November 16-30

The second half of the month started with news both good and bad. The good news was that the city school district voted to allow the start of winter sports practice at McCaskey. In all likelihood there won't be any basketball games until the New Year but at least for now the door is still open, practice officially started on the 23rd. The bad (or maybe devastating is a better word) news came from Reading where the Royals in conjunction with the other clubs in the ECHL's North Division announced a one-year suspension due to the ongoing circumstances. Between the restrictions on fan attendance and the financial losses that would certainly result the entire division as one entity elected to sit out in hopes of returning to play in the fall of 2021. To say it sucks is an understatement but it's the same for our friends in Glens Falls, Brampton, Worcester, Portland and St. John's as well. The eighteenth day of the month had some small significance, it marked ten years since this blog started here at blogger.com. I started keeping an online journal in January of 2010 at another hosting site and moved it here in November. The original blog no longer exists online but I saved the entries in print before it disappeared (for exactly what reason could be debated). I've always been aware I have a small following here, I don't know who reads the tripe and drivel I post but I appreciate my readers just the same. On the Wednesday before "Turkey Day" I was with Jenny and her mother for lunch, in the afternoon I drove them to a relative's house in Parkesburg (in Chester County, about fifteen miles east of Quarryville). They had been invited to stay overnight for the holiday, I made sure they arrived safely and the relatives brought them home on Thursday night. On the 30th I had my annual appointment with my heart doctor, it's been six years since my episode in September of 2014. The doctor said everything looks and sounds great, as long as there is no recurrence (and there has never been any) he won't need to see me for another year. Take care, thanks for reading. 

November 1-15

The eleventh month of this shipwreck of a calendar year began on a Sunday, on the following Thursday evening I was back at the stadium for one last autumn event. The Class of 2021 voted to hold a Homecoming King And Queen ceremony, although it couldn't happen at a game as usual the students elected to hold it independently because they felt it an important part of their high school experience. On a personal note I singularly couldn't have cared less about Homecoming when I was in school, I was never a part of anything like that because I was never among the "popular" crowd. When the school's coordinator of student activities called me and asked if I was available to emcee I was more than willing to be there, had it happened under normal conditions I would have been present anyway. The show started at 6:00 with the cheerleaders doing a few of their routines and a performance by the marching band, that was followed by my introduction of the twelve candidates each for King and Queen (in my days there was no such thing as a Homecoming King, each of the Queen candidates had a male escort but they themselves were not in the running for any particular honor). The entire program was livestreamed as the football games had been, we were done about forty-five minutes after we started. Football season itself ended on the 13th, after four straight home games to start the year JPM finished with five straight on the road. The results were no better than they had been at home, the club concluded the season at 0-9 and were outscored 364-55 (that's a game average of 40-6). In 2010 the program went 7-3 and made district playoffs, since then the overall mark is 22-77. Under the circumstances I'm just glad we had a season of any kind, with any luck we'll be able to have a basketball season in the winter. Let Them Play. Take care, thanks for reading.