The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described:
10-26-07-4
“It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits.
~ The Editor, May 9, 2014
p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State.
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Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin!
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The crowds gather at the AGC clubhouse for the final round of the Resorters . . .
August 7
The morning of the championship rounds – men’s semi-finals and women’s final – dawned in dubious weather. There was actually some moisture around, so we opted out of golf. That afternoon, as previously reported, we had an engagement with Elsa Lee at the winery. The weather remained iffy – but with continous weather radar checks we were pretty sure we could catch the men’s championship on the back 9. Through the wonders of modern technology we were able to follow the ongoing matches. We were delighted to hear that “the kid,” Braeden Sladek, had defeated the overwhelming favorite (by Calcutta betting), Donald Constable, who won the Resorters in 2010 and then was a pro for 10 years, in the semi-final. Braeden would thus be playing for the championship, and we were off for the golf course by 4:00 . . .
Go play golf. Go to the golf course. Hit the ball. Find the ball. Repeat until the ball is in the hole. Have fun. The end. ~ Chuck Hogan
[Once at the golf course, we just looked for the crowds. They were on the 14th hole. The Super, on the left, led me across the back 9 to the assembling masses around the 16th green . . . ]
[This was also a hub of several holes, so there was a concession tent . . . ]
[Other flights were playing in front of the men’s championship match, which was the last one on the course. Alayna Eldred had by now won the women’s championship . . . ]
[Between holes 15 and 16 . . . ]
[A panorama of that area . . . ]
[Walking in the middle of the far fairway (14th) is Braeden and his caddy . . . ]
[Meanwhile, back where we were waiting, Echo Press editor Al Edenloff was interviewing Tom Ryan, the Men’s Masters champion . . . ]
[The crowd has now moved to the 15th tee . . . ]
[Editor Al has found another interviewee, Betsy Aldrich, Women’s Executive champion . . . ]
[Now waiting at the 16th green, the Sladek-Kelly Brown match was “all square” . . . ]
Golf tip: Lay off for three weeks and then quit for good. ~ Sam Snead
[Panorama around the 16th green . . . ]
[Braeden was on in two, putting for a birdie . . . ]
There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls. ~ Lee Trevino
I’m the best. I just haven’t played yet. ~ Muhammad Ali
[A good putt, but still a little meat on the bone . . . ]
[Kelly Brown’s 2nd shot went over the green, he made a poor chip, but then sank what had to be a more than 20-foot putt for this par. Braeden then needed this putt for the halve . . . ]
[And he made it. Match still all square . . . ]
[The par 3 17th . . . ]
[The crowds made it hard for me to get any photos on this hole. But a roar went up from the green. Braeden won the hole with a par and went to 18 with a 1-up lead . . . ]
[The crowd storming down the 18th fairway . . . ]
[Braeden said later he did not hit the driver, with a 1-hole lead he just wanted to put his tee shot in the fairway . . . ]
[He did. Perfectly placed for a little flip wedge. Meanwhile Kelly’s drive was behind a tree behind the 11th green. He actually made a terrific low draw punch shot around the tree which just rolled off the back of the green . . . ]
[The winning shot by Braeden . . . ]
Golf is a game that needlessly prolongs the lives of some of our most useless citizens. ~ Bob Hope
If I had cleared the trees and drove the green, it would’ve been a great shot. ~ Sam Snead
Half of golf is fun; the other half is putting. ~ Peter Dobereiner
I always thought of myself as some sort of athlete until I started playing golf a couple years ago. ~ James Caan
Most people play a fair game of golf – if you watch them. ~ Joey Lauren Adams
What a shame to waste those great shots on the practice tee. ~ Walter Hagen
Practice puts brains in your muscles. ~ Sam Snead
[Perfect shot – maybe a 15-footer – guarantees no worse than par . . . ]
[Kelly could not up and down from behind the green – Braeden wins!]
[Likely many more championships to come . . . ]
Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around. ~ Rick Reilly
Nobody ever remembers who finished second at anything. ~ Jack Nicklaus
Playing golf is like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture. ~ Winston Churchill
Golf is more fun than walking naked in a strange place, but not much. ~ Buddy Hackett
Iwas three over. One over a house, one over a patio, and one over a swimming pool. ~ George Brett
Swing hard in case you hit it. ~ Dan Marino
Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad. ~ A. A. Milne
Golf is a lot of walking, broken up by disappointment and bad arithmetic. ~ Earl Wilson
Here’s how I led off Part 1: Meanwhile, back at the Resorters. We are now into day 6, the penultimate day leading to the championship matches the following day . . .
So, now after a brief interruption to cover the Theatre L’Homme Dieu Soiree, we’re back to continue the activities of Day 6 . . .
August 6
[I left the women for a bit to check on another Alexandria wunderkind. I had yet to see Braeden Sladek play, though he has been playing at the national level since he was 11 or 12. He will be entering his junior year of high school (so, has classmates among the state champion girls team). I’m back at the 1st tee to watch him tee off in the quarter finals of the mens’ championship level . . . ]
[He was the last of his foursome to hit. The other players hit drivers on this short par 4 – but like most club members (such as myself in my day) Braeden hit an iron for position . . . ]
I’ve had a good day when I don’t fall out of the cart. ~ Buddy Hackett
Golf is abillion-dollar industry devoted entirely to hope. ~ Deepak Chopra
[Well, so much for playing for position. He ended up well into the rough behind some trees . . . ]
[He was able to hit over the trees but short of the green. He lost the hole . . . ]
[He went well left off the tee on No. 2 as well, but I think halved the hole. Here he’s teeing off on No. 3, using a driver for the first time . . . ]
After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind), I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn’t fix in a hurry. ~ Bill Bryson
You know what the game of golf is, don’t you? It’s basketball for people who can’t jump and chess for people who can’t think. ~ Tom Robbins.
