sunny sunday update

It has been a busy couple of weeks, and it appears that spring really is around the corner. The small patches of snow that were fairly prevalent throughout town even a week ago are pretty much gone, as evidenced from the photos at top and bottom taken just about a week apart. The leaves on the pin oak are subtly thinning, as the tree readies itself for new growth in another month or so.

What is new? NCAA Basketball March Madness is here. I am rooting for Syracuse to win it all (like I do every year). One game down, and just a few more to go. Matt's basketball season wrapped up yesterday with his last tournament. He has outgrown his basketball sneakers again, so we will soon be shopping for new ones.

The college had its spring break last week. I took two vacation days (Thursday and Friday) and headed up to Vermont to do some work with our adoption agency (assisting with their orientation, etc.) I love it there in the Green Mountains. The air is fresh and the people are truly salt of the earth. On my drive there, I saw a bald eagle for the first time in my life - flying right past me going in the other direction. It was an incredible sight! (I wrote a "small stone" poem about it.)

On my way home last night, I was able to see the brilliant perigee moon. I hope you were able to see it. It was unbelievably beautiful, and if you did miss it, try to catch it at 99% and waning this evening. I wrote a small stone about that too...

Speaking of small stones, in anticipation of the July 2011 River of Stones month-long challenge, I put together a new blog reserved just for small stones. I don't know how often I will write there, but when I participate in the July project, those posts will all be found at tiny river splash. I have a link to the new blog on the right side bar. I will try to keep this blog more for music, poetry, and every day writing, as I have done for a few years now.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I am really loving this sunshine! Peace!

river stone.22

watching my favorite basketball team play

a losing game. will the tide turn?

i feel tension in my stomach.

[Note: a river of stones involves writing a small stone every day during the month of January 2011. "What is a small stone? A small stone is a polished moment of paying proper attention."]

season wrap up

Spring is here, and a beautiful weekend is in place. Happy Easter to those celebrating it. The Final Four takes place this weekend, and even though my team is out, this weekend marks the end of my favorite sports season. So long to the old and in with the new. Before we go, I thought I'd share some of the basketball photos from our travel team season. See the intensity. Feel the pressure.

heartbreaker

If you are following the NCAA tournament, and if you follow this blog, you'll know that last night was a sad night for me. Syracuse lost to Butler in the Sweet Sixteen. Of course, I've been down this road before. As a loyal fan, I am sad, but not broken. "If your baby leaves you, you've got a tale to tell . . . " There's always next year.

Today's performance, and it really is a performance, is by a great band that has a little something for everyone. These guys are so talented and entertaining. Spot on Led Zeppelin . . . reggae . . . and one of the best Elvis impersonators around. I have a Dread Zeppelin album that I got in the late 80s or early 90s, and it is a treat from start to finish. Every so often I turn to Dread Zeppelin to bring me to a different place. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Well, okay you won't cry, you'll just laugh. Here is Dread Zep!

celebrating spring

We had a great visit to the New York metropolitan area this past weekend. It would have been more than enough fun just to spend time with our good friends, but to have a perfectly warm and sunny weekend coincide with the first day of spring while hanging out with Susan and Steve (and Sarah and Patrick) was like icing on the cupcake. One thing is for certain: time flies, and the visits are always too short.

We drove down to L.I. on Friday, and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and greenery. We tend to favor route 17, crossing the Tappan Zee, and then the Hutch to the Cross Island to the LIE. We hit virtually no traffic, but we did think it through and left early enough to arrive by 4 p.m. That evening, after a delicious sushi dinner, we enjoyed a very good H.S. production of Oklahoma for which Sarah worked the stage crew. I had been in a summer production of that play when I was 14, and seeing it brought back a flood of memories.

Saturday, while Sarah had obligations with the play and Tom met up with some friends (who had all made plans for a NJ Devils hockey game before I made the plan for this weekend), Susan, Steve, Patrick, Matt and I drove into Manhattan and had lunch at a fun place called the Shake Shack, walked around Central Park a bit, walked the city, stopped at a Crumbs cupcake shop, and then drove all around to show Matthew the sights (and sounds) of the City. There were people out everywhere. It felt like we were part of a giant celebration of the first day of spring!

