Betsy & Joe @ Kate's

Betsy and Joe came by Katie's house to visit with us on Friday afternoon. Betsy had insisted that we go out for lunch but I convinced her that it would be much easier to order some take out sandwiches to be delivered to us. We got some hoagies. 

They got to hangout with us and with Clara and Violet. Henry was in school and they missed him. Betsy especially loved holding Violet.

Betsy and Joe always make an effort to come down to see us when we are staying at Katie's house. I really do miss spending a lot of time with Betsy which we did for nearly 40 years when we stayed at her house during our many visits to the Philly area every year. 

Update: I found out a day later from Marissa that she and Betsy had just recently got a tattoo. They both got a dragonfly on their shoulders. Well, Betsy never told us during her visit about her first tattoo that she got at age 72. Wow.

Chestnut Hill Hotel Grill with Friends

Last night we met up with some friends for dinner at the Chestnut Hill Hotel Grill. We had spent a few days planning this get together of old friends from the neighborhood and I coordinated it with phone text messages to the group that I created. I had Margie, Tom R and George B in the group. Later I added Madeline. 

I had let everyone know that we flew into town this time and did not have a car so we would be taking a ride service to the restaurant. We wanted someplace nearby. A couple of times we have gone out to dinner with friends in Chestnut Hill so we decided to do that again. We eventually agreed on the Chestnut Hill Hotel Grill. Everyone seemed to like the menu and some of the group are not adventuresome eaters so this worked. It is also a very casual place.

We could not make reservations for eight there and when I called them they said they would try to seat us when we got there. There were also several other restaurants within walking distance of the Hotel Grill which we talked about as alternatives in case we couldn't get seated there. 

George B who recently moved back to the Philly area with his wife insisted on picking us up at Katie's house when he heard that we did not have a car with us and planned to use a Lyft ride to the restaurant. He and Donna picked us up and we drove up Germantown Avenue to Chestnut Hill. On the way we got a text from Tom saying that he got us a table on the outside patio.

There were a lot of people at the restaurant and the other ones in the area and parking was a little difficult but everyone found a spot. It was a cool but nice evening and there was a heater over our table. We were fine outside but some of us needed a little extra jacket or something. I had a long sleeve shirt and was fine. Some of the others were wearing short sleeve shirts. George B had on a t-shirt.

We had some drinks and a great meal with lots of talking and catching up. I was sitting across from Madeline whom I hadn't seen very much at all in the past 40 years. A little at a couple of parties and very briefly at my brother's funeral. It was very nice talking with her.

The group was me and Becky, Margie and Joe, Tom and Joanne, George and Donna and Madeline who rode with M&J. 

Madeline was taking some pictures of us when a young woman in another group offered to take some group shots of all of us.

Why We Did It

Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell - Tim Miller, 2022

I'm not sure why I read this because I already knew everything about these people that made them align themselves with Trump. I knew why they did it. Political power pure and simple. 

So I read this book through the month of August and most of September with a short break between library downloads. I didn't learn anything new except maybe the depth of traitorous activity, moral decay and profound political corruption that some people will immerse themselves in to gain power and rally the masses of hate. I found myself disgusted with the author even as he took responsibility for his actions as a Republican party dirty trickster. It was shocking to see described in such detail the willingness of party leaders to support obvious vicious lies and hate filled rhetoric that stirred up the mob of racists. They knowingly encouraged anti-democratic forces that are destroying America as a free nation. They supported totalitarianism and the rule of absolute dictatorship. They are traitors pure and simple.

Curtis Arboretum & H Mart

Earlier today we all went to the Curtis Arboretum for some family time. Me and Becky, Todd and Katie, and Henry, Clara and Violet. We all squeezed into their car and drove over to Elkins Park. We had a wonderful walk through the park and explored the trees, the ponds and the banquet area. There are over 50 varieties of trees in this arboretum. The last time I was in this park was probably close to 50 years ago. 

We left the Curtis Arboretum and went over to a nearby playground where the kids had a good time playing together and with other kids.

After the kids played for awhile we all got back into the car again and Todd drove over to the H Mart Korean grocery store in Elkins Park. That was quite the experience and the kids loved all the out of the ordinary groceries on display. They especially liked the fish and other seafood area. 

Katie and Todd bought a selection of Asian food for the dinner we had tonight. It was delicious.

Wastelands, Hogs & Corporate Racism

Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial - Corban Addison and John Grisham, 2022

This was a quick two week read in September and an amazing true story of corporate environmental terrorism, modern monopolies and systemic racism in America. This book was a real eye-opener, shocking but nothing was really surprising. 

The book was very well written and a real fast paced page turner in the way it was structured through the series of court cases over the years. Poor black farmers vs one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world. The author also has a very deep knowledge of American jurisprudence and certainly has an effective way with describing courtroom procedures. He was very good with his descriptions of hog farming in North Carolina and the mass production of pork. 

