Avening Astros roll again
This past Saturday evening was one full of fun and laughter. A good group of friends, people who have been friends for over 35 years got together at the Avening bowlarama for a challenging game of five-pin bowling. Challenging in the fact that age had started to make knees and backs ache, not in knocking down the pins.
Some of the bowlers have been bowling ever since they were strong enough to hold onto the bowling ball. That’s a lot of years of bowling and it showed, strike after strike after spare.
This group of friends has been known as the Avening Astros for many years, not sure how they got the name but I am sure one of them will let me know after this column.
The different styles of rolling that ball down the alley reminded me of the cartoon character Fred Flintstone, he used to bowl barefoot, then again he did everything in his bare feet, go on his tip toes twinkling down the alley, do a one legged pirouette and with his eyes closed the whole time (and wearing his Buffalo Lodge Hat) would hit strike after strike. I watched the group of bowlers and noticed that only one person came close to that image, CEO didn’t get more than two strikes though, and he was wearing his socks. One of the players was lamenting on how he was going to “feel” the effects of all this bowling the next day, I think it was more a prelude to how he was going to feel after the amount of beer he felt he needed to improve his bowling skills, I don’t think he drank enough beer from what I saw.
Times have changed, used to be that noone wanted to close down the party ’til way into the early morning hours, this time, around 11 p.m. seemed to be the witching hour. It was even suggested that maybe an afternoon game would be more the speed for this group.
One of the highlights was when there was a Cirque de Soleil moment when one of the bowlers who had had enough beer, managed to trip over the three foot high ball island, it was almost in slow motion doing a perfect tuck and roll, I still have the feeling that it wasn’t an accident but a well rehearsed move to show off his athletic ability as opposed to his bowling prowess.
As with any gathering there was a wonderful array of food, all of it delicious, I have to get the recipe for Shirley’s salsa and Evelyn’s fruit dip, they were delish. I look forward to the next outing, already for the next joyful event, visiting with friends.
