Dave Duffy Blogging » Vacation http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy Behind the scenes of Backwoods Home Magazine with Dave Duffy. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:35:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Analysis of a good golf swing http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2009/09/21/analysis-of-a-good-golf-swing/ http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2009/09/21/analysis-of-a-good-golf-swing/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:41:48 +0000 Dave Duffy http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/?p=1025 Robby injured his arm at his high school soccer match in Klamath Falls Saturday so couldn’t play golf Sunday with us at Running Y. So he took the photos. Our BHM Youth Golf Team has several players with good swings. The following photos contrast theirs with mine:

Toby Stanley -- Good swing!

Matt Anderson -- Good swing!

My swing!

Pretty funny huh! I didn’t know I had an old man’s swing. In my head I pictured my swing being something like theirs.

I intend to correct my swing quickly, using a video camera we have at the golf club that will show me the way to develop better form. I’ve also been swimming the last couple of weeks to loosen up my back muscles. This swing is just too terrible.

Following is a shot from the tee box on one of the holes on the “back 9.’ Those people on the green are more than 400 yards away.

Running Y has many beautiful holes.

]]> http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2009/09/21/analysis-of-a-good-golf-swing/feed/ 1 The first television in my neighborhood, and visiting with some patriot ancestors http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2009/03/24/the-first-television-in-my-neighborhood/ http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2009/03/24/the-first-television-in-my-neighborhood/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:34:40 +0000 Dave Duffy http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/?p=884 My father, Walter Duffy, owned the first television in my old South Boston neighborhood, and this trip to Boston I retrieved that 6.5-inch-screen TV. My earliest memories of it are from about age 7 when many of the neighborhood men would gather at our apartment in Old Harbor Village Project to watch the Wednesday night fights. The grownups drank beer and cheered pretty much like I did the other night when the Celtics beat the Clippers at the Garden. My father was an electronics tinkerer so it was only natural he got the first TV in our poor Irish neighborhood. What a treat for the neighborhood men back then.

I’ve been having a great time in Boston, even though the hotel pool has the wrong chemical mix so my skin is about as red as the lobster I ate at Legal Seafoods today. My back muscles are tightening up too so I spend about an hour a day stretching so I can walk around and see the sites. Lots of inspiring history here about courageous and determined citizens who risked everything to win their freedom from a tyrannical government.

Following are some photos I’ve taken.

Granary Burying Ground. Patriots like Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere are buried here, as well as the five victims gunned down by British troops in the Boston Massacre.

Paul Revere's humble grave is freshened up by some spontaneous offerings.

The Old State House housed the Colonial government before the Revolution. In 1768, legislators locked themselves inside to prevent the royal governor from dissolving the assembly. In 1770, British troops killed five right about where my family is standing in what came to be known as the Boston Massacre as they fired into a crowd, igniting colonists with revolutionary fervor. In 1776, from the balcony, the Declaration of Independence was read to a cheering crowd.

Jake holds Dad's 6.5-inch-screen TV next to Oliver Del Signore's 50-inch TV.

My immediate ancestors came from Ireland. My brother Hugh and I pose next to an Irish memorial to the one million Irish who died in the famine of 1847. First our father's parents immigrated to America, then our mother immigrated to America shortly after the turn of the century.

]]> http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2009/03/24/the-first-television-in-my-neighborhood/feed/ 8 A day at the beach http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2008/06/14/a-day-at-the-beach/ http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2008/06/14/a-day-at-the-beach/#comments Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:59:19 +0000 Dave Duffy http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/?p=591 We spent a few hours at North Topsail Beach about 20 miles away. The water was about 75 degrees, compared to our beach in Oregon which stays in the mid-40s so this was a marvelous surprise for us. The kids swam and built a big sand castle.

It was lots of fun until I discovered my sunburnt feet when we got back in the car.

]]> http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2008/06/14/a-day-at-the-beach/feed/ 5 Sorting clothes for Good Will http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2008/06/14/sorting-clothes-for-good-will/ http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/2008/06/14/sorting-clothes-for-good-will/#comments Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:37:33 +0000 Dave Duffy http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/DaveDuffy/?p=587 We’re just kicking back, mowing the lawn, and helping Erik and Annie get ready for their eventual move back to Oregon. Annie sorted through boxes of clothes she’ll give to the local Good Will store.

Although this climate is hot and humid, it’s better than the incredible 113-degree desert heat at the 29 Palms Marine Corps training area. You can at least go outside for a walk here.

Erik was home for two days and had to go right back out in the field for training for the remainder of our trip. These Marine Corps families sacrifice a lot for their country.

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