In the Morning I'll be Gone

In the Morning I'll be Gone by Adrian McKinty, 2014

Read during a week in late August 2021.

This was the third book in Belfast born author McKinty's "Troubles Trilogy" featuring the Detective Sean Duffy. I've read the other books in the series this year along with another standalone novel by McKinty.

This was another fantastic crime mystery novel in the series that takes place in the Northern Ireland of the troubles in the 1980's during the British occupation. As usual this one has lots of personal history, betrayals, murder, terrorist bombings and this time it also has an old locked room mystery plot device. Lots of witty dialogue, atmosphere and attitude too.

I've liked the use of music and albums throughout the book to set a scene just as he has done in the other two books in the series. Very effective and of course right up my alley.

The main plot takes the actual the bombing of Margaret Thatcher's hotel room in 1984 and spins this event into a very interesting and gripping tale. I'm happy to see that McKinty went on to write more Sean Duffy novels that take place during the "troubles" of Northern Ireland and this wasn't really the end of a "troubles trilogy".

I finished this novel today and the very last part of the story was a British agent describing the problems and horrific carnage that was part of ending the sectarian war and pulling out the British troops from Northern Ireland. She went on about the terrible price of peace and the history of Great Britain's pulling back from having an empire. She went on to talk about the terrible bombings as the British left Palestine and the sectarian violence as they left India. Of course there are many more examples of terrorism and violence as Britain ended wars of occupation besides Palestine, India and Northern Ireland.

The book was written in 2014 so there was some hindsight to the long peace process and the violence that went on for decades after the events of this book ended.

What got to me today was seeing all of this play out on the news as the US pulls out of Afghanistan amid terrorist bombings and sectarian violence. I couldn't help getting choked up as I read the final passages in this novel that seemed to be so reflective of today's news. It certainly looks like the warnings were not heeded.

The Knife and Fork Inn

"You can keep your damn knife and folk." Martin Casey. The family went out to dinner one night while we were staying at a house down the shore for a week. The restaurant was the Knife and Fork Inn in Atlantic City. We stayed at a lot of different places back in the 1960's and that year we were probably at Margate or Ventnor. We didn't stay near Atlantic City very much. This incident most likely happened in 1961 or 1962. I believe I was about 10 years old.

That restaurant was (and still is) an upscale fancy restaurant. We arrived there with the whole family. Mom and Dad and the six children along with Mom-Mom and Mart. I vividly remember the place and walking in with the family and asking for a table for ten. This was down the shore in the summer and lots of families went out for dinner. The host would not seat the family without the two male adults wearing jackets. They offered to give Dad and Mart one each from a coat rack near the door. I think Dad was OK with it because he wanted to get the family seated and fed but Mart was upset. Somehow the decision was made to leave and go somewhere else. Maybe Mom and Mom-Mom were looking at the menu prices but whatever the reason we all walked out and Mart said as he passed the host...  "you can keep your damn knife and fork".  He probably had some more to say but held back.

For the rest of my life I remembered that incident and that knife and fork thing. I never did get to eat at the Knife and Fork Inn which is a landmark in Atlantic City. It has been operating as a restaurant since 1911 and is still going strong in 2021.

Nanci Griffith Again

It's been two weeks since singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith passed away and I've been surprised how much I've struggled with her loss. I hadn't been listening to her much that pass several years but I certainly have over the past two weeks. I really did listen to her albums a lot over the years and several of them would be considered desert island records for me.

Today I've been listening to her two cover albums again. I could play them over and over throughout the day, the evening and into the night. Day after day. I would never get tired of them. She is a wonderful song writer but she has an incredible talent for interpreting other people's songs as these albums show so well.

20 Years Ago on Top of the World Trade Center

In August 2001 Becky and I took the kids to New York City for a few days. We were in the area to look at colleges for Katie and we stayed in a hotel in midtown Manhattan. On one afternoon Becky and Kate went shopping at one of the big stores and Sean wanted to see Wall Street so we took the subway downtown. While we were there we decided to go up to the top of the World Trade Center. It was spectacular. I took some pictures then and I wish I could find them now. It was just amazing how much you could see from up there on the tower observation deck. We spent some time up there and then headed back uptown on the subway.

There was a firehouse across the street from our hotel and we remembered seeing a group of firefighters sitting around in front of their station every time we looked out the window in our room. It broke our hearts thinking about those brave men and women and what they would go through about two weeks later on 9/11 as we experienced the shock of that day and remembered being on that observation deck that was no more.

Sun Ra

The Sun Ra Arkestra is playing in Buffalo on Thursday next week at one of my favorite venues Asbury Hall. I would like to see the performances but we have a wedding to get to in Cleveland. Becky and I saw Sun Ra playing at Artpark many years ago in 1981. It was a wonderful show with Grover Washington Jr also on the bill.  A number of years before that I saw him several times in Philadelphia when he was playing block party shows at the park in our Germantown neighborhood in the 1970's.