[I noticed a lot of the championship caliber players, men and women, really dive down into the ball . . . ]
You have the opposite of poker face. You have like miniature golf face. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
You ought to take more exercise, if you’re inclined to have a liver. Play golf. ~ Daphne du Maurier
[Looking back at #3 tee box and #2 green (on the right) . . . ]
[#3 green on the left, #4 tee box on the right . . . ]
Golf camaraderie, like that of astronauts and Antarctic explorers, is based on a common experience of transcendence; fat or thin, scratch or duffer, we have been somewhere together where non-golfers never go. ~ John Updike
[Braeden teeing off on #4 . . . ]
And the wind shall say: ‘Here were decent godless people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.’ ~ T. S. Eliot
Golf is an ideal diversion but a ruinous disease. ~ Gerald Ford
They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. ~ Gardner Dickinson
If you are going to throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so you don’t have to waste energy going back to pick it up. ~ Tommy Bolt
[Braeden was struggling. I believe he was 3 down at one point on the front 9. I went back to watch the end of the women’s semi-final. I subsequently learned Braeden made a great birdie on #9, crossed over to the back 9 where he played terrifically to come back and win the match . . . ]
[We found the women on the #14 green where Ale sank a nice putt . . . ]
The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight. ~ Ben Hogan
He loved the game. The battle that raged inside each player’s head. The little ball that sat motionless, defying you to hit it. No defenders, no game clock, no excuses. And maybe that’s why the highs were so high and the lows felt so low. Could you in the moment quiet your thoughts and execute? It was glorious when you did! ~ Philip Wyeth
A boss once told me, ‘Colleen, it’s not about the meeting, it’s about the Scotch after the meeting. You either need to learn to drink or take up golf.’ Turns out I’m not a good Scotch drinker. ~ Colleen Ferrary Bader
[Alayna teeing off on #15 . . . ]
It takes exactly eighteen shots tae polish off a fifth o’ a bottle o’ Scotch, thus, a game o’ golf equates tae eighteen holes. ~ Steve Alten
A well hit golf shot is a feeling that goes up the shaft, right through your hands and into your heart. ~ Ben Hogan
There is no movement in golf that cannot be made more difficult through diligent study and practice. ~ Henry Beard
Mini-golf is a lot like life. It can be difficult. It can be rewarding. And there are windmills. ~ Joe Tessitore
[Ale teeing off in #15 . . . ]
In order to develop a golf swing your thoughts must run in the right direction. ~ Ben Hogan
Hitting down is an important part of iron play. With the exception of the putter and the driver remember that you hit down on every other shot in golf. ~ Ben Hogan
Muscular freedom is probably more important in golf than in any other sport, but very few players take the trouble to get loosened up. ~ Ben Hogan
Straight down the middle; It went straight down the middle . . . ~ Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen
I’ll always remember the day I broke ninety. I had a few beers in the clubhouse and was so excited I forgot to play the back nine. ~ Bruce Lansky
[Ale’s 2nd shot on #16 – after another huge drive . . . ]
[Hole #17, par 3, Alayna hitting is currently 1-up on Ale . . . ]
I made the last putt. It just didn’t go in. ~ Tom Kite
Golf is a mental disorder. ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs
It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf. ~ H.L. Mencken
I’d like to see the fairways more narrow. Then everybody would have to play from the rough, not just me. ~ Seve Ballesteros
Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. ~ William Wordsworth
[Ale’s tee shot on #17 . . . ]
Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. ~ Grantland Rice
Man blames fate for all other accidents, but feels personally responsible when he makes a hole-in-one. ~ Bishop Sheen
[Alayna won the hole and the match . . . ]
[Ale won a close match between them the previous year. Obviously, they match up well . . . ]
[Alayna went on to win the championship the next day against Madison Herzog . . . ]
The ball retriever is not long enough to get my putter out of the tree. ~ Brian Weiss
You’ve just one problem. You stand too close to the ball after you’ve hit it. ~ Sam Snead
This wraps up the soiree for this year. We’re looking forward to what next year may bring . . .
August 19
Lynn leads us off again . . .
[At Table #1 (in your program and your hearts): Paul, Deb, Kathy, and Rich . . . ]
Ain’t we cute?
[Paige, having a hoopful of fun . . . ]
[Drew and Anna are tapping up a good time . . . ]
I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls. ~ Gene Kelly
[Then President Jim gave his “state of the theatre” presentation . . . ]
[Something he does very well, with a combination of gravitas and wit . . . ]
The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life. ~ Oscar Wilde
I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. ~ Oscar Wilde
I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture. ~ Laurence Olivier
[And then Glen came back – it was time to raise our pledge cards . . . ]
All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That’s what makes theatre live. That’s why it persists. ~ Stephen Sondheim
The theater is a great equalizer: it is the only place where the poor can look down on the rich. ~ Will Rogers
The play was a great success, but the audience was a failure. ~ Oscar Wilde
[OK, this audience wasn’t a failure. We raised $175 thousand plus for the theatre on the night!]
[Congratulations to us!!]
Renee and Rush dance in celebration . . .
There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them. ~ Vicki Baum
We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams. ~ Albert Einstein
Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. ~ Dave Barry [Editor’s note: Au contraire . . . ]
Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order. ~ Samuel Beckett
Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion. ~ Martha Graham
I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov
Do a loony-goony dance ‘cross the kitchen floor, put something silly in the world that ain’t been there before. ~ Shel Silverstein
Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance. ~ Confucius
Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching. ~ Satchel Paige
If you want to help the American theater, don’t be an actress, be an audience. ~ Tallulah Bankhead
The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience. ~ Andy Goldsworthy
Ambushing the audience is what theatre is all about. ~ SirTom
The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life. ~ Arthur Miller
My only regret in the theater is that I could never sit out front and watch me. ~ John Barrymore
[Tablemates Kathy and Rich enjoy a twirl around the floor . . . ]
[Paul and friends wrap up the evening . . . ]
[Nicole and John . . . ]
[Turns out they’re related to each other . . . ]
[Board member Terri; board member Dave; and Karin, super patron who’s a friend of one and related to the other . . . ]
[Tim and Ken and Jeanne and Deb and Ruthie and Marianne . . . ]
[I think they’re ready to call it a night . . . ]
[And I think they’re ready to call it a night . . . ]
Say good night, everybody. And many thanks again for a fun and productive evening . . .
Good night!!
