Hello on Wednesday Morning

Dear Friends,

My day went as planned. My friend and I played a quick 9 holes of golf, and I was home by 9:30 AM. As a matter of fact, the back nine was closed because they were aerating the greens. Today they are aerating the front nine. Our course is in excellent condition. The fairways are super, and the returns have come back from the winter kill. One friend said that he played the Dalton course the other day, and the Berkshire Hills fairways get an A++.
At one time, the members of my course were grumbling how awful the Berkshire Hills course conditions were. Now they are praising the great job that the superintendent has done to bring our course back.

I did give my lawn and the neighbor’s lawn a trim before I went to my 1 PM REAM meeting at the community room in the Berkshire Mall. I secured a former Juvenile Court Judge to be the guest speaker for our October 12, 2010 Luncheon Meeting.

After the REAM meeting, I decided to head to Lee to visit dear old dad. My sister was there installing a new telephone so that my father could read it better. I left her as she was having trouble making the telephones work. Eventually she had to call the Cable Company. It was a modem problem, but she did get the telephones working.

I left the family home in Lee, and went off to see Mom in the nursing home. She was in bed looking at a picture taken of all her brothers and sisters which was taken in 1965. She also had a picture of Grandma, and Grandpa Castronova. I did find out that the name was Castronovo when he came into Ellis Island. Grandpa’s Italian name was Melchiorre (Michael) Castronovo. I did a little research, and I even found when, and on what ship he came into the United States.

Linda had fun with her girlfriends doing lunch in downtown Lenox, and doing a little recreational shopping in the stores in Lenox. The adventure lasted until about 4:30 PM.
Linda was actually on the telephone talking with the Liberty Mutual agent dealing with our case when I walked in the door from my busy day. Linda had a positive discussion with the agent. Things are looking up with respect to our water damage claim.

The painters were there a second day. They picked up our vanity which we purchased at Home Goods. It is a beautiful piece of furniture. You might think that it is too nice for a laundry room, but this bathroom is the most used one in our house.

The contractor is stopping by at 7:45 AM this morning to chat with us. He is just about ready to install the flooring material on the first floor. We can’t wait!

We are on the road again today. We are going off to visit the Brodeur’s, and eventually visit our grandchild Max and his parents in North Tewksbury. It should be a fun time.

I watched the Red Sox do battle with the L.A. Angels. One of the rookies for the Sox hit his first grand slam of his brief career as the Red Sox went on to a victory by a 6 to 0 score. I went to bed a happy man ecept for the fact that the Yankees and Tampa Bay won their games.
Another positive was that one of their multiple injured players returned to the lineup. He was trying to too hard, and never got a hit during last night’s game. His presence was a morale booster.

Observation – While working the golf tournament on Monday, my elder friend who is just about ready to turn over the reins of the cooking portion of the golf tournament was talking about smoking. He was telling my friend and me that he smoked two packs a day during the prime years of his life. Eventually, he needed to have a bypass. The circulation in the legs of this octogenarian is not working like it should. What got me thinking about smoking was that he told my friend and me that he used to smoke two packs of cigarettes per day. My comments here are not meant to beat up the people who do smoke. They are treated like outcasts on a daily basis. I was thinking about the time it would take each day to smoke two packs of cigarettes. If you are employed, much working time must be wasted by the smoker.
When I retired from teaching, the public schools outlawed smoking on school grounds. Some of the diehard smokers used to go to the sidewalks out on the main road to have their cigarettes. Some diehard smokers used to sneak into their cars, and have a cigarette (which was a violation of school policy). Some of my teaching colleagues did eventually quit smoking, or reduce the number of cigarettes per day.
The generation before us baby boomers were brainwashed that smoking cigarettes was okay, and should be part of their everyday lives. I am so glad that no smoking takes place in our house. Also, if you have children and the parents smoke, there is a good chance that the children will take up the habit too.
When it is hot and humid, and we are gasping for a breath of fresh air, I don’t know how a person can even think about smoking.

Have a great Wednesday!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad