Author Archives: Woody

Horseshoes and Thrown Newspapers

by Woody

This morning, like most every morning, I will start the day by getting down on my knees.

Not in prayer, but to retrieve My Favorite Newspaper from beneath my car in the driveway. Actually, sometimes I do wish to God my arms were a little longer so I could reach the newspaper without having to move the car out of the way.

I cannot help but think my newspaper carrier is having a little fun on his early-morning rounds, like he or she is playing a version of “horseshoes.” A toss that skids to a stop dead-center out of reach is a “ringer” and anywhere else under the car is a “leaner.”

It simply cannot be by accident that roughly five newspapers a week are leaners and at least one is a ringer. Tom Brady wishes he had such an accurate arm.

Before we had our front lawn replaced with drought resistant landscaping, having the paper wind up shaded by the car was actually welcomed because it kept the newsprint safe and dry from the morning sprinklers. Truth be told, I still look forward to seeing if our carrier has hit the horseshoe stake each morning.

Tossing a newspaper from a moving car or pickup truck and hitting a driveway, much less a bull’s-eye under a car, is no small feat. But one of my great boyhood friends could top that by landing a newspaper on a front porch, and even on the “Welcome” doormat, while pedaling a stingray bicycle at full speed.

Indeed, Don could make perfect throws overhanded, backhanded, side-armed and I think even behind-the-back. He was like Pete Maravich on a fastbreak, but on a bike. This was way back when My Favorite Newspaper was still called The Star-Free Press and was an evening paper, except for Sunday mornings.

One of the casualties of most newspapers switching to morning publication seven days a week was the necessity of replacing paperboys and papergirls with adult carriers. I say this because kids with paper routes, thanks to the dedication and responsibility instilled, always seemed to grow up to be standout adults. Don, for example, became Ventura City Fire Chief.

On occasion I would help Don fold and rubber-band his 100 or so newspapers, me doing one for every four or five he did, before loading them into a huge double-pocketed canvas bag he strapped to the handlebars of his stingray.

I will never forget the first time Don asked me to sub for him. He gave me the list of addresses, including certain houses that had to be “porched” meaning the newspaper couldn’t simply be tossed onto the driveway, and a couple homes where it needed to be tucked inside the front screen door.

It took me ten times longer than Don would have needed, but eventually I got all the newspapers folded and rubber-banded and loaded into the canvas bag. I excitedly rode off, tossing newspapers like Frisbees, and everything was going fine until Don’s stingray became squirrelly and …

… a house or three later, my throw threw me off balance and bike and rider crashed and fell.

Don laughed his great laugh the next day when I told him about my mishap. I had learned the hard way something he forgot to mention: be sure to take the papers alternately out of the left and right sides of the canvas bag or else it will slowly grow imbalanced in weight.

In other words, like the straw that breaks the camel’s back, one too many extracted newspapers topples the bike.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Today’s Words Brought To You By…

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Today’s Column Is

Brought To You By…

(Today’s Woody Woodburn Column is brought to you, in part, by the United States Postal Service: “Email, texts, Twitter, Snapchat, Zoom and Facebook are newfangled fads. We’ve been around since 1792 and promise to be here serving you old-school style at least until April 2021!”)

Drastic times call for draconian measures. Newspapers are reinventing themselves in search of new revenue streams, so much so that when I asked my editor for a raise his reply was, “Wood-Bum, I’m of half-a-mind to start charging you to print your drivel each Saturday morning!” That estimate of his brainpower seems about right and also gave me a brainstorm idea.

(The following paragraph is sponsored by Tesla: “Our 2021 fleet of electric vehicles offers the forward-thinking you’ve grown to expect from Tesla – and from Woody’s column.”)

Do you want to become an official sponsor in a future column? Like the sneaker ad says, “Just do it!” Call 1-900-WOODY-AD. Consider this: a 30-second commercial during the 2021 Super Bowl cost a whopping $5.5 million, but for a tiny fraction of that you can be the title sponsor of an entire 600-word essay in this space that takes nearly three minutes to read. What a bargain!

Sure, sure, I know these pop-up ads break the flow of this column, what trickling flow there was to begin with – (This sentence is brought to you by MaxFlo: “We help you go fast, not slow!”)  – but sacrifices must be made. I mean, have you watched TV news lately? The sports reports are all “brought to you by” memory enhancement supplements and other products I can’t remember. Furthermore, the P.O.D. (Play Of the Day) highlight has its own P.O.D. (Payer Of the Day) sponsor.

