The Sports Widow’s Holiday Reflections
December 29, 2008 4:16 PM | 0 Comments
There are these moments in life that my mind captures like photographs or mini-movies, and they will be forever sealed in my memories. Here are a few from this holiday season:
• Night Sledding
One evening, I accompanied Austin and his friend Morgan to the slopes. The duo sledded down everything that had an incline with death-defying confidence, making me wish I had some meds on hand. It’s hard being a mother sometimes. Eventually, they reached their destination, an icy hill, located across from a landmark in West Seattle -- the Totem Pole and Belvedere City Viewpoint on Admiral Way. My sole purposes for accompanying them were: bodyguard and coat rack. If the boys sustained any injuries, I was prepared to call 911, and I got to hold various pieces of winter clothing the boys wanted to shed when they became overheated – hats, the left glove, no, the right glove, a jacket.. The stars were bright and the lights of the city twinkled behind me as I listened to the chatter of two rambunctious 11-year-old boys who have known each other since pre-school.
• Salmon Trio -- Three Days of Salmon
On Christmas Day, my sports fan husband Bryan barbecued salmon, prepared with a tasty rub. What to do with the leftovers the next day? Like his father, Austin (my 11-year-old sports fan) is very adept in the kitchen. On Friday night, Austin helped me chop, sautee and assemble our best salmon cakes ever. (We adapted a recipe for Crab Cakes from The Joy of Cooking, rolling the cakes in saltines, which Austin delicately placed in a big Ziplock bag and then jumped on to reduce them to crumbs.) Then, on Saturday morning, Austin and his sous-chef, his 9-year-old sister Caroline, prepared breakfast in bed for us. In a stroke of culinary brilliance, Austin made scrambled eggs. He then lightly reheated the leftover salmon cakes on the skillet and placed them on top of the scramble. It was wonderful. A little Hollandaise sauce, and Food Network, here we come… Austin recently announced that if his plans to be a wildlife photographer/show host and professional basketball/baseball player don't work out, he plans to open a restaurant featuring international fare.
• Winning Gifts
Austin's main gift was a camera to encourage his interest in wildlife photography but, at 11, he still needs some boy toys. It was worth it trudging hours through the snow to pick up some last-minute inspirations, including a remote-control jeep for Austin from Radio Shack, which was the hit of his Christmas, and stocking stuffers from a little shop nearby called Atomic Boys. Caroline, our 9-year-old artist-in-residence enjoyed her Italian easel, complete with acrylics and oil paints. Due to the snow, this package narrowly arrived in time for Christmas. And, 14-year-old Kit, our music lover, went to the 25th anniversary of The Nutcracker, performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet. This version of The Nutcracker includes the fanciful set designs of Maurice Sendak of Where The Wild Things Are fame.
• Santa Nearly Unmasked or De-bearded
I have to confess I was a sloppy Santa this year. I didn’t cover my tracks very well. We made Christmas cookies for the merry fellow, including Gingerbread people with marshmallows on their feet and hands to depict mittens. We left a plate for him and some eggnog, but I couldn’t ingest all of the cookies, so I hid some away, high up in the pantry. Drat. Caroline discovered them, and was instantly suspicious. There were other problems - confusions surrounding which gifts came from Santa and which ones came from us. Strange stocking stuffers, including a package of pink razors in my stocking for padding.
• A Snow-capped Piece de Resistence
For my mother-in-law’s 78th birthday, I baked her favorite dessert – Coconut Cake. It’s fussy, but well worth the effort and festive. As always, I use my Mississippi relative’s recipe for this fluffy confection. In a humorous moment, my mother-in-law appeared with a shock of yellow in the front of her hair. I thought she was summoning her 80's Punk Rock memories, but she apparently had transferred pollen from her hand to her hair and couldn't get it out.
Happy Holidays!
The Sports Widow
(aka Nan Hall)
Tell me what you think of The Sports Widow’s Holiday Reflections...
From the All-Sports Archives
Chatting With Women About Sports Widows
September 26, 2008 2:48 PM | 0 Comments
Last Tuesday, I was interviewed by two funny, warm and wise radio hosts: Pam Gray & Rochelle Alhadeff. They, along with their amusing sidekick Benny, host a morning show entitled Chat with Women on Seattle's KKNW 1150AM. They gave me the opportunity to talk about my experiences as a Sports Widow and to define the various types of Sports Widows, e.g. Avenging, Sabotaging, Enabling, Compromising, Keeping-Up-With-The-Fan and Role Reversal. Then, their listeners were able to go online and take my Sports Widow Poll, which I encourage you to do, too, if you haven't already.
