A cool start to a cool day

I am pretty sure the writing is 1956.  There were many family pictures but this is one of the best in terms of quality.  Let's see, 1956 meant that for the year Helen-6, Carmen-9, Dave-12, Joan-14, Janet-18 and Ronald-20.  Mom and Dad would be 47 that year.  It is one of the few pictures I have of Ronald without a short hair cut. It looks like white shirts were in with the guys.  How about those fancy pants that Dave and I have on.  It looks like the picture was taken east of the house as I think the trees in the background are the trees between the house and the road.

Kind of a cool day.  As I write it is 53 and it looks like it may not reach 70.  I have tennis in an hour and I am guessing it may take some time to feel warm on the court.

Terry and I had a meeting yesterday with a tax gal.  Terry needs to take care of things with the sale of her  home in September.  Well guess what, we were supposed to meet Stephanie and she was in Michigan yesterday!  The company had us meeting with another person for other reasons!  That may be the second or third time that has happened.   Regardless the outcome was GOOD.  The guy in the office got Stephanie on the phone and Terry spent about 15 minutes with her.  The news was GREAT news so that pretty much smoothed over the mix up with the meeting.  Those kind of situations are so frustrating but then when one looks at the BIG picture they are not so important.

I sometimes look at Minnesota news on my phone.  Yesterday I looked at the sports page of the Tribune and there was a story of Doug Woog.  He was a big time hockey coach for many years and he died a couple of days ago.  I was surprised to see that and then I thought maybe he was older than I had thought.  As I read on it stated that he had suffered for a few years and he died at the age of 75-YIKES.  I am almost 73 now so I need to forget that and look at guys like Jack Kegaly here in Naples who is still playing a good tennis game at the age of 85!

BACK TO MY TOOL BOXES

I spent several hours in the wood shop and finally turned the lights out and headed home well past midnight.  I cut new ends for the three boxes and then got out the wood burning tool.  I was able to finish putting names on the front boards and also the handles went on the tops.  I promised myself that I would return the next day, Saturday, to glue up the final box.  It would then be a matter of putting a finish on in the afternoon, one more coat of finish on Sunday afternoon and presto, the boys would have their Christmas presents on the 24th.  To this day I am not sure what I was thinking with the tool boxes.  Here I have boys who are 6, 4 and 2 and I think they will be thrilled with a wooden box to put tools in!  Well I could tell you a bit about HOW those boxes were used as they got older AND I promise they were not used much for tools.  BUT they were used and I think, to this day, they may still have them.  I think Aaron's may have gone lost when they moved but I am not sure about that.  Another story for another day is about the night stands that were built the next year.  That was a much bigger project but I do know that to this day they are used.  BUT if you have a night stand that is constructed out of 3/4" oak it should stand the test of time, right?

It is almost time to get ready for the court but I do not want to go too early as one does not want to sit out in 55 degree temps and watch others play.

Each morning now I spend some time reflecting on "Christmas's of the past".  I would like to put a splash of Irish Cream in the FP but with tennis each morning that is not a good idea.  It is fun to think back at what "was" and I am thankful for the great memories.  However I try to be careful to NOT take too much time doing it as I am not yet ready to "enjoy the past" rather than "enjoy the present"  So some is good but not too much.  One of the things that is interesting is how much Mom and Dad enjoyed giving gifts when they could afford it.

I went back to my breakfast kind of meal this morning.  I have been kind of lazy with those darn frozen things but this morning I cut pieces of ham, several olives and mixed them into two scrambled eggs.  It was topped off with salsa sauce and was thoroughly enjoyed as I scanned the WSJ.  The FP lasted through the paper and most of this blog.