(Today’s P.O.D. – Paragraph Of the Day – is presented by Staples, the official office supplier of Woody’s pens, printer paper and cartridge toner.)

College football bowl games, sports stadiums and arenas all shill their naming rights to corporate America. Meanwhile, pro tennis players and golfers wear so many advertising patches they look like walking billboards. And have you seen a NASCAR racecar? The only place without a sponsor’s decal is a spot on the windshield for the driver to peep out through.

(This segment of today’s column is proudly presented to you by Eyebobs: “Our reading glasses bring Woody’s words into clear focus.”)

A few boxers have even gone so far as to temporarily tattoo ads on their backs. Yes, in the world of sports endorsements, everything is for sale. Well, what’s good for the sports goose is good for the former sports columnist.

Meanwhile, Hollywood is even worse – or better! – with movie plots and TV shows now designed around product placements. Since it all begins on the printed page, why shouldn’t writers (me!) get in on the lucrative action?

(The following Venti paragraph is brought to your coffee table by Starbucks.)

I am also looking to land a computer endorsement deal. If athletes can earn millions to wear a certain brand sports shoe, why shouldn’t writers (me again!) at least get a 20-percent discount on a laptop? Heck, maybe Apple will pay me to use a Microsoft Surface or Dell XPS instead of my current MacBook Pro!

(The closing thought of this week’s column is brought to you by Yolanda’s Mexican Cafe: “Even an NFL offensive lineman can’t finish our Grande Tostada!”)

Is my idea half-baked literary lunacy? Or marketing genius? Well, Mark Twain once observed: “Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” I’m banking on it.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Jewell-Like Senior Visits Are Missed

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Jewell-Like Senior

Visits Are Missed

It has been nearly a year since coronavirus knocked the world tush over teakettle. Perhaps no group has been more upended than senior citizens who not only are among the most vulnerable to the heinous disease, but can feel lonely and quarantined even in the best of times.

Indeed, not being able to visit my 94-year-old father in the Ventura Townehouse for much of the past 11 months due to COVID-19 lockdowns has made my empathy surge for those elderly folks who have no one to visit them even outside with safe social distancing.

This, in turn, has me thinking about a former Townehouse resident named Jewell. Thanks to Ventura County’s Caregivers Assisting The Elderly, a sparkling jewel of an organization, and its student volunteer program, Jewell did have visitors.

Jewell with her favorite scarf.

“After school and on weekends, groups of teenagers supervised by Caregiver adults visit the homes of senior citizens and help them with gardening, cleaning and other household chores,” recalls my daughter, Dallas, who joined the program as a high school sophomore. “But the most requested service is simply providing a few minutes of company.”

Caregivers as friendship givers.

“Jewell was a natural storyteller who delighted in the smallest details,” Dallas shares. “I learned that as a young woman, she and her mother moved to California from Missouri. Jewell had lived in Ventura for more than half a century and I loved hearing what my hometown was once like.”

Long before Caregivers assisted Jewell, she was the caregiver for her mother through a long terminal illness.

“Even when sharing a sad story,” Dallas marvels, “Jewell would end it with a smile and say, ‘I sure am lucky. I’ve had such a blessed life.’ She was an inspiration.”

When Dallas moved off to college, her younger brother filled her absence visiting Jewell. Too, Dallas stayed in touch with letters and visited during holidays and summers.

“She never married and had no children, but I like to think Greg and I became her surrogate grandchildren,” Dallas says, adding happily: “Other Townehouse residents often assumed we were her grandkids and she always smiled and never corrected them.”

Dallas laughingly remembers their lunch outings together and how her frail companion sprinkled Splenda on most everything, including syrupy pancakes. But an even sweeter memory was the time Jewell asked Dallas and Greg to drive her to the drugstore because she dearly wanted a disposable camera.

“We had to go right away in the middle of a visit,” Dallas retells. “When we finally returned to her room, the urgency of her request became clear – she wanted to take a picture of the three of us to put on her refrigerator.”

“I miss you when you’re away,” Jewell told them.

“We miss you, too,” they replied.

When the photos were developed, Jewell mailed them copies and included a snapshot of her wearing a sky-blue scarf Dallas knitted as a gift the previous Christmas.

