Perry Park 2008

Labor Day Weekend marked our annual couples golf weekend. This year we went to Perry Park near Carrollton, Kentucky. Perry Park has 27 holes so we were able to mix up the 3 days of golf among the three 9-hole tracks. The Park is in a valley surrounded by the Bluegrass hills, very pretty.

Joining us this year were Caroline and Kevin Drews, old neighbors of Mary Beth and Kent. Unfortunately they had to leave early to deal with a family emergency. We hope their ordeal ends quickly and peacefully, and that God's grace is upon them and their family.

We have so much fun on this trip with these great friends every year. Kent, Mary Beth, Mary and I all played golf on Friday afternoon on the way down to Perry Park, so we played four rounds in four days. This is a warm-up for our Myrtle Beach trip that we will be going on in about a month. We'll be playing eight rounds starting in Waynesville NC and ending in Pawley's Island SC.

Liz & Kyle's 1st dance

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It's about time!!!

Well, so much has happened since our last post. Mary's dad died in November, her mom moved in with us, I had a minor proceedure in January, we went to Riviera Maya in March and Liz got married. We are all doing well and Mary & I are looking forward to our extended golf weekend with friends at Perry Park in Kentucky over Labor Day and heading back to Myrtle Beach in October. Since the wedding, we've been able to spend some more time on the golf course. We're not getting much better, but we really enjoy the ability to get out and play.

Mary, her Mom, sister Denise and brothers Mike and Mark - Christmas 2007

Mary & I on the waterfront in Playa de Carmen -Riviera Maya, March 2008.

Finally the Bride and the Groom. They also went to Riviera Maya for their honeymoon, staying at a new resort just a couple of miles south of where we stayed. They had a great time and are now old-hat married folks for 8 whole weeks. They're doing well and working to make a lot of money so they can support Mary & I.

Now that things are settling down some, I hope to be able to post some more.

Jim Potticary

Mary's Dad, Jim Potticary, is not doing well. We ask for your prayers that he may go in peace without too much agony. He was diagnosed with one of the most severe forms of prostate cancer in April of 2005 and he had been doing well until the last couple of months. He is now day to day. Mary and her siblings, and all their children are helping Mary's mom, Esther take care of him.

This picture is from Mary's 50th birthday this past 4th of July when her dad was still feeling and looking good. From the left is Mary's sister, Denise, and her nephews, Santerri and Taneli on either side of her dad. It's amazing how four short months will wrack the human body. We'll let everyone know when the moment passes.

Kiawah Island - 2007

After leaving Etowah Valley (see next post), Mary & I headed to Kiawah. We ate breakfast at Etowah and got in the car only to discover Liz and Kyle were over an hour AHEAD OF US! They got up in the middle of the night and managed to be able to keep going with minimal potty breaks. Oh!, to have the constitution of my youth again.

They managed to get to the island about an hour before we did, and talked the guard into giving them a day pass so they did not have to screw around with registration. When Mary & I got there, we registered and met the kids on the beach. Unfortunately, about an hour and a half after we got to the beach, the sky turned black and we decided it was best to leave the beach and head to the village until our unit was ready.

I won't bore you with the details, but here are some pictures from the week. For the rest of the week, we had beautiful, hot, South Carolina weather!

These pictures were taken on the Battery on Charleston Harbor. This is truly one of the prettiest areas in America with the Antibellum homes surrounding the public park on what was originally the Battery.

Kyle has taken up golf this summer, and he and I had some time to play at the Shadowmoss Golf Club, not too far from Kiawah. I picked this course because I had never played it and, being further from the tourist areas, I hoped it would not be as crowded and a little easier, nerve wise, on him since he had only played for such a sort period of time. We both had a great time and Kyle has some real potential.














We often visit the Pier while in Charleston. We have pictures going back at least 10 years from one of these swings, and I think for the 1st time we have a picture of the 3 of us together. Thanks Kyle!







What's next? We're taking our weekend of golf with our regular golf group in September. We're heading to Salt Creek in Nashville, Indiana this year. We all really look forward to this week in the fall. In October, Mary & I head back to South Carolina. This time we go to Myrtle Beach. We'll likely add a couple of days to the front of the trip as a pre-vacation warm-up.

I just got a new truck. I took delivery of my Honda Ridgeline this past Monday. As soon as I have a chance to take a few pictures, I'll post them.

VACATION!!!!!!!