My friend John and I went over to Morton Street where Sun Ra had his home and band headquarters. It was a five minute drive or 20 minute walk. We had done both. He would sometimes play in the park across the street. We went over there in 1974 and 1975. The band still has that house today.

One time in 1974 John and I went over to the park and saw Sun Ra sharing the stage with another neighborhood musician Rufus Harley who played jazz bagpipes. That was quite the show.

The Sun Ra House is still there on Morton Street today and not only is it still the headquarters of the Sun Ra Arkestra but it is also a kind of living museum full of concert posters, paintings, sheet music dedicated to keeping the spirit of Sun Ra alive. 

Sun Ra Arkestra Director Marshall Allen still lives in the house.

Over the years I collected a lot of Sun Ra music. He was a very interesting man. I would have liked to basked in his light one more time with his music that has been carried on since his passing.

Sun Ra in my collection:

• Angels and Demons at Play, 1965
• The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 1 & 2, 1965
• When Angels Speak of Love, 1966
• Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth, 1966
• We Travel the Space Ways, 1967
• Sun Sound Pleasure, 1970
• Space is the Place, 1972
• Cosmos, 1976
• The Soul Vibrations of Man, 1977
• Sleeping Beauty, 1979
• Nuclear War, 1982
• The Space Age is Here to Stay, 2016

Medical Records

We probably don't think about our medical records very much and that could potentially be a mistake if one has a long term medical problem like me. I wish now that I would have kept personal copies of important medical records over the years. This photo is from a film of my aneurysm scan from May 2002 and one of the few records I have of tests.

In New York State the law requires doctors and hospitals to keep your medical records for seven years and most institutions and offices keep them for ten years. I recently had a problem concerning access to my medical records. 

This concern about my medical records began in November 2017. Here is a copy of a note I sent to my doctor.

"Several days ago I experienced a period of confusion and disorientation concerning a routine matter lasting about twenty minutes that frightened my wife and daughter. A week before that I had a brief but intense dizzy spell that knocked me hard into a door and reminded me of being thrown about in heavy seas. These incidents concern me because of my family history of aneurysms and strokes. Four of my five siblings have had strokes. Perhaps it is time for me to meet with a neurologist and be evaluated and tested specifically for stroke. Should I come in and see you or get a referral? I’ve been fine the past few days."

My doctor made arrangements for me to see a neurologist at the Dent Institute and after a consultation wanted me to have an MRI to see if there was any sign of a minor stroke. A little later Dent called me cancelling the MRI because they were concerned with the aneurysm clip in my brain that was from the 1980's and they thought it was not safe. I had told the doctors I had previously been given MRI scans in the 1990's because my aneurysm clip was one of the first non-ferrous clips that could be used in a magnetic resonance scan. My surgeon, Dr. Budney, was one of the first doctors to use the new clips in 1989.

Prior to the MRI scans I had angiogram scans before and after my surgery in 1989. My very first scan was a CATscan in mid 1988 that did not reveal any aneurysms. Later in the year in November I had an angiogram that indicated I had two aneurysm. After the surgery I had another angiogram right away and then a couple more over the next several years. They were hard scans that took a lot out of me and also at that time required an overnight stay in the hospital.

I was very happy and relieved when the MRI scans came along and that I had a clip that allowed me to have that scan. It made a big difference for several years. At some point in the late 90's or early 00's my doctor had me start getting MRA scans and then some time later CTA scans at Roswell rather than Buffalo General where I had been getting the MRI's.

These scans all happened over 20 to 30 years ago. So in 2018 when the doctors at Dent wanted to verify my aneurysm clips were MRI safe there was no record of the scans anywhere in my files. Apparently the original hospital where I had my surgery was closed and the records stored in a warehouse somewhere and my surgeon had retired. I spent several hours on the phone over several days trying to get copies of my records to verify I have had MRIs. Nothing worked. They eventually sent me to Buffalo General to get a CATscan that would measure the density of my clip to determine if it was safe for an MRI. I never did hear about the results. I wrote about that scan experience is this Teachable Moment post.

The thing I got out of all this is to keep copies of your medical records because the medical community may not do it. Part of my problem was that my surgery was pre-computer records. Many paper records were scanned into the new online systems but obviously not all of them and certainly not mine. Many doctors and hospitals are giving out cards with information about the medical procedure and hardware placed in the brain like the aneurysm clips. A patient can keep the card and refer to it over the years. I don't have that.

It's been over three years since I started the process of finding out difinitively what is in my head and have it in writing. Each time I've been to the doctors I bring up the subject and ask to get the information. If something were to happen to me and I had a stroke for example it would be nice to know if I can get an MRI. I know I've had them before but the current doctors want proof that it is safe for me. Otherwise I know that I would get a more invasive angiogram if there was a problem with my brain again.

