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
Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it’s open to anybody who owns hideous clothing. ~ Dave Barry
The first week of August has for many years found the Super and I in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, at her Inidiana University alumni camp. That time frame, of course, always coincides with the Resorters Golf Tournament. The pandemic has shut down Camp Brosius for the past two years. Thus, we have able to attend the last two Resorters, this year’s being the 100th annual.
Apologies to fans of Jim Falbo of St. Paul who performed at the golf club on August 1. That was the 20th anniversary date of my retirement, and we must have been doing something else exciting (see previous posts, or not) . . .
Apologies also to golfers and fans of golfers for the delayed publication of my hundreds of photos taken during the tournament. We somehow survived two days of little or mostly no internet service while we undertook extensive trouble shooting – involving an hour-long call with grandson, Tommy the Geek; an hour-long call with Spectrum; a long-unanswered call to the router company; and an afternoon-long visit from classmate, Bradley the Ancient Geek. As best as we could determine, the new router may be flawed, so we’ve gone back to the older, slower one . . .
August 4
[If you went to high school in Alexandria, you know the couple lurking in this photo . . . ]
The aforementioned Ancient Geek . . .
[The performance and dining area in the Resorters Pavilion . . . ]
Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air. ~ Jack Benny
[As the signs say, above and below . . . ]
[Chris Koza of Minneapolis has performed both solo and with his band, Rogue Valley, nationally and internationally . . . ]
All I do is play music and golf. ~ Willie Nelson
Par is whatever Willie shoots. ~ the pro at Willie Nelson’s own course
The golf swing is very, very rhythmic. There’s a certain tempo to it, just like in music. It just made sense to me. Music is everything to me. ~ Justin Timberlake
August 5
[Self explantatory, n’est-ce pas?]
[Jonny Mogambo, voted entertainer of the year in Vail, Colorado, where he performs four times a week in ski season. Yup, he was pretty darn good . . . ]
I play all the time — I just suck! ~ Branford Marsalis
I play in the low 80s. If it’s any hotter than that, I won’t play. ~ Joe E. Lewis
Do you know what goes good with music?
Steak!
[The big board, with club president Jerry Rose (green shirt) . . . ]
Golf is like a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart. ~ Arthur Daley.
If you’re caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron. ~ Lee Trevino.
I started watching golf for the first time yesterday. I`m really worried about myself. I was actually enjoying it. ~ Ewan McGregor
If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. ~ Dean Martin.
[Saying goodnight to Jonny . . . ]
August 6
Music in the Gardens (Legacy of the Lakes Museum)
Get in a Billy Joel state of mind with Mick Sterling! Gates open at 6:00 pm and the music starts at 6:30. You can choose from Gar Wood seating, putting you right up front near the stage with a chair provided, or Grasslands seating, which is bring your own chair or blanket. Museum members get special pricing on tickets and kids 12 & under are always FREE! There will be beverages for sale, along with snacks…
After 40 years of performing, songwriting and give audiences all he’s got in the Twin Cities and the midwest region, Mick Sterling has left his unique mark in Minnesota music. His signature sound of Soul, Rock and Blues is finding new audiences in 2020 as he produces and performs in shows that honor the artists that influenced him to sold out shows everywhere he performs them (micksterlingpresents.com).
