A Karate Tournament

    Today was my son's Karate school tournament. I believe it was the 2013 New York State Championships. I got a phone call the other night, requesting my help at the front table. Just like last year, I got to take care of the spectators. You know, "You want to watch your kid compete? It'll cost you a modest sum."


    Don't get me wrong, it's fun. I get to meet all these people, and very few give me a hard time. Julie took care of the people who had pre-registered, and Jen Jackson handled the walk ins. That is one job I would not want to do. But they all come in knowing how much it's gonna cost.


    I got to watch my son compete. I enjoy that very much. Truly, the only time I see him smiling at these events is when he's in the ring, ready to spar. Anyway, here are a few photos I took today. My son has had that "Karate face" since he was 10.

    The final results for forms, Jess got 1st in that one:

    In this last one, that's my Hubs on the left, behind him is son-in-law Mike, daughter Sara, and Miss Julie is sitting on the floor. Believe me, it was cooler down there!

Stitch n Bitch and Other News

    This morning, we had our weekly get-together for Stitch n Bitch. All four of us were there. We had a nice breakfast, and got to work. Jan has been working on a hoodie for her son Sean, Kim has started a drop stitch summer sweater in a really cool thick and thin yarn. I am still working on Ozzy's cat bed. It's getting near the end, as I'm running out of yarn. I just have to make sure I have enough left to bind off. I think Cheryl must be too busy these days to have time to knit, I'm glad she finds the time to make it to group. Since her kids are no longer in Karate, this in the only time we get to see her!


    It was so hot yesterday, and it's going to be even hotter today. Last evening after it cooled off a bit, I put our whole house fan on. I love these things. They are big fans in the ceiling in the center of the house. When they're turned on,  they suck air in from outside through the open doors and windows. In the summer, I put it on early in the morning and suck cool air into the house before it gets hot. Then in the evening, after it cools off some, and it's still hot inside, I put it on again. This is assuming we aren't using the air conditioners yet. And we aren't. Yet.


   Anyway, while the fan was on last evening, I could smell my lilacs. That made me very happy. Even Hubs could smell them. I'm assuming it was Miss Kim I was smelling, as she's in the front yard, and I was sitting by the window at the front of the house.


    In other news, I got a call from my son today. He asked me to help out at their Karate tournament tomorrow. I get to "man" the table that sells the spectator bracelets. I did it last year, and it was lots of fun. You get to meet all kinds of people.


    I'm going to try and remember to bring my camera. Maybe I'll get to take some photos this time. But don't hold your breath, just in case.   

our most recent trip

    We got home just a few days ago from our most recent trip. You might have guessed we weren't home, there were little hints in the posts I wrote while we were away. This time Hubs had to attend training outside of Boston. We were there about twelve days.


    This time, we weren't alone. Hubs' co-worker Jason attended as well, and his girlfriend came along too. So there the four of us were. I got a lot of knitting done this trip. But we had some fun as well.


   We went up to Nashua, New Hampshire to go shopping one evening. And they both came with us to the karate tournament that Saturday. It was held in a hotel only about eighteen miles from our hotel, so of course we went! That was one loooong Saturday!


    It's nice to be away from home for a while, but it's always sweet to finally get home. I was so happy to finally sleep in my own bed. I had brought my pillow from home, so at least I had that. But I didn't bring my body pillow. I made do with some of the many pillows that the hotel provided.


    I was afraid that our cat, Ozzy, would be really pissed at us when we got home. After all, I had reports from the people that we had checking on him that he was attacking them. I think he was mad that they weren't his mommy and daddy. Ozzy was, in fact, very happy to see us! He hasn't left me alone since then. The first night, he came into our bedroom four separate times, meowing loudly, and woke me up. I talked to him, but he wouldn't stop. Eventually he left the room. It's like he was reassuring himself that we were really home.

Adventures in parenthood

    This is my first post in two days. Truly, nothing was going on on Friday. Nothing to report, except progress on the current sweater. Which is a good thing.


    Yesterday, however, we drove out to Andover, Mass. to watch our son compete in a karate tournament. It dragged on forever. We had Jason and Becky with us, and I felt bad that it was so boring. This was their very first tournament to watch. When finally the Master Divisions were called, we all perked up. His being a 4th degree black belt makes him a Master now. He didn't do breaking, but did forms and sparring. His form was excellent, but he didn't place.


    His first two fights were excellent, you can see he really enjoys doing that. But during his third fight (in a row, with only a 30 second break in between, I must add) I saw something I hoped to never see. He got a kick straight to the jaw, and went down like a sack of potatoes. My heart stopped. As soon as he hit the floor, he got up and wanted to continue the fight. But he was swaying, and unsteady on his feet.


     They made him sit down, and he got examined by someone. I'm not sure if that person had medical training, or lots of fighting experience.  Either way, he recovered, and wanted to continue. The Judges stopped the fight, wouldn't let him fight any more, and gave him first place. They gave second to the man who kicked him, but wouldn't let that guy compete in the Grand Championships either.


    I have to say, no matter that your kids are all grown up, that sight can still stop a mom's heart. He did have a whopper of a headache, and didn't want to drive home last night. He and Julie stayed at a hotel and headed home after breakfast.


   I must say, that in all his years of learning karate and competing in tournaments, he has been really lucky. He broke a finger when he was an orange belt, and as a red belt, got his chest wall bruised. But he has never been seriously hurt. Knock on wood.


    Even though I brought my knitting with me, I never broke it out during the tournament. There were like 10 rings going all at once, and there was a lot to see. There were people there from all over the country, and even the world! I saw teams from Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina. There were teams in attendance from Canada, Wales, and even South Africa!! Amazing.


    It was very crowded in there, so we spent some time in the hotel lobby just hanging out until the crowd thinned down a little. As the underbelts finished, they would leave, and make more room. So the theory goes. It was still corowded when we finally went in, but we found a place to sit, against the wall, and when things got going we stood on the chairs to see better. Alot of people were doing that.


    All in all, Jason and Becky enjoyed themselves. They learned alot, and would like to see another tournament, maybe a little closer to home.