Tea or Coffee

I've been a tea drinker all of my adult life. Well, almost all. I started drinking tea when I was living with Becky on Seymour Street in the late 1970's. I think I probably started around 1977 while I was going to Temple University. It was a gradually process and I didn't just suddenly one day decide to be a tea drinker. I first had tea in some Chinese restaurants.

I was never a coffee drinker. Never. I never drank it as a kid or teenager growing up and I also never drank it while in the Navy although I did try it a few times. During my time at Great Lakes I had a temporary job working with an old chief and one of my jobs was to go down to the mess and get him his coffee. I hated the smell of it. Another time onboard my first ship as the most junior person in the division it was my job to make the coffee everyday. That didn't last very long because they all said I made the worst coffee they've ever had and that was saying something.

Over the years I've been able to tolerate the smell of coffee because after all I live with a person who makes a pot of fancy coffee every day just as I make a pot of tea every day.

I should add that I do not like anything with coffee flavor in it. Not coffee flavored ice cream, pastries, candy, etc. Not even coffee flavored beer which can be common with some stouts.

I do like and drink all different kinds of tea but I mostly have just plain regular black tea every day. About three years ago I stopped drinking caffeinated tea and I really didn't miss it. I've never gone back and I feel better.

I've been drinking a lot of tea since I retired five years ago. I used to make a cup of tea in the morning before going to work and then I usually made a cup sometime during the afternoon at work. Once in a while I might make one after dinner. I started making a pot of tea in the morning when I retired but during the pandemic I was making a second and sometimes even a third pot during the day and evening. Fortunately it has always been de-caffeinated for the past three years but I was still drinking an awful lot of tea. I stopped cold turkey for about two weeks and then started back slowly. Now I drink tea every day but in moderation.

5 Years of Retirement

Five years ago today people at work gave me a little retirement sendoff in the faculty dining room at Canisius College. My colleagues gave a beer gift that included a couple of gift cards for Consumer Beverages and a very nice high quality thermos-like growler. That growler was really special and I've used it a lot over the few years. It has a great seal and designed to keep the beer cold. One time when I was over at Resurgence Brewery on Niagara Street after we had a couple of drafts I got out my growler for some take home beer. The bartender was excited about the growler and called a few other staff members over to see it while he explained to them the benefits of this particular container.

The little party at work was nice and there was a cake and snack foods. Later I would meet a few more colleagues at the Steer for a few.

Earlier I had an official retirement / 20 year service recognition at the College during their annual Celebration of Service ceremony where I shook hands with the college president and received a watch and a desk clock. Certainly was a time theme going on.

The biggest disappointment of the retirement ceremony perhaps was the statement read by a colleague during the Celebration of Service for my 20 years and upcoming retirement. I know the colleague meant well and wasn't used to public speaking and writing tributes to fellow workers. This was someone I worked with the entire 20 years and kind of expected more. The many things that were important to me in my career were never mentioned. Most of the stories and anecdotes told about me were frivolous and personally meaningless to me in the larger view of my life and career. It was kind of sad that this was maybe what my colleagues thought of me and it certainly wasn't what I was expecting to hear. I felt bad that this was also what the larger campus community was seeing that was important to my colleagues. There was nothing about the things I felt were important during my 20 years working there for instance nothing was said about my implementation of technology or the change in library policies that I created to make the space more user friendly and comfortable. Nothing about our putting the first wireless system in a building on campus. Nothing about my work on creating the first website for the college. The list goes on and on. I think that I should now actually write the tribute I thought I deserved and put it here on these pages. Yes, my 20 year personal retrospective. I wish I would have vetted that retirement statement first and made some suggestions as to how I wanted to be remembered.

I should add however that I have been completely enjoying my time at being retired and have never once thought about or considered going back to work for any amount of time for any reason whatsoever. It took a couple of years but I don't think about my old job at all ever anymore. I missed the students for awhile and I missed the social aspect of working on a college campus but even that went away. The pandemic sealed those feelings even more as I thought about what it would have been like to be working during this plague. I feel so fortunate to be done with all of that and especially at this time. I also feel fortunate that we had at least the first three years of retirement to do things and travel without considering all of the horrible ramifications of today and the past year and a half. We went out to restaurants and bars at least twice a week and sometimes three times and also went out to see live music whenever we felt like it. That all certainly changed in a hurry. We I have a few friends that retired right before or during the pandemic and feel bad for them that they have not been able to enjoy their retirement to the fullest. I also look forward to when we can do all the things we want to do when we want to do them.