[As the piano player in a Billy Joel tribute, Peter Guertin was the key (so to speak) . . . ]
[Mick, followed in subsequent photos by his 15-member band . . . ]
I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints – the sinners are much more fun. ~ Billy Joel
We are living in a time when American popular music is finally being recognized as one of our most successful exports. The demand is huge. ~ Billy Joel
I don’t care what consequence it brings, I have been a fool for lesser things. ~ Billy Joel
It’s really hard to make a living as a musician. It’s almost impossible. ~ Billy Joel
I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood. ~ Billy Joel
I’m probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 – to meet women. ~ Billy Joel
I did write a letter to the archdiocese who’d banned the song, Only the Good Die Young, asking them to ban my next record. ~ Billy Joel
You can get what you want or you can just get old. ~ Billy Joel
We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning. ~ Billy Joel
You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you’re looking for. ~ Billy Joel
Dream on, but don’t imagine they’ll all come true. When will you realize… Vienna waits for you. ~ Billy Joel
I am, as I’ve said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary. ~ Billy Joel
They say that these are not the best of times, but they’re the only times I’ve ever known. ~ Billy Joel
Son, can you play me a memory. I’m not really sure how it goes. It was sad and it was sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man’s clothes. ~ Billy Joel
Tell her about it. Tell her everything you feel. Giver her every reason to accept that you’re for real. ~ Billy Joel
They’re sharing a drink called loneliness, but at least its better than drinking alone. ~ Billy Joel
Ain’t we got fun? ~ The Super
[A 17th century organ (OK, that’s just a guess) . . . ]
I took the good times, I’ll take the bad times, I’ll take you just the way you are. ~ Billy Joel
Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts. ~ Billy Joel
I’m sure you have some cosmic rationale, but here you are with your faith and your Peter Pan advice. ~ Billy Joel
Bottle of red, bottle of white . . . ~ Billy Joel
[Closing the door on a knock your socks off performance . . . ]
[It was a full house as is semi-obvious by my out of focus panorama shot . . . ]
August 7
[Our old friend Elsa Lee at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]
[From Minneapolis by way of, at one time, Duluth . . . ]
Without music, life would be a mistake. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Musicshould strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~ Victor Hugo
I see music as fluid architecture. ~ Joni Mitchell
[And lest she has a dearth of performance head shots . . . ]
True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. ~ George Gershwin
The only love affair I have ever had was with music. ~ Maurice Ravel
He has Van Gogh’s ear for music. ~ Billy Wilder
Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it. ~ John Lennon
Composers shouldn’t think too much – it interferes with their plagiarism. ~ Howard Dietz
August 8
[It was wine club pick up day at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]
[Josie Nelson, another old friend at the winery . . . ]
There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we’d all love one another. ~ Frank Zappa
[Did I mention that one week from this day Josie would be enrolling in medical school at the U of M?]
The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it. ~ Nat King Cole
My music, my songs are 100 percent inspired by girl power. ~ Paulina Rubio
Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it. ~ Stevie Wonder
There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres. ~ Pythagoras
The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie. ~ George Lucas
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. ~ Albert Schweitzer
A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later. ~ Stanley Kubrick
I haven’t understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it. ~ Igor Stravinsky
Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music. ~ Nina Simone
One of the things I love about music is live performance. ~ Yo-Yo Ma
[And yes, she has her Golden Gopher football tickets . . . ]
And then it was on to Sunday afternoon nonfiction book club . . .
[Our hosts took us on a pontoon ride on Lake Carlos. I think that may have been the first time we have been on a lake since we moved three years ago. Many thanks again to Deb and Paul . . . ]
Wearing a giant, over-sized scarf will make you look deeply intelligent in almost any situation, but especially a book club. ~ Sarah Cooper
My mother had a book club that would dissolve into opening wine. ~ Tim Federle
I still have a book club with my friends from when I was 5. That’s the privilege of growing up in a place where people want to remain. It’s a huge gift. ~ Claire Danes
I have not been in a book club where there were any men, and I have not, in fact, heard of book groups that were mixed. ~ Elizabeth Berg [Editor’s note: We’re mixed – likely in more ways than one . . . ]
First I read the beginning, and then I read the ending, and then I start in the middle and read toward whichever end I like best. ~ Gracie Allen
The covers of this book are too far apart. ~ Ambrose Bierce
If we didn’t have libraries, many people thirsty for knowledge would dehydrate. ~ Megan Jo Tetrick, age 12
Never lend books, for no one ever returns them. The only books I have in my library are books that other folks have leant me. ~ Anatole France
Iwas reading a book, “the history of glue”; I couldn’t put it down. ~ Tim Vine
There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher. ~ Flannery O’Connor
I just got out of the hospital. I was in a speed reading accident. I hit a bookmark. ~ Steven Wright
It’s true, bees do it!!
There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it. ~ Bertrand Russell
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense. ~ Tom Clancy
Up Next: There’s lots to be shared about the Resorters . . .
