Can you tell the highlight of my day was finding a soccer game to play in? Actually, it's a congenial group of guys that play a couple times a week, and they invited me to join their practices - so I really found about as much soccer as this old body can take on a regular basis. It's a middle-aged soccer team, mostly Irish, there aren't big egos out there, and they know what they are doing so it's skillful play. Just what I was hoping to find! I like to think they know a player when they see one, as they also invited me to join them in league play, even though I did not do a heck of a lot in the 20 minutes I had.
Oooooh man, am I out of shape. After the game I was hacking like a smoker, tasted blood in my throat, and my lungs were burning. That's hundreds of alveoli, being forced to stretch further than they have in a while. Kind of like putting cold hands under warm water, except in your lungs. Doesn't help that I'm just getting over a cold - Wed-Friday nights were pretty much spent sleeping as much as possible. Still, it was a short session so afterwards, I took a jog around the adjacent Audubon Park, which I estimate at a 2.5 mile loop. Now I will be a slug the rest of the day..
I saw a swan in the park while on my jog. They are bigger than I remember! It was neat to watch the interaction - I think the bird was curious about the kid throwing bread at it. It glided in very close, as if to get a really good look, but did not bother to eat the bread thrown right in front of it's face. When it circled back out a little further away, it started eating again.
My job is good, will be easy to do and will pay the bills - hopefully I'll be able to find something a little extra I can do for the charity. They run three free health clinics for the poor here in the NO area, and are funded by an order of Cathlolic nuns.
Saturday I spent volunteering at the Habitat ReStore. Oh man, that warehouse is only barely separated from a junkyard. There is a roof overhead, and volunteers line up the junk in rows every weekend... I exaggerate somewhat, but I think there is a lot more that could be done there, with some vision and a little extra labor.
I guess a lot actually happened this week - what a disjointed brain dump that was! Finally, here's a few new pictures I took in the French Quarter.
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