The Last Hibiscus...

 

...of the summer. 

Those holes in its petals pay homage to its seasonal longevity, but alas...summer hath drawn to its inevitable end, taking its prettiest accoutrements with it.

Dirty summer...go ahead, take your ball and go home!

C'mon, Fall...

there's supposed to be a fairway 'round here somewhere

so many jack-o-lanterns, so little time

when the chair pillows are flannel it must be fall

every kid's fave night of the season

...let's have some fun together.

I know you won't pack your bags and leave us in the lurch like summer has...

...right?

We're already 2 games into the high school football season, and it's not even Labor Day yet...

...when we honor the men and women who built this country and continue to make it run.

This year, Labor Day is as late as it can be - Monday the 7th - and that's gonna make September zip by even faster than usual.

So enjoy your long weekend, the less popular of the twin bookends to summer...

...then get after the rest of this glorious month.

And taking my own advice, let's HGU:

Not much to tell; 'bout the same as usual, though I did manage a 6-3 win on Thursday which should have been a 9-0 win.

But that's golf...

when perfection is the goal, you spend a lot of time looking like this

...a game of failure.

It's how we manage those failures that makes the difference.

I can pinpoint the stroke on each of the 3 lost holes when I knew exactly what I was going to do, and then proceeded to flub the shot.

And it's not like I was hoping for some extraordinary save -

- from an impossible lie.

Far from it; just a regular fairway wood, chip onto the green, or putt I wanted to lag up close to the pin.

oops

But my body told my brain to stuff it, I booted the shot and that was the hole.

In Harry Vardon's wonderful book, The Gist Of Golf, he opens the first chapter with this profound sentence:

"A great deal of unnecessarily bad golf is played in this world."

Ain't it the truth.

There are days I wonder why I bother but oh well; something to work on next week.

For reasons known only to the Atomic Monster Cafe's resident photog (didn't take many pics), we have an abbreviated 23 Skidoo this week.

No need to thank us; it's what we do:

some ideas to get you started...I checked the boxes that are most important so please don't screw this up

a perfect day from the command center, before summer showed its true colors and ran like a scalded dog

saw this sign recently and gave it 2 thumbs way on up...didn't buy it however since they wanted $60 for it

strawberry transformation complete

king bumble caught <in flagrante delicto> with princess rose (of sharon)

This summer did not play out as expected.

Not that we had any major plans for it - just the usual:

Work, take Fridays off for golf, spend time in and around the pool, keep up with yardwork, enjoy the shade and refreshing breeze from the command center on warm summer days, hit the farmer's market for fresh produce and visit Fenn Valley for wine occasionally.

Losing my job and stumbling into unexpected retirement changed that.

Instead of serene, carefree summer days when the livin' is easy, this season morphed into a heapin' helpin' of stress and a healthy side dish of something I usually detest:

Waiting.

While many of the issues we faced have been buttoned up satisfactorily by God's grace, others are still unresolved, floating in the ether of the unknown.

I'm not good at this.

I made my living fixing problems, most of which required solutions "now".

"Waiting" conjures visions of people sitting around in hospitals, anxiously twiddling thumbs while doctors and nurses actually do something to fix the problem.

But waiting is biblical and even commanded.

It encompasses active trust in the LORD, coupled with the certain knowledge He loves us and is doing what's best for us.

When King David was in dire straits, his life in danger and surrounded by enemies, he turned to the Lord:

¹⁴ Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

    - Psalm 27:14

The prophet Isaiah echoes these same sentiments:

³¹ But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

    - Isaiah 40:31

Biblical waiting is the exact opposite of how we typically view it.

Rather than sitting idle and doing nothing, Isaiah says it involves action: getting stronger, rising up, moving forward.

It's prayerfully seeking God's will while actively trusting Him for the results.

It's not necessarily easy for those of us raised with that prevalent "need it now" philosophy, but it does come with God's promise of results:

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

    - Romans 8:28

And so we wait.

later, mcm fans...

Happy Labor Day, Y'all..

...and a shout out to all the men and women who built this country and keep it running every day.

For many years the common wisdom stated a college degree was the only pathway to success.

Even comedian Jeff Foxworthy of "you might be a redneck" fame made fun of working class men when he quipped...

..."He's headed for a career with his name on his shirt".

Obviously that attitude was nonsense and over time produced a generation of liberal arts college graduates drowning in debt while spending their work day asking if you want fries with that value meal.

I'm happy my collar was blue for awhile as I worked in orchards and factories, drove tractors and trucks, shipped packages, received freight and roughnecked on oil rigs.

Eventually I did manage to cram 4 years of college into 12, taking classes nights and part time while working and raising a family.

And while it's true most of my career has been in the white collar world of IT...