Joan Armatrading - New Album

This morning I was listening to the new Joan Armatrading album titled Consequences on Spotify and like all of her records over the years I enjoyed it very much. She is still at her peak and played every instrument on every song which of course she wrote. This album was released earlier this summer and I'm surprised at myself for just getting around to listening to it now. It is another wonderful album.

She is 70 years old and was born almost a year to the day before me. I never saw Joan Armatrading perform live. If there was an opportunity I would certainly go and see her.

I enjoyed it so much I followed it up with her 2018 release Not To Far Away. When I first played this album I thought it might be the best thing she ever recorded. Now that is saying a lot but every song on this album was wonderful. The first time I heard it I immediately played it again.

I've always loved all of her songs.

Coincidently I wrote about first hearing Joan Armatrading a year ago almost to the day.

Joan Armatrading albums in my collection:

• Back to the Night, 1975
• Joan Armtrading, 1976
• Show Some Emotion, 1977
• To The Limit, 1978
• How Cruel, 1979
• Steppin' Out Live, 1979
• Me Myself and I, 1980
• Walk Under Ladders, 1981
• The Key, 1983
• The Shouting Stage, 1988
• The Very Best of Joan Armatrading, 1991
• Greatest Hits, 1996
• Love and Affection: Classics 1975-1983, 2003
• Live All the Way from America, 2004
• Into The Blues, 2007
• Live at Royal Albert Hall, 2011

Joe's Bar

Joe's Bar. That's what we call the room in my sister's basement where my brother-in-law Joe keeps his records and other stuff. We like hanging out down there and listening to music when we are visiting them. They've been in that house for about 25 years and we joked that it was me and Becky's vacation home. We stayed there at least part of our visit every time we've driven down to Philly over the last 25 years. Recently we have not been there as much since Katie and Todd moved to Mt Airy so we mostly just drive all the way down into the city and stay with them.

So Joe's music man cave bar really is a bar. It's a real bar with bar stools, booze on the shelves, a sink and a handy refrigerator. He makes cocktails there too. When I've driven down to Philly over the years we've always first stopped at Betsy's house. We would go out to dinner nearby and then end up in Joe's Bar for a couple. Joe would often then play some of his most recent record acquisitions. It was always great fun to sit down there and talk while listening to music and maybe perusing his extensive record collection stacked up nearby. There is also many interesting posters and music related items that he has collected over the many years he has spent at yard sales and flea markets.

We would especially love it when their kids Sara and Chris were over with their families and while the kids were all playing together we would hang out downstairs at the bar. We haven't been there recently since the pandemic started and I'm looking forward to getting back down there and hanging out a little at that bar.

Bees, Bees, Everywhere Bees

Last evening we were in a neighbors backyard for a dinner party. We had a wonderful time. The food was great and we were together with about a dozen or so people we all knew from around the neighborhood. 

However, there were a few dozen very unwanted guests. Yellowjackets were swarming everywhere around the food. They were at the food table where each dish had a plastic cover and they followed everyone to the seats. They also flew all around your head as you walked back and forth between the food table and the picnic table. It was crazy and I should have taken some photos of those bees.

I've never seen so many bees swarming all over a table of food like that. Sure, we've had problems with bees at picnics and other backyard gatherings over the years but this was intense. The people living there never saw anything like this in the backyard ever before. We've actually been back there on other occasions eating food and never experienced what we saw last night. They had to set up food plates of some leftovers scattered around the edges of the yard to lure the bees away from the people. Although the plates were soon covered with bees there were still plenty of them around to keep on bothering people.

The bees gradually went away as the evening became darker and after a while they were all gone. I think they were gone by the time desert was served or at least I don't remember being bothered while eating my ice cream and blueberry pie.

Overall we did have a very good time with all the food and people and a nice selection of drinks. One comment about the music. There was one of those little alexa type speakers in the window playing music from a streaming service which I think was pandora or something like that. I always pay attention to the music in any kind of party or gathering like this one. It is just in my nature after having played records in bars and provided music for parties and weddings over the years. I was surprised that over the course of the night I really didn't recognize hardly any of the music being played. It all seemed to be some kind of current adult contemporary music corporately designed not to offend anyone over 50 in any way. I didn't hear anything that would remotely be considered a hit at any time. It was just bland background music just a step away from the elevator. I'll have to ask what they were playing next time I see them.

That being said... mostly everyone including myself were probably too engrossed in their conversations to be paying attention to the songs coming out of the window. It truly was just background music.

Becky's Other Art Studio

For the last twenty years or so Becky has maintained an art studio on the second floor of a building on Hertel Avenue right across the street from the North Park Theater. It's a very spacious place with nice light and lots of shelves and cabinets to keep art supplies. She goes to her studio to work almost everyday since she retired. It has been especially nice to have during the pandemic. She was able to go there everyday and did not need to interact with other people. In and out with a mask and then spend as much time as she wanted by herself in her studio.

