Japanese Maple

Guys usually buy flowers to their wives. At least some guys do. Well, today I outdid them all--I bought my wife a tree! It is a part of a forestation project in our yard. It has been 18 months since we moved into our new house, watched the muddy construction site grow into pleasant neo-Victorian style neighborhood. Now that the snows are melted and the grass is growing and needs to be mowed, re-mowed and re-re-mowed, many of our neighbors have done little flower gardens in their yards. We are among the last few who yet have put the shovel to the grass. That's why we went to a nursery today and returned with the plant big enough to be called a tree, yet small enough to fit in our little Toyota: a Japanese Maple. I named it Yasuhiro, the first Japanese name that came to mind. Like Yasuhiro Yamashita, the best judo competitor of all times. Tonight, Yasuhiro is staying in the living room, until Maggie researches exactly how it's going to be planted and what we need for it all. Tomorrow, if everything goes according to plans, Yasuhiro will be firmly planted in our front yard.

It's a sad day for Croatia, a small country with a big football ambition. Today, that ambition is yet again put on hold. In the quarter final of the Euro Cup, the Croats and the Turks played scoreless and quite anemic game for 90 minutes of regulation time. Then they continued in the same uninspired manner for the next 29 minutes of extra time. I have to give credit to the Croats, they were much more skilled in diving and faking fouls. In the last minute of extra time, they scored, bringing the agony of spectators to the end, or so we thought. After mandatory hugging, fist pumping and chest thumping, with only a minute to go, it was supposed to be the game over. But the persistent Turks took the ball, kicked it and - scored! And the game went to the penalty kicks, where Croatia simply didn't have the nerves, guts, skills, heart, wind...call it what you will, they sucked big time, scoring only one of four kicks and giving the game and the pass to semi finals to the Turks. And all they needed to do after they scored the first goal, was to play the ball. But they stopped, jubilant and dumb, paid the ultimate price and are now going home with heads hung low.
I always believed into unpredictable justice of sports competitions, but this one has nothing to do with justice--this one was about smarts and hearts. The smarter and more persistent team, which is by no means a better team, goes on to face Germany in the semis. Go Turkey!