I put a bunch of new photos on the site from second half of last year and the first of this year. You can find them on the photo page.

I was looking out the back window when I noticed what appeared to be smoke coming off the trees. Turns out to be pollen. My eyes started itching yesterday and have gotten very much worse today. I'll take an antihistamine tomorrow and see if that helps. Otherwise, it will be into the doctors office to see if they've come up with anything new.

Tony Blair has converted to Catholicism. In one of those stranger than fiction moments, the official who presided over the conversion? Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. If you wrote that in a story, people would think you made up this Cardinal's Irish name.

Defense drills
• Stance – have everyone spread out on the floor facing the coach and assume the ready position. Whenever a whistle blows or a coach yells, “Stance!” have them touch/hit both hands to the floor and yell out, “Defense!” Repeat this for 20-30 seconds.
• Quick hands, quick feet – same as the drill above with the addition of the command, “Quick feet!”. When the coach yells, “Quick feet!” everyone moves their feet as quickly as possible while staying in one place.
• Mirror, mirror on the wall – spread the players out on the floor. The players should mirror your hand movements while you hold the ball. If you bring the ball over your head, their hands should go over their heads, if you bring it to the right, their defensive position should move to their left.
• Zig-zag – have the players line up in two lines on one end of the court. Have them get into the defensive position turned with their back to the far basket. Using the defensive slide, have them zig-zag from the corner of the court to the corner of the foul line, back to the sideline, and so on down the length of the court.

Shooting drills
• Layup – have the players line up and practice layups. Remind them about the square painted on the backboard and to use it as a guide where to bank the ball.
• Two-line layup – divide the players into two lines facing the basket. The players on the right side of the basket have the ball. The player with the ball dribbles to the basket and makes a layup while the player from the left side gets the rebound. The rebounder should dribble back to the right line and hand the ball to the next shooter, then go to the back of the line. The shooter goes to back of the rebounding line.
• Pull-up – same as the two-line layup drill, only have the shooting player stop a bit further from the basket and shoot a pull-up shot.