We all enjoyed hanging out together, doing some recreational eating, sipping at some wine (well, not the kids), and taking in as much fresh air and walking as we could manage. We laughed a lot, which felt good.

The trip home, though it came too soon, was quite pleasant given the great weather. We stopped on the way home to catch the second half of the SU basketball game since it wasn't being broadcast on the radio. How nice that SU handily beat Gonzaga for their second win of the NCAA tournament. After a weekend of upsets, it was nice to have my team advance with confidence!

So here we are on Monday evening. The weekend went too fast, Monday seemed to last too long, and we are back in the regular routine once again.

friday innovation

So, for a little Friday innovation, I have taken the day off from work (it is Spring Break), Matt has the day off from school (teachers' professional day) and we are off on a jaunt to visit friends for the weekend.

The sun is shining and we are due for some unseasonably warm weather this weekend -- maybe even reaching 60 degrees -- before it turns cold and snows again next week. The blanket of white is now gone, and the little mounds of snow here and there are tiny. The grass is beginning to green up a little, and the pin oak's leaves are looking to soon fall off so that we can see some buds at the end of April or early May. Here's hoping.

I am enjoying March Madness so far. I picked 11 winners of the first 16 games yesterday in my bracket, including a couple of upsets. Those games I lost were close ones. It is MADNESS. I did have Georgetown winning three consecutive games, and they were knocked out as a "one and done" team (I am smiling as I type that even if it means my bracket is wrecked because of it...). Every year I pick Syracuse to win it all. Loyalty is far more important to me than winning in the end, but if the stars line up, they could possibly do it this year! I really like this team. Go 'Cuse!

This weekend is the vernal equinox. Happy Spring, everyone. I won't be around to blog until next week, but you know you'll find tons of music and meandering thoughts in the archived posts if you miss me too much. Ciao!

pavlov's cat

Time for a laugh. Eddie Izzard will always oblige. Enjoy this!

We are back from a busy weekend of basketball tournament games. We departed yesterday morning at 8 a.m. (with two extra boys in tow) and returned at 8:30 p.m., which soon after became 9:30 p.m. with the Daylight Savings Time going into effect. The boys played games at 10, 1, and 6 in Fulton, NY - up by Oswego. They won all three yesterday and made it to this morning's championship game at 9 this morning, which meant leaving at 7 a.m. (6 a.m., really) to pick up the two boys we were bringing along with Matt. They lost a close one, but came home with some hardware -- a runner up trophy for each child. That was a nice touch since the length of our drive there (one way) was actually longer than the duration of the game.

On the drive back, we stopped at a Wegmans. If you aren't familiar with Wegmans, you won't understand how great this grocery chain is. We picked up some things we can't usually get, and then had the wok buffet for lunch. I am now settling into my abbreviated weekend. This was our last trip for the season. Matt's team has one more tournament next weekend, but it was a late add-on, and we had made plans to go out of town next weekend, and so we'll miss the last one. I do promise some photos one of these days. I have ordered some to commemorate a great season. As memorable as any game is the bonding time and laughter that the boys share between games and on the car rides. The restaurant gatherings have been fun. Yesterday, half the team ended up at this very authentic diner where the food was great and the atmosphere was "local."

Tonight is Selection Sunday. I am hoping that my Syracuse Orange will get a #1 seed in the big tournament. I am ready for some March Madness!

selection sunday madness

NCAA Expands March Madness To Include 4,096 Teams

This came out last year. I loved it!

still snowing

It has been snowing for days now. It's heavy snow, the kind that pulls on your back when you shovel (lift with the knees.) As Darci and I walked around the neighborhood this morning, I couldn't help but notice all the mailbox heads popping out from the banks, poles buried deep within the snow banks. It is relatively warm (30s), so this snow will recede, unless it keeps coming. The water from the melting snow soaks into the ground. I know that it will get the ground ready for spring. We are about to turn the corner on March, and we can at least start thinking about warmth again. The blizzard of '93 poured so much snow down on us that we had about 4 feet on the ground -- and we had to dig a hole in the banks even to see the faces of the mailboxes. So this isn't so bad, really.

