A picture is worth a thousand words.

 I promise this will be the last time I will post about the NBA finals and the Bucks victory (at least for a while), but this picture is so great.  If you know about the players, it tells a whole story (just like a tableau should do).

To your left is the great "point god", Chris Paul, who has been playing at an extraordinarily high level for a very long time.  He has never won a championship, but he did everything he could to win this year and promises to learn from the experience and come back even better next year (what a great philosophy -- one we can all benefit from hearing).  I hope he does.  (Even if you don't know basketball, you might recognize him from the State Farm insurance commericals.)  In the foreground is the amazing Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has been a star in the NBA for a number of years (I was going to say he was a rising star, but really for the last four years, he's been there -- winning MVP and Defensive Player of the Year and leading the Bucks to the playoffs).  Antetokounmpo has struggled from the free throw line and has a very long process to get ready to make a shot (which caused opposing fans to count while he is standing at the free throw line).  In the last game, he did really well but in other games he often missed.  (Someone who does play basketball should explain to me why they don't always make their free throws because there is no one interfering and it is the exact same thing each time, but I guess they're human and that's the answer.)

Anyway, this is such a great photo because it shows the veteran watching the young man and Paul is patient, but you can see he's thinking, "come ON" and Giannis is standing up tall and trying to look confident with millions of eyes bearing down on him and either hoping he is successful or praying that he is not.

I think what I have discovered in my obsessive watching of the NBA playoffs this year is something I've known before in watching sports (I have never been able to play any sport even acceptably, unfortunately for me) is how the athletes go out there and try their best and put it all on the line.  They can't do it half-heartedly, because everyone else is trying SO HARD.  They let us know that they want desperately to win and to contribute and help the team and when they can't, they feel terrible and that's all on display.  And when they can, it is glorious -- a dream -- the best moment of their lives.  We can all learn from them -- do our best, always try to learn, don't worry about the people who say you can't or you're not good enough -- they're not trying and you are and that makes your experience bigger and more rich than theirs.

THE BUCKS WON!

 I can't believe it, but it happened.  The Bucks won in SIX!

GO BUCKS!

 What a block from Giannis!  Bucks in six!  Bucks in six!  (I hope.)  But the Suns were great, too.

Unsung hero . . . P. J. Tucker!

Hello to the holidays!

 Last week at this time, we had started on our last week of school, although, like everything this year, it was a strange one.  Things have gotten back to normal, a bit, but according to my weather book, it was much cooler last year at this time and I do think the temperatures are unseasonably high.  I hope that heat dome will convince the powerful that it is time to do something substantive about climate change, which scares the dickens out of me.

So this is the first week of our actual summer holidays and I hope you have plans that you are looking forward to, or perhaps, no plans because you're going to relax and take it easy and not rush around.  That is my situation.  I am not doing anything or going anywhere this summer.  I am not ready to jump back into activity, just because I have my two vaccines and the restrictions are lifting.  I'm not actually scared, really, but I admit I liked lots of things about the social isolation routines, and will hold onto them for a little longer.

For the grade 12's -- please accept my heartiest good wishes for a wonderful "last" summer and also for a terrific future, whatever you might have decided to do.  Don't pressure yourself to decide on your entire future, either.  Take things as they come -- if you are going off to school, enjoy what it has to offer -- both in class and outside of class -- but know that nothing is cast in stone and if you change your major or decide you want to do something else, that's fine.  You are young and the world is your oyster!  If you aren't going to go to school next year, think of something to do that will bring you joy!  Get a job and make some money (that feels good).  Volunteer somewhere and help the world we live in (that feels good, too).  Do both!  Learn how to cook (everyone loves a good cook).  The main thing is -- don't be a stranger!  Our little theatre will always have a corner for you.