Hayato, Deena and Ian.

Charleston, Monday afternoon.

I was up near the coastal towne for a very technical corporate shoot. It went well... but... the real fun for the day was hanging out with Deena, Hayato and their son Ian, who is only 13 days old.

Deena and I have developed an easy professional relationship over the past 18 months or so, as she works with many couples getting married along the Carolina Coast. This afternoon, her hubby Hayato, joyfully threatened me with some good golf in the upcoming months, and it will be rude for me to resist.

Yes, to the countless dozens that read this whisper in the blogosphere, I should be in a 12 hole program, as I recognize the Game has more power than I will ever imagine.

I'll shut up and post pix.

Deena, Hayato and their 13 day old son Ian will appear shortly.

PS:

I held the boy for a few minutes. Josh was never that small. Wow. WOW. Amazing.

Yah, yah... Papal Gardens reference? Where's the picture?

There are images, but I am prohibited from showing them due to an agreement with the Holy See's representative who showed us around. We have a family friend who just retired after 28 years of serving for three Popes. We visited him last June, and he graciously hosted us at Castel Gandolfo, which is the summer residence for the Holy Father.

In any case, this Galileo is the oldest piece in Gandolfo's libraries... which 408 years after this second edition was published, still is in great shape.

I received a pair of tickets to Wednesday's final practice round and par three tournament at this country's golfing shrine, Augusta National Golf Club.

Here's an excerpt from the thank you note I sent my contact: "The most amazing part of the experience was realizing that the course- no matter how much I seem to know it by heart from 20 years of watching the telecasts- is the true star of the show. The only possible comparison for the immaculate conditions would be the Papal Gardens at Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome... but the National does not allow any stray patches of wilder grasses."

For the first time in my life, I attended a sporting event when I did not have a deadline or a client to please. As many of you know, I chased news and told feature stories for about 15 years before switching to documenting family histories. I bumped into a former boss of mine from when I lived in Chicago a decade ago, and had dinner with another. My dinner companion reminded me of an episode at Lambeau Field which resulted in my being covered in mud, and a very difficult drive back home to Sweet Chicago. Oy gevalt.

So, being a tourist had its benefits... and here are a few images. A few decades from now, Josh will grow up and take over Tiger's role as the best golfer of the 21st century. I'll be able to tell him that I saw the three men who defined golf in the second half of the 20th century play a friendly afternoon nine holes, in front of 40,000 of their closest friends.