My parents landed in Florida yesterday for a couple of weeks, and my mom called to let me know that it was kind of cold down there. I said, "40s? It is snowing here. All I can see is white. Do you see palm trees and grass?" She laughed and said, "okay, I get the point."

Perhaps I developed a love of basketball just to get through February and March in central New York. I worked at the local 7th grade tournament yesterday (concessions this time) and today Matt has a 1 p.m. game here at home. He'll then go out snowboarding with a friend to enjoy the snow and fresh air.

We stayed up late watching SU basketball last night. What a pleasure! I've been a fan since the late 1970s, through good seasons and bad, and this is one of the most fun ever. They soundly defeated Villanova, and the photos of the Carrier Dome showed a sea of orange with a record-setting crowd of more than 34,616 (the biggest crowd for college basketball ever!) They play unselfishly and are even making free-throws!

Our travel basketball club has some very nice values, and one of the expectations is that the parents for one grade will help run tournaments for other grades so that when your own children are playing, parents can watch and not have to work. Next weekend is our 6th grade home tournament, and the boys will put on a fundraiser pancake breakfast the following day. We may have one or two more games after that, but basketball will wrap up by mid March to give us a little breather before baseball starts up. If you had asked me 15 years ago if I'd be a sports mom, I couldn't have guessed it.

After the tournament, Matt and I went to Beth's "Flipping the Bird to Cancer" party. It was really nice. She looks really good, and we got to meet friends who supported her during her battle. The food and cake was really good. Afterward, as long as we were in Ithaca by the mall, I took Matt shopping at his favorite store, "Zumiez," for some new jeans and of course, more importantly, some new stickers for his snowboard. That kid certainly does enjoy spending money - mine and his. Life is good.

flying weekends

The sun has set on another busy weekend. The memory of sunshine sparkling on ice glazed branches and shiny snow covered hills on the way home from another travel basketball tournament is seared in my brain. It was so bright for an hour or so before it got dark again. I realized then that we really haven't seen much of the sun lately, and it makes this time of year challenging.

Matt's school basketball team had its final regular season game yesterday morning, and they won! They did not have a winning season, but somehow, I think they'll remember the last game the best. Unfortunately, Matt got clobbered, twice, on hard fouls, and that wasn't a lot of fun, but he ended up being okay. And because you know that one game a day is not enough, our sixth grade traveling basketball players had two games yesterday afternoon, and then a game this afternoon in Syracuse. The two wins yesterday afternoon were especially nice since each win involved a team that had beaten our team at a previous tournament. Today's game was a tough loss against a team from the Rochester area that had several really tall players, and apparently they have been playing on the road 40 games since November. They handily squashed our team in the second half, and it was confidence that gave way before ability, because our team held them even in the first half.

Matt is a starter on his school team, but on the travel team, he comes in off the bench to play his minutes. There are 12 guys on the team from schools all over the area, and at any given game they usually have 11 guys in attendance. I know he is discouraged sitting on the bench, but I do think playing on a high caliber team, even if he is bench sitting, is good for him. When he subs in, he has to quickly get into offense or defense mode, and he's made some things happen out on the court. He got some minutes today, but didn't score points like he did at the tournament earlier this week. It is hard to see your child disappointed.

Matt gets over the losses pretty quickly. After each loss, he's managed to have friends over. Between friends, fast food and video games, he is easily cured. My parents joined us for the game today in Syracuse, and we went to Friendly's afterward. It was fun to see them before they head to Florida for a couple of weeks. They are smart and lucky to be able to get out of the winter doldrums for a little while. When they return to central NY, spring will be in sight.

Meanwhile, I feel like a character in some rendition of the movie Groundhog Day. A night's sleep isn't enough to make me feel fully rested, and I keep waking up every morning to do the same thing over again. Weekdays are full of work and routine, and weekends are starting to seem all alike too. They involve gassing up the car, packing snacks and water bottles, and driving here or there for tournaments. We are sitting in gyms, some warm and some cold, shouting out positive cheers to our guys. We drive home, remind Matt to feed the cats, do his reading, go to bed. We sometimes manage a half an hour of television, we fall asleep, wake up and do the whole thing again.