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. ~ Will Rogers
So, we’re retired and living in Minnesota now. It wasn’t long thereafter that I got cocky and started writing ‘how to retire’ letters to those taking that plunge. Such as: “1) Choose your final retirement location with great care. We have just finished our worst winter in generations; 2) You will continue for some time to awaken early each day. Get used to at least 4 cups of coffee every morning. Then, do not stray far from a porcelain facility until at least 10:00 am.; 3) If you’re still in your bathrobe at noon, something’s not right; 4) Establish a routine. You will find it cathartic to leave the house on a daily basis for scheduled activities. You will find this becomes even more important after spending more than the usual amount of time with another person in the house; 5) You will find it does not take long for fund-raisers to find you – either for donations or to volunteer. There are worse things you can do; 6) Learn your immediate geographic area. You will need to know where you can put up flyers for school functions, fund-raisers, association events, senior suppers, et al. Coffee and doughnut shops are always good. 7) Go to the gym and go mall walking. You will discover these are the best places to keep up with all the local gossip; 8) Write letters. It helps release the inner curmudgeon. You will now have the opportunity to tell policy makers what you really think. What fun!; 9) Adopt a girls’ high school hockey team. It’s great fun and helps pass the winter; 10) Keep the e-mail addresses of all your work colleagues. Send them e-mails often from home. It reminds them that you are retired . . . and they’re not!”
I advise you to go on living solely to enrage those who are paying your annuities. It is the only pleasure I have left. ~ Voltaire
[For the sake of the FB cover photo, our first winter photo . . . ]
[This was our new retirement house in the summer of 2001 . . . ]
[The crack Roger Rosengren construction crew. We “ordered” the house from Wilderness Log Homes in Wisconsin. Roger said they basically dropped off a pile of logs and said you figure it out. They did . . . ]
[While we were still living at Mom’s, Gretch and Mohamed paid a visit from Washington, D.C. The Super and I had already procured the necessary lake home accouterment – a pontoon, later to be christened the “Moby Obie” . . . ]
It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone. ~ Andy Rooney
Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life. ~ Kitty O’Neill Collins
[Sister Gretch, me, brother Cam putting a bathtub ring on Lake Le Homme Dieu . . . ]
[The Super on our lot overlooking beautiful Lake Darling . . . ]
[Then a visit to Itasca State Park and the source of the mighty Mississippi . . . ]
[We were in the vicinity on a paneling pick up for our house construction . . . ]
Work is the curse of the drinking classes. ~ Oscar Wilde
[Our first fall photo from our lot . . . ]
[At Fort Alexandria on Thanksgiving for the lighting of the city Christmas lights . . . ]
[Ruthie’s mom and sister Rita came up from Indiana for our Thanksgiving housewarming. We thought it highly appropriate that it snowed that day (at Thanksgiving it’s only a one in 10 chance) . . . ]
[And our first sunrises over the lake (it all seems so long ago now) . . . ]
I have long been of the opinion that if work were such a splendid thing the rich would have kept more of it for themselves. ~ Bruce Grocott
[Our first walk on the frozen water of Lake Darling . . . ]
[With our house in the background at the top of the hill . . . ]
[Cam, Karen, Katy, and Michael John all came for a visit around Christmas. I recall it was quite cold . . . ]
[Ruthie’s mom, Janella, joined for summer and a cruise on the Moby Obie . . . ]
[Rita and her friend Cindy also joined us from Indiana . . . ]
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. ~ J. Lubbock
[Sunset on the Moby Obie on Lake Darling with grandson Tom and Ruthie . . . ]
[OK, you can read the paper in your bathrobe on your deck overlooking the lake . . . ]
Sitting on the dock of the bay . . .
Just me and the Moby Obie . . .
[Did someone mention politics? With Mom on our first full summer in Alex . . . ]
[And the famous Green Bus . . . ]
We all do better when we all do better. ~ Paul Wellstone
Sometimes, the only realists are the dreamers. ~ Paul Wellstone
I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. ~ Paul Wellstone
[Celebrating our not too far apart birthdays with Rose, a friend and colleague from work days, at the practically brand new Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]
[Memory fails, but I think Dick and Rose (an original Minneapolitan) were already retired to Salem, Massachusetts. (Note the absence of the band shell at this point) . . . ]
Ain’t we got fun?!
