alexandriacardinals

February 14

[Why yes, we also found it “premature” that the program already had the Cards facing Fergus Falls in the section final?  😉  That could have been bulletin board material for Northern Lakes!  The Lightning, incidentally, are a cooperative of Aitkin, Crosby-Ironton, Pequot Lakes, and Pine River-Backus, and they came in with an impressive 20-6 record.]

[So the Super and I were all set to reprise our usual anniversary date with a romantic evening at the RCC for the girls’ hockey section semi-finals. But the “bug” that’s been going around struck her the night before and placed her on the injured reserve list. She ordered up a large container of Hunan’s hot and sour soup on a take out order, and I “dated” classmate Brad Anderson for the game.]

[The Cards came in as healthy as they’ve been all year.  Starting goalie Sarah Finley was back after a sprained ankle caused her to miss three weeks; and McKenzie Revering appeared ready to take on several shifts after missing the regular season recovering from ACL surgery.  The first time the two senior captains would be on the ice together this year.]

[Roger Riley assured victory by singing the National Anthem . . . over the years, the team has had a very good record when he has done so.]

[And we’re off and skating with the line of Calley Richardson (19), Kristin Trosvig (15), and McKenna Ellingson (24).]

[For the first half of the 1st period, it looked like we were going to be in for a real tussle. The Lightning kept us bottled up in our own zone.]

[Here’s Mayson Toft (14), Anna Doherty (7), Alexis Heckert (20), and Josie Minnerath (6).]

[I thought Mayson had a very solid game.  As a freshman, she probably really enjoys being paired on defense with Rev.]

[Find the puck, you’ll find Calley – here with Kristin and Rev (29).]

[The Calley, Kristin, McKenna line got stronger and stronger as the game went on to the extent that whenever they were on the ice, the puck stayed in the Lightning’s zone.]

[Alexis Heckert (20) would join the scoring brigade in period 2.]

[GOOAAALLL!  After the Cards were outplayed early, Calley got the puck and stickhandled through four Lightning defenders and scored.  Just the jump start the team needed.]

[The Cards took over the game from here – the Lightning got no more shots on goal in the period after Calley scored.  Here Allison O’Kane (36) and Marki Oberg (10) lead an attack.]

[Marki swoops by an interested Cardinal bench.]

[Rev pulled regular shifts and took several shots.]

[She didn’t quite finish this one but the time will come.  She had an assist in the game.]

[Calley finds the puck again as Alexis stands by.]

[With Megan Pesta (8) and Kristin on the ice together, we were in the midst of a line change.]

[Rev]

[Marki and Rev battle along the boards.]

[Calley’s down . . . but she popped back up immediately.]

[McKenna looks like she just fired a shot.]

[More offense from the Cards . . . ]

[After a faceoff in the Ligthning’s zone . . . ]

[Kristin circles out front . . . ]

[And shoots . . . ]

[And scores!!]

[The Cards were now up 2 – 0 with about a minute left in the period.]

[After another foray into the Lightning zone, the Cards got caught too far up ice.  The Lightning snuck behind them for a breakaway goal with less than a minute left – a real Cardinal sin, so to speak.]

[After one]

[The Cards must have been upset about giving up that goal at the end of the period.]

[They came out buzzing to start the 2nd period.]

[Less than 3 minutes in, first Alexis scored . . . ]

[Then another rush . . . ]

[Megan, Hadlee Hansen (18) and Marki keep the puck in . . . ]

[McKenna shoots . . . ]

[And scores!!  The game was unofficially over then . . . ]

[Alexis, et al]

[Anna and Josie]

[Megan]

[Rev, Kristin, and McKenna in on goal again . . . ]

[A scrum around the goal . . . this happened a lot.]

[But the puck sneaks out the back door . . . ]

[Alexis on the draw with Mayson on point.]

[Alexis at the door step.]

[Anna on the move.  Four more years to watch her and Marki.]

[Kristin carries into the zone.]

[With Calley trailing.]

[Kristin shoots with Calley screening the goalie.]

[Then the scuffle.]

[Mayson tagging a Lightning.]

[McKenna tries a backhander.]

[But a nice stop by the goalie.]

[Oooh, the puck is hiding in plain sight.]

[Kristin shoots . . . ]

[And then Josie scored!]

[The Cards came back with more pressure immediately.  Calley is joined by Olivia Kopp (40).]

[Calley is point blank.]

[@#$%^& puck!]

[Kristin swoops in . . . and scores!]

[The Cards were flying – the only thing in doubt was the final score.]

[The 3rd period began with more of the same.

[Alexis one on four . . . ]

[Clears some space . . . ]

[Then Josie and Anna takeover . . . ]

[Then Megan scored . . .]

[Then McKenna scored . . . ]

[Then Marki scored . . . ]

[Then McKenna completed a hat trick!]

[The boys in the booth look dumfounded.]

[Then Kristin got her hat trick.  The whole evening was quite an offensive explosion.]

[The game should give the team a lot of confidence as they take on Fergus for the section championship . . . TONIGHT!]

Why is a puck called a puck?  Because dirty little bastard was taken.  ~  Martin Brodeur

January 16

[It’s time to recognize we’re going on a cruise!  And unlike Kellyanne, I’m free to give a plug to our travel agency!  🙂  ]

[Our room key – it gets scanned whenever you go off and on the boat to make sure they know where you are.]

[The ship, we were on the Lower Promenade Deck at the rear of the ship.]

[Pulling out of Sydney . . . goodbye Opera House.]

[Ah, life at sea.  Immediately repair to Kathy and Bert’s penthouse for a little taste of the grape on their “patio.”]

