It's been a busy past few days, with (guess what?) soccer and work.

Our little town of 16,000 is hosting the Motocross of Nations this weekend, bringing in over 30,000 people! We can't believe that people are flying in from all over the world to come HERE.

There have been all sorts of events getting set up, including a parade downtown.

Ivy had a club game this evening and scored a lovely goal. Since Eric isn't coaching this team, he was able to film it! She has a school tournament all day tomorrow.

Inga and Dio went to the high school football game this evening, Inga to help her soccer team run the concession stand and Dio because some friends were going.

Zari made borscht today. When she cooks, she often ends up feeding her roommates! She learned that they had never eaten beets and had to remedy that situation. 

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Ivy's team had a game yesterday, winning 9-1 with Ivy scoring and assisting several goals. Inga's team played today, winning 1-0 when the other team scored an own goal.

More video editing for me...not much else to report. Oh, Zari called and founds some suspicious looking bugs in her bed. I had her take pictures, capture a bug and put it in a ziploc bag in the freezer, and then start emergency precautions: first, call her landlady and show her what she found. Then wash & heat dry everything on or near the bed; saturate the bed frame and mattress with isopropyl alcohol; and the treat the bed, mattress, and room with diatomaceous earth. Ugh.

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More of the same...

Soccer games (Dio), school, computer work for me. Super hot weather.

Zari is going on a field trip tomorrow to one of the very first regenerative agriculture farms in Canada. She's very excited for it.

I can't think of anything else newsworthy.

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Just one soccer game tonight (Ivy's, middle school), which they won 2-0. Ivy has a club game tomorrow.

Inga is currently tied for the highest scoring 9th grade soccer player in the state!

My day consisted of exercise at the gym, transplanting about 10 hostas, and then zoom meetings and video editing the rest of the work day. I took Dio for an after-dinner thrift shopping trip. He found a pair of jeans and a button-up shirt.

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Ivy's team had a great game, winning 8-0, with Ivy scoring twice. It was an away game, so I wasn't there to watch.

After my morning walking group, I spent most of the day video and caption editing, walking on my treadmill.

Zari made herself leek and goat cheese quiche with a homemade pie crust. No small feat, given that she didn't have a food processor, pastry cutter, or rolling pin! I found her a "no roll" recipe that worked great.

She had to walk far downtown last night to buy shin guards, and it turned out to be a good adventure. The sports store was in a huge mall in an area that reminded her of Times Square.

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More soccer!

Inga's team played against a nearby school with a good reputation. Her team won 3-0, with Inga scoring 2 goals! That was yesterday.

Dio had a very exciting game today (away game, but not too far away) that Eric attended. His team won 2-0.

Tons of video editing and course translation work for me.

I found gnocchi at the Amish discount grocery store, so tonight we ate Tuscan butter gnocchi. I rarely make it here in the US because gnocchi is hard to find.

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Rain, exercise, work, soccer

We've reseeded much of our back yard, so the rain yesterday and today (and much of this week) was very welcome. Dio drove us to school as usual for a rainy day or a game day--as it happens, both! Ivy and Dio both had games. Ivy's team tied 4-4 and Dio's team lost, but I'm not sure of the score.

I did my morning exercise at the university gym and then a full day's work with lots of meetings.

We just got off a video call with Zari, helping her narrow down ideas for a research proposal in one of her classes.

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Cincinnati soccer weekend

Ivy and I are back from Cincinnati, Ohio, with a stay at my sister's in Dayton. We drove there Friday afternoon and stayed in a hotel the first night, since we had activities until late and an early start the next day. Ivy had lots of fun running around with all of her teammates in the hotel. They swam, they went to the exercise room, they played games.

Ivy is a wiggler! I finally had to put pillows down the middle of the bed so she wouldn't flop onto me.

They lost both games on Saturday against very strong teams: 1-4 and 0-6. Ouch! Ivy scored the only goal that day.

We drove to my sister's house mid-afternoon and enjoyed some down time, making homemade pizza, and going to a Hispanic festival on the downtown riverfront park. Today's game we won 6-0. Ivy didn't score, but she had some nice shots on goal.

Meanwhile on Saturday Inga and Dio both had school games. Inga's team won 2-0, with her scoring both goals. Dio's team lost 0-2.

Inga and her friend made a homemade apple pie, all by themselves (I mixed up the pie crust beforehand, but they did all the rest using a cook book.)

We got back just in time for Ivy to join a group of friends at the university swimming pool. Eric and I did some yard work before he left for Ultimate Frisbee.

I put up solar lights on our fence panels.

Zari took some pictures of downtown Toronto from this weekend.

Our Freeze Family group chat has been hilarious recently. The kids are mocking Eric. "Aller petit nain du jardin. Va faire du jardinage," they told him (an ongoing inside joke).

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Cincinnati!

I'm at a weekend-long soccer tournament with Ivy. I was going to stay both nights with my sister in Dayton, but it would have been a lot of driving late tonight and very early tomorrow morning. We'll stay with her tomorrow after the 2nd game is done in the early afternoon. We have 2 games tomorrow and 1 or 2 on Sunday, depending on how well they play.

