- Remembering High's

Another simple patch, this time intentionally ...

Patch #35 from a lime green linen top which I intended to overdye
... but sometimes brighter is better

because what the February patches remind me of is rainbow sherbet ...

Patches 32-35

Raspberry, lemon, orange and lime ... right? And therein lies a story.

Back in the days before we had kids, Don and I loved to play tennis. Honestly, it was the only sport I could play well enough to enjoy and trust me, early on Don tried to get me interested in outdoor activities, mostly to no avail. Golf? Couldn't hit the ball. Running? Shin splints. Shooting baskets? Ha! Camping? Mosquitos! But tennis I could do.

Sad to say, tennis now seems like a sport in decline, at least in the United States. But 30-40 years ago it could be hard to find an open court, especially after the major tournaments which inspired duffers like us to get back into the game.

My point in telling you this? Well, our after-game beverage of choice was a sherbet freeze from the High's Ice Cream shop. Basically a thick shake made with lemon-lime soda and sherbet in your favorite flavor, it never failed to satisfy.

Of course there was that one night when I made one serve too many and threw my arm right out of its socket. That resulted in us heading to the ER rather than High's and ended with my arm in a sling with orders to lay off tennis for a bit. Then Don took me to a GLM skiing seminar  ... that same evening as I recall.

Somehow I was convinced that short skis would be manageable, leading to our one and only trip to Wintergreen. I got the shortest skis they had, and to be honest I did sorta enjoy myself. That is until a hotshot skier who was half my age (ten), caused me to veer into the trees where I made a very undignified three point landing. Later I discovered a two inch tear in my brand new Levi 505s (which is to say, heavy denim jeans), most likely caused by the aforementioned touchdown. I took it as a sign that there would be no need to move up to the next ski length ... once was enough.

Anyway, High's is long gone, but I actually found an article that brought it all back. Just look at the poster in the upper middle-right of the photograph. Darned if I'm not craving a sherbet freeze right now.