Summer ~ Whistling Straights

I’m happy that the PGA golf tournament has come and gone. This event, played over the weekend at the very trying Whistling Straights club, is the last of the four ‘majors’ and signifies the denouement of the golf season. Given the difficulty of the course (over 1000 sand traps) and the narrow fairways, I was thankful to be watching on TV.

Actually, this being an even year – 2010 – we still have the treat of another big occasion in early October. The Ryder Cup pits the best of the European golfers against the best of the USA every other year. Always compelling, this event has become more and more interesting given the big egos of celebrity golfers and the fact that they have to compete as a team rather than individuals as they do each weekend in the regular season. Stay tuned…

However, I digress. I’m happy that the PGA tournament is over because it marks the end of 2009-2010 school term and roughly my work year. Here’s why:

I carry around one of those little ‘at-a-glance’ calendars in my briefcase. Just to be very clear: it is an academic-at-a-glance calendar marketed, one assumes, for educators like me who think in a September to August cycle. I enter my school appointments, family milestones and major sporting events to which I’m addicted. Consequently, my calendar looks very full.

The PGA event is the final date entered into my little black diary. For the next few weeks, the calendar is blank – tabula rasa – empty.