“I love that photo,” Dallas says. “I have it in a frame in my living room. Jewell’s smile was contagious – still is.”

Ten years ago last week, a brief illness claimed Jewell’s life at age 86.

“I was living in Indiana and as always sent my dear friend a card for Valentine’s Day,” Dallas shares. “Jewell died on February 12, but I like to think she received my card before she passed.”

As the final line of “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway says, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

It’s also pretty to think of all our seniors getting COVID-19 vaccinations and again enjoying in-person visits that are precious as jewels.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Empathy Lesson Remains Wise

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Empathy Lesson

Remains Wise

Something my Grandpa Ansel told me long ago is surely a lesson your own grandfather or grandma taught you: “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”

Atticus Finch put it more poetically, and powerfully, in “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Speaking to his daughter Scout he said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Empathy, like COVID-19 vaccines, seems to be in especially short supply of late. Indeed, I was reminded of Atticus and Ansel’s words by a recent story in The Washington Post followed by an encounter I witnessed in a local parking lot.

I will begin with the newspaper account of a home in Long Island that kept its outdoor Christmas lights and decorations up well past the holidays. When February arrived, an anonymous neighbor sent a typed letter that was far from being a sweet Valentine’s Day card: “Take your Christmas lights down! Its Valentines Day!!!!!!”

In addition to lacking an apostrophe in “It’s” and grossly overusing exclamation marks, both far worse offenses than delinquent decorations, the scolding letter had the opposite effect than intended. Instead of 31-year-old Sara Pascucci taking down her colored lights and ornaments, house after house in her neighborhood put theirs back up.

This happened after Pascucci shared her personal plight with a Facebook group of local moms. In other words, others got the chance to walk a mile in her shoes – and learned they were heavy with grief.

In January, Pascucci’s father and aunt both died of COVID-19 within a week of one another. Her dad, by the way, was the one who put up her holiday decorations as he did each year. Moreover, this was the first year her 2-year-old son could really enjoy the twinkling lights.

If the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance – had a sixth stage, it might be Taking Down The Christmas Decorations One’s Father Put Up For The Very Last Time. Indeed, Pascucci could not yet bring herself to do so.

Sounding a little like Atticus and Ansel, she wrote on her Facebook posting: “No one really knows what is going on inside the house or why we didn’t take down the decorations. I couldn’t believe someone would do this.”

Also unbelievable, and happily so, was the show of support from her neighbors once they climbed inside of her skin and walked around in it.

From Long Island we travel to a parking lot with a view of the Channel Islands where a car pulled into a handicapped spot directly in front of the entrance to a store. Even though a blue-and-white Disabled Person Placard was in plain site hanging from the rearview mirror, the driver – along with his daughter, who seemed no older than 10 – was challenged by a rude stranger.

Instead of “Take your Christmas lights down! Its Valentines Day!!!!!!” The Rude Man sneered, complete with an abundance of exclamation marks: “You can’t park here! You’re not handicapped!! Where’s your wheelchair?!!! You’re not limping!!!!”

To his credit, the father shielded his young daughter and went inside the store without engaging with The Rude Man for he had no obligation to explain what disability – heart condition, back issues, fill-in-the blank – is going on beneath his skin.

Rather, The Rude Man needs to learn that trying to get under someone’s skin is not the same as climbing inside it. Had he walked in the father’s shoes, he might have understood the invisible limp.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Forecast: 92-Percent Chance Of Love

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Forecast: 92-Percent

Chance Of Love

If the weather app on you phone says there’s 92-percent chance of rain, you’d best take your umbrella or wear a raincoat.

If Netflix ranks a movie title a 92-pecent match with your viewing history, it’s a coin toss if you’ll actually like it.

And if an online dating site claims you are a 92-percent match with another person, I would suggest you go meet someone the old-fashioned way at a party, park, bookstore or grocery store aisle.

To begin with, if “opposites attract” shouldn’t you want more like a 12-percent match? Perhaps dating algorithms take this into account, but I’m still a naysayer.

Without ever having used one, my complaint with dating apps is not that they aren’t good matchmakers but rather that they are raining on one of my favorite things to do when I’m introduced to a couple. Be they engaged or newlyweds or married for decades, I like to ask: “How did you meet?”