The studio also serves as a gallery space for her parents artwork. She rents another room in the building on the same floor down the hall for storing her parents artwork.

Living with an Artist

This coming fall Becky and I will have been living together for 45 years. We started going out together in the fall of 1975 and a year later she moved into my house on Seymour Street when one of my friends moved out and we had an open bedroom. Of course Becky shared my room and that other room became her art studio for the next three years.

When we moved to Buffalo in the spring of 1979 we had an apartment on Putnam Street on the West Side. There were two bedrooms along with a living room, dining room and kitchen and with a small room at the back of the house that became Becky's art studio.

We stayed in that apartment for almost eight years and then we bought a house on Shirley Avenue in the city's University Heights neighborhood. We really liked that house that had a nice open living room and dining room, a good kitchen, and two bedrooms on the first floor. The second floor had a nice finished bedroom and a large unfinished area where we made an office/computer room and of course an art studio after we built a painting wall. We were in that house from 1986 to 1997.

In May 1997 we bought and moved into our current home on Crescent Ave in the Parkside neighborhood. The house is an old Victorian home built in 1907 and we have a nice living room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor, and three bedrooms on the second floor. Three bathrooms are nice too. Up on the third floor we have a couple of finished rooms that were used for bedrooms by the previous owners. One room became an office/music room and the one in the front of the house became Becky's studio. There was also a lot of storage space up there for Becky's artwork. Later after the kids moved out one of the 2nd floor bedrooms became a guest room with a drawing table and area to work for Becky.

We've always had lots of artwork on our walls and there are many art books on our shelves. Becky is not on an artist but an art educator and author too.

The Steer... Who's Business

The Steer Restaurant has been one of our favorite quick go to places to eat for many years and we were sadly shocked the other day when we saw the announcement that the Steer and the Lake Effect Diner were closing and going out of business this week due to pandemic problems. The owner, Tucker Curtin, blamed his workers for leaving to get government benefits and also the supply chain problems of running a restaurant during the pandemic. The owner supposedly said "it's time to move on".

Then we saw in Instagram a message from Tucker Curtin's wife Erin where she announced the restaurants were staying open.

"The Steer Restaurant and Lake Effect Diner are family businesses which Tucker and I have run along with our children since 1993. I was not consulted on the sudden closing of both restaurants. I am committed to keeping the restaurants open. With our dedicated staff, I look forward to welcoming our loyal patrons back soon. Stay tuned and please share! 

Erin Campbell Curtin"

Although her husband Tucker ran the logistics of the restaurants over the years she has been the driving force for the food quality and diversity. She made the restaurants special. She was also responsible for the vegan options on the menu. Maybe it's her business now.

Porch Cactus 2021

Our porch cactus bloomed for the third year but this time it was in mid August rather than July like the past two years. As always it was a one night bloom. This year it had it's one night bloom on Katie and Ashley's birthday so I sent them this photo with a happy birthday note.

By tomorrow it will be sadly drooping over. 

We first noticed the beginnings of a bloom a couple of days ago and realized it would be having it's one night bloom soon. I'm glad I caught it and remembered to go out on the porch and get a picture.

Until next year...

Heating and Cooling Ordeal

This heating and cooling ordeal began a week ago and I wrote about it initially here as an air conditioner problem. It became much more but first we had to get through the weekend with house guests but that is another story.

Thursday and Friday were both very hot and humid days for Buffalo in the high 80's. We had lots of fans going throughout the house. Sean, Ashley and the baby arrived Friday afternoon and it was a little rough on them because they are so used to having air conditioning but everyone got through the night ok. Saturday and Sunday were both relatively cool days and the a/c wasn't missed as much as it could have been had it been warmer.

I researched quite a few heating and cooling companies serving Western New York and narrowed down my list to six companies. I then eventually selected three to call for estimates. They were Zenner & Ritter who had installed our current system, Sullivan and Central that both had good recommendations and reviews.

I spent a lot of time over the weekend going online and researching the actual new heating and cooling systems. Sean and Ashley were out of the house most of Saturday so I had that time to explore our options. I also found out that most HVAC systems are not designed to last more than 12 to 15 years. Ours was installed in 2006 so we were due for a new system. 

I set up our cabana sunroom in the backyard as an office for the company reps to go over their estimates with us. It worked out very well.

On Monday we had the sales rep from Zenner & Ritter who went over our options for replacing our furnace and central air. He gave us three options... good, better and best which ranged in price from about $8,100 to over $14,000. If we were to go with them I was looking at the middle system at about $8,900. He emailed me the estimates. He gave me 4 estimates. Three from Lenox and one from Heil.

Tuesday I had two companies scheduled to give me estimates. The first in the morning was Sullivan Heating and Cooling and I was surprised that he was only able to get us estimates on the high end Heil and the low end Heil because his company had supply chain problems with both furnaces and air conditioners. Their prices were not bad but they just didn't have a lot of product and we are not in a condition to wait. He could not give us a timeline for when they would have a complete line of furnaces available. Didn't give us a lot of confidence.