The team had a pizza dinner, games, swimming in the pool, and other activities this evening. We're watching one of the Jason Bourne movies--albeit not paying very close attention to it. Off to bed soon for a long day of soccer!

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After my morning exercise, my brick mason and I installed the last few fence panels. All that's left is staining it!

He finished the last task today: relaying the old brick sidewalk behind the carriage house. We've been sweeping sand into the joints, and I'll need more to fill all of the cracks.

Tomorrow I need to reseed the rest of the dirt areas...transplant some hostas...shop for a hammock...

I went to Ivy's middle school soccer game; they tied 1-1. I got there a few minutes late and missed their only goal!

What else? I had to buy snacks and drinks for the 38 players on Inga's high school soccer team. Our car is loaded up with Gatorade, bananas, and grapes.

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Fence!

I helped our brick mason put up the fence panels, with some help from Eric once he got done teaching. We have about 2/3 up now. So exciting! We need to trim the metal fence posts once the panels are all installed. He wasn't able to sink them all the way in a few spots due to hitting obstacles such as old tree stumps or deeply buried bricks.

I had a stressful day of work--unexpected bad news that I can't say much about at the moment. Anyway let's just say there are part of my job I love and parts that I could do without. Let's also just say that American litigation culture sucks.

Inga had a home game, winning 4-1. She scored 3 of the 4 goals!

Zari is having a lot of fun with her roommates. She stayed up until 2 am talking with them last night. This is great for us to hear. I'm not concerned that she'll do this every night, and it's good for her to develop these friendships.

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Backyard progress

I stained the back side of 11 fence panels this morning, using an old paint sprayer that was last used in about 2003. They're not installed yet, just propped up against the fence posts.

I reseeded yesterday, and the brick patio and sidewalk are completely done. Now our mason is working on relaying the old brick sidewalk at the back of the carriage house. Of course it was more complicated because he had to redo the stairs...and the corner of the carriage house had fallen loose so he had to re-mortar several layers of bricks and tuckpoint. But it's all put back together now.

The rest of the day was a bit of the same: breech work, including some meetings. Soccer for Ivy and Dio. Ivy's team won 9-0, Dio's won 2-1. Inga just had practice.

Zari sent lots of pictures of videos of the islands she visited in Lake Ontario, plus a picture of today's dinner.

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More soccer, Dio's first drive

Ivy and Eric left early this morning for a soccer tournament. They had 2 games, making it to the final but losing that game.

I took Dio driving for the first time this afternoon. He mostly stayed in a huge parking lot, then I encouraged him to do a "real" drive back to our house. It was fun to take him out.

I put grass seed on all of the dirt left from the brick patio project, plus reseeded several areas that needed attention. Then I went into the carriage house and started marking the locations of the bathroom walls and fixtures.

A few pictures from yesterday's dance...Dio didn't take any. We've been teasing Inga about being way taller than her date, leading to Eric and Inga laughing so hard we couldn't understand what they were saying. Inga was particularly impressed with the origami flowers he made for her in lieu of fresh flowers.

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Learner's permit, soccer, thunderstorms, Homecoming dance

Dio and I went to the BMV first thing this morning to take his learner's permit exam. He passed! He can officially drive a car with an adult in the front passer seat supervising. I then dropped him off at a soccer scrimmage at the high school.

Eric took Inga and I took Ivy to soccer games today. Inga's was a home game (lost 2-1). Ivy's was in Indianapolis (won 3-2). Inga's team played first, followed by JV. The JV team got hit by a thunderstorm, and the game was cut short due to lightning. About an hour later, we were hit by the same storm. We got poured on for about 15 minutes, and then the lightening horn sounded. It was good because we were up 3-2 and about 5 minutes away from the end of the game.

I caught the last goal on camera. Ivy did several beautiful assists and cross kicks during this game.

I stopped by a Habitat for Humanity ReStore on the way home. We are renovating one of our rental apartments; the tenant left it in such bad shape that we have to completely redo the entire apartment: complete paint job on walls, windows, and trim; new flooring; new appliances; new toilet; new lights. It will cost well over a year's rent just to get everything done, and that's if we do it all ourselves. Gah. As if I didn't have enough to do already.

Inga left mid afternoon to get ready for the homecoming dance. Apparently it takes 5 hours to "get ready." Dio left right at 8--no fuss required. Apparently he asked a girl after turning down 4 other girls. We had no idea until after the dance, when we were asking him how it was! Inga is still out with friends getting something to eat.

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Zari and I both ended up making a Thai curry tonight! I coached her through it--not really very hard, just lots of vegetables to chop, then add coconut milk and curry paste and some meat if you want.

Inga and Dio are gone to the homecoming football game. Ivy had a game as part of a weekend-long tournament, tied 1-1. I'll be taking her to her game tomorrow in Indianapolis while Eric goes to Inga's game. And...Dio is going to take his learner's permit test tomorrow morning! We may have a driver by tomorrow.

