What Happened During Our Past Events

Not able to attend our last event? See what you missed here.

4/21/25: Bocce ball, 14 attended.

Fabulous day for bocce! Sunny and warm, pleasant zephyr. A good time was had by all!

4/14/25: Birdwatching in the Arboretum, 12 attended.

What a lovely outing! Perfect weather, fresh foliage all around. And yes, we even saw a few birds! 

Is that a Bird?

Master birder Larry Hubbell was our very informative guide. For example, he informed us that sap suckers drill holes into trees at two different depths, one to get the nutrients flowing up the the tree and other nutrients flowing down the tree. Like having the choice of hot or cold running water in your house.

Larry has carefully studied the birds in the Arboretum.

4/7/25: Pickleball, 10 attended.

Much of the usual pickleball crowd was present today. Rich showed off his new iPhone-on-gimbals gizmo. Not does it always keep the camera level, it can also lock onto a "target" and follow it wherever it goes. Nice but verging on creepy. Bill was castigated for not bringing his cornhole set. It was decided to transfer a cornhole set from GSC to Loyal Heights so it will always be available. 

However, pétanque was available. After the pickleballs guys called it quits, the pétanque guys took over to play several wild games all over the basketball court.

"I'm Closest to the Pallino" "NO, I Am Closer!"

4/1/25: Men's Breakfast at Blue Star Cafe, 8 attended.

We all agreed we should do this again! We had a great time, talking about all kinds of things. 

Early Arrivals at Our Men's Breakfast

We twisted Chuck's arm to give us a presentation of his very extensive rock, gem and fossil collection. He said, "Yes!" Check our calendar for this exciting upcoming event. 

3/31/25, Heron Walk & Ballard Locks, 19 attended.

Huge turnout today! 

Men's Group Guys Gearing Up for Their Arduous 100 Foot Walk to Nesting Area

But no baby herons yet. The adult herons were mostly just standing around. So...there were a lot of miscellaneous conversations and not a whole lot of birdwatching.

Most guys headed for home just before a big fishing boat went through the locks. Fun to watch!

Coastal Navigator Traversing the Locks Just After Our Heron Walk

3/24/25 Discussion meeting, "What Is the Nature of Your Family Relationships?", 17 attended

Wow. Another very interesting meeting where we peeled back the onion to reveal another layer of ourselves to our friends.

Responses were all over the map -- too much to report here in detail. Happy times, sad times, healthy relationships, dysfunctional relationships, unusual family backgrounds, estrangements, better relationships as we age, divorce, death, you name it. 

We were happy to know and understand each other at a deeper level.

3/17/25: Bocce ball, <12 attended.

Only the toughest bocce veterans – considerably less than a dozen – braved the wet winter's ending today. A bit of nausea was noted due to Jeff's green hat; perhaps that's why Bruce made only a cameo appearance. It was good to see Scott cheerily participating, Steven calculating angles, and John dropping perfect shots from waist level.

We were forced to precipitate into the clubhouse, where we had to choose between backgammon with the new Henry or table tennis with the old Tony. The club's old cornhole unit was pulled into service. 

Staying dry in the clubhouse, according to one old timer, was a violation of our tradition of always finishing a bocce game during a driving rainstorm.

3/10/25: Artificial Intelligence Presentation by Ken K, 20 attended.

What a fascinating presentation! Ken did much to bring us poor mortals up to speed on AI. He demonstrated some AI tools that many of us had never heard of. It's clear that AI is sweeping over us like a tsunami. Some of the guys expressed a bit of unease about the implications of AI for our future. Big changes are ahead!

If you missed the event, have a look at Ken's presentation outline. Go to slide #35 to see links to a vast number of AI tools. We also posted his class handout here.

To learn more, visit Ken's website. He has a some really interesting articles and links to some informative resources.

2/27/25: Dinner at Ada's Social Event, 6 attended.

Our first men's "micro group" social event was off to a great start!  While having dinner at Ada's restaurant, we got acquainted with a new member, Dave L (nickname: "Uncle Dave"). We each shared some of our personal histories and stories.

We went on to have a lively discussion of various topics, including books, music, movies, health and more. 