The Phenomenon of Sports Fan Migration
September 15, 2008 11:33 AM | 0 Comments
If you're a Sports Widow in Seattle, you may think relief is here. From what I hear, all of the teams in Seattle (the Mariners, the UW Huskies and the WSU Cougars) and environs either stink (to use a highly sophisticated term) or are no longer physically located here (as is the case with the Seattle SuperSonics, our former Pro basketball team which was relocated to Oklahoma with much objection and angst. New name: Oklahoma City Thunders).
So, you might mistakenly believe you don't need to stand on your widow's walk waiting for your fan to come home: He's stuck by dint of his circumstances. The seas miraculously dried up, and there's no fishing, right?
The Sports Widow Summarizes The Beijing Olympics, Le Fin d'Olympics
August 24, 2008 10:46 PM | 0 Comments
So, the torch for The Beijing Olympics is now extinguished, punctuating two exhilirating weeks in which we have witnessed athletes from around the globe performing astounding feats, breaking records and occasionally really flopping in front of millions of spectators. How can I, The Sports Widow, contribute to the commentary? How can I intelligently assess the phenomenon known as The 2008 Beijing Olympics?
The Sports Widow Reflects on Sports Palaces and KOs
August 23, 2008 8:12 PM | 0 Comments
Today marked our return to West Seattle, after a 2-week stint in Washington, D.C. and Virginia Beach. As I left Washington, D.C., which is where I met my sports fan husband Bryan, memories swarmed me like mosquitos in a swamp, like mosquitos in Washington, D.C., which at one time was a swamp and, frankly, still acts like one. Ask my children, these mosquitos have unusually large proboscises (I'm too lazy to look this one up, but it means stingers, emphasis on plural).
The Sports Test, Quoth the Raven and Other Baltimore Stories
August 22, 2008 9:30 PM | 0 Comments
It was our last full day on the East Coast and 10-year-old Austin had to see The National Aquarium in Baltimore. When he is not planning to be a baseball or basketball player, his goal is to be a wildlife photographer or to host a wildlife show, a la Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter.
TV in the Bedroom Keeps the Beacon of The Beijing Olympics Alive
August 19, 2008 4:30 PM | 0 Comments
For the past few nights we've been staying in my oldest brother Jeff''s condo in Virginia Beach, and wouldn't you know it: There is a TV in our bedroom.
Aaacckkk.If you know me, you know how I feel about TVs in the bedroom. My sports fan husband Bryan, who occasionally has trouble sleeping, has been up to his old tricks, the old tricks prior to the banishment of the TV from our home master bedroom. In the middle of the night, the TV, on mute (he is not an insensitive brute), has been popping on like a lighthouse trying to lead its ship to shore. In this case it is the lost sports fan trying to navigate his way home.
Fortunately, Boogie Boarding is Not an Olympic Event
August 18, 2008 12:38 PM | 0 Comments
While Michael Phelps is busy breaking Olympic records in swimming, including Mark Spitz's record, some of us are on a far more elementary, pedestrian, if not amoebic level. This morning, inspired by the wonder of The Beijing Olympics, I decided to try something new: boogie boarding. It's not an Olympic event, but it may as well have been for me.
Water Country USA Here We Come
August 15, 2008 10:28 PM | 0 Comments
We're spending the night at the Crown Plaza in Williamsburg, Virginia, tonight, because tomorrow we intend to immerse ourselves in Water Country USA. The major selling point for the Crown Plaza, as we surfed the internet hotel offerings, was that it had swimming pools and it was located on Pocohontas Rd, which has historic implications. Not surprisingly, our kids -- 14-year-old Kit; 10-year-old Austin and 8-year-old Caroline are tired of Washington, D.C.'s memorials, monuments and museums. In my opinion, a visit to a waterpark is an excellent way to pay homage to The Beijing Olympics, particularly to swimming contenders such as Michael Phelps. My only fear is that the weather is really nasty today. It's been raining and lightning, so we may not be permitted in the park. This would be what we would call a major bummer, particularly since this is the only time our family had to spring for lodging. We've been staying with family this entire trip.
