Saturday, June 1, 2019

Memorial Day Outing, Usual Tuesday Visit, and Golf at Green Hill

Update May 26 to June 1, 2019

-- New Book Distributed on Memorial Day
A signed copy for each.

We hosted a small gathering for Memorial Day, which featured some grilling on the deck, the usual picnic items, and for each of the family members that visited a copy of my new book, Worcester's Winter Hill Farm. I dedicated the book to my three nieces, Paige, Lily, and Jean Nicole.

Paige and Lily may have heard stories about their Dad and me and how life was like on the farm in Worcester, but now they had the book which gives all the details as I remember things. We'll see how Steve remembers things.


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READ my Blog "The Books of Richard F Wright" (Books, Bookstores, Writing)     
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-- Golfing on Green Hill
Patti at Green Hill

Green Hill Golf Course is one of our favorites. They have made some changes and improvements over the past few years which have made the course more interesting. You never forget that it's on a hill and that your ball wants to roll off the fairways as much as it wants to roll off the greens.

It's not a course we would like to walk. Even with the carts, it's an effort to climb some slopes to get to the next shot. The 18th hole is still treacherous. The slope to the left is so severe that it's not possible to keep the ball in the middle of the fairway. It rolls down to the left no matter where you make the ball fly. Another feature of the course is that many of the greens are very small, which makes it tough to get on the green and to stay on them.

But, we're glad it's here and always look forward to playing it.


-- Did Some Baking for the Holiday


Cupcake Anyone?
In the spirit of the patriotic holiday, I baked some cupcakes and decorated them in various flavors and colors. The basic cupcake was a yellow cake. The toppings included nuts, or white chocolate chips, or sprinkles, or plain. Each had its own American flag. The recipe allowed me to make 24 cupcakes so no one went without. We sent many home, with our guests. 

-- Lucy and Olive Make Their Weekly Visit
Olive Gives it a Whirl

Olive and Lucy came on Tuesday as usual, even though they had come over for the Memorial Day party too. Olive has grown enough that when she sits in the whirling chair she has more control than before. She can use her legs to balance herself and to give herself some push-off the floorboard. She needs leverage to give the various buttons and levers a good push. She can make the music sound and she can make the little animals screech and cackle.

This chair is a good alternative to the highchair as we can gather around her on the floor and help her play with the various noise devices. On the highchair, any toys end up being tossed off. Here, the toys are attached and she can't remove them. That saves a lot of shagging, believe me.



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READING UPDATE:
Elia Kazan, A Biography, by Richard Schickel


Mostly famous for his productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, and On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan was also a product and victim of his craft and time in America when it was good sporting fun to look for Communists under the bed. \

Original source material, such as Kazan’s diaries, add dimension and depth that other commentaries about Kazan have missed. There may be no more complex artist to have hovered over the American artistic community for more than half a century.