But theatre is also a public event, a spectacle or a show, attempting to please or amaze the audience by a display of exceptional stage achievements, that is, special performances. In that sense, like sporting events or the circus, theatre serves what I shall call the performance function: it satisfies our natural desire to achieve or witness something extraordinary. ~ Jean Alter
I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water. ~ Vanessa Redgrave
It is a hopeless endeavor to attract people to a theatre unless they can be first brought to believe that they will never get in. ~ Charles Dickens
This is part 2, which means we’re in the middle of three parts . . .
Iwant my audience to be constantly captivated, bewitched, so that it leaves the theatre dazed, stunned to be back on the pavement. ~ Francois Truffaut
Well the least favourite question is the one that one’s asked particularly about in Japan is what’s the difference between theatre and cinema and I think, well, that’s about eighty bucks. ~ Andrew Lloyd Webber
August 19
Lynn is leading us off again . . .
[Paul did me proud by also wearing trousers of the non-floor length variety . . . ]
I was on a tour of a Restoration comedy in 1996, and in Moscow we stayed at the Metropole hotel, off Red Square. The food there was opulent, but in the Maly theatre canteen, there were just a few pieces of rye bread, peanuts, and gherkins. I stood in the queue and burst into tears. ~ Nicola Walker [Editor’s note: Well, I and the aforementioned father-in-law are big Nicola Walker fans . . . ]
If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance. ~ George Bernard Shaw
[A new patio will look great in front of the new facade . . . ]
[Dream big . . . ]
[Sandy and Dennis and Lynn and champagne . . . ]
There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne. ~ Bette Davis
Champagne is the one thing that gives me zest when I’m tired. ~ Brigitte Bardot
I only drink champagne on two occasions, when I am in love and when I am not. ~ Coco Chanel
[The Super thinks this looks like a really good idea . . . ]
Champagne makes you feel like it’s Sunday and there are better days around the corner. ~ Marlene Dietrich
Why do I drink champagne for breakfast? Doesn’t everyone? ~ Noel Coward
Too much of anything is bad,but too much champagne is just right. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Jeanne and Tom and Debbie, long time friends and patrons of the theatre . . . ]
[Last seen trying to extricate themselves from the channel between lakes Geneva and Le Homme Dieu . . . ]
[Rush Benson from “Wonderland,” performed at TLHD two months ago . . . ]
Part of the joy of dancing is conversation. Trouble is, some men can’t talk and dance at the same time. ~ Ginger Rogers
[Lynn is the master of all she surveys . . . ]
Dancers are instruments, like a piano the choreographer plays. ~ George Balanchine
[Rush and his wife, Renee Guittar . . . ]
The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word. ~ Mata Hari
[By special request . . . ]
Dance is a song of the body. Either of joy or pain. ~ Martha Graham
Dancing can reveal all the mystery that music conceals. ~ Charles Baudelaire
[One never knows where or when one may run into a high school classmate . . . ]
[Jeanne and Ken . . . ]
[Ken specifically advised in advance he was not wearing shorts . . . ]
[Which may be why they seem oblivious to Paige, the performer on their left . . . ]
[The dining room for 120 attendees . . . ]
[The Super kept a sharp eye on our table (#1) lest someone attempt to pilfer it . . . ]
[The welcoming from Phil and Katie . . . ]
The theatre is the involuntary reflex of the ideas of the crowd. ~ Sarah Bernhardt
It’s one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work – the night watchman. ~ Tallulah Bankhead
And we’ll have fun, fun, fun now that daddy took the T-bird away. ~ Brian Love/Brian Wilson
If you’re sixty-something, pushing 70, the chances of you getting a tremendously fascinating part in the movies are very low, as to be almost negligible, or even in television. But in the theatre, there are still things to do, very interesting, very profound things. ~ Brain Dennehy
I’m on the outside (looking in). ~ Little Anthony
Whenwe’d suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, ‘Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.’ As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing. ~ Ian Mckellan
[Nicole somehow generated two seasons of performances through a pandemic . . . ]
[Even thought of putting Thor on sheers behind the stage?]
I think the paparazzi is a necessary evil… and if ya don’t like it, and ya don’t want to do this, go to Iowa and do some community theatre. It’s all about self-promotion, and it’s not always the fun part of it. ~ Gail O’Grady
The oldest form of theater is the dinner table. ~ Michael J. Fox
The cost of a new sewer is how much? ~ Nicole
We should return to the Greeks, play in the open air: the drama dies of stalls and boxes and evening dress, and people who come to digest their dinner. ~ Eleanora Duse
[The artistic director of Minnetonka High School who brought the blockbuster “Bright Star” to our theatre two years ago . . . ]
Then I heard this genius teacher Stella Adler – I recommend you read anything you might find about her and if you have anyone interested in theatre, you get them one of her books. ~ Harvey Keitel
When I come into the theatre I get a sense of security. I love an audience. I love people, and I act because I like trying to give pleasure to people. ~ Vivien Leigh
We depend on the critics to give us a glimpse of what happened. Bernard Shaw championed Ibsen, who got the most terrible notices for his plays. Kenneth Tynan championed young writers, and as a result, the theatre has changed radically. ~ Diana Rigg
[Katie Perry, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer/SVP at Knute Nelson, thanked TLHD for live performances of “WonderLand” at Grand Arbor . . . ]
[Jim and Jan Pence, with Jack Reuler behind Jim, the flow of TLHD leadership over the last decade . . . ]
I just needed a job. Before being hired as an usher at the CBS Theatre, I didn’t even know there was a show business! ~ David Geffen
[My aunt] took me to my first play, too, which was dinner theater. I don’t know if they have that in England, but you eat a dinner while you watch a play. And she ordered a glass of wine. I was like, “Oh my God. This is, like, the most sophisticated thing I have ever done. ~ Geena Davis
[The TLHD staff . . . ]
[Merci beaucoup!!]
[And now with auctioneer Glen Fladeboe, it’s time to make some money for the theatre . . . ]
[Beginning with all the auction items on the easels in the patio-to-be area . . . ]
I get too hungry for dinner at eight. I like the theater, but never come late. I never bother with people I hate. That’s why the lady is a tramp. ~ Lorenz Hart
[Chef Matthew Jensen, fresh from his appearance on the easel poster . . . ]
[And, of course, made the dinners for 120 people this night . . . ]
[My Maque Choux (bell peppers, sweet corn, tomato, onion, garlic, celery, cream) served over wild rice was delicious!]
