My Favorite Thing...

My favorite thing about Russell Klassen is his two-handed forehand.

That may seem weird, but let me explain.

Nobody in the world (except for his brother Wes) uses a two-handed forehand. It's not taught in any schools of tennis, it would be the first thing tossed out if Russell ever took lessons, and it drives tennis coaches crazy.

But not me. Because I realized something early on with Russell. He was good at that two-handed forehand and he knew it. He could pound it down-the-line at somebody's chest in doubles. He could stretch with it to keep balls in play. He could pound it crosscourt and dominate a crosscourt battle. He could even change the grip a bit and chip and slice it when needed.

He had a "weapon" and he knew how to use it to his advantage.

But really, I'm just using the two-handed forehand as a metaphor for what I really love about Russell. I love that he is comfortable with who he is, and isn't afraid to be that in front of everyone. Just like his two-handed forehand, he didn't hide his personality from the team. He is fun-loving and funny. He is extroverted like crazy. He was the most memorable person on all of our trips to Pizza King, Ruby Tuesday's, etc.

He is Russell, and I'm finding that that is hard to describe. Energetic, care-free, winning, goofy, and many other things. He's just Russell, and he's okay with that.

Freedom Quilt 7 ~ Finishing up the Ironing

The ironing is finally finished! I'm glad to, cause after 40 yards I was getting tired of that!
I have 80 fat quarters, a zillion 3.5 inch strips and then all these lovely chunks!
 
I can't wait to see what comes of all this!

Thing is... I just realized I have ten more yards of cotton... and there are still come colors that didn't quite come through in this...

I'm considering a whole new round of dying! LOL!
(I may need more than 40 days!)

Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 6 ~ More Ironing

It takes a while to iron 40 yards of freshly dyed cotton! Today I ironed some of the purples.
I'm ironing, cutting and folding as I go along. Here are today's colors along with yesterday's colors:
And here is one of the purples, I just LOVE the textures in these colors!
Tomorrow I finish this!  It takes a while, but it will be worth it.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 5 ~ Ironing

I've started ironing, cutting and folding the fabric for the Freedom Quilt.
I love the textures and tonality of these! There are some bold ones and some milder ones, all of them have a beauty of their own. Ironing feels like a process of discovery. I love it!
And somehow I manage to turn colors again... that is why we call it hand dying!
Today I ironed about 16 of the 40 yards.  I have been cutting fat quarters and 2.5 inch strips and these are the leftover chunks of the yellows.  Such a range of colors, I love them all!

Happy Creating!
-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 4 ~ Laundry Day

YAY!  It's time to wash the fabric!  Now to see how it all turned out.
First the yellows:
 Then the blues:
 Then the fuchsias:
Wow, this is starting to feel like laundry day!  Now it's time to iron.  Oooo.... boy!  
Why did I do 40 yards again?  This could take a while... BUT THE COLORS!

MERCY ME I DO LOVE THESE COLORS!!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Doubles Dominance

When Daniel Buschert and Mikey Kelly compiled a 20-2 record at #2 doubles on our Sectional winning team of 2008, I thought I'd never see a Bethany doubles team dominate their position like Mikey and Daniel did. Sure, there would probably be an uber-talented singles player to dominate their position (like Mike Mallet of the late 90's or Seth Krabill this year), but for two players to combine for such brilliance, especially at a school as small as we are? Would we ever be that deep of a team again?

And two years later, I'm sitting here reflecting on what the combination of Russell Klassen and Blake Shetler did this year.

19 wins at #2 doubles...
only 1 loss together...

And it wasn't that they skated through an easy schedule. Daniel and Mikey faced the likes of Penn, Northridge, Concord. Russell and Blake took down teams from Northridge and Concord too, but threw in a win over a state-qualifying Valparaiso team. They also got a win over the Fairfield #2 doubles team that didn't lose until the Semi-State round against Munster.

Something Russell and Blake clicked. Russell could be emotional, Blake was often reserved. Russell pounded his forehand, Blake had a great backhand. Russell controlled the net with pokes and drop-shots, Blake commanded the net with overhead putaways. They spurred each other to play better, and in times of nervousness they covered for each other, like Russell denying a match point for Valparaiso with a killer crosscourt forehand and then Blake finishing it off with a big serve.

And perhaps we'll never see the likes of this partnership again in Bruin's doubles. Of course, last time I thought that about a 20-2 team, we had these guys step up for 19-1. What's next, 18-0?

Beautiful drive

A beautiful evening at dusk and I was driving with one hand and trying to aim my phone with the other.  Was so nice to soak in the Beauty.

