev is a musician and an artist with an interesting web site: www.sevhead.com.

The boys were planning to go with us, but wrestling changed those plans.  Too bad, because they missed an excellent night of music and would have benefitted from hearing what can be done on guitar.  It was really amazing.

But Michael wanted to go to bed early.  He is trying to lose 3 pounds overnight so he can wrestle in a varsity match tomorrow at 155.  He thinks of himself as wrestling in the 160-pound weight class, but I guess the coach thinks of him as a 152-pounder (plus the 3 pound allowance you get late in the season).  We all hope he gets to wrestle varsity tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see.  He has done real well in his JV matches and wants to test himself at the next level.

Nick had a special wrestling practice tonight.  He is wrestling in his first tournament on Sunday.  It is a sectional and if he does well, he will advance to the regionals next weekend.  In addition to weight divisions, they divide the boys into groups by ability and experience: Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper.  Since this is Nick's first year he would normally wrestle Copper, but his coach says he is "scrappy" and is going to have him wrestle Bronze.  I dream of him winning the tournament and getting bumped up to Silver for the regionals, but again we'll have to wait and see.

On the academic front, all continue to excell.  Once again Nick got all A's, except for that B in gym.  It astounds me that he is a good athlete, but gets his lowest grade in gym.  He thinks it is because the teacher gets him confused with another Nick that goofs off in gym.  Michael got A's on his exams and expects good grades on his report card next week.  Alexa got her first college scores back and got an A, and two B+, with a Pass in her freshman seminar.  She wrote an excellent book review for her Chinese History class and got an A- on it, so she is settling in to her classes quite nicely.

Julie offered free treatment for anyone on the wrestling team last weekend and Michael acted as her assistant.  Several boys came for treatment of various aches and pains.  At last night's wrestling meet, the parents were effusive in their thanks.  The boys all really liked the treatment and felt much better afterwards.  One mother said her son got up that night and started cleaning house, so maybe that is some kind of weird marketing angle Julie can use.  She is planning to run another clinic for the wresters next weekend.

I went sledding in the rain that followed the big snowstorm on Tuesday.  I'm attaching photos of a couple of my lines.  In the third photo, you can see the ice at the bottom of the reservoir.  I think those are the boot tracks we made the day Michael and I fell through the ice.  There is even a little hole of water that has not completely refrozen next to the tracks.


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