For a game that's associated here in America with the offspring of middle-class,
minivan-driving mothers, soccer is one heck of a rough sport.  The
odd thing is, it's mostly the fans that are mean as junkyard dogs.

Case in point: 

Inter-Milan match ends in chaos: Angry fans throw flares onto pitch

No kidding!  Over in Italy, at a game between two competing Milan teams, lit flares were being tossed from the stands. 

The Champions League quarterfinal between Inter Milan and city
rivals AC Milan was abandoned after 73 minutes on Tuesday after Milan
keeper Dida was struck by one of dozens of flares thrown down from the
stands.

German referee Markus Merk took the players off the
pitch at the San Siro stadium after Inter fans began hurling plastic
bottles and then over 30 flares on to the penalty area below them after
a header by Esteban Cambiasso was disallowed.

Dida received medical treatment to his shoulder while Inter players urged their fans to stop hurling objects on to the pitch.

The goal frame disappeared in clouds of smoke as flares continued to be rained down and burn on the pitch.

The
players came back on to the field after 25 minutes but Merk took them
off again after just 30 seconds play and abandoned the game when more
flares came raining down with no sign of intervention from the police.

What is it about soccer that brings out the brute in its followers
around the world?  The ugly behavior of many English and Irish
fans has been documented for years now, and I remember reading about
misbehavior in Germany, Mexico and India in the past.

Seen posted on a door in the music school:

Well, that's just sick. 

Cat hunts?  Wisconsin is seriously considering the legalization of cat hunts?

We're not talking tigers here . . . we're talking tabbies.  If
Cinnamon Toast manages to slip outside, he'll be fair game. 
What's appalling is this is already permitted, and has been for years,
in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Cats eat song birds, you see.  Mind, I'm a huge fan of song birds,
but for pity's sake, shooting domesticated cats isn't the way to
protect them. 

You can't say I never take you anywhere. 

Here's the music school at Little Creek Naval Base in Virginia Beach, VA:

On the wall inside is a plaque with the 3.00 Club, i.e. those who made
a 3.00+ on either their performance (Alex scored a 3.15), or the
accumulated score (his was 3.33) . . . he wasn't sure which. 
Doesn't matter - he'd qualify regardless.

The hall with class and practice rooms.  Isn't this exciting?

Alex showing Hannah off to a fellow musician, who had asked if he was
the first Negro she'd met.  There was some talk about nurses at
the hospital, but Gran (that's me) decreed they don't count . . . only
people outside the hospital count for that sort of thing. 

As I said earlier, on Sunday afternoon Don, Alex, and I drove up to Yorktown, which was lovely.

This was the Thomas Nelson house, which had been attacked by cannonfire
during the Revolution.  We're confidant the cannonball seen in the
wall was planted, but the hole it is in, as well as the other above it
(and there were a few more besides), are authentic.

This was the cemetary at St. Paul's Episcopal church, where Don and
Alex - standing next to Thomas Nelson's grave - listened to an
impromptu talk by a knowlegable docent.

You know you're in Virginia when there are streets named "Kings Charter" and . . . my favorite . . . "Witchduck".

Don't you love it?  Witchduck! 

Another clue you're in Virginia is the strange place they put their car's registration sticker:

Isn't that odd?  It sits spang in the middle of the windshield.

Well, Alex called this morning.  He found out this morning that what he'd suspected had happened, was exactly what had happened.

He'd been forgotten.  That's
why he's never received orders.  The man in charge of issuing them
had gotten through the trombones who were excelled out (which I think
ought to be "acceled", short for "accelerated") out, then thought he
was done.

Forgot the lone tubist. 

One of Alex's superiors had been on vacation and returned this morning,
quite astonished to learn Alex had yet to receive his orders. 
Made a phone call, thus bringing to light that the orders weren't
coming, as the guy had simply overlooked the necessity of providing
them.

Only thing I can't figure out is how he got unofficial, verbal
information that he'll be posted to Tennessee, if the person who issues
the orders wasn't aware he was supposed to be doing so for Alex. 

Anyway, Alex was pleased on the one hand that they should be coming
tomorrow or the next day, and frustrated that another of his superiors
had never bothered making that same phone call.  He's determined
that as soon as they arrive, he's going to work hard to get him and his
family to the new post ASAP.  "I want to get to my band," he groaned.

This past weekend was the Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Fort
Worth, and according to the newspaper, Brianna and her other
grandmother, Taylor (aka: Tay-Tay) were front and center, watching the
action:

Super, it's working again!

Hannah's Other Grandpa gettin' silly with her at Smokey Bones.  ;^)

I regret to say Hannah had had about as much "fun" as she intended to have by the time this was snapped last night.

She's SO CUTE!!! 

And I'd love to show you pictures, but unfortunately the Xanga picture server thing is down.  :^(

However, I can recap the weekend for y'all:

Got up at an insanely early hour on Saturday, arriving at the airport
at 6:13 a.m. (the parking ticket said so) for our 7:30 a.m. flight to
Norfolk.   Nice flight.  Got our rental car and drove,
along with Ronnie, Beth's father, to Alex and Beth's place.

Hannah was sound asleep in the living room, and remained asleep for
hours!  She is madly adorable, though, even when out like a light.

We set out for lunch at Mi Casita, which was surprisingly good. 
Turns out Mexican is very popular in the Virginia Beach area.  
After a bit Beth and I went to the commissary so she could get food and
I could buy the ingredients for chicken and dumplings.  Alex
hadn't had his Mama's chicken and dumplings since SEPTEMBER.  =8^o

After supper we all watched The Incredibles, which only I had seen, can you imagine? 

Don and I went back to the hotel after that, slept in, then arrived at
the Ivys about 11:00 a.m.  Don, Alex and I headed to see Yorktown,
while Beth and her father hit the mall. Later in the afternoon we all
went to the Navy School of Music to look around, then to the NEX, and
after that to dinner at Smokey Bones Bar-B-Q, finishing up with ice
cream at Coldstone Creamery.  It was late by the time we got back
to Alex and Beth's, so we hugged and kissed Hannah and the others, then
went back to the hotel.

Now we're home, but I can't post any photos!  Talk about frustrating.