Saturday, August 25, 2018

NEW YORK SPECIAL


 

Every once in a while, Frank likes to watch the acerbic Judge Judy. While he's watching and I'm reading or writing on my PC, I'm always wearing my ear protectors - what I call my "ears." I do hear the blurred sound of the courtroom action, but it rarely grabs my attention. The Judge Judy theme, however, with its four notes - da da da dum - from Beethoven's Fifth, makes me look up to the TV screen. I am always delighted to see the intro film of New York City. I'm down here in South Carolina, and there is little chance I'll ever get to Manhattan again, but just seeing those program intros makes me smile.



I was born in Richmond Hill, Queens, a part of the great NYNY. I love New York – which to me is Manhattan. There was always, always a special little frisson of excitement each time I arrived on the island, even when I was in the city every day for a while during the opening of the now defunct First Women’s Bank, or every week doing research for a thesis. The best time of the year was Christmas in Manhattan. Looking back now, I think it was the recognition of the endless possibilities the city had to offer. For me, no other city has ever matched that feeling.





Saturday, August 18, 2018

A VERY BRIEF AND LIGHTHEARTED HISTORY OF GOLF AS WE KNOW IT TODAY

Holey Socks! It's Saturday again. More frequently these days, my blog posting has shifted from Friday to Saturday. When I began to blog, I posted several times a week. I suppose I had a lot to say, but at that time I wasn't writing for the our community magazine. Now I'm writing, editing, and coordinating. And in the last few months I've become involved on a new advisory council in the community. Their meetings are on Friday mornings, so all thoughts of blogging take a back seat.


                                 
This one is another article from the magazine. It was a fun one to research and write. I’ve never played the game, so what I know about golf is what I’ve picked up over the years. My brother was a big golf fan. In his younger years, he caddied regularly, and, of course, he played. An odd bit to keep in my mind, but I do remember that one of his favorite golfers was “Champagne” Tony Lema. Remember him? Every once in a while when our son is here on a weekend afternoon, we’ll watch a televised game. To me, it’s like watching grass grow, but does get a bit interesting when they get to the green and take shots at getting that little white ball into the "wee hole in the ground."

"Champagne" Tony Lema

“They” say – don’t “they” always – that the game of golf originated in Scotland, sometime in the mid-1400s. They also say it originated a century or so earlier than that in Holland, or in Belgium, somewhere in the Low Countries. Whoever invented it, and it certainly has proved to be a game in progress, the credit for the name “golf” goes to the Dutch and their word colf or kolf, and the credit for the modern, 18-hole version of the game goes to the inventive Scots.

Some historians paint us the picture of medieval Scottish sheepherders, watching the grass grow while the sheep kept shearing it, looking for something to pass the time. They probably knew little of the game already being played across the North Sea. As with many males looking to kill some time, they could have kicked a can, had they had one, skipped stones across a handy pond, played fetch with their dog, catch, if a buddy was around, or even taken a snooze. But then: “ah, a stick, a stone. How far I can hit the stone with the stick?” The rest as “they” say, is history.
 
Golf at St. Andrews in the 1700's
Whatever the origins, the game became popular in Scotland. Indeed, the Mecca of golfers worldwide is The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews there in Fife. With the exception of the United States and Mexico, “The R&A” is the ruling authority for the game worldwide.

Golf became so popular that it had to be prohibited under certain circumstances. King James II had to prohibit golf and a few other popular games because they interfered with archery practice mandated a part of the national defense. Later, golf was also banned by King James IV, but he was known to play a round or two every so often. (The members of the SCCL Ladies 9-Hole and the Women’s 18-Hole clubs will be interested to know that though Mary Queen of Scots played it, golf was considered unsuitable pastime for a woman. Yea verily, Mary was chastised for playing the game.)

Did Mary lose her head over golf?

James VI of Scotland, Mary’s son, became James I of England in 1603. He brought golf south with him, and the Scottish and British brought golf to the countries where they were stationed. It must be mentioned that the first recorded game in America was the kolf played by Dutch settlers at Fort Orange, now Albany, New York, in 1650. We’re not sure which rules they used.


From ancient clubs fashioned by hand by the players themselves, and balls made of wood, a step up from sticks and stones, on to today’s wide range of equipment made of combinations of materials both modern and traditional, and some very experimental, the sport has kept up with technology. In the United States alone, there are over 15,000 places to play a round. Today’s golfer can set himself or herself up with a range of equipment and clothing designed to make the most of individual’s ability to get that little white ball, hazards notwithstanding, into that far, wee hole in the ground.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

COULROPHOBIA - MORE CLOWNS


One recent morning, one of my regular email subscriptions brought me this:
English Word of the Day from Oxford Dictionaries
Your word for today is:  coulrophobia - extreme or irrational fear of clowns
I don’t fear clowns, but I certainly don’t like them. When I saw the word entry, it reminded me that I’d posted about clowns before. I’ll have a comment or two after, but meanwhile - in August of 2013, I posted:


Did you see this article from Smithsonian on The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary?  That first picture could send you screaming off into the night. Smithsonian didn’t have to tell me that clowns are scary – I’ve been a non-fan, shall we say, all of my life.  I kinda liked Emmett Kelley’s Weary Willy when I saw him at the circus when I was a little kid.  Was he the clown that swept the spotlight into the corner of the ring and then ‘under the rug’? (Yes, he was, I looked it up!) But it’s all a blur.



And I never did like Clarabelle or Bozo.  My sister got to go on the Howdy Doody Show – she won a pair of ice skates – but I didn’t care for that show. I got to go on Buster’s Buddies – no clowns – and I won a Toni Doll. Remember those?  Anyway, I knew there had to be an innate reason for my not liking those big red-mouthed clowns. I’ll be darned if I can find a current on-line reference to it, but years ago I read that the wide red mouth evolved from the Renaissance practice of slitting the clown’s mouth to make a wide grin. Gruesome!

I do remember thinking the bit where clowns got stuffed in the tiny car was really stupid. Who knows why – it just struck a sour note in me. But the rest of the circus – I loved it! I loved the elephants and the big cats, the high wire acts and the acrobats, and remember the man who balanced on just one finger? Neat stuff.  I haven’t been to the circus in eons – the memories will suffice.
Clowns themselves evolved from the motley-dressed court jesters of the Middle Ages who could answer back to anyone, even the king, and were given a wide range of freedoms enjoyed by no others, and were often the impetus for change. I am a fan of Alan Gordon who has written a wonderful series of mysteries around a jester and The Fools Guild – Thirteenth Night is the first in the series.  Never mind sending in the clowns, send in the jesters – they’re no fools, and this world could use quite a few of them.



Back to today – August 2018. I had to laugh at the last sentence of that post – “send in the jesters.” Well, two years ago the great American electorate sent in no jester: they sent in a clown. Funny thing though, he doesn’t make me laugh. He makes me cringe. He gives me a case of coulrophobia.

Ha! I went to find a picture of our president as a clown - there was quite a selection. And there I found this:



A circus is just what we've got.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

MISTY MORNING







Picture from a misty morning at my house



I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world
        and a desire to enjoy the world.
       This makes it hard to plan the day.
                                                                              E. B. White