kate bergeron

Off to Whalemouth

Blog

I forgot my camera.

I'm completely annoyed by this fact, as Kate and I went off for a walk that turned into a hike around her house this afternoon.

I was up at Kate's place to talk about her garden plans. They have a lot of trees around their house, but a great spot out to the side of their property (back yard? front yard? I have no idea what they consider the front of the house and what they consider the back of the house) where the sun shines nicely and the area is nominally flat, and hey, there are already raised beds.

Kate wanted to talk about her garden plans. We walked around the house, through the various planting areas, talking about plants and bushes and trees. We talked about deers and rabbits and other small animals, about what could be planted where, what couldn't be planted where. We talked about soil and amendments and irrigation. Kate pretty much had the layout done, and I think needed some confirmation that they were good. Of course they were (it's Kate), but I have to admit very ambitious. I think it'll be fabulous.

After we talked about the upcoming gardens, Kate asked if I would be up for a walk. What? Exercise? Heavens yes.

Kate and Mike live on a thousand acre lot, where the 120 house in the division take up about 100 acres of that lot. The rest is some sort of land trust open space, managed by the community. Kate recently became one of the open space management committee members, and had a few stories to tell about managing the land as we walked.

We walked over to Whalemouth Cave, which is when I started completely kicking myself for not bringing my camera. The walk over was great, but the cave was totally fun and entertaining. Some parts of the rock around it could have been bouldered, making the spot even better.

The walk back was much quicker than the walk out, though the hike past the water tanks was just as hard as the first time I walked it, annoyingly so, I might add.

I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera. Maybe I can convince Kate to walk the hike again, next time with my camera.

Picture from over two years ago.

Breakfast in the woods

Blog

Kris and I dashed up to Mike and Kate's for breakfast this morning (where dash means "show up 40 minutes late"). Of course, I forgot my camera in the car when Kris and I went in. Kris hasn't been up to the house very much, so when he walked in, Liza was quite surprised. She looked up at him, put one hand on a hip, and announced, "I usually see just Kitt here."

Kris managed not to laugh.

Katie and Alex were up at the house, too. He and Maeryn played well together, though spending time with Liza means Maeryn behaves older than any other kid her age.

I managed to make pumpkin waffles again, this time with nutmeg instead of cinnamon, in deference to Mike. They were still tasty. I swear, that waffle iron (thanks Bharat and Jen!) is getting more use than any other appliance I own.

Except maybe the dish washer.

Maybe.

When one point rocks!

Blog

Today was day one of college sectionals. I arrived late (dammit!) to pick up half the team to drive them to Santa Cruz for the tournament. I've been trying to be on time, instead of my usual 15 minutes late, but every time I worry about being on time, I stress at every stop light and worry about every lane change and ick, it sucks. If I had a good list of five minute tasks, I'd be less stressed at the arriving early and waiting. Maybe.

The team's first game was against Stanford A, who was seated second at the tournament. There was exactly, uh, zero chance of winning this game, but the girls were very realistic: they wanted one point.

After struggling to complete more than two passes, then getting into a groove, the team started to work the disc upfield. They had run through blocks (Sarah J) and fantastic skies (Annie), and enough backhand breaks that the Stanford coaches were complimenting them. When the score was 0-5, I suggested a pull play, which worked far better than anyone could imagine: catch, first throw to Amelia, Kelsey out of the stack, crazy high, long throw to Annie who dished the disc to Amelia for the score.

Yay, hotbox practices!

Suddenly, Stanford took them seriously. The second half of the game was a lot harder, but finished quickly, with a final score 1-15.

At the end of the game, most everyone on the team asked me if Kate was coming to the tournament. I explained she was at Liza's soccer game, and would be by soon. After she arrived and took over for the game coaching, I understood why they kept asking for her. Where I was encouraging but hesitant to overload the team with specifics, Kate was encouraging, direct and willing to throw as much knowledge as could apply at the moment.

I left after the second game, a 0-15 loss with a large number of run-through defenses as well as great oh-so-close-to-scoring disc movement (2 feet outside of the endzone - 2 feet!). When I arrived home, I talked to Kris about the games and the team.

I told Kris about the disc movement, the large number of forced turnovers by the team, the great work the team was doing. I commented that fairly much everyone asked if Kate was coming to the tournament, and then about her coaching style.

He turned to me and asked, "Is Kate a good coach?"

I didn't hesitate, "Absolutely."

She told me experience helps, she's been coaching for ten years. Sure, that helps, but she also talks and moves and coaches with confidence. If I had to choose who I'd want coaching me, yeah, I'd pick Kate in a heartbeat, too.

Look what they get

Blog

They move away from me, and look what they get:



Weather!

Of course, having the car move from the top of the driveway to the bottom of the driveway overnight, while in park, probably wasn't what they were expecting.