Chinese Food is a Great Way to Celebrate The Beijing Olympics
August 14, 2008 8:50 PM | 0 Comments
My sister-in-law Helen took us to a fantastic Chinese restaurant in her neighborhood of Oakton, Virginia. You don't have to pay homage to The Beijing Olympics by parking yourself in front of the TV every second, do you?
The Sports Widow Tours the White House
August 13, 2008 2:38 PM | 0 Comments
My sports fan husband Bryan is a project manager by profession, and he knows how to manage anything. We equate his job at work to the plate twirlers in Cirque de Soleil; you know those people who twirl plates simultaneously from every appendage on their bodies? Anyway, he uses the same skills to manage our family, which is a blessing and a curse on these family trips. The blessing was that he had the foresight to request White House tour tickets through Senator Patty Murray's office. I secretly hoped we would have access to the Oval Office so that I could see President Bush's post-it holder, but no such luck. The curse is that Bryan likes to run these trips with the same focus and no-nonsense precision as a wartime general's campaign, and I by nature tend to meander. After dining at the venerable watering hole Old Ebbit Grill, we marched to the White House, paring all personal items down to keys and a driver's license.
The Sports Widow Goes to Washington, D.C., The Other Washington
August 10, 2008 10:18 PM | 0 Comments
I lived and worked in Washington, DC, for seven years, so you would THINK that I would know better than to arrange a family vacation during the month of August, but this was the only time that was convenient. Another incentive was that we were fortunate enough to have free lodging both in the Oakton, Virginia area with my sister-in-law Helen and in the Virgina Beach area with my brother Jeff. Washington, DC is a special place for me because this is where I met my sports fan husband Bryan. It will be a walk down memory lane for me personally and for me as The Sports Widow.
Sports Fans Can Put the Bite in an All-Woman Dental Practice
August 4, 2008 10:23 AM | 0 Comments
I've mentioned this before, I think. I go to a dentist that is quintessential Seattle, aka the land of lattes. It's called Espresso Dental, and it's the Venus of dental practices, consisting of attractive, cheerful, meticulous, expert female staff. I don't know if this is purposeful or just happenstance.
Phew! Sports Obsession Took a Backseat Today
August 3, 2008 10:07 PM | 0 Comments
The thing that astonishes me about sports is just how much of an impact it has on my day-to-day life, especially televised sports and sports radio, but today offered a welcome respite. Aside from the Mariners game being broadcast on the car radio as we travelled to our neighborhood pool for a dinner BBQ and hearing the announcement on television that Brett Favre is returning to football, sports just played a cameo role today. How merciful is that?
Turnabout IS Fair Play
July 31, 2008 11:49 PM | 0 Comments
Last night was Campfire Night at the Girl Scout Camp my daughters 13-year-old Kit and 8-year-old Caroline have been attending for the past two weeks. It's a day camp at this lovely little oasis in West Seattle called Camp Long. Campfire Night marks the final night of camp. The girls put on skits and sing songs for their parents and siblings, and then spend the night at camp. I have to confess that their songs make The Brothers Grimm fairy tales look upbeat - it seems like everyone croaks prematurely in their songs or meets odd ends.
Sport or Not-A-Sport?
January 21, 2008 8:41 AM | 0 Comments
I rarely (once or twice a year) read the sports section of the local newspaper. However, I couldn’t help myself last week. The headline of the Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper (1.17.2008) sports section posed the question: Sport Or-Not-A-Sport? What defines a sport? Like a ping-pong match, the debate goes back and forth by David Andriesen (P-I Reporter).
David Andriesen attempts to provide a definitive answer the question: “What’s the definition of sport?” Until I read his story I had no idea that “taking nested stacks of plastic cups and arranging them into pyramids and back again” had been declared a sport. “Cup Stacking” was officially renamed to “Sport Stacking” in 2005 by the World Sport Stacking Association (WSSA). In fact, cup stacking has become a must-see-event on YouTube (there are more than 1,000 videos posted). And you can compete in the World Sports Stacking Championship in Denver on April 3 and 4, 2008.
Fan Fare: An End-of-Season Party Treat
June 24, 2007 10:49 PM | 0 Comments
This evening, Austin's Little League team, coaches and family members congregated around a bonfire at Alki Beach to celebrate the end of the year. The chill from being drenched on the return trip home from the Mariners Baseball game was still seizing me, but I nonetheless persevered.
