Thursday, April 30, 2009

Regular Golf

I’ve got this theory. Regular golf is not all that different from mini-golf! I know, I know, regular golfers will snicker and say ol’ Jim has finally burrowed into the sand trap.

First, I have to define mini-golf. It is a game played on REAL MG courses, not the “rinky dink” Disney-types, with giant mice, elephants, etc.

There are two such courses up near Philadelphia that would challenge anyone who has ever putted a golf ball. (One is 26 holes, the other is 36; 18 + 18. I forget their pars, but think it’s something like 64, 56, and 60, maybe.)

My theory is that much of golf (of either kind) is LUCK. If you have ever watched golf on TV, pay attention to the statistic of “fairways reached,” and “greens in regulation.” EVEN TIGER misses the fairway, goes into traps, overshoots a green, and fails to sink a putt now and then.

I had an adventure on a regular course a number of years ago that is the basis for my theory. On a par four hole, I miss-hit my drive off to the right. I then hit a decent shot that landed about half-way to the green. My third shot hit the left side of the green rolled up and to the other side, kept rolling down to front of green and plopped into the hole for a birdie three.

One week later, I did exactly the same thing. Miss-hit, decent hit, ball curved into hole from same point on green, and same birdie score. I think I had same partner both games, but I’m not sure. He was flabbergasted, too!

I don’t think I played 50 times in my whole life. I often went 12, 15, or 20 years between games. I never broke 100. I was never taught how to swing or anything about the game. I was the quintessential “hacker.” Much of golf is luck, I maintain, and Augusta, it’s time to let the women join!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Nephew Bob

Introducing Bob Wolf:

Just discovered that Bob has not been in my e-mail "bunch." This is my way of apologizing to him and also of stalling while I figure out how to add him once and for all.

Bob and I first met when I went to join the faculty at Niles West HS, Skokie, IL, in fall of 1961. I wish I could remember how long afterwards it was that he wondered if maybe we were related, way back, somewhere. Turns out we are both descendants of some Harrisons, maybe, but nothing conclusive ever turned up. (Strange---can't be that Harrison is a common name, can it?)

So, we served together for 31 years until I took early retirement and "cut out" on him.

Jean and I got to know Bob and his first wife, Bobby, and began playing bridge almost every week, as I recall. We watched their sons grow and even spent some short vacations together. (There was a time when Bob tried his best to "smoke us out of a cabin.") And they owned the only dog that Jean ever liked! She was bitten as a child, and still is quite fearful.

I won't go into any of our misadventures, mainly because my aging, faulty, never-was-good memory might mistakenly put me to blame for some of them. Welcome to the blog, dear Bob, and I'm thinking of re-directing it away from memoirs and more toward simple chatting?

Thursday, April 9, 2009

JUST A NOTE -----

IN CASE YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SHARING A MEMORY OR ANY OF MY OTHER TOPICS, MAY I ENCOURAGE ANYONE WHO "IS INTO" CRYPTOGRAMS OR MINI-GOLF TO LET ME KNOW. IT COULDN'T HURT TO EXCHANGE A FEW VIEWS ON THOSE. I ALSO HAVE A STRONG INTEREST IN THE PESHTIGO, WISCONSIN, FIRE, AND LUDINGTON, MICHIGAN'S CEMETARY RECORDS. FURTHERMORE, I'M CURIOUS ABOUT THE NAMES SABRA AND MAHALLA (SP?) FINALLY, I'D VERY MUCH LIKE TO KNOW WHATEVER HAPPENED TO A MAN NAMED BERNARD QUICK, A GRADUATE OF BETTENDORF, IOWA H.S., 1957+/-, US ARMY VET AROUND 1960ish AND POSSIBLY STATIONED IN GERMANY? LAST HEARD FROM IN DEERFIELD, A SUBURB OF CHICAGO. REGARDS, GJ.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

WELCOME, NEWCOMERS! (BY Grandpa Jim)

Please turn back to some earlier posts if you want to get full impact of my blog. I started at the end of June last year and wanted people to send THEIR memories, too. You may need to skip around and use titles as a guide, but the blog has been mostly only semi-active, lately. It might help if you also clicked on "My Complete Profile" for further help. Thanks, GJ.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Reminds me, by Grandpa Jim

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but my dad was a painter, too. From about 1945 to 1955, he painted about 25 or 30 paintings, I'd guess. During that same ten year period, he also wrote a novel, a book of fairy tales, a couple dozen short stories and a few poems. (How's that for a "pro-ductive period?") My memory tells me that he had some work exhibited in the famous Tate Gallery in London during that time, but I could be quite wrong.

Because Dad worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, he knew a lot of editors, of course. One day he gave the manuscript for his novel to one of these editors, asking him to look it over. A few weeks went by, then Dad may have forgotten, but when a couple of months had gone by, Dad approached the man, again. The man was visibly quite embarrassed and admitted he had lost the manuscript. (Dad would have been 65 at the time.)

When Dad told this to me, I was shocked, of course, and asked him what he could do? File suit, maybe,? (It was the only copy, mind you!) Dad just laughed it off and said, "Why I think it was almost a blessing. Now I have something to do (rewrite it) and I've learned the valuable lesson of making a carbon copy!"

Dad had retired at age 70, applied for and was hired at a small shop when he was 72, and then retired again at 75. (The shop owner was glad to get Dad, because he didn't have enough work for someone full-time, and Dad wanted part-time, so it was win/win!) Dad was a photoengraver, Ben Day man for over almost 50 years.

None of Dad's many works (art or writing) ever brought him any income, and he had a habit of giving things away, also. His work might be somewhat similar to Rockwell's, in that it would be called "realistic," I guess. (Matter of fact, Dad was 12 years older than the famous artist, 1882 vs. 1894.)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

RECOMMENDATION

By all means, go to Rockwell's web site. Full of great stuff. He did 321 covers for Post, alone, and was "with them" (contract?) for 47 years. (Averaged 7 per year, theoretically.) Looks like a lot of stamps were also printed. I guessed correctly, as Post's circulation jumped by many thousands whenever his cover appeared. If his work is new to you, click on his "Four Freedoms," which were extremely famous during WWII.

Missing, by Grandpa Jim

Heard or read just the other day that Norman Rockwell painted three hundred and forty-some (?) covers for the "Saturday Evening Post" magazine. I couldn't help but run that through my always-curious-about-math brain. If he painted one every week (Post was a weekly) he'd paint 52 per year. 345, let's say, divided by 52 comes to almost seven years! But he couldn't have provided that many that often. Every other week comes to 14 years. Every third week comes to 20 years. Monthly comes to almost 30 years. Awesome. I absolutely must get on Google and see what I can find. I'll report later.

The Post reminds me of the "magazine era" of 1920's, 30's, and 40's. Seven come to mind; Post, Colliers, Liberty, American, Life, Reader's Digest, and Esquire, a men's magazine. Subscribers looked forward to the day that a magazine arrived. (Some by mail, some by delivery boy.) Hours of enjoyment awaited, with favorite features, quizzes, short stories, and famous authors.

Liberty, I think it was, offered a unique twist in that it posted an "average time" to read some of its stories. If Mom only had 40 minutes before taking something out of the oven and a story had a 30-minute average time, she could squeeze it into her schedule.

I always leaned toward Colliers, but I can't recall why. I really think that Rockwell's covers sold a lot of Post's issues.