 

...I hold in high regard those skilled laborers who traffic in the nuts and bolts of life:

Farmers, builders, truckers, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, repairmen...all the folks who provide goods and services whenever and wherever needed.

Foxworthy also said, "Look where Jesus went to pick people.  He didn't go to the colleges; He got guys off the fishing docks".

So raise a glass of whatever it is you're drinking -

- and offer a toast of thanks to the working (wo)man.

Happy Labor Day 2025!

Along with Labor Day we welcome September, a truly wonderful month in which I could live all year long.

Gotta love crisp mornings in the 40's by the fire...

...and warm afternoons in the 60's, lots of sunshine, long shadows, changing colors, apple pie and coffee...

...and oh yeah...Fall golf, the absolute best.

I could go on (and on), but you get the idea.

Only problem?

Two things, actually:

1) Doesn't last long enough  -and-

2) It's a daylight thief.

On September 1st we have 13 hours and 12 minutes of daylight.

By September 30th we're down to 11 hours and 49 minutes.

Action point: get busy and enjoy this spectacular month!

Mentioned last week Karen and I were headed north on a one day quest.

Our destination:

And our objective:

 

A beautiful 1960's Martin MCM fireplace.

Love the medieval knight emblem they included on all their models:

We'd been using an old outdoor firepit with a gas log set to keep the bonus room heated...

...which was functional but ugg-lee.

Since we paid my grandson to finish the ceiling in there this summer, we decided to up our game with a true mid century modern classic.

finally, Sir Kitschalot has a pal

The 450+ mile round trip made for a long day, but was definitely worth it.

Wonder how much better I might be at hickory golf...

...if I'd skipped over the nonsense and went directly to my "eureka!" moments.

For several years I approached hickory as if it was modern golf.

I carried all my bad habits from that and applied them to my new hobby with predictable results.

Eventually I stumbled across Harry Vardon's book...

...and finally fixed my grip, stance and swing for hickory clubs.

And it was a year and a half ago an offhand comment from a club seller led me to pre-1900 hickory golf.

Lots of experimentation and trial and error followed before I finally settled into a routine.

Which is not to say everything is now set in stone, but what if I'd started years ago by reading Vardon's book and using my pre-1900 playset?

l to r: long spoon, short spoon, lofting iron, putter

I'd have all the same time / talent / age limitations, but gotta believe I'd be farther down the road than I am now.

How's that for a long winded intro to this week's HGU?

teeing off 5 minutes before sunrise

It was such an enjoyable outing, it made me wish I'd started this adventure correctly years ago, and so could have experienced more rounds like this.

When you're playing from the fairway instead of dropping new balls because the one you hit is now hopelessly lost in the hinterlands...

...this game can be sublime.

For the record it was a win, 5 and 4, but today that wasn't even the point.

From the cool of the morning and the dewy grass, to the swing of my clubs and flight of the ball, it was a little solitude, a little exercise and a very enjoyable stroll through the countryside.

Which drops us squarely in the middle of 23 Skidoo:

democrat-think

sunset on the lake at Larry's cottage...

...and sunrise.  he's got some wonderful scenery and a good eye.

and as mean as ever

strawberry transformation almost complete

Karen's transforming a few into dried flowers so we can enjoy them over the winter

while moving totes around I came across this chess set I bought as a gift but apparently never gave away...wonder who got gypped that year?

a course in Switzerland where they're playing the European Masters championship...what a spectacular view

Labor Day hobo dinner

My effusive praise for Autumn notwithstanding, I have to admit to a pang of sorrow at summer's too soon departure:

summer's end

(yours truly, copyright 2022)

 

in the fading days of august near the end of summer's reign,

when melancholy scents the air and daylight starts to wane,

with autumn waiting in the wings to dance across life's stage,

it's then I long to turn the hands of time to June again.

delights of summer beckoned yet amid the lengthening days,

verdant frolics called to us from summer's lazy haze.

a morning round of hickory golf, a sunset by the shore,

gardening with my better half, a summer evening storm.

but time raced on so quickly and days flew by too fast,

the joys that once were future soon segued to our past.

and now we greet fair autumn, possessed of fall delights.

but O!  I'll miss those clarion days and clement summer nights.

As we turn the page on yet another summer, I'm reminded of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon's "travelogue" where he documents, for better and worse, his journey from jaded disillusionment to blessed enlightenment.

In chapter 3 he laments this cyclical nature of life and our seasons "under the sun"; the repetitive refrain, not just of winter, spring, summer and autumn, but of birth and death, love and hate, war and peace.

But his is one of those stories where you must read all the way to the end, because his winding path eventually rises above the depressing refrain of "vanity of vanities; all is vanity!" and finally arrives at Divine Truth:

"12  And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

"13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man."

    - Ecclesiastes 12:12,13

Amen to that.

later, mcm fans...