...Slowly I Turned...

Despite best efforts, nobody got the Inch by Inch reference.

Well here it is in living black and white cinema. A classic vaudeville routine interpreted by classically trained vaudeville players, the brothers Howard with some help from Mr. Fine.

Enjoy the references not only to Niagara Falls, but also to Pittsburgh.

Don't be shocked. Read here. Places and cites were commonly used in vaudeville as a trigger in a routine.

At the Blue Line

Here's cousin Grace (number 20) after the other team iced the puck at their Saturday night game. While on Friday night Grace scored two goals in her team's 5-0 victory, the Saturday night team was fast and a bit chippy. Grace's team was shut out 4-0.

With a 12 girl traveling squad, and playing a full Olympic sized ice sheet, they skated their hearts out and legs off. Interesting fact, three of the 12 girls are triplets!

I was impressed by how Grace skated off two hooks by the other team. But to no avail, no penalties were called. She also did a good job working the puck down the ice not only through traffic, but also along the boards.

We don't know, but we think Grace's team came the farthest for this tournament. One family's airline tickets fell through, so they drove from Denver to Toronto. Yikes!

The other teams were no help answering this question. Most wondered if Colorado was a town in Northern Ontario. In their defense all I can say it that they weren't there for a geography competition.

Inch by inch...

Yesterday we stopped off at Niagara Falls on our way back from a long Easter weekend in Toronto. That's it over John's right shoulder in case you need help.

We drove up on Good Friday to see our cousin Grace play in a hockey tournament and visit one of our favorite cities. I will add more about the trip later this week, but I thought it best to start at the end especially when I can post a photo like this. (Extra points for the person who can identify the headline. Use the comments link below.)

Science Club

Here is Janine playing foosball with some of her friends at last week's Science Club meeting. There are about seven homeschooling families that meet every three weeks or so to share tasks in teaching science.

There are four groups: 12-14, 9-11, 6-8 and under six. The last group has story time and a snack while the rest do an experiment or demonstration that builds on their reading and home activities.

Everyone benefits by sharing the teaching tasks and the kids have formed some great friendships. It's great to see how they get along and how their personalities show through.

Sarah's Birthday

We have been celebrating Sarah's birthday for the last two days. Last night we went to a local tapas bar for dinner. Naturally Sarah ordered the anchovy bruchetta among other delights. John and Janine stuck with their favorites of meat and potatoes.

When we got home late last night we opened gifts. If Sarah had a Harry Potter Christmas, then this was a Jane Austen birthday. Grammy and Gramps sent a one-volume compilation of Jane Austen as well as one of the Bronte sisters. At Target Janine found the DVD of the BBC/A&E production of Pride and Prejudice. It's six hours with all sorts of extra goodies.

Here's Sarah's cake from a party at this afternoon's Science Club session. She had a great time teasing her mother by keeping the camera to herself allowing only her friends to take pictures. Ah the joys of the teen years.

Great Card

Found this card at Target the other day. Bobbie can't wait to send it to one of the ballet ladies.

Mark of Honor

This past Tuesday I encountered an interesting man selling flowers and Steelers merchandise. He was stationed at the entrance to a garage that I parked in during a business meeting.

After the meeting as I walked past he said in a booming voice, "DO YOU KNOW THE MAIN CAUSE OF MALE PATTERN BALDNESS?" Absent mindedly I said no.

"AN EXCESS OF TESTOSTERONE. IT'S A MARK OF HONOR."

"Thank you sir!" I replied.

Skating Show

Yes the skating show really was outdoors and yes it was cold despite a clear warm afternoon. But it was probably the best weather in the past five skating shows.

The ice was smooth thanks to the nice weather as well as the Zamboni. The kids were ready to go and didn't want to leave the ice. They had their routines down and all three skated very well.

Significantly, John was the very last kid to leave the ice of all 50 plus in the show. For most of the year, he was the first off the ice with very little practice on his own. We don't know if this means anything yet, but it may be a start. This picture is worth every minute we spent driving them back and forth to the rink this winter.

Afterwards the skating director was nice enough to invite us to the skating team party despite the fact that none of our three was on the traveling skate team. Perhaps with three kids taking lessons and appearing in the show we got the volume prize. Nevertheless, we all had a great time and finally got home at 11:00 PM tired, but very happy. Finally, here's Sarah with her skate team friends, Karissa and Joe when they were preparing for the show. (Note Karissa's mom fussing with her hair.) We will bring out these pictures next fall when skating season starts again to remind us why we do it.

Skating Show Preview - Janine & John

Here's Janine in her skating show costume just after the dress rehearsal on Thursday. John and she are in the large number for the kids at the pre-Alpha level.

They skate around in two or three big groups of seven to ten each. Those with a bit more skill zoom through the groups as they criss-cross the ice. It may be pretty basic, but the kids really enjoy themselves and it looks like all of them are trying hard.

The other day John said that he didn't want to get his haircut until after the skating show so he would be warm. Good head on that boy.