The third company was Central Heating and Cooling and the rep gave us a lot more to think about then just products and prices. He suggested that we apply for the New York State Residential Home Performance Energy STAR program that if we qualified would pay for 50% of our furnace and would also include energy inspections and evaluations. His company Central was one of the few heating and cooling companies participating in the program which was primarily focused on low income residents and targeted communities. The program was just recently expanded to include senior citizens on fixed incomes and he thought we may qualify if our sole income was social security. He was also the first rep to emphasize the federal tax credits and fuel company rebates that would impact our final costs.

If we were accepted into the state program then we would get an energy evaluation that would not cost us anything. This rep was also the only one to talk about actually measuring the house to ensure the equipment would effectively heat and cool our home. So he gave us the options of a single stage, double stage and modulated furnaces and technological equivalent cooling systems. The prices ranged from about $9,000 to $15,000 but the state grant would not $3,000 to $4,000 off that amount and along with the rebates and tax credits would substantially lower the costs. If we got the grant. It would probably take a week or so to process the grant and he felt that he could fix our a/c enough to hold us over while the process occurred and we would get the new equipment installed. He sent the three estimates and info to my email.

He offered to come by the next morning at 8am to get the a/c running and to fill out the paperwork necessary to apply for the grant. We said OK and this morning he came by and replaced a part that would fix the a/c for now but of course there was still a problem with the furnace. At least we would have air during the time we were waiting to hear about the grant. Last night I spent some time researching the state program and grant and downloaded the necessary forms. It gave me a better understanding of what this program was all about. He had also talked with us about another option to add an air filtration device to the system which would also have been covered by the grant at 50%.

This morning he came by at 8 am and had the a/c running in about 20 minutes. He probably would have had it fixed sooner if I hadn't been talking with him the whole time but he was quick and effective although a real character. 

I had let him know right away that we were interested in the medium costs system and then he surprised me with still another option which was to keep the high end better furnace which would be used nine months out of the year and then cut back on the model of the air conditioner so he essentially then gave us a 4th option and estimate which was actually quite attractive and very reasonable. It would only be about a thousand more than the middle option and two grand less than the original high option. 

Then we sat down in the kitchen and filled out the online grant application form that included several pieces of paperwork from utilities and social security that needed to be scanned into the program. It took about a half hour to complete the form with a little help from his office staff on the phone. I signed the grant forms and the latest estimate so that they knew at the office which one of the several ones we were interested in as long as we got the grant. There was a moment when the rep and the office staff thought we might not be eligible but our income paperwork indicated that we probably could get the grant. We would definitely not be eligible by December when I am required to start drawing income from other sources when I turn 70.

He was gone by 9:30 and I was dazed but the air conditioner was running nicely, our grant application was sent in and we had a nice option on the table. The rep is traveling for a week and then we are going to Cleveland so the next time we can actually get together to start the process assuming we get the grant will be the morning of September 13th.  If we don't get the grant all bets are off and we would probably downgrade the system.

This evening I got an email from the state indicating that the application has been received and should be processed in 2 to 3 business days.

Afghanistan 20 Years Later

The Fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021 was not only expected but one wonders how it took so long. 20 years of war and we should never had been there for 90% of that time. It should have been in and out in 2001. Nation building in a place like Afghanistan was a bitter mistake.

In the very long history of that country they have always been a region of tribal warlords and remote independent villages. There has never been a successful central government and they have never been conquered for any length of time by anyone over the centuries. They were mostly left alone. In the past couple of centuries looked what happened to the British and the Russians there. Long wars and ultimate defeat just like was has happened to the Americans.

I fully support President Biden and the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The contractors too. America was never going to build a functioning Western-like democracy in that country. Women's rights is certainly an issue there but that should have been dealt with my the international community through the process of economic aid.

Right wing media and the republicans have been viciously attacking the president over the withdrawal of our military from Afghanistan. Ironically the president is just following the process set in motion by the former president last year. 

Billy Joel

A lot of people I know saw Billy Joel play here at the stadium this past weekend and it reminded me of the time I saw him live at the Bijou Café, a small jazz club, in downtown Philly in 1973. He looked like the picture here. I was home on leave and my friend John insisted we go see this guy with a big hit on WMMR called Captain Jack. I had spent most of the last several years overseas and had never heard of Billy Joel but then again not many people outside Philly or Long Island probably had heard him. His album Piano Man had just been released and the title track single would not hit the charts until the spring of 1974. The Bijou was a very small venue and it was a good show with him introducing that new album. This weekend he didn’t play Captain Jack. Apparently these days he only plays that song in Philly when he performs for those fans that helped make him a star.  

