Summertime (and keen ice)

Tomorrow (June 21st) is the Summer Solstice, and spring will be behind us.

It also means we're nearly at the end of "June Gloom" (June is normally overcast -- all month) and of course, the first thing I think about when I think about summer?  Curling.

Maybe I'm a tiny bit unusual.

Our winter league ended May 26th.  That put us into Pick-up games and Learn to Curl classes.

Once an instructor is certified, he has to teach a minimum of 15 hours in the next three years to stay certified.  I taught my first class as a certified instructor on January 2nd in San Diego, and my tenth class June 18th.  I think I'm ahead of schedule.

Summer League starts this Saturday.  I've been starting to get the shakes, having played once since May.  We have five players making the jump from the Beginners' league to our 9 week summer session.  I watched all of them and they're almost scary, they went from a little bit shaky to playing well in that short four weeks.

The Orange County Curling Club has their first Bonspiel scheduled for July 2nd -- Frost in July.  An enthusiastic young lady on my team made absolutely sure we'd be able to play, assuming we get 16 teams.  If it doesn't make it this year, I'm sure they'll start planning early for next year.

Our next Bonspiel is The Crush at Wine Country Curling.  This year there are four Orange County teams signed up.

The one I'm really hoping to do is the Harvest Bonspiel in Vancouver, B.C.

Vancouver finished the 2010-2011 season with a "last rock" ceremony.  They'll start the 2011-2012 Curling season in what was the 2010 Olympic Curling venue.  8 sheets of dedicated ice.

This is my second post with "Summertime" in the title.  The E-Mail from VCC said that their "season" doesn't start until September.  Summer is a season, isn't it?

Aside from that, nothing much going on.