[The onboard staff photographer and I exchange photo ops.  And I even got a selfie out of it.]

[No use crying over spilled sauvignon blanc.]

[Looking out our window from the back of the boat (technically, the stern).  Sydney is now long gone.]

[Our first dinner in the ship’s dining room . . . ]

[I have no recollection of our dining options.]

[And I didn’t remember to use the camera until we got to this course.]

[Each night our cabin stewards, Roby and Moh, left a “towel animal” on our bed.]

[Then back on deck for sunset shots.  We’re heading south to Melbourne.]

[Say good night, Reetz!  She and Shari, incidentally, had the room right next to ours.]

It was good to travel to the other side of the world.  ~  Andre Braugher

January 15

[Our last day in Sydney.  We could board our cruise ship at noon but there were more places to see – besides it would be a mob scene then.  We checked out of our hotel at 10:00 and began exploring.  The first thought for some of us was to walk across Harbour Bridge (no, not on top!) and to get there we had to walk right past our ship and figure out where to board. Bill and the Super lead the approach.]

[Our ship, the Maasdam. While we were gone local friends were taking a Holland America line through the Panama Canal.  When we all got back to Alex, Paul asked what “dam” Holland America ship we were on.]

[Continuing our adventure, here Bill flanked by The Biddies approaches the stairwell to the bridge’s road surface.  I couldn’t count all the stairs because I can only count to 10 in Australian.]

[After the long climb, we’re up . . . always remembering to walk on the left!]

[The initial views from the bridge . . . ]

[And there’s our boat.]

[And there are the daredevils making the climb over the top.]

[Hey, that’s dangerous!!]

[A famous Sydney landmark, again.]

[Our boat, again, looking back into Circular Quay.]

[Tourists already swarming the waterfront on a Sunday morning.]

[Can you find our Marriott?  Later we would schlep our luggage from there to the ship on foot.]

[Well, I guess we were due for a cloudy day.]

[We must be about to the center of the bridge now.]

[Looking back at whence we came.]

[Hooray for Hollywood!!  Hey, where’s the beard (under which I discovered extra jowls but no lips)?]

[We separated from The Biddies on the far side of the bridge.  They were going to take public transportation back into the city, and Bill and I were going to walk back across the bridge to Government House where we would meet Anne and Shari . . . and maybe The Biddies later.  In the botanic gardens on the way to Government House, another giant . . . yup, fig tree.]

[There’s Government House ahead.  From Wikipedia:  Government House is located in Sydney alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney Harbour, just south of the Sydney Opera House. Constructed between 1837 and 1843, the property has been the official residence of the Governor of New South Wales since Sir George Gipps, except for two brief periods; the first between 1901 and 1914, when the property was leased to the Commonwealth of Australia as the residence of the Governor-General of Australia, and the second from 1996 to 2011. The property was returned as the Governor’s residence in October 2011 and was managed by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales from March 1996 to December 2013.]

[Gum tree . . . ]

[Fig tree]

[We couldn’t take any photos inside.  These are the gardens from the porches on the waterside of the house.]

[Shari and Anne enjoying the view.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves.]

[Anne providing perspective for the fig tree.]

[A Christmas tree at the end of each branch?]

[A red flower]

[From the Super, past the waterfront at Circular Quay early on.  Then after the bridge walk . . . ]

[While we were exploring Government House, The Biddies were doing this! Boarding the train system on the far side of Harbour Bridge . . . ]

[To go to Queen Victoria Building, originally built in 1898, the QVB has been described as the most beautiful shopping center in the world.  The Biddies love to shop!]

[Then a goodbye to our hotel . . . ]

[Finally, aboard the ship!  This was a cruise after all.  Arriving at about 3:00, we cruised right through all the check points as we were the only folks going through at the time.]

[Our room was at the very back of the boat.  Here was our in port view.]

[Where we would reside for the next two weeks.]

[And where I would reside in the moment.]

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.  ~  Susan Sontag

February 12

[Yeah, we were looking forward to this – kinda wondering how it was going to work? We have seen other Shaun performances in Alex, both with Tonic Sol-fa and the Big Band Experience, but never with an entire symphony orchestra?]

[Symphony president and violinist extraordinaire, Greg Donahue, sets the stage.]

[Maestro Brad Lambrecht leads the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra with Shaun’s Big Band, consisting of a piano player, a double bass player, a drummer, a trumpet player, a trombone player, and two saxophonists.  Shaun was the singer.]

[The tenor from Tonic Sol-fa joined Shaun for one song.  Loved it.]

[Shaun and a groupie after the show.  Actually, we name dropped.  We told him we were close personal friends of Jeanne and Tom Mulder.  Underwhelmed by that piece of news, he decided he would pose with the Super anyway.  But seriously, Shaun was only too happy to send greetings to the Mulders, and we thanked him for a truly powerful and wonderful show.  Oh, and it was quite obvious that the orchestra and Shaun’s band were really have fun playing together.]

[Citing near starvation, the Super made me stop at Subway on the way home.  The basketball courts across the street (9th and Broadway) were ice rinks created solely by Mother Nature.  This winter of constant thaws has made it necessary for the Obert household to drive the car to the end of the driveway every morning to get the newspaper – walking there is not possible because the entire driveway is a sheet of ice.  It didn’t help that we had rain the night before – on February 11, once considered to be the middle of winter.]

After playing the violin for the cellist Gregor Piatgorsky, Albert Einstein asked, “Did I play well?” “You played relatively well,” replied Piatgorsky.