Events Past and Yet To Come

So, the first past event would be my provincials. I played with another team. The reason why is because on my team, there were twelve girls picked to go to provincials, and I was fourteenth. So, the remaining six of us joined up with four other girls and voila, we had a new team.

But...we kinda sucked.

We lost every game. All three of them. The weather was miserable and rainy. One of the games was 16-0. Ouch.

But there were good parts, too. I was fourth in the batting lineup--that's the cleanup hitter, and that's the best place to be. Statistically, I hit the best on the team. But one of my friends, Beth, hit a double AND a triple. But then she just struck out the rest of the time. I got lame hits, but I usually made it to first. I sliced up my left leg sliding, too. The fun.

Also, I had a great time. Even though we suck, everyone's really friendly and we all had a good time. And finally, the Tisdale sign, where provincials were played, was hilarious.

Yes, this is the sign. "Land of Rape and Honey." Isn't that welcoming?

There is truth behind it, I learned. "Rape" is an old word for canola or something. One of the coaches told me that when I announced the motto for the town.

Plus, my sister's Squirt team won provincials. I was a Squirt last year, and we won. That makes Bill, the coach, a two-time provincial winner. According to my dad, that's like, legendary. After the game, I went up to him and said, "Two years in a row, eh? Getting old yet?"

He gasped. "What? Uh, yeah, no...wait! It never gets old!"

I love making people stumble over their words. I smiled and walked away.

Anyways, we're finally at the cabin! Yesterday was really cold, howevah. I had to wear pants. Not shorts. PANTS. And yes, I still went swimming. Duh.

Today was better. Way better. My nineteen year old cousin Brittany came. It was warm enough to swim. We launched the Sea-Doo, Frank, and I got to drive it back home from the compound. We went tubing. And the weirdest of all, we met a chipmunk named Tina.

It was the strangest thing. Britt and I were sitting on the swing, drying off, when we heard something coming from under the deck. We craned our necks, and ta-da! There was a small, grayish form scooping out dry grass before disappearing back under the planks.

Britt suggested we feed her, so we went inside and got Fibre One cereal and peanut butter crackers and dill pickle Spitz. We littered them around the opening where the ground squirrel came out. A few minutes later she ran on to the deck. The first thing we noticed that she was really fat. Second was that she is not very shy.

We tossed her peanut butter crackers, and she DEVOURED them. I swear, we were sitting a meter away from a wild animal as she munched away. After a while, Brittany fetched a spoon of peanut butter, which she cleaned. In the end, she ate seven mini crackers and a spoon of peanut butter. I even caught it on video! But I'll give you a picture instead.

Here's a lovely story. When we arrived here, we found that there was a birds' nest built on our deck, right onto our window. After conferring, we got somebody to move it to an old covered well we have beneath our stairs. With heavy hearts, we watched as the frantic parents swooped in circles all day looking for their babies. We were sure they were going to die. Then, da-da-da-DAAA...they found their children!! Now they don't dive-bomb us when we walk onto our deck. They feed their children, stuffing worms into their gaping mouths. It's so cute! And yes, I got pictures.
PS-I know the spacing is weird in this post, but Blogger is weird.

Summer Journal

Well, the last of our company has left. Back to good ol' *hometown. It's gonna seem weird up here for a few days...like, three. Cause more guests are arriving on Thursday. At our cabin, we usually have guests like all summer long. And last night, I slept in my own bed for the first time in about a week. Jeezum. Places I have slept in the past week:
1) Mom and Dad's bed
2) Mattress in parent's room
3) various bunks in our "dorm" room
4) tent

Quite an assortment. Last night I babysat my own siblings, because Dad, Mom, Brittany, and Kersten all went to the Casino in NB. (My lips are sealed on what it stands for. It's a city.) No, we are not freaky poor gamblers, it was just for fun. I think Kersten made a hundred bucks and Dad made a couple hundred. My Auntie stayed at home, and at first I was little dismayed because I really wanted to babysit, not for fun stimulating family quality time, but cause I'm kinda broke. But Auntie swore that she wouldn't be there, I would do everything. And she stayed true to her word. If anyone asked her for something, she'd reply: "Ask the babysitter. I'm not here." Ha-ha.
We watched Take-Home Nanny, and holy @$%*&$! were the kids bratty. Wowee. I felt angelic next to them.
This morning, I was being bored and greasy in the mid-summer adolescent way, and randomly got up in the middle of What Not To Wear and went swimming. The water was chilly and icy, sapping the heat from my body pretty much as soon as I went past my knees. I went out chest-depth; and dove underneath. As always, it was horror/shock/ice block for the slightest second, when it became pleasantly cool. I lazily did the breast stroke, then the dolphin kick underwater, feeling peaceful but also a bit self-conscious of the three people I knew were in the boat watching me. I had seen them, they were neighbors that I really didn't like, but I was trying to overcome the annoyance I felt whenever I saw them. I swam around a bit, making sure I could touch. My mom doesn't like when I swim out over my head with no supervision, and with a good reason, because I don't want to drown when I haven't even made it to high school yet. So I practiced good safety habits and tried to swim in without touching my feet to the bottom, either sandy, mucky, weedy, or a combination. My least favorite combo is the weed/muck. Ew!
I paused to admire the water going out. It was so beautiful-I want to describe the color, but I don't think it's been invented yet. It was calm, with small rounded waves gently making smaller pools of color. I observed it through a painter's eyes (from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-Lena's artist's eyes) and saw gray, lots of gray-with periwinkle and light indigo. There were blue-gray clouds layered quite thick in the sky, which made the gorgeous assortment of colors. When I came in I felt cooler, calmer, cleaner. Refreshed.
Later, I went for a slalom ski, and I heard a strange hollow ringing sound: and I just realized what it reminded me of. When you lick your finger and rub it around the rim of a wine glass, like Gracie on Miss Congeniality. Kind of like that. Dad and Landon, who were driving and spotting, didn't know what I meant when I asked them about it, so maybe it was the spirit of Jackfish. *Cue scary music*
Landon also accomplished starting his wakeboard off the shore, which was awesome. I felt proud of him, how he can do anything sports the first or second time he tries, and a little jealous. I told him, and he pointed out how I can slalom while he can't. I just shrugged, but felt reassured. Is that sick, feeling reassured when I can do something he can't? Oh, well. He can do more sports, anyways.
The wind has come up now, so I'm glad we got some sports in.

This has been a long, poetic, journally entry. It was fun!

*Hometown: not willing to disclose location.