alexandriacardinals

[It was just one of those weekends.  We had become spoiled.  It seems that for as long as I can remember, we’ve always had beautiful weather for homecoming . . .]

[As usual, the weekend started with the Hall of Fame luncheon at Broadway Ballroom on Friday . . .]

[And this year’s inductees were . . .]

[Jill Johnson, the school’s communications director, and Chad Larson, program emcee, plot strategies.]

[Pre-ceremony general milling around.]

[Pre-ceremony general milling around, part II.]

[Our entertainment, and of course I’ve waited too long, but I believe the choir was from Lincoln Elementary School.  They were terrific.  🙂  (Subsequent research proved me to be correct – and their director is Kayla Noble.) ]

[That evening we returned to the same venue for the annual Jeans & Jewels soiree and fund raiser for members of the 206 Club and their invited guests.   Education Foundation board member Heidi Ryan guards the jewels.  To my eye we had the largest turnout ever for this event, but for the first time in recent memory the supervisor did not win any of the drawings?]

[The weather on Friday had been icky.  It rained overnight and well into the morning on Saturday as I contemplated attempts to participate in the homecoming parade at noon.  The rain let up about 11:30, the supervisor hied me to the fairgrounds, and I began snapping photos of the assembled mass – once again (as far as I could tell) absent any other members of the class of ’65.  These guys graduated the year after I was born and always get a good turnout!  🙂 ]

[Reporting the obvious, the class of ’57 (noted for their Chevys?).]

[The class of Berglin (Mary, how could I not want to get a picture of you?).]

[Class of ’68, always a large contingent – this year off the charts.  I believe they had 5 groups – it was their 45th reunion, and in keeping with recent traditions, they celebrated it on homecoming weekend.  I still don’t know why all these “kids” need to ride though?]

[And even younger kids riding?]

[And away we go . . .]

[Ahh, hockey, whatta sport!]

[Leaving the fairgrounds . . .]

[Heading towards Broadway.  And then I lost them?  I’ve always walked the parade, as have many others, including classes, et al, and kept pace . . . because it has to move at a walking pace.  This year, to beat the rain (?), the lead groups took off like they were shot out of a cannon.  I struggled trying to keep up but by the time I hit Broadway and turned the corner, they were already out of sight?  I asked a cop if the parade had scattered any kids because they were moving at quite a clip.  I looked behind me and as far I could see there was no sign of the rest of the parade?  Patty Wicken, class of ’67, had asked me at the fairgrounds if I wanted to ride on her golf cart with her (her family has bailed because of the weather) – I wish now I hadn’t declined!]

[I looked for the supervisor in front of Lea’s, her parade viewing destination – no sign of her.  I continued on to the next block where I heard, “Tom Obert!”  It was Jim Sherry (and wife Carol), the younger brother of our HQ, who was there for ’68’s reunion.  So, I stood there with them, between 6th and 7th, and snapped photos of what remained of the parade, having missed the whole first half.]

[The soccer team?]

[Yo, hockey!]

[The tennis team?]

[I dunno?]

[Girls’ cross-country team.  This Saturday is the big Lions’ Club meet at Arrowwood.  We really wanted to attend, but . . . the forecast is for cold, windy, and rain!  😦 ]

[Moving towards the high school, still thousands of miles away.]

[Dunno?]

[And this was the end.  I tucked my camera inside my jacket to continue my trek to the high school.  It was chilly, very windy, and had begun misting again.  By the time I got to the high school, it was not a pleasant day.  I found the supervisor.  We usually go in to the field then for tailgating but decided discretion was the better of part of valor.  We went home and put on our shawls.  The team remained winless.  😦 ]

Notes:  The Cruise post, Days 8 & 9 (Part I) was completed but after the volleyball post.  Upcoming, the girls’ volleyball and soccer teams both have two home games within the next week to close out their regular seasons in their attempts to both remain undefeated in the conference.  🙂

[We’re on the road again.  For the rest of the day our lives would be in the hands of our bus driver, Luigi.  🙂 We were headed for Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.]

[The supervisor will knock little old ladies out of the way to get us a front row seat on the bus.  Great for photos ops!  😉 ]

[The supervisor, in spite of her desire to be “up front,” closed her eyes for most of this trip,]

[The Sorrento peninsula and Amalfi coast highways are more conducive to travel by Smart Cars and motorcycles than buses!]

[Not fond of the overhanging cliffs – but this is pretty much what it’s like all the way to Salerno – maybe farther?]

[Protection from rock slides?]

[The long and winding road.]

