Tour de France 2024

Last night Becky and I realized that the Tour de France had started and the first stage was completed earlier in the day. The really big surprise was that the first three stages of the Tour would take place in Italy. The first stage began in Florence and went to Rimini on the Adriatic Sea. This is the first time in over a hundred years that the Tour de France had any stages in Italy. The second stage today goes from Cesenatico to Bologna and the third stage tomorrow goes from Piacenza to Turin. Then on to France. Also this year the Tour will end in Nice instead of Paris because of the upcoming Paris Olympics that begin in late July.

So last night we turned on Peacock and watched the beginnings of Stage 1. It's nice that all of the stages are available to watch later in their entirety or the highlights. We'll go back and watch the highlights later. In the meantime this morning we turned it on live. We love watching the great shots of the countryside, the villages, the mountains, the cities, etc. It's like a travel tour too.

Today we had the 2nd stage on the television although we only watched it off and on. It was a six hour program today. Later we will watch the highlights. I did see some wonderful scenes of the city of Bologna but then there was a couple of weird ones... some guys mooning the camera as the race goes by.

Debate Disaster

Within moments of turning on the debate I was shocked to see that it was already a disaster for Biden. He was pathetic. 

I initially put it on my laptop to view because Becky was in the front room with the kids and they were watching something on the TV. I had to put on my headphones and crank the volume up to maximum to hear Biden as he mumbled and stared off into space with a weird look on his face. Trump just smirked and rambled on with lies. It was awful. Then I took off the headphones and let the sound play through the laptop speakers. It wasn't sounding good. Then I went into the front room and saw that Becky had CNN on the television. She was already in shock too with Biden's performance.

I immediately was thinking that Biden was done with running for president again. There was no way he could continue and that was ten minutes into the debate. It never really got better. It was shockingly sad.

It was also a very bad night for CNN. The moderators were also pathetic and did not fact check Trump at all during the debate. They let him not answer their questions and let him tell repeated and obvious lies over and over again. They looked like rank amateurs. 

The Kids @ The Piano

For the past several years both Henry and Clara pestered me to take them up on the third floor to play "the piano" which is our electronic keyboard that Sean left with us. Henry likes to play the basic keyboard but Clara loves to get a groove on with one of the prerecorded soundtracks and then she plays along with that. She makes it sound good too. 

Last Christmas I took Violet up there to play "the piano" for the first time. She remembered and wanted me to take her up there again this time. Now I also use the keyboard as a distraction if the kids are getting into some trouble with each other. I'll just say for instance "Clara, let's go upstairs and play the piano". She will immediately drop whatever she is doing and head for the stairs. She loves that keyboard. 

We had been reorganizing the third floor in recent weeks as we get ready for Becky to move her art studio from the Hertel Avenue location to up on our third floor. In that process we moved the keyboard to the other side of the room. When the kids went up on the third floor for the first time this trip they first wanted to see Grammie's studio in the other room. Then they went into what was the music room and were immediately concerned when they didn't see "the piano" in it's usual location. But then they

were fine once they found it, sat down on the bench, turned it on and then began playing.

At the Albright Knox with the Kids

Today we went to the Albright Knox Art Gallery with the kids. This is the first time Katie and Todd had been there since it reopened following the extensive renovations and construction of the new building. It was incredibly busy for a Thursday morning.  We went in separate cars again and met them in the museum. We parked in the back and again we were surprised how parked up the area was. We expect that on Thursday and Friday evenings when the museum is open and there are many community activities going on but we didn't expect it this morning. There was also more construction going on outside the gallery and some of the walkways to the real entrance were closed. Well I guess they are constantly improving the museum these days.

We got a text from Kate saying that they were at the Legos Creative Commons. When we got there the kids were immersed in playing with Legos at many different levels and they were having lots of fun. Many other kids there too. After playing for awhile we went into the museum itself. Becky and I are members and the staff there saw that we were together with Katie and Todd and checked to see if we had any guest passes available from our membership. We did so they all got in free as our member guests. 

The kids loved the artwork in the museum. They were very interested in almost everything and we were there a couple of hours. Henry especially liked some of the sculptures and wants to use them for his superhero creature drawings like the ones in these photos. He wanted me to take pictures of them so he could draw them later and they did become part of his Blueberry Boy series which I will post later.

