12 August 2014
Bill and Hillary Clinton International Airport, Little Rock, AR

     My trip to London and Dublin has begun auspiciously.  No troubles getting through security.  There were only a few people ahead of me and the TSA put me through their body scanner so no pacemaker difficulties.

     Fran and I returned from our western odyssey Sunday.  I did laundry and packed yesterday.  This morning, the mail arrived and I went through, dividing Fran's from my own.  No bills yet so I should have a pile when I return.

     The western trip started as a weekend swing through Cherokee to visit the Guffy/Sluder family reunions.  Heather Gabelmann is learning her family so she wanted to attend.  The arrangements were for us to  pick her up in Oklahoma City, go to the reunion and wave good bye as she drove up to Lincoln, KS with her father.   Jim had a huge funeral to do and wasn't able to come.  We agreed to drive Heather up.  Then Fran found the perfect birthday present for Sammi (our daughter).  We decided to pack it in the car and drive to Los Alamos after the reunion.

     That made the trip a little longer.  We wanted to spend a little time with Lois and Dave Pritchard who live in Pueblo, CO.  The decision was to meet halfway and have dinner at Tequla's, a really good Mexican restaurant in Trinidad, CO.

     There is a light rail running from Belen to Lamy.  Sammi had never ridden, nor had we.  We drove into Santa Fe and boarded the "Rail Runner" for Albuquerque.  It's a nice ride.  The train is fast and clean and inexpensive.  There is no dining car, nor a snack bar.  It is necessary to get snacks before boarding.  In Albuquerque, we managed to mesh with both grandchildren's schedules and see them... separately.

     The weather in New Mexico was wonderful.  Bright sun with moderate temperatures every day.  The rains had mad the flowers blooming and there were fields of them along the roadside.  I went for a walk Thursday and took a few pictures.

old tree against the sky

gallardia

      Sammi is playing volleyball in the New Mexico Senior Olympics for the second year.  Her team was eliminated in the first round of tournament play, but they did make it through the pool.





     Saturday morning, on the way to the athletic facility, we saw many balloons.  There was a major launch in Albuquerque.  The balloonists launch in early morning to take advantage of the light winds and what they call "the box".  The box is a wind phenomenon in the Rio Grande valley.  Winds at one level are southerly and in another northerly.  A skilled balloonist can return his balloon to close the same place from which he took off.

Rugby football

Last June, Fran and I went to Ireland with the Los Alamos Women's Rugby Team. We were unfamiliar with the sport. Very soon, it became an exciting one to watch.

To the uninitiated, Rugby looks like confused, mass mayhem. It isn't. But it is vastly different from most of the sports played in the United States.

To begin, there are three types of Rugby Football, union, league and sevens. The last refers to the number of players each team fields. The other two types field teams of fifteen. The ladies were playing league.

Most sports have rules. Rugby has LAWS. Rugby is a rough sport. Bruises and scrapes are normal. Padding is forbidden by the laws. Protection is allowed for the ears. Some players wear what looks like a shower cap for this. Unlike American football (hereinafter referred to as football), rugby does not permit a forward pass. If you watch a rugby match, you will see that most of the players carry the ball in a two handed grip in front of them. This allows them to pass the ball to a team mate beside or behind them if they are about to be or are being tackled.

The rugby pitch (field) is similar in size to a football field. It is 100 meters (a little more than 109 yards) long and 69 meters (a little more than 75 yards) wide. The goals are also similar to those in football. Another difference is the goals are set on the touch line (goal line) instead of behind it.

The game starts with the traditional coin toss to determine the receiving team and kick off. Difference: the ball is laid on the ground, no holder. Any player on the team may kick the ball on kick off. The kick has to travel at least 10 meters (about 11 yards) and remain in bounds. The kicking can, if their forwards are fast enough, grab the ball after it grounds and it remains in play. If the receiving team gets the ball, it also remain

s in play.

There are very few stops to a rugby match. The action is more or less continuous and the players cover a lot of ground. When the action stops, there is usually a line out or a scrum. A scrum is the photo on the upper right. The one below is a throw in after a line out (out of bounds). The ball is thrown in by one of the team's hookers (one of the rugby team positions) and both teams try to catch it. In some cases the receivers will jump for the ball. But lifting them to gain advantage of height is permitted.

The scrum occurs after a player loses the ball, usually by being tackled. If the opposing team recovers the ball, play continues. If not, the referee calls a scrum. In the scrum, the opposing forwards line up literally head to head. The ball is rolled between them and they push each other while team mates try to get the ball and pass it back to someone with room to run.

A goal is called a try. The ball must be grounded behind the touch line while it is in possession of the scoring team. A touch is five points. There is a conversion kick worth two points.

Why am I nattering on about this? Because the Olympics have decided to make Rugby Seven part of the 2016 Olympic Games. Both men's and women's teams will play for the gold. Rugby has been dominated by the United Kingdom and its former colonies. But there are nations that are up and coming. Tonga is one and Japan another. Both have had teams qualify for the World Cup. So has Argentina.

I am hoping to see a team from the United States in the 2016 competition.

If you have not seen a rugby game, they are fairly easy to find. Most large cities have several. Ask around. I think that Los Alamos proves that you do not have to be a large city to field a pretty respectable rugby team. The New Mexico ladies were undefeated in Ireland.