Also around that time in late 1973 some of my friends saw Billy Joel perform at the Shubert Theater on Broad Street opening up for the Doobie Brothers. Now, that being said... I was never a big fan of Billy Joel other than maybe that brief time in the early 1970's. There have been a few songs here and there in his catalog that I find alright but overall I never really cared for his stuff and a few of his hits I found awful. I only have one compilation album of his in my collection and I think I've probably only used maybe three of his songs on any of my mixes,

"It's still Billy Joel to me"

Forget the Alamo

Forget the Alamo: The True Story of the Myth That Made Texas by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford, 2021

Read this book in a week in early August 2021. 

One of the closing lines of this books states the following... "To learn the real lessons of the Texas Revolt, we need to learn the truth about Bowie, Travis and Crockett. Bowie was a murderer, slaver and con man; Travis was a pompous, racist agitator and syphilitic lech; and Crockett was a self-promoting old fool who was a captive to his own myth."  There were no heroes at the Alamo.

This book was a history of the telling of the history of the Alamo. I wrote an earlier post about Davy Crockett that was significantly influenced by reading this book which showed Crockett to be nothing like the hero of Texas myth. In fact the book is all about the myth of the Alamo and the Texas Revolt which was nothing at all like the actual events. The real story of the Alamo was forgotten and twisted over time. 

I was fascinated by the true story of the Alamo which was so different from the movies and television shows of my childhood that portrayed and completely made of story of heroes defending freedom rather that a bunch of sleazy slavers trying to protect their slave properties from a Mexican liberation army. This is a book of fact based revisionism. Yes, the Mexican army came to the Alamo to free the slaves that were illegally imported into their country by a bunch of illegal immigrants from the American south trying to make money growing cotton with slaves. There was nothing heroic about the Alamo. 

The myth of the Alamo was created in the Jim Crow south to celebrate whiteness. American history tried to make the Mexican general an evil despot rather than the man leading the efforts to rid their country of slavery. It was also used to vilify and to make Mexicans and Native Americans as the non-white others. They still do that in Texas and throughout the south. Growing up in a mixed ethnic neighborhood of Philadelphia I thought I knew what racism was when I saw it but my experience in the Navy with people from the south changed all that. Many of the guys I served with were extreme southern racists. I really disliked the south and especially Texas. I've always considered Texas to be a creepy place filled with hate and some sense of false bravado that looked down on all other Americans and especially non-white people. While stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in 1970 I was in a dorm like barracks for several months with four sailors to a room. My three roommates at the time were all from Texas. I learned a lot about Texas there. Much later I was in Houston for a conference and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

There was another interesting and amusing section of the book about Alamo collectors and specifically the British rock star Phil Collins who over the years was duped out of millions of dollars buying fake and bogus Alamo artifacts based on hearsay and fraud. 

The book spent some time on the recent controversies in the classrooms and in history classes concerning what really happened at the Alamo. Conservatives and especially racists ones are very upset with revisionist historians and teachers who they see as trying to change their history. They are really frightened about the quickly coming time when white people will be a minority in Texas and someone else will control the legislation. They are afraid of a time when school textbooks tell the true story of Texas.

A lot of people, myself included, grew up hearing about the heroics of the Alamo and watching that John Wayne movie and the Disney version of Davy Crockett. We were duped too.

Grandson Visit @ 4 Months

This past weekend we had our first visit in our home with our four month old grandson Andrew. We had previously spent a week with him at Sean and Ashley's home about a week or so after he was born. He certainly has changed so much during the months between seeing him. They arrived with him late Friday afternoon and we had a nice family dinner. The first photo is Andrew when he arrived.

We had a problem with our heating and cooling system just before they arrived for the weekend and we lost our air conditioning. It was hot on Friday and we had fans everywhere around the house and especially in his bedroom but the next couple of days was much cooler. I wrote about our initial air conditioner problem here.

We had a great time with Andrew. He is such a happy baby and a joy to be around. He has a wonderful smile and laugh too.

Saturday morning Val and Bobby came by to spend some time with us and to enjoy seeing Andrew. Val has become very good with babies since they became grandparents a couple of years ago. Sean and Ashley were gone most of Saturday while visiting some of Ashley's friends and family. They also stopped along the way for some Buffalo foods. 

We had Dave, Donna and Mary along with Tom and Diane over for lunch on Sunday. Andrew was a big hit. It was especially nice to see Diane holding the baby since she had not been able to see her granddaughter at that age.

It was very sad to see them leave Monday morning. We had such a great time during their brief visit and we are looking forward to getting over to there place sometime this fall. 

