Mon Aug 24 07:50 EDT 1998
Weekend Update: August 21-23

If you have ever wondered where the residents of Metcalfe Manor go for
a little R and R (recklessness and recreation), we motor across the
mountains to Parker Farms and Labor Camp, the manicured and pedicured
home of my wife's sister Faith and her husband and slave laborer, Juan
the Pool Guy.

The diverse mixture of players this year led to scaled back tournament
play.  It is almost certain in the battle of the Oldies versus the
Flabbies that the oldies would outlast us if we played more than three
games.  In short, we won the abbreviated doubles tournament.  (Late in
the second doubles game, I encouraged Joy to put out the extra effort
so we wouldn't have to play a third game!)

It was good to have the kids able to play this year.  Skill levels in
prior years have been lacking for meaningful play, but this year,
everyone was involved.

The scoreboard goes like this (most sets were best of three):

Men's singles Horseshoes  John           2  Mark           0
Singles Horseshoes        Mark           1  Joy            0
Men's singles Badminton   John           2  Mark           0
Doubles Badminton         Faith and John 0  Mark and Joy   2
                          Mark and Jess  2  Joy and Mandy  1
                          Mark and Em    2  Joy and Andrew 0
     (Paddleball and Keep-away in the pool scores were not kept.)
     (Kids versus kids scores were also lost.)

Uncle John also presented our family with a tool of fun and death: a
skateboard.  We did pretty well on the gentle slope of his driveway.
Even I was doing great until I became too sure of myself and found the
fast lane to the ground.  It seems my center of gravity can shift too
unpredictably.  I landed right on my keester but missed mashing my
tailbone.  I was lucky it wasn't worse!  I cautioned Andrew and Emily
as they practiced but I stayed off Rollerdeath the rest of the
weekend.

We also celebrated Jessica's 16th birthday (8/19) and Miranda's
upcoming most excellent adventure with cake and candles.  We hope we
didn't leave the Farm a shambles as I am sure that our games aren't
the only exhausting activites our hosts had to contend with.  We
really enjoyed our weekend to be pampered and pummeled at the same
time, but I'm glad to be back...to recuperate.
                                                  o                 ,
Mark Metcalfe, Sr. Writer      _ 0  .-----\-----.  ,_0 _      ,__0_/
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. o' / \ |\     \     \    \`o        M
270 Billerica Rd MS04  ________|\___|_`-----\-----`__ /|________.|\.____
Chelmsford, MA 02184           /.|.    |          | .|.\
(978) 446-6451                         |          | metcalfe@cadence.com