Saturday, July 11, 2015

Lesson 368: Catch Game of Giffle Ball


It's been a busy week here at the Lamp Post.
Allow your Friday night pal, Eloise to catch you up.

We caught a beauty of a sunset on the Fourth of July.


FYI:  I tried to block out the sun with the puff, 
but it didn't work.
See?



If you stopped by the Lamp Post to catch us in the yard 
for a chat and a laugh,
we haven't been around much.

We've been catching daughter Ellen Louise's softball games
in the Little League play offs as her team advanced to sectionals.


We've been playing in nearby Cochranton,
home of the Cochranton Cardinals


about an hour's drive from home.

The school's fields are located right on the edge of a corn field.


It gives the place the feel Iowa instead of Pennsylvania.



There were some long faces leaving the dug out after game one.


Game two didn't go our way either and regrettably,
the girls' great season has come to an end.


As the final "Huskies on 3!" was shouted in the huddle,
we informed Natalie that was the last game of the year.
It's okay, Natalie.
It's hard for all of us to let go.


A gift bag for each girl brought smiles again.
Ellen shared her sunflower seeds and Gatorade with her siblings 
and we spent a quiet ride home 
reminiscing about the best season of ball Ellen has ever played.


Thanks, Team, 
for allowing me to invade your huddle.


I had way more fun than you did.
I'll catch you next time.


Now that my butt isn't on the bleachers,
you can catch my clan



at the beach.


We've caught a lot of sunsets over Lake Erie.
Our great Great Lake is known for its dusk skies.



Eloise also caught a rare photo of Sunset Peggy,
the woman the locals know for capturing a spectacular snapshot,
nearly every night.


The beach is a great place to be this summer.
The water temperatures colder than normal have
inhibited algae growth.
No seaweed!


This makes us happy!





We're hoping to catch a good breeze for the remainder of July.


The perch are biting which makes for a happy hubby,


and a happy Natalie.
She is quite the fisherwoman.


The kids are having fun in their scanoe.
No typo there--
a scanoe is a cross between a skiff and a canoe.
It's a little wider and shorter than the standard canoe,
and easier to maneuver for the kids.






The only one who is annoyed by all of this fun is Sam.
He has to wear the pink life jacket for another year.
That's the price you pay when you have two older sisters and are subject to hand-me-downs.


Eloise caught some great wildlife photos this week.







This handsome gentleman has wild eyes for his wife.


I've been catching a few minutes here and there to work on my
Challenge Erie 6 Scavenger Hunt clues.
Still stuck on this one,
but it must be somewhere in New York.


We've also caught a couple of hills for my What the Hi11? 
summer fitness challenge.

We hit Behrend and the Bayfront one afternoon,





and a beautiful hill out in Wine Country the next.



At the base of the Williams Road, North East hill,
there is the Esterline Alpaca Farm.

Hope you can catch these gentle creatures if they are out to pasture.



My family and I got a chance to talk with the farmer.
This is Abigail.
Many of the 23 alpacas on the farm have people names,
and they will respond to their names when called.


They are sheared once a year in April.
Their fur is sent to the Finger Lakes to make yarn,
and also to a co-op south of Erie to make the Alpaca socks that I love so much.



The white one on the right is Joy.
She is deaf.
The farmer told me that if an alpaca is white with blue eyes,
nine times out of ten it is deaf.
Interesting!


I also found out this week


that parts of a whole


are nearly as interesting


as the piece 


shown in its entirety.


Here's a piece of the draft of my next fun project.



Eloise has created a new game!



This is the draft for Harborcreek's first ever
Giffle Ball course!
It's a par 50!


Giffle ball is a game played on a baseball/softball complex,
using a wiffle ball and bat,


and applying the rules of golf.


I was originally going to call it w-olf
(Wiffle + gOLF)

and after about a half an hour,
I realized I was spelling wolf,
like the howling kind.


After a very loud forehead slap,
and a few minutes of thinking time,
Sam and I came up with Giffle Ball.

A quick internet search has told me the game has not been thought of yet--
however, there is such a thing as wiffle golf--
golf played with a wiffle ball.

I've purchased some clubs for rentals when you come to play,
or you can bring your own equipment, of course.
Score cards will be done next week.
Anyone is welcome to stop and play anytime.

That got me thinking about words and how they are created.
I found this interesting information in a recent Time magazine.
These are some clever word combos like Giffle that have staying power.




According to researchers,


words must have these six points:


Giffle seems to fit these nicely.
Perhaps I've started something for other people whose houses border Little League Parks.

Here are some word combos that were not quite so lucky.


I've got some framily from out of town staying at the Lamp Post this weekend.
They had been snowquestered much of the winter as they are from Cleveland.
We're going to have some dunch at the cottage tomorrow,
and I have to run to the store early in the morning to pick up some food,
and of course a couple dozen wonuts for breakfast.

Better get to bed because I have a big day ahead of me.
Looks to be a nice one--80 degrees predicted.
I won't even need my swacket.

Enjoy your weekend.
ELOISE

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