USABA 2009 GOALBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Herschel had just scored a goal and went back to his position to wait for the coming ball. His best game he scored 3 goals to help the team win 12-6. He is still lifting and working to improve. It will be fun to see how quickly he can get better. The USA coach gave him some pointers and tips, so hope he can do well enough to become 1st string.

From l-r. Chris, Hersh, Nick, Quinten, Lewis.This is the team as they got their award for the silver. They were undefeated untill the gold medal match. They lost 4-1 to Pennsylvania. It was a tough loss. They were ranked 1st after the pool play and it looked like they would continue on for the win and National Title. Not this year. Too bad.

For the tournament, the Olympic bus came to transport the teams to and from the venue. All of the members of the paralympic team were there playing with their state team. Utah has one member, Chris Dodds. He and Herschel are siamese twins. They are the jokesters of the group. Florida has 3 members, Pennsylvania 1, and Western Michigan 1.

More Flowers

These are close-ups of the Eden rose. I love it. I chose it for my hedge as I would rather look at flowers and since it puts out such beauties all summer I couldn't resist. I planted 10 in a row. Next year should be really nice.

Here is the neighbors view of my hedge. It is over 7 feet tall. This section are the roses called Bonica. They bloom untill frost. They are about 3-4 inches across and have a light fragrance. The leaves are a great shiney green and look great trimmed. Most rose hedges have bare spots when you trim, but Bonica leafs out nearly to the ground.
This section is the Eden section. These bushes are only 2 years old, so they will fill in like Bonica. Each shrub grows 8 feet tall by 5 feet wide, and it also blooms till frost. They open up a cream with pink edges, then turn a soft pink when fully open. They are cabbage roses, so have nearly 100 petals per bloom. These flowers are about 5-6 inches across and just a hint of fragrance.

This is the Paul McCartney Rose. No, I'm not a fan of him, but the rose is spectacular. Here it is on a dinner plate. Unbeatable form and size. Great petal count and heavenly fragrance. I love the pinks, but for red nothing beats Mr. Lincoln for all of the above.

Here is the wisteria nearly in bloom. The other side is just as full. From a ways away, it looks like a bunch of grape clusters. They smell sort of like hyacinths. Yum!

Too bad they only last a few weeks. This variety, Blue Moon, will bloom once more this year. This is the only wisteria that has a strong fragrance. Double bonus.

I LOVE May!

Here are the pink roses. This variety is nearly thornless, blooms profusley and has a luscious fragrance. Everyone who comes to the comments on how great they smell. I cut a couple of 18" branches off and put in a vase. The blooms are great and you can't beat the smell.

My garden has 28 rows of vegies. Beets, peas, onions, potatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, zuchinni, pumpkins, beans, garlic, lettuce, bussel sprouts, watermelon, sweet potatoes. The rows are 40 feet long. They are double rows, so 14 water trenches. On the north part of the garden, 8 rows of corn are planted and in 2 weeks 8 more rows. Plus there are the 12 fruit trees. Cherries and apricots are first to ripen. We should start picking peas next week.

When I get a day off, it has been once a week with Hersh working for us, I spend a good 8 or more hours weeding, pruning and what ever else needs to be done. It's great! Hard work and good results. My arms are pretty tan now. The legs, not so much as I spend lots of time on my knees.

More tennis. That's the answer.

Love the yellow roses, but not as much as the pink. The flowers are 5-6 inches across. Both roses make great pot pourri base. I gather them in the morning and pull the old petals off and lay on the dining room table to dry for several days. The pale petals are the spent ones, but as they dry they darken up to the same color as the new blooms.
I didn't mention the red roses. They are in front of the garage. They are pretty, but I don't use their petals. They dry black, not too attractive. I do have a red rose I love as much as the pink. It is called Eden and is a cabbage rose. Next week it should open along with the hedge. The hedge is part Bonica and Pink Eden. Love those too. I guess with 7 climbing roses, 4 shrub roses and 20 hedge roses it isn't hard to tell which is my favorite flower.

These are my thornless blackberries in bloom. Can't wait till July! The blossoms are about the size of a silver dollar and the leaves are almost a waxy green.
The Pergola is one of the favorite spots in the yard. It's a nice cool shady place and each year the plants get better. The lilacs just finished blooming, followed by 2 different clematis and the wisteria. The honeysuckle will open next week and bloom till frost. 2 more clematis should bloom in 2 weeks, so my plan has been going well to have something blooming all summer.

Here are some of the plants growing on the pergola. L-R Blue Moon Wisteria, close-up (just starting to open), clemantis (close), clemantis

Here is my Pergola. The rose has leafed out and starting to get buds. It spreads accross the 30 foot span to make a nice shady roof.

Now you know why I LOVE May! June is pretty great too, but may also has the perfect temperatures. Not too hot in the day and the evenings are wonderful. I love to sit on the back patio or swing in the pergola (I take them down on water days). It is a soothing balm for the soul to see and smell all of the flowers. Wish I could include the rose fragrance, it's guaranteed to make you smile. Happy Summer!

