Closets, Coats and Cameras

Since my dad passed away in February, my mom has been on a kick to clean things out.

Among my dad's many attributes, it seems he was a bit of a pack-rat.

Anyway, as I reported back in the spring, we spent a day cleaning out the garage and filling one of those roll-away dumpsters. Then, again, in the summer, we went through a closet and got items to donate to charity. 

On Saturday, we're doing to do Round 3. It's a bit of a mish-mesh of some things from their back porch and garage and, if there is room on the truck (there likely will be), my sister will contribute some items. This load is all bound for the dump. 

Earlier this week, I spent some time getting ready for Saturday. 

First, we went through my folks' hall closet and stuffed two large trash bags full of coats (his and her's). I took them to a local dry cleaner for donation to the annual "Coats for the Cold" charity drive. It felt really good knowing some coats that have just been hanging, idly, in their closet for some time might benefit someone who is in need. 

Mom felt good about it, too.

I noticed on the shelves of this closet some of their old camera equipment, including an old Kodak camera.

That came into play, a bit later, as I went back to the garage and was sorting some boxes to go on the load Saturday. These were things we missed when we did Round One back in the spring.

In one of the boxes, I found some more paperwork that will go to the shred bin. And, in another one of the boxes, I found an odd mix of old photographs.

There's no real rhyme or reason to the pix. There were all just thrown, randomly, in one box. Some of them seem to have been taken with the old Kodak; others are more recent. In any case, I put them aside for us all to review on Saturday. It's possible someone might want some (or all) for their collection.

I also found a child's drawing and a children's book in the same random box. I put those aside as well.

Before we start to work on Saturday, we plan to meet for breakfast and I'm sure the books and pix will be a topic of conversation.

Another topic of conversation, I'm sure, will be the shed in their back yard. It needs a lot of work, to be sure. But that's another project for another time.

JG

Tip off

The 2026-27 college basketball season is underway. 

My two favorite mens teams each won their first game of the season - an excellent way to tip off the season.

During his ball-playing days, my son Paul used to say that basketball season was what connected fall and spring baseball. Indeed, that is how it sets up this year (and many years). 

The World Series ended last week. Hoops started Monday-Tuesday of this week. March Madness ends  April 5. The 2027 MLB season is scheduled to begin March 25.

So, we can ride the hardwood all the way through next year's spring training and up to Opening Day.

Despite my professed love of baseball, I actually played more organized basketball than any other sport. By my count, I played at least five seasons of youth basketball that I can remember and probably more. 

I've always remembered one specific quote one of my coaches said over and over again. And he'd punctuate it with a staccato delivery. 

"You've Got. To Learn. To Think. (pause) To Play Basketball!" (with a pronounced southern accent, the sport wound up sounding like "base-kit-bahl"). 

What he was trying to say, I think, was that the game moves fast and you should always have in mind what you will do if the ball bounces your way. 

In those days, I played the 4 or 5 (if you can imagine). So, if I rebounded the ball on one end of the court, for instance, I was always looking to one of the guards to be racing toward our goal. I could feed them with my rebound for a fast break bucket. 

That's the kind of anticipation, I think, he was asking us to develop.

And as I've told you, growing up in a neighborhood of other sports-minded kids, we were often playing pick-up basketball on someone's driveway - sometimes my own. There weren't those sorts of fast break opportunities in a confined space but, still, developing a mind for the game was helpful. 

On a couple occasions, we held a one-on-one tournament -- kind of an extension of some of the other sports we organized in the neighborhood along with the "snow bowl," the "turkey bowl," the neighborhood olympics and several sandlot baseball games. 

I tried coaching basketball one season and it never really clicked for me. I'm sure I could have done better if I had put the same kind of effort into learning the craft as I did for baseball. But, by that point, we were halfway through our youth sports era and there simply wasn't the time. Leave it to the other guys.

But I've always enjoyed watching the game. In fact, my dad and I probably spent more time watching college basketball together than any other sport. Helped with his "think spring" campaign I told you about on Monday.

Anyway, the season is now officially underway. I *think* I'm going to enjoy it.

JG

Sur les ondes

A ham radio site I frequently visit recently asked the following question:
What ham radio achievement from years ago do you still think about and remember with pride?

It's a great question. And it opens up so many possibilities.

For me, there would be lots of candidates and I've told you about many of them. I have achieved many of them since my I got back Sur les ondes (on the airwaves) in 2021.

But one in particular comes to mind. Before I get into the details, some background.

When my two closest friends and I went to high school, the subject of foreign language came up in some of our curriculum planning discussions. Normally, we would have all registered for the same classes. We did this with World Geography, for instance.  But where foreign language was concerned, we all went in different directions. 