Almost without fail, their faces light up and I’m treated to a story they love to tell. Quite often it’s more entertaining than a rom-com. Alas, how does a meet-cute happen in cyberspace?

Let me tell you how. Actually, I shall let my daughter Dallas tell you. First, as a teaser trailer, imagine “You’ve Got Mail” with Meg Ryan’s book-loving “Shopgirl” character played by an equally adorable girl who loves books and sunflowers. Meanwhile, cantankerous Joe Fox with the email username “NY152” is played by a good-looking young man as likeable as the real-life Tom Hanks.

Spoiler alert: The sunflower-loving girl, a Dodgers fan by the way, and the young man who has loved the Oakland A’s since boyhood have now been married four years and have a precious 2-year-old daughter.

And so, with February being the month of “Love and Romance” and Cupid and Valentine’s Day, I now turn the column over to Dallas:

Lovebirds Allyn and Dallas — Hollywood name, Dallyn!

“One night in late January 2014, ‘Sunflowergirl87’ was browsing OkCupid when she came across a photo of a handsome guy with a bird on his shoulder, ‘OaktownA’sFan,’ who the dating-site algorithm declared was a 92% match. She decided to reach out with a message.

“ ‘Hi! I was really drawn to your profile – you seem like such a genuine, adventurous, glass-half-full person, and I just wanted to reach out and say hello . . .’

“OaktownA’sFan read this sincere, heart-on-her-sleeve message and immediately knew this girl had not been online dating for long, because she sounded way too optimistic and friendly. ‘I better swoop her up fast,’ he thought.

“ ‘Hi there! Thank you for such a sweet and thoughtful message. I would love to meet up for coffee or tea sometime!’

“They messaged back and forth a little bit – about Dallas’s writing, Allyn’s sustainable business MBA, dogs, random acts of kindness – before OaktownA’sFan (‘my name is Allyn, pronounced Alan’) asked sunflowergirl87 (‘my name is Dallas, like the city’) out for ice cream at Lottie’s Ice Cream Parlor in Walnut Creek.

“Their first date, on February 1, was a rainy evening – not the best weather for ice cream, but neither of them minded. Allyn ordered the adventurous flavor with cayenne pepper in it. Dallas ordered something chocolate. Allyn was so attentive asking Dallas questions that she talked and talked and talked and her ice cream all melted. They walked down the street to Starbucks to talk longer because neither felt ready to say goodbye yet.

“The next day, Allyn asked Dallas out on a second date.

“Soon after that, they both disabled their OkCupid accounts.”

I love a cute love story, don’t you?

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

Kindness By And For Two Vets

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Kindness By And

For Two Veterans

Having a column is a lot like owning a pickup truck – friends are constantly asking for help moving a couch or bulky dresser, or suggesting a topic they “just know” will be moving to readers.

My aging back does not miss my Datsun pickup. As for pitched column ideas, especially about people who have passed away that I did not know and thus have no personal story to share, my unwritten rule is to politely turn them down out of hand. Otherwise, I’d be writing a weekly obituary instead of general interest column.

Just this week I got two such requests. First up, my friend Tim told me all about longtime Ojai resident Bill Mors who died at age 97 on Jan. 16.

Bill Mors (photo from GCVF website)

It seems that after serving in the Navy as a “Fighting Seabee” and helping build airfields that helped win World War II, Mors came home and built a very successful construction business and also built a wonderful life with a beloved wife and family.

This past December, Mors added to his legacy by donating half a million dollars to the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation. This heroic nonprofit organization in Camarillo focuses on rescuing military veterans from homelessness by providing shelter, food, counseling and other assistance.

Mors did more than write a six-figure check, however. Displaying the Seabee’s “Can Do” motto, he asked questions and sought solutions to further expand services for those who served their country.

In an obituary on the GCVF’s website Executive Director Bob Harris said: “Eighty years ago, Bill went into battle with a rifle and a bulldozer. This time he used a checkbook instead of a rifle, but his mind was that same unstoppable bulldozer. He knew it was his last battle and he knew his time was getting short. He pushed us to move faster, push delays and obstacles aside, and build a place for veterans to live and heal.”

My friend Jean, meanwhile, told me about a kindness aimed at a veteran from a different war. She wrote in part:

“Dear Woody – If you plan to do future feel-good stories in your column I’d like to share a happening I experienced on Jan. 15, my deceased brother’s birthday, at Surfer’s Point.

