Be Safe

 Headed to the greenhouse this morning to deliver the Mary Trump book to Sue.  Great timing!

David and Sue are taking granddaughter Sarah-Jean to the University of Ottawa, Pembroke Campus, tomorrow morning.  So I got a chance to hug her as she sets out on her marvelous adventure to become a nurse.

And what a nurse she will be.  Kind, thoughtful, caring and just plain nice!  Best wishes sweetheart!

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Tomorrow we begin a week's vacation at the Carriage Hills timeshare resort.  We have a golf date lined up with Ron and Judy on Saturday, and another with Mardi's cousin Jill later in the week.  Barbara and Jo-Ann will be staying there for the last two days of our stay so we will undoubtedly be playing cards as well.

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Be safe.  Consider using a mask during sex😂.

Optimism

 Mardi and I had our first Optimist meeting in nine months tonight.  A total of 14 members showed up for this social gathering.

Although our club built and paid for the building, because it is on Town property it belongs to Hamilton.  And, so far, they are not allowing us to open the building.  Really limits the work we want to do in the community.  We're struggling to find our way in this pandemic.

That's President Elect Al and President Jennifer in the foreground.

We were glad to see our old friend Jim Smythe who is in his nineties.  A real gentleman!

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A couple of people have asked about the status of the kitchen.  I'm glad to report that it has been turned over to the proper authorities - the sanding and painting is complete.

Mardi is happy with the work that was done, but she has also warned me not to start another project for a while.  I don't understand 😇.

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Have you noticed that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a considerably lower rate than Trump's campaign staff?

Rick Gates: Convicted

Paul Manafort: Convicted

George Papadopoulos: Convicted

Mike Flynn: Convicted

Michael Cohen: Convicted

Steve Bannon: Arrested

Quite a record!

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Stay well.  Stay positive.

Peace and Quiet

 Today turned out to be a very good day.

First off, I brought ear protection to shield me from the Quoits boys.

Then it got even better.  We were short two players so we had to go with a foursome and a twosome.  I very quickly asked Calvin if I could ride with him - he agreed.  Then, I announced that I would be playing from the white tees, the same as Calvin.  What a brilliant move!  The Quoits boys quickly retreated and suggested that since the other four players were starting from the red tees, it made sense for Calvin and I to play by ourselves.

Peace and quiet!  What a great day.

And Mardi will be proud of me (she's been pushing me to move back to the white tees) - Sunday I had 98 from the red tees (4,801 yards), today 97 from the whites (5,783 yards).  You can't make any sense out of this game!

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I would like to comment on politics - on both sides of the border, but I really don't know how to deal with insanity, ineptitude and incompetence.

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Tomorrow the Optimist Club will try again for a social get-together.  Looking forward to seeing the folks again - last time was early December.

Our biggest challenge this year is figuring out how to reconfigure our dormant fundraisers so that we can continue to serve our community.

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Smile - through your mask.

Hogwash

 It has started!  Herewith a couple of emails from the Quoits champs:

Hi Guys,

I received the following note from my partner and he brings up some interesting ideas.  I’ve copied his note here as well as a PDF file with some options we’d like you to look at.  It’s quite a conundrum as no team has previously had to deal with a repeat win.  Which option do you prefer?

“Hi Partner:

Are you looking after having our shirts "updated" to reflect our convincing 2020 win? If so, let me know when you want my shirt.

Do you think we should also include 2021 on the shirt in anticipation of a three peat? That likely wouldn't go over very well with our group!!!“

Note: as our team will be dismantled next year there can be no ‘three peat’.

Sven

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And this response from Al Knapp:

Crap.....I didn't know there was a maximum 2 year term for excellence in quoits. I had visions of us threatening Queen Elizabeth's record of 68 years in power.

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And, from Barry:

As a non participant the last couple of years, I'm in favour of not dismantling and going "balls to the wall" for a three-peat. 

As for the shirts...  just burn-em and add those canary yellow 2018 models to the pyre. Jeez they're ugly. 

...  the shirts, I mean the shirts are ugly. 

Otherwise AA and myself will have to invest in a 2017 issue championship shirt. What do you think Al, purple, chartreuse, kale juice green?

cheers...  from the 2017 World Quoits Champ...  Bar

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Tomorrow at MontHill will probably be hard to stomach!  Stay tuned.

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As they say at Hewitt's Dairy - stay one cow apart.

Busy (2)

 Mardi's phone is still acting up - it won't let her email pictures - but she managed to download the pics to her computer, send them to me so that I could download them, and so I'm resending the blog with the pictures and an added item about a real golfer.

We started the day with a golf game at MontHill with Gary and Jill.

Same old. Same old.  I beat Mardi in stroke play, but with her handicap strokes she blew me away again in medal play, winning three up with one to play.

The beer afterwards eased my pain.  And Sven only talked about Quoits once, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

It turns out that Matt and Maureen were playing a few holes behind us with grandsons Brandon and Owen.

We enjoyed their company until we heard that Owen had driven the Gold 9 green (on a blind shot, direct over the trees, just over 300 yards from the white tees, with a 3 wood).  I usually end up 100 yards short of the pin from the red tees with a driver, so I'm a tad jealous.

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Then, we were off to Hagersville.  Mardi has been knitting toques for the homeless for the past few years, usually getting her wool at yard sales.  This year, of course, yard sales are not happening, so she put out a Facebook appeal for supplies.

The first responder was Hazel Macdonald, and her donation was impressive.

That should keep Mardi busy for a while.  But she would still like to receive more wool for her project so she can donate more toques this winter.

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Next stop was in Brantford to see Roger and Lynn.  Haven't seen them for about three months so it was nice to get caught up.

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And finally we headed to Turtle Jack's for dinner and a glass of wine.  All in all, a fine day!

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Stay well. Be a Canadian - wear your mask.

Boring

 A quiet, boring day.  Sanded and painted a bit in the kitchen.  Watched the Blue Jays win and go three games over .500.  They're all still wearing #42 in honour of Jackie Robinson - a nod to the current racial strife.

Tomorrow, Mardi and I golf with Sven and Helga (what are the odds that he'll mention quoits?) and then are heading to Hagersville to pick up some wool for Mardi's toques for the homeless project.  Also plan a short visit with brother Roger and Lynn.

There will undoubtedly be more stuff to talk about tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Jackie Robinson Day

 Every April 15th, Major League Baseball holds a Jackie Robinson Day - except this year, when it was rescheduled due to the pandemic.

After the Blue Jays game tonight, which they won with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning, and during which every player wore Robinson's number 42, Sportsnet gave a testimonial to the great man in a show called "The Letters Of Jackie Robinson".  

What an uplifting show!  And, the timing, reset because of the pandemic, couldn't have been better.

In a week when a black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin is shot in the back seven times, and a so-called President of the United States breaks all the rules by staging his political rally on the grounds of the White House, and calls out the people who are protesting the shooting of that black man, Robinson's letters showed the character of a true hero who devoted his life to breaking the colour barriers.  

We need a positive message to help carry us through these ugly times.  Hope some of you were able to watch it.  

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Stay well.