One signed up for Latin, another picked Spanish, I chose French. Just a curiosity more than anything.

I made a good choice as I excelled. Guess that is one indication that language is a strong suit in our family. It's a good thing, right?

By August 1980, I had three years of high school French under my belt heading into a fourth. I was getting pretty good at it. By then, I was also an experienced CW (morse code) operator.

On Sunday the 24th, I turned on my rigs and settled in for an afternoon of DX operating via CW.

My logbook for that day shows I made contacts with stations in Bulgaria, Ireland, Poland and West Germany among others. And I also made contact with a French station, F6FSG. The QSO seems to have lasted roughly a half hour.

The station's location was in Southern France; the town was Perpignan. The operator's name was Suzanne. She was roughly my age. 

Now, imagine the mindset of a teenage boy full of bravado. For the next half hour, I kicked my language skills into high gear. 

My dad used to say that when you master morse code, it becomes a group of sounds rather than individual dots and dashes. For example, a question mark .._ _ .. sounds like "ditty dum dum ditty." My name, which I have sent thousands of times over the years, ditdahdahdah dit dittydahdit dittydahdit.

So, it becomes hard-wired into your brain. And since English is the international language for ham radio operators, we Americans have the home court advantage, so to speak.

Now imagine tearing all of that up, on the fly, to impress a teenage French girl who was also "Sur les ondes" that day. Instead of falling back to my usual ham radio English, I did a quick translation of English to French and French to morse code. That's fast thinking!

I think I impressed her. At least, I hope so. The QSO went on for 30 minutes until the band shifted and we had to sign off. 

At any rate, when I read the question about a ham radio accomplishment, this is the one that comes to mind. And, in a way, it sets the standard for me to think en français when I am talking to a French operator. I still try to add a few phrases if not do an entire cycle in their home language rather than mine.

A footnote: I went to QRZ.com the other day to see if Suzanne is still active as an amateur radio operator and she does have a listing under the same call sign. It looks like she has moved her QTH (location) to the Paris suburbs. There was no photo, email address or any sort of bio info. So, my fact finding stops there.

Who knows? Maybe I'll run into her on the air again sometime. If not, it's still pretty cool to think of my fast thinking and one of my favorite ham radio moments from a late summer Sunday afternoon all those years ago.

JG

Gaining an Hour

For the record: I am no fan of the "fall back" time change that occurred over the weekend. Yawning at 6:30 p.m. is not on the list of my favorite things. 

There, I said it. 

If you're a fan of earlier dark, more dark and just...well...dark, then, all I can say is "I'm sorry" or "Happy for you." I think the others in my family--my wife in particular--absolutely love this time of year. 

Thus, we have the annual yin-yang. I run around and run the clocks back and change out batteries in smoke detectors and she grins and huddles under a blanket because she's "gaining an hour."

I am happy for her but sad for myself.  I woke up at 4 a.m. today and coaxed myself back to sleep for one more hour before giving up.

It'll be five long months until we emerge from the bleak mid-winter; until we reach the other side of this metaphorical tunnel of darkness.

It was even worse when I was a little kid growing up in the eastern part of the central time zone. You'd come home from school and, whoop there it is: nighttime. Not much time to enjoy until you had to go take a bath, get ready for bed and face the next day at school. No fun for a little shaver.

I was traveling on business some years ago. Again, I was in the eastern part of the central time zone about this time of year.

We were in meetings all day at one of those hotel/conference center complexes. Some of my colleagues got together a group to go out to dinner after our final session of the day. The plan was that we'd all go freshen up and then meet at the hotel's front door.

I stepped outside the building at 4:30 p.m. And, again, there is was. Darkness falling in the central time zone. Just like when I was a kid.

Maybe that is why my dad was so vocal on the topic. He spent many more years in the central time zone than I did. I remember how he would always start his annual "think spring" campaign about now. He was serious about it. 

And like me, he'd celebrate when we get to "spring forward" in March.

To be fair, between now and then, there are plenty of things to be excited about:

• College Basketball Season (which tips off tonight)
• The Holiday Season (did you realize it is just a short 24 days 'til Thanksgiving Day)
• The start of the New Year in just 49 days (and the blank slate that comes with it)
• Birthday celebrations galore

So, it's not ALL bleak. 

Mostly, it's just an annual good-natured rite of passage - the push/pull between an extrovert who likes to get out and go see the people and an introvert who enjoys her cocooning. 

So, for now, let me go get another blanket for her and a cup of cocoa. As for me, I'll just glare at the calendar and dream heroic dreams.

JG