Summer Stage #15, Saturday 3 September 2016–I like the sign at our dentist’s office: “Four out of five dentists recommend hockey.”

Happily, for me hockey came and went without any major mishaps. It was never serious league stuff, mostly games at school. I shake my head at the time in the days before face masks, I played goalie in a high school game. I did stop one shot on my chin. In grade school I stopped a puck on my shin padded with Life and Look magazines. Those were the days.

I no longer have skates. No pads. No hockey sweater or pants.  No saved pucks. However, I do have a stick. I’ve kept the stick for the story it tells. Here’s the story:

I spent two of my college years studying in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We played intermural hockey with another small college. For one game, our ice time, if I remember correctly, was 9pm. Our team went out for dinner at a pancake restaurant before the game. Fast forward to the end of the second period. I suddenly felt nauseous and went to the dressing room where I parted with my dinner.

After a bit of time on the bench I got back on the ice feeling a hundred times better. I soon picked up a pass just over the blue line and crack, rocket, bam my slap shot hit the back of the net. Score! That score won the game.

I had pancakes at breakfast today. Maybe when the ice freezes on our open-air rink in Elkhart I’ll rent a pair of skates. Who knows, I may need the hockey stick to keep me upright. I sure don’t want to see any signs that say, “Four out of five orthopedic surgeons recommend wild abandon skating for seniors.”

After today, Summer Stage will get a new focus. What that will be remains to be seen. In the meantime, here are pictures and gleanings from the week.

More scenes from time out of doors

From biography to cookery

I finished reading two books this week: Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life by Frances Mayes. Most the chapters have recipes at the end. I tried to make a peach pie but didn’t have the right ingredients for the crust. So it did not turn out as expected. I discarded the doughy stuff and froze the filling for use in peach smoothies.

I also finished Encounter On the Narrow Ridge: A Life of Martin Buber, (1878-1965)  by Maurice Friedman. What a figure. Philosopher, teacher, sociologist, world figure who died in Jerusalem. One of his quotes: “To be old can be glorious if one has not unlearned how to begin.”

Now I’m reading Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Canada, by Bruce McCall. The flyleaf says, “His skates were too small, Or they didn’t match. Or they were the ultimate humiliation for a boy trying to play hockey–girl’s white figure skates. . . .”

On Thursday the bookstore at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary sponsored a discussion with some of the contributors to Willard E. Roth’s cookbook, Mennonite Men Can Cook, Too (2015, Good Books, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, New York).  I contributed five recipes for the book. It was fun hearing each other’s stories. And we had snacks from recipes in the book. I made prune-and-fig-stuffed olives under the title, Quick Bites. I also took some cheddar cheese from Oak Grove Cheese Factory in New Hamburg, Ontario. So glad to be able to share the good stuff.

Eat well. Stay well. Lace up! –John