Flying Kites on the Outer Harbor Hilltop

This today we drove down to the waterfront to spend some time with the kids. We went in separate cars so that Becky and I could leave when we wanted. Also going with Katie and Todd and the kids in their car is doable but very cramped. 

We were late getting down to the waterfront because first we needed to get some gas in the car and then we got stuck in a serious traffic jam on Main Street near Canisius. We were originally all going to meet at the Wilkerson Point Park on the waterfront but we got a text from Kate saying that there was some major construction going on there and the park was closed. So instead they headed down to the Outer Harbor State Park. They had been there before and knew there was a great playground on the site.

The kids had a good time playing with all the things to do in the playground. Violet particularly loved the swings. We hung out for awhile and then went up to the top of the hill in the park and sat on some chairs. Todd then went back to their car and came back up the hill with a couple of kites. In the meantime Katie's friend Jen came by to hang out with us. The kids loved flying the kites along with Katie, Todd, Jen and Becky. 

We were down there for nearly a couple of hours and it was getting close to lunchtime. Becky and I headed back home to make ourselves some lunch. Katie and Todd did get back home for awhile and when they did get home we found out they stopped at Anderson's for lunch. Nice. The kids loved their hotdogs but of course Violet wanted her fries and ketchup.

Dinner @ Kostas

After a busy day at the zoo Katie and Todd wanted to go out for dinner at one of their favorite Buffalo restaurants... Greek food at Kostas. Actually the last time Becky and I were at Kostas was with the kids around last Christmas. We were also there a year ago with the kids.

We all had our usual meals. The kids with their pancakes and lots of chicken souvlaki. Becky had her usual moussaka. Me and Todd had that big chicken souvlaki dinner. Man, what a lot of food. We had some significant leftovers to take home. The kids were very good in the restaurant but it was a little slow with service when we were finished because the place was so busy. Katie had to take the girls out for a walk while we waited for our check and takeout boxes. 

Becky and I drove home and Kate and the kids stopped at Lake Effect for some ice cream. It was there that Clara stumbled and fell scraping both her knees. She was very good when they got home getting her knees cleaned up and putting on band-aids. Colorful ones too. 

Day at the Zoo

We are fortunate to live so close to the Buffalo Zoo. When the kids are here visiting us and it's a nice day it is so easy to just grab a stroller and walk down the street for a visit to the animals. It helps that we are members too. Becky and I often stop in and walk around the zoo for a short while when we are going for walks in the neighborhood or over to the park.

This morning we walked over to the zoo with the three kids and had a wonderful time. There were a lot of people visiting the zoo today but not too crowded. The kids really enjoyed themselves.

The Zoomagination Festival of Lights is currently going on at the zoo. We were there during the day so the kids did see the exhibits and displays but of course they were not lit up. They did get excited about the creatures and many exotic plants in the illuminated statue displays. They are coming back in August and hopefully at that time we can get them over there after dark for the actual festival of lights. In the meantime Becky and I will get over there some night to check it out. The photos I've seen of the displays are amazing.

Pizza & Wings

Katie and Todd drove into Buffalo today with the kids from their vacation in Canada with Todd's family. They had stopped at a national park in Canada on the way back and we weren't sure how things would be crossing the border around commuter high traffic time. Katie texted me earlier that they would be coming in between 6 and 7 pm and they would not be stopping for dinner anywhere. We asked if pizza and wings would be alright which they were happy about.

Becky ordered a couple of pizzas and a double order of medium wings from Mr. Pizza. She went out and picked them up and we had them ready when they would arrive whenever that would be.

We went out on the porch to sit a little after 6 pm and we were sort of expecting them to come sometime around 7 because of the rush hour traffic on a Monday evening on the Peace Bridge. Just as we were talking about that timing they pulled up into our driveway at about 6:15 pm. 

Everyone loved the cheese pizza and the pepperoni one too. Of course Todd loved the wings. Mr. Pizza was a hit.

Then everyone settled in and the kids needed to wind down from that very busy day... and week. We were getting ready for another one. We had a lot of good leftover pizza too.

Co-Op Burgers

Becky cooked up some nice burgers she got from the co-op today. She also made some of her delicious home fried potatoes. Made for a nice summer meal.