Seems reasonable to conclude part 2 with the producer of our meals . . .
I have done film, television and theatre – all at a pretty substantial level – I don’t think it’s possible for American actors to do that. ~ Helen Mirren
My plan is to have a theatre in some small town or something and I’ll be manager. Ill be the crazy old movie guy. ~ Quentin Tarantino
This is our annual fundraising soiree for Theatre L’Homme Dieu. Our board president, Jim Pence, has gone to every expense to publish a brief history of the theatre with a look into the future (see Playbill below). And, of course, all it takes is: “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money” (Pet Shop Boys) . . .
August 19
This is Lynn. By virtue of her “position” for the event, she will lead off all three soiree blog posts . . .
The story . . .
First, lead off with those responsible for all things theatre: Executive Director Nicole Mulder (center) with the crack TLHD staff (from l-r) – Sidney, Rochelle, Jenna, and Becky. A big shout out to all of you! [Contributed photo]
And specifically for the planning and logisitics of the soiree: Board members Phil Eidsvold and Katie Eiser. Wow, guys! [Contributed photo]
It’s time to choose your entree! Thank you for your purchase of tickets for the very special, exclusive Theatre L’Homme Dieu event! We look forward to an exciting soirée full of surprises to benefit our theatre in the woods. Our catering partner – LA FERME – has put together some great choices for us! Braised beef brisket, garlic mashed potatoes, wilted greens, braising jus Norwegian cod, pickled asparagus, dill sauce, rutabaga Maque Choux (bell peppers, sweet corn, tomato, onion, garlic, celery, cream) served over wild rice
[That morning there was preparation to be done. Preparations beyond my abilities to comprehend. Nevertheless, as the temperature and dew point rapidly approached triple digits, we did what we could do. The Super and fellow board member Deb watered and weeded . . . ]
[I, happy home maker that I am, table clothed the tables and cushioned the chairs . . . ]
[Actually, sometimes The Shadow doesn’t know . . . ]
[Said work partially done . . . ]
[This visual and the drought highlight our immediate fundraising needs – a patio (see the Playbill at the top) and a sprinkler system . . . ]
I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost – it’s there and then it’s gone. ~ Maggie Smith
Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road toimminent disaster. ~ Tom Stoppard
[The dining and entertainment tent . . . ]
A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it. ~ Alfred Hitchcock
[We have now arrived for the evening festivities . . . ]
As a working actor, all I want to do is work. That’s it. It’s terrifying when you don’t work. It’s very hard when you don’t work. There have been times when I’ve been out of work for like six months. I feel theatre to me is like manna. ~ Sandra Oh
[On easels circling the table area . . . ]
Items up for auction . . .
The future . . .
[The bar certainly appears to be ready for action . . . ]
[The Super and Deb (the wild weeders) anxiously awaiting their prom dates . . . ]
Every baseball crowd, like every theatre audience,has its own distinctive attitude and atmosphere. ~ Bill Veeck
[The TLHD lodge . . . ]
[The TLHD original cabins . . . ]
[The theatre itself (with extensive signs of what the drought has wrought) . . . ]
[The soiree par-tay begins . . . ]
[The regular crowd shuffles in . . . ]
Make them laugh, make them cry, and hack to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that. ~ Mary Pickford
[Kathy and Debbie, a/k/a, Kathy and Deb. Superstars who educated little children . . . ]
[After duck pate, onion & red pepper puree tartlet, and salmon appetizers, who had room for an entree?]
[The father-in-law of the executive director and a retired doctor place orders for adult beverages . . . ]
Movies are a complicated collision of literature, theatre, music and all the visual arts. ~ Yahoo Serious [Editor’s note: Yahoo Serious?]
[Lynn pours a champagne for Nicole from a unique position . . . ]
As a kid, the theatre always felt a bit like running away to join the circus. ~ Robert Sean Leonard
[One of us must certainly be a refugee from a carnival (regarding my attire, Phil, as the master of ceremionies, approved shorts as “resort elegant” attire under the merciless weather conditions) . . . ]
[A unique talent is to make those around you as goofy as you are . . . ]
Free speech means the right to shout ‘theatre’ in a crowded fire. ~ Abbie Hoffman
The way the world is, I think a silly evening in the theatre is a good thing, to take our minds off terror. ~ Tim Curry
I fear that I won’t work in the theatre again. I’m sad about that. But I won’t retire. ~ Maggie Smith
Ijust am committed wholeheartedly to theatre with no intermission. ~ Lady Gaga
Whether I’m wearing lots of makeup or no makeup, I’m always the same person inside. ~ Lady Gaga [Editor’s note: Same for me.]
I have just begun to blog. ~ Me (this is the first of three)
Up Next: Part 2 (for golf fans, I have every intention of completing my Resorters report) . . .
Meanwhile, back at the Resorters. We are now into day 6, the penultimate day leading to the championship matches the following day . . .
August 6
[Readying for events of the day, the Super finally threw me over for a younger, better looking guy. John is a high school classmate of Tom Lehman and is allegedly a close personal friend . . . ]
[Judy, a fellow board member for TLHD, reclaimed her golf cart seat, and for circumstances I can no longer recall dubbed me A Big Dope (many heads in the area nodded in assent) . . . ]
The match of the day (for me) was the semi-final match between two defending Resorters champions – Alayna Eldred, in 2014 (when she was 14), and Ale Heinen, the defending champ. I took photos of their swings in “bursts,” meaning that in the course of a single swing I may get 15 photos. While that may be great for swing analysis, it’s a bit too busy for a blog post. So, I have to pick and choose between the myriads . . .
[Here’s Alayna hitting her 2nd shot on the 1st hole. It’s a short par 4, so she hit an iron off the tee to get to this position. (Editor’s note: Obviously, a golfer who knows how to course manage. In my days as a participant in this activity, I played the hole in the same manner – hit your tee ball to a spot about a 100 yards out setting up a nifty wedge 2nd.)]
