Steve K

The LPGA Comes to Town

Just when I needed a reminder that things are rarely as bad (or as good) as they seem, I took up my duties as a volunteer at the CPKC Women’s Open. The tournament is our national championship for the stars of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). For 2024, the Open was being held at Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary, which happens to be my home course.

I signed up for the gig months ago. That was before the downturn in my mother’s health, and her passing in early July. I almost forgot about the tournament; it seemed so far off. Then, suddenly, tournament week arrived.

After a quick orientation to the role of course marshal, we were thrown into the deep end, with practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday, and a pro-am on Wednesday. The four tournament rounds would run from Thursday to Sunday.

I’ve watched enough golf to have a good idea of my job description. Even so, seeing marshals on television is quite different from being a few feet away from the top golfers as they tee off or line up their putts.

Where Golf and Hockey Meet

One feature of this tournament promised to make it special. I was assigned to the “rink hole”, a recent but very popular addition to open championships in Canada. It’s now customary to convert a par 3 hole into a hockey rink, with boards around the tee box and a Zamboni parked beside the fairway.

For me and the other marshals, the transformation into a rink was complete when we received our referee shirts. I secretly hoped we were not going to be called upon to break up any fights in the stands. This was golf, after all.

Getting ready for action in Round 4 at the Rink Hole (July 28, 2024)

Thanks to Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Herald for featuring us in a story!

Our challenging par 3 9th hole was designated as the rink hole. For the tournament layout, it would be the 17th hole. That meant there was the potential for drama on our hole in the final round. It certainly delivered!

On to the Action

My first shift on Tuesday was a chance to meet my fellow refs… er, marshals… and practice our routines before the tournament started. I enjoyed the day, and I marveled at the skills of the top-tier golfers. It was amazing to see my course changed into a world-class sports venue. And that was before any fans were on site. I already felt better than I had in weeks.

When I returned for my weekend shifts, the energy was palpable. Now every shot mattered. The golfers had their game faces on. Television cameras broadcast the action live around the world. The crowds grew by the day.

Record crowds turned out for the CPKC Women’s Open final round (July 28, 2024)

Amidst the tension, I noticed a few things. Calgarians were doing what they do best… welcoming visitors to our beautiful city. Tournament volunteers were full of pride for what was shaping up to be an exciting (and record-breaking) event. And Earl Grey GC members were beaming, knowing that the world was discovering our gem of a course on the north shore of the Glenmore Reservoir.

This being Calgary, the weather had to play a role. From a heatwave just a few days earlier, things had changed totally. Wind, smoke and cool temperatures greeted the players on opening day. Visitors must have wondered how such a change was possible in just 24 hours. We locals have a word for that: summer.

By the end of the third round on Saturday, we had seen history, as tour rookie Mao Saigo of Japan tore up our course with 9 birdies and an eagle, for a stellar 61. It was the lowest score ever recorded in a Canadian women’s open.

Sunday brought more drama. Several players vied for the lead in the final nine. As marshals, we focused on our assignments, even as Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Minjee Lee and other top players came through the gate into the rink. Brooke Henderson led a strong contingent of Canadians, including her fellow Paris Olympic golfer (and Hamiltonian), Alena Sharp. What a thrill!

The drama reached a peak as the last few groups finished their final round. Saigo watched in disbelief as she stubbed her chip on 17, leading to a bogey. The third-round leader, Haeran Ryu, found the greenside bunker and also struggled to a 4.

That left only Lauren Coughlin. The American veteran bravely hit a six-iron to the tough back left pin location, leaving a delicate eight-foot birdie putt. By chance, I was stationed at the back of the green, so I was only a few steps from Coughlin and her caddie as they lined up the shot. I had the best spot in the house to see her roll it in, guaranteeing herself a two-shot win with a 13-under score of 275. It was her first tour victory.

It was an exhilarating weekend, and an experience not likely to be repeated.

On the rink hole, there was plenty of good-natured cheering and banging on the boards. Fans showed their deep patriotic pride and love for our Canadian stars, especially Henderson. This is Canada, so everyone was polite. Thankfully, we didn’t even need to put anyone in the penalty box!