The Great Wall

I was browsing through the Max streaming service the other day looking at available movies and television series when I came across the film The Great Wall. I had never heard of it before but was immediately drawn to it because of it's title and pictures of the Great Wall of China which I had always been interested in since I was a kid. Then I was surprised to see that it was a Chinese film, released in 2016, that was made in English with some American actors along with a mainly Chinese cast. Big name actors too. The film starred Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and William Dafoe too. 

I started watching the movie and was initially concerned that it would be either dubbed or have subtitles. It was actually a good combination of English spoken by the main actors with some Chinese subtitles. The story was about a couple of European mercenaries in China looking for gunpowder to take back to Europe. The story takes place in the 1000's during the Sung Dynasty of Northern China. The opening credits indicated that the story was about the Great Wall of China and one of the legends for why it was built.

However, what really surprised me was that the Chinese army on the wall were there to defend against alien monsters that arrived on Earth via a meteorite. They attack the wall every 60 years and were about to do it again. So the story is about these couple of captured mercenaries fighting with the Chinese against the alien monsters. It was actually very entertaining and well done with the special effects. It just wasn't something I was expecting seeing this film titled The Great Wall. 

I watched it in two segments over a couple of days. I finished it this evening.

The Garden and The Heat

The flowers in our garden seem to really love this heat wave. Becky's been watering the a lot but they really do seem to like this early summer weather as they begin their growing season. We haven't seen our garden and many more along our walks growing so quickly and intensely. There will be some interesting garden tours this summer.

The plants seem to like these 90 degree afternoons and also the humidity where the moisture never seems to leave the soil. 

There is still a lot more growing to do. The season is just starting.

Sierra Nevada NA

We've been enjoying a lot of non-alcoholic beers over the past couple of years and they keep getting better. Becky was out shopping the other day and was surprised to come across an assorted variety pack of NA beers from Sierra Nevada. I've tried a couple of them and they are great. The IPA is especially wonderful.

We love having some NA beers on hand. I will often have one as a second beer during an evening and often will just have an NA instead of a regular beer. We are seeing more and more bars and restaurants with a good selection of NA beers available but I've never seen any of these Sierra Nevada NAs anywhere. They should be everywhere.

Jacked Up Biden

On TV today I saw a story about Fox and other right wing "news" media outlets preparing their viewers for the upcoming presidential debate between Biden and Trump by describing the drugs that he may be on to make him alert. Apparently back in January at the State of the Union address they were caught off guard by how well Biden came across on television when giving his speech. Back then they started saying that he was jacked up on enhancement drugs and that was why he was stumbling around the stage making a fool of himself. Now they are saying over and over again that Biden will be "Jacked Up" with performance enhancement drugs. MSNBC ran some clips where Fox hosts were over and over again very excitedly exclaimed that Biden would be on drugs for the debate. Trump himself has been going on and on about Biden using supplements to get "jacked up" and said he would get a shot in the ass before the debate. Sean Hannity shouted on Fox that he full expected a return of "jacked-up joe" for the debate.

If Trump or any of the right wings so called hosts start talking about Biden taking drugs then maybe someone should bring up Trump's diapers.

A Hot June

It's hard to believe how hot is has been the past couple of days. It feels more like growing up in Philadelphia in August. It certainly doesn't feel like June in Buffalo.

Becky and I just got back from walking over to the mailbox on Parkside Avenue and boy was it hot even though we waited until the sun was almost down.

There was a WOW tonight but we decided it was too hot to stand around drinking wine on Joan's porch so we didn't go. They should have cancelled it.

We had the air conditioner on all day. Yesterday was actually the first time this season we turned on the ac. We left it on all night too. It's going to be hot and humid tomorrow but should ease up as the so called Heat Dome passes by after this nationwide heat wave.

James Chance RIP

Last night before going to bed I heard of the passing of James Chance at the age of 71. He was one crazy musician... a saxophonist, keyboard player and vocalist in his unique style of avant-jazz-funk-punk no wave. Now I got to go upstairs and play some of that great sounding vinyl on my turntable.

During my years (1982-1986) spinning records at the Pastime Lounge I would often play two of his vinyl albums in my collection. The James White & The Blacks record was always a hit on the dance floor. 

The only other bars I regularly heard James Chance being played back in the 80's was the Old Pink and the Continental. 

