Once again, it has taken me a lot longer to sit down and make an entry, than I had planned. It is over 60 degrees here, today, and I just returned from a nice four mile walk. There were tons of people outside, like me, trying to soak up the nice weather. Each year, when that first burst of nice weather comes, I take the bait and allow myself to think that, Spring is here. Deep down though, I know better than to think, Winter is completely finished with us. After this long, cold and snowy, Covid Winter, I find myself looking forward to Spring more than usual.

Last week, I found myself with enough energy, if not inspiration (there may have been some nudging involved, too), to take on what for a handier man, would have been a small home improvement project. Painting a 12 X 12 bedroom (ceiling, walls and moldings), should be relatively painless and not take more than a couple of days. I am a bit of a perfectionist, though. So, it took me the better part of four days. I do think, it came out pretty good. I don’t quite enjoy painting, but there can be some sense of satisfaction, when it’s done.

Other than painting every inch of the bedroom, I tried to watch as much Lacrosse, as possible. I probably watched the better part of at least three games (and I am actually, kind of watching one now, UAlbany 7, Hofstra 2, at the half). It is still early in the season, but this year’s North Carolina’s Women’s Team, looks especially good to me. I have gotten to see UNC several times now, and Boston College twice. They met this past week in a very interesting matchup. BC began the game very well in the Draw Circle and had some early success on Offense. Defensively, BC face guarded UNC Attacker, Katie Hoeg and at least for awhile, Jamie Ortega, as well. With all that open space, the other Carolina players showed just how dangerous they can be and by half time it was 10-7 UNC, and BC had given up on shutting off Ortega and even went to a Backer Zone for a spell. The Tar Heel Defense held BC to 2 Goals in the second half, as they ended up cruising to a 21-9 Victory. I am looking forward to seeing UNC take on Syracuse and hopefully, Northwestern and/or Notre Dame – not sure about the Covid restricted scheduling.

The other main activity that I have settled into now, is NHL Hockey. With a shorter season, the schedule has games pretty much every night for the couple of months, when the playoffs will begin. Another interesting thing about this season, is the re-configured Divisions, based on Regions, to reduce travel. And you only play the teams in your Division, so there are tons of super competitive games against the every teams you need to finish ahead of. Also, playing the same teams night after night, leads to some “grudge match” type games – in other words a good chance for fights! It isn’t every night, but many nights, several of us (or at least me and Karl) will sit down for a couple of hours of hockey. With so much uninterrupted action, it has become my second favorite sport to watch.

While today’s warm weather has me looking forward to Spring, I am not putting away the Snow Board just yet. I hope to go again within the next couple of weeks.