Capturing Phil's Stories: Three in One

 

Photo from our outdoor lunch in downtown Palm Springs
At a Greek restaurant!
PS. I had a Paloma - introduced to me by Sami on Christmas Eve.
Her's are sooo much better! 

On Friday, while we were sitting at lunch in Palm Springs, someone walked by and we got a whiff of patchouli, that fragrant oil associated with our hippy days. Well, for those of us that had a phase of living a life somewhat 'natural', free, bohemian, and cheap. Shit, I was in Chico going to school and threw away a good investment of Tupperware, because it was plastic. And, to this date I still regret that toss! I miss some of my funky containers, hose bright oranges and yellows. The covered plates were my favorites. Oh, and I had that phase of not shaving my legs or armpits, while I was still living in the bay area, just before going to Chico, and then there were all my beautiful printed skirts, and shirts, with gold thread woven through, and bells on the drawstrings.. I got them dirt cheap. These days? So expensive! Thanks Coachella music festival and burning man for making the bohemian look 'the look'. but I digress....

Back to Phil's stories.

So, the patchouli scent prompted one of Phil's memories... He was a freshman at 'Rocky' in Billings Montana, and on the football team. He was lucky to be on the big boys team (I forget the words he used) and they were traveling on a bus to South Dakota. Well, the bus driver was also a cop, and drove the bus as a side gig. Anyway, he and Phil were outside the bus, chatting, and a gal walked by who smelled of patchouli, and the cop said 'that girl smells like weed', and Phil said, 'that's not weed, it's patchouli' and the cop insisted it was pot, and Phil then educated him on patchouli oil. I'll let your mind wander on that one, such as how many folks might have gotten 'checked out' for pot because they smelled like patchouli oil.

Then, later that day, (present day, not the college day) we were doing our 2 mile walk with Tommie down the road and back, and a school bus drove by... which reminded Phil of a friend who used to sell Freebird school buses. This was in Casper, WY. Just some random memory that popped in his head, while we were walking. He talked about the friend and his wife, who Phil and his wife would spend a lot of time with when Molly, Phil's 2nd daughter and one of their daughters were friends. He said it was short, about 2 or 3 years out of their lives. But the couple were great people. 

And then there was a 'well isn't that something' thing that happened to me while I was getting my golf lesson yesterday. So, this was my 2nd lesson with an instructor by the name of Mary Oliver (love her name, as in the wonderful poet). My first lesson was 'the basics' which was how to hold my clubs correctly and get setup (MAJOR game changer), and the 2nd lesson was on chipping, which is the worst part of my game... Anyway, she was talking about the mind will 'remember' a habit, how to 'tic toc' and sweep the grass, and then she said 'Kidneys'! Which is a Philism! He says 'Kidneys' when referencing  himself being smart!

I need to google where this kidney thing comes from. I thought it was from his family, but he said nope, it's something he picked up. 

There you go... 

ps. We played 18 holes on Saturday. My first hole was the worst, I hate it when people behind us can see me tee off. But after that? Did better and better! Chipping included!