End of year summation

This is the last day of 2021 and my last photo of the year.  I am working on an Andy Rooney vibe from 60 Minutes.  Andrew is improving from a bout with Covid which was not too bad with a couple of feverish days, getting better shortly there after.  Judy took Marie to the St. Vincent De Paul resale shop and they found a few cheap treasures for her, both enjoying the experience greatly.

I took Eli for his haircut with the guys at BA Barbershop.  He as worked his way into a style that requires a two step process and about an hour.  During that time I am let into a group of guys that are genuinely fond of each other. Scott cuts about three heads before he starts on Eli. There is lots of friendly conversation and in between, he speaks to me about life, movies health matters, and Andrew and Omar's father and brother with Covid.  These guys really seem to be happy to see each other and spending time together beyond a hair styling.  I watch with interest and intent to Scott's precision clipping and trimming.  Al and I talk about music and we all talked about Don't Look Up (mostly favorable) and Matrix Resurrections (mostly unfavorable).  Another customer joins in after his treatment and stays a while to talk about his life, family and relationships.  They included me which really lightened my evening. All these guys are religious Christians.  Maybe there is something to it.

Above is a photo from this morning done to look historic in crusty black and white.  We have another grey day before us.  I hope next year is a time when I can get in control of a few factors in my life.  First on the list is to lower my glucose numbers with better diet and exercise and no new drugs.  Secondly I need to drink more water, just plain water.  Third, I need to accept myself as am as a short 72 year old man with all the failings and success that comes with this age.  I need to work on being more present and not day dreaming, stop being a sloppy driver and to pick up your feed dad; to cut back on processed foods and find vegetables I like.

I wish all of you a happy new year with good health and happiness.

all for now

stay safe

 

And Here We Go Again

It looks like we are closing up for another winter with the rise in cases.  I anticipate we will have a mask mandate in our building soon. Renshaw's has suspended operation till next Wednesday as well as Julian Bros Bakery both due to Covid exposures.  Family in NJ has it and the test results take 5 days to get an answer.  

My newly purchased auto is in the dealer for some costly engine repairs.  We paid it off three weeks ago, got tires and an oil change, was feeling pretty secure, then on Christmas Eve, the check engine light came on and it started stalling a traffic lights.  Hence, the visit to the Ford Dealer.  Am picking it up this afternoon.  Thank God for friend Dick loaning me his vehicle for the past few days.  Things could be worse.  That seems to be the motto of the day. Further, with the surge in cases in our state, our esteemed governor has stayed mute on the topic. I find that puzzling.

We watched Don't Look Up on Netflix yesterday afternoon.  While it's not the finest film of a generation, it was a good apocalypse portrayal painted with a strong social media presence.  Meryl is perfect as a Trumpesque president and Leo does a yeoman's job as the middle aged outraged protagonist.  And yes, he really looks middle aged. But I really loved the Peter Isherwell character play by Mark Rylance.  His high pitched ever so soft voiced media giant was the perfect demented guru for the climax.  There are lots of differing opinions on this film.  Some call it brilliant others formulaic.  Try to see it and form your own.

One last review, completed Landscapers on HBO Max, a mini series of true life trial of two dowdy Britishers that are accused of killing her parents and burying them in the back yard of their home.  The UK's answer to Meryl, Olivia Colman, is in one of the staring roles.  It is good, but I thought the ending was screwy.

Made the perfect cheese omelet in my cast iron skillet this morning flipping both sides up to form a neat little package.  Am pleased with myself and with my newest cooking device.  Thinking about cabbage soup today. I have all the ingredients. It is a sloppy day with wet snow throughout the night, so it might be good choice.

I find it has become difficult to think of more than one thing at a time.  If I get distracted, train of thought gets erased.  It may be part of the aging process or I was always like that.  More notes are needed.  

We are winding down the end of 2021.  Going to start a new series of blogs for next year.  Still thinking of the title.

all for now

stay safe

 

My World Family and Lin

Lin-Manuel Miranda may be the musical renaissance man of this era.  From Hamilton to In the Heights, to Vivo (animation), he is brilliant in song and with his rhymes and he seems to be a genuinely happy guy.  Shannon is viewing it now and is completely hooked. Usually she does not like anything she has not heard and seen many times.  Santa brought her a book about the character.  Gloria Estafan is wonderful as the love interest.  If you have a kid or even not, see this one, it will make you sing, move your feet and feel positive.

As I have written about before, half of my ethnicity is Hungarian. In the past year I have been communicating with Maria, a second cousin from the European branch of my clan.  She resides in Melbourne Australia with her husband Zoltan.  She has a younger brother, Bela,  who lives in Debrecen near the Romanian border where their mother Maria also resides.  She is of my generation and prior to 2020, I knew nothing of her or this branch of my family. 