Happy Trails,
-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 3 ~ Hand Dying Fabric

It's day three of the Freedom Quilt project, it's time to dye some cotton, ya'll! And I'm pretty excited, I always love this part!  Playing with color is my thang!  I started by mixing dyes, dying small samples to see if I could manage to get the colors I was looking for.  I was working with primary colors though I did use some orange, and I also mixed up some black for adding some tonality to colors.  It's not easy to tell if the colors are off at this stage, but once they come out of the dryer there is no doubt.  There is a learning curve!!
I started out with the first ten containers.
Then closed them, made some changes to each bottle of dye and then added dye to the second set of ten.
This is why I call it hand dying... because even with gloves, I will certainly turn colors!
Forty containers, forty yards. 
All that glorious color hidden in there...
No idea which ones are going to work out beautifully and which ones I'm not going to like...
Forty containers of infinite possibility.
Before long I'll send these through the wash and begin to see how they turned out.  Anticipation is part of the fun!  Day three of the freedom quilt is complete.

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt 2 ~ Cut & Soak

Freedom quilt, day two!
Today I turned 40 yards of fabric
Into forty yards of fabric...
in one yard sections. 
I soaked it all in soda ash solution, then wrung them out and put them in containers, ready to dye.

Tomorrow... I dye!
Unless life gets in the way... in which case it will need to wait a while.  But that's fine.
No worries,
-Carmen Rose

Delicious Bacon-Chicken Tortilla Soup

The perfect meal for January, I've had a pot of this soup in my fridge for a few days and I'm still loving it!
 Once the soup is made, get out a bowl...
 break some tortilla chips in the bottom of the bowl
 sprinkle on some cheese
 ladle over the the soup, it melts the cheese...
 finish with a healthy dollop of sour cream
Delicious cold weather food.

Best Dishes, as Paula Deen would say,
-Carmen Rose

Russell Klassen Amazement!

Russell played two varsity seasons for the Bruins. In those two seasons, he racked up a total of 32 wins! That's incredible, but what's even more incredible is his winning percentage. Russell won a whopping 78% of the varsity matches that he participated in.

Russell follows in his brother Wes's footsteps, as Wes Klassen played two seasons for the Bruin varsity in 2005-2006. While Russell played doubles, Wes was a singles player, playing all his matches at 2-3 singles. But when it comes to the record books, Russell trumps his older brother (much like my little brother did to all my records).

I have to say though, it's awesome to have a family like the Klassen come through and be part of the Bethany tennis family. It's hard to imagine the past four years without Russell, as he's given a lot of confidence the team as well as his talent. In his sophomore season, Russell completed an undefeated season, which he almost duplicated this year.

What's even more difficult to believe is that next year will be a season without a Klassen. Not one at the school, not one on the tennis team. It will be the first time for us since 2004. But thanks Russell, for sending the family out in style on the court. An excellent season that we'll need to celebrate now that it is actually Russell Klassen week!

Scramble

Scrambled eggs with fresh veggies.
Some assembly required.
Happy yum,
-Carmen Rose

Lemon Blueberry Crumble Cake

I was trying for a beautiful slice to photograph but it was warm and it crumbled into bits when I tried to take it out of the pan, and plus... by that time I was starving and salivating and that piece was MINE!  No worries, it looked crumbly but it was DELICIOUS!  And I have eaten the whole thing!  

Wishing you a happy yum,
-Carmen Rose

Freedom Quilt, day one ~ Gather Supplies

I'm starting a new quilt project. This one will be different than anything I've done in a long time. First of all, I have been out of the studio for a LONG time.  It's time I remember who I am and get back into the swing of things.  This will be a quilt close to my heart, it will be bed sized to replace the first quilt I ever made that I'm losing in the divorce.  
Secondly, it will certainly NOT be a double wedding ring, I'll make up the pattern as I go along. And finally... I'll be hand dying these fabrics so ANYTHING can happen. I may use some commercial fabrics also, it is a "freedom" quilt after all. But at this point I'm thinking it will be pretty free form with a mix of colors and textures. I plan to create the quilt top in forty days, though those forty will have to be a day here and there as I'm working three jobs and I'm still on the board of directors at a gallery north of here.  There is not much free time around here!

Day One, Taking Inventory
I have taken inventory of the things I have.  Lots of dyes and fabric paints:
 How on earth did I have this much yardage just sitting around waiting for a project?  More than 40 yards of good ready to dye cotton fabric.
 And of course this is only a portion of the commercial fabric collection in boxes in my new studio.
Anything is possible, I have no idea what this will look like when I'm finished. 
But it will be good.