Golfers don’t scream. Golfers just adjust the pleats in their pants and go from there. That’s about as antagonistic as we get. ~ Gary McCord
Some golfers, we are told, enjoy the landscape; but properly, the landscape shrivels and compresses into the grim, surrealistically vivid patch of grass directly under the golfer’s eyes as he morosely walks toward where he thinks his ball might be. ~ John Updike
If golfers know they look good, they will play better. I think that is valid for men and women. ~ Letitia Baldrige
I never mixed with golfers when I was playing, mainly because I didn’t want to talk golf all night. ~ Nick Faldo
[To this point, you can see everything is swing perfect so far . . . ]
When human beings stop progressing at an endeavor, they stop enjoying it and move on to something else. Not golfers. Masochists, all of them. ~ Jay Mohr
[So, that’s 8 of the 13 photos taken during this swing – I’m going to have to do better. I took 185 photos on this day . . . ]
[Under equal time constraints, Ale teeing off on No. 2. Another short par 4 – driver not needed . . . ]
The successful golfers – they’re like astronauts or pilots. They have that demeanor that they can focus and stay within that one moment and nothing distracts them. That’s not me. ~ Ray Romano
I hadn’t thought that women were particularly dangerous golfers. Could that be the reason that the Augusta National Golf club refuses to take down its ‘No Women Allowed’ sign? ~ Madeleine M. Kunin
The biggest thing is just routine. I think that’s the biggest correlation between golfers and basketball players. ~ Stephen Curry
Golf: A plague invented by the Calvinistic Scots as a punishment for man’s sins. ~ James Reston
I don’t let birdies and pars get in the way of having a good time. ~ Angelo Spagnolo
A perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke. ~ Jack Nicklaus
[Now having seen both swings, you should have a pretty good idea about how they both generate so much power . . . ]
[And now the stroll down No. 2 . . . ]
[Another gorgeous Chamber of Commerce day, as it was pretty much the whole week . . . ]
[The course was in beautiful shape in spite of the drought . . . ]
[And this hole will go down in golf lore as the hole on which I determined I was no longer capable of playing the game. I 6-putted, despite my best efforts at having my muscle memory determine how hard to hit the ball based on the distance to the hole as I perceived it. Well, I guess it’s complicated . . . ]
[Ale hitting up to the 2nd green . . . ]
Never concede the putt that beats you. ~ Harry Vardon
Nobody asked how you looked, just what you shot. ~ Sam Snead
Mulligan: invented byan Irishman who wanted to hit one more twenty yard grounder. ~ Jim Bishop
[The 3rd tee – the first chance to break out the driver . . . ]
The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two. ~ Bobby Jones
If profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is. ~ Horace G. Hutchinson
If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death. ~ Sam Snead
What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive. ~ Arnold Palmer
Golf is not, on the whole, a game for realists. By its exactitude’s of measurements, it invites the attention of perfectionists. ~ Heywood Hale Broun
[Alayna also took the cover off the big stick . . . ]
Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. ~ Arnold Palmer
Golf tips are like Aspirin: One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you’ll be lucky to survive. ~ Harvey Penick
My swing is so bad, I look like a caveman killing his lunch. ~ Lee Trevino
You’ve got to have the guts not to be afraid to screw up. ~ Fuzzy Zoeller
Tempo is the glue that sticks all elements of the golf swing together. ~ Nick Faldo
[Scenes from the 4th fairway . . . ]
[Ale hitting up to the 45-degree billiard table that is the 4th green . . . ]
Watching Phil Mickelson play golf is like watching a drunk chasing a balloon near the edge of a cliff. ~ David Feherty
Life is not fair, so why should I make a course that is fair. ~ Pete Dye
A great shot is when you pull it off. A smart shot is when you don’t have the guts to try it. ~ Phil Mickelson
A bad attitude is worse than a bad swing. ~ Payne Stewart
[Ale putting down said billiard table. Her caddy is her husband in the Wichita State shirt . . . ]
Happiness is a long walk with a putter. ~ Greg Norman
Don’t be too proud to take lessons. I’m not. ~ Jack Nicklaus
Golf is assuredly a mystifying game. It would seem that if a person has hit a golf ball correctly a thousand times, he should be able to duplicate the performance at will. But such is certainly not the case. ~ Bobby Jones
Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle. ~ Anonymous
Taking a brief break from Resorters reporting to catch up on current events.We had the last performances of the season at the Legacy of the Lakes Gardens, Theatre L’Homme Dieu, and a local production of Bread & Roses by our storyteller, Paulette Friday, at the high school’s Performing Arts Center . . .
August 13
Music in the Gardens-Joyann Parker
It’s the last Music in the Gardens of the season and we’re thrilled to welcome back Joyann Parker to the Legacy Gardens! Gates open at 6:00 pm and the show starts at 6:30. Gar Wood seating gets you next to the stage with a chair provided. Grasslands seating is bring your own chair or blanket. Museum members enjoy special pricing on tickets and kids 12 & under are always FREE!For those who purchase advance online tickets, proceed to the gates to check-in on the night of the concert.Beverages and snacks will be available for purchase!Thanks to our sponsors for this event, Aagard Group and Steinbring Motorcoach! (https://lolm.betterworld.org/events/music-gardens-joyann-parker)
[Another perfect evening for outdoor music here in Vacationland USA . . . ]
Talking with Joyann Parker is, well, a joy. She laughs a lot, fully and freely, like she sings. She sings the blues, among other styles, but she laughs like someone without a care in the world, or someone who knows how to live with her cares and keep laughing. A singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Parker is a rising star on our local music scene who’s poised for national attention. So far, she’s best known for her signature tribute to Patsy Cline, which she has performed hundreds of times. Her second album, “Out of the Dark,” to be released tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 13) at the Dakota and next Friday (Feb. 19) at Crooners, should open ears and doors. Eclectic and adventurous, with Parker’s powerful voice backed by a strong band, it’s a knockout (www.minnpost.com/artscape/2021/02/).
