Pictures Worth a Thousand Posts

Here it is: The picture where Tie, miraculously, shines through the screen of photography in all her gorgeousness, and yet I, due to a mysterious magical power I have, come through somehow as far more grizzled, hefty, and oddly proportioned than I can possibly be in real life. She's just fallen asleep here, and I have followed suit:



In other news, Q had basketball practice today. He really has fun there - it's only been two sessions, and the coach is a volunteer assistant coach from Williams, who runs a very tight ship for the ten or twelve kids who come. They do dribbling and passing drills, then some games that resemble actual basketball, but which don't bother to call traveling or anything else (besides fouls). Q was very proud at having outdone Owen in the "big game": Teams lined up on the sidelines, and every kid was given a number. When their number was called, the corresponding kid from each side had to race to the middle, grab a ball (there were two), and run to his own end to sink a shot before the other guy could. I hated to burst his bubble, so I didn't, but Owen's basket was probably nine and a half feet, while Q's was around eight. For some reason the lowering mechanism wasn't working today.

Before this game began, though, the coach had to explain the rules. He did so quickly and efficiently, and then asked if there were any questions. Q's hand shot up, as did most of his body, so excited was he to ask. The coach called on him. Q:

"Can we dunk?"

To the coach's enormous credit, he was immune to the stifled chuckles from the peanut gallery (I was producing many of them). He simply grinned, pointed right back at Q and said, without the slightest pause:

"Yes."

Shining, brilliant moment. So, anyway...The evening saw some rough-housing to round out the day's exercise. Q's about to charge into me and lay me flat with a football-style tackle that somehow manages not to split anyone's head open on any of the sharp edges with which we've taken great pains to surround the rough-housing area. Again, my strange ability to seem grotesque in photography is made evident:



I can't get a permit to own an actual shotgun or deer rifle in time for the hunting season, so I bought a black powder rifle, as these are unregulated - now all I have to do is have someone show me how to shoot it...Janneke, as of 8:52 PM, still has tenure...Snow expected tonight. All are encouraged to call the principal of Lenox Memorial Middle and High School and encourage him, in turn, to cancel school tomorrow.

G'night!