I’ll finish this letter while I have some peace and quiet. JoAnna and the boys went to the health club tonight. She’ll exercise while the boys play around in the pool.
Andy’s team lost their soccer game, 7-0, against a team that took first place in the fall league. The sun was shining during the first half, which kept the parents, standing along the sidelines, from feeling the full effects of a fairly strong breeze. A dome of clouds appeared during the second half and blocked out the sun’s rays. Suddenly it felt like early March. We were all very eager for the game to end, a sentiment we didn’t share with our sons, of course.
During the afternoon and early evening, JoAnna was at the annual Democratic Party Leadership Conference in Merrimac, about 30 miles north of Middleton, where she conducted a couple of workshops. A friend of Andy’s, Rex Johnson, spent most of the afternoon here, most of their time challenging each other to various Playstation games. I didn’t have a particularly productive day. I finished reading a book (Little Green Men, by Christopher Buckley, a very funny spoof on Washington and the politics of UFO’s) and continued the yard work on the south side of the house. Saturday evening JoAnna and Andy went to the health club. I sat at the kitchen table and watched a movie on TV (Airplane, which had me laughing uproariously at times). Eddie was setting a mini-Lego world on the top of the bookcase next to my desk. During the commercials, I’d check out his progress.
We went to 9 o’clock mass this morning and then stopped at Scott’s Bakery, usually referred to by us as “The Donut Shop”, on the way home. I went grocery shopping after JoAnna and Andy had completed a menu plan for the week. At quarter to 12, I drove Andy to the high school for the Babe Ruth League baseball tryouts. I didn’t stick around to watch the kids to through their paces. When I returned to give Andy a ride home, though, I heard reports from both Rex’s and Meaghan’s dads that Andy was sure to make the team. Andy, too, felt very confident about his chances. He said he did well in the various hitting, pitching, throwing, and batting drills the coaches ran them through.
The weather today has been overcast and cool, with intermittent rain showers, so I postponed cleaning the windows. I had even considered putting up the screens in the family room when it looked as though the sky was clearing during the middle of the afternoon. That turned out to be a false promise of pleasant weather. Instead I went through my closet and filled up a large plastic bag that was distributed at the end of church today with old clothes -- shirts and pants and sweatshirts that Eddie has outgrown and shirts that I haven’t worn in over a year. The clothes will be dropped off next week at church for St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic charitable organization.
Eddie played in a soccer scrimmage at 4:30 today. I wore my windbreaker and still felt chilled. Unlike most of his teammates, Eddie wore only his jersey, nothing warmer underneath, although I thought I had brought along a long-sleeve shirt for him. I found it on the kitchen table when we returned home. He had brought along his windbreaker, which he wore when he was on the sidelines, but didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold when he played. JoAnna brought along an umbrella since the intermittent sprinkles had returned when we left the house. The Sailfish played two quarters against a 3rd grade team and lost by a score of something like 7-2. Eddie scored a goal to give his team a short-lived lead.
Dinner took ten minutes to get ready once we were back home. A beef roast had been cooking in the crockpot all day, with red potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery. Biscuits and corn completed the menu. Great meal for an unseasonably cold spring day.
It was a rewarding weekend for those of us who love to hate the Yankees. They got swept by the lowly Tigers, getting outscored 16-3 in the three-game series. Your Mets aren’t doing too bad, Mom, although I see they lost today. Eddie’s scout troop scheduled a Brewer outing for the first Sunday in May, but that is when the boys have their first communion. Larry, Alice, and Cindy will be spending the weekend with us. Larry and Alice, by the way, should be back in Wisconsin within the next week or so.
So much for now. We send you our love.
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