After spending all of Spring coordinating and building Homearama, the Cincinnati Home show, Mary & I finally had a chance to take a little time off and head south.

First, a little about Homearama. This year the show included 10 homes, ranging in price from $1.6 million to $2.65M. Needless to say, there were a lot of egos to deal with in keeping the builders moving forward while at the same time building the subdivision and constructing all the amenities. I was accused of being a Nazi because I would not take no for an answer, but somebody needs to take control.


After taking care of all the things that were neglected leading up to and during Homearama, we were finally able to leave town the evening of July, 11. We headed to Etowah Valley in Hendersonville, NC for a couple of days of golf and a little "chill" time before our vacation officially began. I must say the folks there were as friendly as we have ever met and treated us like royalty. Dinner Thursday was "Jacket reqd." for all men, a little return of gentility. Friday we attended a Southern Bar-B-Que at the resort. They had ribs, chicken and pulled pork along with all the accroutements. It was great.

After playing golf on Friday, we headed up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and saw the waterfall shown here, Sliding Rock, where all the kids (and some adults) slid down the rock into an 8' deep pool. The air temperature was about 65 degrees when we were there but that didn't seem to hamper the fun.

Lastly, we went to Devils Courthouse. This is one of the highest points in the Appalacians at an elevation of 5,720 feet. We parked the car and then had to hike about the last 500 feet vertically. Glad to say all the exercise must be working because the ticker worked just fine even at this elevation. It was pretty cool up there with the temperature about 59 degrees. It was really cloudy on Friday afternoon, but the scenery was still fantastic!

One of the most fun things for me this part of the trip was playing the golf course "from the tips". Etowah Valley has 3 nines. On the 1st day, Thursday, we played the North and South Courses. When I looked at the scorecard, these 2 nines added up to be about 6,800 yards (I usually play from about 6,200 yards). I figured I was on vacation and could handle that.

On Friday, we were playing the South and West Courses. I didn't even look at the scorecard yardages until after we had played the South again and were on the 3rd hole on the West. The West Courses 1st hole was a par 4, 446 yards. Number 2, par 4, 439 yards. Number 3, par 4 415 yards. The combined South and West Courses were 7,100 yards! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I can at least say I survived!

Coming next - Kiawah Island.

Birthday Girl

I know I'm a little late, but here are some pictures from Mary's 50th birthday celebration. We had a big party at a friends house, complete with a band.

At the left, Mary's holding the cake her brother Mike baked for her.

At the right, Mary is celebrating with her mom.

Here's a view of the festivities while the band was taking a break.

And here's a picture of Liz, Kyle and Mary's Grandpuppy, Roscoe

Wedding Bell Blues!!

So much for retiring early! We've started planning for Liz's wedding to Kyle Asher, to be held on SUNDAY, May 25, 2008. We picked Sunday on Memorial Day weekend to hopefully make some peoples travel arrangements easier.

So far the Church, hall and priest have been booked.

The wedding will be at St. Columban Church in Loveland and the reception at "Receptions" in Eastgate.

More details to come.

What happens in Mexico.......

To the left are Janice & Alvin Doughty, our good friends who accompanied us to Mexico. Janice & Mary grew up together and have been lifelong friends. We started getting together as couples in 1979. It's a shame the girls are lousy Pinochle players!








Here's a picture of Mary & myself between two wings of the resort. The Aventura Resort has 1,200 rooms. You are looking at about 200 of them in this photo.










On Wednesday, we visited the last of the Mayan capitals at Tu'Lum. What a beautiful place. The settlement overlooks the Gulf of Mexico and is protected from the sea by the coral reef and from the land by stone walls.









The things we do for love... Mary "volunteered" me to participate in an audiance participation thingy before the "Mexico" show. Unfortunately, I can't say I was drunk at all, much less drunk enough to claim it never happened. I censored the worst of the pictures. Blessed is he who controls the download....

Winter Wonderland

We too have had our share of winter over the past couple of weeks. We had about 5 inches of snow two weeks ago, and last week we had about 3/8 inch of ice covered by another 4 - 5 inches of snow. Mary's parents and Uncle came and stayed with us one nioght because we were the only ones who still had electricity and heat. The temp went down into low single digits that night. Here's our yard with an Ortho photo I took..

Mary & I watched Roscoe, our Grandpuppy on Saturday night / Sunday morning. He's about a year and a half old (and about 85 pounds) and just loves the snow as you can see. He has a snout full in this picture. Liz & Kyle came over Sunday morning for breakfast and "The Beast" went back home with them.

