Theatre of Dreams ~ Old Trafford

‘This is Manchester United football club, this is the theatre of dreams.’

The phrase coined by Sir Bobby Charlton in John Riley’s book simply entitled ‘Soccer’ 26 years ago has stuck in the period of unprecedented success which the Red Devils enjoyed under the tenure of Sir Alex Ferguson. From the Glaswegian’s appointment in November 1986, this cathedral of British football has undergone a dramatic transformation to become arguably the finest club ground in English football.

We searched on line to get tips about getting to the stadium and parking for the soccer game. We found the neighborhood suggested to park in and followed the crowds walking to the stadium.

We had our Seattle Sounders gear with our Sounders/Manchester United friendly match scarf. It was fun that a few people walked up to us recognizing that we were from Seattle and were welcoming.

We had enough time before kick off to take some photos and check out the Mega Store! Yikes was that huge with wall to wall people in it.

Our tickets included a club entrance separate from general entrances and a private lounge to enjoy snacks and drinks before the game and during half time. We also got a free program with our tickets.

We enjoyed our seats and the crowd. We had heard some horror stories about sitting in the stands that didn’t pan out in our experience. The seats were comfortable and the people around us were polite.

The excitement in the stadium reached an elevated pitch when Maraouane Fellaini took the field for the first time as a “Red”. Many of the fans donned wigs that tried to match Fellaini’s hair.

Marouane Fellaini has described his deadline-day move to Manchester United as a ‘dream’, and hopes to repay David Moyes’ faith in him by joining the long list of greats at Old Trafford.

There was a solid line of security between the home fans and the visiting fans. The chants from the two groups always get quite heated and aren’t flattering to their opponents for sure.

We took one last photo of all of us together enjoying experiencing a dream come true for Josh. This wouldn’t be the one and only game that Josh got to attend in England. While we were in London he took a chance at buying a last minute ticket to a sold out Arsenal game in Northern London close to the stadium where the game would be played. An older woman who was meeting someone to sell her 2 season tickets to decided that she’d like to enjoy the game with Josh after talking to him. We were happy for Josh to get his 2nd experience in an English Premier game atmosphere! We shopped while Josh enjoyed the game and then we met up at Selfridges on Oxford Street.

A Shot from Old Trafford…

A dream come true for our son Josh as we stepped onto the grounds of Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester, England. This is the home field of Manchester United and Manchester City Soccer teams.

We had our scarves from the Seattle Sounders Friendly match with Manchester United in 2011. We had great seats with privileges to a members only entrance and refreshment area and a free match day program. We had a great time and Manchester United won 2-0.

We’ve traveled a few hundred miles away from Manchester and are enjoying so many wonderful sights.

Until next time…

Seattle’s All a Buzz!

You could literally feel the excitement coming from people as Laura and I walked into the Century Link Stadium on Saturday night. There was to be a “huge announcement” before the game and they asked everyone to make sure and be in their seats at 7:15. We complied because we heard rumors and wanted to see if what we heard would be true and it was…

Clint Dempsey is now a Seattle Sounder!

“Dempsey, the captain of U.S. national team who was purchased from Tottenham of the English Premier League, joins a Seattle team that is getting healthier, hungrier and hotter.”

“Going into the season, I thought I was going to be at Tottenham,” Dempsey said, “but MLS and the Seattle Sounders, they moved mountains to get me here. I am excited to be back in America.”

OK…I realize not all my bloggy friends are Soccer fans and some of you won’t even recognize his name but this is a huge development for the Sounders team and it was so much fun to witness and especially hear the excitement on Saturday night when Dempsey peeled off his hoody and revealed his new Sounders jersey.

In case you are wondering why it was just Laura and I walking into the stadium, Josh is at Lakeside Bible Camp directing the junior high camp for this week. Laura was busily texting him with the news that the Clint Dempsey signing rumors were true. Josh was very excited about two of his favorite things on Saturday…Soccer and Lakeside Bible Camp.