I walked back to my car on a perfect Sunday evening, exhausted but satisfied.

Maybe there is still hope for 2024.

Carmela Kelly (1931-2024)

My mother passed away on July 6, 2024. The world was a better place while she was in it. Now comes the tough part.

Here’s some text from her obituary, which was published in today’s Hamilton Spectator.

With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of Carmela Mary Kelly (née Celi) in her 93rd year. Carm’s birth in a house on MacNab Street was made more joyous to her parents Giuseppe and Rosa Celi by the unexpected arrival of a twin sister, Concetta (Connie), who survives her. She is also survived by a brother, Anthony, and predeceased by a sister, Mary. Carm married the late Kenneth Kelly in 1958, and they had four children. Carm’s grandchildren … were a constant source of joy. Birthdays and holidays were better (and livelier) when celebrated at Gramma’s house, her home for many years. Carm was an avid crossword solver, a keen knitter, and an enthusiastic Tiger-Cats supporter. She enjoyed these activities most from her favourite pink chair. Her cookie tins were never empty, and her spaghetti & meatballs were legendary. She had an eye for fashion, and for years she enjoyed watching the Oscars. Carm was dedicated to her family, for whom she made countless sacrifices. Her generous spirit enriched many lives. Carm found great comfort in her faith, and she faced life’s many challenges with grace. We will struggle to deal with the loss of our beloved mother, grandmother, sister and friend. …

Carmela Mary Kelly (1931 – 2024) Photo: Shelley K

I wrote quite a bit about my mother in Stroke of Luck, and there’s a good reason for that. She was an inspiration. By doing nothing more than being herself, she made the lives of her family, friends, coworkers and neighbours better. That is quite a legacy.

My mother’s eyes are unmistakable in photographs from her youth. Her shy smile hints at her quiet, introverted personality, and tells the story of her growing up during the Depression and the Second World War. She worked as a secretary at Stelco for a while after high school but put aside her own ambitions once she was married. Years later, when we were all grown, she would take a job as a receptionist at a long-term care facility. She soon became indispensable to the staff and residents there. Of course, we knew that would happen because she already was indispensable to us. It was a small step, and one that let her regain some of the self-confidence that had been eroded by too much time and too much worrying about other people.

Mom has handled difficult times with grace and resilience, and she has faced more than her fair share of difficult times. Pain and grief entered our lives when I was in my early teens. This happened in two separate but related ways. At least they are related in my mind. What I know is that nothing was ever quite the same afterwards, and nothing could ever be taken for granted again. Had we crossed some kind of a dividing line, a transition from the innocence of youth to whatever was to come next? I’m not sure. As for my mother, I never heard her complain or shirk from what she had already accepted as her duty. Given her upbringing, I suspect she had never taken anything for granted as it was.

Goodbye mom. We will miss you terribly. May God bless you and welcome you.

Stroke Awareness Sale Extended!

Did you know that June is Stroke Awareness Month in Canada?

To recognize the importance of stroke awareness, I’ve extended the online promotion for my memoir, Stroke of Luck.

Get your copy on Amazon and save 20% until July 15. And help me help the heroes at the Foothills Stroke Unit!

Stroke incidence continues to rise in Canada – more strokes are happening and more people are living with stroke due to our aging population and more younger people having strokes. There are now nearly 110,000 strokes each year in Canada. That is roughly one stroke every five minutes.

Strokes occur due to an interruption of blood flow to the brain, and most strokes originate in the carotid arteries. The carotid arteries are the large arteries at the front of the neck. They deliver most of the blood to the brain. Carotid artery strokes produce symptoms that are familiar to many people, thanks to effective public awareness campaigns:

F – Face drooping
A – Arms can’t be lifted above your head
S – Speech is slurred or jumbled
T – Time to call 9-1-1

As I learned, strokes can also occur due to an interruption of blood flow in the vertebral arteries. These arteries are at the back of the neck. They are smaller than the carotid arteries, but just as important.