Recent Photo

Mary & I went to a wedding in November and they took this photo of us. No. you're not going blind... it is in black & white!

We're Still Here!

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We just haven't been anywhere lately to report on.

In late February, we're heading for Adventura Spa / Resort in Riviera Maya (Mayan Riviera) near Cancun, Mexico. We're going with some great friends and are looking forward to the week away.

I am constructing the site for this year's Homearama, one of the largest new home shows in the Midwest. The cheapest home at this point is about $1.6 Millon and climbing. The most expensive is about $2.6. Needless to say, there is a lot at stake as most of these homes are Market homes, so everything needs to be perfect. Between now and June 8th, the date of the preview party, I will have my hands full getting everthing ready.

After Homearama, We're planning on heading back to Kiawah, SC with Liz and Kyle. Mary & I hope to be able to take a couple of extra days and stop at Pinehurst, NC for a little golf on the way down.

I am also geting involved in a project in Suzhou, China. Mike & I are trying to figure out if this is the same city he was working in a couple of years ago. We're just getting into this, but there is a chance that I will be going over there for a week. Our business partner from Hong Kong has purchased this site and wants to develop an American Styled community. More on this later.

Not much to post as to pictures. so Mary wanted me to send this picture of her buddy, Bogey. This cat is a PITA, as he acts more like a dog than a cat and demands constant attention.

Talk to you all later!

Go Bucks!!!!

Will Jim Tressel's crew win another National Championship? Will Troy Smith win the Heisman?? Stay tuned. It's gonna be Fun!!!!

What did they do with the money????

I'm sure a lot of money was spent on voice lessons. Where did it all go?

I'm not real sure of what to call this crew of vocalists, but they were sure having fun.

At this point we have no idea of when a Command Performance will be held, but hopefully it will be sooner than it took to get the whole crew together after Mikey's and Angie's wedding.

History Repeats Itself

Katy & Kent were married in a wonderful little Catholic Church located in the Iowa Countryside, north of Cedar Rapids, pictured at the right. It is Sts. Peter and Paul Church, which has been sold by the Archdiocese to a private group, so it is no longer "officially" a Catholic Church. It has recently been restored to a wonderful condition.









Katy's great great great great grandfather and grandmother, Heinrich Obert and Maria Agatha Lang, were married in Sts. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church (built in 1771) in Welschensteinach in the Black Forest Region of Germany. Their marriage occured on August 23, 1830, essentially 176 years and a week earlier than Katy & Kents Wedding. What goes around comes around!

I'm getting too involved in ancient history.

Who are these kids???

For those of you old enough to remember the Our Gang movies and subsequent re-play on TV, these 2 pictures could be stills from the show. To the left is a photo of my Mom, Marjorie Cushing, taken in Chicago.

To the right, on the pony, is my Uncle Bill. On the left side of the photo is my dad, Earle Obert, and on the right side is my Uncle Art. Everyone said I looked like Art. This photo was taken in Cincinnati.

It was not uncommon for photographers to go through the city with a pony or sometimes a monkey and get the housewives to have their children pose. Of course they would be looking for money if you wanted the photo. Since these photo's were taken during the Great Depression, it is a little remarkable that my Grandparents bought them, particularly the one of my Dad since Grandpa was a night watchman and did not make a lot of money, but at least he was working.

It would appear that these photos were taken in the early 1930's. Bill was born in 1926, and I'd guess he's about 5 or 6 in the photo, so that puts the date about 1931 - 32 and makes dad (born in 1921) about 10 - 11 years old. I'd like a cap and knickers like Dad has on!

It looks like mom (also born in 1921) is a little older in the photo, maybe 12 or 13, putting the date about 1933 - 1934.

A little history

On June 24, 1911, my grandparents were married at St. Pius Roman Catholic Church in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Cumminsville. Cumminsville is located near the old Art Deco railroad terminal. North of Cumminsville is the neighborhood of Northside and north of there is Spring Grove Cemetary. My great great grandfather (Charles) worked as a gardener at Spring Grove as did his father (Sebastian) who came to America in 1854.

The photograph at left is of my grandparents Clara Elizabeth Holdgreiwe, seated on the left, and Harry Obert, seated on the right. I've yet to confirm this, but the woman standing I believe is Harry's sister, Sarah FitzGerald, Matron of Honor, and the Best Man is is standing, Clara's brother, Charles Holdgreiwe. The Flower Girl is Clara's cousin, Marcella Schneider. The Celebrant of the Wedding Mass was Fr. John H. Berning.


