New Shoes in the Rain

Good Monday morning to you all!  Summer took a brief hiatus around here, with comfortable morning lows and temperate afternoon highs for a few days, but in recent days Mother Nature reminded us who's in charge, as we had one of those stiflingly hot and humid days yesterday.  Oh, well, it IS August, after all... Given the time of year, no surprise that the most significant change is that our grandchildren have gone back to school, at least the four that are school age.  Our Colorado branch did so from a new home that was purchased in mid-summer, so I'm sure there were some adjustments associated with that, yet the kids both attend the schools where they already were.  Local kids went back to their school, too.  And our son returned to his night classes in law school last week. Part of the local school dynamic is that I pick up the kids a couple of days a week, when my schedule and whereabouts allow it.  Fun for them, more fun for me, since they're a coup...

Monday morning, folks.  Hope you had a great weekend and that you're planning to make it a good week. We had kind of an interesting weekend.  A soccer game featuring granddaughter #2 was to have been played in a nearby community Saturday afternoon, so we planned around that.  Weather threatened and the game was postponed, so that left us with some time open, so I used some of the afternoon to do a rescue cleaning of the interior of my wife's car. It should be noted that 95 percent of the time I'm alone in my travels, so my car gets more dusty than anything, except in and around the driver's seat.  However, my wife's car is the the transport for our three local grandchildren, so the in-and-out and snack and drinks and so forth present some different challenges. What prompted this cleaning episode was that my wife admitted that her non-car-cup-holder-fitting Yeti spilled one day recently, dumping tea through the front passenger seat onto, well, the rear floor. ...

It’s Thursday and I’m ready for the weekend.  Are you? I don’t know about you, but I’ve always enjoyed the well-timed or well-worded quote, whether from a famous person or otherwise.  Some end up become clichés of the speaker/writer’s original intent, others continue on as is. Indulge me as I enumerate some of my all-time favorites, and I will do my utmost to attribute them to the proper source: “Baseball is ninety percent mental.  The other HALF is physical.”                         --Yogi Berra “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”                         --Winston Churchill “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”            ...

It's Monday afternoon, friends, so that's one day almost done, four to go until the next weekend rolls around! As most regular visitors to this space know, I'm a big sports fan.  Baseball, college (but not professional) basketball, football and, yes, professional golf all attract my attention. I have to confess, despite friends who are definitely not on board, that I enjoy watching Tiger Woods play golf.  And let me qualify that.  I enjoy watching a HEALTHY Tiger Woods ply his craft on the golf course. It's been really difficult for the last several years watching him endure one surgery after another (seven was the number I heard yesterday) over the years.  There are lots of lists out there, but I believe the worst of this started after his astounding U.S. Open win at Torrey Pines in 2008, when he limped through a playoff round with Rocco Mediate and then had reconstructive surgery on a knee about a week later.  He's since had at least four procedures desi...

It's Monday, friends.  Again.  Seems we do this regularly, don't we? Anyway, I hope you had a good weekend, as I did.  Despite the fact that I played golf. If you detect a note of sarcasm therein, you're right.  At an earlier point in my adult life, I was HEAVILY into playing golf as often as possible.  I had a job that required me to travel by car regularly, sometimes overnight, and I consistently had my clubs and shoes with me, ready to play on short notice.  I managed to play twice a week on average in those days, and the quality of my golf game was pretty evident in my scores. That was in the early 2000's, so that would make me fifteen or more years younger. Fast forward to the present and I played Saturday for only the fourth time in this calendar year.  And played very, very inconsistently.  I wouldn't say I played poorly (although my Saturday playing partners expressed sympathy on that basis) but I did not play as well as I am often...