NH has made the news in two ways this week. The second is in a celebrity sort of way. The first is much darker.
Ashley, from Center Sandwich, NH, was sent home from
Top Chef this week. She wasn't one of mom's favorites, but she also wasn't someone mom couldn't wait to see get sent home, like Mike Isabella. (Mom can honestly say she would have a LOT of fun kicking his butt if he talked to her the way he does some of the women on the show.) Mom didn't think she would end up in the top four, but mom thought Ash and
Laurine would go home before she did.
The first way NH made the news was a vicious, cold hearted
attack on a mother and
daughter in a town only 40 minutes away from here. Four teenage boys decided to break into a house, rob it, and kill whoever was inside just because. They killed the 42 year old mother and savagely injured the 11 year old daughter, who managed to call 911 and is recovering in a Boston hospital.
They attacked with a machete and a knife. A photo of the boys on
ABC news shows them with shaved heads, and portrays them as skinheads. Nowhere have they been called such by any local media.
This girl received her black belt in May. Her teacher is one of mom's favorite guest speakers at the
Kenpo seminars she goes to. He is mom's studio director's student. That makes the little girl karate family. Perhaps you could say a prayer for her emotional and physical recovery. The attackers left her for dead and she may be in the hospital up to a month.
Mom doesn't mean to be dark, but this tragedy is just that, a tragedy. And mom knows that if the
blogosphere is good for anything, it is sending prayers and thoughts of hope to those who need it. This little girl and her father, the whole town, really, need all the prayers and hope they can get.
Mom and PlusOne are going to do the usual karate and cello, homework and whatnot.
He's almost as tall as mom!
Dad, PlusOne and Lucky. Notice I got cut our of the photo?
And that PlusOne is standing on a step?
Sensei Chandler is a 5-Time Sr. National Champion, a 2-Time World Team Member and a 5-Time European Medalist and 4-Time U.S. Open Medalist. She taught arm bars (where you lock up the arm, hyper extend the elbow and basically ruin someone's arm) and some ground fighting. As you can tell by the smiles, it was awesome.
a whole bunch of other karate fun. It's the Karate Studio's 25th Birthday, and this is how everyone celebrates. By beating each other up. (I think they're all crazy but I'm just a dog.)
Mom hands out the candy with our help.
She tells people we are cats in dog suits and some people believe her.
Sheesh.
I wonder who it could be?
This is Mr. Karate showing his appreciation for all the hard work mom did.
And here he is digging in. He ate the whole bowl.
And this is the Patriot's game that dad was supposed to go to. Boy, was he happy that he got to stay home, where it was warm and dry and he had two pugs to cuddle. With home made chicken soup to boot.
Mom then climbed in the bathtub for a nice hot soak. Her knees and hips were sore. She was walking really slow. She felt much better after that. Of course, her arms are sore, from the push-ups, so no heavy lifting for her. It's a good thing Lucky and I don't weigh a lot. She sat in her chair in the sun and read a good portion of the day. (Fortune and Fate, by Sharon Shinn, one of her favorite authors. She was very happy to see Senneth and Tayse were in it.)
40 push-ups, 60 sits-ups, run for 20 minutes, 2 forms (Short Form #3 and Long Form #3) 8 techniques (Backbreaker, Brushing the Storm, Capturing the Storm, Defying the Storm, Destructive Twins, Destructive Fans, Leap of Death and Dance of Death) basics, and spontaneous grabs and sparring. Mom's last test. It'll be over by 9:45 am. Yee haw!
They attacked with a machete and a knife. A photo of the boys on ABC news shows them with shaved heads, and portrays them as skinheads. Nowhere have they been called such by any local media.
We are, of course, helping her with the last, as best we can.
Mr. Karate pities the poor partner mom is going to get Saturday when she does the technique "Capturing the Storm". It's an overhead club attack. After you block the attack, you capture their hands and put them in a wrist lock, cranking their arm up over your head and walking under their arm. Mr. Karate said mom did it VERY well. So well, in fact, that he said she could stop practicing it on him.
She's getting there.
