Turning the Page

 

The Gonzaga gear has gone to the closets for another few months.  

Even after the season, I'll always wear my white Gonzaga bling hat.  If we make it to Ireland this fall, I'll leave it at one of my favorite public places to remain on display forever. 

That will make three ZAGS hats left at pubs in the motherland. 

When next season rolls around, I'll purchase a new ZAG hat and wear it proudly until the last Dance. With luck, it, too, will go to Ireland.

The Dance ended far too soon for those of us in the ZAG nation, but, as always, we remain proud of the team, their coaches and staff and the wonderful university.  

I'm an Idaho grad, but knowing what I've learned about the Spokane-based Jesuit school over the past 30-plus years of watching the ZAGS,  I would have given anything to attend Gonzaga University.  

It's a place with a proud tradition, a firm, well-established foundation, and an impressive overall resume for educating all who wish to learn.

Plus, it has an amazing basketball team, which for years, has inspired admiration from a worldwide and always growing fan base. 

This year's team kept us cheering, unified in our enthusiasm and entertained throughout the season. 

We are also always grateful that expectation of upcoming ZAGS games helps us through the winter.

And, each year, when the last Dance ends, we turn the page.  With daylight still in full force at game's end last night, the TV went off, and Bill, the dogs and I headed outside to enjoy a spring evening. 

We have trained ourselves over the years to simply move forward almost the second our ZAGmania ends. 

They have once more done their job entertaining us, and now it's time for us to focus on what Mother Nature does to entertain us with a different kind of expectation, awe and beauty---just like the ZAGS. 

It could not have been a better day for the basketball season to suddenly fall short because the season of spring is revving up quickly with some beautiful warm and sunny weather. 

Yesterday Bill visited his favorite fishing spots south of town while I pulled out a paint brush and a bucket of white barn paint.  As dogs rested nearby in the sun, I finished dressing up a few sections of board fences. 

Oh, they glisten so when a new layer of paint covers up the blemishes and the dirt! 

This will be an ongoing job for me throughout the spring and summer, but I felt great accomplishment yesterday in getting as far as I did.

With luck, today's efforts might even finish off a fence south of the house. 

So, yes, the page has turned.  

While doing the time-consuming work of painting or mowing lawn, I'll be thinking occasionally about the ZAGS and smiling once again about the great memories and inspiration they provided for so many of us. 

Happy Sunday, and thanks, ZAGS!

It's my friend Ann's birthday today, so for this year's birthday picture, I tried some AI to improve our looks cuz we're both old.  

I told Ann that AI worked harder on her appearance than they did mine because she's older----by three months.  

Happy Birthday to a lady who has a very healthy and always enthusiastic sense of humor. 

Saturday Slight

 

Today's post is sprinkled with a preview of the beauty that will be awaiting you April 1 at The Flower Farm on Selle Road.  

 

It was sprinkling yesterday afternoon after we watched the Gonzaga women's NCAA Tournament game. 

The ZAGS did not win, but the young team put on a great comeback toward the end of the game. 

And, they all had smiles on their faces when things suddenly started going right. 

So, it was a moral victory for a group of players who will surely dazzle when next season rolls around. 

Since it was raining, and a change of pace was needed, I loaded up the dogs and drove to The Flower Farm where Pam, John, Akasha and Laura were busy with floral preparation in one of the greenhouses.

Rainy day, I said, to Pam as I entered, so it's a great day to take pictures of new flower blossoms.  

She agreed, and after a short visit, I strolled through the greenhouses which are alive with uplifting and brilliant color. 

I really appreciated this annual opportunity, which always occurs prior to the April First opening. 

Owners Pam and John are always gracious to welcome me inside their domain for my own private preview of this year's spring beauty.

 I'm hoping readers enjoy the virtual splashes of color as much as I loved snapping the photos. 

Just a few days remain, and we can all go to The Flower Farm and bring some of that enjoyment to adorn our homes. 

In other upbeat news, Bill and I are thrilled with the progress Little Foster has made in the week since his canine vestibular disease first struck. 

Except for his head tilting a bit, he's eating, drinking, peeing, pooping and always ready to go the second he senses that a walks around the yard or rides in the car is imminent.

It seems like he's bouncing back faster than he did with the first bout, so we are feeling thankful and happy for Foster.   

In the "And, then there was one" department, only one of our five favorites is still dancing. 

And, Jay Bilas says they're going to lose today.

I have really appreciated Jay Bilas' perspective on college basketball over the years, but I would really like to see him lose this assertion today. 

He suggests that the ZAGS can't win without Braden Huff who was injured earlier this season with a dislocated knee cap. 

I suggest that the ZAGS love their teammate enough that they will do everything in their power to win today and move on to the Sweet Sixteen where it's possible Braden, a valuable shooter, will be able to play in next weekend's games. 

So, we'll see.  In the meantime, the expectation and excitement remains for the ZAG Nation. 

Congrats to the ZAGS women, the Vandals women, the Vandals men and the McNeese men who did their best in the tournament of bests. 