“As he headed out towards the water, a surfer stopped to listen to me as I asked if he’d be willing to assist in dropping into the ocean several seashells that were from my brother John Shepard’s memorial paddle-out held in Olympia, Wash., two years ago. John passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer due to being hit with Agent Orange four times while serving as a Green Beret in Vietnam.

“When I asked this 30-to-40ish-year-old fellow – his first name was Alex and he is Nordhoff High graduate – to help, I gave him a brief history of my brother. John used to surf at The Point, C Street, all along the California Coast. He also worked for the legendary Tom Morey building early Boogie Boards and surfboards for/with Tom Hale in the early-to-mid-1960s.”

With triple elation, Jean concluded: “Alex immediately agreed to the task and said he’d paddle way out and drop the shells – and also say a few words for John as well!!! Although I failed to get Alex’s last name I hope he knows how much his especially kind deed was appreciated!!!”

While I’d love to move a couch, so to speak, for Jean today and help Tim with a dresser next Saturday, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. An unwritten rule is still a rule. I hope they both understand.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

A Book A Tree, A Tree And A Book

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

A Book And A Tree,

A Tree And A Book

“When we try to pick out anything by itself,” John Muir wrote, “we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

So it is that a book in New York City is hitched to a tree in Central California; and that tree is hitched to a tree in Camarillo; which in turn is hitched to a book in Ventura. This circle of life, so to speak – trees becoming books and books leading to trees – includes a death, but begins with a birthday.

As birthday gift a couple years past, my son gave me a book. Rather, knowing my passion for books and literacy and libraries, he donated a new volume in my honor to the New York Public Library.

A commemorative nameplate on the first page inside its front cover reads: “In honor of my Dad – Thank you for teaching me to make each day a masterpiece, drink deeply from good books, and make friendship a fine art.”

Those are my top three of John Wooden’s “Seven-Point Creed.” To be told that these lessons from my beloved mentor have successfully been passed down like a priceless heirloom to my son put birdsong in my heart.

You may be curious as to the title of the gifted pages. I certainly was and specifically wondered which of my all-time favorites my son chose: “The Old Man and the Sea”? Perhaps “The Grapes of Wrath” or “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”? Or maybe my childhood treasure “Where The Wild Things Are”?

Alas, my son had no say in the selection and was not informed which book was purchased. When I contacted the NYPL and asked I was told no specific records are kept.

“You’ll have to find it yourself,” the employee joked.

Here’s the punch line: If placed end to end, there are 63.3 miles of shelves in the NYPL’s main branch at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan. Indeed, one would need endless “Patience” and unlimited “Fortitude” – the names of the two iconic marble lions proudly standing guard at the front entrance – to find my honorary nameplate in one of the 3 million volumes within. Finding a needle in a vast hayfield would be less impossible.

In truth, not knowing which title bears my nameplate in no way diminishes the specialness of the gift because now I can imagine it to be any book at all. With this insight, I gave a dear friend of mine a similar gift she will never find – a memorial tree planted in Sierra National Forest after her sister passed away.

Upon the death of another of her loved ones, my friend thought of the faraway tree she has seen only in her imagination.

“Your gift deeply moved my soul,” she told me kindly, “and inspired me to purchase a Chinese Elm – ‘Tree of Harmony’ – for my family to put in the Friendship Garden at our church in honor of my sister and brother-in-law.”

Together, she and her husband and their three children personally planted the skinny eight-foot-tall elm and surrounded it with a circular perimeter of large stones. She expressed comfort in knowing their Tree of Harmony will always be there to visit.

Inspiration seeds inspiration. To be able to see a specific tree through the forest, as it were, inspired me to donate a book – of my choosing, this time – to a local library. I won’t give away its title, but I will tell you the handwritten inscription inside reads:

“Make each day a masterpiece, drink deeply from good books like this one, and make friendship a fine art.”

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

Young Year Needs Older Wisdom

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Young Year Is In

Need of older wisdom

On New Year’s Eve an old Irish tradition calls for opening your front door at midnight to let out the Old Year. Apparently we should have also opened every back door, side door and garage door, plus all windows and even chimney chutes because 2020 seems to have overstayed its welcome like a rude party guest.

