Focus, Collect, Powerful but Contained

Recently, my imagination has been taking on Ally McBeal proportions. It's not to say I've been hallucinating about dancing babies (please!), however, jump roping mice and a choir made out of vegetables are fair game (it is so completely obvious that root vegetables would sing bass - right?). One thing that I didn't imagine is that I actually got to watch live tennis matches this past weekend (whoa - what a segue). The semifinal round of Fed Cup was played in Stowe Vermont, Russia v. USA. Unfortunately, Serena couldn't play due to her injury from Wimbledon, and thus Ms. Venus Williams was left with all the pressure. It was so much fun to be at a tennis match, despite the annoying people around us who were drunk and say demeaning things about the players.

Whitney came up from Boston to come watch tennis with us (mumsy and dadsy). After a bit of a confusing moment chatting with my mum, all things were cleared up when Whitney explained her heart is shaped like a raspberry - isn't yours? We had so much fun watching the crowds in the stadium. It was such a diverse group of people, ranging from the preppiest of all preps - to a group of people wearing red, white, and blue tie-dyed shirts who chanted things like "give us a break, give us a break." They had some strange performers come out when the players switched sides, like a pair of juggling brothers:





They absolutely cracked me up. They weren't very good, but they made up for their juggling short comings with plenty of showmanship. There last appearance they didn't hold anything back and came out with fire batons. The younger brother stood on the older brothers shoulders and they juggled - briefly - before the fire batons fell from their hands and landed on the tennis court.

Here, i am wearing my ridiculous Turkish hat that was supposed to keep me from getting sunburned (but notice how red i am anyway?).



The way Fed Cup works is its the best of five matches (4 singles matches and one doubles match). Venus won her two matches, but USA lost the other two. So it came down to the doubles. Venus Williams is a GIANT, look at her next to Lisa Raymond (sorry about the poor quality of the photo - it was super zoomed in):



Sadly, in a very tight (and exciting) match, Russia overpowered us. Petrova, a Russian player who i was never fond of because she is usually is throwing giant tantrums on court, was laughing and giggling; appearing to have a great time playing. So now i have a new respect for the Russian - i like giggly Petrova!

so Yay, tennis!