The author has written several well received novels that I really do need to look into and read.

The End of an Era

Queen Elizabeth, 96 years old and reigned for 70 years, was laid to rest in her crypt inside the King George VI Memorial Chapel within the St. Charles Chapel at Windsor Castle about 20 miles west of London along with her mother, father and sister. This funeral is a big television day here, there and around the world. Lots of Brits marching slowly.

I watched the final public service at the chapel in Windsor Castle. Lots of pomp and circumstance and way too much Church of England religious mumbo jumbo. The choir was nice though. The best part was the Queen's Piper walking away playing the bagpipes while the coffin was lowered into the crypt and the sound of the pipes faded away. It's been a long ten days and now I'm glad it's over.

This certainly the end of an era and the start of a new one. King Charles is in his 70's and people are already talking about the next King... William. This is a new era of kings. It doesn't look like there could be another queen for several generations. There will also probably be a slimming down of the monarchy.

One also has to wonder how King Charles will deal with the remnants of the British Empire falling apart. Already places like Australia, Canada, Scotland and Wales are talking about leaving the royal authority of Great Britain and the monarch. There is a strong movement for Scottish and Welsh full independence. Queen Elizabeth represented a bygone era and an empire that is long gone. King Charles will need to deal with the new realities of the 21st Century which has not been kind to England and for good reasons. The legacy of colonialism made England what it is today and there are many people and countries around the world that resent it. 

Becky and I had a wonderful time in London in 2018 and 2019 and we saw how the legacy of their empire has shaped that city and it's people. It has become much more multicultural as people from countries scattered around the world moved to London to make it their home. You could see it everywhere in the city. We saw the legacy of colonialism in Paris too. People from all over the world have made London (and Paris) cities that represent the world. Of course there are many racist English people who recent the "foreigners" living among them and we could see that too. It has been their empire coming home to roost.

I think there are some touch times coming to England and I'm glad we got to experience London before whatever is going to happen. 

A funny quote from Matt... "It's going to be funny next year when King Charles' funeral is only 20 minutes long and nobody shows up to queue"

Curb Alert

This week is heavy pickup bulk trash for our neighborhood. Earlier today Becky and I went over to her studio to take one of her home studio drawing table chairs over to her studio on Hertel. We then took two of her old small studio chairs out of storage and brought them back home to put out in the trash.

These two chairs have some history. For the past twenty years they were in Becky's studio and had been used by her students when she was conducting art classes at her studio. She hasn't done classes in awhile so it was time to get rid of the chairs. They were still in good shape except for some paint stains but they were very sturdy Steelcase chairs. I got them for Becky when the Canisius College Library was being renovated and getting new furniture. These chairs had previously spent about 20 years being used by students in the library. We still have several more of them at the studio. I got a few of them when the library was getting rid of them. So they are over 40 years old but still in good shape. Someone could use them.

In the early afternoon I rolled them out to the curb after taking them out of the back of the car. Then I posted a curb alert on the Buy Nothing Parkside FB page. At around 5 o'clock I rolled out our old gas grill and put it beside the chairs. About three hours later everything was gone. I knew people would be out on the Sunday night before heavy pickup and wanted to make sure these items were out there right away. 

Update: Monday 9/19. This morning the city came by and did the heavy pickup on our street. I'm glad the chairs and grill went to someone last night and did not end up in a city bulk trash truck.

Paste Samplers

I subscribed to Paste Magazine for about six years during the 2000's. It was a magazine devoted to music and entertainment. It started out as a website in the late 1990's and was a print publication between 2002 and 2010. I had a subscription from 2005 to 2010 and ended when the publication went online only. 

I always enjoyed reading this magazine. It not only covered music with an often indie perspective but they also wrote about movies, television shows, computer/video games, books, comics, comedy, craft beer, politics and more. It was all very entertaining and I looked forward to the new issue each month.

As part of the subscription along with each magazine I received a sampler CD of the music discussed or reviewed in that issue. I would usually give the CD a listen at the time I got it and then it went on the shelf with my CD collection. It was many years before I listened to them again.

Sometime during the height of the pandemic I grabbed a stack of these sampler CDs and brought them downstairs with the intention of giving them a listen. It has been about ten to fifteen years since I heard any of these but somehow that never happened and they sat there on a different shelf for the past couple of years.

A few days ago I took them out to the backyard sunroom and stacked them up next to the stereo and now I have been systematically going through them one by one in chronological order. They are each about 70 minutes long and it has been a lot of fun. I've been sitting out there almost every day for the past few years and I always have music on when I am in there reading or writing. Before bringing them out to the sunroom I took a picture of them on the kitchen table.