As we move forward in 2021, perhaps some wise words of inspiration are called for – I know I can use the day off from writing – so here are some favorite quotes I’ve saved for just such an occasion.

“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou

“Write in on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.” – Kurt Vonnegut

“Love is the bridge between you and everything. – Rumi

“That best portion of a good man’s life: His little, nameless acts of kindness and love.” – William Wadsworth

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realize they were big things.” – Kurt Vonnegut

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you don’t make an effort to help others less fortunate than you, then you’re just wasting your time on Earth.” – Wayne Bryan

“Great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great.” –

Mark Twain

“If you can give nothing else, give encouragement.” – Wayne Bryan

“All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.” – Magic Johnson

“A torn jacket is soon mended, but hard words bruise the heart of a child.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” – H. Jackson Brown

“If there’s someone whose friendship you treasure, be sure to tell them now, don’t wait for a memorial service to say it.” Chuck Thomas

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; for a decade, plant trees; for a lifetime, educate people.” – Chinese proverb

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn

“Don’t tell me about your dreams of a castle, show me the stones you laid today.” – Wayne Bryan

“You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living right now.” – Yvon Chouinard

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis

“Remember this, the choices you make in life, make you.” – John Wooden

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon

“It’s okay to sometimes have cookies for breakfast.” – Woody Woodburn

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

A Magical Blizzard of Leaves

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Watching A Magical

Blizzard With Maya

The other day, shortly before autumn turned pages to winter in Northern California, I caught my 2-year-old granddaughter Maya standing on the couch. Naturally, I joined her – not standing on the cushions, of course, but kneeling and facing backwards so as to look out the front picture window with her.

Maya likes to stand there, in stocking feet, watching for people to come home; watching for the mailman and Amazon drivers; watching for the garbage truck. Watching, basically, the world parade by.

I highly recommend it. You should try it sometime for the little girl is onto something. Her big window surpasses a jumbo flat-screen TV, which she is not allowed to watch by the way. Wise parents she has.

My dear Maya and me enjoying some laughs.

So there my dear “Meatball” and I were, standing and kneeling side by side and watching together, when the most magical thing happened – it started to snow. The snowflakes were bigger than Maya’s open hand, almost the size of my spread palm, and they were golden and red and orange and 50 more hues of flame and fire. It was a blizzard painted by Monet.

I grew up in the Midwest with autumns of a brilliance we do not enjoy in Southern California, and I have seen the “Fall Colors” on the East Coast, but never before had I witnessed a tree shed its leaves as quickly as a person removing their coat.

One moment the majestic maple across the street was flush and full, the next moment it was as naked as a jaybird without even a jay resting on a limb. I barely exaggerate for it was like watching a time-lapse video with days condensed into a moment. In five minutes surely 50 percent of the leaves fell without pause. Five minutes more and fully 90 percent of the foliage was on the ground.

A gusty wind was not even at play. Instead, the leaves were rustling softly on the branches like wind chimes in a gentle breeze when, all of the sudden, it was as though one leaf shouted “It’s time!” and they all began letting go.

It was a bit like watching a fireworks finale and I’m certain Maya and I exhaled a few “oohs” and ahhs.” Indeed, had the mailman come by just then he would have surely seen two mouths agape and our eyes opened even wider in wonder.

If a tree can be compared to a poem, this lovely one was poetry in motion. And yet the poem that came to my mind was not Joyce Kilmer’s renowned “Trees” that famously begins “I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.”

Instead, I smiled remembering “Fantastic Fall” penned in pencil by Maya’s mommy when she was in the fourth grade. It won the youth division of the Ventura Poetry Festival in 1998 and still hangs in my study:

Fall is a great season, here is my reason:

The leaves on trees turn golden brown,

Then the leaves fall DOWN, Down, down…

You rake them into a giant hump,

Next comes the good part – jump, Jump, JUMP!

Leaves sail through the crisp autumn air,

And fall down, Down, DOWN everywhere!

As the leaves piled up, Up, UP, I dearly wanted to grab Maya by her tiny hand, and grab a rake, and make a giant hump for her to jump, Jump, JUMP! into. Alas, we were already 10 magical minutes late for her dinner.

Next autumn, however, Maya and I shall skip dinner if need be.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

 

Final Tally of 2020 Ball Drive Is…

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

*

Final Tally of 2020

Holiday Ball Drive Is . . .

