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Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks – Carving the Turkey at Ruth’s daughter’s house last night

First of all, I must thank all of you who have read my blog and given me encouragement to keep writing.  I certainly didn’t start out as a writer….A few years ago, my sister Georgie gave me several letters that I had written to her when I was between seven and nine years old.  What spelling!  What grammar!  I can tell you, they were not very good, but I’m going to publish them  in “My Life Story” which I’m working on. FYI.

Secondly, I am so thankful to be healthy. There a couple of minor parts of my body that are giving in to time, but for the most part, I am not complaining and my daughter Colleen thinks I talk far less occasionally about my ailments than I did before I started writing this blog. As documented on my road trip with Ruth to Whitefish, MT, the two of us had no problem golfing five days in a row.  I do believe in doing, not sitting, although sitting is for writing!

I was so lucky to inherit good genes. There has been cancer (and what family hasn’t been spared from that?) and Parkinson’s disease in my family, but we have no history of diabetes, heart disease or other lifetime affecting problems. Knock on wood.

I am also extremely thankful to have four of the best kids a Mom could ask for!  Kind, considerate, loving, helpful, responsible all.  Although my husband, Doc, was gone when our youngest was 14, he was so instrumental in them all growing up to be really good people.  I have been lucky to have grandchildren who are generous with hugs and always saying, “I love you Grammo”.

Even though it was necessary for our livelihood that I worked outside the home all my married years, I am thankful that I did!  I always needed a challenge. And even if Doc was not physically capable of many things, he knew how it should be done and if we listened to him, we could accomplish many tasks.  I wasn’t always that smart.

Thankful for friends is an understatement for me.  I truly love my friends and some of my best friends are from almost 60 years ago, and there are some I have recently met.  Kids and grandkids live busy lives and certainly don’t want to go golfing at eight in the morning like my friends do! A big thank you goes out to Bob and Anne and family for a friendship that has lasted all these years. Their hospitality is second to none and I will be enjoying brunch at their home today. Congratulations go out to Bob and Anne as it is their 35th wedding anniversary!

Giving Thanks

Prize winning table setting

Lastly, I give thanks to Ruth’s daughter, Anna, for inviting me for Thanksgiving dinner last evening.  I lost count of the number of people there as some grandchildren came and went because they were playing in a hockey tournament.  I am sure there were at least 20.  I love it when there is a “new recipe” on the menu.  Everything was delicious.

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I’m sending this again, loyal followers, because I’ve looked in my albums while watching this Toronto/Texas Game go on and on and on, and I think you’ll like what you see.

Here I am along with a huge crowd of Canadians cheering on the Toronto Blue Jays in their quest for a Stanley Cup World Series Championship (whoops, I nearly made a major faux-pas there…you know, us Canadians are so hockey-centric!) Not only is there a Championship Ring as a reward to the victorious players, but most certainly a $$$ bonus for the winners.

Bandwagon

I know that many of you have jumped on the Blue Jays’ bandwagon, and the truth is, that’s no surprise, as the Blue Jays are the only Major League Baseball team in the whole country of Canada. That is more than enough reason to be cheering for the team and I’m one of their fair weather cheerleaders.

HOWEVER I am and always have been a Dodger supporter.  I even have a jersey!  As far back as I can remember everyone in my entire family was fans of the National League.  Many of my siblings cheered for the St. Louis Cardinals but I, as a youngster, was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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Dodgers fan

Maureen O’Shea “I’ll always be a Dodgers fan”

Back in 1895, the name of the team was the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers.  The “Dodger” name came about when the city of Brooklyn trolley system became electrified and the pedestrians had to “dodge” the fast moving trolleys to get across the streets! This had not been a problem with the horse drawn trolleys.  There were several baseball teams named “Dodger”. When the team moved to Los Angeles, it took on the name of that city and became officially known as the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I have to admit it is going to be the Dodgers I will be cheering for if they are in the finals for the World Series against the Blue Jays.  Till then, I will cheer on the Blue Jays in their quest for the finals of the American League series.  But I will be cheering for my Dodgers to make the finals in the National League series as well.

Don Drysdale

Don Drysdale’s Whaler’s Pub

Don Drysdale's Whaler's Pub

Don Drysdale’s Whaler’s Pub menu

In 1980, my husband Doc and I had lunch at Don Drysdale’s Whaler’s Pub on the waterfront at Lahina, Maui, Hawaii. Drysdale had been a pitcher for both Brooklyn and LA, and after his professional playing career was over, he became a commentator. When he was just 56, he was found dead from a heart attack in a hotel room in Montreal, where he’d been scheduled to commentate on a game between the Montreal Expos and the Dodgers. In his personal effects was a cassette tape of a 1968 speech that Robert Kennedy had given just before he was assassinated in which he commented that Don Drysdale had pitched his sixth straight shutout that evening. He took that tape with hi everywhere he went.

Doc O'Shea and Johnny Weisshaar

Doc O’Shea and Johnny Weisshaar telling stories in Hawaii

Although that pub no longer exists, I remember it well: there was a wall of memorabilia of his Dodger years at his pub and it was a lot of fun to see it all!

Maureen O'Shea in Hawaii, 1980

I love wearing hats. Hawaii, 1980

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I was awake early.  Well, that’s no surprise as me and most of my siblings were early morning risers.  My first phone call was from Colleen with Birthday wishes.  I had just read the blog post she had written about me turning 81.  What a beautiful tribute to her Mom. I was humbled and thrilled at the same time.  Thank you so much, Colleen!