James Chance in my collection:

• No New York, 1978
• Buy The Contortions, 1979
• James White & The Blacks - Off White, 1979
• Lost Chance, 1981
• Irresistible Impulse, 2003 (4 CD)
• Sax Education, 2004
• Soul Exorcism, 1991 Redux Version, 2007

Willie Mays RIP

I was very saddened to hear of the passing of baseball great Willie Mays at the age of 93. He was one of my favorite baseball players when I was a kid and I had been watching him play on television for several years. The first time I saw him play while sitting in the stands was in 1962. My great-uncle Tom would often take me and my brother Tom on the trolley to see the Phillies play down at Connie Mack Stadium. We got excited when the Giants were in town. By 1965 Tom and I were taking the trolley to Phillies games by ourselves and we loved going down to see Willie Mays while sitting in the outfield bleachers. My brother had a life-long obsession with baseball statistics that started when we were kids and Willie Mays was one of the players he focused on. We had all of his baseball cards from the 1960's. The last time I saw him at the ballpark was in 1969 and he retired just before I got out of the military. Well, I never liked the Mets back then anyway. Say Hey, Willie Mays.

Coles Tonight

Becky and I decided to go for dinner tonight. At first we thought we would go over to Zios, order a couple of sandwiches and then go for a walk in the neighborhood before picking up the food. There was a particular street we wanted to explore. Well, it was just too damn hot and we decided to go to a nice air conditioned restaurant but not sitting on a patio. We ended up choosing our old favorite Coles on Elmwood.

We parked the car next to Zios and walked the block over to Coles. It really was hot. The temperatures were well into the 90's all day and also very humid despite an hour long heavy rain earlier in the day.

So at about 5:45 we walked into Coles and got a booth in the bar area. We had a very nice time. It was somewhat crowded but not too much although the bar itself was sparse. It was a Tuesday evening. 

Becky had a Buffalo Chicken Finger Wrap with fries and I had their Grilled Chipotle Chicken Sandwich with pepper jack, guacamole and chipotle aioli along with some delicious fries.

I also had two of my favorite beers. First a Union Jack IPA and then a Delirium Tremens, a Belgium pale ale. 

So we had a wonderful evening and left the restaurant around 7:00 pm. 

The Old Pink up in Flames

It was a shock to see the classic Buffalo dive bar The Old Pink go up in flames today. By the end of the day is was a pile of rubble.

Dinner Tonight @ Shango

We just enjoyed another wonderful dinner (as usual) at one of our favorite restaurants... Shango Bistro & Wine Bar. It was a somewhat crowded early Friday evening and a beautiful day. The patio was full. We left around 7:30 and a second wave of diners was just happening. We always have a good time at Shango whether we're with other people or just by ourselves like tonight. It was a nice way to end the day.

We had one of our favorite dinners tonight... po' boy sandwiches. Becky had the shrimp po' boy and I had the blackened catfish po' boy. Both came with sweet potato fries. I also started out with a cup of their fabulous gumbo which of course I always have every time I'm sitting down in Shango.

Tonight I had a Flower Power IPA draft from Ithaca Brewery which is one of my all time favorite brews. I followed that up with a nice Mexican Lager on tap from K2 Brothers Brewery. 

It was such a beautiful day today and we don't usually go out for dinner on Friday nights. Our usual day is Thursday but we didn't go out last night. I looked at a few restaurants because I was thinking it would be nice to be on a patio somewhere near some water but everywhere was booked. It was going to be a very busy Friday night. So I made reservations at Shango instead. Never a bad option.

Tacos for Dinner

Becky made some wonderful tacos for dinner tonight with rice. Very tasty and very nice after a busy time in the garden on a summer-like June day.

That Little Backyard Bunny

This has been a particularly good year for rabbits in our backyard and all across the neighborhood. Everyday throughout the day and especially in the evenings we usually have three bunnies in our backyard or our adjacent neighbors yards. Now we have the baby bunnies too. One little one in particular appears to live under the hostas in our garden. This bunny is cautious but has grown used to us and only runs away if we get right up to it. Most of the time the bunny just continues nibbling on the leaves in the lawn and goes about it's business.

When we go for a walk around the neighborhood there are bunnies everywhere but in particular around the corner of Crescent and Jewett where we can always see about six to eight of them on the front lawns.

It's going to be fun when Katie and the kids come later this month and get to see the bunnies in the yards and going for bunny counting walks.

