First time for everything

Yesterday was a great sports day for me.  If you've been reading my blog for any period you'll know I love curling...not playing but watching.  I'm a heck of a skip from the stands; I love the strategy and the finesse required to make the shots.  I've been told most people think of it as exciting as watching paint dry...I say they just don't understand the game.

I pretty much grew up in curling and hockey rinks. My parents both curled, my mom even reached the Northern (Saskatchewan) playdowns a couple of times.  My dad made ice for a local one-sheet curling rink for many years, and was the assistant coach for my younger brother's hockey team.  Winter time was also busy as we went from one bonspiel or hockey tournament to the next.  

The Continental Cup of Curling has been on television the past few days and yesterday were the final games of the event.  If you watch golf at all, you know about Skins games and these finals were played in a similar format.  Canada played well all weekend and needed only a few points to win the cup...which they reached mid-point of the first series of games in the morning.  The rest of the games were played for the bonus cash - the Canadian teams won that too.  

In between the games, I walked out to Oceanside Place to watch the Oceanside Generals junior B hockey team play the Kerry Park (Nanaimo) Islanders play.  The first two periods were close, but were marred by numerous fights and multiple penalties.  It all started with the Islanders first goal early in the game when the goal scorer grabbed his jersey and gestured towards the Generals bench.

At one point close to the end of the second period, I hollered "let's see you guys play some hockey" and someone else in the crowd yelled, "That would be a great idea!"  They went to the dressing rooms at the end of the 2nd period tied 3-3, shortly after two players were given game misconducts for fighting.

In the third period, they actually took my advice, and the rest of the game was great.  Fast-paced, lots of stick handling and far fewer penalties (though there were was a 10 minute misconduct - Generals and another player evicted - Islanders).  The goalies got a workout and two minutes before the end of the game the score was 8-6 for the Generals.  The Islanders tried to rally and pulled their goalie, but it was too little, too late.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the game (despite the rough play) and enjoyed my walk to and from the rink.  I even added a total of 6 kilometers to my walking total!

This morning I attended a drop-in yoga class at the Child, family and youth centre here in town. I've never done yoga before...I've learned I have very little balance especially when standing on my right leg, but the stretching felt good.  K arrives tomorrow, she's done yoga before, so I think I'll ask if she wants to attend Wednesday's class.  

Before I head out for today's walk, I have to share this e-mail I received from my brother R yesterday.

Here's a dinner conversation you won't hear in every house: 
L (12 year-old daughter) "I need to take a shower". K (14 year old son) "use the one upstairs". 
Mom " L , we'll just take the porcupine out of the tub and you can shower down here". 
Yup, back when I was putting coyotes, dead birds and fish in mom's freezer, this was the family I dreamed of!

I'm sure you're wondering why there was a porcupine in the bathtub.  Well it was de-barking some of the trees in their yard, so K dispatched it earlier this weekend.  His mom and he brought the frozen carcass into the house and put in the tub so they could remove some of the quills.  As to why they want the quills I have no idea.

Have a great day everyone!