Sunday, June 21, 2026

Summer Solstice Father's Day

Today is the Summer Solstice. June 21st. The longest day of the year. It is also Father's Day this year. Our three grandchildren and their parents were in town this past week and this morning they packed up their things and headed back home to Philadelphia. We miss them already. We did have a great time yesterday and today they were able to say Happy Father's Day to me before they left. Poor Todd has to spend most of today driving his family home from Buffalo to Philly. I know that trip very well.

They had a very beautiful day to drive home and it was wonderful weather here too. I cut the front lawn this morning and did a couple of loads of laundry... mostly sheets and towels. The rest of the day I took it easy doing some reading on the front porch or in the backyard. It's been so beautiful. Earlier this afternoon Becky and I took a walk through the neighborhood and through the Martin House complex as usual. Later on we watched some World Cup soccer. Had a nice phone conversation with Sean too wishing me a Happy Father's Day.

It was a spectacularly beautiful sunset this evening at around 9:15 pm. 

Saturday, June 20, 2026

Zoo with the Kids

Went to the Zoo today with the kids. It was a beautiful and perfect day. We walked over there about quarter after 10am and when we got there the zoo was already crowded. The parking lot was almost full too. Well, it was a wonderful sunny Saturday morning on the first weekend after the schools closed for the summer.

The kids wanted to see everything and spend a lot of time looking at the animals. Of course the kids got hungry and wanted something to eat so we stopped for lunch. Well, the kids ate but not the adults. We were there for three hours. Finally Becky and I left a little before Katie and the kids. We were worn out.

They have also had a special dinosaur exhibit over the past several weeks that has been attracting visitors... Destination Dinosaur.

Overall we had a great time. It's so nice that we have the zoo just a short walk away.








Friday, June 19, 2026

Bunny Walk - A Record

Every time the kids are in town we go for an evening bunny walk where we are looking for the rabbits on lawns throughout the neighborhood. I think the previous record of bunny sightings was 14. We went out a few days ago and saw 12 on a walk that included going into the Martin House site where we saw several. And then continued walking over to the park along the zoo where we never see many bunnies. Then the kids spent some quality time at the new playground in the park.

This evening we went on another this evening at prime time... around 8 pm. We set a record with the number of bunnies we saw just walking around the block. 22 bunnies including 2 in our neighbor's backyard. Overall a great evening for bunny sightings.

Kostas for Lunch

This afternoon we went over to Kostas Greek Restaurant for lunch with the kids. When Katie and Todd are in town we usually get over to Kostas for a meal. Mostly dinner but today it was lunch and we had a good time and nice meal. I had a gyro wrap, Becky had a chicken sandwich, Katie and Todd both had their always good chicken souvlaki salads. Henry had a huge BLT and the girls both had pancakes with chocolate chips. We had lots of French fries on the table too.

We got there right around noon on a Friday and it was very busy. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table and then we had a great table on the patio. It was such a beautiful day.






 

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Fairport Convention - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening. Fairport Convention. Meet on the Edge: The Classic Years 1967-1975, 1999. A nice two and a half hour set from one of my favorite British folk bands covering their peak years. I have quite a few of their albums in my collection including several compilation and live sets and they have influenced my musical taste over the years. This band also included two of my favorite singer/songwriters... Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. I was fortunate to see this band live several times in 1969 and 1970 and the last concert I saw them was in 1975 at the Phila. Academy of Music when Sandy Denny rejoined the band. I've also attended solo shows from both Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Still Life - A Novel

Still Life - Sarah Winman, 2021. Just finished reading this amazing and beautifully written novel of historical fiction with some incredibly developed characters and narrative. The story takes place during and after World War II and is mostly located in London and Florence.

This book was hard to put down and I read it in about ten days. The parrot was one of my favorite characters.

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Stormy Sunday

Stormy June 14th, Flag Day. It was always an important day for me because it was my mother's birthday and my sister Betsy's birthday. It was a special day all my life.

This particular June 14th was also very stormy. It was rain and high winds off and on all day. Mostly on. Thunderstorms too.

The other situation happening that was affected by the weather was trump's 80th birthday celebration on the white house lawn that got mostly rained out. LOL.


Saturday, June 13, 2026

Kate Atkinson - Authors List

Kate Atkinson - Authors List. Her first novel I read was Life After Life in 2014. I then read a second book in that series. Then sometime last year I came across a review of an earlier series of her Jackson Brodie detective crime novels and I then read three books in that series which I enjoyed very much. I also liked that they are set in Edinburgh Scotland.