We enjoyed having the opportunity to watch them. 

We and all of the ZAG Nation want to continue our excitement for as long as possible through March Madness SO

GO, ZAGS

this afternoon at 4:10 PDT.

One source says it will be broadcast on both TBS and truTV.   

To go along with the ZAGS story, I found this piece about another guy who sits on their bench interesting. 

March Madness is underway and the  Gonzaga University  men’s basketball team has a first round win. 

If you’re a fan, you might find yourself praying for Gonzaga: Please, God, let this be the year they go all the way. You might also ask yourself: Is it ok to pray for victory?

Yes, says Fr. Bryan Pham, SJ, a member of Jesuits West who is chaplain of Gonzaga’s men’s and women’s basketball and baseball teams. “Of course I pray for us to win,” he says.

God, after all, is in all things, even winning.

“But I pray for other things, too. 

"I pray that our players find their human dignity” amidst the pressure and money of big-time college sports, adds Fr. Pham. “I’d like for them to see themselves as more than just basketball players.”

In his career as a Jesuit, Fr. Pham has delved into ministry after ministry that tackles the question: What, actually, is success?

In addition to serving as chaplain at Gonzaga, Fr. Pham is responsible for the shareholder advocacy program for the Jesuits West Province. 

In that arena, the province buys shares in companies with questionable ethical, health or environmental practices, and then lobbies the firms to treat people more humanely. 

Currently, he and the province are managing small stakes in, and leading advocacy work for best practices within GEO, a private prison operator, and Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram.

In addition, Fr. Pham is the supervising attorney at Gonzaga’s General Public Practice and Indian Law Clinic that helps Native Americans on nearby reservations, and well as indigents of all backgrounds, who are trying to win in court.

Finally, Fr. Pham serves as a chaplain in the freshman dorms at Gonzaga. He likes to hold court in the common area between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. 

That is when students are likely to be open to discussing deep questions about their life, their passions and God.

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"When I take the dog for a walk on the beautiful Guadalupe River, I try to find at least five beautiful things. 

It can be birdsong, a cloud, the river itself, a flower, an egret, or even just my beautiful blue heeler. 

Once you start noticing, it’s easy to keep going and find way more than five, even on a not-so-pretty day."

💙🌴🐎🐑🌸

The item above was an observation came from an elderly woman who lives in Texas.  As an elderly woman who lives in North Idaho, I try to do something similar each day. 

Through bad-weather days, this is not always the easiest task, but I've found that it's still possible to find five items of beauty pretty much every day. 

We just have to take the time to look. 

Doing so is not only a delight, but it also helps balance and often override the ugliness in the world. 

With spring coming, maybe we should add five more items to the daily challenge.

Some Spring to the Dance

 

Well, I have to admit that most of yesterday's activities revolved around college basketball games. 

At this household, we had three key games to follow.  Of those, one had a happy ending at the end of a long day of March Madness games. 

Gonzaga pulled out a win after at least one half of looking like they were stuck in the mud as Coach Mark Few suggested. 

I heard from one fan who was in attendance that it was brutal to watch. 

Happily, as the announcers suggested, Coach Few made some adjustments, and for most of the second half, the ZAGS looked like the ZAGS. 

At the buzzer, it was another first round win. McNeese looked great against Vanderbilt, but the latter pulled ahead and kept the lead for the rest of the game, while Idaho started out strong and then Houston went to work. 

Neat to watch our alma mater teams enjoying the dance. 

My brackets took a big hit when Wisconsin lost to High Point, and I had Saint Mary's going farther, as well as BYU.  The consoling factor is that others in my pool must have had some similar predictions cuz I'm tied with several others for 8th place.

Maybe today will be a better bracket day. 

BTW:  I did stuff besides watch games, including some house and horse cleaning. 

It was vacuuming with the house, while the clippers and brushes came out for CB.  

Both the house and the horse looked better when I put away the tools. 

This young man is amazing and fearless. He shows up on the court at all the right times for the ZAGS. 

Hope he stays with the university for four years. He's just a freshman.  

Imagine, with his continuing growth in that program, how amazing he can be. 

Davis Fogle came to Gonzaga from Anacortes, Wash. 

 

Key Women's First Round Games Today

12:30 p.m. PDT Ole Miss vs Gonzaga ESPN2

7 p.m. PDT Oklahoma vs Idaho ESPN

GO, ZAGS and VANDALS!

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The spring equinox has actually already occurred since I publish my posts at 8 a.m.  It occurred at 7:46 a.m., marking the official start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. 

Yesterday, one day before spring, I discovered the beginnings of an ant hill in our hay field. 

Funny how they just appear out of nowhere.  I've walked that same area pretty much every day and had never noticed the ants until yesterday. 

Hope the horses stay away from it this summer.

 

The daffodil leaves around the Lovestead are getting taller by the day. 

Can't wait to see the flowers.  I keep adding every year so always more fun with the springtime show.

Happy Friday.