Sunday, July 19, 2026

New Zealand On My Mind (Spain Too!)

 


The World Cup is finally over and Spain is the winner! Oddly enough, the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee is the first thing that came to my mind when they beat Argentina.  Did you know that the Spanish team trained in Chattanooga before their two matches in Atlanta? (Since our son lives in Chattanooga, I follow the news there fairly closely.) I read an interesting article in Forbes Magazine about this. I have a link to that piece just here.  Can't help but think of all the folks that saw these men training in Chattanooga and now, they have won, they must really be pleased.  (And since Spain won out over Argentina, I imagine my English friends are pretty happy too.) AND the match yesterday where England beat France means that they are third place in the World Cup, so that is really not too bad, folks!

Now, you all must know that I can't spend ALL my time watching sports, just most of it! HA HA! Today, Ryan Fox from New Zealand won the Open Championship in golf!  This pleased me very much as he was the one that I wanted to win. I really liked the way that he would march up to hit the ball and didn't linger over it. Also, he is 39 years old and had never won a major championship. Now, I am not a betting person, but I really should be! I really "felt" as if he would win. And he did!  

This past week we lost Sam Neill, a very well-known actor from New Zealand. (He moved there as a child, born in Northern Ireland, his mother was English and his father from New Zealand).  How much he was loved! I knew he was a great actor, but I now know that he was a very well respected for his sweet and gentle nature.  "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" is a film that Sam Neill did in 2016.  Search for it! You will enjoy it as much as I did, I am sure!





As I was watching Ryan Fox, I was curious about his background. I found out that his Dad, Grant Fox played for the New Zealand All Blacks and was part of the team that won the Rugby World Cup in 1987!  The All Blacks, you must remember the HAKA that they do before matches, don't you? I have had that on my blog before, but here, let me see if I can show you again....





My friends, I do hope that all that I have written here makes sense. It is so dang HOT, I can't even think straight.  

Take care!






13 comments:

  1. It's really hot here too so I get it. Hard to think when your brain is boiling. lol

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    1. From watching the news, the whole country is boiling hot, not to mention the smoke from the wildfires. Pretty tough summer.

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  2. Sorry to hear thta you are all sweltering. I hope it cools soon and then we get warm. Hopefully not too much so. I loved Sam Neil movies.

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  3. We were one of the rare families not following the world cup! So cool they trained in Chattanooga. We were there a few years ago and loved it. But I did hear about Sam Neill, sad...
    Yes, it's hot and smoky here too!

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  4. Yes, Art was following the world cup. Me, not so much. Thank you for showing the haka. They do the haka in Hawaii too which is a lot of fun. I really enjoyed your football haka clip.

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  5. I remember Sam Neill. That's so sad. He was so young. As I get older, anybody younger than 90 is too young to pass away.

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  6. I'm going to take your advice and try to find "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" on one of my streaming services. It has been on my "to see" list for a long time because it was produced, written and directed by Taika Waititi, who I think is brilliant! I didn't even know Sam Neill was in it, but since he was such a good actor, I should see this performance in memory of his achievements.

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  7. I didn't follow either, but my husband did so I do know the results.
    GA On My Mind is one of my favorite songs ever.
    Glad your teams won!

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  8. Congratulations to Spain, and to all the fine competitors. I pray you have a blessed week and find some good sports to watch since a lot of the major stuff is over for the moment.

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  9. Yes, Spain is the winner. It has been good to watch the whole world focus on the World Cup, something other than war and tragedy. So sad at the loss of Sam Neill; we have loved him in all his films and Australia claims him too. His second home was in Sydney and his children are there. I will look for the Wilderpeople film as I have not seen it.

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  10. Right, that's over, back to proper football now.

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  11. I've got Chattanooga Choo Choo running through my mind now. 🎶
    You should be a fortune-teller with your gifts!

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  12. You brought back memories - I used to play Chattanooga Choo Choo on my radio program years ago.
    Best wishes and God bless.

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