Spring Break

Last week we had six inches of snow that left before the end of the day. Yesterday I opened the back door to find a ground squirrel staring at me. Mother Nature’s winter fights hard to keep her grip on the foothills.

The Abert Squirrel appeared after months of invisibility. He sat in the tree, ran up and down the trunk and chattered at the dogs. Wonder what he thought of the big yellow dog that was only a small puppy before winter began.

The fox has been cutting through the backyard each afternoon about 4:30 pm. She checks out the compost heap behind our shed and walks around the rocks where she played with her pups last year. Her coat is full; red with tips of black. Soon her coat will thin for the summer and she will have the look of a hungry feral cat.

The elk come in groups of 20 to 25. The mule deer come in groups of 10 to 15. They munch on the small evergreens in our yard and head to our neighbor’s front yard. Our neighbor had a pile of leaves delivered just for the elk and the deer. They run and play in the leaves. Maybe because they are something they don’t see here in the mountains where most of the trees are evergreen. After they play they lay down and watch the cars that pass by.

This week we are looking forward to spring break. It’s been snowing every day for a week at the ski slopes one hour away. Looks like we will have time to make up for the times we didn’t get to go. When we are around home we can hike around the lake and watch the birds returning to the water that was ice a few days ago.

Basketball Awards

Tonight Justin’s basketball team went to a party to celebrate the season and eat pizza. We ate a a local pizza house that gave us a room and waiters.

Everyone on the team started at as newbies. At the very end of the season they started playing as a team. They moved the ball down the court, got rebounds, captured the ball from the other team, kept the other teams from scoring-- all the things they had been taught by coach (and dad) Tad. Their first win was the last game of the season. In the tournament they won two of three games in round one. In the second round they won another game, finishing in fourth place.

Blue Belt

We now have a blue belt in the house. Grant was the first in his class to test for his belt. The kata he learned for this belt had a knife hand move that was cool. He did great.

Testing was last Friday right after school and then the belts were awarded today in class. Out of about thirty kids there are only 5 or 6 that are upper belts. After class the upper belts stood together looking at each other’s belt and talking. When they first started as white belts the group didn’t interact much, they’re too busy learning the moves. The upper belts help teach the beginners during the class, but the relationship is definitely teacher to student, not peer to peer.

The color of the belt the student’s rank. Grant started as a white belt, progressed to yellow, then orange, and now blue.

Now that Grant is an official upper belt we’ll see what the added perk of seniority brings. So far a big smile has appeared.

Karate Tournament 2011

Today we are sitting in the gym at the College of Mines in Golden to watch Grant compete in a Japanese Karate tournament. He will perform his kata and them spar.Grant started classes the second half of second grade. He takes one day a week after school so progressing is quite a bit slower than with the Kenpo Karate classes he took a couple of times a week in Carrollton.

Last year Grant competed in Japanese Karate for the first time. Being a beginner he didn’t score high, but the idea he performed in front of so many people, remembered all of the moves impressed me. In Grant’s group there are 6 boys.

Wado-Kai is the name of the styles of Japanese karate Grant is learning. Wado-Kai is one of the four main styles in Japan and Europe. The name means “way of peace”. A visual used, empty hands, is the same as used in Kenpo.

Grant won’t go home with a metal today, but he will go home with high marks, and a proud family. This year his movements are stronger and crisper than last year.

Spelling Bee

Tad and I sit in the gym waiting for Grant to walk in from his class to join the other kids in front of us that will compete in the spelling bee. Both our boys amaze me with there willingness to try new challenges seemingly without fear.

Most weeks Grant get all of his spelling words so we already know he is a strong speller. We practiced on and off the week before the competition.

Grant is the last student to show up. He takes his sit and I begin to relax. The 25 contestants introduce themselves, tell the name of their teacher and their grade level.

When the rules of the bee are explained we find out it’s just fourth and fifth graders competing with each other. Oophs, we should have been practicing those fifth grade words too.

On the first round several kids go out. They exit to the side wall and sit with a teacher that gives a couple of pats as tears roll down the cheeks of the kids.

Grant goes out in the second round and my heart goes out to him. Its the luck of the draw to quite an extent, you may get words you know or perhaps like Grant, the word you don’t know.

Round seven starts with seven kids. This time they drop one by one until the last boy is standing. Eirik is one of Grant’s friends and he is also I strong speller. Then the work, rodeo. What? Rodeo is kind of a let down.

After the bee parents and kids hug, and everything is good again. I find out Eirik’s parents offered him a bribe. It worked.

P.S. The first winner of a national spelling bee died at the age of 97 on March 23, 2011. Here's the link to the story.

Dig It!

Before Christmas Justin tells us he has a speaking part in the 3rd grade musical. The homework folder he brought home for winter break had instructions for the parents on types of costumes and the two pages of the script containing his lines. Wow, he has l-o-t-s of lines!

Four days before winter break is over we remember the lines are still safely in the homework folder. Justin starts memorizing the lines one segment at a time. Within three days he knows them all, plus he in the embodiment of his character,Gilgamesh. He has the swagger and pompous air of the warrior and leader that will build a great city in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Back at school the kids continue to practice during music class. At home we start looking for things he can wear. We look through the costumes he and Grant have collected and Justin suggests his purple top from Halloween. Adding black and silver amour he has a royal tunic. Adding a narrow black headband and sandals he is warrior.

At the play the gym is packed. There are three 3rd grade classes and his is up first. He delivers his lines just as practiced, with confidence and animation. I’m so proud of Justin and happy for him. Can’t wait to see what interests he will carry with him; what activities will feed his soul.

Qigong

It’s Saturday morning and I’m on my way into Denver to join twenty-five people for a medical Qigong class. After the introduction we start the exercises. Come to find out its very similar to the meditation and visualization I learned in college over thirty years ago.

My Tai Chi instructor had shown me a couple of Qigong stances to help the flow of energy. In medical Qigong positions aren’t stressed, visualization is.

In the afternoon we added chanting. I knew how wonderful sound vibrations could feel from listening to music. Chanting was even better because you make the sounds yourself.

Last year I had acupuncture treatments for a cold, a sore shoulder several times, a bladder infection, and stress. When the acupuncturist mentioned bringing someone in to give a Qigong class I signed up.


During class my shoulder hurt a few times and the teacher mentioned people react differently. She shared how sick she’d felt the first day of intensive Qigong she’d done.

After four hours of class I walked to my car feeling energy and contentment in equal degrees.