[Will always be an all-time favorite place . . .  😉 ]

[What I said above (well, I had to make sure I had the shot!).]

[A fond look back at Vesuvius.]

[And a fond look forward at houses hanging out over the sea.]

[It comes with a view.]

[Circling around Sorrento – but we’ll be back!]

[Many scenic overlooks . . .]

[But not many places to pull over – particularly if you’re a bus!]

[A small town on the tip of the peninsula.]

[Where we are, where we were, and where we’re going.   We’ll turn around at Positano, couldn’t make it as far as Amalfi on a day trip.  😦  ]

[I can’t remember the name of these little islands, but they were named back in the time when gods ruled the planet.]

Hang in there, Luigi!!!]

[Somehow struck me as not the best place for a farmers’ market?]

[Our first glimpse of Positano, the vertical city!]

[I don’t know how you stop to look at the map – this is the traffic lane.]

[Parking is at a premium in the vertical city, so you park on the roads on the way into and out of town.  There is no bus parking.]

[Our only available shot of Positano, built up the side of a cliff!]

[Positano is probably best accessed by boat.]

[Coming back up after Luigi hung a U-ey.]

[Back to Sorrento for lunch and touristy stuff.]

[City street.]

[We’re walking again . . . into the town center.]

[Maria leads her famished flock to restaurant central.]

[The choices were . . . well, everybody scatter.  Meet back here in an hour and half?]

[Little squares with . . .]

[statuary abound.]

[We gotta go back to where those flags are – looks like a view!]

[Hmmm, this street looks promising.]

[The sign says . . .]

[A pizzeria . . . and Salvador Dali?  Isn’t he Spanish?  😉 ]

[Another little square with statues . . .]

[A popular photographic subject.  😉 ]

[Thirsty, and excited (?) for lunch, we found a little restaurant down an alley just off the square.  😉 ]

[So happy together . . . A restaurant staffer volunteered to take our photo.  The other staff laughed – said the guy fancied himself quite the photographer.  He ran around taking photos of us from every angle!]

[Back with camera in hand.  Hey, Weakie – note our marghertia pizzas.  Just like one at the top of the previous post!]

[Back at the square with the popular statue.  It appears that its stand has “legs.”]

[The view that cemented Sorrento’s standing in the polls as No. 1 as my favorite beach place on the cruise (over Mykonos and Cannes).]

[Just lovely.]

[Down another little alley, we found the Astoria!  Fans (?) of the blog may recall that the supervisor and I met at the Astoria condomium in Arlington, Virginia, some 26 years ago.]

[Looks like a nice place.]

[The Astoria (center) in Arlington, Virginia, lest you forgot.  😉 ]

[And now off we go in search of Maria.]

[There’s light at the end of the tunnel.]

[Oh, only 2:55 – we still have a half an hour.]

[We found town center again!]

[Time to round up the crew and head for home.]

[Back at the Naples port.]

[Anne & Bill paid a short visit to the castle museum; the supervisor & I went up for a nap.]

[Home, sweet home.]

Up next:  Probably homecoming, then Rome.

We momentarily interrupt the cruise (yeah, I know, it’s taking me forever to do Naples, et al?) to bring you a volleyball game.  Thursday night our Cards swept Brainerd to remain undefeated in the conference and in first place!  🙂  The girls’ soccer team is also in first place in the conference and is on a 10-game winning streak!  🙂  That’s a lot of smiles.  But first, did you happen to catch the sunrise on September 24?

[Later that day, the class of ’65 held a luncheon at Interlachen in anticipation of our 50th reunion in two years.  I always have my picture taken with CC, a/k/a, Cindy Cupcake.  Anyway, among the topics of the conversation was a lead-in to the following report.  We lamented we had no girls’ sports in our day, back in the time before the internal combustion engine.]

[So, to the volleyball game.  This is only my second coverage of a Cardinal event this fall (the other was also a volleyball game) – the supervisor made me go gallivanting all over the globe and I apologize for not signing a substitute cub reporter for my extended absences.  This is warm-up time, a good chance to reintroduce ourselves (the supervisor actually went to the game with me!) to the team.  As you’ll remember from the first game, Kalley is No. 2, Emily is No. 6, Wensia is still in her warm-up shirt, then it appears to be Morgan (4) and Liz (1).]

[Kalley and Gretchen (3).  Gretchen is my sister’s name, ergo, another 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon?]

[Gretchen is obviously the libero (the white jersey is a dead giveaway); Kalley is hard to place, because she appears to do everything – even at 5’6″, she is among the leaders in kills?]

