Winter weather is now fully with us. Time to put out the bird-feeders and provide a little help to the animals now scrounging for food…except the squirrels…we are not encouraging the squirrels (see my earlier blog about squirrel bowling).
As a parting gift at our party last weekend we gave each guest a small bag of seed similar to the one above. Just like tomten we can play our part and possibly bring ourselves some luck in the new year. We have our niece Karin to thank for bringing this tradition to our family.
We started a bit of a whirling dervish on Friday evening. As a fund raiser UMass Memorial has begun a Winter Ball and this was the kick-off event for our weekend. This black tie event—Christmas red tie in my case—was held in the restored Mechanics Hall in Worcester. Cheri looked gorgeous—as usual—in an evening dress and we tapped our way through the evening.
The Ball included a VIP Reception into which we tap-danced our way. Then it was on to a great dinner, live music, dancing, a silent auction and a live auction.
  |   |
   We are fortunate that Scott’s continued involvement with the Naval Academy Athletic Association gets him access to great seats. So we were on the Club level with seats right in front of the Press Boxes. Being in the last row of the Section was great since we could stand when we wanted without bothering anyone behind us.   The Brigade marched on—three hours before game time so the stands were not anywhere near full—and we stayed outside to watch that and then went inside to have some lunch prior to game time (while the Midshipmen and Cadets sat outside in the stands—go figure).
The end result was the same as the last eight years with Navy coming out on top. Although Army seemed to make it a game going into half-time with a 3 – 0 lead; Navy came out firing for the second half and won 17 – 3.  | We headed out from Woodstock at 6 a.m. with a quick stop in New Jersey to meet up with Papa, Scott and Deb. Cheri stayed with Nana and Laura in the warm house in NJ while the rest of us were chauffeured by Scott to Philadelpia for the game. It was a sunny but cool day with the temperatures in the high 30’s at game time and heading down…although it wasn’t too bad out of the wind. From where we parked we had to head through the forming up of the Brigade and the Corps to enter in to Lincoln Field. We were able to find Tim in the formation (who was attending his final game as a Midshipman) and then we went in to find our seats.    Also on the Club level we had access to a large indoor area with food stations and restrooms which allowed us to stay warm prior to the game and at half time.  To see a little of the pre-game pageantry you can double-click on the photo to the left and to see the football team coming on to the field double-click the photo below.
Following the game there was once again the moving tradition of singing the alma-maters with the teams standing respectfully in front of the other’s student body. |
We met up with Tim following the game and headed out to Roy’s restaurant for dinner with his “friend” Kayla’s family. It was a wonderful meal and the company was great for the victory dinner.
Scott drove us all back to NJ for the evening and it is back to Connecticut on Sunday. Another successful adventure.
0 comments:
Post a Comment