The symptoms of vertebral strokes are different than those originating in the carotid arteries because they control different bodily functions. Here’s what to look for as possible signs of a vertebral artery stroke:

B – Balance and coordination problems, like vertigo
E – Eyes and Ears behaving strangely, especially if uncoordinated

Taken together, these symptoms can be remembered by the words BE FAST.

BE FAST is an appropriate phrase, because regardless of the type of stroke, time is of the essence. If there’s any doubt, call 911 right away!

Be well, and BE FAST!

Prairie Mountain – Summer Solstice

The arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere is welcome for many reasons. There is a minor downside, if one plans to make a sunrise trek to the peak of Prairie Mountain in Kananaskis: the early start. Of course, my friend Tim hatched the idea, as the perfect complement to our winter solstice hike last December. If you haven’t read my blog pieces for that epic outing, here are links to Part One (the hike) and Part Two (the science).

My first reaction was “I’m in!” Then, when the reality of the required 2:50 a.m. departure from Calgary set in, I found several excuses to bail out. To Tim’s credit, he persevered and he managed to wrangle a couple of friends to join him. He didn’t even mind sharing his photos, so I could pretend to have been there!

The Hike

Tim, Jerry and Peter departed the Prairie Mountain trailhead at 3:50 a.m. and reached the summit in time for the 5:21 a.m. sunrise. Tim commented that it was amazing to see the full moon go down in the west while the sun was coming up in the east. He mentioned that while he knew the sun would break the horizon much further north than it did on the winter solstice, it was even more of a difference than he expected. More on that later.

With thanks to Tim, here are a few photos from their hike:

Prairie Mountain Sunrise / June 20, 2024 (Photo: Tim A)

Tim, Peter and Jerry at the summit / June 20, 2024 (Photo: Tim A)

Western vista, from the Summit / June 20, 2024 (Photo: Tim A)

The Science (abbreviated)

For the winter solstice, you may recall I did some research on the unexpected timing of the solstice, and why the day with the latest sunrise wasn’t the same as what we think of as the shortest day of the year. If you are interested in orbital eccentricity, angles of obliquity, solar days, and other astronomical wonders, you can read about them here.

Since it’s summer, and I’m feeling a bit lazy, I did a shortened version of the research. You’ll be happy to know that I confirmed the same factors affect the timing of the summer solstice. Here’s what I found:

The summer solstice occurred at 2:50 p.m. on June 20
The earliest sunrise was at 5:20 a.m. on June 16
The longest solar day was 16:33:17 (hh:mm:ss) on June 20

Tim’s comment about the sun’s compass direction at sunrise on June 20 compared to the direction on December 29 got me thinking. I marked up a trail map for the area of Prairie Mountain. The arrows show the sun’s compass direction at sunrise and sunset, on the summer (blue) and winter (red) solstices, respectively. What’s interesting is just how much the sun’s coverage changes between the two solstices.

Sunrise/sunset compass directions at the solstices, Prairie Mountain

The apparent travel of the sun (because it’s the earth that’s moving around the sun, after all) is from 128 degrees (roughly southeast) at sunrise to 233 degrees (roughly SW) at sunset on the winter solstice. That’s a span of 105 degrees. In contrast, the sun traverses a range from 49 degrees (roughly NE) to 311 degrees (nearly NW) at the summer solstice—a span of 262 degrees.

Isn’t that fascinating? I think so too.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Colour or Monochrome?

While flipping through some recent pictures, I realized I was “seeing” them in either black & white or colour. This was before I had started doing any editing. My mind seemed to be jumping to conclusions about the end result.

Maybe this was inevitable, as I must have “seen” some version of the final image before I pushed the shutter button. Was my initial visualization strong enough to override any subsequent artistic choices?

I try not to limit myself to one expression or another, and I take plenty of photos in each style. My preference is for black & white images. Many of the photographers who have made an impression on me worked mainly in monochrome. Adams. Cartier-Bresson. Schaller.

That would be a good idea for a future piece… the photographers or the images that have been most impactful for me. But for this piece, I wanted to explore the idea of initial visualization and see if that process might be acting as a barrier to my artistic ideas. I picked several recent images, more or less at random, for the following, non-scientific analysis.