  • Life After Life, 2013 - Mar 2014
  • A God in Ruins, 2015 - May 2016
  • Case Histories, 2004 - Mar 2025
  • One Good Turn, 2006 - Apr 2025
  • When Will There Be Good News?, 2008 - Jul 2025

Robyn Hitchcock - Kitchen Listening

Robyn Hitchcock - Kitchen Listening. I started off with his first solo album from 1981 and then followed it up with the next three albums. I ended the set with his live album Gotta Let This Hen Out from 1985.

Very interesting and quirky music. I recently started reading his memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, 2024 which I am enjoying very much.


  • Black Snake Diamond Role, 1981
  • Groovy Decay, 1982
  • I Often Dream of Trains, 1984
  • Fergamania!, 1985
  • Gotta Let This Hen Out (Live), 1985

Friday, June 12, 2026

Ray Charles - Kitchen Listening

Ray Charles - Kitchen Listening. The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings, 1991. A 3 CD box set of his years recording with Atlantic Records 1952 to 1959. We've been listening to this collection over the past couple of days and just finished it this evening.

I was surprised at how many of these songs were so familiar. He had a tremendous amount of crossover hits during his career. Becky and I both really enjoyed listening to this collection which ran for about two and a half hours.

Ray Charles was a musical icon during my early years of listening to the radio. We heard him all the time. He was also on a lot of TV variety shows like Ed Sullivan.

I'm looking forward to a couple of additional sessions. One with a 2 CD Rhino collection that covers his career through the 1990's and another collection of his country western albums.

The Swerve - A History

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern - Stephen Greenblatt, 2011. A book I came across while browsing in the stacks of an academic library. It was a fascinating story of an ancient book, "On the Nature of Things", and it's influence on writers, thinkers, artists, etc. during the Renaissance after being lost for a thousand years. The return of the book changed the course of history and revolutionized the understanding of the modern world. It also made a huge impact on religion. It was like a trip back to 1417. 

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Dinner @ Shango

Wonderful dinner tonight at Shango. Blackened Catfish Po Boy with Cajun Remoulade, Fried Shrimp Po Boy. Both with Creole Slaw and incredible Sweet Potato Fries too. And of course Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo with White Rice to start.

I had a nice glass of Broken Heels IPA from New Trail Brewery.

We always love going to Shango and this evening was no different. We've had this particular dinner many times and we looked forward to having it again when we decided to come here.

When we were leaving our house we were surprised by the amount of traffic on our street. It really took us a lot longer than usual to back out of our driveway because of the traffic. Then we saw that there was heavy traffic all throughout the neighborhood and all the streets were parked up. We had forgotten that today was the Corporate Challenge in Delaware Park and every year on a Thursday evening in the middle of June we have to deal with this situation in our neighborhood. It's crazy. Well, we got out of the driveway and made it over to Shango for our nice dinner anyway.



James Blood Ulmer - Kitchen Listening Blues

Another set of James Blood Ulmer - Kitchen Listening. Starts out with a live album from 1984 and then gets into his serious blues playing. 


  • Part Time, 1984
  • Blues Allnight, 1989
  • Forbidden Blues, 1998
  • Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, 2001
  • No Escape from The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions, 2003
  • Rock In Blues, 2015

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Camilla Trinchieri - Authors List

Camilla Trinchieri - Authors List. I've read 5 books in her Tuscan Mystery series over the past few years. 

I especially love the food and wine aspect of this murder series and the ex-NYPD detective turned amateur chef involvement in the local scene.

They're all great and I'm looking forward to another one. 




  • Murder in Chianti, 2020 - Jun 2023
  • The Bitter Taste of Murder, 2021 - Nov 2023
  • Murder on the Vine, 2022 - Feb 2024
  • The Road to Murder, 2024 - Aug 2024
  • Murder in Pitigliano, 2025 - Nov 2025

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

James Blood Ulmer - Kitchen Listening

Spent some time over the past couple of days listening to James Blood Ulmer from albums in my collection including some vinyl. These were from his early years 1979 to 1983. I saw him in 1983 at The Tralf, a small rock/jazz/folk club, in downtown Buffalo. He was awesome. I've always loved his unique guitar playing.

This set of music ran for nearly three hours.