About half of the artists on these CDs are mostly unknown to me and there are many songs here from groups that I have added their albums to my collection over the years. I have wondered what made them pick a particular song from a reviewed album to be included on the samplers. I have used quite a few of these artists on various mixes but I often did not pick the same songs from the album that were on these samplers. Perhaps I should make a mix of the sampler songs here that did not make it on my previous mixes.

I found a website called MusicBrainz.org which is an open music encyclopedia that collects music metadata and makes it available to the public. They had a list of all the Paste Magazine sampler CDs and listings of the songs and artists on them.

Dinner at Shango

Tonight we went out for Becky's birthday dinner with Dave and Donna to Shango. We had a wonderful meal and a great time. Fish. Lots of fish. I had Catfish, Becky had Shrimp, Dave had Swordfish and Donna had Salmon. Of course we had some gumbo too. The pic is some Czech Pilsner Urquell for me and Dave. 

The restaurant was very busy. We didn't have desert because, well, we had lots of left over birthday cake at home. 

Johnny Smith... Jazz Guitarist

I love Serendipity. Yesterday I had a post in my FB feed from the band Wilco with a list of albums that the band has been listening to recently. They posted a playlist of this music on Spotify and I marked that list in my account to listen to later. I also went and marked many of the individual albums to also listen to later. 

One of them I played today and was completely floored at how good this guy was. I had never heard of Johnny Smith and decided to give a listen to this 4 CD box set of his albums. I also looked him up online because I wanted to find out more about him and I was surprised to see that he was considered by fellow musicians to be one of the best sidemen and session jazz guitarist of the 40's, 50's and early 60's. He was also known as one of the best jazz guitarists by "serious jazz fans". Well, I guess that called me out for not being a "serious jazz fan" because this was all new to me. I always thought of my self as a big jazz fan but I guess not serious enough.

So this album is fantastic and the playing is wonderful throughout. I've been listening to it for several hours now and everything I've heard is great. The whole set plays for a little over five hours. Apparently these albums were released on the Roost label between 1952 and 1960 but have been out of print for decades. This box set from Mosaic Records was released in 2002.  How did I miss this?

One of the joys of seriously listening to music over the years has been discovering new music and that includes hearing old music for the first time too. I'm always digging around online for news of reissues or the release of archival materials. Over the years I have spend a lot of time in record stores browsing bins for old music and new. I do miss that feeling of discovering something in your hands for the first time and maybe asking a knowledgeable record clerk about it. Things are so much different now and easier in some ways. Today I got to listen to this wonderful reissue of this man's great albums from around 70 years ago. 

Just earlier this week I came across a recently released collection of English folk music from groups and artists I had never heard of before and wrote about that wonderful experience here... Before The Day Is Done. 

I'm almost 71 years old and I still greatly enjoy discovering and listening to new music.

Becky's Birthday

Today was Becky's birthday and it was a rather low key day. She did her usual thing at her studio and then went to Wegman's where she got some Chinese take out for dinner. A nice chocolate cake too. Later she watched her regular shows. 

I gave her a couple of travel books for Barcelona and I have another nice one about the art and architecture of Barcelona that will come after we get back from our upcoming trip. We had some nice video conversations with the kids too.

Tomorrow evening we will be going out to dinner at Shango with Dave and Donna. Earlier today I was seeing on my FB memories feed all the restaurants we have gone for Becky's birthday over the past several years including Coco, Liberty Hound, Trattoria Aroma, Lombardo's, Hotel Henry, Toutant, Seabar and Shango. 

I'm sure we will be celebrating more in Philly next week with Katie and the kids.

The 12 Hour Queue

It's been just a little over a week since the Queen died and it has certainly been a once in a lifetime experience for the world. It has also been nonstop television pageantry, ceremony and royal processions. 

It was interesting earlier in the week to see all of the parades and ceremonies in Edinburgh and the Royal Mile. It was only three years ago that Becky and I were there walking along that famous street and visiting that royal palace. We had also been in the church where her body had been lying in state. The Queen's coffin was eventually moved to London where the funeral is scheduled for this coming Monday.

In the meantime the Queen's body is lying in state at Westminster Abbey where the coffin can be viewed by the public. The lines for the public to view the Queen and pay their respects are enormous. The news is saying that people have been waiting in the queue for 12 hours and it has been very orderly.

The Newspaper Clippings

Trump Dystopia

So now the Trump defense for stealing federal government classified documents and hiding them in a country club storeroom down the hall from the kitchen was that they were really just Newspapers Clippings.

Apparently the Trump people used that as an excuse when the Federal Archives demanded the return of the classified documents stolen from the White House that were supposed to have been handed over to the Archives as government property.

The so called Newspaper Clippings story was all over the news and social media today in a very mocking manner that laughed at the former president who probably wanted to sell the top secrets documents to the highest bidder. Perhaps he planned to trade them for a hotel in some foreign capital somewhere. This whole episode is almost comical except that American lives are in danger by Trump... again.