Home front news:

My mom has decided to go off oxygen and morphine so as of Sunday the oxygen has been removed from my parents apartment. My brother served my mom and pop communion on Sunday evening and several of us were able to google hangout to be part of the evening at the apartment. We sang together and prayed together. My mom is still very alert and she continues to make us laugh with her down to earth comments. The dialogues between her and my pop are priceless. Our nephew Caleb is getting married this coming Saturday in Gaviota, California so mom and pop in their words are “putting off dying till after the wedding” they call the wedding a detour from dying. We have enough material from our dear parents to make a mini-series.

My mom with niece Melissa on Sunday. My mom said “I like this gadget”.

From the eternal to the mundane…our floors are now ready to receive their new padding and carpeting. What interesting room landscapes we are living with for a couple days. 2 queen mattress sets are stacked where our dining table usually sits. Fun times! Even with this configuration we enjoyed a wonderful Copper River Salmon meal last night with my sister and her hubby. Before their softball game Lana asked if she could drop off all the supplies for dinner so Dear and I could cook it for the 4 of us while they fulfilled their team duties. Little sisters can make those kinds of requests. I did reply to her “what do you think I am, a Mennonite?” She replied, “yes, I heard you were adopted in.” So there you have it. And because our garage is full of our other furniture which made our barbecue impossible to retrieve I cooked the salmon on the deck in an electric skillet…if that’s not a Mennonite alternative cooking method I don’t know what is!? We had salmon, black rice, broiled asparagus-zucchini and a cucumber heirloom tomato salad. Delicious. Chunky Monkey Ice Cream for dessert.

How was your weekend?

My Party Ride…

On Tuesday my son called me to say that his company had an extra ticket to the U.S.A. World Cup Qualifier Game against Panama at Century Link Field. He asked me if I’d like to meet up with him and go to the game. What do you think I said!? Yes, thank you. Off I went to a hotel in Bellevue to meet up with the rest of the group. Joshua’s company had reserved a party bus to take everyone across Lake Washington to the stadium. They also had booked a private suite for the game.

Josh was able to represent well with his USA warm-up. He and I were probably the most excited of the bunch to be going to the game. Soccer is a joy for me to watch and I understand that for many it would just make you yawn. We caught the “soccer bug” after going to World Cup games in the U.S.A. in 1994.

It was a beautiful day in Seattle and as we crossed Lake Washington it was fun to see all the sail boats out in force. What fun to just let someone else do the driving.

When we got into the stadium they were handing out complimentary scarves to everyone. We were very excited to receive these!

We headed to the elevators to go up to the Suite Level. I had never been on the Suite level before.

You have to have a ticket that shows a Suite # to be admitted onto this floor.

We looked down to our usual level when we come to a game. Our Club level is pretty sweet, too.

Here it is…Suite 16. We were very happy to see we were not far off from the 50 yard line! Woohoo!

Wow…this is going to be fun and comfortable!

Food and drinks included and 2 private restrooms.

We picked our seats and hung our flag and got ready to cheer the U.S.A. to victory!

The excitement was mounting and I sat ready to enjoy it all.

This is the Centennial year for soccer in the U.S.A. Our Seattle fans are the best and unfurled these banners to celebrate 100 years of history!

#6 Brad Evans and #18 Eddie Johnson are players from our own Sounders Football Club here in Seattle. Brad Evans scored the winning goal for the U.S.A. against Jamaica and Eddie Johnson scored a goal in this game against Panama. We’re proud of our Sounders!

At Half time we took the time to take some posed photos.

What a great group of people from all over the Western States that work for our son’s company. I met folks from Arizona, Utah, California, Idaho, Denver and Washington.

I was able to spot and zoom in on the Space Needle from our suite.

Great views all around. Scoring first made for a wonderful atmosphere in the stadium and the chants “We are going to Brazil” made for a lot of excitement. It’s not a given for a country as large as the U.S.A. to qualify for the World Cup. We won this game with a 2-0 result.