Goalball Update

Last week Herschel went with the Utah State Men's team to Kalamazoo for the Eastern Qualifying Tournament. Chris Dodds has been training him at center to take his place in a few years so this was good experience for him since he started plalying last Feb.
He has improved tons and started all of the pool play games at center. When they got to the cross-over part of the tournament, he started at center and then moved to wing so that Chris could take center. They were down 2 points in the first game. They won and continued on. They ended up taking 3rd getting the Bronze medals. They are looking forward to the Western Regionals that Utah is hosting in May. Hope they do well. The Nationals will be sometime in June or July.

Here is a picture of my boss and husband. Everyone asks us if it is hard to work together. Most people act like they would kill their spouse if they had to be together day and night.

I have been waiting for almost 30 years to spend that kind of time with my husband, so I have quite enjoyed it. Not really the working part, but the time part. The more time we spend together, the better we get along.

It has been fun to joke around and know all that is going on in the day so that when he gets home I don't have to say "How was your day?" and get the typical man grunt.

I just wish we had more time for doing some fun things.

My Quilt is Finally Done!

I have been sick this week, so Scott had me stay home from work. I spent most of my time quilting and blowing my nose. I used a box of tissues each day. GAG. At least I had the time to finish the quilt and get it out of the family room.

Jessica spent tons of time on it with me. I bet she put in about 20 hours this week to help me get it done. There is a close up of the back of the quilt. It is mint green.

I always love looking at the back to see all of the thousands of stitches. It is fun to see the quilted pattern and the raised parts.

It is now folded up and in my quilt cupboard. I will pull it out when Spring is a little further along. It just didn't seem right to put out a pastel flower quilt with snow on the ground. Maybe that is the time to put it out.

MAN HANDS

If you have ever seen the Seinfeld episode of "Man Hands", you will know exactly what this is about.

We had a customer that bought this ring for his fiance'. An average size for a woman is a 7. This girl was a 12. No lie! It fit Scott perfectly. The jeweler thought it was a joke and then he wondered if a man bought it for a man wife.

When Scott tried it on, I died laughing. It looks so funny on a man hand. The girl whose it is, doesn't look so bad. Even though her hands are large, they don't have the man look. I don't know what exactly makes the man look, but you really can tell a mans hands from a womans.

Katie's Burn

Last week Katie came over to play and she wanted to help Jessica make cookies. She loves to cook and helps all the time. She loves to grind wheat to make flour for bread.

After the first batch came out, she reached over the edge of the cookie sheet to get a cookie, forgetting that it was HOT! We put ice the burn, but in all the crying, I missed the actual burn.

Thanks a lot Grandma.

Start 'Em Young

I have been able to have Heather's kids over for the last couple of days and Katie loves to help with everything. She asked if she could help quilt, so I said "Of course."

She will turn 5 in April, so I was quite impressed that she can thread her own needle. She cuts off her thread, threads the needle and then has me tie a knot for her.

Here is a close-up of her work.

We had a pretty fun day. She kept at it for over an hour and says that she "loves to needle."

I hope she will still love to needle as she gets older.

Kidlettes

Heather has been having some health issues, so I got to tend the kidlettes for a couple days. The first 2 days we were at there house and then they came to mine. Since Jess, Rhett and RJ are there, RJ had a play day with his cousins.

Seems that he likes Kael and enjoys having kids to play with. They are so much fun. I don't even mind the messes. They make for a good memory to see the kids enjoy each other. They are growing up too fast for me.

Kael 7 mths, RJ 9 mths

This is a quilt I am currently working on. It has a King size sheet for the back. Each flower has 4 petals. There are 20 by 23 flowers and each petal takes 60 stitches to complete. That ends up being over 110,000 stitches, not counting the border. It takes me about 12 hours to do a three by 20 flower section, so I am thinking about 92 hours of quilting. I am planning on about 3-4 weeks as I have only been able to get 2-6 hours a day with working full-time. If I wasn't working, I would normally get 12-14 hours in a day. so could knock it out in a week.

It is really a beautiful print. I have seen a darker one, but the pastels are much nicer. It is really spectacular when it is finished. My sister Sheryl has done 3 already (as gifts no less). She gave me the fabric.

Funny thing, my mom is doing the same one, but has 3 borders on hers. Hers is also 16 by 20 flowers. A bit smaller.

Blind Quilts

The Goalball teams are raising money to go to Kalamazoo in Feb. and New Jersey in June. I made 2 quilts for them to auction off. Last year they made quite a bit from the quilts I did. Hope these will help them out.

Both quilts are the same. The big picture shows the top and the small picture is the back. They were pretty fast to do because I quilted them on the sewing machine. I have 2 more planned that I hope to get done soon. The auction will be during the Western Regionals that Utah is hosting in May.

Herschel is supposed to start at center in Kalamazoo. Chris has been training him to take his spot. He is looking to retire from competitive play in 2 years. He has been part of the US Paralymic Team and attended 3 Olympics, so Hersh is getting some good coaching.

Good luck EXPLOSION!

Adult Goalball Tournament

This Saturday, Feb. 14th is the state Adult Goalball Tournament. They will be picking the 2 final spots. It will be held at the Jordan Resource Center and starts at 9:00 A.M. It goes until all the games are done. Usually about 3:00 PM. There is pool play, then elimination. It you have never seen it, you will be very surprised and impressed at how the game is played, and then wonder how blind people can do this, because you realize it would be hard for you.