The photo at the left was also taken on their wedding day, presumably at the reception. I have yet to identify the people at the left side of the photo. Harry & Clara are on the right side of the photo. It appears Harry had slickened his hair for the wedding and he let it "hang out" later in the day.

To the right is a copy of the newspaper announcement about their 50th wedding anniversary. Sorry it's so small, it's the best I can do.

It's Hard to Believe that......

Twenty one years ago Liz was born... I'm not that old. We took her to Olive Garden last night and then her grandparents and great aunt and uncle came over for cake and ice cream. Of course she and her beau Kyle had plans to go out later. The good news is that she didn't have to work today.

Liz - Aug. 21, 1985

Liz - Aug. 21, 2006 and with Kyle

Something Different

Today we decided to head to the closest thing to the Grand Canyon I've seen in Ohio. I know, it is a stretch, but it is also only an hour away.

We drove the Saab up this morning and had a late breakfast at the Clifton Mill, an antiquated grist mill that still operates on the Gorge. They operate a full service restaurant at the mill.





Clifton Gorge is a canyon carved through the limestone near Xenia and Yellow Springs, Ohio. In one place, the pass between the rock faces is only about 10 feet across.








While on the trail we passed this patch of Black-Eyed Susans. There was some Poison Ivy (see the leaves in the upper left of the picture), that I tried to keep out of the picture. Hopefully Marsha does not catch Poison Ivy just based on the picture.

Mary finally wrestled the camera from me and took my picture. We hiked to the bottom of the gorge, which took us about an hour after stopping for pictures and reading all the descriptive plaques. We headed back up the trail since Mary is still nursing her torn tendon and it looks like I may have messed up my knee a little. I'll find out more in about a week. I really don't want anything to mess up the rest of golf season, but if I need to have it fixed I want it done this year since I have all my deductables met.

What's Next???

Mary & I are back from our most recent trip, an extended weekend in Cheboygan Michigan with our friends Neal & Lynn Oury. Other friends of ours own this house, the one on the far right in this picture on Duncan Bay, and insisted that we use it for a few days. We left Cincinnati on Wednesday and played golf at Black Lake, Boyne Highlands and at Hidden River on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and drove home on Sunday.
I played lousy except at Boyne, but we were rained out on the 8th hole (got a raincheck so we'll have to go back next year)! Mary was playing really well and she's threatening to be the lowest scorer in the family!

The picture to the left is at the harbor area and the City of Cheboygan beach. We all went sunning / swimming for a couple of hours Saturday morning before golf. We also went to Harbor Springs for a little shopping for the girls. Nice little town.

Our next excursion is Katy's wedding. We'll be heading out on Friday morning and driving home on Monday. Two weeks after that is our annual golf weekend in Granville, OH. Four couples go up for Friday and Saturday evenings and we play golf on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We pick a weekend that Ohio State is at home and we have the golf course mostly to ourselves on Saturday. We're also thinking about heading down toward Louisville for a weekend sometime this fall. Since we went to Myrtle Beach in the spring, we've got nothing planned for this fall as far as a week away, so I'd like to get out of town for a couple of days at least.

Next Trip

Well, we've been back from the Carolinas for about a month now and we're ready for vacation. A friend of ours has a house in Cheboygan, MI and has offered to let us use it. We're heading up there in mid July for a short week to play a little golf with another couple. We're looking forward to exploring the golf courses in another part of the US with this trip.

I'm getting to the point where I might want to consider the challange of playing golf in every state. So far, I'm limited to Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and California. That is only 20% of the states. Hmmmm, this could be fun!

Mary's foot is slowly coming around. She's easing out of the boot and is now having physical therapy to try to loosen it up. It's killing her not being able to walk. We borrowed a friends Airdyne bike, but that doesn't do it for Mary. They said she should wait another 4 weeks or so before she starts resuming her exercise walk.

Myrtle Beach

Mary & I are having a great time in Myrtle Beach, despite the weather. It's been cool and cloudy until late this afternoon when the sun finally came out. We played Caladonia yesterday, a great track that was impeccibly maintained. Today, we played the West course at Myrtle Beach National. A very good course that was a lot of fun.

