Dear fellow students,

I just got back from a great afternoon watching the Muldoon family at
play on Little Joe's grass polo field. Little Joe joined Mary and
Dante to beat Big Joe, Charlie, and Mara. The turnout by Potomac Polo
School students wasn't immense, but in addition to myself, Julia,
Cap'n Kerry, Mehdi, Melinda, and Wilson showed up and a good time was
had by all. It was particularly exciting to watch Charlie and Joe
play against each other. It was also gratifying to see such high
goalers miss the occasional ball (excuse me Kerry, I mean hit the
occasional divot). I'll keep in mind that I'm in good company the
next time my mallet fails to connect with its intended target (and I
don't mean my opponent's helmet -- see below).

With such high power players I was surprised to see that there was
more fouling than I've ever seen in polo school. Charley would have
won the award for most fouls -- at one point he bopped Joe on the head
with his mallet; at another he grabbed Dante's face mask! But other
players tried hard in this competion. At one point Little Joe cut
right under the nose of I think it was Mara's horse to hit the ball
when she clearly had the right of way. But since Kerry had abstained
from playing referee there was nobody to impose any penalties and all
the fouls just led to much laughter.

After the match Mary invited all to an impromptu barbecue on the hill
above her house. Grills were lit up. Meat appeared from somewhere to
be slapped on the grill. Somebody brought out tomato salad and baked
beans. Dante set up his sound system and played the Doors ("come on
baby light my fire"). Everybody was still having fun when I had to
leave. I suppose they are still at it!

Polo school is rumored to be scheduled to reopen towards the end of
the month. I know all of us out there today can hardly wait to get
back in the saddle and see if we can still hit the ball after the long
summer break. So I'm sure they all join me in wishing Mary and Dante
a fabulous Carribean honeymoon unaffected by tropical storms, followed
by a rapid reopening of the Potomac Polo School.

Cheers,

Mark