Fantastic Form!

What kind of throw is THAT?!















THIS is PERFECT form for throwing a bocce ball. Bill can place a ball anywhere he wants to. He and Ellen were champs last year, and I tell ya what, that Bill can put the ball right next to the polina....kissing the polina.....or he can knock your ball right off the court. VERY IMPORTANT! Take note of the beer bottle in Bill's left hand for balance.



Also note: Flip-flops have been designated the official footwear for the sport of bocce.

Tourney Runner Ups.....They Took Down the Roths! And Other Assorted Highlights....

These are the young ladies that did it, the unthinkable! They took the Roths "delle stelle dalle stalle".....from the stars to the stables. The crowd was stunned. The Annas were stunned! The "A" Team. Anna and Anna....we always knew they were bound for glory.



The Browns graciously share the spotlight with these worthy competitors



Anna M. shows us her style....hahaha....well, it works, Annie.....



Note the intensity on Anna C.'s face....



Never mind that two faces are cut in half in this photo, the excitement in Anna's "YES!" move, shows us her competitive drive!


I woke up Sunday morning with my hair all glumped together and matted to my head. Hmmmm.....well, this guy, this Lenny Korzon, he's the the ONE! Tossing beer on my head for making him and Deb play the Roths in the opening rounds. Hey, Buster!, I'm the Bocce Boss here...the Bocce Ballmeister. I also want to recognize Lenny for his hilarious wisecracks during the championship rounds.....hahaha. I do wonder, though, what the heck are Ellen and Deb up to back there?



Get Chris and Ellen to tell you the story of their A.C. Moore Painting Class.....hahaha! Those things in the foreground there, they used to be trees. These things are WAY more interesting than a "Tree, church, mountain" A. C. Moore painting.....you go! girls!!



OK, this is Mary....before her moment. Mary looks so calm and collected. It's deceiving. In a matter of 20 seconds Mary went from a "Thrill of Victory" leap and dance and hoopla, to an "agony of defeat" crumple and collapse to the ground. Mary, have you recovered yet?



This is Robyn taking charge with the measuring tape.....



This is Robyn doing her thing.....her silly, lively, spirited thing. Robyn leaps, she dances around the court, she hooplas.....


And so Robyn wins the "most animated" prize....it's a book of Italian phrases....dirty Italian phrases. We think she's the one who can make the most out of this material!



The Graffers are a little underwhelmed with their prize of Anchovy Paste.....which they won for coming in, I don't know, third or fourth or something like that....



Margaret, on the other hand, is overwhelmed with her Bocce Basement prize (though the Thorns did actually make the cut to the Championship Rounds don't forget) of chopped and sliced olives. Art seems to be pretty happy too. After their ignamonious start, they were expecting a half-used box of pasta.....


And last but not least is Mark. Oh man, Mark took the Italian Sayings Contest to very serious heights. He was spouting Italian all night long.....with vigor, with emotive body language. He was truly the champ of great and hilarious sayings....


Here, Mark is reciting some of the best of his many wonderful maxims. The one I can remember the best and laughed at the hardest....."My parsley is not so good.....and then the cat peed on it!" Oh goodness. Thatsa good one!! Thanks, Mark, for sharing your Italian knowledge with the rest of us. Forza!! (way to go!)


More photos yet to come.....

The 2008 Bocce Tournament Champions!!

Who woulda thought it could happen? Last year the Browns were DEAD last.....chopped olives, tiny pasta...they were in the Bocce Basement. But this year the Browns took care of BUSINESS. It went down like this: First, they invited us to join them at the Bluebird and insisted on paying for our beer. "You like-a the beer, we must-a pay for your beer!" The Godfather came up. Frank even asked us if we had a horse.....yiyiyikes! We saw the Browns the next day at the Lititz Market and Frank asked how we liked our beer. Uh-huh.



So Godfather Brown showed up all in black..... down to his sandles and black socks. All he needs is some gold...chains around the neck, etc. Ring on the pinkie.


Chris looked so innocent at this point....all smiles and roasted tomatoes with cheese and pesto. Man-o-man, she deserves to win a prize!



Frank shows us his form.....he musta been practicing....



Chris shows us her stuff....she's in the ZONE....



Now Chris is getting cocky and puffing her stuff. Watch OUT!!



Frank wants to be sure every ball is measured JUST right! Why are Denny and Fran even letting the Godfather do the measuring?? Chris is overseeing the calibrations, making sure Frank does it with appropriate accuracy.



