FEST

Well, we didn’t win the lottery, so there are not trees in my neighborhood decorated with money.

Woke up at 530AM for a bus ride to Lancaster Mass for soccer games.  Was cold and rainy with a forecast showing an inch of snow/rain.

In Connecticut, the snow was falling and we all thought it was going to be a mess.

An old college friend, Chris sees my facebook post that we are coming up to play soccer.

I read the response, and Chris says he will try to stop at the field after he teaches a class.


This day in history “On March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower's designer, and attended by French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard, a handful of other dignitaries, and 200 construction workers.
In 1889, to honor of the centenary of the French Revolution, the French government planned an international exposition and announced a design competition for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris. Out of more than 100 designs submitted, the Centennial Committee chose Eiffel's plan of an open-lattice wrought-iron tower that would reach almost 1,000 feet above Paris and be the world's tallest man-made structure. Eiffel, a noted bridge builder, was a master of metal construction and designed the framework of the Statue of Liberty that had recently been erected in New York Harbor”

The weather cooperates and around 1:30PM Chris comes walking onto the field 3 sideline.  We shake hands and hug as if time had stood still for the past 10 years.  Each of us now older and wiser than when we last saw each other have a lot of catching up to do.

We decide to leave after the first game to grab some coffee and a sandwich at a farm store a mile down the road.  We are both pleasantly surprised to be able to order a half sandwich, and soup and find a small table on the edge of the gift shop.

Funny how I had to say a New England a couple of times when ordering the clam chowder, as if there was a choice.  Chris helped out the girl at the counter, by saying; he will have a “Clam Chowder”…New England of course, why would there be Manhattan ?

We exchange stories about the kids, the old neighborhood, college days.  Some philosophical, theological, and just good old kibitzing about things goes on for an hour or so….

We head back to the fields and Chris and I continue to chat till he decides it is time to get home.  What a great afternoon…imagine if Sue was here too.  After all Sue and Chris were friends before I joined the college scene at NYIT.

So, you are probably wondering about the soccer games.  MC United take a 1-0 loss in the 1st game and a 3-0 win on the 2^nd game.  All in all a good day.

A great idea to take a bus up and back, and as usual the boys had a lot of fun.  The mood on the bus, upbeat on the ride home.  Most folks falling asleep, during or after the movie ended.

Kyle’s knee hurts, and now that we look at it, it looks like two knees.  Some ice and advil are on the menu for tomorrow.

I have a load of pictures to download.

This picture is from the field, taken by my friend Chris.  Stolen from facebook. 

I don’t really know how I got the nickname “Fest”….and it doesn’t matter.  It is what Chris has called me, forever….

Photo of the day “Fest”