Travel Tips

1.    Have a couple copies of your important documents with you. A friend always scans his documents and then emails them to himself. On the road he can retrieve the documents by accessing his email in the case of lost papers.

2.    Carry a small flashlight in your daypack.

3.    Don’t try to do too much on a trip. Remember it is a vacation.

4.    Bring two cameras in case one breaks.

5.  Think about an adventure travel trip. You’ll get a different perspective on the places you visit.

6.  I have a flash drive key chain. On the flash drive I have important health care information including medications and my medical history.I have other relevant information as well.

For Keith

Like the pines tested by winter’s winds,

Be strong,
Like the rushing river ruining through the green forest,
Be swift,
You have the spirit of the lion,
And the eye of the tiger.

Early Morning Golf

It was cold this morning at Fairbanks Ranch Golf Club at 6:20 this morning. I watched mist come of the water as I teed up my ball and hit it down the first fairway. Paul, the phantom golfer, was a hole behind me. He plays very fast, and some time later, I stopped and let him play through. I would have played with him, had he suggested it, but I think he likes to play alone and speed through his round.

I wasn't playing too well, but I improved  over time.  Once the Phantom got ahead of me there was no one to be seen on the course. The 9 TH hole on the lakes course has been my nemesis. In recent rounds I have been hitting a ball or two in the water on this hole. Today I hit a three wood down the fairway, laid up with a wedge, and then put a seven iron over the water onto the fringe of the green. My putt was very difficult, and it took me three strokes to get in the hole.

All in all it was a good morning. Tomorrow we play Carmel Mountain Ranch with the Eatons.

Memories of Eastern Europe

Some years ago Vicki and I traveled to Budapest, where we met our hiking group. From there we traveled to the High Tatras Mountains of Slovakia for a week of fine hiking. The mountains run along the edge of Poland, and at one point it was possible to have one foot in Poland and one in Slovakia. We had a good group, and there was a lot of laughter and fun.

One day we were driving through rural Slovakia, when a grouping of “out of place” high rise buildings came into sight. Theses ugly structures were built years earlier by the communists, when they took over the country. Later we went to a spa in Poland that had been a favorite of Russian leaders. The building was “grand” in the sense that it was large and ostentatious. It took up too much space. The hallways were oversized as were the different rooms. It was a pompous structure that tried to boast importance. However, my experience of the structure was that it was grim, joyless, and empty.

This building in contrast to the architecture of Krakow was striking. That city was perhaps the most beautiful urban place I had ever seen. A large square was surrounded by beautiful buildings. Music was everywhere, and horse drawn carriages took tourists here and there. A river encircled the town.

Later we spent some days in Prague, another beautiful city. The city was alive with visitors, many of them students. The beer was cheap and tasty. I could buy a glass of Pilsner Urquell for fifty cents.  The food was good and the people friendly.

After some days Vicki and I hired a driver to take us to Karlovy Vary, a spa town about 80 miles from Prague. We stayed in a small, comfortable hotel and hiked for miles through the forests that surrounded this quaint town. We had wonderful meals and were sorry, when our driver picked us up a few days later. We returned to Prague and the next day flew to the United States.

Steel Canyon

March 28, 2016

It was cold and windy at 5:45 this morning, when my golf partner, Gary Vernon picked me up. Forty-five minutes later we were teeing off on the Ranch Course at Steel Canyon Golf Course in El Cajon. For the next few hours we saw no one but each other and an assortment of workmen, who were keeping the course in top shape.

Steel Canyon is known for its undulating fairways and elevated tees. Highlights for us were some booming drives that seemed to roll forever. Negatives were lost balls and three putts.

We played under three hours, and as were drove by the palatial homes that encircled some of the fairways, we both smiled and thought about coming back soon.

Rehab Days and Nights/2013

When in your adult do you get to say on a weekday that you’ll watch an hour and a half of golf on TV, eat a great lunch, and then watch some more golf? That is one of the upsides of a rehab program that mandates rest along with exercise, Last night I dreamt that I was interviewing golfer, Graeme McDowell, a pro golfer from Northern Ireland. I had just watched him win the World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria that morning on TV. Later in the dream I was hitting golf balls. I took a terrific course on understanding dreams from Sandy Shapiro years ago, but I will let this one stand as dreamt.

This morning we are headed to lunch with Fred Blumenstein and Laura Rafal to the new Mexican restaurant in the Del Mar Highlands shopping center. Vicki and I ate there Saturday, and we both thought it was excellent. It is light and airy, and the food is tasty and reasonably priced.

I have read a bunch of Don Winslow mystery novels, since I have been home. Many of the stories are set in San Diego, where the author now lives. They are interesting, fast paced, and fun to read. I am now reading Amanda Knox’s book. It is an interesting book from many points of view, as it brings into play variables of culture, gender, personality, and emotional development. I hope she sells lots of books and gets very rich.

The home health nurse came for the last time today. My blood pressure has been lower that it has been in years. I told her that if I could stay in the back bedroom and watch TV and read, it would probably stay down.

Have a good day

Tales from the Hood/May 2013

A new neighbor has moved in the house next to ours. He is renovating the house and he wanted to make sure there wasn’t too much noise in the air. He brought peace gifts of flowers and cake. This was a very nice gesture, and Vicki and I appreciated it. I told him that the noise was not a big deal, which was true, and I thanked him for the gifts. Earlier in the week he had sent his contractor over to deliver the same message. I think he will be a terrific neighbor.

The situation was very different, when we moved into our current house around 1980. Within a day of moving, the neighbor in that house was complaining. The first complaint was that our barrels were outside our fence and were unsightly. I told him not someone had put a wire across our fence making it impossible to open gate. Suddenly he looked awkward, and he said the wire was his.

The complaints kept coming for as long as the couple lived there. They turned out to be terrible neighbors. Once we went over to have a glass of wine and try to talk things over. The man played his academic cards, but score one for Vicki and David. They had a young girl living with them, and one day she was no longer there. I asked where she was, the woman told me that she had a new life on a nice ranch. Go figure.

Finally they moved away. We have new neighbors on the other side, and they are very nice. The man is an orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser. He brought me over a tool to use, once he heard that I had recently had a hip replacement.

Our neighborhood has been an organic entity, which has shifted and flowed over the years. We have wonderful neighbors across the street, Carole and Roger Spragg. For many years we had the gift of

friendship from Roger Treadwell, who lived next door. He recently has moved to La Mesa. We still got together with him, his friend Diane Levy, and the Spraggs. We all have a good time.