last game

Ry had his last baseball game on Saturday. A grandfather of a player on his team last fall came up to me to tell me how good Rylee was at catcher the first inning, and after the game several people came up to Ry to tell him how fun he was to watch this season. He also played shortstop and first, where he made several outs, including one where he had to stretch his arm and body almost horizontally near the ground to make the catch while keeping one foot firmly anchored on the bag. He stole several bases, including one where he dared the pitcher to throw on a large lead off and slid into third head first. He pitched two innings, too, striking out all three batters in the first one.

He finished his Wimpy book and his pumpkin book report last night.

Meanwhile, Jackson's soccer league seems to be teetering on closing. The league cancelled another Saturday of games. It's such a shame, because he's so good at it and I'd like to see him continue in that sport. His homework is getting tougher. Math problems last night took him over an hour. He practiced some geography tests online and aced his test in class. There's lots of reading assignments, which he has to annotate and take notes on. The Spanish written tests may be the hardest thing he is doing now. But all in all, he is doing very well.

Cyndi says he worries about our family's well-being, since we are living on a very austere budget right now, but I had some interviews last week and got a very nice offer from a firm I liked immensely. I start on Monday. Jack's computer parts can't be too far away.

We had family over Sunday for our traditional Halloween potato soup and homemade croutons, with Cyndi's apple crisp for dessert. The clock goes back this weekend. Ry and I have been following the World Series. He's rooting for the American league team, even though it's the arch rival of his favorite team. I talked with Ariel briefly and she is doing well, enjoying her dishes finally. She managed to take some with her on her return flight from her visit here. Mild temperatures, cool at night. The cottonwood is changing.

a slideshow & update

Here's some promised photos. It's missing action shots of the boys' games. I recently wrote about Ry's election and his town hall meeting. He said he got lots of good comments when he asked for additional input, but the meeting was cut short because there were cupcakes that afternoon. He's getting perfect marks on his school work. Jackson had a soccer game. He is amazing to watch. He runs fast and there's a determination in him when he plays. Rylee finishes fall ball this weekend.

class prez

As I wrote earlier, Ry ran for class president of his third-grade classroom. His running mate was Enrique. Most of the class was running, too, so it was bound to be a close vote. The campaigns culminated on Friday, when they gave speeches to the class, outlining their platforms, and then they voted. Ry said many promised more recess time, but he also added something educational, such as being able to retake a test. Ry announced he won on Monday, the day the teacher announced the outcome. He told a fun story. The teacher was announcing it, and when she finally said who won, Ry and Enrique looked at each other and, happily surprised, both said, "What?"

The other candidates are now part of the cabinet. I asked him what he's going to do now that he's the class president and what his constituents would like him to do. He asked, what are constituents? So we talked about finding out what his classmates' interests and concerns were. I said, not expecting to be taken too seriously, you could hold a town hall meeting to ask them and give them a chance to talk. So the very next morning he asked the teacher if they could have a town hall meeting. She said they would have one on Friday and asked him to write out a list of goals to present to the class. He worked on that last night. It sounds like he's already negotiated with her about his educational platform.

Jackson seems to be cruising through his first few weeks at the academy. Every day seems to be filled with something new to be discovered, whether it's scientific observations being conducted outside or annotating some story or article, and I think it's opening up some mature thinking. Still, I managed to see him through the glass doors of the performing arts space, while I was waiting for him to finish his after-school drama club, and watched him at play as they did some acting exercises. He was his sixth grade self, still on the cusp between childhood and a young adult. He's a very good listener, and occasionally he'll say something I know must be new. In math, they were working on proportions and rational equations. For years, I have been setting up ratios for him whenever he had a word problem to solve, and he reminded me of that. So we worked on some problems together, solving for x. While occasionally he'll have a night of homework where he ends up scrambling at bedtime to finish, his complaints about doing homework are pretty mild and most nights he can accomplish it in short order. Sometimes I don't think he sets enough time aside for homework and reading (and practicing), but he doesn't seem to have any problems staying up with the classes. 

changeup

Ariel visited us yesterday. We made sausage and eggs and pancakes, and afterwards went on a walk around the academy. Jackson showed Ariel his campus and later she and he walked and talked ahead of Cyndi, Rylee and me. I overheard snippets: Ariel had questions about his classes; Jackson asked her about what she did. Unfortunately, Jack's soccer game was cancelled. It wasn't due to the weather.  I'm afraid the league's season is off to a shaky start, especially with a week postponed, a week cancelled, and uniforms on back order. The most unfortunate thing was Ariel didn't get to see him play. I hope the soccer season doesn't lose momentum. It looked like Jack would have a good season.

Jackson told me about his art class before and this morning I saw his work online, with his teacher's comments attached. Wow, it was really good. He called it contour drawing. The composition was two plants. There were different weights of lines, and they paid attention to "negative space."