When Matt was a baby, my mother always said that the days are long but the years are short. That goes for this time of life too. I know that at some point, all this will be in the past, and we'll say, "wow, those years went by so quickly." So, I am keeping that in mind to keep the whining about being tired at bay. A change of season is coming, and even when we can't see it, it is in the works.

basketball weekend

This weekend is all about basketball. Not that it is all that different from other weekends this time of year, but the thing that is pleasing me is that for the first time in four years, I can actually go to games without having the constant stress and pressure of having to do research and write papers. I have been enjoying the leave of absence from coursework, and I am able to focus completely on what is most important to me: my family -- instead of feeling pulled in different directions, and having to live in a sleep-deprived state from trying to do it all. I'll try to keep this good feeling firmly in mind in case I have regrets later about the delays in my degree progress.

Between watching my favorite team and Matthews' school team and travel team, we will be trying to fit in 6 games today and tomorrow . . . somehow. At 10 a.m., Matt's school team, the Huskies, will play their second to last league game. That team is struggling on the W-L board, but Matt is getting some good minutes in as point guard. Would love to include some photos here, but I've been strongly discouraged from bringing my camera because it is very embarrassing to him to have a camera toting mama. He is way too cool for that. If we do get any photos later on, I'll be sure to post them. Immediately following the morning game, we'll have lunch and get on the road for two back-to-back tournament games about an hour away.

Tomorrow, we have two more tournament games (same location) and I sincerely *hope* we'll be able to see (or at least check updates via iPod or Blackberry) the 1 p.m. Syracuse (24-1) game against Louisville. We'll be scoping out the Boys and Girls Club we are traveling to for evidence of a television somewhere.

If you haven't heard the new SU Basketball anthem, written and rapped by a freshman at Syracuse, take a listen, here. It's darn catchy. Off I go to get some laundry started before this crazy day takes off. Let's go!

you can close your eyes

Just listen to this soothing voice. James Taylor sings the very sound of comfort with some wonderful harmonies accompanying him on this old favorite lullaby, "You Can Close Your Eyes."

It has been a long week, and a long Saturday. I'd like to close my eyes, but it is only 8:49 p.m., and Matt has a friend sleeping over. They promised me they'd go to sleep by 11 p.m., because Matt has a travel team practice tomorrow afternoon. He had a good game this morning, and we enjoyed watching Syracuse beat DePaul in a nail biter this afternoon, bringing them to 21-1 . . . quite exciting!

The weather here has been bitterly cold for several days, and the snap is supposed to last for several more. I just checked the temp and it is -5 (feels like -17 degrees with wind chill). Yikes. I'm glad we're in for the night.

Did you catch the beautiful full moon we had last night? WOW! The sky was bright and clear, and the moon looked huge! I thought it was a nice way to head into a busy weekend.

Well, I feel like I'm rambling. I think I *am* rambling. I think I may go close my eyes . . .

icy beauty - fog and then sun

Today is an exceptionally beautiful winter day. After constant and steady snow for the first two weeks of January, we had some thaw and rain (30 degree temps) last week, which receded the snow accumulation to more modest amounts. This morning, it was cold and foggy, with a thick and sparkly frost covering every tree branch, rooftop, deck rail, bird feeder and more!

The sun eventually came out, illuminating a most gorgeous blue sky all around us. The feeder, empty of birds in the early a.m., became a popular spot for the finches and then the juncos, coming and going in little waves.

The sunshine has been bright all day long, and the temperatures have remained crisp, just below freezing. After watching Matt's team play basketball at the half-time of the high school game last night, Matt had a school basketball game in the a.m. and a travel team (home) game this afternoon. I am really enjoying the travel team games as the level of play is much improved over last year, and Matthew is playing well. He took a couple of shots to the face, and shook them off like the big guy that he now is. He was just mad that the refs didn't see the fouls, and the non-calls made him play all the harder. Since I can't get enough basketball, I am listening to the SU - Marquette game as I type. Go 'Cuse!