We agreed that social meetings were a very good idea and intend to create more of them on a regular basis. We talked over lots of interesting possibilities. Let's see what happens!

Men's Group Socializing Over Dinner at Ada's Restaurant

2/24/25: Gyrokinesis body movement training with Vincent, 17 attended.

Wow, what an enthusiastic group! Everybody did a great job with their exercises and were generally quite pleased with their experience.

As usual, Vincent was engaging, fun...and thorough. 

Everyone was given a handout of some of the exercises we did today. So no excuses -- we have our homework. Let's get it done!

2/17/25: Bocce Ball, 7 attended.

We played a couple of very spirited games, had a great time!

But where was everybody else? We were not cold and we did not get rained on. Will we have to wait for a sunny day with little white fleecy clouds in order for more guys to turn out?  

2/10/25: Discussion Meeting, 15 attended.

"What is your reaction to what the Trump administration is doing?"  That was the topic of discussion for today. It seemed that each guy had his own unique take on how he felt about it. There was quite a bit of pessimism and a little bit of optimism.

t was noted that we should be very careful about where our information is coming from. Others said they had recently been active in state politics, which is more amenable to our influence. This website also has an article on civic involvement that might be worth a read.

We also upcoming events later in February: Gyrokinesis and a group dinner at Ada's restaurant.

The Collaboration Group reported that we intend to purchase a large screen TV for use in future discussion meetings. The TV would be used to stream TED talks, podcasts, videos, etc. that would be used to kick off a discussion of the topic. Cost is about $600. The men's group is paying for the TV, so we need you to contribute what you can for this purchase. Please give your donation to any member of the Collaboration Group.

2/9/25: Visit to Telephone Museum, 4 attended.

The van going to the museum was overbooked but half the people didn't show up? Were you sick or did you break a leg?

In any event, you missed a very interesting experience. 

Docent Explaining Ancient Technology to Men's Group

The museum had working relics from the 1920s to recent. Teletypes, all types of mechanical central office switches, and of course those rotary phones we all came to love.

No only did the guys see some stuff they actually recognized, somebody smelled something burning. Apparently the docents were able to locate the problem and take care of it. 

What in the World is that "Thing" Everyone Is Looking at?

2/3/25, Pickleball, 11 attended.

This appeared to be a fairly relaxed event. No one played especially hard and there were quite a few missed shots. Maybe we're still hibernating?

Sadly for his opponents, Jeff "Slicer" Jordan has returned from his European trip. His slicing serves and volleys are just as vicious as ever.

No interest in petanque or cornhole today.

1/27/25: Discussion Meeting, 17 attended.

Topic was "Describe a critical decision or event in your life that caused you to go in a certain direction in your life..."

The steering committee came up with a more structured format for our meetings, which worked out very well. We started on time and finished on time.

Kudos to Richard and Bruce for their facilitation. And special thanks to John for his time-keeping skills.

Most of us took a few moments to talk about a life-changing decision or event in our lives. Who knew there were so many draft-dodgers among us? And what about the romantic encounters that led us down a certain path, such as marriage? A couple of the guys even had accounts of murder or attempted murder in their stories. And much more.

All told, it was a lively and interesting meeting.

We've had at least three members take a fall recently -- and more before that. This is concerning.

We found out that Roger could not make the meeting because he is in the hospital with pneumonia. Get well Roger! We missed you today.

1/20/25: Bocce Ball + Woodland Park Loop Walk, 12 attended.

What a perfect day this was! Blue skies, crisp air, no wind or rain. 

While most of the guys played bocce ball, a small group took the Woodland Park Loop Walk. A scenic and peaceful walkabout as we huffed and puffed up a couple of very small hills.

The walking group returned to join the bocce guys in some more games.

A good time was had by all!

PS: On the way back to the bocce courts, we noticed the nearby horseshoe pits. The bowling club has four horseshoes. If we can get 4-8 more horseshoes, we could play some horseshoes this summer.

1/13/25: Discussion Meeting, 14 attended.

We started off with check-ins. Notably, we discovered a member was not in attendance because he had a fall and injured himself.

For the first time, the group assembled in a circle, with no tables in between. Although no one commented about it, the unimpeded circle may have enhanced our perception of feeling connected.