The academy sends out weekly reports of what they are doing and what is coming, so I do know something of what he's doing. Right now he's studying upstairs, in between "breaks" on his computer. Sunday appears to be his heaviest day for homework. Rylee is outside, playing baseball in the yard with his friends. I think it's the fourth game of their World Series. Cyndi is taking a CPR class. I'm cooking a pot roast, and I'll go pick up Ariel in about an hour. She leaves on a red-eye tonight back to NYC.

Rylee had two games this weekend. Friday's ended up under the lights on the major field. His friend, Nathaniel came along, and it was cold. Many people showed up to see Rylee's game late on Saturday afternoon: Ariel, Jackson, Cyndi, and me; Cyndi's sisters; and Nico and his parents, our neighbors. Rylee pitched the first two innings, got himself into a jam a couple of times, walked a few on full counts, threw several fast, unhittable pitches over the plate and very few wild pitches. He had an enthusiastic section in the stands rooting for him. I kept worrying he would get tired. At one point, he and the catcher had a talk on the mound, without the coach. I wondered what that was about, and he later told me Scott, the catcher, was giving him the signals for a fastball and a change-up. The next pitch was a strike. With bases loaded at the end of the other team's at-bat in the second and a full count, Ry threw one right down the middle. The batter smacked it right back at Ry. Ry reached up and snagged the line drive and the inning was over. Ry's team was ahead and they stayed ahead for the remainder of the game.

Ariel got to watch Ry play catcher in the third, hit a single through the gap into left field, and even play second before the game was called in the fourth at sunset.

On Thursday morning, Ry was off school. He and I rode our bikes to the balloon fiesta before dawn.  From the bicycle trailhead in Journal Center to the free bike valet near the balloon fiesta museum was about two miles. We outfitted our bikes with lights, including a fllashing strobe light on the back of Ry's. It was the morning for special shapes balloons. Although the winds on the ground were calm, the pilots said the winds were blowing over 19 knots at 400 feet. Many of the special shapes inflated, but none launched. Ry had a great time collecting the balloon trading cards.

Total cost: $8 for an adult entry, $3 for a tall hot chocolate with whipped cream, and a token donation in the bike valet jar. Total time in a line: zero. Total fun: immeasurable.

Coming Home

I have returned from Raton. The circumstances are very strange, and it has created a hardship for us. That story I'll save for another time and place. Meanwhile, an update from home is long overdue and I don't want to go any longer without one.

Fall is coming. The balloons are in the air this week. The mornings are cold but the days are mild and sunny. The cottonwood is not changing color yet but it won't be long. Ariel is in town for a story and a visit and maybe some games this weekend. Jackson began school at the Academy and is playing soccer. Rylee is in third grade at Dennis Chavez and is playing baseball.

Jack enjoys his new school. At first, he was a bit overwhelmed but he seems to have found a rhythm now that he has his supplies and books and understands the system. There's no set daily schedule for the entire semester; rather, a weekly schedule is posted ahead on a board in the common area and online. The sixth graders are divided into pods, families, and clusters. There are two pods of sixth graders, each with half the class. Each pod has its own group of teachers, for the most  part, so the kids in that pod share the same teachers and the same subject matter, though not necessarily the same classes, and share assignments and common group projects, such as the "experiential education" hike Jack's pod is taking this week, a kind of outward bound program, which will include an overnight later in the year. The smallest unit is a cluster, and these are combined in a variety of ways to make up the classes. The family is the group of kids that went through orientation together, have lockers near each other, meet daily, I think, for a kind of "home room", and eat together every day with the same teacher in the dining hall.

Bunty is his companion in his bedroom. Bunty is what he calls Limes, the rabbit, who chews through all the charging cords she can find. Exactly, it's Ry's pet but Cyndi and Jack are in love with her. Often it roams freely around the room, and even though Jackson is concentrating on his computer, the two of them must enjoy each other's company.

Jackson still spends much of his time after school on his computer, but he's also pretty diligent about getting his homework done. It may take some prompting from Cyndi and me, but there's little complaint from him as he eventually settles down somewhere and opens his notebooks. At night he comes into my room to practice his flute. His tone is improving. He still does not know enough notes to complete a scale, but his class has a repertoire of tunes using a limited number of notes. He is breezing through math and last I heard he had looked into joining the math club. Once in a while, he mentions something he learned in science (the metric system and lab safety) or history (the electoral college and the Constitution). In English, they are reading Greek myths. He first came home practicing the Spanish he learned by walking up to me one evening, shaking my hand, and saying, "mucho gusto," with a confident pronunciation. His Spanish teacher uses only Spanish in class. He's also been going to a drama club, and talked about an exercise they first did, a dialogue of sorts, comprised only of improvised questions. I have not heard much about P.E. He has talked about the drawing projects he's been doing in his art class. There's also a music class, in addition to the requirement to take a performing art--he's in the cadet band--and a "tech app" class, I think, rounds out the curriculum this year.