FIOS in Parkside

I've seen a lot of online comments in recent days from people all excited about Verizon FIOS internet currently being installed in the Parkside neighborhood. For most of the area this is something new but we have had FIOS for a little more than five years now and it is certainly not all that great or such a big improvement over Spectrum which most of the people in the area have in their homes for internet if folks get their basic package.

Shortly after we retired some six years ago I was very excited to cut the cable and drop our Spectrum services for both cable TV and internet service. We moved to Verizon FIOS for our internet which had just become available to us on our block. We subscribed to Sling TV along with a couple of other streaming services for our television. 

Right from the very beginning we had problems with the FIOS internet service. It kept dropping out, didn't reach areas of our home and was very slow. We kept seeing the spinning disc on our TV as it struggled to stream shows. At the time I think we started out paying about 40 dollars a month for service at 300 Mpbs. It obviously was not enough bandwidth. I had the Verizon service tech at the house about six times over the first two years and they replaced our router twice and at one point rewired the house and the line from the pole. 

Eventually we all agreed I needed more bandwidth although there was only two of us in the house using the interne but we did have multiple devices. My wife and I were each regularly each using a laptop, a phone and a tablet. We have a streaming television and I also have another laptop running our sound system streaming music.  I'm also getting ready to install wireless Bluetooth speakers throughout the house and ditch all the wiring.

To make all this work I needed to upgrade my FIOS account to their Gigabyte Connection service at $80 a month and got a better router. I was still having problems. Now granted our old house with thick walls can be a problem getting a signal everywhere and I also never could get a workable signal in our backyard and enclosed cabana which I used a lot with my laptop.

About three years ago after we upgraded our service I also went and spent three hundred dollars on an Eero Mesh WiFi router system with three units. One I attached to our FIOS router, one went upstairs and the other on the first floor at the back of the house. The improvement was amazing. I no longer have problems sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop or having a good connection upstairs in a bedroom with a tablet. I can also sit in the cabana sunroom with my laptop and search the internet or sit on a chair in the backyard with a connection.

I am going to have to add a comment to that FB Parkside group conversation concerning my experiences with FIOS.

The Final WOW

Last night I attended the final Parkside Wine on Wednesday of the year. Although it was not particularly well attended it was one of the best. The hosts for the evening really did a great job. There were plenty of chairs, the food was wonderful, the area was well lit and there was a nice sound system playing cool jazz. 

Since this was so late in the season it was getting dark very early... around 7:30 pm and fully night by 8 pm. There were some spot lights coming off the back of the house and their were lights strung along the fences. They also had a great fire pit that was bright and warm as the night went on. 

There was a good crowd at 9 pm and it took about another half hour for the party to end. Everyone was having a good time. 

I went to this WOW by myself. Becky's back was not feeling well and she didn't want to be standing around on a cement driveway which was what had been happening at most of the WOWs this year. We really didn't know that there would be plenty of places to sit and she would have been OK. Matt and Stephanie always sign up for the last WOW in mid September and over the years we have usually not been able to make this one. It was always the same night at my Beer Club gettogethers too which it also was this year but I've not been attending them the past couple of years. We will need to make sure we go again next year. We went to five of them this year including the one we hosted.

Big Problems

Trump Dystopia

Former president Trump has warned that if he is indicted there will be "Big Problems" in the country. Trump made his dire warning and threat on a radio show the other day and of course it is all over the news now. Right wing media thinks that there will be riots in the streets if the government goes after Trump. He calls the investigation into him "the ultimate in hoaxes" and an indictment against him would spark "problems in this country the likes of which we've never seen before". Of course that would not include the Trump terrorists who stormed the Capitol, attacked the police and guards protecting Congress and vandalized the seat of our government while waving their Confederate flags and wearing Nazi gear and MAGA hats which are almost the same thing these days.

He likes to say that if he is indicted then there will be riots in the streets. Of course he is the one who said that rioters should be shot by the police who are backed up by the military. 

Institutional Racism, Mississippi and Brett Favre

The state of Mississippi is last in America in education and health care. The people living in the capitol city of this state have not had access to clean water. Mississippi is a poor state. Former football star Brett Favre is a native of Mississippi.

It has come to light recently that Favre used his influence to ensure that is daughter's volleyball team at the University of Mississippi got to play in a brand new sports arena dedicated to volleyball. Favre also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state of Mississippi for speaking fees at events he never attended. The millions of dollars used for these Favre related activities came out of a state fund dedicated to providing welfare benefits for predominately Black Mississippi residents. This is a $77 million dollar welfare scandal with $6 million going to the Favre sponsored volleyball arena. 

This is another example of institutional racism where powerful white people misappropriate monies earmarked to help poor black people and divert those funds to their pet projects. 

