Saturday, February 18, 2006

Broomstacking

Who uses it: Curlers
What it means: Socializing with the opposing team after a match. The term comes from the practice of all players stacking their brooms in front of a fire to share a drink together after the game.
How you can use it: When consorting with the opposition.

It would offend curlers to hear their sport described as shuffleboard on ice -- there is more to it than that, but it's basically shuffleboard. And I'd never watch a shuffleboard match, so why am I watching curling? I can't explain why I find it so charming, but everything about it enchants me. I love that it requires special shoes; I love that a company exists to do nothing but make curling brooms -- not normal brooms, just curling brooms. I love the sportscasters who talk about legendary figures in the world of curling as if these are names we all should know.

I'm watching Germany vs. the US right now, and the Germans just knocked all the American stones out of the target. "That'll be on the highlight reel," the color commentator said.

Dizzy and I were down at the river landing yesterday afternoon, and I called Anna. "I just need to tell you that there is no ice left on the river at all," I said. "Isn't that amazing," Anna said.

Yesterday's temperature got to almost 50 degrees. This morning it's 13. In between, we had a major windstorm. Dizzy pays no attention to thunderstorms, but the windstorm made him cry, and he insisted on sitting next to me on the couch until it stopped.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't evenknow who most of the recording artist you mentioned are, let alone what they recorded. Yesterday was a fine clear day with a gentle warm breeze from the south. The only sound on the beach was the cry of the sea birds as I walked on the beach. I even left the cell in the truck. I think that beats all youre electronic noise makers.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

This comment would mean more to me if I had any idea who'd made it -- please sign your comments. It's a big beautiful world, with room for many types of music and all the wonders of nature, but "your" is the adjective, and "you're" is a verb that needs an apostrophe.

Anna said...

Rush Limbaugh said that what he liked about curling was seeing a woman with a broom in her hand again.

Oh God, he's so funny. I just laughed and laughed.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

I trust this is sarcasm, since I know you have a cleaning lady...

Tom Ehrenfeld said...

There's a great movie waiting to be made about this gripping sport. It's Fargo meets Cool Runnings, with a soundtrack by The Replacements and starring Missi Pyle, Scarlett Johannson, Nicole Kidman, Stephen Root, and Tony Shalhoub. I get chills just thinking abou it.