An Irishman is teamed up with three rabbis to form a foursome for golf. They enjoy the day and the rabbis all shoot in the 70s and the Irishman comes in at 105. He asks them how they did it and they explain they are all religious Jews who go to synagogue every day and lead moral lives and their good golf scores is how God rewards them.
The Irishman is determined to improve his score so he converts to Judaism, joins a synagogue, and leads a moral life. After a year, he joins the rabbis again for a round of golf. Again, the rabbis shoot in the 70s and the Irishman comes in at 105.
He’s stunned and asked the rabbis what went wrong. He told them he converted, joined a synagogue, and lived a moral life. “What synagogue did you join?” they ask. The Irishman says “Beth Jacob.”
“Beth Jacob?” they exclaim. “Beth Jacob’s for tennis!!”
We had a great Father’s Day yesterday. Sam called in the morning in honor of the day and to pass on the beautiful message the owl Worthington sent to his dad Welly. And Caity, Danny, and their posse came over for brunch. Caity had M&Ms made up for me as a gift. Some said “Poppop Love you” and the others had a little picture of me on them. Hysterical.
At the extreme other end of the Father’s Day spectrum, Owl Chatter is taking a moment to honor the memory of 14-year-old Hira Anwar, an eighth-grade student from Yonkers, NY. According to the NYT, at PS 16 in Yonkers, Hira was known as an outgoing teenager who posted TikTok videos featuring the singer Zayn Malik and the Australian band Chase Atlantic. Teachers described her as being eager for greater independence and freedom of expression. Her father viewed her clothing, friendships and online presence as a source of shame. He was particularly troubled by her social media activity and interactions with boys, which he considered inappropriate. So he conspired with relatives in Pakistan to invite her for a family visit during which they killed her in cold blood. A Pakistani court on Saturday sentenced the father, a U.S. citizen, and his Pakistani brother-in-law, to life imprisonment for the murder of this beautiful and innocent girl.
Rest in peace, Hira. May your memory be a blessing.
Some of my wordplay today, using ARAB SPRING, RAMPANT, and ETTA (James).
Popular bar soap in the Middle East: ARABSPRING, marketed in Israel as Yiddish Spring.
Clothing for a modest male sheep: RAMPANT
Brutus: Julie — I can’t remember the first name of that great female blues singer James. It’s killing me. Oops, poor choice of words.
Caesar: ETTA, Brutè.
Here’s the opening of a poem that did not get past the OC guard puppies:
In my damp inseam, the weather creases low and smooth.
Down the back and underneath the levy of legs.
Yeah. No.
This guy goes to the doctor and says, “Doc, you’ve got to help me. I heard the song ‘She’s a Lady’ a few days ago and I can’t get it out of my head. It’s ruining my life.”
The doctor says, “Sounds like a case of Tom Jones Syndrome.”
“Is that rare?”
“It’s not unusual.”
One of the many joys of rooting for the Gnats this year is the play of Jacob Young in center field. Here’s some of his work from last weekend. As a team, you’ve got to do little things right to succeed on the diamond. Note, here, that not only was the incredible catch made by Young, but Daylen Lile had come all the way over from his spot in left field so JY could shovel the ball over to him to keep the speedy Chandler Simpson who was on base from advancing. Young’s okay, btw. Should be back in the lineup soon, kinehora.
Yesterday was World Giraffe Day. It always falls on June 21, which is the longest day of year, which I don’t get – aren’t they all 24 hours? I posed that question on Rex’s blog and okanaganer replied: “There have been 27 leap seconds since 1972. So I guess during that time we have had 27 days that were 24 hours and one second long! The last one was Dec. 31 2016.”
I responded: Ha! Now that you mention it, that day did seem to drag a bit.
Ignoring fathers, the puzzle honored giraffes. I love giraffes. Whenever Leon or Raffi asks about lunch I tell them we’re having giraffe burgers.
There were a bunch of giraffe-related clues and there were circled letters throughout the grid, which, if you connected in alphabetical order resulted in, well, take a look:
Did you know a group of giraffes is called a TOWER?
At 21A, for the clue “Fighting technique used by giraffes,” the answer was NECKING. It led Lewis to note: Giraffe fighting, as the puzzle says, is called “necking”, but family members never engage in it because they don’t want to hurt the necks of kin.
We hear zebras are reactionary.
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 