October 1-3

The cooler weather we enjoyed on Monday was nowhere in evidence on Tuesday, temperatures reached into the 80s in the afternoon. After supper we were at Reservoir Park for night #5 of dek hockey, winners included NTS over the Killbots, Risky Business over the Misfits, the Trashers over Dutchmaid and the Owls over the Hammerheads. Wednesday's weather was even more uncomfortable, it felt more like July or August 2nd rather than October. Jenny and I had our midweek lunch visit, later in the afternoon we made the drive north into Berks County for the first time since April. The Royals opened training camp over the weekend, this night was the annual meet-and-greet at the Arena. The organization had it arranged differently than in past years, all the activity was at ice level. There were several inflatable carnival games set up for the youngsters, one end of the ice was uncovered for fans to shoot pucks at the goal and the players were seated at tables along the side boards for autographs and pictures. Jenny made the rounds and got photos with all the players, I walked along and handled the photographer duties. This event usually takes place on the eve of the regular season but travel logistics had a hand in it being different this time around. The boys play an exhibition game at the Arena hosting the Adirondack Thunder on Friday the 4th, the clubs rematch in Glens Falls the next night. The regular season starts in St. John's on Friday the 11th, the home opener with the Maine Mariners is on Saturday the 19th. Thursday dawned bleak and rainy with temperatures about thirty degrees cooler than Wednesday, a story in the newspaper said that Wednesday's high of 91 set an October 2 record for this area. The high on this day never reached the mid-60s, late in the afternoon it was still cool and misty with fog forecast for the evening hours. Don and I conferred and decided to postpone the night's schedule at the rink, our first makeups of the season were set for Monday the 7th. Take care, thanks for reading.