Good Morning All & Happy Thursday!
It’s Izaak (Ike) Newbold day at our house and we couldn’t be happier spending part of our day with our beloved grandson. He is such fun and just celebrated his first birthday! We’re looking forward to having him with us today, for sure. Grandchildren are terrific!
Congratulations to our neighbor, Emma, daughter of Ted & Sandy, who just announced her engagement to be married in June, 2020! It seems as though she was just a young girl who lived across the street. Now she is an accomplished young woman, the pride of Washington State University (WSU)! Here’s to you, Emma!
Speaking of celebrations, Happy Birthday wishes go to our friend and Sunday School teacher extraordinaire, Margi, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow, November 8th. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Joni Mitchell, who turns 76 today! Here’s to both of you!
Prayers are lifted up for good health for my dear friend Keith. He is one of the best listeners I know and a treasured friend to so many!
Family & friends are looking forward to attending tomorrow night’s Epicurean Delight, the best “fancy” night in Spokane. Great food & a beautiful setting at the Convention Center along the river will make for a grand evening. Not to mention everyone looks spiffy in their finery. It’s fun to “get dressed up” for this event! If you’re interested in attending the 2020 Epicurean Delight in November, 2020, check out Vitalant’s web site at www.vitalant.org. All proceeds from this event go toward supporting the great work of our local Blood Center. Which, by the way, is always looking for blood and platelet donors. If you haven’t given blood or platelets every, please give it a try. You’ll be glad you did…plus you get all the donuts & popcorn you want and a warm blanket to boot!
I’ve been enjoying reading “Notes of the Notables” from the October 26-27, 2019 edition of “The Wall Street Journal. The one I’m about to share comes from entertainer/model/rock star Grace Jones and comes from a list of requirements she adds to her performance contracts when she does concerts/events. According to the article, “tour riders” famously reveal the most outlandish “necessities” that rock stars require to feel at home…While it’s not surprising that over-the-top style icon and dance-hall queen Grace Jones always requests two dozen oysters, she specifies that she’ll shuck them herself. Ms. Jones once told English comedian Alan Carr that she wants to make sure they’re still alive: “Normally you put a little lemon on it and they jump a little just around the edges,” (Her contract rider also demands six fresh lemons & one oyster knife). Plus, as she told the Los Angeles Times last year, an inexperienced shucker can leave shell on the meat, “which can cut your gums.” How about that! I always thought Grace Jones was “over the top”, but “boy, howdy” does this confirm that!
I came across a 1969 Topps Football Card for Chicago Bears great Roosevelt Taylor (love that name!). He was born in 1937 in New Orleans, was an all-city football player at Joseph S. Clark, Sr. High School and played college football for Grambling State University. Taylor said he was best at basketball in high school and could dunk the basketball with two hands even though he was only 5′ 11″. He had great jumping skills which made him a great defensive back in college. Taylor & Bears great Mike Ditka were two of the four rookies to make the Bears starting squad in 1961. Taylor was a key defensive player (a safety) on the 1963 Bears’ NFL Championship team. He led the Bears in interceptions with 9 (NFL interceptions leader) and in kick returns. His football card says that “Year in and year out Rosey does a steady, reliable job.” During his time with the Bears, “Rosey” was coached by future Hall of Famer George Allen. In 2010, Taylor was inducted into the Grambling State University Hall of Fame. Their 1960 team included four future NFL All-Pros, including Taylor. He never missed a game in nearly nine seasons with the Chicago Bears and later appeared in Super Bowl VII with the Washington Redskins. Rosey is a member of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, and was named among the 50 Best Bears by the Chicago Sun-Times. July 17, 2012 was declared Roosevelt Taylor Day in Louisiana. Here’s to Roosevelt “Rosey” Taylor and the great Bear teams of the 1960s (Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus & Gale Sayers, to name a few)!
Speaking of sports, there’s a great interview of Joel Dahmen, PGA golfer from just down the road from Spokane in Clarkston, Washington (he started playing golf at the Clarkston Golf & Country Club along the Snake River), in the most recent edition of “Golf Digest.” He was asked the question: “Are you starting to feel famous?” Here’s his answer:
“Yes, it’s weird, and I’m not sure I like it. At the New Jersey playoff event, some fans shouted my name, and I thought, “How do they know who I am?” Used to be nobody had any idea who I was—tournament officials, locker-room attendants, other players—and I’d take shortcuts through the gallery, do whatever I felt like. Now when I have my golf clothes on, I have to make sure I do everything the right way. Make a bogey, toss that ball to a kid instead of in the water. Post something silly on Snapchat, remind my friends to keep it in the circle. I want Golf Joel and Regular Joel to remain the same person, but being just slightly under the microscope of the public eye can steer a person to living separate lives.”
“Have differences emerged between Golf Joel and Regular Joel?”: “I hope not. I’ve had so many people thank me for not changing. There’s a solid group around me who will cut me down the minute I start thinking I’m cool. Being a prick is an easy trap to fall into on tour. Everywhere we go, people wait on us. The chauffeurs, courtesy cars, dry cleaning, club repair—anything at all we could possibly want…and pretty soon a guy is complaining about a certain foot item missing from player dining. Seriously? Some people find a way to see trivial inconveniences no matter how fortunate they are. you wouldn’t believe how many caddies have thanked me for treating them like real people…”
—“Interview With Joel Dahmen, “Golf Digest,” November, 2019.
Here’s the word for the day:
Legerdemain (leh-jer-de-main): “Sleight of hand, or the use of one’s hands when performing magic tricks…a tricky display of skill or cleverness.”
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“I had a very nice life. I was a very good kid. I had nice friends. I played in the school yard. I was nice to my parents; they were nice to me. They were loving parents—they were always there.”
—Ralph Lauren, fashion designer
“I loved Cary Grant. I got to know him adn Audrey Hepburn. Here were these people I always liked and admired, and they were coming to my house.”
—Ralph Lauren, fashion designer
“Ring them bells ye heathen from the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries, ‘cross the valleys and streams
For they’re deep and they’re wide, and the world’s on its side
And time is a-runnin’ backwards…and so is the tide
Ring them bells St. Peter where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand so the people will know
Oh, it’s rush hour now, on the wheel of the plow
And the sun is a-goin’ down upon the sacred cow
Ring them bells sweet Martha for the poor man’s son
Ring them bells so the world will know that God is one
For the shepherd is asleep…where the willow weep
And the mountain is filled with lost sheep…”
—Bob Dylan, “Ring Them Bells,” as sung by Gordon Lightfoot
Here’s to a great Thursday and lots of love always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)