Frank is once AGAIN checking out the measurements while Mary and Amy look on. Brian and Kirk look a little skeptical, but Frank makes sure his balls are the closest....and no one questions the Man in Black.....



Chris is feeling her oats now! Making sure the story is going down just like it should.



Chris does the VICTORY Strutt.....dancing, leaping, up and down the Court in Jubulation! She was one happy winner.....



Oh yeah, those Browns know how to celebrate!! They got the win. They got the style. They ARE the Champions......of the World!

Eye-Popping Amish Sights!

I traveled back and forth down Rt. 772 to Wilmington, DE four times this past weekend. It was a lot. But the scenery is great, there through Amish country....like a postcard. Tunnels of corn. Yep, the corn is as high as an elephant's eye as they say in Oklahoma. And I saw some really unusual sights, two of which were within 1/4 mile of each other. Truly eye-popping!

I don't know how it works with mules. They're sterile, right? Does this mean that they're asexual? I'm not sure, I'm not that up on muleology. But I found out that they definitely HAVE a sex life. Most definitely! I was just coming out of a corn tunnel when there in the pasture on the right was one mule mounted on another mule....OK...having sex. I've seen this before.....interesting, but not anything to write home about. But THEN, Mule #3 hopped on board, mounting Mule #2. Holy Mackeral!, it was a Mule Menage a Trois! This was quite a stack-up! I'm wondering how Mule #1 felt about all this....that's definitely a heavy load if you're the mule on the bottom. Truly, I am NOT making this up. I would never think of a thing like this....EVER! I do wonder now, thinking about it, I wonder if farmer Stolzfus is aware that sometimes there's Mule hanky panky....a mule threesome even!.... out there in his field.

I kid you not, I went around the curve, it couldn't have been more than 1/4 of a mile when I came upon the next great sight there on the left. It was a giant Amish CUPCAKE!! There was this little, small, tiny miniature horse straining to pull this cart up the driveway incline to the main road. This poor little guy (or gal) was having quite a struggle trying to get his footing in the gravel to make it up that little hill with his load. The cart was a small straight-sided yellow homemade wagon, probably built with 6 year-olds in mind. But in this cart were two very sturdy older teenaged Amish girls, round-faced, billowing over the top of the cart sides. My first thought was "muffin" but with their bottoms and pastel dresses swelling over the edges of the cart, I swear, it looked like icing, a confection, a cupcake. Except that I felt sorry for the little horse pulling his giant cupcake, I would've been really laughing...actually, I was laughing, but felt a little cruel about it. So I was quite relieved, when I looked back in my rear-view mirror, to see that he'd made it up the gravel drive and was actually pulling the cupcake down the flatter, paved, main road.

Ellen's Garden Party and Assorted Other Good Times

I like taking pictures and usually at any Wag event, I bring along the camera and catch people at their best.....or at least.....hahaha. Sometimes, though, I forget to bring the camera, or I get lazy, or I don't know, sometimes I feel like pointing my camera at someone and taking pictures is an intrusion. Also, I don't always want to be focused on recording a good time for the future, I just want to concentrate on having a good time right now. Does that make sense?

We've had a couple of events that I thought were wonderful that weren't recorded. Kathy's yoga night under the sky.....ah, so relaxing...and then good food and conversation al fresco. I love those lazy summer outdoor gatherings. The yoga was very cool, laying there, looking up, watching birds and planes go by. Taking time to notice the silhouette of the trees against the sky. Really, really nice, Kathy. We all needed that. Actually, as I recall, I think this event developed out of need. A need to have something to look forward to. I know my sagging spirits lifted when I saw Kathy's Yoga Night coming up out there on the horizon.

Another recent gathering....oh my!....at the Walker Estate needs to be shouted about. Holy mackeral, the GARDEN! Holy mackeral, the VIEW! from their deck! Holy mackeral, the great SAUSAGES! and other food. A night in June on the Walker deck overlooking the garden, with beautiful surroundings, great food, and even better company.....well, it's recorded in my memory as a superb and wonderful time. Thank you, Jono and Julia!

And that Ellen! Talk about gardens! Put the rest of us to shame, why don't cha?! Plant extravaganzas, oh my! Planter combinations, oh my! Whatever-it-was-we-had-to-drink, oh my! Cecille joining our group again, how good! and laughing, laughing, laughing, oh my! So sweet, Ellen.