Category Archives: Columns

Forecast: 92-Percent Chance Of Love

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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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?

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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

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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.

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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

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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.”

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

 

Two Tales of Christmas Spirit

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Two Tales of

Christmas Spirit

A song in the movie The Grinch asks, “Where are you, Christmas? Why can’t I find you?”

Sometimes it shows up where you least expect it as I witnessed just the other day. A homeless man, bearded and bedraggled and sadly appearing to be in mental disarray as well, was yelling angrily at every passerby who came with 20 yards of him near a walkway at a local park.

Naturally, people began keeping their distance. And then came an exception. A teenage boy on a bike approached the man, not too close, but near enough to get barked at fiercely before riding away.

A good while later, maybe half an hour, the teen returned. He had pedaled some four miles, roundtrip, to McDonald’s to buy a gift meal for the distressed man.

The scene, which I watched unfold from afar, brightened my day and Holiday Season as I hope it does yours. It also brought to mind another Christmastime encounter I witnessed a number of years ago that I still share whenever someone complains about today’s youth.

It was past 1 o’clock in the morning when I stopped at a 24-hour Ventura doughnut shop on my way home from a Lakers game. The parking lot was a ghost town except for four shadowy figures loitering on the sidewalk near the shop’s entrance.

As I approached I could see there were three boys and girl, all teens, all with numerous tattoos and piercings. I stereotypically judged these books by their covers, especially as they stood hauntingly in a semicircle around an elderly man, cold and coatless and barefoot, and seated on the sidewalk.

I went inside to get a blueberry muffin, all the while keeping a worried eye on the group outside. Nothing seemed to be happening until…

… I walked back outside. Then, as ominously as pirates ordering a prisoner to walk the plank at gunpoint, I heard the troublesome-looking teens tell the old man to stand up and walk.

“Uh-oh!” I thought.

My next thought was that I had misjudged these four buccaneers, and greatly so.

“How do those feel?” one of the boys asked. “Do they fit?”

The homeless man took a few measured steps, stopped, looked at his feet, made an about-face and returned to the quartet.

“These ones fit real good,” the cold man answered, flashing a smile that warmed the winter night.

The teens, in unison, smiled back.

“Keep them. They’re yours,” the same boy as before replied. “I want you to have them.”

Glancing down I saw the speaking teen was now barefoot. He had given the man in need his expensive skateboarding sneakers and socks as well.

The other two boys sat on their skateboards, retying their shoes. It seems that they, too, had let the man try on their sneakers to find which pair best fit him. The girl, meanwhile, gave her hooded sweatshirt to the cold man.

Halfway to my car I made a U-turn and went back inside the shop and picked out an assortment of a dozen doughnuts while sharing what I had just witnessed outside. Time and again, the Christmas spirit is more contagious than coronavirus and this was such a time. The woman worker not only wouldn’t let me pay for the doughnuts, she added a free jumbo coffee for the cold man.

“These are from the lady inside,” I said, delivering the treats. “Have a nice night.”

The man with new shoes and a sweatshirt grinned appreciatively.

“You have a nice night, too,” one of the teens replied.

I already had.

 *   *   *

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 books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

 

A Flood of Book Recommendations

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Book Recommendations for

Celebrating Jaolabokaflod

As a Southern Californian through and through, I love sunshine on my face and a sea breeze in my lungs and sand between my toes, yet on Christmas Eve I will be an honorary Icelander celebrating Jolabokaflod.

Pronounced yo-la-bok-a-flot, Jolabokaflod translates to “Yule Book Flood” and is the tradition where books are exchanged as gifts on Dec. 24. Everyone spends the rest of the night curled up by fireplaces, drinking hot chocolate and reading.

It’s no small wonder 93 percent of Icelanders annually read at least one book (only 70 percent of Americans do) and 50 percent read eight or more.

Perhaps I have ancestral roots deep in the tundra because I try to read 52 books each year. Thanks to stay-and-sheltering, I have surpassed this book-per-week goal with 57 titles to date. Below is my small flood of Jolabokaflod recommendations for 2020.

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” by Charlie Mackesy is short at 218 illustrated pages, but long on Winnie-the-Pooh-like wisdom for kids and adults alike.

Speaking of kids, while my tally does not include children’s books I read to my 2-year-old granddaughter, Maya, I’d still like to single out a special one: “Finding Aloha” written and wonderfully illustrated by professional artist Daniela Arriaga, a Ventura native who now resides in Hawaii.

“Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson wowed me and I enjoyed her debut novel “Housekeeping” next, but was honestly disappointed by her recently published “Jack.”

Written in non-rhyming poetry “brown girl dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson is a memoir about growing up during the civil rights and her newest novel “Red at the Bone” is even better.

“The problem with new books,” John Wooden said, “is they keep us from reading good old ones.” Two old good ones by Ray Bradbury that I enjoyed this year were “The Golden Apples of the Sun” and “Dandelion Wine.”

I had not read any of Pete Hamill’s work until he passed away this summer and a friend insisted I make up for this shortcoming. It was kind advice. “Forever” where Cormac O’Connor is granted immortality so long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan is terrific and “North River” about a neighborhood doctor in New York City during The Great Depression is even better.

I also came late to Toni Morrison this year and couldn’t put her down once I started. “Beloved” is amazing; “Bluest Eye” even better; and “Song of Solomon” as powerful and relevant during today’s Black Lives matter movement as when it was published nearly two decades ago.

“Homegoing: A Novel” by Yaa Gyasi is a heartbreaking story about two half sisters, one free and one not, and the lasting impact slavery has on both branches of their descendants through the ensuing eight generations.

“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is 608 pages of unforgettable storytelling.

My November featured this Fab Four: “Last Bus to Wisdom” by Ivan Doig; “The Light Between Oceans” by M. L. Stedman; “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay; and “Anxious People” by Fredrik Backman.

Impossibly, “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins almost lives up to the acclaim calling it a modern day “The Grapes of Wrath.” Speaking of which, biographies do not get any better than “Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck” by William Souder.

My favorite book, naturally, was “The Best Week That Never Happened” by Dallas Woodburn. I honestly would be touting this award-winning, page-turning debut novel even if I did not know the author.

Will you join me by your own fireplace this evening? Don’t forget the hot chocolate!

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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 books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

 

Holiday Generosity Bounces In

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Holiday Generosity

Bounces And Rolls In

The coronavirus pandemic has wrecked havoc in 2020 and, due to stay-and-sheltering, I feared “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” would in turn fall victim with a serious deflation in donated gifts for disadvantaged youths this year.

Never before have I have been so happily wrong. You, dear readers, have slam dunked in COVID-19’s face! Below are some of the MVPs – Most Valuable Philanthropists – who have scored on behalf of the kids to date…

Glen Sittel donated two basketballs and one football and said: “Knowing each ball represents a huge smile and a healthier child is a blessing.”

A mountain of gifts from “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive.”

Sally and Tom Reeder donated 10 huge smiles and Kathy and Joe Vaughan added two blessings while noting to us all: “We will get through this challenging time.”

Judy and Dan Dugan passed out six basketball assists while Irma M. Paramo and her neighbor Kay Handlin teamed up to contribute five basketballs.

Two balls were anonymously donated “In memory of Austin Gambill, the young Ventura High School track and cross-country runner who was tragically taken from us far too early.”

Walt Oliver and his grandsons Elijah Ontiveros and Michael, Brandon and Tommy Kendlinger donated 26 assorted balls.

Mike Spahr and his grandsons Caden, Liam and Leo dropped off one each basketball, soccer ball and football.

Linda and Jerry Mendelsohn, and their five grandchildren, donated 20 balls; Maureen Durkin gave 13 assorted balls; and Jim and Linda Peddie gave 10 balls.

Albert Rodriguez, noting that he grew up as a “huge John Wooden fan,” epitomized Coach’s quote that “It takes ten hands to put the ball in the basket” by recruiting more than 100 hands of family members, friends and former coworkers in donating 127 assorted basketballs, soccer balls and footballs.

Bobbie and Dave Williams gave one football and one basketball while Ethel Yim gave one soccer ball, noting: “I hope it will make a child happy.”

Juan Sanchez made 38 children happy while Sherrie Basham donated 10 smiles “In memory of my mom, Janice Manjoras.”

Carol Ann Roth gave five basketballs; Katherine and Frank Anderson gave three basketballs; Vince O’Neill gave two basketballs; and Anna and Tom McBreen spiraled in one football.

Tom Calvin and the rest of the Mt. View Men’s Golf Club hit a 350-yard drive, so to speak, by donating 30 basketballs, 30 soccer balls and 10 footballs.

The Friday Morning Coaches Breakfast Club gave basketballs in honor of Bob Swanson and Jim Cowan; Ann Cowan, as her late husband always did, donated ten basketballs; and Jim Parker continued his tradition of battling Jim/Ann Cowan in being the first to donate – and won this year with two basketballs.

