(no subject)

My mother's friend the Aging Poet has made headlines in the Grauniad. :-)

new pictures

Photos from our trip to Harper's Ferry and Antietam battlefield.

Full report later, but we had a lovely time of it: very nice B&B, god wandering around the historic town and hiking in the mountains, went to mass on Easter afternoon, did a self-guided tour of Antietam battlefield, came home very reluctantly.

thinking about Dad

I was writing to a friend who had sent condolences about the loss of my dad, and I said that I hoped--if there was anything after all this--that he had found Rev. Tubby Clayton and some of his old pals from TOC-H and Winant-Clayton, sitting about discussing the life of the spirit and figuring out what sort of good works they could do wherever they were.

If you're not familiar with the groups, take a look at these links.

TOC-H
Winant-Clayton Volunteer Association (UK)
Winant and Clayton Volunteers (USA)

They are organisations that he was involved with in the UK after his war service in India, working to help those less fortunate than he was and giving poor kids from London a chance to see something other than rubble and hard work, at least for a little while. I don't know (it never occured to me until now to ask), but I imagine that it possible that it was serving as a W/C volunteer that may have first given him the idea that a life working with and teaching kids might be a good thing. :-)

and, in other news...

I took Fjords with us on our trip, and Neta pounced on it with delight when she found it in my bag at the B&B. Partway through our second game, she looked really dissatisfied and said, "You know, this game is really historically unrealistic. There need to be rules that let me burn down your farms! Real vikings wouldn't have let people just go hemming them in like this--they would have whacked them with an axe!"

:-) I am grateful that I always seem to find GFs who enjoy playing boardgames and who have, erm, well-honed competitive instincts. :-)

American Revolution wargame

I'm going to be hosting a Rev War game (25mm) at my place in Fairfax on the 28th. It will be a large battle, with extra command spaces available if anyone would like to join in. The rules are simple and easy to learn and can be downloaded for free from the author's Yahoo group. Reply here or email me if you'd be interested in playing.

(no subject)

This morning was very exciting! I saw a wee woodpecker on one of the trees right near my bedroom window, and while I was getting the camera (very slowly, so as not to scare him off), I saw a fox! This was broad daylight, about 7.30, but he didn't look much the worse for wear, just careful. He was long gone before I could get the camera turned on. The only drawback of digital cameras!

Packed eight bags full of clothes and shoes for the Vietnam Vets donation pickup tomorrow. I saved a few things I had been thinking of getting rid of, but there are a lot of things, especially good-as-new sweaters and sweatshirts that I just have very little call for, that I hope will serve someone in good stead.

I attended the first of four soccer refereeing classes tonight, after which (if I pass the exam) I will be licensed to grade 8 (the basic level for youth and lower-level adult amateur officiating). The instructor seems like a nice fellow; older, very experienced, retired from officiating now, it sounds like, but with a wealth of stories. I was chatting with him beforehand about working with a partner, and he said he and his wife had reffed together on and off for 30 years. I mentioned that to Neta when we talked, and she thought that sounded rather nice. :-) The classes are notionally four hours each, but we got off after three tonight, as the instructor felt we had covered the material sufficiently. The next class is Wenesday night.

Time to clean catboxes, and then to bed. Oh, there seems to be a cat closed in one of the closests I was emptying. Oh dear! :-) Ah! He's got the door open...