IAM, MICHAEL, VOLDYMYR AND HENRY

The highlight of Iam Tongi's crowning as the 2023 American Idol last night was his performance with James Blunt, singing Blunt's Monsters together.  Blunt wrote the song when his father Charles was battling stage four chronic kidney disease and awaiting a donor.  Tragic, but Iam's father Rodney passed away with stage four kidney disease less than two years ago.  James' father, though, did find a donor in 2020, and lives on.

Also yesterday, Michael Block, a club pro, and only one of 20 to make the cut to play the weekend, stole the show with his hole in one on the 15th hole.  Watch his shot here.  He had to finish within the top 15 to enable him to play in the 2024 Valhalla PGA Championship, and one swing qualified him to finish tied for 15.  Bruce Koepka is the first "deserter" to win a major.  These are those who joined the LIV Invitational Series funded by Saudi Arabia, and the ones you don't see on TV anymore.

There is something eerily symbolic about this photo of  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida posing in front of the Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.  

The Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima invited Zelenskyy.  Japan was the only country to ever face this calamity.  The greatest fear today is Putin going nuclear.  In the background is the only structure left standing near the hypocenter when the first atomic bomb fell in 1945.  The Genbaku Dome was once the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall.

I end with the 101+ birthday party of Henry at 15 Craigside.  He became 101 this past November, but he was in a hospital.  We had purchased the candles, but delayed the cake.  At his age, some thought we would never use those candles.  But he's back and looking healthier than ever.

Dobash cake and champagne.

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