Back in Phoenix and, with a little distance between me and New England (and the benefit of a cross-country flight), realized that between the various stresses and strains of the past week and a half, I did get a lot accomplished from a positive point of view:

* Play cards or a board game with my mom and dad – check.
* Drop by to see my Auntie Marge and Uncle Don – check.
* Visit with my good friends Dona and Pete – check.
* Italian food and laughs with my good friend Paul – check.
* Played golf with the Goodboys – check.
* Continued my string of quality rounds of golf after all that hard work in Phoenix – ummm, lemme get back to you on that…

* Spend an afternoon by the ocean, feeling the warmth of the sun and breathing in the fresh salt air while contemplating the twists and turns of life and fate, and the general state of things in my life – check.

* …Beers and laughs with the Goodboys – triple-check.
* Italian food in Boston’s North End – double-check.
* Saw a thunderstorm – double-check.
* Felt rain falling from the sky – check.
* Enjoyed a cool breeze and the sound of wind in the trees – check.
* Lobster bisque at Markey’s in Salisbury – check.
* Fried clams at the same – check.
* Mexican food at Margaritas – double-check.
* Watching the Sox play on NESN in HD – quadruple-check.

* Leave my golf clubs behind me in New England so I don’t have to drag the damned things back and forth to and from Logan and Sky Harbor airport when the freakin’ travel bag already weighs about a thousand pounds and is the bulkiest damned piece of luggage I’ve ever had to take anywhere – check.

June in New England summer is a wonderful experience – a little summer, a little spring, a little bit of everything weather-wise and, from this man’s point of view, the best food overall in the U.S. Great to visit, great to be back, and already looking to a return visit three weeks’ hence for the 2007 Goodboys Invitational.