[The Super at Inspiration Peak, 22 miles NW of Alex and generally considered to be the 3rd highest elevation in the state . . . ]
[We made a return visit to D.C. that Christmas, already for old time’s sake . . . ]
[And to see sister Gretch, and brother Chris and family in Stafford, Virginia at their home on the Potomac River . . . ]
[And back home to have a Minnesota Christmas too . . . ]
There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want. ~ Bill Watterson
[With Dennis Murphy at Carlos Creek Winery. If you look back at the previous photos at the winery, Dennis was performing outside with Chuck Wencl. And, as I recall, Dennis was the fellow who ultimately built the band shell there . . .]
[A U of M alumni event at the winery with Goldy Gopher . . . ]
[The Super and I actually went skating two times a week at the hockey arena in the early years . . . ]
[Because you can never go here enough . . . ]
[In 2004, Joey Dee and the Starliters came to the winery. Remember the “Peppermint Twist”? Grandson Tom was here with his other grandparents, Fran and Ed, from Indiana . . . ]
[Ruthie danced with Tom; Joey hit on Ruthie . . . ]
[One still needs No. 2 pencils in retirement . . . ]
[This is my screensaver. The my named “octopus tree” in Dean Melton Park, Alexandria. This was December 2005. The tree has since gone to the great fireplace in the sky . . . ]
[The ever popular 4th of July boat parade on Lake Carlos (with grandson Tom and Rita) . . . ]
Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good. ~ Soren Kierkegaard
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization , and at present very few people have reached this level. ~ Bertrand Russell
[The Daily Grind, the liberal coffee shop. Like the octopus tree, however, it has also gone to that great fireplace in the sky . . . ]
[The last time Ruthie’s mom Janella came to town, along with Ruthie’s sister Faith . . . ]
[For the ’06 homecoming parade . . . ]
[And that year, with sister Gretch and brother Cam, we paid a visit to both grandparents’ houses. First on the Obert side in north Minneapolis . . . ]
[Then the Thompson side in SE Minneapolis . . . ]
[In 2007, there was a reported, since verified, sighting of a near-sighted extremely white whale in Lake Darling . . . ]
[As the Cub Reporter in full regalia . . . ]
Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to. ~ Susan Cain
[It was Dad’s . . . ]
[Reporting, a prelude to blogging . . . ]
[Submitted with a never published submittal . . . ]
[Ah, those late nights at the keyboard . . . ]
[It was a presidential year . . . ]
[And a moose Christmas . . . ]
[We cooked . . . ]
[And ate . . . ]
[And read . . . ]
[And met famous authors . . . ]
[And did some political stuff . . . ]
People ask me what I’d most appreciate getting for my eighty-seventh birthday. I tell them, a paternity suit. ~ George Burns
Retirement is wonderful. It’s doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it. ~ Gene Perret
Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it to the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money. ~ Jonathan Clements
[We also visited famous locals . . . ]
[We visited Rita at the Hob Nob restaurant in Nashville, Indiana . . . ]
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun . . .
[From retirement to today, I bought this, my most comfortable shirt ever, at the Rain Forest Cafe in Disney World about a year before we retired . . . ]
[It lasted the length of retirement until now . . . ]
Say goodnight, Tom . . .
It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad, and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.~ Ernie Harwell
If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.~ Paulo Coelho
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. ~ Dr. Seuss
It is so hard to leave – until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world. ~ John Green
Working people have alot of bad habits, but the worst of these is work. ~ Clarence Darrow
Iretired to Alexandria, Minnesota, on August 1, 2001. The Super preceded me by three months, living with my mom to oversee construction of our retirement home on beautiful Lake Darling. We moved in on Thanksgiving. This first photo is of Lake Darling that day. But Part 1 of this blog will feature our years as members of the Deep State in our nation’s capital . . .
When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husbandbut only half the income. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez
The early years in D.C. . . . Ruthie’s awards while in the Pentagon . . .