[Brooke (16)]

[Liz (1) – I  believe she leads the team in kills at 5’9″; the only players taller at 5’10” are Emily (6), Amanda C (5), and Brooke.  As I noted before, this is not a team of size or depth – but they are very athletic.]

[Amanda H (11) – I thought she was probably MVP of the game because she is the setter, and she did a great job all game setting up the hitters.  Like her “twin” (similar size and play), Kalley, she can also kill and is often a blocker at the net on defense.]

[Liz swoops in for a blast.  Our leapers can hit the ball pretty hard.  And in this game, for the first time in all my experience (at least dozens of games), a Brainerd player got hit directly in the face by a kill – and she was at mid-court, not at the net.  She sat out a few plays but was able to return to the game.  We suspect she was probably black-and-blue the next day.]

[Kalley shows her hops!]

[Wensia, at 5’8″, has a 26″ vertical, making her play at about 6’2″.  In our day, a lot of us referred to each other as “Dimes,” meaning our vertical could barely lift us over a dime on the floor.]

[Proof that aliens have visited our planet.]

[Polite golf clap for the Warriors.]

[The coaches.  It appears head coach Becky (on the right) will soon be a mom (again, I don’t know).]

[Morgan (4).  I don’t know what they toss into the crowd each game, but whatever it was this time didn’t have much carry.]

[Emily (6), exits stage right.]

[Wensia (10) wings one down the rightfield line.]

[Brooke (16) has her eye on a receiver.]

[Cheers for Liz (1) . . .]

[As she goes airborne with her toss.]

[Kalley (2) likes who she sees.]

[Amanda C (5), having noted that all previous tosses landed far short of their targets . . .]

[Raced into the stands to hand her gift to her sister, Angela.]

[Alexis (8) races to the far end.]

[Amanda H (11) and then . . .]

[Gretchen (3)]

[If we can wrap this up before 9:00, DQ will still be open for Blizzards!]

[Blizzards sound good, coach!  Is our hair OK?]

[And whoever gets there first, I’ll have a medium Heath bar, macadamia nut – hold the mayo!]

[Did she say hold the mayo?  Alexis started and played the first game.  She’ll be a player – and was named player-of-the-game.  🙂 ]

[Katie (7) serves bullets, occasionally knocking the receiver on her babushka (and I don’t mean her Russian grandmother.)  If Roger Clemens is Rocketman, she’s Rocketwoman.]

[The Warrior moves right, Alexis moves left, Amanda H moves right, Liz guards the net – I believe it is orchestrated such.]

[I’m so proud – I “scored” on my first attempt at capturing a Cardinal block! 😉 ]

[Liz and Alexis.  I always wonder how they get players to first do this?  When the other team goes up for a kill, hitting the ball as hard as they can, I want you to jump up from two feet away and try to block it.]

[Two fingers down means a slider on the outside corner.]

[Amanda H turns to receive a pass for a set, Liz begins to circle around for the kill . . .]

[Amanda H does the set . . .]

[Liz goes up to whomp it.  Look out, Warriors!]

[The “twins” think, “That was good.”]

[The “twins” join Emily, making a front line of 5’10”, 5’6″, and 5’5″.  Really?]

[It was here that Emily’s mom, who had been sitting next to us, introduced herself.  So I fired off this slightly fuzzy shot of good ole No. 6.]

[Over the years, Amanda C has given us some of the best facial expressions . . .]

[Remember this one (taken by the staff photographer a couple of years ago)?]

[The “twins” discuss strategies for confusing the Warriors.]

[The stare down begins!  Your mother wears combat boots!]

[A volleyball hangs in the air, defying the laws of physics and gravity.]

[The lonely life of the midfielder.]

[Gotta talk to coach about getting some help here!]

[Rotate!]

[She’s still in stare down mode?]

[Stuff!]

[Stuff 2!]

[Boy, it’s hot in here!  Liz thus displays the sentiment long expressed by “Weakie” and the supervisor.]

[Game 1 over.  Obviously the Cards played great.]

[The team’s male fan club.  Oy!]

[One of the two girls’ sports in 1965.]

[Cheer oh cheer for Alex . . .]

[Game 2.  Change sides.  Confusion reigns.  The 5 players in the photo are all walking in different directions?]

[And nobody wants the ball?]

[Now where’d the ball go?]

[Rocketwoman serves.]

[Liz and Amanda H move into the fray.]

[Another set by Amanda H.]

[Liz prepares to serve.]

[Then Amanda H goes with her jump serve . . .]

