delight

Delight 24: Baseball

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight 0 Comment

Out for an evening walk, I could see the lights of the diamond and the faint noise of kids playing baseball. Moose Jaw has a couple of lighted ball diamonds and this one is specifically for girls softball. Parents sitting in the stands with blankets, girls doing their very unique chants and the crack of the bat and smack of a ball meeting a glove. These are the sights and sounds of a lovely spring evening.

I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with baseball. As a kid, it may have been the first sport I played and truly loved. At age 7 I had taken a deep dive into Major League baseball. I remember I had a young college kid as a coach and I equally impressed him and annoyed him by sharing obscure statistics and other facts about the Cincinnati Reds who was my team before the Blue Jays came on the scene. Long story short, golf replaced baseball as my summer sport around age 14 and baseball faded into 3 or 4th place of my top sports.

I played slo-pitch for a few years as an adult and even coached my daughter for a couple of years but for … Read the rest

The #deanie awards for 2021

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, facebook, linkedin, Personal, plc 0 Comment

My annual giving out of random-meaningless-to-most-but-meaningful-to-me awards which began in 2015, almost didn’t happen. With the year(s) that it has been, it’s difficult to find routine at times. As well, when this began I was a travel warrior and my memories of interaction were largely in person. Yet Twitter was the glue that kept relationships alive and in some cases where they were born. (FYI, if you’re curious about the fake trophy, it’s a picture of shorts, in other words, no pants which have been an ongoing trope of mine for quite some time. Don’t overthink it)

My annual giving out of random-meaningless-to-most-but-meaningful-to-me awards which began in 2015, almost didn’t happen. With the year(s) that it has been, it’s difficult to find routine at times. As well, when this began I was a travel warrior and my memories of interaction were largely in person. Yet Twitter was the glue that kept relationships alive and in some cases where they were born.

My process for choosing who to honour is terribly random and arbitrary. As I’ve mentioned previously the danger of leaving someone out is great. It’s not about who I value most or who my closest friends are … Read the rest

Delight 23: Herschel’s Naps

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, Personal 0 Comment

I’ve been putting off writing this one but know that this delight has an expiration date which will be coming soon.

I don’t know about you but with our 4 kids, napping and bedtime in general always came with a bit of resistance. In some cases more than others. A few of our kids grew out of naps at a very early age as well. As someone who has always advocated for and delighted in them, it’s frustrating to see most kids fight them. But not Herschel.

Herschel is as sweet a boy as they come. He kisses his little brother on the forehead, blows kisses when he leaves and regularly hugs his big sister. That’s not to say he’s not a typical 2-year-old boy. He also yells, loves his hammer and likes to roughhouse with his Papa. (Don’t worry, for all you wondering about it, I also roughhouse with my granddaughter)

But Herschel’s nap times are pure delight. I offer whenever I get the chance to put him down for his nap. He always needs a soft doll, he’s partial to baby Jesus but others can work in a pinch, then you rock him as if he were a

… Read the rest

Delight 22: Peyton and Eli

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, facebook, linkedin 0 Comment

Football is the only sport where I’ll watch any game even if my team isn’t playing. I’ve been a big fan of Monday Night Football since the 70’s when I discovered it as a kid. The production value, the fact that it was on during primetime and the announcers made it must see TV for me. Over the years MNF has lost much of its lustre and even now, Sunday Night Football is generally seen as the main event for NFL fans.

So while I don’t make MNF must see TV, unless it’s a particularly engaging matchup, I’ll watch. This week was the first Monday night game and I didn’t even bother to record it. I checked the score and since it was somewhat close I thought I’d watch the last quarter. It was being shown on 3 different TSN channels which gets the ESPN feeds. I assumed they were all the same but realized they weren’t. There was the standard broadcast but there was also an alternative that featured Peyton and Eli Manning, watching remotely and Russell Wilson was joining them. It took me a few minutes to realize this was not a insert from the main feed but … Read the rest

Delight 21: Finding Golf Balls

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight 0 Comment

I’m slowly but surely continuing my efforts to think and write about delight. It kind of surprise me how little I’ve shared about 2 things that in general bring me a large portion of my overall delight, that is my grandkids and golf. Again, referencing my initial post, delight is about specificity and so in that regard, grandkids and golf are far too broad. I will dive deeper into both in the future but today’s delight is something that’s always been a source of delight: finding golf balls.

I remember one summer when I was maybe 11 or 12, I must have mentioned I was bored and so my Dad told me I should go to the golf course and look for golf balls. This was a year or two before I began playing regularly and my Dad said there was a tournament on the weekend and there would be lots of balls in the bushes. I went with a friend and came home with a pillowcase full of balls. It essentially was Halloween. That started a unique relationship with golf balls. I’ve never bought a golf ball in my life. My garage has buckets full of them, hundreds, … Read the rest