Back from Monterey and a really great weekend of friends, golf, food, wine and fun. I survived my visit with my CEO and he was very appreciative of the job that I'm doing and of the staff in place now at my office. We met with the staff, had lunch with one of our better prospect agencies, and also met with the landlord to look at expanding the space in my office. The landlord wants us to take on about 1100 square feet more than we want, because it would be dead space in the corner if we took just the 1100 square feet that we want. We asked them to give us a proposal and we will negotiate based on the space that we need. I had Alan on his jet and whisking off to Los Angeles by about 5:45 in the afternoon after picking him up at 9:30 in the morning. It was a bit of a whirlwind.
I was home by 7 PM and we were on the road to Capitola by 8 o'clock. Darla and I were up at 8 AM Friday morning and we blew a fuse in the room when we both had blow driers going and had the furnace on. We wandered down to the breakfast area while they reset the breaker.
We played Pajaro on Friday in Watsonville and in spite of the sanded greens, I managed an 84. Neil, Steve and John all shot in the upper 90's and low 100's, but we had a good time and enjoyed each others company. Darla and Lilly, Camille and Brenda all enjoyed their day in Capitola, strolling the beach and doing some window shopping. Neil drove me to Monterey after the golf and we met up with Darla and Lilly at their hotel. Darla and I drove on to Pacific Grove and checked into the Lighthouse Inn. We were put in a room right next door to John and Camille and Steve and Brenda were in the next building. We had everyone over for drinks and appetizers with the idea of heading out to dinner afterward. Neil and Lilly came over and we sat and talked with everyone and drank margaritas, wine and sodas and ate chips and dip. Our balcony overlooked the golf course and was next to the cemetery and the lighthouse in Pacific Grove. A baby deer and her Mom came over and were below our window. Darla threw them fruit and they enjoyed strawberries, plums and bananas. It got late and we decided to just order in pizza from Gianni's in Pacific Grove. It was excellent and we all enjoyed the relaxing evening.
Saturday, I got up early and met Steve and John for the drive up to the Carmel Valley and Quail Lodge golf course. We had breakfast first at the Wagon Wheel restaurant, a breakfast place that we discovered last year. It was unbelievably warm in the Carmel Valley on Saturday with highs reaching 88 degrees. We got there too early and practiced too much and it hurt us on a very difficult course. I pulled my first drive and actually lost my sunglasses when they slipped off the cart while I was trying to extract myself from under a bush. I am a wimp when it comes to sunshine and struggled the rest of the day with a high sun that was really hard on my eyes. I shot 46+46=92 and never really felt comfortable. I loved the course and the conditions, but the greens were lightning fast and I never adjusted to them. I played with Boyd, Steve and John. Steve played really well on the front, but struggled on the back side. He hit a shot that ricocheted off the side hill of the green and into the OB next to some homes. When I told him to hit another, that his ball rolled out of bounds, he had some choice words for me. He apologized, but the Lord had other things in mind for old Steve on the next hole.
Steve hit his ball left into a drained water hazard. He asked me if he could play out of it if he could find his ball. He walked out on the lake bed and was looking through all of the 100s of balls embedded in the dirt when he started to sink. His left leg sunk down to his knee and he was able to turn his right leg and keep the weight off it so he didn't sink in with both legs. He called to me for help and I tried to get out to him, but the ground was soft and I couldn't make it to him. John found some PVC and was pulling it out of the ground to use to pull Steve out when it snapped back and hit him in the cheek. We were playing golf and devolved into a Keystone Kops episode. We finally talked Steve into crawling out on his hands and knees and he was able to extricate himself. He has bad feet and was wearing golf sandals that stayed on his feet when he yanked his foot out. Small solace as he ended up covered in dried mud and started to stink as the day wore on. He showered up when we finished and shot a 42+50=92. John shot 104, which put him in the money with his 28 handicap.
Saturday night we had the gang over for appetizers again and had some chicken mole and guacamole that was left over from the Silpada party that Darla had in Marina while I was off playing golf. Bob and Vicky Pando came over and had drinks with us and then we headed off to Vito's for dinner. Bob didn't play in the tournament this weekend because they have been remodeling their home in San Jose. We had a great night at Vitos and had a lot of laughs, some good food and even better wine. Bob got a call about 9:30 from Lifeline and his Mother, who is 93, had set off the alert. It was pretty tense for awhile, but we found out later that she had accidentally set off the alarm and was confused when the fire department showed up. Bob's daughters took care of the problem, but Bob and Vicki hurried home anyhow.
Sunday, we were up early and packed up the room and headed over to Toasties in Pacific Grove for their scrambles. They have excellent breakfasts and didn't disappoint. From there I drove to the course with Neil, and Darla and Lilly were off to a day of sun and shopping. Sunday was nearly as warm early as Saturday, but some high thin clouds rolled in late in the day. I did play better and managed a 43+42=85 and took third net in the tournament. I think Pasadera was actually a more challenging course than Quail, but I managed the course better. Boyd shot 82 and played very well.
We met up with the girls after golf and the Country Club would not allow us to come inside and insisted we sit outside at tables and be waited on. There was NO ONE in the members lounge and the NFL games were on. I was offended as was Darla. Neil seemed to think it was their right to limit access as they were members, but somehow our money was good enough for them, but we were riff raff after we were finished. Most country clubs are really suffering and cater to the public to help supplement their income. I won't go back there and they are lucky to be in Monterey with old money, because the face of country clubs across the country are changing.
Well, that is it for this week. I hope you all are doing well and I will log back in another week to purge my literary soul. Ciao.
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