We said goodbye to our lovely Tuesday evenings of golf and fellowship with some kind of good golf. (All things being relative) and appearances by all at some point or another.
Golf highlights: Alison hit the ball over the creek; scored at least two pars and ate fish and chips.
Carol made a big splash ( thanks, Spongebob) when her ball went into the creek. She had a couple of what could have been fours, truly great play from her. Carol took advantage of the extra $2 cost (thanks Mayor and City Council) to be creative with the tee box. She pretty much just teed up the ball wherever she liked.
Alison persevered to the end of the round, and carol didn’t fall over.
Bonnie joined us on the beautiful evening to be our flag bearer; it was a welcome addition.
Liz, after meeting all of her wonderful students for the year, joined us at Dave and Buster’s where the service was slow but the conversation never lagged.
And now for breaking news: The mayor announced that Westwood golf course will remain open next year with increased fees at all of the city’s golf courses. Good news.
And good news from Bonnie, who is on the mend.
Now, to the last week’s round:
It was flag/prize night and what a night it was. Liz started off with a prize-winning drive — the longest on the first hole. Golf was somewhat up and down after that. Alison made it over the creek and risked life and limb to retrieve her ball from the jungle-like weeds at the creek’s edge.
Other prizes awarded included lowest score for Alison: 44; and highest score for Carol, 79 — partly because of a 17 she took on the seventh hole. Alison and Liz discovered their seventh irons on the seventh hole, and Carol should have left hers in her bag.
Fellowship convened at Julio’s with other golf league members. It appears Liz may be in line for league presidency again. Her no-party party appears to be the frontrunner.
I just e-mailed my city council representative to voice my support for keeping Westwood open. Not a huge move, and probably won’t help, but I wanted to at least voice some support for the course.
The best part of the evening: Good news about our compatriot Bonnie. A big shout-out to her.
The less said about the golf, the better. No one made it over the creek. No pars. Lots of hooks and slices and not very good shots. Everyone played all the holes. (Sad that that is the high point, but there you are.)
College freshmen, whether related or advising took up much of the conversation.Politics invaded the peaceful golf course with the mayor’s decision to close Westwood at the end of the season. We are indignant and irritated.
We went to the Ice House for post-golf refreshment. Margaritas and tacos. Alison hatched a writing plan.
Yes, it’s been several weeks since the lovely putting with purpose has been updated. There has been putting and purpose with a week off for far-flung travel by several members of the group.
Here are the highlights for July 14, 2009:
Three intrepid golfers hit the links; Carol had to work. Liz reports that Alison parred the first and last holes. Alison and Liz each made it over the creek, but Liz reports her golf game “stunk the rest of the time.” Bonnie played most of the holes.
No reports of conversational topics were divulged. Afterglow convened at Buffalo Wild Wings, which apparently was noisy.
Your not-so-faithful correspondent has fallen down on the job. Now we’ll be caught up — in time for all to hit the road after next week.
Week three was a fine golf outing. Memory of the exact golf has faded, though the visit after golf to Don and Millie’s is quite clear. There was golf. Some good golf. (None from Carol, who bought yet another brace, yet still had trouble golfing. Upon reflection,the idea hit that perhaps Carol was a terrible golfer before she broke her wrist. Those 25-foot drives might just be normal Carol golf.)
On week four, we were sad about Bonnie’s mom. Our hearts go out to Bonnie and her family.
There was no golf because of heat and storms. The golf outing still met at Old Chicago with special guest Scott.
We were hungry. Not for the golfing so much, but for whatever would come after. There was golf.
Alison hit her ball over the creek. Liz and Alison had some great drives and some good chips and putts.( did someone say chips? I said we were hungry.)
Carol had a wrist brace, but it didn’t exactly work. Some practice would be helpful. Not all that probable, but helpful.
She putted a couple holes and did a little golf valeting.
Conversation ranged from movies to children to whatever.
We adjourned to Julio’s for the 10th hole because Carol had a coupon. There were chips of the corn and flour kind.
We miss Bonnie and send her prayers and laughs and good vibes.
Let the games begin. Or is it a game if you don’t keep score.
Whatever. Alison, Liz and Carol kicked off the golf season Tuesday with great purpose. Perhaps not so great putting.
Carol didn’t really play — an injury turned her game into one big game of miniature golf: throwing the golf ball on the green, then putting. That got old about the seventh hole and Carol just slacked the rest of the way.
Highlights: Liz hit her ball over the creek. ( Perhaps that should just be highlight.)
The mystery of “Where’s the Porta-Potty” was solved when it was discovered tucked away near a shed on the seventh hole.
Liz’s dedication to her students and to learning took the form of lifting a log from a pile of newly cut-down trees on the sixth hole because of the great example of tree rings it offered. This was a small-ish log she was able to tuck in between the bag and her cart. Occasionally, there would be a thump as the log tried to abandon ship, but Liz was able to retrieve it.
While a bit larger than Liz’s log, here is what was lugged around the course.
While waiting to tee off (no one said this had to be in chronological order), we did some oohing and aahing over a very cute puppy, a welcome distraction from an apparently pointless story from the course guy.
Discussion on where to go after the round began, I think, on the second hole. We missed Bonnie.
Alison started out strong with two near-pars. Bonnie had a par on a hole near the end — not quite sure which number it was. Carol had one good putt and the rest of her game was officially stinky. But she had fun. Liz came late — we’d made the turn across the creek — to act as golf valet. Not quite up to Bonnie’s standard as golf valet, but she was excused in appreciation for the new job to begin the next day. Carol did lose one more SpongeBob golf ball.
We adjourned to Old Chicago to begin planning the our own Food Network, otherwise known as Cooking with Purpose. The plan began to take shape for the cook-a-thon that makes use of our individual strengths while allowing us to avoid what we dislike. Bonnie is the shopper; Alison the chef ( with help from the various sous-chefs); Carol the plan and list-maker; Liz the cleanup. We picked a tentative date, but Carol now realizes she is going to NYC on that Saturday Oct. 18 and wonders if we could change to Oct. 26.
The menu items we will make during this marathon:
Bonnie’s Lasagna
Alison’s chicken enchilada recipe
Carol’s roast beef/gravy and mashed potatoes
Liz ham and scalloped potatoes
Bonnie has volunteered her house.
And we realized that next Tuesday is our last golf outing of the year. Carol vows to have syllabi done and everything ready for start of school so she can golf and participate in the 10th hole with little to no guilt.
We have a new slogan: With God we can do it. ( perhaps that comma is needed.) Alison discovered a new talent as a bulletin board coach. Bonnie served as the golf valet throughout the round. We decided we liked having a golf valet. No one made it over the creek, though Carol came close to hitting the guy who was innocently weed-whacking on the other side. (Well, probably not so close.) Alison, besides her bulletin board coaching expertise, had a terrific shot on the last hole and an almost par. Carol had one good putt. Liz… well, it’s good she got the right phrasing for the bulletin board.
The afterglow was at the Ice House because of TVs as the tables so we could watch the Olympic gymnastics. The U.S. team had a few tough breaks.
