Love All

Tennis success equals love all. (I realize love all in tennis means zero-zero, but I like the phrase so let's just go with the sweeter interpretation.) We took a chance when we jumped on the #39 tram out toward Rue au Bois and the sports center I found online. French and Dutch were the only language options on their website, so I was unclear before we left if courts were even available to the general public. Our optimism in being able to play was apparent from our tennis outfits donned and racquets in tow. I had researched, wrote down and practiced French sentences such as, "We would like to play tennis. Can we rent a court? What are the fees?" I even practiced saying in French, "Can I schedule a lesson for my 11 year old daughter?" I found people who spoke English once we got there, but one kind woman let me practice my French anyway and she said I did well.

No public free courts found yet, but at this tennis center we could rent a court during lunch hour for their camp session. I also arranged a private lesson for Lucy with the director of the affiliated tennis academy for early next week. That should help her tune up for the USTA Junior Team Tennis Sectional tournament which will be the weekend immediately upon our return. Her team received a wild card invitation for the tournament which is very exciting.

The complex even had a bunch of red clay courts but they were outside and as usual it was threatening to rain so we stuck with an inside hard court. There was a little rust in Lucy's game since she had not picked up a racquet for 3 weeks in Brussels, but she worked it out quickly. The three of us played, Julia was very enthusiastic and positive, and Lucy was mostly patient. Even I felt great hitting the ball around a bit. Somewhere along the line Lucy learned a pretty solid slice serve in addition to some sort of slice forehand. Refreshingly, her various tennis camps, lessons and tournaments taught her a few skills she's retained.

After returning on the tram to Montgomery station, we walked back toward Merode. Destination: the gelato place. In addition to a couple of apples and crackers, that gelato was basically our lunch. Oh well, you can't have perfect nutrition every meal. We continued walking home after polishing off our gelato: lemon for Julia, strawberry plus lemon for Lucy, and for me, bacio (chocolate plus hazelnut) and tiramisu mixed since they did not have enough of either for even a small cup.

Brian is going to stop at the market on his way home from work to pick up some food for dinner. No, we did not fully succeed today on our post-it note plan, as we did not find time for an art museum. But reading, talking, relaxing and a bit of writing won out in our day's flow. Maybe we'll do an art museum frenzy next week.