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This week saw Catriona' first communion, a big occasion. There are several photos on the family photos page. There were 21 kids in all, and it all went off quite smoothly. We had our goods friends, the Keatings, along with us to share the experience, and the large meal afterwards! Why is it enough food to feed an army is made for these occasions?

Graham had his pool party for his indoor soccer team. They were given trophys and we got the photos back. Normally I'm not too concerned about photos and things, but this was Graham's first soccer team. He played very well, scoring a lot of goals and stopping them as well. It was obvious that he had far more idea of what was going on than anyone else in his team. Whether this is because he's been playing for so much longer than most, he's used to playing with Colin and older boys, or because he does have some natural apptitude only time will tell.

Colin's indoor soccer program finished as well, and on a bright note. They won their last 3 games to post an 8-4-1 record (W-L-D), scoring 63 and conceding 38. It was good to see them improve over the weeks, and I was really pleased with the way they were playing, looking up, finding men in the middle, moving into space. They all seemed to enjoy it, and so did I. I've signed up to coach in the Fall soccer program.

Cath's been busy in the library again this week, and was even there on Monday evening. Pity she's not allowed to work as she could have a proper job there.

Outside in the US, there has been another school shooting, this time a little closer to home - Springfield, OR. There have been 3 or 4 now over the past few months, each of them the same - one (or more) kids with guns just blasting away at random. This time the little rat also killed his parents.

I cannot believe that the gun lobby can keep defending the open availability of guns. Their hiding behind the constitutional right to bear arms may have had relevance back in 1770 when the struggle for independance was ongoing, but is not relevant to today. I wouldn't propose a total ban on guns as in the UK, as that goes too far, but certainly tighter control on the availability.

The knee-jerk reaction in the UK to the Dunblane shootings was all the more odious for the jumping onto the bandwagon by the politicians. They were all falling over themselves to feed the public hysteria. The nutter involved should never have been issued a license to own a gun, and if the proper procedures had been followed by the police he would never have been issued with one. The evidence was there, but was ignored.

This past week (or so) also saw the end of the Seinfeld tv comedy series. Never really found it that amusing or interesting the few times I watched it. Grace Under Fire, Frasier and Ally McBeal are all better.