Tag Archives: Seattle Sounders F.C.

It Was the Best of Times…

…it was the worst of times.

I’m diverting from my regular “Cheers” posts slightly today for a little reality check when traveling.

We are now in Henley on Thames after traveling for 2 hours this morning. We are staying overnight in the city instead of the country. Our hotel seemed idyllic on-line, situated on the river Thames. What they don’t show you is the one way 2 lane street below our window which seems everyone needs to use to get out of town, including buses. So I sit on my bed and look out and see rowers and quiet boaters go by along the river while listening to buses and diesel vehicles rumble down the street below our window.

road to Henly day11 155Don’t feel sorry for us because there is so much beauty to enjoy it overshadows the noise of the city. I’m thinking I’m more of a country mouse with a city near by kind of person as opposed to living in the middle of the city kind of person. The photo above  is the view out our window while I’m sitting on the bed.

P1050473When I stick my head out the window and look down this is the view of the two lane road that the trucks and diesels rumble along with the compressed air from the brakes being released. You know that loud swishy noise.

Time will tell if we are able to sleep tonight. No air conditioning so we have the window open. They have equipped the rooms with fans and maybe that will work like “white noise” for us tonight.

P1050469That’s our room above with the window open.  Now that you’ve seen the worst of it I will leave you with some of the best. Henley on Thames really is a lovely little city to visit. The town shops and restaurants are very nice. They just got done with a regatta this past weekend. We visited the rowing museum today and they have a wonderful area illustrating 3 dimensional scenes from “The Wind in the Willows”. I’ll have a post or two about all the good things this city has to offer.

P1050470

road to Henly day11 138

See, I’m a happy camper walking along the river Thames thinking about The Wind in the Willows. 

An aside…stop reading if you don’t care to hear about my love for soccer and skip down to the next paragraph. I’m also wearing my Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer shirt celebrating their win over the Portland Timbers last night with Clint Dempsey scoring a goal fresh from his return from being Captain of the U.S. World Cup Soccer team. I know most of you don’t really give a rip but I need to keep things historical for my memory bank to make it easier to remember the timing of my travels. Now back to some great Grahame quotes!

“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

road to Henly day11 127 “Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that’s always changing!”

And yes, we are off to our last lodging spot tomorrow for two nights and then we will fly home on Thursday.

We are hoping the heat wave in the Seattle area will be mostly over by the time we arrive home on Thursday. Dear is already making plans to sleep in the cool basement if it’s still blazing hot! How’s the weather where you are?

 

The Stars Aligned…

…last Wednesday. The Seattle Sounders were playing the Vancouver Whitecaps and Marg had wanted to come to a soccer game with a crazy fan like me. Enough of our season ticket holders in our row of seats gave up or couldn’t use their tickets so it was “game on” and John and Marg drove across the line to meet up at my house for an evening of fun.

First we’d join Dear in downtown Seattle for Happy Hour at Boka.

P1040680Thankfully Marg and John came disguised as Manchester United fans instead of Whitecap fans since they’d be sitting with us in Sounders country.

sounders-whitecapsOur Happy Hour meal had many tasty choices that we shared around the table.

P1040682We made it to the game in plenty of time to get good parking and get to our seats well before the game started.

P1040683It was great to hear both National Anthems and see our flags side by side.

We were the best of hosts as we let the Whitecaps run all over us and take away the victory back North…oye. I was happy for John and Marg. Hopefully we’ll see better results for our team this Sunday when we play the Portland Timbers.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend to all the Mennonite Girls Can Cook and other friends across the line. May God give you thankful hearts to praise Him.

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!

When You’re Hot…

We were sizzling in Washington this past Sunday and our Seattle Sounders were hot hot hot on the field and beat L.A. Galaxy 4-0. I was happy to see that Beckham was back from London.

There were 60,000 people at the game and when we scored the noise was deafening! In other news…

The apples are falling off the tree and I’m slow in getting inspired to do anything with them.

My hydrangeas have really advanced to a deeper color. They are so nice to cut and have in fresh arrangements in the house.

We have cooled down around here today and it’s nice to be more comfortable while working around the house.

While I’m typing I’m watching the U.S.A. vs. Canada Women’s soccer semi-final at the Olympics. What a game! It’s a toss up on who is going to win. I’ll let you find out who does…

Tuesday my 89 year old mom will be having hip replacement surgery because she has been experiencing severe pain constantly for several months now. Could you pray for Nadia for good results from the replacement and a good recovery from the surgery. We are hoping for pain free days in her future. Pray for my dad, Moisi, too. He will be home alone for a while and he’s not used to that.

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.

Kasey Keller Day!