Of course, my child never gets tired. (Another parent mentioned this morning that kids this age never get tired -- they just get irritable. Pretty funny, and true, actually.) But truly, Matt never seems tired. He and a friend are outside taking jumps off the "terrain park" he built in the front yard (two relatively small jumps) before I drop them off at the local ski center for a couple hours of snow boarding. I am delighted that he loves the outdoors as much as I did at his age (and still do, truth be told! I wish I got out skiing more.)

If you are in a warm place, I hope you'll enjoy these photos! If you are in a cold place, I hope you'll appreciate the icy beauty anyway!

'cuse!

This past week, my favorite college basketball team, the Syracuse Orange, defeated two highly ranked teams! I got to watch most of the game the other night against #13 California. It was a terrific win at Madison Square Garden (a kind of home away from home for Syracuse) as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser tournament. Last night's game was an even bigger win against #6 North Carolina. Unfortunately, I had a hearing (my third of the week) yesterday that began at 3:45 p.m. and deliberations wrapped up at 10:50 p.m. Seriously. So I completely missed the excitement, but was very happy to hear the news before I went to sleep last night. Both wins weren't squeakers at all. They were decisive wins! I am guessing SU's ranking will improve from its current #24 after this weekend.

These performances nearly erase the memory of having a (solid) local Division II school, LeMoyne College, defeat the Orange in an exhibition game earlier this month. What I loved about that game was that the head coach of LeMoyne's team is Steve Evans, a kid for whom I used to babysit! His dad, Stan "Buddy" Evans, was the long-time varsity basketball coach at my high school, and he now assists his son. Seeing the look on Coach Evans' (Sr.) face as LeMoyne beat SU was priceless. Steve showed himself to be a very classy guy in the quotes he gave to the media after the game.

"I feel bad,’’ LeMoyne coach Steve Evans said, raising more than a few eyebrows before offering an explanation. “The story tomorrow will be ‘What’s wrong with Syracuse basketball?’ I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Syracuse basketball. They’ve got tremendous players. And it’s an exhibition game. They’re gonna be terrific.’"

It is hard to believe that basketball season is already here. I associate this season with winter. I guess I'd better wake up and smell the coffee on that one. Matt has started his basketball practices on T/R this week after school. He did miss the first practice due to being sick. He recovered from the flu very nicely, after being down for the count from Saturday through Wednesday. He returned to school on Thursday, and we are very grateful that he recovered so quickly, and that Tom and I didn't get it! Whew!

weekend update

It has been busy lately, and sometimes when that happens, I find that my blog ideas come to me in lists. Here we go:

• Sadly, SU's run in the NCAA tournament has come to an end after a Sweet 16 loss last night to Oklahoma State. It was a good run, and was so much fun to watch. Johny Flynn was something else! For a little NCAA tournament satire, check out this exclusive by The Onion, here (courtesy of Susan Chin).



• We think this is the last weekend of Matt's travel team tournaments, but this program sometimes announces things last minute. Matt and Tom and a van full of fathers and sons went off to Marcellus early this morning. I got to stay home to do some homework and laundry (barely started and here it is going on noon). After the week I just put in, I am so appreciative of a quiet morning with a good cup of coffee. If Matt's team wins both games this morning, I will be on driving duty tomorrow, and I am hoping that will be the case.



• Beautiful spring weather has arrived. The grass is browner than I remember it being in other years. My favorite tree in the back yard is beginning to lose its hanger-on leaves. I'll have to post a photo soon.



• My sister-in-law Sue has sent me a book that looks great, entitled, The Distance Between Us by Bart Yates. I am really looking forward to digging in to it and hope to blog about it soon.



• Music picks for today include some Edie Brickell from Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars and from Picture Perfect Morning (here, here, and here) and Suzanne Vega from 99.9 F degrees (here), taking it back to the late 1980s and early 1990s for some old favorites. (Click on the hyperlinks to go to some selected videos if you have the time). If you missed these albums when they came out, you may want to check them online. Do you think maybe iTunes will give me a commission?