I was awoken in the middle of the night with a few waves of vertigo. So weird! I wasn't even moving or anything. Even with my eyes closed in the dark, the room was doing that weird jerking/spinning thing. Fortunately it was gone by morning, although I certainly had a hard time sleeping through both the vertigo and the mild nausea!

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Soccer Success!

All 3 kids had games today. Dio's won 2-0 with Dio scoring 1 goal. Inga's won 6-0 with Inga scoring 5. Ivy's won 8-0 and she's sleeping and I can't ask how many she scored!

I watched Dio's game, while Eric was coaching Ivy's.

I had several meetings today and got lots of things checked off on my to-do list. I've started using Trello and love it. With the nonprofit discount via Atlassian Foundation/Goodstack, the premium version is super affordable.

I slept well last night, which was such a relief after several weeks of disturbed sleep.

Fence panels are arriving tomorrow. Posts are all set and concrete is curing. By the end of next week, it might be all done--brick patio, sidewalk, fence installed and stained!

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ER

Well, an Emergency Room visit certainly wasn't on my "to do" list today! But I found myself there at 8 am. I'll omit the details but I went in today after visiting a walk-in clinic the day previously regarding a few weeks of persistent symptoms that had the potential to be Something Bad even though it was very unlikely. Fortunately there is nothing at all wrong with me, except the persisting symptoms for which the doctor had no explanation.

In fact, I got a lovely complement from the ER doctor: "You have the blood pressure of an Olympian athlete." Awww, thanks, I'm blushing. In fact, I can't donate blood because my blood pressure is too low.

I was dismissed by 9:30 am and back to normal life. Now I fearfully await the hospital bills which will probably be more than our car. Maybe more than a small house. Yay US healthcare.

No one had soccer games--amazing! We were able to eat dinner together, including Zari via WhatsApp. Eric make poke bowls with salmon, avocado, mango, and edamame.

Ivy's school is doing a class trip to Europe in June 2027. She wanted to join them, since she'll already be over there, but it's super expensive. We are thinking of doing an "alternate" school trip in Nice and Italy for students who can't afford the official one.

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I was tired last night and forgot to write. Caught yet another possum today, this one at least an adolescent if not an adult. All 3 kids had away games today. Dio's still not back. Inga's team won by a landslide, while Ivy's team lost 6-1. Ouch!

Our brick patio and sidewalk are almost all done, and our fence posts are going up. Finally after 14 years in this house we will have a nice back yard area!

I've been feeling unwell, mostly due to ongoing sleep disturbances. I've been waking up between 3-5 am most mornings and can't get back to sleep. Today was particularly hard and I skipped my walking group.

Behold my raccoon-proof garage! I put pieces of plywood between each joist, secured with 2 screws. It's not pretty but it does the job. These will stay until we get the carriage house apartment finished and the bead board ceiling put back up.

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Freezes v Raccoons

The Freezes v. The Raccoons competition is not going very well. We caught possum #3 (another baby) last night. No raccoons!

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon stapling pet-proof screening over every possible access point with staples every 2".

This morning? I came to the carriage house and the raccoon had pulled off the screening. Granted, my staple gun wasn't embedding the staples as deep as I would like. But still! It felt secure when I tugged on it.

Now I am going to pull out the Big Guns, aka pieces of plywood custom cut and fit into each opening (there are about 12). I WILL keep the raccoons out of the carriage house!

The kids were very sad when we drove out into the country to release the baby possum. "Can't we keep it and take care of it until it's bigger?" they pleaded. Nope, sorry, I'm not taking on a pet possum!

I put the trap upstairs in the carriage house, meaning that only the most adventurous raccoons will have access to the delicious bowl of vanilla ice cream inside the live trap. I hope it will keep the possums away because they aren't the ones who have been climbing up my carriage house wall and into the floor joists.

We had our normal Sunday morning pancake breakfast (except me, because I fast every day until mid-afternoon...). Eric and Ivy were at a soccer game mid-day; they won 1-0 to a team that was supposedly much stronger. So that was good.

I read outside in the sun this afternoon...cooked white bean, garlic, bacon, & rosemary soup...did a bit of video editing...watched an episode of Quantum Leap (not the best show but a fun way to do something together as a family).

Zari has been out most of the day so we probably won't hear from her until tomorrow. She was going to some of the islands on Lake Ontario and then going to Eric's cousin's house for dinner.

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Baby possum

Still no raccoons this morning, but we did catch a baby possum. It's relocated to a park. Tonight I am trying ice cream, upon recommendation of a raccoon hunter acquaintance.

I also raccoon-proofed the carriage house, stapling pet-resistant screening across every possible entry point up in the rafters. Then Eric did a disgusting task of cleaning up the piles of raccoon poop on the upper floor of the carriage house. Eww.

What else? Eric and I went to Ivy's game this morning. Her team lost 0-1 and missed two penalty kicks. Ivy did a lovely header. On the way down from the jump, her head collided with another player's. She had some moments where she couldn't breathe and had to come off the field.

There was a "Celebration of Unity" festival downtown this evening. Ivy and Inga were there for several hours, playing with friends. Eric and I made a brief appearance.

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