Today is the last home game for the Seattle Sounders Soccer team. The governor of Washington and the Mayor of Seattle have both issued proclamations making October 15th, 2011 Kasey Keller Day. Kasey Keller is the goalie for the Sounders and this will be his last home game since he is retiring after this season. Kasey Keller grew up in the state of Washington. He has had a long successful career as a goalie. Keller played at numerous major clubs in England, Spain and Germany, including Leicester (1996-99), Rayo Vallecano (1999-01), Tottenham (2001-05), Southampton (2004), Borussia Moenchengladbach (2005-07) and Fulham (2007-08).
Keller became the goalie for the United States national team, starting for the U.S. team at the 1998 and 2006 World Cups, and the 1996 Olympics.

We are looking forward to a fun night at Century Link Field (formerly Qwest Field) honoring Keller! It’s also Fan Appreciation night. There is usually a record breaking crowd of 34,000 at a game. They have already sold over 60,000 tickets for the game tonight.

Thank you Kasey Keller! It’s been great watching your saves the past 3 seasons!
~
Kasey Keller Seattle Sounders FC v San Jose Earthquakes
source: Getty Images

FFF ~ Hello October!

October is taking off with a whirlwind of activity around here. We have so much to be thankful for. The last 7 days have been full to the brim. Here are some favorites from that time. I’m joining with Susanne at Living to tell the Story with Friday’s Fave Five.

1. On Saturday I hit the road early for 2 book signings with the Mennonite Girls. Our first stop was in Washington very close to the Canadian border and the 2nd signing was in Vancouver, B.C. It was a great day with 6 of the other girls. We had time to chat and we met old friends and new friends. I logged in a little over 200 miles on my car that day.

2. On Sunday Josh and Laura came over for a casual meal and we had a good time of catching up.

3. On Monday Katie and I met with her wedding planner and got a lot of details sorted out. I snapped the photo of Katie in front of the post office mailing off the wedding invitations. Even though the wedding is far off 75% or more of our guests are from out of state so we want to give people time to plan their trip.

4. Tuesday night Josh and Laura picked me up for the Sounders Soccer game playing for the U.S. Cup. It was an epic night and we were so happy to win for the 3rd year in a row.

5. We’re beginning to feel more and more connected at our new church. We thank God for bringing us to this place at this time.

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving so I want to wish all my Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve decided to make a non turkey Thanksgiving dinner tonight. We’re having a spiral cut honey baked ham, scalloped potatoes, an asparagus casserole (more details to follow) and rolls. I’m nixing the dessert this time around. There’s enough cream in the potatoes to count as dessert! OH CANADA! Be Thankful! We’re thankful for our friendly neighbors to the North!

I hate to be a broken record….but if you don’t see a comment from me on your Fave Five it means blogger won’t let me comment.

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!”

This is a retired Marine that we have season tickets by.

Our ECS section amazed the crowd with these banners that they unfurled before the first kick.

All this fun and celebration wore me out and I’m being a little slow this Wednesday. Hope you all are doing well!

Manchester United…

…came to Seattle and we greeted them with beautiful weather and a record breaking noisy crowd. What did they give us in return? A solid defeat scoring 7 beautiful goals. Sheesh…they could have let us score once!

I was very happy to see these players in person playing the beautiful game of soccer with lots of style. Wayne Rooney didn’t disappoint after he entered the game in the 2nd half. Our youngest fan at the game that night had a Rooney jersey on.

This game was played in July. Yesterday the girls and I went to another soccer game and this time we didn’t lose…

We didn’t win either. It was a 0-0 draw. It was a fun time out with the girls anyway…

I’ll leave you with this next photo of an interesting hairdo on one of the fans. That takes a lot of “product” to achieve.

Hope you had a nice weekend and are looking forward to this next week.

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Weekend Fun!

 

On Friday night we had our good friends over for a meal. Dave, Jody, Bob, and Jan have been our friends since before we moved to Washington in 1988. Jody, Jan and I were walking buddies for years before Dear’s job took us back to California. Now that we are back we have some catching up to do. When the 6 of us went on a walking tour of Great Britain back in May of 2006 we were on a quest to find the best Sticky Toffee Pudding in Britain. If the pudding was on the menu we’d order one serving with 6 spoons. On Friday night we each had our own serving. Good times, good friends, good memories. Um yes, this blogger was so busy enjoying her friends she didn’t take photos of the food…

 

On Saturday the fun continued when Josh and Laura picked me up for an afternoon Sounders game. Winning was especially rewarding! Note: If you take a little one to sporting events where the crowd noise gets exceptionally loud like Sounders games these little ear protectors are a must! Isn’t little Oliver adorable!?

I’ve been having fun in Picasa using my photos as backgrounds for my mosaics. I’m linking up at Mary’s Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. I’m behind since Friday getting around to blogs but I’ll try to get around soon.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.