Supposedly Favre has returned the speaking engagement funds to the state and claimed he didn't know that the money came from welfare funds but why would he have taken the money for speeches he never gave regardless of where the money came from. That is theft. His involvement in the welfare scandal has been documented using his own text messages with the former governor of Mississippi among others.

I've been reading a lot of books recently about black people living in the South and the racism they have suffered through for generations both in relationships with their white neighbors and the institutional racism of southern culture. This episode with Brett Favre and Mississippi doesn't surprise me at all. 

Take the Train

Next week we are flying to Philadelphia. I wish we could take a high speed train. There are high speed trains everywhere in Europe so why don't we have them here. It is like we live in some backward country out of touch with the modern world. China and Japan have incredible high speed rail systems that make America look like some third world backwater.

During our trips in Europe before the pandemic we took that high speed train from London to Paris and it was a wonderful experience. Fast too. We also took had a very nice train ride from London to Edinburgh during another trip. Back in 2006 we took a train between Rome and Florence and the back to Rome again. We loved it.

We are planning another trip to Europe next fall. We plan to fly to Barcelona and take a high speed train to Paris. It should only take an hour.

So why can't we do that here in America? There should be a high speed between Buffalo and New York that should only take a couple of hours instead of the slow lumbering that currently takes eight hours. We should be able to take fast high speed trains all up and down the East Coast and across the country too. 

We can't because of the right wing oligarchs and their control of the oil and gas industries with their need to keep gas guzzling cars on the road. The way the airlines have been operating lately proves the point that we should be riding trains like the rest of the world. 

During out upcoming Philly trip we will be taking a side trip to New York City on an Amtrak train. It will take a couple of hours including the connections. We will walk to the train station two blocks from Kate's house and ride downtown to 30th Street Station and pick up the train to NYC. We're looking forward to spending a few days in Manhattan and then we take the train back to Philly and Katie's house to spend a few more days with our grandchildren. 

As we get older and not looking forward to that seven hour drive to Philadelphia to see the kids it would certainly be nice if we could be able to hop on a high speed train anytime we felt like going there. Especially in winter. We should also be able to take a train to Albany to see Sean and Ashley without it being an all day trip where we would need to leave at 6 am in the morning.

I also do not like to fly either. It's one thing to fly to Europe or California but the short trips are a waste of time and money. We should have fast trains. We're flying next week because we had originally purchased tickets to fly to Philly for the birth of our granddaughter that had been scheduled for a C-section in mid January but she came early and instead we drive down on December 30th. We cancelled our January flight but we had until the end of the calendar year to use tickets. We decided on late September because we did not want to fly anywhere need the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays. We also did not want to do the side trip to NYC during those holidays either. So next week it is but I still we were taking a relaxing train ride.

Porch Cactus Double Bloom

We were very surprised when our porch cactus began to look like it was going to bloom for a second time this year. A one night bloom had come and gone in July while we were out of town in the Adirondacks and we missed it. What was really different about this second bloom was the two stalks that sprouted from the cactus that kept growing. 

Then it suddenly seemed like they both were actually going to bloom and then over the Saturday night of September 10-11 they both spectacularly bloomed together. The other odd thing was they both lasted through the next day. They didn't noticeably start drooping until the following Monday but then their demise was rapid. 

Sept. 3

Sept 6

Sept 9

Sept 10

Sept 11

Sept 12

Sept 14

A Covid Walk

This evening I went for a walk through the neighborhood. I was alone. Becky has had a sore back recently and she wasn't feeling well so I went out for a brisk walk. I was around the block when I felt like it was the pandemic again or that it has never left which is actually very true. First I saw a group of about 7 or 8 kids running around playing. They were all between the ages of about 6 to 10 and every one of them had a mask on. They were out playing in their masks like it was the most natural thing in the world to them but of course they have been doing it everyday for two and a half years and are probably still doing it at school right now.

As I walked past them on the other side of the street a woman was approaching me on the sidewalk. I was past the kids so I was considering crossing the street when I saw her cross the street to avoid walking by me. A little later I saw another person walk into the street to get around someone rather than walk next to that person or me. Then I immediately saw a car coming down the street with a lone driver wearing a mask. I walked around the corner again and there was a woman walking down the street alone and wearing a mask. It seemed like everywhere I looked I saw a reminder that we are still in the covid pandemic era. I felt like crying. Then I saw a discarded mask on the ground which of course I see one somewhere every time I walk through the neighborhood or anywhere for that matter.

Will this ever end.

Before the Day is Done

Before the Day is Done: The Story of Folk Heritage Records 1968-1975

This is a 3 disc various artists collection of music recorded and released by Folk Heritage Records in England between the years 1968 and 1975. This box set was released nearly a month ago in August. I saw it listed in the weekly All Music recommended New Releases. I look at the list each week when it is posted on Fridays along with a few other new music sources. I searched and found this album in Spotify and marked it to listen in my album collection on their site.