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. ~ Frank Zappa
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ~ Albert Einstein
Play it fuckin’ loud! ~ Bob Dylan
Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. ~ Maya Angelou
If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet. ~ Keith Richards
I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me. ~ Bob Dylan
A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. ~ Bob Dylan
[I never had a good angle to “capture” the drummer or the bass player. I could have moved, I suppose, but that would have required extra effort . . . ]
To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable. ~ Aaron Copland
Music . . . can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable. ~ Leonard Bernstein
Next to music, beer was best. ~ Carson McCullers
I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things. ~ Tom Waits
A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~ Leopold Stokowski
Beethoven tells you what it’s like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe. ~ Douglas Adams
I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird. ~ Paul McCartney
When you make music or write or create, it’s really your job to have mind-blowing, irresponsible, condomless sex with whatever idea it is you’re writing about at the time. ~ Lady Gaga
Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST. ~ Frank Zappa
[The bass player could only be “captured” by trimming the photo above . . . ]
Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, Tomorrow I’ll miss you. ~ Paul McCartney
Music makes one feel so romantic – at least it always gets on one’s nerves – which is the same thing nowadays. ~ Oscar Wilde
If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing. ~ Sir James Barrie
Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common. ~ Sarah Dessen
Let it be, let it be ….. ~ Paul McCartney
Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ~ Frank Zappa
[As the sun sinks slowly in the west . . . ]
[The patrons enjoying a break in the action . . . ]
[Same break . . . ]
[Thanks, Joyann!]
[We have seen Joyann a few times now, and she does indeed have a big voice. We sat in the front row for photographic purposes and came away slightly “deef,” as we say around these parts . . . ]
[A final goodnight until next season to the Legacy Gardens . . . ]
August 14
This is an Outdoor concert – please bring your own chair.
Since performing their very first shows together in the early spring of 2004, Transit Authority has become known throughout the U.S. as the premier tribute band to the iconic group Chicago. Based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, this eight member ensemble creates an accurate musical salute to the greatest horn driven rock band to ever hit the stage. Transit Authority’s mission is to recreate the excitement of the original Chicago’s sound with each and every performance. (Minus the cracks and pops of the vinyl!)
Transit Authority has assembled some amazingly talented musicians who meticulously capture all the nuances of the original recordings and will honestly make you believe you are witnessing the real thing. Performing mega-hits such as, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”, “Hard Habit to Break”, “Make Me Smile”, “Old Days”, “Just You ‘n Me”, “Beginnings”, “Wake Up Sunshine”, and many more (https://www.tlhd.org/2021-events).
[The day broke beautifully over Lake H2Obert . . . ]
[And our cute little European mountain ash . . . ]
Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~ Confucius
[Another beautiful evening for an outdoor concert in Vacationland USA. This concert was originally scheduled as an in theatre event, but COVID again raised its ugly head . . . ]
[It gave us a chance to show off the new theatre facing . . . ]
[This was the original facing . . . ]
[That was done in by woodpeckers . . . ]
[The regular crowd shuffles in . . . ]
[Transit Authority takes the stage . . . ]
[Nicole does the introductions . . . ]
[She did an outstanding job saving our season again this year. We lost our final show, “Glensheen,” which was scheduled for a 2-week run, to the pandemic. Transit Authority was a kind of last minute plug in . . . ]
[I am admittedly not much of a Chicago fan. But they may have saved the evening for me by playing “Does anybody really know what time it is,” one of the most pretentiously stupid songs of all time, first and getting it out of the way . . . ]
[This a really talented group of musicians, and I thought their second set was absolutely fabulous . . . ]
There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. ~ Sun Tzu
Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. ~ Hans Christian Andersen
Some guy said to me: Don’t you think you’re too old to sing rock n’ roll? I said: You’d better check with Mick Jagger. ~ Cher
Well my music was different in high school; I was singing about love—you know, things I don’t care about anymore. ~ Lady Gaga
[In an unsuccessful attempt to settle into life in the witness protection program, he opted for a job in the concession stand at a popular local theatre . . . ]
[Ever a creature of her career with the Air Force, the Super spotted this contrail for me to shoot . . . ]
I’m telling you a lie in a vicious effort that you will repeat my lie over and over until it becomes true. ~ Lady Gaga [Editor’s note: Boy, does that sound familiar . . . ]
Life seems to go on without effort when Iam filled with music. ~ George Eliot
Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist. ~ G. K. Chesterton
The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with — nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they can add up to the story of a life. ~ Rob Sheffield
[I had never heard of mix tapes before (see above). But they were a story line by the lead singer during this concert . . . ]
People ask me how I make music. I tell them I just step into it. It’s like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song. ~ Michael Jackson
I love the way music inside a car makes you feel invisible; if you play the stereo at max volume, it’s almost like the other people can’t see into your vehicle. It tints your windows, somehow. ~ Chuck Klosterman
If music be the food of love, play on. ~ William Shakespeare
[If you’re from around these parts . . . ]
[You know what happens when it gets dark in the summer . . . ]
[BUGS!!!!]
Hard to say what’s right when all I wanna do is wrong. ~ Prince
I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear. ~ Freddie Mercury
I live and breathe my work. I love what I do. I believe in the message. There’s no stopping. I didn’t create the fame, the fame created me. ~ Lady Gaga
I mean, if Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at twenty-two, the history of music would have been very different. As would the history of aviation, of course. ~ Tom Stoppard
I believe that a person’s taste in music tells you a lot about them. In some cases, it tells you everything you need to know. ~ Leila Sales
I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning. ~ Plato
This is the strangest life I have ever known. ~ Jim Morrison
Do you know people who insist they like ‘all kinds of music’? That actually means they like ‘no kinds’ of music. ~ Chuck Klosterman
Say goodnight everybody . . .
August 15
It’s a beautiful morning, ah . . .
I think I’ll go outside for a while . . .