After check-ins, the Collaboration Group shared the results of their meeting with GSC staff. The GSC appears supportive of our group but would like to see us do some volunteering on the GSC premises, such as supporting their food service operation. Also, we have a budget of $75 per month for expenses.

The GSC is neutral about whether we independently raise funds or have a website.

We again discussed the acquisition of a TV. How we pay for and where we store it is up to us.

The Collaboration Group said that anyone can be a member of this group.

They further said they do not make decisions on behalf of the entire group, but rather they filter and organize information that they then present to the entire group for a decision. There was considerable back-and-forth talk about what that meant and how it would work.

Bill was then scheduled to give a presentation about our new group website. Soon after he began, there began a lot of cross-conversation about data collection from the site, what is done with it, how to access it, and should we implement some of the submitted ideas? There was additional discussion about the relationship between the website, the facilitator, and the Collaboration Group. Also some extraneous topics were brought up. Bill never did get into his presentation agenda, and the meeting was late in adjourning.

Afterwards, there was a sense that we need to find a better way to keep the meetings on topic and on time. One idea was to introduce a "Talking Stick" so that only one guy talks at a time and is not interrupted until he passes his talking stick to someone else or puts it down.

Two meetings ago, we said we may discuss a new name for our group today. It was felt that "Greenwood Men's Group" is a generic phrase that does not convey a clear or memorable message of what we are about. However, this discussion did not happen. 

1/10/25: Las Bochas + Men's Group Bocce Ball, 4 attended.

Where was everybody? Too chilly for you?

Four men's group members had a fantastic time. For this time of year, the weather was ideal. No wind. No rain. Few clouds. Temperature not bad. We had the floodlights on so that we could see. We began at dusk.

As it darkened, we viewed a beautiful full moon framed by the silhouette of the trees. We saw a bright light in the southern sky that seemed to shimmer and change its shape, or so it seemed. We couldn't decide whether it was a star, a plane, a satellite, or a planet. We finally agreed it must have been a flying saucer.

1/6/25: Pickleball + Pétanque (Boules), 14 attended.

Huge, energetic turnout today! The pickleball regulars did their thing.

The rest of us were scheduled to play board games upstairs. But Tony submitted to our website an interest in playing pétanque aka boules. So that's what we did! The non-pickleballers either played indoor pétanque or kibitzed from the sidelines. It was easy to learn the rules of this arcane French game, because in our version of the game, there aren't any rules at all. Thus, a few pétanque balls landed all over the place, including in the hallway leading to the men's room. 

Jeff Instructing Us on the Finer Points of Petanque

Petanque Balls Landing All Over the Place

Guys Wondering Why His Ball Didn't Land Where It Was Supposed to

Steven was inducted into the Pickleball Walking Wounded Hall of Fame by Jeff, who presented him with a fine pair of pickleball rackets. Other charter members of the Walking Wounded are Bill and Tom. The only reason Steven was inducted is because he has bled more than anyone else playing pickleball, and the ER MRI showed no brain shrinkage at all.  No wonder he still can add two plus two.

New member Mark claimed he had never played pickleball nor pétanque. But he arose from the bench to take a turn at pétanque.  All we can say is -- watch out for this guy. He has the potential to be really good at bocce ball.

12/23/24:  Discussion meeting. 14 members attended. The steering committee led a wide-ranging discussion about the identity of the group, what it is that we want to do and to talk about.

We discussed whether we are a group, a community, both -- or something else.  And what should we call ourselves?

We discussed how to meet the differing needs and preferences of group members, especially those who don't attend every event.

Also reviewed was our relationship to sponsoring entities as well as some administrative matters. One of the issues was the purchase of a TV for use in discussion meetings.

The overall sense was that we had a productive and informative event. There was a sense of good forward movement.

It was obvious the steering committee has been working hard on behalf of the group. BTW, the committee likes to be called the "Collaborative Group". It appears they want to enhance group collaboration but not be "managers" of the group.

NEXT STEPS:

At our January 13 meeting, each man is encouraged to offer his suggestion for a name for the group.  It was felt that "Greenwood Men's Group" is a generic phrase that does not convey a clear or memorable message of what we are about.

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