I am beyond blessed and humbled to be named the Paul Hornung Award winner. ~ Christian McCaffrey
I’ll never try to win an award. I’m out there just playing for my team. ~ Kawhi Leonard
There’s a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven’t. You just do the best you can. ~ Clint Eastwood
The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith
I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award: Start early! ~ Shirley Temple
The Oscar sits on some shelf above my desk. If there was an earthquake, I could actually be killed by my own Academy Award. ~ Helen Hunt
‘Groundhog Day’ was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn’t even get nominated for an Academy Award. ~ Bill Murray
I’d said to my sweetheart a couple of days before that the SAG and Spirit Award nomination was amazing and I had no attachment to the Academy Award. I knew I was an underdog so I just decided to sleep through the announcement. ~ John Hawkes
I heard I won ‘best butt crack’ on television recently. It’s true. I did it, you guys. I made it. I wish I got an award, the actual award. What would it look like? Of course, it’s a closed set. ~ Lisa Edelstein
I got my first lifetime achievement award years ago, and I was very excited, but then I got a sense of: Well, can one get a second lifetime award? ~ Michael Palin
Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough. Good enough. Successful enough. Thin enough. Rich enough. Socially responsible enough. When you have self-respect, you have enough. ~ Gail Sheehy
I was put under contract. A major studio. I got nominated for an Academy Award. Isn’t that ridiculous? I mean, at the age of 18! ~ Angela Lansbury
It’s interesting too, that the coach of that Georgia Tech team who led his valiant warriors to those 222 points was none other than John Heisman. Yes, he whom the Heisman trophy is named for, an award that honors that college player who best exemplifies excellence and integrity. ~ Frank Deford
Well, it was the beginning of my film career. It was amazing to me that I got nominated for an Academy Award. ~ Sally Kellerman
And now for my awards . . .
I don’t deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either. ~ Jack Benny
[A performance evaluation from my immediate supervisor . . . ]
So now you know why the Super is the supervisor . . .
[But I had an ace up my sleeve . . . ]
[I got to work for and meet Secretary of Labor Robert Reich . . . ]
[He seriously was the best Secretary we had during my extensive tenure. He actually deigned to meet and chat with the department’s worker bees . . . ]
[As a dispensable member of our long-time department champion softball team, I got to shake his hand . . . ]
[Then we went across the street to “My Brother’s Place” to continue the celebration . . . ]
[The early champs . . . ]
[The later champs . . . ]
[Don’t ask me about the color of that ball cap?]
As we make our way toward the finish line that some of us have already crossed, I never thought I’d get a Grammy Award. In fact, I was always touched by the modesty of their interest. ~ Leonard Cohen
So, where we lived . . .
[The Astoria condominium (midframe) where I met Ruthie when we moved into the new building in 1987. It’s on Lee Highway in Arlington, Virginia, just a couple blocks from the Potomac River and thus on the flight path to (right side) and from (left side) National Airport. Lest you didn’t guess, I did indeed get these shots through a plane window . . . ]
[The building front on Lee Highway. When I first moved in, a couple of spots from my underground parking spot was a gold Rolls Royce. I thought I’d gotten in over my head . . . ]
[I was on the 3rd floor, back in the corner, overlooking the tennis court. We ultimately determined there were a lot of spies (CIA/NSA/FBI) who lived in this building . . . ]
[My place was right above the last little tree on the promenade . . . ]
[Ruthie & I first met in the swimming pool at 2:00 am. I shall go no further . . . ]
Interviewer: So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman? Frank Zappa: You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table? ~ Frank Zappa [Photo somewhere on the Severn River, 1975]
[We moved into the brand new Frances Perkins Department of Labor (DOL) building in May 1975. This was my first “room” . . . ]
[Colleagues Steve and Clark are now both gone . . . ]
[Clark in his cubicle . . . ]
[The cubicle world . . . ]
[Ackkk, yes, I was a smoker then . . . ]
[This is the view from the DOL roof . . . ]
[And the Capitol Reflecting Pool . . . ]
[And the National Gallery of Art with the Washington Monument background . . . ]
[Professional bureaucrats returning to DOL after a fine dining lunch . . . ]
[Reminders of tempus fugit. We have since lost Sadie . . . ]
[We have since lost Steve. Lyle is still hanging in there . . . ]
[Jim is still with us . . . ]
[Cheesy mustache, hair rejected by wigmakers, outfit by an ivy leaguer wannabe . . . ]
[We have since lost Clark, shortly after he retired to Ireland . . . ]
[Sadie was there when I arrived; she was there when I left. She must have been getting tired of me?]
