I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord;                                                                         And I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life, oh Lord;                                                   Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord,oh Lord. 

It’s just a few days away now.  Another one of those milestone numbers.  This one comes with a card.  When the number was 50, it came with an AARP card.  This one comes with a Medicare card.  Both are indicative of the same thing.  You ain’t gettin’ any younger, kid!

I remember Dad saying it wasn’t a big deal to hit 50; at 60, however, he said something had definitely changed.  As I reach the halfway point of my 70th decade, a number Dad unfortunately never reached, I must report that Dad was on to something.  It’s not so much a complaint – I am delighted to have made it this far in surprisingly good health – but there are definite signs.  My flexibility is limited, my balance is worse, and I already forgot what I was going to write as the next clause in this sentence!  I remember my great aunts talk about having dropsy, in the sense of being a butterfingers.  Well, I got it.  I drop stuff all the time – and then I wonder how and why it could have happened?  I notice now that many of the people with unwanted lead roles in the obits were younger than I am.  And the supervisor wants to know why I want to go to five events a day?  I wake up earlier and earlier – it’s a genetic thing, Dad was an early riser as was his dad, so are both my brothers – I figure it’s just a matter of time before I wake up before I go to bed.  I don’t lack sleep – when I wake up, I’m rested – but daytime naps are necessary to fill gaps.  I was never good at remembering names – now it’s almost a felony!  But this is a celebration, recanted through some of the things that happened this week in our fair city, some of which can be considered rebirths . . .

Blog contributor, Al Grundei, Alex class of ’67, this week performed double duty.  He found a book of his dad’s that included information about Camp Ballantine, here on Lake Darling, and donated it to the denizens there.  And in the book, his dad had kept two of my Dad’s old Somewhat Personal columns from the Echo – Al didn’t know why.  It may be just a coincidence but . . . both columns were about aging, i.e., Dad turning 40!  Thanks again, Al.  Here’s the first one (see if you notice the typo):

[Reminder again, especially for new visitors, you can double-click any photo on this blog to see full size.]

This week we had a further hint that summer may be coming to an end.  True, the trees have already been losing leaves because of the drought.  But while we expect to play golf for more than another two months, this is an area littered with snowbirds and some of them are already getting antsy feet.  Thus, come the summer’s end get togethers.  This week we joined two couples who winter in Florida and two couples who winter in California for what we believed would be the last chance to all party together.  We pontooned from the Seveys on Lake Carlos, above starring Crazy Dave and the supervisor, to Arrowwood on Lake Darling for Wednesday night deck dining with Glen Everhart [Editor’s note:  Oh, that would be me.  Apologies re my duties as camp social director.  I always forget that Glen is at the Arrowwood deck all summer on Wednesday nights (and King Louie on Thursdays).  And we like him.  And Arrowwood is just around the corner.  Go figure?]

[The mode of operation, a/k/a, the modus operandi!]

[Crazy and the supervisor charge onto the dock – looking north on Lake Carlos.]

[Looking south on Lake Carlos.]

[Just look for the 49ers flag!]

[10 people picnicking on a pontoon.  On a scale of 1 – 10, a 12 for FUN!!  😉 ]

[Anyone who went to Evanston (Illinois) Township High School can’t be all bad!  One of at least two alums of good ole ETHS who are members of the AGC!]

[A wave rider is gaining on us.]

[Good ole Camp Ballantine.]

[And the ongoing reconstruction of Hole No. 7 at the AGC right next door.]

[The aforementioned Mr. Everhart on the Arrowwood deck.  He started with Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” and won everybody over right off the bat.]

[Party Animals I.  Oh, you!]

[Party Animals II]

[Back to the Sevey’s.  Thanks again, Sara and Jim.]

[Meanwhile, “Patchouli” correspondent in the Cities, Sue Elliot, submitted these from a concert at the bandshell on beautiful Lake Harriet.]

[Yup, there’s the lake in the background.]

[Julie and Bruce looking good!  Thanks again, Sue.]

Meanwhile (yea, I know, I just said that), last week in Alex a re-birth and new birth were taking shape:

[The Hole No. 7 makeover at the AGC – the new tee boxes are formed in the background.]

[Piles of dirt and heavy equipment signify activity.]

[The new green is taking shape.]

[Superintendent Donnacha says the new Minnesota green will be more geographically accurate than the old one.]

[The tee again.]

[Donnacha considered a “Wisconsin” right side trap . . .  ha!  The green is scheduled to be completed by September 15, be playable part-time in June, and full-time in July.]

[Oh, and we were playing golf, of course.  We had threatening clouds both to the north and south us – with thunder coming from both directions.  But still no rain.  Here’s Dusty walking south down No. 16.  On the day, in spite of my looming date with chronology, Dusty and I reached the 18th tee, both needing pars to shoot 76’s.  Dusty does that occasionally; it had been probably a couple years for me.  With both hit the fairway, but Dusty pulled his 2nd shot into difficulty – I got my 76, Dusty a still I would love 78.  It is practice for someday hopefully being able to shoot my age.  Well, it’s on the bucket list.]

[And the other birth project . . .]

[and there it is!  😉 ]

[Stuff is definitely happening.]

[You can get coverage like this no where else!]

[Maybe steel raising from the plains by the end of next month?]

How ’bout Dad’s second column here?:

Which leads us to our next writer, William Kent Krueger:

[. . . is a very popular writer, particularly in these parts, of the Cork Corcoran murder mysteries that take place in northern Minnesota.]

[He was at Cherry Street Books to sign his most recent – Trickster’s Point.]

[He was affable and fun – and yes, that is Sue Engstrom sitting to his left.  Brother Chris in Stafford, Virginia, has read all his books, so we bought him an autographed copy of the new one.]

[Alex alums may recognize Mary [nee] Nodland, class of ’64, left front foreground; and Cindy [nee] Hegg, class of ’67, standing in red.  I didn’t recognize either, but then see paragraph #2.]

[The supervisor makes her move!  The place was SRO – but we were early and got seats.  Yet we waited for the crowd to dissipate – Kathleen had 4o books on hand and they all went (he signed other papery things the others could put in their books later) – because we like authorly chats.  Mr. Krueger says writing requires a hard and true schedule – he writes for two hours every morning and two hours every afternoon . . . in a coffee shop in St. Paul.  Well, I think that’s fun!  😉 ]

[This is his next book.  It’s not “officially” published yet.  This “copy” was for a drawing to be held at the bookstore.  He said it’s the best thing he’s ever written – but he’s very anxious about it.  It is not part of the tried and true Cork Corcoran series.]

[The supervisor then with our cache to date.]

And then again, another sunset visit with Mary and Crazy Dave – a plethora of riches:

[Courtesy TRMS.]

p.s.  If you consider yourself to be aging, the following videos are for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l3Y4iBwQLo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=sDc0ID6PJeg&feature=youtu.be

p.p.s.  Volleyball starts tomorrow night.  Uncle Dick would have been so excited.  We’re back to covering hard news, i.e., girls high school athletics, again!

[When I was merely 64?  Oh, the photo at the top?  It’s real.  I took it in 1975.  I always called it Oz, but it’s the “new” Mormon Temple on the Washington. D.C., beltway.  Not meant to be anything other than a visual aid to Phil Collins’s lyrics.  (I think.)]