Sedona Landscape

The first image was a landscape, highlighted by the setting sun and building clouds over the peaks in Sedona, Arizona. There’s no doubt I imagined this image in bold monochrome. I shot it using my favourite JPG setting in the Ricoh GR III: hard monochrome. The in-camera JPG looked promising, on the tiny 3″ viewfinder screen. I couldn’t wait to see the image in Lightroom.

I hadn’t even considered the option of a colour version of this image, but maybe I had been too hasty. I reimported the image and forced myself to ignore the monochrome button. This is a comparison of the two versions:

To my surprise, I found the colours in the foreground… the famous red rocks of Sedona… to be a distraction. This wasn’t the result I expected. The dramatic clouds, which I was able to set against the sky with a red filter effect, were hardly noticeable. Instead, they were competing for attention. I had to go with my first instinct. This photograph is better in monochrome.

Cold, Icy Calgary

My second image was totally different from the picturesque scene in Sedona. We had returned to a late blast of winter in Calgary. It must have been some blast, based on the icicles that were hanging from every rooftop. A photo opportunity!

As with the landscape, I saw this roof and its crop of icicles in black & white. Texture and lines, contrasty clouds (where’s that red filter?) The thick icicles were a cool feature… no pun intended.

My monochrome image needed only a few edits: an increase in contrast and darkening of the sky. I also bumped up the exposure a little, to ensure the picture wasn’t a complete wash of drab grey. And I added a bit of texture to the peeling paint. This was just about exactly what I visualized when I took the shot.

But had I been too hasty? I had to find out. So I re-imported the RAW image and edited the colour version. I hadn’t even noticed the blue paint on the trim. And I missed the discolouration in the icicles from whatever had been oozing out of the eavestroughs. Time for some repairs.

What do you think?

Personally, I don’t like it at all. My mind’s eye was right to see this image in tones of grey. The colours are irrelevant to the story that this picture is telling. I wanted to put the viewer into a scene that was edgy, cold and stark. Instead, the pale blue trim on the house tempers the scene, while the brownish stuff coming out of the eaves is a distraction.

Springtime in Hamilton

My final image is from a recent visit to Hamilton. Walking around my old neighbourhood in April was a riot for the senses. Spring was in full bloom. I snapped a picture at the corner of (obviously) Maple Avenue and Province Street. I initially saw this as a colour picture, with a sunlit magnolia tree as the highlight.

Maple and Province, Springtime (April 2024)

Even though I like the colour image, I decided to try a monochrome version. This one is more of a toss-up. I like both versions. Why? The colour version puts the viewer right in the scene. Spring has clearly sprung. On the other hand, the monochrome version shows us every detail but leaves us to imagine what colour everything is in the scene.

Of course, these are just my thoughts. Let me ask you: monochrome or colour? Leave me a reply in the comments.

Until next time, thanks for reading

“Stroke Awareness Month” Sale!

To raise awareness of the prevalence of stroke, I’m offering Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics for a special price in June. Order your copy on Amazon and save 20%.

Help me raise funds for the essential work of the doctors and staff at Foothills Stroke Unit!

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is celebrating 10 years of raising awareness about recognizing the signs of stroke, and the need to call 9-1-1 right away to get to the best hospital for stroke care.

BE FAST is a memory jogger that I’ve been sharing with people, because it covers the full range of stroke symptoms. Here’s what it stands for:

BE FAST – someone’s life could depend on it!

I’ll leave you with the words of Dr. Michael Hill, the Calgary neurologist who wrote the foreword to Stroke of Luck:

“Time is brain when it comes to stroke and everyone has a role to play. It starts with someone recognizing the signs of stroke and calling 9-1-1”

– Dr. Michael Hill, Neurologist, Calgary Stroke Program

So, during June, why not take a minute to familiarize yourself with ALL the potential signs of stroke? Even better, spread the message to those you care about. It could save a life! And if you’re looking for a bit of motivation, why not order your copy of Stroke of Luck for a discounted price?

BE FAST, and be well!

Steve