It was a potluck, and since I am a baker I decided to bring my Southern auntie's famous Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting, made from scratch of course. Instead of making a cake, however, I poured the batter into cupcake tins since they're easier to distribute in a picnic setting. Aunt Joan, pronounced in Deep Southern as two syllables - Jo-ON, is from Purvis, Mississippi, and I'll tell you she knows how to turn on an oven. Caroline artfully decorated the cupcakes with jelly beans that were left over from Easter. BTW, does anyone know the life expectancy of a jelly bean? Was I imperiling the health of our guests by using semi-ancient jelly beans? Our jelly bean designs were a combo of smiley faces and flowers; simple, yet elegant. I didn't want to mess with perfection, but I did see an intriguing approach to cupcakes in Real Simple, my favorite magazine of all time. (My fan Bryan insists that I am drawn to Real Simple because I have a real simple intellect, but my MENSA stature is widely known and flies in the face of this theory.) Back to the point, instead of cupcake tins, one Real Simple reader poured her batter into waffle ice cream cones and baked them. Astonishing! Edible tins! What a concept! Lord have mercy, what would Aunt Joan think of that??
A Baseball Widow Role Reversal
June 24, 2007 10:42 PM | 1 Comments
Today it was Caroline's and my turn to attend a Mariners game with her Little League Team, the Pink Angels, which is a YMCA-operated franchise. As we prepared, Bryan and 9-year-old Austin, aka "mini-me," were lounging on our bed in the master bedroom, surrounded by the Sunday sports page, and throwing out their game preparation tips from the peanut gallery. "Don't wear that. You've got to wear an M's shirt," advised Bryan. "I don't have an M's shirt," I whined. "You can wear mine." Bryan's is an XXL, so for me - petite fragile flower that I am - to wear his T-shirt is like donning a pup tent. Considering this a fashion faux pas, I passed on the offer. Then I asked Austin if I could wear his, and he said if a girl wore it he'd NEVER wear it again. I wound up with a lackluster ensemble, a basic white T-shirt, jean jacket, jeans and tennis shoes. Then, because we decided to take the bus, I was scrounging around at the last minute to find change. This is NOT the way to go to a game, my friends. In the future, I will let the great Ernest Shackleton be my role model. I will take this seriously. It's a journey, and preparation is key.
Sports-Related Gifts for Father's Day Are a Click Away
June 13, 2007 1:04 PM | 0 Comments
There are about three days a year when I feel charitable about sports, when I even consider feeding the fires of sports fanaticism. They are Christmas, my husband Bryan's birthday and, of course, Father's Day, which looms before me. Last year's Itty Bitty Book Lite, which I confess may have been more of a gift for me, lies fallow in an itty bitty bedside drawer, so I did a little surfing. Here are some of my more intriguing sports-related gift discoveries for Father's Day.
Whatever Happened to Playing the Field in Sports?
June 12, 2007 9:43 PM | 0 Comments
Austin, my 9-year-old son, stayed home from school today. After giving it all for the Little League Baseball play-offs and the All-Star try-outs this weekend, he was spent. Apparently, even the Energizer Bunny has limits. Bloodshot eyes, listlessness, physical, mental and emotional exhaustion were written all over his frame. Austin even slept DURING THE DAY, from 9am-1pm. WHEN does that ever happen?
Then, Austin heard the bad news: He didn't make the All-Stars. Three of his buddies, who had better batting averages, were selected, and another teammate, like him, was not. The score: 3 IN and 2 OUT from his team, the Boa Constrictors. Throughout the day, I watched Austin navigate the emotional waters of disappointment.
The Weekly, Nearly Suffocating Sports Line-up
May 17, 2007 6:49 AM | 0 Comments
I don't know how some families do it. We do NOT overprogram our children with extracurricular activities, but with two of them in baseball now, the schedule is getting out of control. As a sampling, here is last week in review.
Monday - Baseball Practice, Caroline
Wednesday - Baseball Practice, Austin
Friday - Baseball Game, Austin
Saturday afternoon - Baseball Game Caroline, her FIRST
Sunday afternoon - Baseball Practice, Austin
Sunday evening - Baseball Spaghetti Fundraiser at the local Catholic Church gym, complete with refs serving the meal and Bingo (Sadly, I didn't win. I haven't won anything since I age 4, when I won a Noah's Ark coloring book as a door prize at a birthday party in Brookston, Indiana)
Tonight, Monday, The Implacable, Vicious Cycle Begins to Repeat - Baseball Practice, Caroline...
