“Let me see the belt is gone, Dad,” Novalie said. We were parked next to a Conoco gas station in Wallace, ID, late Friday evening. The sun was setting, and the green mountain walls on either side of us were darkening. The air was becoming still and cold. The light turned yellow on the faces [...]
Yes, World Cup 2010 South Africa began today, and so did the stress upon me, the lone ambassador of soccer to the Jolley and Vernier families, as well as to the staff of ProFormance Physical Therapy, the surrounding community, and most of the region of Eastern Washington. I’m not complaining, but it isn’t an easy [...]
“Yes, Novalie. When I was a kid, the houses all had colors, and the sky was bright blue.”
Nobody was expecting this blog post, least of all me. I saw it in the list of un-published blogs, and had to laugh. I’m pretty sure I was going to write something about the names that the ping pong, soccer, and bouncy balls have all been given by Novalie. My Adidas F-50 soccer ball is [...]
It was nearly dark as I left work today. Heading home, I turned the truck west on the Albion highway and drove into the sunset. As the rippling fire of red, orange, and purple stretched across the clouds, I was immediately relieved as I reminded myself that such things are no longer my responsibility. When [...]
The following is based on an instant messenger chat I had with Ben Walden, a big Alaskan soccer player who works in Engineering programming the interface and buttons for our instruments at Decagon Devices, Inc. in Pullman, Washington. I could kick a ball a quarter mile back in 1983. I think it was a Mitre [...]
Hi everybody! We just finished our Thanksgiving dinner (a bit late, I know, but we Albion Jolleys have always done things our own way). We had roast and sweet potatoes and shrimp cocktail and rolled-up rolls (that you can unroll, put butter inside, and then re-roll) and mashed potatoes and gravy and deviled eggs and I made an open-face roast [...]
It wasn’t easy for Novalie to wait to ride her new bike. She received it as a gift from “Old Grandma” (Celia Vernier) on Saturday night, and had to wait all the way until Sunday afternoon to take it out for the first real drive. Albion doesn’t have terrain suitable to biking (dirt roads and [...]
January We move to Albion, WA, to rent a house accessible only by helicopter or sherpa (seriously, the truck can’t make it up the gravel hill unless it’s in 4WD). Luckily, we rent from Ron Lacey, Lacey Construction. He lives just up the hill and is equipped and skilled to deal with all eventualities. Kevin [...]
The nurse was wrapping the arm band around my left biceps last Monday to take the routine blood pressure reading. As she squeezed the bulb repeatedly, she made conversation. “So, you’re, uh . . . having an anxiety attack right now ?” I could tell she didn’t believe me. “That’s right,” I said. “It started [...]