So on Christmas Eve I received an unexpected gift.  Bela arranged a video call through Facebook Messenger for our face to face meeting. He is an English speaker because of the time spent here on his job and he served as a translator.  It was truly a wonder to use technology in this manner to visualize and speak to a family member thousands of miles away.  My amazement betrays my age I know.  Those younger would find this commonplace.  I learned about other family relations and met Bela's 3 daughter as well.  He is a brilliant economist and orchestrated the call. Judy helped me at our end getting my MacBook Air set up.  It is a fulfilling experience for me and we will do it again with my kids and grand kids. 

One of the major things this pandemic has stolen from us is the connections between people that allow us to share ideas, communicate with full emotions and feel the physical presence of another.  Screens just don't do it.  It is frustrating.

Had a wonderful dinner at Andrew's yesterday with Katey and his kids.  The food was plentiful and we all emerged stuffed.  Shannon had a great time.  Katey's lemon meringue pie was a hit and Judy's squash was all consumed as well.  The host said it was his favorite Christmas in some time, so I guess it was a success. This is Katey and Shannon shown above from the gathering.

all for now

stay safe

 

Food and Art

 

My relationship with food has been long, filled with abuse and passion.  I have always slipped back into the concept of food as a reward or solace during a bad time. Eating for the sake of health and energy has rarely been part of it.  From the time I was a dateless sixteen year old on a Friday night consuming a whole Little Caesars pizza to now at 71 years old, I have struggled with this paradox.  I wake up thinking about my first meal and try to remember the ingredients to a successful one from the night before. After an orgy of consumption, there are no feelings of euphoria, only guilt and remorse.  I love to feed others and make them feel good with food.  When the eaters go Eh I admit to some disappointment, not in them but myself for missing something. I wish I could see food as fuel, but cannot. 

Approaching the upcoming festival of food consumption, I have to temper my anticipation for the tastes with some maybe better judgement.

Went to Pinspiration with Marie for her early Christmas gift to Pinspiration in town for another art project,  this time a tedious string art piece.  It took about 4 hours of constant work to complete.  This girl has dogged determination when  she is in the middle of a creation.  Poppy says, can I help? she declines and soldiers on with her effort.  Making this requires a number of stages including painting the background, tracing the image, hammering the nails, and stretching the miles of string.  All in all it came out pretty cool.

We all get numerous ads for a variety of products on our FB feeds.  I know I am out of touch with pricing on apparel and other items.  Recently, there appeared an ad from a Robert Barakett, a menswear company.  Tee shirts, simple tee shirts were advertised.  Yeah they looked nice.  I clicked on the shop now button,  a really great deal showed up, $175.00 for 3 shirts.  These are probably made by some child prisoners in a third world country in unsafe conditions.  Who buys this stuff?

It looks like we are headed into another Covid filled year in 2022.  We still need to get more jabs in arms to lessen the spread of this illness.  I hope the unvaccinated will heed the warnings and advise of medical people.  

We have had a really good week with kids and I am grateful for their better attitudes and an improved ability to get along.  I miss Jon and his tribe and hope to see them soon.  Working with my cousin Bela in Hungary to do some messaging with his mom Maria today.  Need to determine the time difference. 

Please enjoy your holiday time no matter how you define it and stay safe.

all for now

Denzel and Chest Compressions

I was watching Denzel Washington being interviewed the other evening by Stephen.  The host commented and offer his condolences for the passing of the guests 97 year old mother.  There was a poignant exchange as to a mother being a son's first love.  Denzel teared up and requested a tissue.  He said that he hadn't cried at the funeral but saved the tears for Steve.  It was truly a touching moment.  We never know when grief will hit us.  Generally it is at an inopportune time, and we have no control over it.

Son Andrew's new job is a Henry Ford Hospital in the Endoscopy/Colonoscopy clinic performed scheduled procedures at both ends if you will.  He likes being with people again after two years in isolation working from home for Blue Cross.  Generally it is a routine series of events throughout the day.  Two days ago one of the male patients had a code in the middle of the procedure and he found himself doing chest compressions to keep the guy alive.  The highly organized and effective  team was about to call it and they found a pulse,  shipped him off to ICU and it was done.  So you shake off the experience as they roll in the next procedure candidate, allowing no time to process the previous event.  He was still trying to think through it yesterday.  I felt the impact of this from our discussions.