[And this was also the time when Dad was writing his book . . . ]
[On the dining room table with a manual typewriter . . . ]
[Professional bureaucrats of a somewhat later vintage, 1992 . . . ]
[And this was my later “room,” the last of three as I recall. I had graduated from a manual typewriter to an electric with an early addition PC of unknown origin . . . ]
[Still, you will always need a No. 2 pencil . . . ]
[Pretty much the last group I worked with, 1995 – still in touch with Libby (top) and Tim (kneeling next to me), despite each being my frontline supervisor . . . ]
We’re not going to let some unelected bureaucrats in Washington stop us from moving forward with our agenda, but at the end of the day, CBO is not the Holy Grail. ~ Steve Scalise
The question for America is pretty simple: either we want a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington telling us what we can’t do, or we empower American innovators to unlock things that we can do. ~ Matt Gaetz
[Editor’s note: If Steve Scalise and Matt Gaetz don’t like what we do, we must be doing it right . . . ]
[The retirement and good-bye party . . . ]
[Bill and I would subsequently keep our pre-retirement relationship alive with worldwide cruises . . . ]
A small sampling of places visited pre-retirement . . .
[Victoria Heights, Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]
[Jefferson Senior High School, Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]
[Ft. Bragg, North Carolina; Ft. Gordon, Georgia; Okinawa (the fort names likely to be renamed under Cancel Culture) . . . ]
[Alexandria Golf Club, 1971 (on leave from Okinawa) . . . ]
I seldom wouldhave to wear such attire again . . .
[Possibly the last photograph taken as residents of Arlington, Virginia. At the Astoria condominium, on Ruthie’s patio. Little did Lily and Woody realize at the time that they would soon be residents of Alexandria, Minnesota . . . ]
Except for an occasional heart attack I feel as young as I ever did. ~ Robert Benchley
* The original Roger and Me was of course a movie by Michael Moore. This is not a sequel . . .
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal. ~ George Will
This is a story about Roger Johnson, who is now 72, and a member in good standing of the Fat Boys Walking Club. Roger is still playing baseball. He is a catcher. He travels to the Twin Cities almost every weekend where he plays multiple games, catching them all. We call him the Bionic Man (because Crazy is not polite) . . .
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field? ~ Jim Bouton
[Roger taught school, coached stuff, and to this day still referees many events that involve a ball . . . ]
[George is new to the team, and to the Fat Boys Walking Club. He was not available to play on this day because like many others in his age group he had recently undergone a melanoma procedure . . . ]
The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers. ~ Earl Weaver
The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase. ~ Yogi Berra
[Roger, wearing the tools of ignorance. His catchers mitt is from the 1960’s – I’ve seen it and would have guessed the 40’s . . . ]
[If I squatted to catch, I’d probably fall on my face . . . ]
The Field of Dreams . . .
[Roger, No. 1, steps to the plate . . . ]
Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets. ~ Yogi Berra
[Not bad for a guy seven years into Medicare . . . ]
All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill. ~ Babe Ruth
The doctors x-rayed my head and found nothing. ~ Dizzy Dean
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~ Rogers Hornsby
With the money I’m making, I should be playing two positions. ~ Pete Rose
Baseball is a skilled game. It’s America’s game – it, and high taxes. ~ Will Rogers
If God wanted football played in the spring, he would not have invented baseball. ~ Sam Rutigliano
If youdon’t know where you are currently standing, you’re dead. ~ Samuel Beckett
Finish last in your league and they call you idiot. Finish last in medical school and they call you doctor. ~ Abe Lemon
When you win you eat better, sleep better and your beer tastes better. And your wife looks like Gina Lollobrigida. ~ Johnny Pesky
I don’t want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. ~ Rogers Hornsby
Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn’t score any runs. ~ Tim McCarver
Baseball statistics are like a girl in a bikini. They show a lot, but not everything. ~ Toby Harrah
There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them work. ~ Charley Lau
[Tossing a bone to Joe Korkowski, local actor and radio personality . . . ]
Chicks who dig home runs aren’t the ones who appeal to me. I think there’s sexiness in infield hits because they require technique. I’d rather impress the chicks with my technique than with my brute strength. Then, every now and then, just to show I can do that, too, I might flirt a little by hitting one out. ~ Ichiro Suzuki
Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published everyday, like those of a baseball player. ~ William Alexander
Field of Dreams II . . .
I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture. ~ Bob Uecker
Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can’t get you off. ~ Bill Veeck
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