[I always thought it a high risk serve, but this year Liz and Amanda C have gone to it as well.  They don’t seem to miss them any more than “regular” serves.]

[A full-court over view.]

[Game 2 is over, a little closer but still no problem.  Gretchen’s dad makes a cameo appearance.]

[Yup, it’s a sport . . .]

[And they get a little help . . .]

[Who are those masked . . . bodies?]

[One more win to go . . . the DQ beckons.]

[“The Voices” were in fine . . . voice.]

[You’ve never tried the No. 5 at Jimmy Johns?]

[You gotta try the No. 5 – with all the peppers.]

[Here I am, all by myself again?]

[But Kalley’s just guarding her rear flank.]

[OK, Rocketwoman, launch one!]

[I wanna hold your hand . . .]

[Are you kidding?  Kim Kardashian?  Finally?]

[And Amanda H sets again for . . .]

[Amanda C]

(Could that really have been Kardashian?)]

[Another set.]

[That was good.  Now let’s try No. 6.]

[Liz and Wensia go up for a block.]

[Wensia kills.]

[Liz stuffs.]

[Amanda H and Liz.]

[Liz and Kalley – appears to have been back-to-back stuffs by a front line whose tallest player was 5’9″.]

[Kalley, by herself.]

[This is the rhumba step I learned in dance class last night.]

[Amanda H jump serves.  I made several attempts to get a good photo here, as she had a good serving run.  This was the best of a bad bunch.]

[Morgan (4) comes in.  She could make the “twins,” “triplets”!  😉 ]

[Just a couple more points and it’s Blizzard city.]

[Two-thirds of the “triplets.”]

[BOOM!]

[Wrap it up, Morgan.]

[That oughta do it!]

[An impressive sweep and another cameo from Gretchen’s dad.  🙂   I think Amanda C, Liz, and Wensia may all have had double figures in kills.  The coach said on the radio after the game that the Sauk Rapids coach told her she hoped the Cardinals wouldn’t jump as high the next time they played.]

[My high school principal wandered into the celebratory photo.]

[Congrats, ladies!]

Up next:  Either Naples, or homecoming.  Who knows?

NAPLES, POMPEII, AND THE AMALFI COAST

[When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s . . . Napoli!  🙂  We left Mykonos for a two-day voyage to Naples, home of the pizza!  And the Margherita pizza, above, was one of the two original pizzas invented in Naples.  Needless to say, when in Rome (well, close enough), do as the Romans do.  Whenever we ate out on the Italian economy (always lunches), we always ordered a Margherita pizza and a Peroni (see “The Grape Stomp” post).]

[So, Thursday, August 29 (Little Mayo Johnson’s 66th, exactly one week ahead of mine), was a day at sea.  Likely spent around the swimming pools, probably wondering what colors the Russian “models'” bikinis would be that day.  😉  I seem to recall I read a lot of “Bad Monkey.”  The photographic evidence (above) indicates we had another formal dinner that night – and once again I had to crash it with a short-sleve shirt.  “The March of the Baked Alaskas” must be a cruise ship staple – I remember the chefs did this on our Alaska cruise as well.]

[Obviously dinner once again came with a fine wine . . .]

[And fine violin music.]

[The ladies looked lovely as we repaired to the atrium for some after dinner entertainment.]

[The International Café, just off the atrium.  One of the supervisor’s favorite haunts because it had . . . pastries!  She often stopped there on the way “home” at night to pick up a little goodie to take back to the room in case she got hungry in the middle of the night – which, of course, is always a major concern on a cruise ship (?)]

[Bill and Anne called as soon as they got back the their room.  Come on over, we have lots of lights here.  We were about to join them when we looked out our deck.  On their side, they were looking at the “toe” of Italy; we were looking at Sicily.  🙂   ]

[Ciao, Italy!]

[We awoke the next morning to another beautiful sunrise off the ship’s aft.  Please bear with me here as I’m a sunrise fan.  😉 ]

[And on the left was an object that would be featured for most of the day – Mt. Vesuvius.]

[As we entered the Gulf of Naples, that’s the Sorrento Peninsula on the left and the Isle of Capri on the right.  There’ll be a quiz on this later.]

[So, let’s just sit back and enjoy the sunrise over Vesuvius.]

[Napoli]

[This was actually our first port port – a place for cargo and stevedores.]

[One could almost hear Dean Martin wafting over the morning light . . .]

[Oh, there was another cruise ship here.]

[We alit for our tour at the Castel Nuovo, built in the 13th century it is now a museum.]

[We would not spend any time in Naples.  We boarded a bus and headed for Pompeii, which you’ll all recall from your history, is up close and personal with Vesuvius.]