Nanci Griffith RIP

I was shocked and heartbroken when I saw an announcement from the New York Times that the folk singer Nanci Griffith passed away today at 68 years old. She has fought bouts of cancer a couple of times during her career but there was no announcement today for the cause of death. Apparently she requested that a week should pass before there is any official discussion of her illness. She wanted people to talk about her music at the time of her death and not the cause of her passing. I've been playing her music all day.

She has always been one of my favorite singer-songwriters. She is from Texas too but a good Texan. I've also always loved her songs. She is a very talented songwriter but she certainly does have a way with interpreting other people's songs too. All of her albums have had nice selections of songs that she has covered both classic and unknowns but soon to be classic.

The first album I got from her was the CD Little Love Affairs in 1988 which quickly became one of my favorite albums. During that same year I also got her live album One Fair Summer Evening and I became fascinated by the song From a Distance which was written by Julie Gold in 1985. Griffith also recorded a great version of it on her live album in 1988 and of course in 1990 Bette Midler version became a massive hit. I liked the Byrds version of that song from 1990 too. I also went back and got her earlier album Lone Star State of Mind from 1987 that had her studio version of From a Distance.

I loved her next album Storms from 1989 then started getting every Nanci Griffith album as it came out and also went back into her catalog and collected her earlier albums. I really liked 1984's Once in a Very Blue Moon and Last of the True Believer from 1986. I've got all of her albums up until the last studio album from 2012.

As good as all of her albums have been and filled with so many great songs she has written I was very excited and have absolutely loved her two albums of songs from other artists that have influenced her songwriting. Her tenth album Other Voices, Other Rooms from 1993 and her thirteenth album Other Voices, Too (A Trip to Bountiful) from 1998 are just stunning collections of great songs done with a wonderful collection of other artists contributing to the albums. The first one won a Grammy Award. They are both two more of my favorite albums.

In August 2000 Becky and I along with Katie and Sean saw Nanci Griffith perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. She was wonderful and the kids were impressed. Actually everyone we saw that year was great and in particular Greg Brown, Oscar Lopez, Patty Larkin, Mary Gauthier, John Gorka, Natalie McMasters, John Hartford, Rosalie Sorrells, John Hammond and The Saw Doctors among others. A fun day.

My Nanci Griffith albums in my collection

• There's a Light Beyond These Woods, 1978
• Poet in My Window, 1982
• Once in a Very Blue Moon, 1984
• Last of the True Believers, 1986
• Lone Star State of Mind, 1987
• Little Love Affairs, 1988
• One Fair Summer Evening, 1988
• Storms, 1989
• Late Night Grande Hotel, 1991
• Other Voices, Other Rooms, 1993
• Flyer, 1994
• Blue Roses from the Moons, 1997
• Other Voices Too (A Trip to Bountiful), 1998
• The Dustbowl Symphony, 1999
• Clock Without Hands, 2001
• The Complete MCA Studio Recordings Box Set, 2003
• Hearts in Mind, 2004
• Ruby's Torch, 2006
• The Loving Kind, 2009
• Intersection, 2012

Libertarian Party Rant

"The Libertarian Party (LP) is a political party in the United States that promotes civil liberties, non-interventionism, laissez-faire capitalism, and limiting the size and scope of government." So says a post from someone that was in my FB feed this morning.

Now that is the exact wording of the intro entry for the Libertarian Party in Wikipedia. The entry further goes on to say that the Libertarian Party has never had more than 3% support of voters in a national election and usually votes cast for the party are well under 1%. Might I say a fringe group of fanatics.

They were founded in 1971 by some people who felt Richard Nixon wasn't right wing enough.

Let's consider a nation organized by libertarian party principles. No public schools. You go, you pay. Your home catches on fire... you better be paid up to your local fire company or they may let your house burn. Maybe they will save the home of an unsubscriber but will send a bill afterwards that if not paid then the owner would lose the saved home to the fire company. They favor a totally free market health care system. All streets, roads and highways would have tolls. Of course no medicare or social security. That would be the first to go. No trashcans in city parks. What about street lights? Run the government like a business but they would need very high property taxes. Very high. Colorado Springs tried it.

I've read the Libertarian Party statement and found it to be full of bullshit. Politicians who generally embrace libertarian principles are generally idiots. IMHO

Lord Hobo Sampler Pack

Got a Lord Hobo Sampler Pack. 12 cans. Becky picked it up at the market this week. I've been enjoying all the beers in this box from the Lord Hobo Brewing Co near Boston.

Their flagship beer is an imperial double IPA with the name Boomsauce. I've had it a few times over the past several years down on Allen Street at Cafe 59 and Hardware.

617 is a nice hazy IPA and this is the first time I've had this beer. Freebird is a crisp golden ale that goes down very nicely. This was also the first time having this beer. The final selection in the box is an easy drinking session IPA with the name Life. I first had this beer about six years ago at Mister Goodbar. It was probably at one of the beer club nights. Overall a good variety pack of beers from a good brewery.