Last Weekend

I haven’t posted any essays lately and surprisingly I have had a number of friends ask me when I am going to post again. So here I am back at it. Last week the Lovely Sharon made a run to the Palm Desert to take down a carload of shoes for the winter. She did have other things in her car but the most important part of the cargo was the shoes. She was gone about six days and she spent time cleaning things up and getting our desert place ready for winter. She returned to Salt Lake on Saturday afternoon. She will head back to Palm Desert for the season in less than two weeks. It astonishes me that it is already that time of year. It seems like she just arrived home in Salt Lake for the summer season a few weeks ago. Even though she was only gone for a week, it was a little lonely without her. However, the weekend was great autumn weather, great fun and some good football games.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. Autumn in Salt Lake is particularly beautiful time of year. Most of the days are sunny with blue skies that seem to be a different color of blue than the summer blue sky. Maybe it’s the angle of the sun, or the shorter days, I am not certain but the sky does seem a little different. The mornings are cool and the days are perfect, around 68 degrees. The trees on the mountain side have all turned to oranges, reds and yellows. Some of the trees in my yard have started to change colors but for the most part they are still mostly green. During the last several days, a number of leaves have fallen. Not many but a few. Our back yard is surrounded by trees and the time for raking will soon be upon me.

My dear friends Steve and Cathy invited me to dinner last Friday night. We had a nice dinner, good wine and lively conversation. They have a couple of dogs who seem to like me. Dogs and kids generally seem to like me. Its adult humans who don’t.

Saturday night Sharon and I attended a wine pairings dinner at Hidden Valley Country Club. What a terrific evening with our Salt Lake friends. After a dinner, a whole crowd of us migrated to the soft couches and chairs of the HVCC public room. We sat around talking and laughing about the dinner, public events, golf, friends and other matters. As I sat there amongst these dear friends I considered how important friends are, how much they enrich my life and what a void there would be without them. Some friends I see often, others less often but they all add to the fabric of life. I think it was nearly 11:00 p.m. when we all started to wander out of the club to the darkened parking lot to find our cars and head to our homes. Our friend Terry attended the party without her husband Jim who was out of town. So Sharon and I followed her home to make certain she got in safely.

Sunday the Lovely Sharon and I played golf at the Salt Lake Country Club at the invitation of friends Don and Annette. I am embarrassed to tell you that as I was looking for Annette’s ball which appeared to have trickled into the creek on the 11th hole, I slipped down a muddy slope and hurt my ankle. Two days later it is still painful to walk. To make matters worse, the ball I thought was hers was just an old broken golf ball that had no doubt been sitting there for months. That was not a good hole for me. I hit my ball in the creek, I damaged my club on a rock and I hurt my ankle looking for Annette’s ball. After golf we had dinner together. Despite the happenings on the 11th hole it was a lovely day.

As I sat at work today, the Lovely Sharon called me to inform me that I left the garage door up when I left for work this morning. Luckily no one stole our golf clubs or bikes. I wonder if I close the garage door tomorrow morning if Sharon will call me to tell me I closed the door. Somehow, I don’t think this will happen.

So a week that was more than a little quiet turned into a wonderful weekend of parties, golf, the Lovely Sharon and friends. What more could a fellow ask for.