I poured myself a coffee, got dressed and got ready to go. I loaded my car with my golf gear, and headed down to Bridget’s.

Breakfast

We transferred my stuff to her car and took some pictures.  By this time the sun was up and the temperature was rising from a daybreak +8C.  After dropping off Lily at school we headed for A Ladybug & Expresso Bar for breakfast.  Now this is a really cool European style café. Lily explained to me when were were in the car (who’s been to Europe as well as to A Ladybug), said, “It’s just like Europe, except there’s no smoke!”  The menu covers the wall behind the food showcases. It was not long before Bridget and I had made our choice.  Eggs Benedict for Bridget and Raspberry/Strawberry Crepes for me.

Ladybug Bakery and Espresso Bar

Strawberry/Raspberry Crepes

Our table number was “6” and Bridget said they got it wrong because Mom, “you are a ten”.

Bridget and our table

Bridget says I am a ten not a six! At A Ladybug Bakery and Espresso Bar.

Our food came…along with all the members of the staff singing Happy Birthday and my crepes were topped with a lit sparkler. What a tasty breakfast for both of us!

Golf

When we left the café, we knew we were in for a perfect day — warm, shorts-wearing weather.  We arrived at Redwoods Meadows about 20 minutes later, and soon we were warming up at the range.  We joined the two gentlemen who would be playing with us at the first tee and soon we were down the first fairway.

Redwood Meadows

Maureen and Bridget O’Shea, Waiting to tee off at Redwood Meadows.

It had rained the night before and the ball was skittering through the water in the grass for the first few holes. The greens were in terrific condition and were quite fast. There were no easy pin placements  and quite often the ball would turn away from the hole in the last few inches.

Redwood Meadows

One of the par 3s at Redwood Meadows

The course is quite long at 5791 yards from the forward tees. Some of the par 4s were too long, in that I could not get on the green in two shots. The holes with distances of 354, 358, 368, 369 and 384 yards were difficult, with hazards in front of many of these lies. The par 3s seemed to play long, although only one was over 150 yards and it was 162 yards. Of course, it was over water to the green on all the par 3s.

Maureen and Bridget at Redwood Meadows

Maureen and Bridget selfie – at Redwood Meadows

All in all, Redwood Meadows is a great golf course ,with wide fairways (although bunkers were in the range of our drives) but at this time of the year the fairways are getting harder as the grass-growing season is pretty well over!  The greens and large with sneaky undulations.

Dinner

Ruth picked me up just after 6:00 p.m. And we headed out to the…Redwater Rustic Grille in the Aspen Woods subdivision of Calgary. And if you can believe it, I forgot my iPad…so I don’t have any pictures but to show you but I will make it up with one of my all-time favourites of her and I that was taken in Lake Louise…

picture of Ruth and Maureen

Ruth and Maureen at Lake Louise

I had Roasted Chicken and it was moist and delicious. Ruth had Scallops and Shrimp. Both meals were tasty.  We came back to my place and had a coffee.

I had a most wonderful birthday.  Thanks to all who made this happen.

I think I will just hang around till I’m at least 82.

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Wintergreen

Wintergreen’s club house is impressive.

It was a beautiful warm day, this September morn, when we headed out to play golf on the Wintergreen Golf & Country Club at Bragg Creek, Alberta. My friend and I had a tee time for 11:39 a.m. and the timing could not have been more perfect! It was +6 C when we left home and at least +10 C and sunny when we arrived at the course and the mercury was only rising. The temperature hit a day high of +22 C when we finisThe pitching range, located close to the starter’s shack, is one of the reasons people like to play at Wintergreen. There were five stations set up with balls that we could hit out towards greens to pitch to that were 50 and 100 yards out. The driving range was in an area nearby, but driver’s aren’t allowed. The range slopes way, way down into the valley and it was not long enough to use a driver.  There was no GPS on the golf car, and only limited information on my SkyCaddie!

We played from the white/red combo tees 5357 yards rating 71.3, slope 13They’d put us off on hole #10 and were told it was cart path only today. This was disappointing for me, as my friend has her own pull cart and prefers to walk. It turned out that the two fellows we were playing with were also in a cart, so the game wasn’t all that quick with all the back-and-forth and the walking all of us needed to do! The fairways were soft (hence the no golf car rule) and some places quite spongy. Sometimes I did find my feet were sinking in the grass but on the other hand, the divots were easy to take.

There were five par 3s and two had tough pin placements that led to bogeys. Luckily, we used our own GPS because two of the holes were over 20 yards longer than listed on the card. All the greens are a generous size.

Wintergreen

Wintergreen’s Hole #1 is a Par 5

The par 4s were reachable in two shots for me, although two were uphill and around 300 yards. I needed a 3-wood for my second shot!

The par 5s ranged in length from 397 to 467 and none of them were easy to be on in three shots. My best par 5 was the 18th hole at 397 yards.  This hole is a dog left and plays uphill.  The green is protected by a pond and rocks. I had to lay up with my second shot and hit my 3-wood to the green for a par. I know if I had played the course before, it would have been easier to play these holes. I guess I rely on the GPS more and more – especially when I need to navigate around bodies of water, which Wintergreen has.

I hit a lot of fairways and greens. I was disappointed in the number of putts I had but I was not all that surprised since I was playing the course for the first time.  However, I played with the same Titleist ProV1 #4 with an orange circle around the four and three + marks in orange on the back side!   My score was 44 + 43 = 87.

All-in-all I would give this course a three and a half out of five rating.

The scenery was beautiful, especially with the leaves turning bright colours of orange and yellow. A pretty picture to behold with the multitude of fir trees in green.

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