Our playing partners yesterday were Carmillo and his nephew Anthony from Delaware. They were quite the Italians and a lot of fun to play with. I wonder if they had an Uncle Guido???

Today we played with Bill and his son Kenny. Kenny is 21 years old and just had a lesson to straighten out his game. Boy, was that kid screwed up!! They were both a lot of fun. We meet the nicest people on the golf courses and we also have been meeting some other nice people at the resort and restaurants. Somehow we need to figure out how to do this 48 weeks a year and to work 4 weeks a year.

Pinehurst and Southern Pines NC

Mary & I have been here for just over 24 hours and we both just love the place. We had dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant last night called Raphaele's that was recommended to us and it was fantastic. We played golf today at Legacy in Aberdeen. This course was designed by Jackie Nicklaus, the son of Jack Nicklaus. He did daddy fine with the course design.

Tonight we were recommended a seafood restaurant named Aqua in Southern Pines. It again left a little to be desired in appearance as it was only a storefront, but the food was excellent. We'd go back to either restaurant again.

The golf today was a good warm-up. Neither of us did too well, but we didn't embarrass ourselves. We played with a Lou, a retired stockbroker from New Jersey who traded on the New York exchange, and his brother-in-law Bill, a retired insurance man who now lives in Vero Beach, FL. They were both really nice guys. Lou moved to the Pinehurst area about 3 years ago and loves it here. I think either of them should adopt us as there is no way they could ever spend all of the money they have and we could help them.

We stopped by the Members clubhouse at Pinehurst after golf today. What a place. They even had a lawn bowling court and 2 croquet courses. The putting green was enormous and the whole facility was fantastic.

We'll report later from Myrtle Beach. We'll drive there tomorrow and play golf on Monday. I forgot my camera today but I will definately have it later.

Start your engines

Ready to go. Grass is cut, bags packed, about time for a little shut-eye and then hit the road. 9-1/2 hours from departure we'll be in the Mecca of golf, Pinehurst NC. I was talking to a business associate today and he mentioned how we needed to at least visit Pinehurst #2 while we are there. It is gorgeous from what we hear. I'll try to post a couple of photo's as soon as I can!

Oops!

Mary went to the Doctor today to find out why her ankle has been bothering her so much the past couple of weeks. She found out she has a partially torn tendon, and needs to wear an air-cast boot for 4 to 6 weeks. This is exactly what she wanted to hear before heading out on a golf vacation where WE ARE GOING to play 5 rounds of golf while we're gone. She'll use her golf shoe on the course and wear the boot the rest of the time.

This a picture of Mary on the Asheville Municipal Golf Course in October, 2005. Great Mountain views and some day, we'll stay at the Grove Park Inn.

Getting Ready

As I get older, it becomes unceasingly more difficult to cut things loose before heading out on vacation. Not so many years ago, you simply came home from work one day and got in the car and went. Now, the aggrevation of getting all of the business issues taken care of and people to cover for you while you're away makes it seem that it is not worth the effort of going. My means to combat this is to start my vacation on a Friday so the week of vacation turns into a 10 day vacation. At least this way, by the time you answer and return all the cell phone calls and emails, you still feel like you got the week off! Maybe this is reverse logic, but it works for me!

Getting Started

My brother, sister, niece and nephew all started blog pages so now I feel obligated to do the same in order to "keep up with the Jonses" so to speak.

Mary & I have known each other since 1970 or 71. I went to high school with her older brother, and she went to high school with my younger sister. We actually went out on a group date while in high school to see "Jesus Christ Super Star". We later caught up with each other after I graduated from college and started dating. Our courtship was not very long. Our first date was in November, we got engaged New Years Eve and were Married on September 13.

Now that our daughter has "left the nest", we play as much golf as we can and go out with friends. Most Saturday evenings we will go to Mass, play 9 holes of golf and then go out to dinner. A pretty great evening in my book.

We are leaving soon for a vacation in Pinehurst, NC, then on to Myrtle Beach, SC and Hilton Head. We plan on playing golf nearly every day while we're gone.





This photo is from our Spring '05 trip to California. We packed nothing but shorts and wound up freezing most of the week.
This picture is from the Desert Princess Golf Course. The high temp this day was about 61 with 30 mph winds.













This is our weekend driver. The current license plate is "CAR 4 PAR". It is a 1991 Saab 900 S, with a SPG Package. It is the last model manufactured by Saab without GM involvement. It was built at the Helsinki Finland plant.