And just smile . . . ~ Rascals
I think the girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet. ~ Susan B. Anthony
There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers. ~ Susan B. Anthony
Why is a woman to be treated differently? Woman suffrage will succeed, despite this miserable guerilla opposition. ~ Victoria Claflin Woodhull
Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts. ~ Anna Quindlen
Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them. ~ Oscar Wilde
[The Super with Janet Baker, the costume designer for the event. And we may have discovered the next local musical wunderkind. High schooler Leah Zenner sang “Sylvie,” which I probably hadn’t heard since the last time I listened to the 1959 “Belafonte at Carnegie Hall” album . . . ]
I’m already crazy. I’m a fearless person. I think it creeps up on you. I don’t think it can be stopped. If my destiny is to lose my mind because of fame, then that’s my destiny. But my passion still means more than anything. ~ Lady Gaga
Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them. ~ Plato
The uglier a man’s legs are, the better he plays golf. It’s almost a law. ~ H.G. Wells
This was Day 5 of the 100th Annual Resorters Golf Tournament. It was serious golf tiime – in the championship quarter finals. As you’ll recall from your readings, the Alexandria High School girls golf team won the state tournament earlier this year by an astounding 22 shots by shooting a team tying record 303 in the 2nd round (top 4 scores on the team, which were 75, 75, 76, and 77). The whole team is made up of underclassmen, as in they’ll all be back again next year. Well, I had never seen any of them play before, so today was going to be the day. Hannah Boraas (a junior-to-be) and Cora Larson (a senior-to-be) were the team leaders all year. They would be in separate contiguous foursomes, so I could follow both, that also contained two previous Resortes winners. Pencils ready, begin . . .
[And the man on the mic, doing yeoman’s work announcing the golfers (most from this continent) on the first tee all week, Dave Kjos . . . ]
[Ale Heinen, the defending champion from Wichita, Kansas, off the first tee . . . ]
[Hannah Borass, a junior-to-be from the Alexandria High School state champions . . . ]
Golf is a game of coordination, rhythm and grace, women have these to a high degree. ~ Babe Dickson Zaharias
[Had to throw an old(er) gentleman into the fray. Chris Haugen of Alex was the Senior Men’s runner-up . . . ]
[Cora Larson, senior-to-be, from the state champion team . . . ]
[Hitting her 2nd shot on No. 3 from a bit below the horizon . . . ]
One hundred years of experience had demonstrated that the game is temporary insanity practiced in a pasture. ~ Dave Kindred
[And now chipping . . . she and Hannah were wearing their Cardinal uniforms . . . ]
Talking to a golf ball won’t do you any good unless you do it while your opponent is teeing off. ~ BruceLansky
[The 4th estate was present for event – Echo Press editor, Al Edenloff, on the 3rd green (as a cub reporter I dared not venture onto the greens for photos) covering I believe his 37th Resorters . . . ]
[Cora putting on the 3rd hole . . . ]
[Hannah approaching the 3rd green . . . ]
[The ball is in flight . . . ]
[I’m guessing she was not pleased with that effort . . . ]
[Cora teeing off on No. 4 . . . ]
[I’m guessing most (all?) people in my age group could not come close to duplicating that swing . . . ]
[Hannah teeing off on No. 4 . . . ]
A golf ball is like a clock. Always hit it at 6 o’clock and make it go toward 12 o’clock. But make sure you’re in the same time zone. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez
Golf is the cruelest game because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around. ~ Rick Reilly
[I told Al I had these photos if he needed an alibi for anything . . . ]
[Club members volunteered all week to have their eyebrows singed over flaming coals . . . ]
[Don survived this moment . . . ]
[Cora always seemed to incorporate a smile into every shot . . . ]
[Putting out on No. 5 . . . ]
[Hannah lobbing onto the 5th green . . . ]
Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick. ~ P.J. O’Rourke
[Judy joins Don making burgers and dogs with their fashionable blue surgical gloves . . . ]
[World travelers, whom we believe, have visited several more countries than we . . . ]
[The par 5 6th hole leading down to beautiful Lake Darling . . . ]
Golf without mistakes is like watching haircuts. A dinner without wine. ~ Jim Murray
[Hannah hitting off the ever treacherous down hill lie . . . ]
[Stay down and through . . . ]
If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age. ~ Thomas Mulligan
[And the putt . . . ]
[The signature Minnesota-shaped 7th green . . . ]
The best advice I can give for playing a ball out of water is – don’t. ~ Tony Lema
[Ranger Gord from “The Red Green Show” . . . ]
Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad. ~ A.A. Milne
Golf’s three ugliest words: still your shot. ~ Dave Marr
[Ale’s tee shot on No. 7 . . . ]
[Then Hannah’s . . . ]
When it’s breezy, hit it easy. ~ Davis Love, Jr.
It’s so ridiculous to see a golfer with a one-foot putt and everybody is saying “Shhh” and not moving a muscle. Then we allow nineteen-year-old kids to face a game-deciding free throw with seventeen thousand people yelling. ~ Al McGuire
[Beautiful Lake Darling from the 8th tee . . . ]
[Looking back up at the 7th tee . . . ]
[Hannah approaching the 9th hole . . . ]
If you call on God to improve the results of a shot while it is still in motion, you are using “an outside agency” and subject to appropriate penalties under the rules of golf. ~ Henry Longhurst
The woods are full of long drivers. ~ Harvey Penick
My favorite shots are the practice swing and the conceded putt. The rest can never be mastered. ~ Lord Robertson
[Cora teeing off on the back nine . . . ]
After all these years, it’s still embarrassing for me to play on the American golf tour. Like the time I asked my caddie for a sand wedge and he came back ten minutes later with a ham on rye. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez
I don’t fear death, but I sure don’t like those three-footers for par. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez
You can’t call it a sport. You don’t run, jump, you don’t shoot, you don’t pass. All you have to do is buy some clothes that don’t match. ~ Steve Sax
[And aliens, too – especially aliens!!]