I have quite a few albums in that collection and over the past couple of days I have finally got around to listening to this set of obscure British folk music. I have never heard of any of the artists in this collection but I was greatly impressed by the quality of this music. I listened to the entire album and would put it on again anytime. It was a wonderful 3 hour and 45 minute experience. Most of the music was recorded in a small studio in the Welsh countryside. There were no stars on the label but the quality of the music is stunning.

I've always loved British folk music going back to my teenage years and a friend in the neighborhood who played me old folk records and new ones from Fairport Convention back in 1968. I would see them in concert in 1969. I've also recently been reading the memoir of Richard Thompson so I was primed for hearing this music.

This album is also the 3rd and final chapter in a trilogy of obscure British folk music from independent labels. They are on Spotify and I should listen to them too.

Backyard Bagpipes

I was sitting in a chair in our backyard today listening to the distant sounds of bagpipes. The day started out with a rainy morning but turned into a beautiful sunny  afternoon. I was sitting out there enjoying the steady breeze and reading a book. On the wind blowing across the neighborhood was the sound of someone playing bagpipes. It was beautiful.

It was especially nice today earlier today and actually several times this week we've been seeing and hearing the playing of bagpipes during the many hours of ceremonies and processions taking place across Scotland after the death of the Queen of England at her palace in Scotland. 

We have a neighbor over on Woodward Ave who plays the bagpipes and occasionally he will play while in his backyard or on the front porch. I have heard him many times over the years while sitting in our backyard and the wind is blowing from the northwest across the neighborhood. There have been a couple of times when we were on our evening walk that would saw him standing in his driveway in his backyard playing his bagpipes. 

So today it seemed appropriate for him to be playing his pipes in what seemed to be in mourning for the Queen. The Queen had a personal piper who played for her every morning. Becky and I saw a group of Scottish soldiers marching along with bagpipes outside Buckingham Palace in London during one of our trips there. It was some kind of event ceremony. We also saw several pipers in Edinburgh busking on street corners along the Royal Mile. I'm not a big fan of the bagpipes but there certainly is a time and place for them.

Another 9/11

Trump Dystopia

It was another anniversary today and the 9/11 attacks were memorialized once again in solemn ceremonies around the country. It is worth noting and remembering that on that fateful day the response to the terrorists attack and the collapse of the World Trade Center from the future president of the United Sates Donald Trump who gleefully exclaimed that he now had the tallest building in New York City. 

He was also quoted at the time with falsely stating that he saw many people in New Jersey celebrating the fall of the towers. Somehow people still voted for that narcistic liar some fifteen years later. Recently he has said while hosting a Saudi golf tournament at one of his golf clubs that Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with 9/11. Such a creep.

This year the 9/11 services was tempered by the around the clock television coverage of the recent death of Queen Elizabeth. 

The Train

The Train was a Burt Lancaster film directed by John Frankenheimer released in Europe in 1964 and the US in 1965. I saw it in early 65 when it came to the New Lyric movie theater about two blocks from our house in Germantown. I would see this film a few more times over the years. I liked it a lot. 

I started thinking about this movie when it came under discussion on FB the past couple of days. It reminded me how much I enjoyed everything about this movie when I was a kid and later. A World War II drama about the evil Nazis and the brave French Resistance and a train full of artwork looted by the Germans from museums and private art collections heading to Germany. The story is based on an actual attempt by the Germans in 1944 to ship their stolen art to Germany from Paris as they did many other times from conquered countries throughout Europe. 

During the discussion on FB today and last night I was very surprised at how many people commented that they had not seen it.

Music as Art Festival

Today was the 20th Anniversary Music as Art Festival. We didn't go this year. We have gone to many of these festivals over the years including the first one in 2002 in Delaware Park. This one was down at Buffalo RiverWorks. We love going down to RiverWorks but not when it is crowded. Becky has also been nursing a sore back the past few days and will start physical therapy for it on Monday. We needed to take it easy this weekend and we really didn't want the hassle of another crowded event.

I had been thinking about going to the festival over the past few weeks. I thought RiverWorks would be a good place for it but I guess so did everyone else in town. Lately people have been looking forward to outdoor festival like gatherings all over the area and the crowds prove it. 

This year there was live music on 20 stages scattered throughout the site. We were hearing ahead of time that parking was going to be an issue and the festival organizers were asking people to take uber/lyft rides. Later in the day I saw on the news that the site was overwhelmed with parking problems and the bridge to Kelly Island and the festival site was closed to traffic with only performers allowed to enter the parking areas. 

That being said, I did see a lot of friends posting from the festival and it looked like people were having a good time. Maybe next year we will go again but overall I've been to enough crowded concert venues. I would like to get down to RiverWorks sometime this fall. 

Germantown and Chelten

I read recently that the Germantown and Chelten Avenue shopping area was Philadelphia's second largest commercial shopping district after Center City during the middle of the 20th Century. Our family shopped their all the time. We always referred to that shopping area as up on the avenue.