• On a related note, the issue I have with iTunes and the whole new iPod movement is that I can't imagine ignoring "albums" and moving to discrete songs to be chosen here and there. I listened to Picture Perfect Morning as an entity, through and through, so many times that the emotions it brings up are complex, and yet unified as part of an album. I have my iPod shuffle fully loaded, but I find I still don't purchase discrete songs. I select songs from albums that I have listened to enough to have favorites, experiencing each song as both discrete and part of a larger gestalt.



• Lastly, I have really been enjoying the spring birds! In the past few days I have seen finches at the feeder, chickadees flitting around, cardinals, and many robins. March is nearly gone, and I am so happy to put the sweaters and winter clothes away for the season and begin wearing some springier and cooler things.

Have a super Saturday. Do some things to make yourself happy!

to the hoop

This time of year is much ado about basketball, and my favorite all-time player happens to be a member of the local 5th grade travel basketball team. Matt has been very busy with practices and weekend tournaments, and this weekend will be no exception. He has been playing with a lot of heart, and has improved quite a bit over the course of the season, to the point where he has some good baskets, rebounds and steals each game.

Of course he is now getting to the age where I embarrass him greatly if I walk around with my camera in hand. Not wanting to be that kind of mom, I have tried to take a more subtle approach. I’m cool, you know? However, I have consequently not gotten any photos! I was very happy to find that the basketball club web site had put up some team photos, and I am including a few here. They aren’t the clearest, but they are action shots, and since I didn’t take them, I am just grateful to have them. Go team!

happy spring

When I was younger, it wasn't "spring" until I saw my first robin. I have been hearing robins for several mornings now, but until yesterday, I hadn't seen one.

Today is officially the vernal equinox. It was a bright and sunny day outside my office window, although the air was still quite chilly on my way into and out of work (in the 20s with windchill).

What better way to celebrate spring than with some March Madness? I loyally rooted for the Binghamton Bearcats last night, and even though they lost quite badly, they put in a good effort and it wasn't shameful in the least. They were just outmatched. (Did the media have to use the world "demolished?!") Syracuse handily won their first round. Tonight, I cheer for Xavier with friends Paula and Cliff. Life is good.

Click HERE to hear a lovely robin sound. Happy Spring!

sunshine and bracketology

Today was a beautiful and sunny day. We had a nice visit to my sister and brother-in-law's to celebrate nephew Jeremy's 9th birthday (he actually turned 9 on Tuesday), and it was a great day for a ride. I enjoyed getting together with nearly all the family, though we missed my brother who is up in Lake Placid for some skeleton racing.

So the big basketball news is that Syracuse put in an amazing and valiant effort in the Big East tournament this weekend. I managed to stay awake and watch all of Friday and Saturday nights' games. For them to come back from a 6 OT win over UConn to beat WVU in overtime Friday was amazing. It was sad, but understandable, to see them run out of steam last night versus the number one seed in the tournament, Louisville, a team that would be a challenge to play under normal conditions, let alone after two prior nights of tough overtime games. After being ahead at half-time, they just let it slip away, and you could see that had no energy at all left. Still, it was nice that the tournament MVP award when to Johnny Flynn. It isn't often that the MVP of a tournament goes to a team member from other than the winning team. Meanwhile, SU gets a #3 seed in the tournament, and I like the looks of their bracket. On we go into March Madness.

In other exciting basketball news, my alma mater, Binghamton University, enjoyed its first ever nationally televised game yesterday as they hosted UMBC at home. When I went to Binghamton, it was known as SUNY Binghamton, and all sports were Division III. In recent years, the university has changed its name, changed the mascot (we used to be the Colonials...), and has put a lot of money into a new sports complex that was filled and hopping yesterday. By beating UMBC, they clinched their division title and earned an automatic bid into the NCAATournament -- for the first time in history. It is hard to believe, really, and our good friend Matt Mendelsohn wrote a wonderful piece for his blog that really sums up the conflicted feelings I have. (You can read it here.) After all the excitement of yesterday (the e-mails and phone calls were flying from my alum friends), Binghamton was given a 15-seed in their bracket, and guess who they play? NCAA powerhouse (and #2 seed) Duke University. I will be rooting for the Binghamton Bearcats, but I'm not overly optimistic.

