Whatever land mines you have in your game is your business, and your responsibility to address before the puck drops in a scant 16 days. How you go about "ironing out the wrinkles", "addressing the issues", "exorcising the demons", and any other number of the over-used metaphors we all use in our increasingly desperate attempts to stave off the truth... the truth about our golf games, our athletic skills, our either declining or ascending physical selves, is entirely up to you.
What is up to US here in the gilded office suites of the "John G. Hubbell"s tournament committee, is to finalize the field for the 2021 event. You are all either confirmed IN, confirmed OUT, or UNCONFIRMED. If your name is on the ignominious "unconfirmed" list, please reply to this email with your status. Do NOT text, email, or for the love of all that is Holy, call any member of this committee with your status. Any such efforts will be roundly ridiculed, and then quickly forgotten.
As stated in earlier missives, there are currently 10 tee times. That number can easily be adjusted down if need be, but increasing it, while doable, gets harder as we get closer to go time.
So cough it up people, WHO'S IN?!?"
Yep, that appeared in over 40 inboxes this week. The event of the Summer: the John G. Hubbell Memorial Invitational Golf Tournament* is once again upon us.
This year, it looks like we'll have women competing for the first time ever. Oh, we've always been invited, we've just declined to play. Who has two days to spend smacking a little ball around? If I had that much time to kill, I'd be out paining.
Life has been roaring along like a jet since the wedding. The 4th of July was fun but odd; we went to a party on the 3rd that had a wonderful fireworks display, attended by thousands of unafraid Americans but saw nothing on the 4th. Turns out, the city of Edina was unable to procure fireworks. Lame.
Painting class started up again and it's wonderful to get back out there and make a mess! Also fun to see my painting buddies. Yes, I could paint on my own but I don't. When left to my own devices, I always feel compelled to make money, which is fun but teaches me nothing.
Last week, I spent four days with Xena, Babalouie and Kitten. We had lots of fun, binge watched all 3 High School Musicals and while the kids played in the yard, I stripped an antique cedar chest that had been my grandmother's. Now it's my grandkids and I stripped the ancient orange finish off it and plan to stain it a rich dark brown. Xena and I also did a little creative spray painting of a sign to be hung on the arena. It's an old wooden headboard I picked up off the boulevard somewhere: we painted it hot pink and orange and I'm going to paint "Girl's Night Out" on it, since all the ropers who use the arena happen to be female. Unlike all the 'women' competing in the Olympics this year.
For the first time in my life, I have no interest in the Olympics. I can watch guys beat women at sports anywhere, any time; what's special about that?
While I had their help, Xena and Babalouie went with me to the local nursery and helped me pick out and plant flowers for my outdoor studio. I was a bit worried that leaving it till mid July would offer me slim pickins but I was wrong! Not only did the have a huge assortment of flowers, the plants were HUGE and everything was 20% off!
The kids also helped me plant them, so a job that would have taken me all day took an hour.
I don't know if things are settling down here in Midwestern Beirut or if I've just tuned out the sound of drag racing on the highways at night. Our neighborhood is untouched by the turmoil. Thanks to the Canadian wildfires, the sunsets viewed from our front hill have been even more spectacular than usual. Jay and I are enjoying life tremendously!
Our cousins who live in Europe are in town this month, so tonight there's a big pot luck dinner at my sister's house so we can all see each other. Then comes Josie's birthday.
Then comes the JGHMemorial Invitational!
Summer!
*Formerly the Hubbell Open