Exit Father's Day--enter summer
Friends, hope you had a good Father's Day weekend. If your father is still around, hope you got to spend some time with him, and if you yourself are a dad, I hope that you got to see your kids!
For me, Father's Day weekend almost always marks the point where we know for certain that summer is most definitely here, as it "officially" begins later this week. Making my point, I played golf with some friends Saturday morning. By mutual agreement, we all concurred that we should play early to beat the heat. By the middle of the round we were all soaked with perspiration. And we started before 9:00 AM, too!
My score was pretty lousy, by the way, but would have been pretty decent had I not lost the ability to play golf the last two holes. These things happen when you're hot and tired, I suppose.
To add to it, our grandson (the local one, the other little guy is in Colorado) played with his all-star T-ball team (!) in a tournament that included two games late Saturday afternoon and two yesterday morning. To their credit, the team won the first three they played, but in the fourth they were pretty outmatched. Waiting for our grandson's game to start Saturday afternoon (by that time of day the tournament was running about an hour behind schedule), I watched the team that ultimately beat my grandson's group and knew they were pretty good.
This bunch had players that hustled constantly, played the game with abandon and were just into it! In our grandson's team's game their shortstop even attempted to fake a baserunner off second hoping to throw him out. These kids are seven and below, by the way. Pretty amazing, but as a lover of all things baseball, I was more than impressed. It is, after all, the little boys' game!
These tournaments will apparently occur every weekend for the next few weeks, so I expect my wife and I will be bronzed nicely by all of this outdoor time. My golfer's/farmer's tan is already firmly in place, by the way (happy to show you the contrast by lifting my shirt sleeve a little).
One more clear signal of summer is that we had one of those spectacular summer storms late yesterday afternoon, complete with a deafening downpour and thunder and lightning. So I'll need to mow my grass sometime, as I was waiting for a little more rain to moisten it up before cutting it.
As a sometime golfer and fan of that sport, I watched a fair amount of the U.S. Open over the weekend, which was won by a fellow named Brooks Koepka. The guy hits it a mile, putted very well and looked in command of the event from sometime Saturday onward. A lot of purists were talking about how it wasn't a "traditional" U.S. Open venue, as the event was played for the first time at a placed called Erin Hills north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scores were pretty low compared to what we often see, but I love it. All of these golfers play the same course, and the fact that the course claimed the world's three top-ranked golfers tells me, anyway, that it was challenging enough.
I used to wonder how I'd do on a course set up for the Open; at this stage of my life and golf "career" I no longer wonder. It wouldn't be pretty.....
No need to mention anything regarding politics here, as there's already plenty of content out there. I will say that I appreciate so many members of Congress recognizing that their harsh partisan rhetoric may have contributed to the horrific shooting that occurred last week. Alongside that, a reporter on CBS Sunday Morning suggested that members of Congress adopt a standing practice from Little League baseball (and the Stanley Cup playoffs in hockey, too, by the way) where after each game the teams line up and congratulate each other on a good game. I hope the feeling of mutual acceptance, if not agreement, lasts for more than a short time. We certainly need for it to last as long as it can.
For me, Father's Day weekend almost always marks the point where we know for certain that summer is most definitely here, as it "officially" begins later this week. Making my point, I played golf with some friends Saturday morning. By mutual agreement, we all concurred that we should play early to beat the heat. By the middle of the round we were all soaked with perspiration. And we started before 9:00 AM, too!
My score was pretty lousy, by the way, but would have been pretty decent had I not lost the ability to play golf the last two holes. These things happen when you're hot and tired, I suppose.
To add to it, our grandson (the local one, the other little guy is in Colorado) played with his all-star T-ball team (!) in a tournament that included two games late Saturday afternoon and two yesterday morning. To their credit, the team won the first three they played, but in the fourth they were pretty outmatched. Waiting for our grandson's game to start Saturday afternoon (by that time of day the tournament was running about an hour behind schedule), I watched the team that ultimately beat my grandson's group and knew they were pretty good.
This bunch had players that hustled constantly, played the game with abandon and were just into it! In our grandson's team's game their shortstop even attempted to fake a baserunner off second hoping to throw him out. These kids are seven and below, by the way. Pretty amazing, but as a lover of all things baseball, I was more than impressed. It is, after all, the little boys' game!
These tournaments will apparently occur every weekend for the next few weeks, so I expect my wife and I will be bronzed nicely by all of this outdoor time. My golfer's/farmer's tan is already firmly in place, by the way (happy to show you the contrast by lifting my shirt sleeve a little).
One more clear signal of summer is that we had one of those spectacular summer storms late yesterday afternoon, complete with a deafening downpour and thunder and lightning. So I'll need to mow my grass sometime, as I was waiting for a little more rain to moisten it up before cutting it.
As a sometime golfer and fan of that sport, I watched a fair amount of the U.S. Open over the weekend, which was won by a fellow named Brooks Koepka. The guy hits it a mile, putted very well and looked in command of the event from sometime Saturday onward. A lot of purists were talking about how it wasn't a "traditional" U.S. Open venue, as the event was played for the first time at a placed called Erin Hills north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scores were pretty low compared to what we often see, but I love it. All of these golfers play the same course, and the fact that the course claimed the world's three top-ranked golfers tells me, anyway, that it was challenging enough.
I used to wonder how I'd do on a course set up for the Open; at this stage of my life and golf "career" I no longer wonder. It wouldn't be pretty.....
No need to mention anything regarding politics here, as there's already plenty of content out there. I will say that I appreciate so many members of Congress recognizing that their harsh partisan rhetoric may have contributed to the horrific shooting that occurred last week. Alongside that, a reporter on CBS Sunday Morning suggested that members of Congress adopt a standing practice from Little League baseball (and the Stanley Cup playoffs in hockey, too, by the way) where after each game the teams line up and congratulate each other on a good game. I hope the feeling of mutual acceptance, if not agreement, lasts for more than a short time. We certainly need for it to last as long as it can.
Comments
Post a Comment