Mon Aug 26 08:09 EDT 1996
Weekend Update: August 23-25

The weekend was spent entirely at the Parker Farms Resort and Work Camp,
but for many of you who don't know, it is the well-appointed and
beautifully landscaped private home of my wife's sister, Faith, and
her husband, John Parker.  I left work a few hours early to get a
good start and get to Saratoga Springs, NY by 5.  Unfortunately, I
hit a half hour delay in Nashua! but the rest of the trip winding
through the southern mountains of NH and VT was quite pleasant; except
for the kids who had a combination of excitement to see their aunt and
uncle and boredom from a four hour ride.  Upon our arrival, Andrew
bounded out of the car and was in the pool in five minutes, followed
closely by Emily.

Much anticipation around our now-annual trek to Parkerland is wrapped
up in the "Hattfield and McCoy-like" rivalry on the badminton court.
This was probably our fifth year running, the first three of which
were dominated by the owners of the court.  Sizing up the teams, we've
been pretty evenly distributed between our youth and flabbiness and
their age and fitness.  As long as we don't get too flabby, we believe
that time is on our side in these tournaments.

Well, before the game began, Faith injured her expressive finger on her
right hand and she reluctantly withdrew from the competition.  I discussed
the matter with the remaining entrants and we agreed to a best of 5 game
round robin singles series.

Saturday morning dawned cloudy but was quickly burned off.  The kids
went pool-side and John and I ascended to the raised tennis court to
begin our games.  We agreed because of the heat to play the first two
and the remainder at another time.  I won the first 21-19; he won the
second 18-21 leaving us with a best of three series to come. Later in
the afternoon, I played two games with Joy and we had a similar
outcome, slitting our two games.

After dinner, with the sun setting behind tall pine trees, we turned the
lights on the court so that Joy and I could finish our best of 5.  I
trounced her by nearly 10 points in Game 3 but she regrouped and beat
me by a slim margin in Game 4.  I blew a lead in Game 5 so she won the
first of the Round Robin series.  If she beat John Parker, she'd be
the undisputed champ.  If I didn't beat John Parker, I'd go home 0-2
for the series and the goat for a whole year!

Joy came fresh off her victory (after a brief rest) to play John
in two games.  John dominated both games.  Joy made some spectacular
saves while missing the easy shots and she fell to a deficit of 0-2
games in her series with John.

John and I had to complete our series and the night air was a whole lot
more appealing than the morning sun.  I took to the court and after a
five-point warm up we began the clash of the titans.  I cannot remember
sweating as much as I did during this exertion but we see-sawed our points
so many times, the score in Game 3 did not reflect the intensity of
the battle.  I won 21-17.

Game 4 was even more intense because John was in a do-or-die situation,
and frankly, so was I.  I thought if we went to a fifth game, he would
likely outlast me and win.  My most gratifying shot was a return of a
lob that I had to stretch to reach *and* throw my racket a couple of
inches, catching the handle before it got away, to return the birdie.
I could savor that for about 2 milliseconds because the volley wasn't
over, but it was the coolest for me.  The tension mounted as we reached
18-18, 18-19, 19-19, 20-19, 20-20.  John served. and after a tremendous
volley, I won the advantage.  John served again, and I plopped the
birdie to the far court out of reach.  I don't think he even stretched
for the last point.  I wanted badly to not go to Game 5 and I think my
concentration, or John's wine at dinner, made the difference.

On Sunday, we were all sufficiently pummeled in body that Joy
forfeited her final games to John (who was ahead of her by 2-0),
leaving us with no clear winner of this year's tournament.  However,
I know at least two of the three of us who found the results very
gratifying.

There was much more to the weekend but those of you who have gotten
this far were either there or you're bored at work.  We had a good
conversation on Sunday that could lead to about two dozen other
conversations.  There is never enough time.

The trip home was an hour shorter than the trip out. We must have been
going down hill.  With sunburnt faces and aching muscles, we're glad
to be home and it seems like more than a weekend has passed for us.
School looms.  Massachusetts this week, New Hampshire, next week.
Summer is just about over.  Deep breath everyone; here we go again.

Mark
  ,          Mark Metcalfe  ,d88b.d88b,  O love that will not let me go
  \_0__,    (508) 446-6451  88888888888   I rest my weary soul in Thee
    M                       `Y8888888Y'  I give Thee back the life I owe
   .|\. metcalfe@cadence.com  `Y888Y'   That in Thine ocean depths its
  Cadence Design Systems, Inc.  `Y'   flow may richer, fuller be.