On to a new week we go. Have a great one.

how many overtimes?

One of the bright spots for me during in this gray time of year is watching college basketball. Some of you know I am a big SU fan, and have been rooting for the Syracuse Orange for (wow) more than 25 years! I look forward to the Big East tournament every year, and have even been known to take a half-day vacation if the tournament happens to coincide with the college's spring break so that I can watch the games at home.

This year, Syracuse goes into the tournament not needing to win it all in order to get an NCAA tournament bid, because they have consistently been a top-25 ranked team, and they had their usual 20+ win season. That being said, however, it certainly is fun to see them win at MSG during the Big East tournament! For me, it has been difficult to stay awake for the games this year, as they have been scheduled for 9 p.m. both Wed. and Thursday nights. Because the scheduled start is 9 p.m., the actual start can be 9:20 or 9:30 depending on how long the previous game goes. Truth be told I think I fell asleep during the first minute of Wednesday night's game. Last night I managed to stay solidly awake for the first half. Even after I drift off, I know the game is on in the background while Tom watches. I usually wake up enough at the end of the game to ask who won.

Last night, or shall I say this morning, Tom whispered that Syracuse won after 6 overtimes. Yes, six! I got up this morning to read about what I missed, here. So now #20 SU has knocked off #4 UConn, after beating Seton Hall on Wednesday night. I hope the team will be able to rejuvenate from this long and taxing game to keep winning. That certainly will be fun. Actually, it will be fun no matter what, because it is just a great game. (I also enjoyed watching WVU surprise #2 Pitt in the game prior last night.) March madness, here we come. If anyone ever needed a message this time of year to not give up, and to keep playing hard, this game is it. It will be remembered for a good long time. I can't wait until it is rebroadcast so I can be fully awake for the end of it!

. . . six overtimes. Six!

resilience

At this point in winter, I start thinking about resilience. I think about the marathon runner who is on autopilot and who gets to the more-than-half-way point and wonders for a second, how much longer, and then the second passes, because one can't think that way. We just have to keep going. Even if we can't really see the end in sight.

Life is good, despite the fact that the driveway needs to be shoveled, again. Life is good, because the forecast doesn't look too bad for Tom to travel to Albany today or for me to drive to Syracuse tomorrow. Matt is back to school after a week of vacation.

We are spending some free time, when not working on things like homework, lesson plans, or grad school papers, watching basketball or movies (we discovered that Matt likes Monty Python! It was fun listening to someone watch The Holy Grail for the very first time and listening to the giggles of recognition of the jokes.) Matt's travel team has a lot of practices and games. After watching SU lose to Villanova on Sunday, we decided to last night watch a video we have of the 2003 "Odyssey to the National Championship," so we could re-live that great season in a one-hour highlight show.

Despite the wind and the snow out there, we are resilient. We try not to think about how much less "hearty" we would have to be if we lived in a place like Arizona or North Carolina. We live in the present moment, and we have optimism. That's why, even though some who read this blog also read The Writer's Almanac for the poem of the day, I have to re-print this morning's poem. It spoke to me and is a perfect poem for this morning, as I sit typing in the quiet house, with the pitch black outside, at 5:40 a.m. Have a good day.

P.S. The photos I am including in this post are from a sunny Superbowl Sunday out at our friend John's. He lives in a beautiful spot, and I am quite fond of the trees and view of the old "barn," which he has converted into a great home for his daughter Helena right across from his house. I remember looking out at that barn from their house when John and Karen were off at the hospital having that baby, 21 years ago earlier this month, while I took care of then 2-year old Anthony, her older brother. Being out in the country in February certainly takes resilience!

Optimism
by Jane Hirshfield

More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam returns over and
over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree: finding the
light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another.
A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers, mitochondria, figs—
all this resinous, unretractable earth.