Here's to Freedom,
-Carmen Rose

Chapter Two: Widening Our Nets

I tried to play football in middle school. Disastrous describes it most accurately, painful would be a close second. Once, when attempting a tackle on our man-child running back in practice, I caught my middle finger in the netting of his practice jersey and he dragged me 15 yards, by my finger, right into the end zone. I was terrible.

Well, I could memorize plays well, so all wasn't lost. But fourth-string quarterback of a 7th grade team isn't that illustrious of a position. So my dreams of football died quickly. By 8th grade I had decided to play tennis in high school.

My high school tennis coach, Tony Wright, was a self-taught lover of the game. He never played growing up, but learned the game as an adult and started the tennis program at Angola High School in the early 70's or late 60's when he started teaching Chemistry there. He had passion for the game.

Late in my career at Angola High School, Tony started letting me take control of the varsity singles players during our practice. This experience was a blast for me (although I do wonder how effective I was as a 18-year old coach). But I loved the game, and I passed that on to my younger brother. He eventually became a better player than me, majored in Sports Management at Taylor University, and began to help manage a tennis club in Greentown.

I went to college, and my coach, Stan King, introduced me to a whole host of new tennis players. Amadeo Marino, an Argentine with a fiery temper. Andrew Lanctot, a laid-back and cerebral player who won consistently against those more "physically" talented. I learned to know some of my opponents well: Matt Taylor, the coach's son from Taylor University, was my favorite because he was a serve and volleyer like my dear Pete Sampras!

Upon graduation, I met Dan Bodiker. He had called the college looking for a tennis coach and gotten my name from Stan King. He then called my uncle, who had attended Bethany and played soccer for Bod, to learn more about me before interviewing me for the job. When I showed up to interview, Bod had all the players sitting on the curb outside the gym to meet me. Before asking one question, he introduced me to "my" team.

Throughout the years, I've grown into a tennis scene, meeting more and more people. As my brother went to Taylor, I met his teammates and friends. As I coached, I began to know more of the opposing coaches, gained respect for many of them. Soon, players I played against in college were coaching against me at schools like Bremen, Goshen, Penn, and then Northridge. The network of people I knew kept widening and widening.

And this season, those nets came back to support us in a big way. When we needed a sign-off for Nate Brendle's transfer, I was able to talk to Evan Atkinson, Nate's coach at Northridge and an usher at my brother's wedding, and let him know that Nate wasn't transferring for tennis reasons but academic instead.

When we needed help at tennis camp, instruction and another pair of eyes to run drills, who was able but my brother himself. And where did we hold tennis camp? With who's permission? Well, my old tennis coach Tony Wright made the Angola courts available for us, while we were able to stay at my old church for lodging!

And when we needed an assistant coach for the season, I dropped back into the nets of relationships that I've formed over the years and asked Michael Steury, one of our former players, to come back and help out.

We're not even getting into the new relationships that got formed this year. Nate's transfer introduced us to his whole family, and their generosity and hospitality as his mom became the "team mom" for the year, organizing meals and all sorts of other things. And as new freshman joined as well, all new tennis families were able to jump into our widening nets.

This is one vision that I've always had for Bethany tennis, and I felt it more than ever this year. I desire us to be a family, one with wide arms embracing all the different relationships we have. From players to parents to opponents and opposing coaches, I want everyone to feel welcome and respected when they think of us. In turn, the love flows both ways, and we reaped the benefit this year in major ways.

And I like to think that we paid it forward as well, traveling over to the Regional to support the Falcons of Fairfield in their ultimately successful quest for a Regional title. Matt Ebersole was a loud cheerleader for the team that vanquished him, making friends with his opponents parents and sitting right in the front row as they clinched a Regional championship. I know that's jumping to the end of the story, but relationships were the things that set the story up in the first place.

From Tony Wright to my brother to my players to our parents, we received so much support from our "nets" this season. That was awesome, because we needed it.

Chapter One: Sweat and Hope

UPDATE: I will now be finishing the Season Narrative that I tried to write back in November. I think it's time. Chapter 2 will be out on Monday morning! Here's Chapter 1 again as a reminder.

“Really, really good.”
“Really?” she said with a surprised look on her face.
“Like, we-might-not-lose-a-regular-season-match good.”

Pouring a cup of coffee, I was asked last spring how the team would be in the fall. The answer sprung from my mouth before I could even think about it. I scrambled back to my computer to think about what I had said, pulling the 2010 schedule up before me.