Iced Tee: My First Encounter with Arnold Palmer
April 25, 2007 1:44 PM | 0 Comments
While in Wapato Point in Lake Chelan, Washington, during Spring Break, I was reminded of one of many times in my life when it was clear that there is NO escape from sports, no safe haven for the Sports Widow. It was one of my more memorable job interviews several years ago, which began on a precarious footing.
I was being interviewed for a job over lunch at a seafood restaurant on Lake Union in Seattle. The job was way out of my league: Corporate, relatively high salary, generally reputable. I was convinced they would never hire a lunatic like me, but then, no guts, no glory. Furthermore, my prospective boss and interviewer is everything that I am not as a professional. She speaks in bullet points. I speak in tongues. She has unnaturally blond hair, but it is clearly a salon versus a drugstore creation. Her makeup is carefully applied (with no visible lines indicating where the foundation ends and her real face begins), and she is wearing an outfit that reminds me of one of the members of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Uniforms like this with epaulettes say, “I’m in charge.”
Womaning the Little League Baseball Snack Shack
April 16, 2007 9:22 PM | 0 Comments
I've described the glories of the Little League Baseball Snack Shack, but there's a flip side to this. Periodically, we parents have to run the Snack Shack, and I was drafted this week. Austin was playing his first game: The Boa Constrictors versus The Sweat Socks. In order to make the 6:30pm commitment, I had to run home from work and change into a transition outfit. This largely entails jettisoning the pantyhose and skirt in exchange for a pair of jeans and comfortable shoes. Then, since it's typically windy near the beach in West Seattle, I add another jacket layer.
When I reported for duty at the Snack Shack with my 12-year-old daughter Kit, I was breathless and instantly felt performance pressure. The quarters are very tight and the expectations are high. The shack is packed to the gills with consumable inventory that was likely purchased at Costco, menacing food prep machines that threaten electrocution and demanding customers, both large and small, with varying concepts of how our monetary system in the United States functions. Let's just say that denominations and coinage values are not their strong suit.
The Sports Widow Downloads the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition
February 16, 2007 10:41 PM | 0 Comments
Maybe I was in the mood to torture myself. On the other hand, perhaps I was steeled for it, but last night I reached over to the Guy Side of the bed and grabbed the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition to take it for a visual spin. Here are my random thoughts in no particular order of randomness.
First of all, why is it that when THEY-THOSE SUPERMODELS-get sand stuck on their skin, especially their buttocks, thighs and stomachs, it's sexy, and when I do it's just plain irritating and an eyesore, merely underscoring my lack of buoyancy?
Speaking of buoyancy and evil perkiness, Beyonce: The Dreamgirl as You've Never Seen Her, was the featured model. Why can't she just be satisfied with being a popular, award-winning musician? Does she have to grab ALL of the categories?
Question: What separates the Rookies from the Regulars?
Clearly, I have GOT to do more squats and crunches.
Furthermore, I need to think about how I can accessorize my swimsuits with cowboy hats, lassos, and wedge heels, or embellish them with Ipods, guitars or just guitar picks? This summer, I also plan to consider macrame as an alternative swimsuit material. I wonder how Arbor Heights Swim & Tennis Club will receive the new me?
Lastly, when did Burt Reynolds become a bare rug?
Deck the Halls with Sports Highlights
December 10, 2006 9:17 PM | 0 Comments
Yesterday we made our annual holiday pilgrimage to Auggie's Tree Farm on Vashon Island to chop down our Christmas Tree. This has been a tradition for 14 years now, even before we had children. Our friends Mark and Diane introduced us to the farm and to the adventure. For the past few years the cousins - Grant and Anja have joined us with Bryan's sister Ann and husband Steve. We typically tote hot chocolate or champagne and treats, and travel on a short ferry ride from West Seattle to Vashon Island, which is part of the allure. Generally we find a great tree, although one year we unintentionally brought home a truly pathetic Charlie Brown Christmas tree, which depressed me every time I looked at it. It looked lush when we left and scraggly and forlorn once it was placed in our living room.
