1 Corinthians 15:55

"O death, where is thy victory? O death where is thy sting?"

It has been an odd sort of week. I read about the 23 year old Miami University graduate who passed away from pneumonia as probably a result of swine flu. Upon further investigation, I did found out that she did not seek treatment until she was very very ill. I state that part only because the whole H1N1 (swine flu) thing scares me. It attacks those who are not supposed to leave this world first. My grandfather died from the flu during the 1918 flu epidemic. My grandmother died two years later leaving my father (a 4 year old) without parents. On Wednesday I heard that a former friend (the former part is complicated) died from a massive stroke. I did hear last night that as long as a month and half ago he had exhibited a slurring of words so maybe this could have been prevented. He was 63 years old. Last night my daughter-in-law told me that an eight year old boy on the football team lost his mother Tuesday night. She did have a disease and right now there is not a cause of death but when the boy and his father returned from football practice they found that their wife and mother was dead. My heart hurts for that little boy. The weather has turned. Wednesday we froze playing in the 9 hole closing golf scramble and today it is very rainy and as such also very cold. The whole ugly weather thing coupled with very troubling news this week has definetly dampened my spirits. On a brighter note, a good friend had a hip replacement this past Monday and is doing very well. So there is some good news out there. I hope that everyone reading this can offer a prayer for the family of the 23 year old, that little boy who lost his mother, the family of the stroke victim and pray for continued recovery for the friend with the new hip. We all need all the help we can get.

Well, it has been a while since my last posting. I guess in some ways that is good. The proverbial no news is good news means my life has been cruising with no twists and turns in the journey. I did want to post a paragraph in an article that I read in LabMedicine (aka Laboratory Medicine) but I threw out the issue and when I went on line to view it, there were all kinds of criteria so I won't rewrite it. The title was "How has technology improved our lives.....NOT!" Or something very similar to that. It was amusing and went so far as to say that we spend hours on the computers playing games and exercising our index fingers! Oh well a lot is missing in my translation. The official golf season is winding down. Yesterday was a mixed event (men and women together but not with spouse). It was a step-aside scramble. That means that all four hit a tee-shot. The person whose shot is picked is not eligible to hit the next shot. So except for the tee-shot, only 3 people hit each shot. We came in third! I thought we would be last. The closing lunch and 9 hole scramble for the women is this Wednesday. I know that many people love fall. I do not. It is a sad time for me. Part of the reason why is that when my son was very young his asthma would kick up and we would have miserable falls and winters. He outgrew the asthma only to have it resurface with a vengeance as an adult. Yes the fall colors are beautiful but that is short-lived only to have the leaves fall and the bleak landscape appear. I just adore summer. There is not much going on this week. We had a message light in the car come on yesterday and we had to get the manual out to look up what it meant. It was a low tire pressure indicator. On a visual inspection, I had a nail in the tire. That tire would have most likely gone flat before I realized that there was a problem so kudos for that technology. I hope everyone has a great week.

WEEK END

No, I do not mean weekend in the title but the end of a very satisfying week. There was a lot to do and it feels good to have it behind me. Monday was my bridge group and they come for dinner. That means cleaning and cooking etc. Tuesday was open but I did have a prehire interview at 5pm and that went well. Wednesday morning was golf and Wednesday night was a 3 hour class. Thursday was the charity lunch and it went very well. There were a lot of compliments and the day went off without a hitch. Today was a day to relax with a 9 hole twilight at 5:30. It was an alternate shot format and there were an uneven number of couples so we played as a 6-some. It was a bit like the keystone cops at times but fun. It was such a lovely night and I did not even get chilled until the sun was down and it was becoming hard to see. I always find this time of depressing. I love summer and while fall is pretty (prior to the middle of October), I find that I miss the warmth and colors of summer. Most everyone loves fall but for me it is just ok. Next week does not look to be a busy so maybe I can get my house in order.

FOOTBALL

Friends of ours went to the Cleveland Browns game today. Driving time - about 2 hours; Game time - 1:00pm; seats - club level; food - "club" buffet and dinner with relatives after the game. I went to the 3rd grade football game today. Driving time - about 2 hours; Game time - 1:00pm; seats - bring your own; food - stopped at Subway on the way to the game and ate 1/2 a 6" sub and dinner - at home (although John made a flank steak salad so that was not too shabby). I had an admission price of $2.00 and there were cheerleaders (3rd grade also) and there were play by play announcers. I heard that Cleveland lost but the third graders won - 28 to 14. There is no kicking in the game so you go for the 2 points extra. They scored 4 touchdowns with 2 extra point tries successful. The grandson plays center and had 100% success rate at handoffs. He was able to play defensive end toward the end of the game and got in on part of a tackle. All in all a great day to watch football. No clouds and the temperature was 80. It got a bit warm but there were only 10 minute quarters. I have posted some pictures here and there are some on facebook.

AFTER LABOR DAY

Now that Labor Day is over it is time to concentrate on fall-ish activities. I have a bridge group over next Monday night, a class this Wednesday and next Wednesday on Schedule C businesses and I am co-chair of a charity opening luncheon next Thursday. Lots to do as well as play the final match for the Old Pal and catch my grandson's football game. September will fly by since Labor Day was late. We usually have a "Boat Regatta" in September but will put that on hold for this year and instead we are thinking about having a jambalaya party. The question is whether to have just one party or break it into several. We hope everyone had a good Labor Day. It rained here in the afternoon but we were able to play 17 holes of golf before the lightening chased us away. It is supposed to be sort of rainy all week. Today it just drizzled in the early evening hours.