Birthdays


img_1527Celebrating September/October birthdays has been a challenge this year.  It was simple enough with Vivian.  Jill made a cake, we sang happy birthday and Vivian opened presents.  But Rebecca and Joyce were another matter.  Rebecca’s was on Monday, October 3 when we were still in Garland.  We got home that afternoon but Monday is an odd time to celebrate a birthday so the plan was to combine Li’l r’s with Joyce’s the following Sunday.  We did manage to squeeze it in Sunday afternoon between other activities so they got their cake and all but I still haven’t gotten a present for Joyce.  She just waves me off when I suggest doing so. 

One of the Sunday afternoon activities was volleyball tryouts for Abigail.  For the last few years she has played club volleyball with the Jet outfit.  This year, for whatever reason, Jet didn’t have team in Abigail’s age category.  She was cast adrift and advised by a coach to tryout for the Extreme organization.  She found out Tuesday she made the number 2 team.  It seems they number teams 1 through ? according to skill level.  She is pleased to have made the second team, given the competition.  There are a couple of girls from her JV team on the same team so that helps.  In previous years they’ve managed to avoid a lot of travel but will have to do a little more with the Extreme team.  There will be trips to Dallas and Denver, maybe other out-of-town venues.  These players have to make these commitments or get left behind.  I admire Abigail’s grit and determination.  Developing those attributes will serve her well in the future.

Fall is settling in on SA.  More and more leaves are turning, mostly to yellow.  The weather swings back and forth between warm and cool.  Seems each cool front is a little cooler than the last one.  We got a dribble of rain and even some small hail the other day.  It didn’t impede me in my work around the place, just got a little later start.  I did some more mowing and I think I’ve about got the grass where I want it.  I’m leaving some uncut as an experiment to see if the critters like it.  We already know the chickens and cats, both authorized and unauthorized, do.  I’ve tried to leave enough for a rabbitat since there seems to be at least one around and I wouldn’t mind if there were more.