  • Tales of Captain Black, 1979
  • Are You Glad To Be In America?, 1980
  • Free Lancing, 1981
  • Black Rock, 1982
  • Odyssey, 1983

Monday, June 8, 2026

James Blood Ulmer RIP - Vinyl Spins

James Blood Ulmer RIP. Vinyl Spins. I was sad to hear of his passing this week at age 86. I first started collecting his albums in the early 1980's and I have a bunch. Becky and I saw him perform at the Tralf in 1983. It's time to go upstairs and listen to his amazing guitar on vinyl. I'll start with a couple favorites... Tales of Captain Black, 1979 and Black Rock, 1982.

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Terry Pratchett - Authors List

Terry Pratchett - Authors List. I read the 5 books where he collaborated with the author Stephen Baxter for the Long Earth parallel universe series. I read the entire series between March and November 2016. I was always interested in parallel universe science fiction.

Pratchett is primarily known for writing the Discworld fantasy series that consist of 41 novels. I have not read any of that fantasy series but I may try one.

The Atlantic magazine had an article about Pratchett this week... I Am Begging You to Read Terry Pratchett.

The Long Earth series I read:

  • The Long Earth, 2012 - Mar 2016
  • The Long War, 2013 - Jun 2016
  • The Long Mars, 2014 - Jul 2016
  • The Long Utopia, 2015 - Oct 2016
  • The Long Cosmos, 2016 - Nov 2016

The Hidden History of the Supreme Court - MAGA Dystopia

The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America - Thom Hartmann, 2019. MAGA Dystopia.

I just finished reading this incredible shocking account of the Supreme Court and their conservative MAGA betrayal of America. The hard thing about reading this was that it was published in 2019 and now in 2026 the Court is worse than ever. The book was informative and depressing. We really need to do something to fix this growing problem and the author here has documented ways to do that.

One of the amazing accounts was his description of when John Roberts, the current Chief Justice, worked for Ronald Reagan and came up with a theory of how Congress could go around the Supreme Court.

Saturday, June 6, 2026

Subterranean - A Novel

Subterranean - A Novel by James Rollins, 1999. I just finished this science fiction thriller adventure novel which I read in a week. I recently came across a reference to it somewhere and looked it up on my library e-book app and sure enough there it was ready to download. I did and then I couldn't put it down although I was reading a couple of other books at the same time.

This book was about an archeology exploration into a subterranean world full of dangers, mysteries and revelations. A sort of "hollow earth" novel. It was my first time reading this author and was it was very entertaining. I may read another of his novels.

Simon & Garfunkel - Kitchen Listening

Simon & Garfunkel - Kitchen Listening. Old Friends, 1997. A 3 CD box set that runs for nearly three hours and includes their greatest hits and plenty of previously unreleased outtakes. 

I played this album after seeing that Paul Simon was ranked number 2 on the NY Times Readers Poll of Top 100 Living Songwriters. I followed this up with one of their several live albums... Live from New York City, 1967 that was released in 2002. That added another hour to the set. I got a lot more of their albums and solo albums to play over the coming days. 

The first time I saw Simon & Garfunkel in concert was in 1969.

Friday, June 5, 2026

Barbara Tuchman - Authors List

Barbara W. Tuchman - Authors List. 5 books read. I first discovered this amazing historian when I came across her book A Distant Mirror a few months after it was published in 1978. I read it the following summer and loved it. This has been one of my favorite history books and still have a copy on a book shelf.

I then read four more of her histories over the next several years. Because of her I did read many more books on middle ages over the years and continue today.



  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, 1978 - Jul 1979
  • Stillwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945, 1971 - Jul 1980
  • The Guns of August, 1962 - Nov 1983
  • The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam, 1984 - Apr 1986
  • The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution, 1988 - Feb 1989

100 Top Living Songwriters - Part 2 The List

 




































Thursday, June 4, 2026

Bob Dylan Live - Kitchen Listening

More Bob Dylan. Kitchen Listening Live. Celebrating his 85th birthday. This is about a five hour set of live music from different times in Dylan's career but mostly in the 70's which was when I saw him perform several times. I especially liked his 1975 tour concert.

I'm also celebrating his position in the NY Times Readers Poll for Top Living Songwriters. He was voted #1.


