I will begin on last Thursday, with myself, still in the beginning stages of painting the Laundry Room. I think I mentioned, in an earlier post, that I don’t love painting and my perfectionist side makes any such job, take substantially longer, than it really should. I always seem to end up doing these things in stages – tape then paint the ceiling, tape then paint the walls, tape again then paint the moldings. Depending on what other things you are doing, while the paint dries, it can stretch a two or three day job into a week, easily.

So while the Ceiling Paint was drying, I was able to watch Boston College dismantle Notre Dame, by a score of 19-11. This was a bit surprising, in light of Notre Dame’s strong showing the previous weekend, against North Carolina. BC appears to have really improved, since an early season loss to UNC – the Eagles only setback of the season. Charlotte North is a Rock Star/Human Highlight Reel and BC has a host of other players (Kara Urbank, Belle Smith, the Weeks sisters and Jenn Medjid) who have really hit their stride on offense. They also have an unheralded defensive unit, anchored by the spectacular Rachel Hall in Goal. Boston College could be poised to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. I hope to get another look at them tomorrow, at 6pm, when they take on another super talented, and exciting team, the Syracuse Orange at 6pm on ESPNU.

Saturday we drove out to Honesdale, PA for the COVID Style Funeral for my Great Uncle, Bill Burgemeister. The weather was appropriately dreary and cold for this somber occasion. A member of “The Greatest Generation”, Uncle Bill passed away a few months ago, at age 96. He was a World War II Veteran (Air Force), who went on to become an Electrical Engineer and then worked on several of the Apollo Space Projects at Grumman, on Long Island. In retirement, Uncle Bill became the family historian, tracing the Family Tree back a number of generations. He would have been pleased by the number of family and friends who journeyed from far and wide to pay their respects. After the Military Burial, most of the visitors gathered at a local restaurant, for a swift (though not quite rushed) luncheon. It was nice to see so many relatives, who I have not seen, in many years, despite the sad reason that had brought us all there. Rest in Peace Uncle Bill.

After Saturday’s solemnity, I was happy to be caught up in Youth Lacrosse most of Sunday. The 3rd/4th grade East Meadow Girls had a morning game at home against Oceanside. In our first game, the teams were very evenly matched. Not true, this time, as Oceanside was clearly the better team. They were more skilled and more aggressive when they had the ball, and when it was on the ground. Our girls battled hard and hopefully, learned a lot from the loss. (I am not sure of the score, maybe 6-2?)

I raced from East Meadow to Malverne High School, where our Hempstead Tigers 5th and 6th grade Boys were taking on Malverne. The Tigers were less tentative than in week one, and their aggressiveness and athleticism would carry the day. After giving up the game’s first goal, Malverne was held scoreless the remainder of the game, while Hempstead began to find its Offense and came away with a very solid 6-1, victory on the road. No matter how much you tell kids, that winning is not the most important thing – it is important to them! So, the Tigers were pretty excited to have their first win ever, in PAL Lacrosse. It was fun to be a part of it.

Both Teams had spirited and productive practices (the Boys on Monday and the Girls on Tuesday). The Boys seem hungry to continue their improvement and to build on the last game. And the Girls appeared to be unhappy with how that last game went, and were very focused on playing harder. It is always great to see kids working hard to get better. I am enjoying the journeys.

Oh, by the way (or should I say BTW), I finally finished painting the Laundry Room today! I think it came out okay. I don’t know if am happy because it came out okay, or because I was getting sick of it and am just glad to be out of that room. In either case, I’m done with it.