The bold prediction hadn’t come out of nowhere, I mean, I had been tirelessly working on “Wednesday Opponent Overviews” for much of the winter and spring. So I knew that we would have a good shot at traditional nemeses such as Concord and Northridge. I also was aware that our top 4 players would be back for their senior seasons, and that we had varsity experience to help them in Blake Shetler.

It was more than that though. Hope was jumping out of me because of P90X. Well, at least, the fact that every night after school I had 3-4 guys staying with me to strengthen themselves for the rigors of the season. Himal, Ryan and Ike - we would crank open the creaky old windows in my classroom in the dead of February and push ourselves through Yoga X. Muscles strained, sweat dripped all over the carpet, and it stank. I could only hope the frigid wind would carry the stink away before my classes the next morning. I could only hope that the work was making us better.

It was developing our strength, that much was certain. Once, Marcelo decided that he needed to come work out with us. It was during a day of Plyometrics, jumping, squatting, turning. Sweating. Marcelo made it through half the workout before he was done, while we happily completed the rest. It felt good to know that we were working.

Hope bounds forth from hard work. Ben Mast was committing himself to lessons at the racket club, Seth Krabill had enrolled in the Elite lesson program, and even Evan Grimes taking lessons. This work, these improvements, the sweat allowed us to dream all the higher. Without the work, we could expect another good but not great 12-8 season, just like the 2009 season. With the sweat, with the conditioning, with the lessons, who was to say what the ceiling would be? 5 losses? 3 losses? 0 losses? Why not?

Dr. O. Carl Simonton once said, “In the face of uncertainty, there is nothing wrong with hope.” Every season is an uncertainty, but looking at the 2010 season, there was every reason to hope. There was the work we were putting in, and then there was the results. Ben and Seth went down to the college one night after school to hit around and happened across Jordan Kauffman and Matthew Amstutz, two recent varsity players for Bethany who played for Goshen College. In a pick-up game, Seth and Ben destroyed the two college players, 6-1. These trends of results continued, as Ben took down the all-time wins leader of Bethany, Luke Hostetter, in a summer match.

Even the new freshman were getting into the act. Joel Gerig, Parth Patel, Abe Thorne, and Justin Zehr, every night they would pile into a car and drive down to the college to find court space to play. It didn’t matter if there really wasn’t space for them all, they just wanted to play. So that sat on each other’s lap if necessary to make it happen.

With all this going on, I looked at our schedule. My thoughts were simple. We can beat Northridge, they lose five varsity players. We can beat Concord, they lose six varsity players. We can beat Goshen, Westview, and the toughest match will be Fairfield, but they will have lost four players, we can beat them too!

An undefeated team? Unlikely. But in the offseason, it is the sweat that drives the dreams. The more sweat, the more hope. And this 2010 team was letting both flow.

Keeping warm in the bleak mid-winter


I love fire.

A warm and cozy day to all my favorite blog readers,
-Carmen Rose

No Knead Bread

No need to knead...

Since I live alone I take half the recipe and bake it.

And put the rest in the fridge to bake another day. This one had some saffron in it, delicious exotic flavor.
Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Spicy Shrimp Alfredo

Don't you love it when you come across a great sale? Shrimp, big ones... great price! I know what my dinner will be!

 Spicy Shrimp Ramen Alfredo (Some assembly required... it's like Ikea food or something.) Shrimp cook quickly, ramen cooks quickly... this really is a meal in minutes!

 Turned out looking really good.

Went down EASY! Yum Yum Yum!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Giggles

Giggles are like Snickers... only MUCH better.
Nutella Fudge, Dulce de leche caramel

With sea salt and toasted hazelnuts

Add nougat made with marshmallow fluff.
Cover with another layer of fudge.
Carefully cut into squares once it has cooled. 
I had trouble with this because the stuff tasted SO GOOD!
I kept getting sidetracked by eating.
Dip each square in chocolate.
Package to give.  Most of them I put in small cupcake papers and into gift boxes.  Some went on mixed plates of Christmas treats to take to parties.
They really were amazing and became the hit of every party I took them to over the holidays.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Oreos

Oreo cookies dipped in chocolate.  My favorites were the ones with the green filling, mint oreos dipped in dark chocolate.  I think that may have been one of my favorites from the holidays.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Love This

Some of my friends are huge fans of Mumford & Sons.
I totally see why!
Check this out:

White Blank Page, Mumford and Sons

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

A Mischief of Mice

The holidays aren't complete without a visit of the mice.
(Some assembly required of course)
Please don't forget the ears!
the huddle
'the soap opera'
'the choir'

Lovely young mice, slightly crunchy, watch out for the red juice, delicious and fun!

Happy creating to you and yours,
-Carmen Rose