[Alayna Eldred, the 2014 champion when she was 14 years old . . . ]
[She’s from Osakis (11 miles from Alex) and has worked in the AGC clubhouse for 4 years (I think?) . . . ]
[She’s accomplished a lot for someone who stands on the wrong side of the ball . . . ]
There are no short hitters on the tour anymore – just long and unbelievably long. ~ Sam Snead
Don’t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty. ~ Harry Vardon
Art said he wanted to get more distance. I told him to hit it and run backward. ~ Ken Venturi
[Hannah . . . ]
The least thing upset him on the links. He missed short putts because of the uproar of butterflies in the adjoining meadows. ~ P.G. Wodehouse
The ball retriever is not long enough to get my putter out of the tree. ~ Brian Weis
Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. ~ John Updike
Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses. ~ Adlai Stevenson
[Neither Hannah, nor Cora had their ‘A’ games on this day, though Cora made a good comeback. They’ll be back mightier than ever next year . . . ]
[I was heartened that some of the old bucks came out to watch the women play. To a buck, they were amazed at how far they hit the ball. In fact, we concluded they should be playing from the men’s white tees. They were often hitting less than drivers off the tee and still hitting short wedges for their second shots. Well, take this hole for example – No. 12 is 460 yards long. The red stake with the white top is the 150 yard marker. Alayna is taking a reading from I’m guessing 185 yards out – a 275 yard drive. Ale’s ball is visible ahead at about 160 yards out – a 300 yard drive! And they were hitting into the wind . . . ]
No one ever swung too slowly. ~ Bobby Jones
Golf is a fascinating game. It has taken me nearly forty years to discover that I can’t play it. ~ Ted Ray
They call it golf because all the other four letter words were taken. ~ Raymond Floyd
August 6
So, after a day of the pro-am and two days of qualifying, today was the day the match play actually began (see Resorters Tease and Resorters Week Music, published previously herein) . . .
[The morning sun enhanced by the Canadian wildfires . . . ]
[Beauty created by climate induced destruction . . . ]
And so it goes . . . ~ Kurt Vonnegut
[Checking in with George and Tricia. They are new members to the AGC this year . . . ]
[But George is likely more famous as a member of the Fat Boys Walking Club . . . ]
[As noted in the opening photo of this post, the Super likes to hang out with local celebrities. Gordy Anderson is 100 years old and was the honorary centenarian for this, the 100th Annual Resorters Golf Tournament. Here he’s being interviewed by Joe Korkowski of the Voice of Alexandria (the interview can be found on YouTube, if one is so inclined) . . . ]
[A murderers row of other people of interest . . . ]
[Roger and Barb – Roger was last year’s tournament’s honoree. They are also famous for being one time neighbors of my mom . . . ]
[And some stand-ins for honorees who couldn’t make it . . . ]
[Club president Jerry Rose honors Gordy . . . ]
[I told Jerry I got some good shots of him . . . ]
[Jerry loves our club and it shows in his presentations . . . ]
[The audience in rapt attention . . . ]
[I think Gordy may have been telling a story about teaching Bobby Jones how to golf, or possibly something entirely different . . . ]
[Gordy still plays 3 – 4 times a week, so naturally he hit a solid opening shot of the match play tournament . . . ]
Baseball reveals character; golf exposes it. ~ Ernie Banks
When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls. ~ Henry Beard
Golf is played by twenty million, mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun. ~ Jim Bishop
I don’t like to watch golf on television because I can’t stand people who whisper. ~ David Brenner
One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball. ~ Don Carter
You know you’re on the Senior Tour when your back goes out more than you do. ~ Bob Bruce
Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose. ~ Winston Churchill
Missing a short putt does not mean you have to hit your next drive out of bounds. ~ Henry Cotton
As far as swing and techniques are concerned, I don’t know diddly squat. When I’m playing well, I don’t even take aim. ~ Fred Couples
I’m about five inches from being an outstanding golfer. That’s the distance my left ear is from my right. ~ Ben Crenshaw
I can airmail the golf ball, but sometimes I don’t put the right address on it. ~ Jim Dent
[The ex-mayor, and thus a natural born storyteller . . . ]
Play Ball!!!
[Original members of the Carlos Creek Winery music fans ensemble . . . ]
[Yet they have somehow managed to maintain the necessary skills around burning containers of charcoal briquettes to prevent harm to themselves or those in their immediate area . . . ]
[Having to announce the golfers teeing off on the 10th tee . . . ]
[Was used as an excuse not to check in with their parole officers . . . ]
[Lisa Grimes, the club’s teaching pro, was somehow able to work the Resorters though on the first weekend she was playing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship on the far side of the country and on the second weekend in the LPGA Senior Women’s Tournament in the Twin Cities . . . ]
[She finished a more than credible middle of the pack in both events. And that’s why we have her name on the entry sign to our golf course . . . ]
[Our music event partner Dave about to tee off on the 10th tee in a Master’s First Flight match . . . ]
[Looking down the 10th fairway at a group of 8 who had to play through to determine the final 6 players to make the Men’s Championship Flight . . . ]
[And then away went Dave . . . ]
It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. ~ Mark Twain
If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball. ~ Jack Lemmon
A hole in one is amazing when you think of the different universes this white mass of molecules has to pass through on its way to the hole. ~ Mac O’Grady
I had a wonderful experience on the golf course today. I had a hole in nothing. Missed the ball and sank the divot. ~ Don Adams
There is one thing in this world that is dumber than playing golf. That is watching someone else playing golf. What do you actually get to see? Thirty-seven guys in polyester slacks squinting at the sun. Doesn’t that set your blood racing? ~ Peter Andrews
One thing about golf is you don’t know why you play bad and why you play good. ~ George Archer
[Dave won his first two matches in his flight, but after the above first match he told us he and Karin wouldn’t be coming back to the club for dinner and the Calcutta. The Super and I then jumped at that opening to avail ourselves of his reserved parking spot as the club’s masters net champion from last year. Of course, Dave and his son Chris (also a player) did return later to find his spot occupied. We laughed and laughed . . . ]
[And here are Dave and son Chris with us on the Centennial Plaza with diners and those holding Calcutta auction cards . . . ]
We learn so many things from golf—how to suffer, for instance. ~ Bruce Lansky
[It’s evening in Alexandria – do you know where your parents or grandparents are?]
The reason a pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can’t see him laughing. ~ Phyliis Diller
[The scoreboard . . . ]
Golf is the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez
[The Calcutta autioneer . . . ]
One minute you’re bleeding. The next minute you’re hemorrhaging. The next minute you’re painting the Mona Lisa. ~ Mac O’Grady
The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one – particularly if he plays golf, which he usually does. ~ Bertrand Russell
Golf has probably kept more people sane than psychiatrists have. ~ Harvey Penick
The only sure rule in golf is he who has the fastest golf cart never has to play the bad lie. ~ Mickey Mantle
Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. ~ John Updike
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