I walked up the avenue all the time as a kid and teenager. It was about a 20 minute walk and we did it all the time. There were many stores including Rowell's, Allen's, Woolworth's, Sears, and so many others. We did a lot of food shopping at the Penn Fruit and there were several small record stores I frequented. There were some smaller clothes stores and shoe shops. In the later 1960's there were a couple of head shops that also sold some records. Of course there was the public library nearby too. 

Sometimes I would walk up Greene Street to Chelten Ave but most of the time I would walk a block over to Germantown Avenue and take that up to Chelten. 

The first suburban shopping mall in the area was Cedarbrook Mall that opened sometime in the mid 60's and was located up on Cheltenham Avenue which was about a 20 minute drive by car or a little longer on the H bus. When we were really adventuresome we would take the train or trolley down to Center City to do some shopping. 

Overall we were lucky to have a viable and extensive shopping area within walking distance where we grew up. Lots of movie theaters too. The photo above is from the early 1970's. Becky and I went up the avenue a lot in the mid to late 70's although it was starting to go downhill somewhat.

Last year we drove down through Germantown and Chelten from Katie's Mt Airy home on our way to the new brewery down at Wayne Junction. I purposefully wanted to see "the avenue" and it was very crowded but the stores were nearly all urban independent businesses. I was happy to see and here that there are signs of a resurgence in the area.

The article in Hidden City Philadelphia. 

Heating and Cooling Maintenance... Ouch

Why the ouch? We had what we thought was an appointment for warranty scheduled maintenance that was supposed to be covered by the warranty for the heating and cooling system we had installed last year. I wasn't expecting to pay anything. I was mistaken. 

The technician was very efficient and spent a little over an hour doing a cleaning and tune up of our new furnace and air conditioning unit. No problems there.

He said we needed a new air filter for the air purifier system and I agreed when he pulled out the old dirty one. I had been planning to replace it myself but he was here and he had one. I knew they were expensive and I had seen that they were close to a hundred dollars. He put a new one in and it would cost us $96. He said I could get them online a little cheaper if I searched. Later I would find that I could order one for $54. OK, well, I'll pay their price and get a new one myself online in the coming year.

The tech guy finished the job and then gave me a bill for almost $300. How did that happen I asked. Well, there was the cost of the air filter and then there was a maintenance agreement for the coming year that was $179 that would cover the same work that was done today but for next year paid in advance. What?? We really did not expect a bill along with this maintenance visit.

Why would the payment be made in advance? Why would that maintenance cost not be paid at the time of services rendered? I need to make a phone call to the company.

I made the phone call to Central Heating & Cooling and spoke with the office rep. Apparently the tech who came to our house should have first told us about the annual maintenance agreement that was available after the first year free service for $179 paid in advance for the year. Maybe he did say something but I didn't understand his heavy Hispanic accent but I don't think so. Afterward it felt like he assumed I knew their services and policy. I asked the office rep to explain the maintenance agreement to me which she did very effectively. I was able to get all the information I needed and the clarification of the program. 

Having the MX, as they call it, gives significant discounts for labor costs, parts costs and service charges if we need service anytime during the coming year. It also covers the cost of the annual maintenance tune up and cleaning of the heating and cooling systems. She offered us a refund for the MX cost if we didn't want it since we did not understand what the agreement covered. I strongly recommended to her that at the time an appointment is made for the annual maintenance service, and especially for a new customer, that all the options are described including the costs of continuing the maintenance plan.

Becky and I discussed it and decided to keep the MX in place for the year and now we know how their maintenance system works.

We had been very happy with the service from this company leading up to our purchase and then the installation of the new furnace and air conditioning unit last year and we saved a lot of money with their help.

I wrote an earlier post about our heating and cooling problems.

Bills Game Last Night

The Buffalo Bills opened up the NFL season last night by blowing out the defending Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams on a nationally televised Thursday night game 31 - 10. It was a really big deal in Buffalo. There was a big block party down on Chippewa Street. Bars all over the city were having Bills game parties. There have been Bills flags all over the city.

I didn't watch it. I was reading a book, listening to music and doing some writing. Becky was watching a movie. Well, I did take a peak online streaming for about 10 minutes and saw the Rams tie the score at 10 each for half time. That was it for me although the Bills did look good. Later in the night after 10 pm we were laying in bed reading when we heard some neighbors yelling. Obviously they were watching the game outside on a porch or in a backyard. I checked the score on my tablet a couple more times but that was about all of it for me. I really didn't care very much.

I've lost interest in a lot of professional sports the past few years. The only thing I watch sports wise is some soccer and occasionally a special event like the Olympics or the Tour de France. I haven't watched any baseball yet and no hockey either. I'll watch some college basketball but I haven't seen any professional basketball in years.