“Beauty lives with kindness,” wrote Shakespeare, perfectly describing kind Star readers who made the holidays more beautiful for local disadvantaged kids by donating to “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In the spirit of The Bellringer campaign, here are some more of the givers this year…

Kelly Lanier gave six assorted balls, noting: “Sports were so important to my two sons – they learned how to win and lose gracefully; learned the power of teamwork; made numerous friends; learned how to share; and, of course, got exercise. I want all children to have the same opportunities.”

Some of the record avalanche of gift balls for kids!

Jim Barrick gave opportunities to a dozen kids with 12 basketballs; Steve and Shelly Brown gave five basketballs; and Ric and Penny Ruffinelli donated four basketballs.

Nick Sarris gave 51 assorted balls and shared: “I reminisced about the treasured younger days of playing catch with my dad and brother and fast-forwarded to the days of playing catch with my daughter – these things should be a part of every kid’s life.”

Joe Kapp and his granddaughter, Kayden, teamed up to give six assorted balls while two dozen balls, one each in honor of their grandchildren, were donated anonymously by “Two Blessed Grandparents.”

Jim and Sandie Arthur donated three “happy faces” with basketballs and Steve and Bobbin Yarbrough gave one basketball.

Michael Olgy donated one football and one basketball “in honor of all senior athletes in Ventura who have worked so hard and show such courage during this lost 2020-2021 season.”

Duke Lyskin, my friend since middle school, gave three basketballs; Tom and Karyne Roweton donated two basketballs; and Joanne Abing passed in one basketball.

Rebecca Fox gave one soccer ball “in memory of Jim Cowan” and another 16 assorted balls were donated anonymously in Jim’s memory.

In memory of local coaching legend Bob Tuttle, five basketballs were donated by Gary Tuttle, Toni Tuttle Santana, Gayle Tuttle Camalich, Arlys Tuttle and Trudy Tuttle Arriaga while Steve and Tonya McFadden gave three balls “in loving memory of Coach Harold McFadden.

Brent Muth donated two basketballs in memory of Mike Sandoval and Gerry Carrauthers, and a third in honor of his parents George and Sharon Muth “for all their support of our youth teams growing up.”

Sheila and Tom McCollum gave four assorted balls and Janine Bundy donated five basketballs “in honor of my wonderful parents, John and Marilyn Bundy.”

Karen Brooks gave 16 assorted balls; Patrick Gallagher donated six balls; and Kate Larsen gave three “kids’ smiles.”

Draza Mrvichin gave an assortment of 11 balls; Tim and Cindy Hansen donated seven balls; and Lucie and Rick Estberg gave four balls.

A large team of family members and friends combined to donate 104 balls. The roster: Alma Rodriguez, Thomas Duran, Nancy and Rick Rodriguez, Connie and Andy Rodriguez, Carmen and Luis Rodriguez, Reina and Michael Rodriguez, Shaun Rodriguez and Ruth Garcia, Deb Rose, Pamela Wood, Lara and Phil Hruska, Claudia and Mike Nieves, Kellie and John Serna, Charlene and Phil Hobbs, Cathy and Mike Ord, Caren and Achilles Maresca, Rose and Jace Holland, Dave Robillard, Lane Reintjes, Maddie Kaufman and Will Moodie.

Lauren Siegel gave five basketballs and Stacy DeLeon’s youngest children, Marcus and Kristina, donated two basketballs.

Brad and Mia Ditto gave five assorted balls; the Tebbets family donated four balls; and Richard and Nancy Francis gave three balls.

Sharon Martin gave five basketballs in honor of “people who do Random Acts Of Kindness” and Stephanie Becerra and her boyfriend Robert Guizar did a RAOK by donating four basketballs.

Tennis legends and legendary role models Mike and Bob Bryan served up 25 assorted balls and Ian Eaton, a longtime Special Olympics competitor, and his parents Lance and Jean donated 15 balls.

Pam and Burt von Bieberstein gave eight balls with Burt sharing: “I remember the fun it was having a ball as a boy and playing for hours alone or with friends.”

The final tally for 2020 . . . drumroll, please . . . is a whopping 794 gift sports balls, crushing last year’s previous record of 551 children’s smiles!

Thank you, dear readers. Your kindness is unbelievably beautiful.

 *   *   *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com