Cafe 59 Tonight

It was a Thursday evening after a busy day and we decided to go out for dinner. After a brief discussion we picked one of our favorite laid back restaurants Cafe 59 on Allen Street. It was a good time to head down to that neighborhood for a meal as it was just before the coming Allentown Arts Festival this weekend. Last weekend it was very busy because of the Pride Parade. So we went down at 5:30 on a Thursday evening and it was somewhat quiet although it was busy enough that we couldn't get our favorite table by the front window and of course as always we ran into someone there having dinner that we knew and chatted for a bit.

We also had some dinners that we've already had there before. Old favorites. I had there delicious fish and chips which I love. Becky had their chicken finger wrap. It was all very good as usual. We enjoyed a very relaxing meal in one of our favorite places.  I had a Zero Gravity Lager and then a Alagash White wheat beer.

We got home a little after 7 pm and enjoyed some more of the evening sitting on the porch.

And now the Dish Washer

Over the past couple of days we've been having some problems with our dishwasher not working properly. The water is not circulating and cleaning the dishes and silverware. The detergent pods are not dissolving. This is all happening just after we had to buy a new clothes dryer that wasn't working anymore. The dryer was around 20 years old and way overdue for replacement. This dishwasher is about 12 to 15 years old and again it is due for replacement. I looked up replacing dishwashers on the net and it looked like the common replacement time was about 12 to 14 years. I guess we're right on time. It doesn't look like it's worth getting in a repair service.

I've tried taking some of the parts out and cleaned them. I cleaned out the filter. Becky ordered some of the dishwasher bomb cleanser. That will be our last shot of getting this thing to work. We've started looking at replacement dishwashers at Orvilles. In the meantime we are washing our dishes by hand again.

We didn't have a dishwasher back on Seymour Street and not at our apartment on Putnam Street when we first moved to Buffalo. We also did not have a dishwasher in our kitchen at our house on Shirley Ave. So that means during our life together we went from 1976 until 1997 without having a dishwasher in our kitchen until we got the house on Crescent. That would be twenty and a half years washing our dishes by hand. It felt funny doing it again.

Zios for Dinner and a Walk on the West Side

We decided to have some Zios hoagies for dinner tonight and while we were at it we would take a walk in that neighborhood on the West Side. We parked the car in our usual spot on Bird Ave. near the Frank Lloyd Wright house and then walked up the street to Zios and ordered our sandwiches. They said it would be about 15 minutes. 

We then went for a walk in the neighborhood down Bird then over to Bidwell and down to Potomac. Then back up the other side of Bidwell and back up to Bird. We got back to Zios just as our sandwiches were ready for us. It was about 20 minutes for our walk.

However, we did see an amazing street that we didn't have time to explore but will definitely do so the next time. The street was Argyle Park. The next time we will park on Bird near Zios and then down Elmwood to Potomac and over to Argyle. Down Argyle to Delavan and then over to Brandford Place and back up to Bidwell and over to Bird and our car.

June 1st - A Summer Day

It really did feel like the first day of summer today. We started right away getting ready for a day of gardening and getting ready for heavy pickup this coming week. Today was also the Parkside Yard Sale Day although we were not participating I did put a few things on the street that we thought yard sale folks may want and the stuff was free for the taking. We put out one of Becky's old easels and a large painting canvas. Within minutes of putting it out there a woman walking by expressed interest both items. She went home and got her car and about 20 minutes later she loaded them into her car and expressed her thanks. I also put out a large and a small art portfolio that Becky had used in the 1970's. The small one went quickly to a neighbor and the big one which was not in very good shape is still out there. We also put out about a dozen pairs of stretcher strips. 

In the meantime I gathered up all the stuff that we are putting out on the street for heavy pickup tomorrow and put in the backyard where I can get to them easily. We have many things going out there tomorrow including old boards and book shelves, a couple of blow up portable beds that don't work anymore, a floor lamp, some computer cases, random metal strips, curtain rods, a metal basket and lots more art stuff. 

Then we did lots of gardening and I helped Becky move some things around. Before lunch we went on a nice walk through the neighborhood and saw a lot of folks having their yard sales. There were lots of people putting out their heavy pickup a little early too.

The garden is really looking good now and we are almost done with it for now. Becky always has a June 1st goal for getting the garden ready for the summer with her plantings and pots.