There are a lot of expectations for the Bills this year that they will get to the Super Bowl. Anything less will be another failed season.

A Paperclip

Today I was down at the Canisius College Library to pick up a few books. It had been a while since I last borrowed a book there. It has also been six years this month since I retired from the Library. I was surprised to walk in and see Kris sitting at the desk. She was surprised to see me too. We talked for quite a while before I wandered off to find the books on my list.

Later I came back to the desk with my books. I had really enjoyed browsing the stacks and it took me much longer to bring my books down to be checked out. There was a problem because the IT department had recently purged and then uploaded the new patron database into the library system and for some reason my record didn't transfer over to the system. No big deal but it was going to take a few minutes to get me back into the system and into the library software. In the meantime a student approached the desk behind me for some service.

I quickly stepped aside to let Kris help the student who then asked for a paperclip. We were both surprised but the funny thing was that initially Kris could not find on at the desk. She looked in several drawers and eventually came up with one and the student went away happy.  Years ago when I was working the desk in the library there was always a large bowl or container full of paperclips. They were always in demand along with a stapler for students who had just printed out papers. They often wanted paperclips to sort the printed papers. 

We would often provide all kinds of little services for students at the reference or circulation desks. Next to the container of paperclips was usually a bowl of candy. Students were also always asking for a pencil and there was also always a large container of pencils available to them. 

This incident also reminded me that when I worked at the downtown public library and sat at a reference desk it was always interesting to think about the conversation you would soon be having as a person walked up to the desk. This conversation could be about any subject on anything in the world. Of course the librarian was expected to know the answer to the question but was expected to know how to find the answer. But of course often the person walked up to the desk and asked where the bathroom was located. The students in the college library knew where the restrooms were but they liked to ask for a paperclip. 

RIP The Queen

Queen Elizabeth passed away today and the world is in mourning. Just the other day she was in the news as she met with the new Prime Minister at her residence in Scotland. Early today there was news that the Queen was not doing well and all of the news channels were following the story. 

Early in the afternoon we got heard the announcement on the news that the Queen had passed away about 6:30 pm London time. It was very sad. She was 96 years old and was queen for 70 years. Amazing. The longest reigning monarch in British history and 15  Prime Ministers served under her. There have also been 14 US presidents during her 70 years on the throne.

She became queen when I was barely one year old. She was the queen of my lifetime. 

Becky and I had been watching the television show The Crown and really got to know the Queen of England and her family. It has been a very entertaining show which is getting ready for a new season soon. 

Now there is King Charles III and the beginning of a potentially long succession of male rulers. There will be no Queen in sight for several generations. Well, not counting Queen Camila. Yes, Charles is actually giving his wife the title of Queen instead of the Royal Consort. That is something Elizabeth never did for her husband Prince Philip. He was never given the title King. Camila probably wanted it and Charles always gives her what she wants.

I'm sure we will be watching a lot of related events on TV over the next few days and this is probably only the first of many posts about her.

House Flies

I'm not sure how or why it came up but today Becky and I had a very robust conversation about flies in the house and the once common expression of houseflies. It seems to be unusual for us to have any flies in the house but it certainly didn't use to be that way.

Growing up in our house on Greene Street we seemed to be constantly swatting flies. They were everywhere and not just our house but everyone's home was infested with flies. There always seemed to be flies on the windows. Were all the kids going in and out of the house letting in flies? Were the screens inadequate? Were there just more of them?

It was a constant battle with flies when I was a kid and as a young adult too. We had a fly swatter hanging on a hook in the back kitchen ready for use. It seemed that everyone had a fly swatter lying about back in the day. Now we don't own one and I don't recall seeing any in anyone else's home but they used to be everywhere.

Mom was always yelling at us to close the door because we were letting in flies. They most have been hovering around outside the house waiting for their chance to come in and feed on our stuff. Our friends home's always had the same problem too. Flies everywhere. Some people, not us, used to keep a can of Raid handy for the flies and would chase them around the house trying to spray them directly with the poison. DDT which we would soon learn all about.

It wasn't just homes with kids that had all the flies. There were flies at Mom-Mom's house in Chestnut Hill, flies in Aunt Frances and Aunt Mary's house around the corner and flies in Nana Emery's house down the street. They all had fly swatters handy. In the late 1970's when I lived in the house on Seymour Street there were lots of flies there at that time too.

So I was looking up houseflies on the Internet and it seems that many people around the country still have lots of problems with those flies in their homes. I should ask Katie if they have lots of houseflies in their Philly home. I really don't remember flies being a problem there when we've been visiting and of course we will be there ourselves in a couple of weeks. Maybe the housefly doesn't do well in Buffalo because of he winters. Will climate change mean we'll have more flies in our house in the coming years?

I also noticed that the selling of flyswatters online is a robust business and someone somewhere is still buying them to keep their houseflies under control.