THIS & THAT

THIS & THAT
After reading a review by Kyle Smith, in today’s Wall Street Journal, (“Say Everything” by Scott Rosenberg), I am reluctant to Blog. but, here goes anyway.
Speaking of the Wall Street Journal, I read another interesting article.
“Lighten Up: Rediscovering The Summer Suit”, by Eric Felten. He discussed Americas’ prejudice against summer suits. He mentioned “Seersucker Suits”. This term rang a bell. My memory flashed back to the late 1930’s, when I wore a seersucker suit! I wore a pair of white buckskin shoes with the suit. At least, they were white - before my friend Jim urinated in them. We had bowled until early Sunday morning. It was so late that Jim didn’t want to go home. He asked if he could sleep at our house. My bedroom was upstairs, in a very nice house in Ypsilanti. We had only one bathroom, on the first floor. Jim cheated! I also wore a brown herringbone sport coat with white flannel trousers, a dress shirt and bow tie. My shoes were brown and white wing tip oxfords. My close friends didn’t call me “Duke” for nothing. When the ambient temperature in the summer, in Michigan, equals the relative humidity, you aren’t motivated to wear a dark suit.
The fire engine and ambulance, with flashing lights, just drove by. When you live on an “Aging in Place” campus, this is a frequent sight. You just hope that the first responders aren’t coming to attend you.
It was a busy weekend. On Friday night, Quail Creek hosted a very nice Luau - a hula dancer and all! How’s this for our menu?
For starters, we had Hawaiian Chicken & Mandarin Salad with Cashews & Wontons &Sweet & Spicy Vinaigrette. For our entrée’, we had a choice between Huli Huli Beef Skewers, or Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa. Served with either choice, was Coconut Rice and Sweet & Sour Vegetables. For dessert, they served Pineapple Upside Down Cake a` la Mode with Toasted Coconut. There was a wide variety of drinks - including coffee, de cafe, milk, beer, wine and mai tai’s and soft drinks.
I am sure the residents, and their guests, enjoyed the evening as much as I did. It was very well done. While the program was labor intensive, and expensive. It was a very nice fringe benefit.
On Sunday, I went down to Blue Rock Springs in Vallejo, to attend the Torres Family Reunion. It was quite a gathering. There were about 100 people there including family and friends. While it was a big undertaking, everyone pitches in and helps - either with money or bringing a dish. The senior Torres’ started the annual affair, and now, after their deaths, their eight children are carrying on the tradition. Each summer, they rotate the hosting among the eight families, who live in different cities - from San Diego to Seattle. The Reunion was very enjoyable. The weather was kind to us, and I got to visit many people that I hadn’t seen in quite a while. The participants take this gathering seriously. A lady and her daughter flew in from Guam, and another lady from Tampa.
While enjoying Blue Rock Springs Park, I couldn’t help but reflect back 40 years ago when our family was enjoying a picnic. It was Sunday, July 20, 1969. I had taken my transistor radio along because I knew that our first moon landing was about to take place. As we were leaving the park, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “The Eagle has landed”
I played bocce ball last week and we won - 12-8. I was sweating it out because the other team was composed of women. They usually roll better than the men. My good feeling was short lived. One of my teammate’s wife was critical. She died the following day.
I played bridge this afternoon, and had lousy cards. My total score (we play six hands, rotating through three tables) was barely higher than the winner of the “booby’ prize. One bright spot, I heard a new quotation from one of our opponents: “Once, I thought that I had made a mistake, but I found out it was a mistake”.

RCL - 7/27/09
Rev.