Catastrophe!!

Tuesday the first of two semi-final World Cup matches were played.  My distant relatives immigrated from the Hochwald Region of Germany (in the Bavarian Alps) just before World War I, so in this matchup of Germany vs. Brazil I was clearly for the Fatherland to prevail.  All the analysts, as well as myself, believed this would be a close match.....maybe 1-0, or 2-1.....no one saw Germany scoring 5 goals in just an 18 minute span of the first half.   And, certainly, no one saw Brazil losing 7-1, but that is what happened.  As it turned out the match was pretty much over by the 29th minute.   Of course, for Brazil, the host country, this was a catastrophe of epic proportions. Losing 1-0 would have been heart breaking, but to lose 7-1 is a humiliation no one saw on the horizon.  Brazil had not lost a competitive home match since sometime in the late 1970's......some 39 years distant.  

A German player consoling the Brazilian coach

All that being said, it was nice to watch one match for a change, after so many close matches that have gone to overtime, that was decided early......I was able to just sit back and enjoy the artistry, and precision of the Germans.  Now, the next semi-final match on Wednesday is between Netherlands and Argentina.  As it so happens TLE's relatives come from the Netherlands, so if they win on Wednesday we will have a rare moment in our lives when we have been on opposite sides of a major sporting event.

While all this was going on TLE** was working a shift in the TVC* office, so I was sending her text messages updating the score.  It was a good day for her, because she was able to handle a large number of out of the ordinary situations increasing her confidence.  She arrived home just after 6 pm with a sort of glazed look in her eyes, but after imbibing a Screw Driver she revived quickly.

We continued to sit outside until almost 8 pm before heading inside, and even then the air temps were so delightful we could have stayed outside much longer.  Due to a pretty consistent cloud cover all day I never had to employ the A/C to keep the interior comfortable.

We should have our replacement DVR from DirecTV by Wednesday afternoon, so I will spend time installing it.  Fortunately we do have cable TV here in TVC* which provides 15 random channels, including ESPN, which has been televising the World Cup.

Thanks for stopping by!

* TVC = Tahoe Valley Campground

** TLE = The Lovely Elaine