Charis Werner passed in seven assorted balls; Chuck and Ann Elliott gave four balls; and Lynne and Don Steensma gave three balls.

Alan, Kathy and Tyler Hammerand kicked in three each footballs, soccer balls and basketballs; and Mary and Rick Whiting gave one each of the same.

Allison Johnson gave a basketball and football “in honor of my brother, Michael Demeter, who has all he needs and is generous to others.”

Sheila Raives kicked in four soccer balls; Jeff Barks gave a basketball and soccer ball; and Judy Windle passed in two basketballs.

Howard Reich contributed four assorted balls while Randi and Scott Harris donated three.

Dena Mercer gave two basketballs; Derry and Peggi Clayton gave one basketball and one soccer ball; and Joan Donley gave six softballs.

The Lewis family – Tom and Jan, and daughters Cory, Emily and Maddy – donated a baker’s dozen basketballs while Maya McAuley gave ten basketballs in honor of everyone battling cancer or COVID-19.

There is still time to drop off a new sports ball at a local Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, church, youth group – or to Jensen Design & Survey (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 18) at 1672 Donlon St. in Ventura and I’ll take it from there. Online orders can be shipped to the same address.

Also, please email me about your gift at woodywriter@gmail.com so I can add your generosity to this year’s growing tally.

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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 books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

 

2020 Newsletter: What A Year!

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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Holiday Newsletter:

2020 Was Unbelievable!

Dear readers and friends,

Welcome to my annual Holiday Newsletter. What an unbelievably amazing year 2020 has been for our family! I’m sure it has been likewise for you and yours.

To begin, my wife and I did not take a long-awaited trip to her homeland of Italy. We did not enjoy a romantic gondola ride through the canals of Venice. We were not left breathless by Michelangelo’s masterpiece ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. And we did not taste amazing wines in the hills of Tuscany.

I wish you could have seen the stunning red-lava views when we did not take a white-knuckle helicopter ride over the volcanoes on Hawaii’s Big Island.

In April, my son, a former college distance runner, did not return to the Boston Marathon and win it this time.

My son’s fiancé, meanwhile, did not become a Le Cordon Bleu chef and start her own catering company – her oxtail joloff for Thanksgiving was amazing, by the way – as a fun little side hustle.

In May, the party celebrating my 60th trip around the sun did not have a hundred friends and family members traveling from microbrewery to microbrewery throughout Ventura County tasting special limited edition beers created in my honor.

Also in May, I did not travel to Columbia University to accept the Pulitzer Prize.

Speaking of Pulitzer Prize winners, not seeing “Hamilton” on Broadway in front-row seats was everything you can imagine.

Our precocious granddaughter, Maya, did not receive an early acceptance to Yale; or to Harvard; or even to pre-school.

Our son-in-law, aka Mr. Environment, who cycles to his Green Job every day, did not win the Tour de France. It was almost as exciting as the time he did not make all 14 traffic lights without getting a single red on his ride home from the office.

“What is, Win seven episodes and $219,000?” That’s right, my wife did not appear on “Jeopardy!”

In a discovery almost as amazing as James Marshall discovering gold at Sutter’s Mill, while visiting an estate sale looking for a typewriter I did not find – and buy for just $2 – a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner baseball card worth $3 million.

Speaking of big money, Paramount Pictures did not buy the option for an undisclosed amount (between you and me, it was a lot!) for my new novel “The Mystic Table: A Journey of Seven Generations” which was not published by HarperCollins in 2020.

Not traveling to Wimbledon to watch the Bryan Brothers not play on Centre Court for the final time in their storied doubles career is a memory my entire family will never forget.

All of us, including 2-year-old Maya in child-carrier backpack, did not climb to the peak of Mount Rainer, or Mount Whitney, or Two Trees.

Not to brag, but unlike the rest of my family – and every teacher in America – I did not master using Zoom.

My wife and I will forever remember the time we did not renew our wedding vows to celebrate our golden anniversary (it was actually only our 38th, but stay-and-sheltering during the coronavirus pandemic has made this year seem like 12) under the Eiffel Tower on a warm evening with the moon rising and the gentlest of spring rains falling. It truly was not magical.

Lastly, my daughter did not travel to The Swedish Academy in Stockholm to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature for her debut YA novel “The Best Week That Never Happened.”

Yes, indeed, 2020 was The Best Year That Never Happened!

Happy 2021 to you and yours,

The Woodys

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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 books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …