The Lamson Cup

My brother Tom and his wife Rita spend their summers in Michigan and their Winters in Viero Beach Florida.  Tom is 11 years older than Kay and I.  So in the family dynamics he's part of the first family.(explained in another blog)  

He called about a week ago to see if I'd like to play golf on the 14th.  I told him I had only played early in the season and not since, but I'd love to play.  I mentioned the lack of play only so he would know I might be an embarrassment on the course not to gain any betting advantage.  He said,"Then this will be for the Lamson Trophy."  Years ago I bought an old bowling trophy at Salvation Army and made it into what I called the Lamson Cup.  I thought we could play each year for it and that would assure that we would at least play golf once a year.  After a few years we let our Brother-in-law Harold in on the competition and he always won so we quit playing for it.  Now, Harold has passed on so we can restart the tradition.  That was the joke.  We really just played for the chance to get together.

I got on line to find a couple of golf jokes so in case the opportunity arose I'd be prepared.  When I arrived at Tyrone Hills, Tom was already there and had got a golf cart and was practicing putting.  We greeted on the practice green and I practiced a few putts myself.  I had a different putter I had never tried before.  Soon we were teeing off on number one and catching up on each others health and families etc.  The golf was pretty good and it was just a beautiful day.  On the 12th green you can look out over the course and I took a few seconds to take it in.  

Tom had brought along a small insulated bag.  When I saw it I thought he might have a couple of beers in there.  It's a sign of our age though that he had a couple of waters and two Five Hour Energy drinks.  He had bought them to try out because Rita had been in an accident awhile back and had very little energy while recuperating.  She refused to try them so we each had one.  I think they affected my game negatively.  I don't think I'll use it again.

After teeing off on 13, Tom noticed some mushrooms out front of the tee.  We checked to see if they were non-poisonous and they were.  We picked a nice batch of them and later found a few more.  I told Tom that I remembered picking mushrooms with our Dad.  We would walk though the cow pastures and find the same variety there. Tom said now he would have to buy an expensive steak to use his free mushrooms on.

We said goodby and promised to play again before the weather gets cold this Fall.  I'm really glad we found the mushrooms.  It made it more than golf.  

 I fried up my mushrooms and mixed them with some left over ground beef that we had had the day before as taco meat.  There was more than I could eat.  I hope Tom enjoyed his mushrooms.  I'm sure he did.  He was so happy to find them and was really anticipating dinner.