I sometimes have these little blog topics floating in and out of my head, so today is kind of like blog clean-up day.
1. Last night (at the Cantina), during a fervid discussion of the Joe Torre situation, we were trying to think of the names of coaches who transcended their team affiliation...as in you could hate the Dolphins but still respect Don Shula, you could despise Penn State but still appreciate the talent and longevity of Joe Paterno. As we were trying to think of names and about to start making phone calls (at midnight mind you, knowing that the people we would call would have absolutely no problem getting a phone call at that hour to be asked the name of the Dallas coach who always wore a hat...Tom Landry). But as certain names escaped us, Marcy came up with the perfect name for this affliction...SPORTZHEIMERS!!!
2. I remember when my kids were 6 and 3 1/2 and we were moving to Raleigh. They had lived their whole lives in our first house, which was supposed to be our 3-year "starter" home and ended up bursting at the seams with kids, dog and stuff, but we couldn't leave because we had the BEST next-door-neighbors ever, Sally & Frank!!! So when we were house-hunting in Raleigh, my kids chose the houses with the best toys in the playroom, the ones with cats and the ones with trampolines (utterly verboten by Nazi mom Di) in the back. No amount of explaining could get through to them that the people we were buying from would actually take all that stuff with them.
Recently we were looking at houses to rent while our house is being built. This time my kids (at 14 and 11) along with my daughter's best friend were evaluating the houses on things like how well they could do headstands against the wall in the master bedroom, the backdrop of the patio for their goofy hijinks and the beauty of the stairway for their "strike-a-pose" photos. Silly me, I'm still holding out for separate toilets in the master bathroom!
3. I am not-quite-hopelessly behind in my book reviews. I owe you a blog on The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It was a re-read for me for my book group...but reminded me of my discovery of non-fiction that reads like fiction and substantially increased the percentage of my reading devoted to non-fiction. I am also looking forward to blogging about The Blind Side by Michael Lewis who wrote one of my other favorite sports books, Moneyball, a book that naturally arose in the above-referenced discussion of coaches, the expectation of winning, the ability to "buy" a team, etc. The Blind Side focuses on football, the incredible impact Lawrence Taylor had on the game and the subsequent value and constant search for the next great left tackle. I think I enjoy the theory and behind-the-scenes nature of sports almost as much as the sports themselves. I'll get to these this week...probably just as I'm finishing Saving Graces by Elizabeth Edwards.
4. I sometimes wonder...are you out there? I haven't peeked at my stats lately...heck, if I can't get around to blogging about the last two books I've read, how am I going to have time to look at stats...but I've been feeling kind of comment-deprived. So if you are out there, make a comment, drop me an e-mail, reassure me that I'm not just keeping a private journal (which actually isn't a bad thing) for my own pleasure. See, give someone a modicum of fame (losing the term VERY loosely, not in the "photographers in my crotch looking to see if I am wearing undies" meaning of the word) and they begin to crave the attention!!!
5. A couple weeks ago I as playing golf with my friends Sharis and Billy. As we approached green on the 3rd hole, riding along the cart path, we came upon this blue volleyball. It seemed odd and out-of-place, being nowhere near the kids area of the club or even the home of anyone with kids. Two days later, I walked out into my carport (my house is on the 6th hole) and there was the volleyball. I still kind of feel like it is an omen of some kind. I don't know what.
6. In December, 2002, these little girls (then 9 years old and in 4th grade) met and became insta-friends. Her parents conveniently had a son who was my son's age, both of them having just turned 7 and in 1st grade.
Inexplicably, during the ensuing 5 years, while the four parents responsible for these children haven't gotten a single wrinkle or gray hair...and as a matter of fact look better and better every day, these kids have turned into...well, kind of like...people! The boys are so cool at 11 that I don't even have a picture of them together. And the girls at 14
are grown-up enough to be the delight of the kids for whom they babysit, run into an adult who ran their summer camp at The Fair and introduce her to me and the other friends who were with us and blindside us with their occasional bursts of maturity, empathy and ability to give to others. (But let's face it, it's still CRITICAL that they wear the right thing and carry the right bookbag and belong to the right clubs...they are teenagers for goodness sake!)
7. My dear friend, partner in laughter and golf guru, Susan, won our Ladies Match Play Club Championship...by beating the lady who won the Stroke Play Club Championship. She went out there and played her game...shot a stellar 76...and kept her positive attitude and her confidence in her game together to win in the head-to-head competition that is match play. Congratulations Susan!!! I hope there is a trophy or a plaque (I had to go back and correct this as I inadvertently typed "plague" and I would not wish a plague on my friend!) to go along with the Yeungling draft that I bought you to celebrate!
OK...my bloggy-bits are emptied. Now maybe I can focus on posting a book review in the next few days!
Di
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