When the game was over we headed down to find The Party Ride bus to take us back to the East side of Lake Washington.

We spotted the Party Ride just where they let us off. There were a lot of people who wished they could hop on that bus with us.

What a great experience for this soccer lover to enjoy with my son. If you ever have a chance to enjoy a game in a suite I would highly recommend it.

The party bus was fun, too. I got home late and was happy to know I had nothing on my calendar until noon on Wednesday. It was nice to just relax the morning after all the fun I had on Tuesday night. Thank you dear son of mine for thinking of your soccer lovin mom! You are the best!

Today is Friday and if the weather is decent I’m headed to Edmonds for their annual Art Festival. I worked hard on Thursday clearing out the free standing cabinets in our kitchen to get ready for the new floors being installed in July. I cleared out our island cabinets as we will have to remove the island completely so the floor can be replaced under it. We have prep work to do before the flooring contractor can come in so I’ll be living with the bare necessities in my kitchen. I told Dear that if I’m too limited we might just have to eat out every night!

I’ve been so sad to see the news about the fires in Colorado. I do hope things come under control soon. Hope all is well where you live.

I’m joining in with The Tablescaper for her meme called “Oh the Places I’ve Been #9” since I’m home alone this week and have time to come and visit all the participants.

Catching Up…

Saturday was a great day of catching up and getting things done. We started the day hoisting our U.S. and Marine Flags in honor of Armed Forces Day here in the states.

Right after raising the flags we jumped in the car to head to Cabella’s for Dear to find some good walking shoes. We were there when it opened and back on the road for home by 10 a.m. We switched vehicles and headed to the Home Depot for some shrubs. We wanted to add some privacy to our patio area that the shrubs should provide. After some clean up work in the shop we got ready to meet Josh and Laura downtown for a bite to eat before the Seattle Sounders game against Dallas.

This was our postponed celebration of Mother’s Day. We cancelled Mother’s day celebrations last weekend because of a soccer injury Josh got that grounded him with pain and because Laura had an overtime week of work, events and care for Josh. We had a great time catching up over some small bites. Even though we didn’t get together last Sunday I was treated royally with flowers from all three of my kids.

There were 3 sweet little birds tucked into this floral arrangement because of the 3 babies that gave me the title of Mom.

After eating Dear headed home and I joined Josh and Laura to head to the stadium. Josh is still suffering from deep tissue and bone bruising in his lower leg from his injury so we walked slowly to our seats. There were some special pre-game festivities to honor all branches of the Military for Armed Forces Day. The Sounders club is great in honoring our military and our country.

Of course it’s pretty evident that I’m a wee bit partial to one particular branch of the military.

The Marines!

I’m happy to report the evening ended beautifully with a huge win for the Sounders over Dallas. It’s fun when your team wins.

Sunday is quiet compared to our Saturday. We had a challenging church service. We are in a series called The Big Picture. Today we talked about God’s Mission. We were challenged to open our mouth, to have the courage to use words in sharing what Christ has done for us and the saving grace he offers all. Lord, open my heart, open a door and open my mouth.

For our friends to the North a very happy Victoria Day to you! For all of you I hope you have a very good week ending with our long Memorial Weekend here in the States. As you flit away here’s one more little birdie to see you off…

Bye Bye Birdie!

The Season Begins…

Although we didn’t win it was nice to get rolling again. It was especially nice to enjoy the game with 3 of our 5!

For those of you who aren’t major league soccer fans this was the Seattle Sounders opener against Toronto. It was nice that Katie could join us while she is in town.

We’ve gotten to be friends with the season ticket holders around us. It comes in handy when you want them to take a photo, too!

I love that we always begin with National anthems and that the military in our area is so well represented. I’m a little partial to the Marines!

Since we were playing a Canadian team, their flag was represented, too. We listened to a beautiful rendition of “O Canada” in English with some French thrown in. They could have been better guests, though, and let us win. Aye!

Another fun season of “raising our scarves”…and wearing our rave green!