  • Bob Dylan Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue, 2002
  • Bob Dylan Live at Budokan, 1978
  • Hard Rain, 1976
  • Real Live, 1984

Dinner @ Cafe 59

We had another wonderful dinner tonight at Cafe 59 on Allen Street and sat at a table in the front window. I had there delicious Harvest Wrap with roasted turkey, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, field greens, gorgonzola, and balsamic vinaigrette. This is one of my favorite items on their menu. Becky had their Chicken Finger Sub. We also had a side of their amazing Potato Wedges. I also had a Port City Belgian Wit. Cafe 59 has been one of our favorite restaurants for years.



Jim Thompson - Authors List

Jim Thompson - Authors List. 5 books read. This was a classic hardboiled crime fiction author. He wrote over 30 novels mostly in the 1950's. 

The first book of his I read was The Grifters in 1981. During that time period I was reading a lot of classic noir crime novels including books from Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, etc.





  • The Grifters, 1963 - Apr 1981
  • Savage Night, 1953 - Oct 1982
  • The Getaway, 1958 - Dec 1984
  • Wild Town, 1957 - Jan 1987
  • The Killer Inside Me, 1952 - Nov 2004


100 Top Living Songwriters

NY Times conducted a reader's poll creating a list of the top living songwriters. This was in response to an earlier critics poll that the NY Times posted a couple of months ago. 

Repost @nytimes:

As soon as we decided to make a list of the 30 greatest LIVING AMERICAN songwriters, we could guess how readers would respond to the results: with a combination of enthusiasm and outrage, quickly letting us know which of their favorites we had unconscionably forgotten.

We didn’t want all that passion to go undocumented. So we invited readers to assemble their own list in a formal poll. More than 25,000 ballots were cast, producing nearly 12,000 distinct choices. We spent weeks combing through the votes to tabulate the results.

Finally, here they are: the top 100 songwriters, according to our readers. They’re annotated throughout with facts, testimonials and interesting patterns we noticed in the data.

So here is the link to the NY Times Top 100 Living Songwriters selected by a reader's poll.

Here is a link to the original NY Times Top 30 Living Songwriters as selected by a group of critics.




30 Living Songwriters

The New York Times recently posted a list of 30 greatest living songwriters as determined by their critics. Posted here


The expanded list of 100 created by a reader's poll is much better. The NY Times post is here.


Ego Power Chaos

From Vets Against Trump

After Fred Trump died and left Donald Trump a fortune estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, Trump spent much of his life bouncing from one failure to another.

There are really only two undeniable successes on his résumé:
* The Apprentice, which transformed him from a struggling businessman into a television celebrity.
* Winning a second presidential term, which allowed him and his family to cash in on their political fame in ways most presidents never have.
But even as Trump profits personally, the list of failures surrounding this presidency continues to grow.
* Renaming institutions and attaching his name to everything in sight.
* The turmoil surrounding the Kennedy Center.
* Damaged relationships with longtime allies.
* Tariff policies that have created economic uncertainty.
* Continued chaos and turnover within his administration.
* An increasingly unpopular conflict with Iran.

And now there is another warning sign that even some Republicans are beginning to lose confidence.

The House recently passed a War Powers Resolution aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to continue military operations in Iran without congressional authorization. Four Republicans broke ranks and voted with Democrats, sending a message that cracks may be starting to appear in what was once nearly automatic Republican support for Trump.

That’s what makes the vote significant.

It isn’t really about four Republicans.

It’s about the fact that after years of loyalty, some members of Trump’s own party are finally willing to publicly tell him “no.”

Meanwhile, his polling numbers are slipping, public frustration is growing, allies are questioning America’s reliability, and controversy continues to follow this administration from one headline to the next.

Yet through it all, Trump continues to insist he is the greatest president ever, the smartest leader ever, the best dealmaker ever, and the most successful businessman ever.

The question isn’t whether Trump will declare victory.

The question is:

What could possibly go wrong next?

Because every time you think the chaos has reached its limit, Trump seems determined to prove there is always another level.

As this old veteran sees it, real leaders don’t spend all day telling people they’re great. Eventually, the results have to speak for themselves.

If you enjoy my political commentary, observations, and occasional dose of sarcasm, please consider following me. I may not always be right, but I promise I’ll always give you my honest opinion—and probably a few laughs along the way.

– Jim Lager, this old veteran

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

WOW 2026

This evening we attended the first Parkside Wine on Wednesday for the season. It was a perfectly beautiful night for a neighborhood party and there was a great crowd. We knew most of the people there and met a few more. A lot of old friends.

Looking forward to a few more of these get-togethers.