Jack's first soccer game was this past Saturday. He plays on the Chelsea team, and they played his team from last year, Germany. Jack's coach has taught the kids many basic skills and plays, and Jack seems to have caught on, exhibiting some great footwork and passing. He looks to be a good tackler. While he never exhibits the exuberance for sports as Ry does, still, it's astonishing to see how good he is when he does play and how much fun he has. It's great to see him running, his head in the game, with his teammates, both boys and girls, his age and a bit older. Jack is really shooting up in height, very lean, and it's fun to see him whenever he's energized.

Jackson has been determined to build a computer, and while he has set his birthday money aside for parts, we must wait a bit more for our contribution to all the parts he needs. He's told everyone at school, however, that he is going to build one. So when the school needed a student to represent it in a new online admissions "brochure" for prospective applicants, they thought of Jackson and his motivation to build his computer. Last week, some people from Baltimore came to our house, after shooting other scenes and other children, to film and photograph Jackson in his room, doing computer stuff.

Rylee, meanwhile, has a new teacher he likes. His friend from preschool and church, Eddy, is in his class. Ry's class was studying the Constitution a few weeks back. His teacher said anyone who memorized the preamble would get a special surprise.

We the People of the United States,
in Order to form a more perfect Union,

establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility,

provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare,

 and secure the Blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our Posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.

Ry came home and said he wanted to do it. He and I worked on it that night until he had it. I told him when I dropped him off to be sure to volunteer to say it. He did. He was the only one prepared to do it. I don't think his teacher thought anyone would do it the next day. He said he was very nervous, but when he went to gifted and told his teacher there, he wasn't nervous because the class was smaller, and said it perfectly when the teacher asked. The next day he told the original teacher he wanted to do it again and he did it perfectly. Eventually, over the week, most of the other kids did it, too.

Ry is scoring high on math and spelling. He just campaigned for class president with his running mate, Enrique, Eddy's neighbor. He is already starting projects ahead of time for his gifted class, and he's already started his book report due at the end of  the month. He's always eager for school.

Rylee is crazy about baseball. He's playing minors fall ball. He's amazingly good. Since fall ball is a training season, the coach is very good about rotating positions. Everyone gets outfield at some point; everyone has an inning on the bench. Rylee still manages to get some key positions. He's certain to play first, as he is such an outstanding fielder. He has a glove just for first base. Last game, two pop-ups came his way in the same inning, one fair and the other foul, and he just gets under them or chases them down and makes the catch look matter-of-fact. And for the first 5-3 out of the season, the third baseman fielded a good grounder, fired it to Ry on first, Rylee had to stretch, the throw was in the dirt, but the catch was made just before the batter reached the bag. Some real baseball.

The boys on his team range from about his age to a couple years older. Ry's probably the second youngest and second shortest, so that makes it even more fun to see him hold more than his own. (The youngest and shortest, by the way, is equally fun to watch.) I asked Ry how he felt after catching the pop-ups. He said his heart was beating fast. Ry has pitched several innings. Like Jackson, his pitches are right over the plate. After a while, however, he looks like he's tiring. He gets anxious when he's pitching, concentrating to get the throw over the plate, but he doesn't show it. Last game, he also brought his catching gear and played catcher for an inning. He also line-drived one over the shortstop's head. (He had the no. 4 position in the batting order that day.) He rounded first, deciding to go for two. The ball wasn't too far from second, however, and he had to dive headfirst, his right hand touching the bag just as the second baseman caught the ball but before the tag.

Ry studies the game. He reads the rule book. He's learning how to score a game. He watches videos on pitching grips. He's studied the cutter of his favorite pitcher, Mariano Rivera, who happens to play for Ry's favorite team (until he retired at the end of this season). He looks up stats and histories in a baseball almanac and at his school's book fair he bought a book of the "50 best" current MLB  players. He studies their rosters; he follows the standings; he even follows the minor leagues. He's following the playoffs, even though his favorite team didn't make the cut. He wears their cap everywhere, including school. He collects, and even trades, baseball cards. He must have thousands now, past and present; he reads the cards; he knows the player's names, their position, the teams they played on. Sometimes, even their stats. He collects cards in binders. Right now, he's working on a binder of the teams and players who will spring train in Arizona: The Cactus League. He's determined to go next Spring, watch them play and get autographs. Every day after school, he's playing a ball game in our yard with the boys around the neighborhood. We have some  rubber plates and bases. The lawn around home plate has worn to bare dirt. The mums, which are blooming now, are sadly trampled, too. If the ball reaches the street, that's an out-of-park homerun. This Sunday was the third game of a neighborhood World Series, comprised of two-person teams and played with a tennis ball. His team finally won a game. He came in at dark, ate some dinner Cyndi had made, and then came upstairs to watch some Disney show on Netflix with a bowl of apple crisp Cyndi also had made, while figuring out his team's batting averages, and said he wished every day was like today. It was a perfect day.

By the way, he even has a book that will tell him the market value of the baseball cards. He loves reminding me that a Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $2.1 million.

While he has other aspirations, one goal he has is to play high school baseball for the Albuquerque Academy Chargers, college ball with the UNM Lobos, then minors with the Vermont Lake Monsters and the Albuquerque Isotopes, then move up to the majors and get traded to his favorite team.