Meanwhile, back at the high school (oh yeah, I said that already).  Senior night for the girl roundballers took place on the same night we repaired to St. Cloud for the girls’ hockey section finals.  Fortunately, I knew the staff photographer was there to “cover” events at JHS.  Had he not, I would have been in a real dither!  [a dither, by the way, is a mythical place just on the leeward side of a cappella (see further references below).]  If I had been asked to choose, I would have said it was the moral equivalent of asking which child do I like best?  Well, that’s not valid since I don’t have children.  It would have been like asking which cat do I like best?  But we don’t have cats anymore.  I guess I just don’t have a good metaphor?  [a metaphor, incidentally, is also a mythical place, but in a totally different province from a dither and a cappella.]  Now aren’t you glad you have someone who will provide all this useless information free of charge?  Oh, we played Rocori.

[Cara, an honored senior]

[With Dani.]

[I suspect the staff photographer has more photos coming of all the honorees . . .]

[S-s-s-e-n, i-i-i-o-r, S-e-n-i-o-r-s, SENIORS!]

[Kohler gets ready to send another class out into the world.  One of the good things we’ve discovered as seniors is that we get discounts on a lot of stuff.]

[Next season’s power forward.]

[Emily]

[Whitney – looks like she’s gathering herself for a windmill dunk!]

[Whitney and Kalli practice establishing post position.]

[The requisite pre-game discussion about the Kardashians.]

[“Why, yes, we are all happy to be here!”]

[The incredibly cute version of the National Anthem.]

[“We’ve looked everywhere.  No sign of Kim?”]

[“Are you Kim?”]

[“We have flowers for you!”  (Having not been there, I have no idea what this was all about – but the Rocori player seems delighted!  🙂 ]

[The last time I play Rocori.]

[“Aaaayyyyyyyyy!”]

[The ref flinched.  “My Coke!”]

[The 1-3-1 takes position.]

[If Cara’s walking, the break wasn’t there.]

[Whitney pops a J.]

[Our three perimeter players are all 5’9″ – that’s like all being 6’3″ or 6’4″ in the boys’ game.  It makes a difference, particularly defensively.]

[Just keep making those free throws!]

[The result of a grant from the Education Foundation?  Its job is to deliver cold beverages to the Super Fans.]

[Set up for the wheel play?]

[Apres game festivities for the seniors.]

[Seniors Kendra, Missy, Lauren, Cara, and Whitney.]

Let the hugging begin:

[The tri-captains]

[Whom amongst us doesn’t like presents?]

[Hug]

[“Jess, next year you have to be me.”]

Yesterday was our first Central Lakes Concert Association concert since, well . . . the last one.  We were reminded of such because the weather in this winterless winter was similar to our last venture to the high school for a musical event.  As you may recall, the school Christmas concert was on December 18 and the supervisor, as noted in the photo below, was bedecked in summer attire.

For the concert yesterday, attendees were once again arriving in short-sleeve shirts – the temperature was in the mid-40’s under bright sunny skies on February 19.  We were there to see Voces 8, an a cappella (see previous reference above) group from the United Kingdom.  Though generally not a cappella fans, we enjoyed them very much.  🙂  [Please pardon my delay in writing this.  The supervisor has become a distraction as she attempts to make chicken soup to help alleviate her cold.  First, she discovered (to her amazement) she didn’t have chicken stock – so I advised to use beef stock instead (master chef that I am).  Then she opened a can of black beans to put in the soup only to discover the can contained sliced green beans!  Ha!  She showed me the can – sure enough, it said “black beans” with a picture.  Not her day so far.  😉  I should also note she is doing this in preparation for the forecasted largest snowfall of the season – up to 4 inches possible today!  All have been advised to make sure all pets are brought indoors, and several area squirrels were quite upset when Ruthie rounded them up to do just that!  (She just noticed that the old marshmallows she put on the deck to help those “rodents” survive the winter have finally disappeared after a couple of days.)

You must be from the South.  Being cold for a short period of time is not life-threatening.   ~ Bud Grant