Our Emerald City Supporters really go the extra mile. The other Major League Soccer clubs have learned a lot from our Seattle Sounders supporters. This next photo does not represent most of the fans.

I don’t know how they were able to fall asleep but I’m glad I was able to catch them in the act! Speaking of sleep, I’m going to be sleeping at our son’s home in Eastern Washington for the next couple of nights so you probably won’t be hearing from me.

Have a great week!

It’s 10-11-12!

I wonder when the next time that will happen!?

…I need to back track to document what a fun Sunday night we had in downtown Seattle at the Sounders Soccer game against our Cascadia rivals the Portland Timbers.

We always start with our local military representatives holding the flag while we sing The Star Spangled Banner. This night there were over 50,000 voices strong singing. That is really cool. Total attendance for the night was 66, 452.

…and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air!

Our Emerald City Supporters went all out with a banner depicting the Sounders coach Sigi Schmid going all in.

An all time favorite player on our Sounders team retired earlier this year and he was honored this night with the golden scarf. He really is beloved by the fans and the stadium went electric when he was honored!

As the sun set in the West the sun set on Portland, too. We sent them back to Portland defeated 3-0.

So I’m still going around and around on my theme and I’m not finished yet. Double Oye!

What do you have planned for 10-11-12??

A Golden Moment!

Congratulations to the U.S. Women’s Soccer team and their gold medal in the 2012 Olympics! It was a beautiful thing for me a huge soccer fan to watch. Congratulations, too, to the Canadian Women beating France to earn the bronze medal and to Japan for receiving the silver medal. It’s great to watch the medal ceremony and see the women all lined up with those huge smiles!

Here are some more beautiful things from my yard…

Before I watched the game I mowed the lawn, picked some apples and enjoyed some of the flowers growing in planters about the yard.

I’m trying to get motivated to peel and core these apples off the tree and make some applesauce…

My top hat blueberries are getting big and ripe. This is a dwarf blueberry that grows well in pots.

My mom is being moved to a rehab center this afternoon. They are calling around to find one that has room. I’m hoping it isn’t too far from my parents apartment since my dad will be driving back and forth. Thank you so much for all your prayers and concern for my mom. It is really appreciated.

Look Ma…no Jacket!

We had our first evening Sounders Soccer game that I did not have to have several layers of warmth on my body this past Saturday! The sun was shining, the crowd was rowdy, but our team went down in defeat. The only downer on a very wonderful day!

All day in the sunshine. A 5K in the morning. Putting up deck structures in the afternoon. Dinner downtown before the game. We were all yawning during the 2nd half of the game! Absorbing vitamin D is hard work!

Going to the Dentist today so hopefully I can say “Look ma, no cavities, too!”

Can’t leave without showing you how thoughtful my kids are…

A basket full of treats that were personalized about things that bring me joy from Josh and Laura.

Flowers on my doorstep from Katie and Andrew all the way from North Carolina.

Daniel sent me a gift certificate for a local salon and I’ll be booking a massage real soon.

Dear pampered me all day beginning with home made eggs Benedict that were delicious!

Blessed to the brim and I don’t take it for granted…

Have a great week y’all.

U.S. Open Cup Title 2011

SEATTLE (Oct. 4, 2011) –” The Seattle Sounders won their third consecutive Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title with a 2-0 win against the Chicago Fire in front of a record crowd this evening at CenturyLink Stadium in Seattle. Goals from Fredy Montero and Osvaldo Alonso helped the Sounders become the first team in 42 years to win the Open Cup three years in a row and ensured goalkeeping legend and team captain Kasey Keller ended his final season with at least one piece of silverware.”

It’s always great when the team you are cheering for wins. We were surrounded by a great group of friends last night at the game and we were not disappointed at the outcome. Here are some photos showing the highlights of the night for me.

The following sequence of photos are from the opening of the ceremonies with the Star Spangled Banner being sung and the men and women of all the military branches holding the U.S. Flag. I really enjoy this part of the night and I like to zoom in on “The few. The proud. The Marines!”