[Capri, in the distance.]

[Entering Pompeii (hmmm, the sign spells it with only one “i”?)]

[We assemble for the assault on the ruins.  And you meet our guide, Maria (looking at us with sunglasses), for the first time.  Like all of our women guides to date, she was statuesque (see they could seen above the crowd?) – that would change in Pisa/Florence.  😉 ]

[I see a soldier in a tunic!  (Hmmm, I bet they’re comfy in hot weather!)]

[The one little glitz on this tour was that the company hadn’t arranged for passes in advance, so we had a bit of a wait in line.]

[The later arriving tour groups with passes could bolt right past us.  😦 ]

[We’re in – restrooms on the right!]

[Bill discusses some of the finer points of volcanology with Maria.]

[Bill begins our photographic expedition at the outer walls of the city . . .]

[As do the supervisor and the Joaquins.]

[A beautiful promenade walk to the entrance of the ancient city.]

[Maria ‘splains some stuff before we enter.]

[And we’re in!  This is the city upon which Vesuvius ladled about 60 feet of ash in 79 AD.  I did not know until this trip that the city was not done in by a lava, but by a pyroclastic flow.  And Pompeii was much larger than I thought.]

[And we begin the tour.  Many of the photos herein require no further explanation beyond the visual (mostly because I have nothing further to add).]

[Maria was obviously telling us something about this area . . . but I forgot.]

[Here you can see the proximity of the city to Vesuvius.  The mountain has the densest population in its environs of any volcano in the world – 3 million people.]

[The guy in the white hat on the left is from Brisbane, Australia.  Just thought you wanted to know that.  Oh, and we appear to be in some sort of arena.]

[Whatcha got there, kid?]

[A larger arena.  The Shankar sisters once again “agree” to be models.  Well, they’re young and could . . .]

[Bound up the stairs.]

[Early graffiti?]

[Pompeii is noted for its erotic frescos.  Unfortunately, Maria did not show us any of them.  😉 ]

[A major thoroughfare.]

[Looking down the hill . . .]

[Climbing up the hill.  Upon further review, that is Maria’s arm.]

[Suspected to be an early fast food restaurant . . .]

[With it’s buffet line food containers.]

[Heading for the upscale part of town.]

[This was some rich guy’s house!  Don’t know how’d it do in today’s market – probably have to subdivide it into condominiums.]

[Nice art on the walls.]

[Nice skylight over the living area.]

[Just a little nook art?]

[More art.]

[The bath . . . or sauna?]

[His interior courtyard.  He must have been an original pizza franchisee!]

[Definitely, the bath.]

[More frescos.]

[The courtyard, again.]

[A really well-preserved fresco.]

[The Vesuvius victims.]

[A ceiling sample.]

[Back out in the neighborhood.]

[Another fast food joint?]

[Do we have everyone?]

[Another rich guy’s place?]

[The supervisor in a crosswalk.]

[I don’t think it would meet today’s ADA requirements!]

[The Ruizes, as we continue down the long road to . . .]

[Well, whatever it is, we’re getting closer.]

[Ooops, a couple more stops along the way.]

[Another rich guy’s house, with a view of Vesuvius.]

[The wine cellar?]

[Another interior court.]

[The ceiling work was like a cathedral.  Amazing!]

[A bath, would be my guess.  😉 ]

[A discussion of . . .]

[This is what our mind’s-eye sees when we think of Pompeii.]

[Friezes.]

[We don’t know the original nationality of “Obert.”  When I checked the Ellis Island website for the years of the big European immigration (1890 – 19-teens), most of the Oberts came from Italy?  So, a distant relative?]

[Forgot to ask, I wonder if Maria is an Obert (OK, or knows of any).   🙂 ]

[Our destination, Pompeii’s forum which at one time contained temples to Apollo and Jupiter, among others.]

[And there’s Vesuvius, to get your bearings.]

[Let’s just walk around the forum, a huge place.]

[Statuary to the delight of the Shankars.]

[The statue of the guy once known as “Lefty.”]

[Ciao, Vesuvius!]

[We’re heading out, back to the gate from whence we started.]

[Back down to the obligatory touristy commercial area.]

[The ladies go in search of . . . the water closets?]

[Waiting for the bus – fellow cruisers, or locals?]

[Selfies!]

Break time!  We’re a little over half way through this busy day’s venue, so I think it behooves me to cut it off here.  Take a potty and beverage break and return when you’re well rested.  So, we’re done with Pompeii . . .

Next up:  Part II, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.