Was having a pretty good day yesterday with it being the last pickup day for Eli and Marie before the Christmas break.  All went well and timely and it was my day to feed Apollo and take some dog/cat supplies to Katey.  Gotta Whopper for lunch, fed the dog and took him out when I noticed something wrong with his hind foot, red and swollen, searched the apartment for signs of injury, finding none, took a picture, sent to Katey and between she and Judy they found a clinic to take him to.  It was an allergic reaction. The dog has no complaints and is acting fine.

Have to close today with photos of my two grandsons in Grand Rapids.  We will be seeing them around the first of 2022.

Paxton might as well be Captain Underpants as it his preferred dress around the house. Everett is a typical toddler exploring and finding new things to mess with.  We miss them terribly and look forward to spending time with them and their parents. 

I have to mention two things of note that I have watched.  The Unforgivable is a tense drama staring Sandra Bullock in what might be her best performance ever.  The incomparable Viola Davis has a strong supporting role as well.  See it on Netflix

I watched The Righteous Gemstones on HBO Max, a seriously weird comedy based on a mega-church family staring John Goodman as the patriarch.  Maybe a good one.  Too early for me to tell. 

all for now

stay safe.

West Side Story

This entry was written over a couple of days.  So if it appears disjointed, it is.

Saw West Side Story yesterday.  If you are a fan of the 1961 film starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, see this one.  I loved the dancing, remembered the songs, and was completely in love with Rita Moreno in her role. Maria was excellent and Tony was almost too pretty and a little wooden in his emotions, like a slice of Wonder Bread with peanut butter and no jelly.  I want to be moved by a love story, identify and feel the characters.  Didn't really tear up till the eighty something Rita sang "There's a place for us".   

The viewer actually believes that Maria is completely in love with her male counterpart in the film.  In my opinion, the guy playing Tony doesn't convey the emotion nor connection to Maria.  He looks like a guy from a Disney teen movie looking good for his next shot. Another good choice was to cast real hispanic actors in Puerto Rican parts.  Bernardo, Maria and Anita are played by Spanish speakers and the language is used liberally throughout.  You will recall and an American Maria and a Greek-American playing Bernardo in the 1961 version both wearing brown face paint.  The true ethinicity adds authenticity to the new film.

Pictured above is Pippa a Schnoodle puppy (combination of schnauzer and poodle). She is super cute and the new family member to our friend Janine.  She came over yesterday and was running around in the dog play area with Harry, They got along famously.

This is Katey and Judy at the Music Hall before the curtain of at Jersey Boys. 

Been watching Get Back feeling somewhat disappointed. This documentary shows the project that led to the dissolution of the group. There is very little enthusiasm between them.  Paul is the boss, John is into the ever present Yoko.  George is so disgusted that he quits the group for a bit and Ringo says little, struggling to stay awake.  They were all intent on putting one one final show, which turns out to be the roof top show on the roof of the Apple building. I think they should have dissolved the group before this film was made. 

Harry went for his teeth cleaning today at the vet.  He will be knocked out for he procedure.  He was none too happy for the trip.  Picked up the kids for schools in the middle of all this.  With the corporation of traffic, all was completed on time. Crazy windy today with 62 degrees, really goofy for December.

All for now

Stay safe

Forty Six and counting

I don't know why, but she has renewed my contract for another year.  I love this woman more than she can even imagine.  We have endured life's trials and tribulations and enjoyed the sweet moments.  I always tell young men looking for a partner, you want a woman that will work with you, painting the house, solving a plumbing problem or sitting in a hospital with a sick kid. Judy is that kind of person. 

This is also the sixth anniversary of the loss of a force of nature, Marie Reno, Judys' mom. She loved her kids and her grandkids madly, could make kids clothes and cook massively,  drove me crazy with her opinions and house altering advice, but I loved her and know she felt the same about me. 

Katey scored some tickets thru work (Thank you Hall Financia!) for Jersey Boys which we all attended last night. I haven't seen live theater since I last went to NYC with the Kimball HS Orchestra when Jon was playing viola.  Music Hall is a pleasant old venue built for live theater.  Parking was easy also.  The cast sang and danced their hearts out.  The young man cast as Frankie Valli had spectacular pipes and perfect pitch copying Valli's falsetto exactly I did not really know the history of the group and all their ups and downs.  Their stylings and songs were very masculine in tone, typifying men in NJ at the time.  Judy remembered them on her transistor radio back when she was 12.  They did not go national till American Bandstand.  We probably heard the music in 63 or 64.  But then, the Beatles arrived on Ed Sullivan in April of that year, and that group was my musical future till I was in my 20's

You know when you get to be a certain age and you are in a performance venue such as this, you can no longer be forgiven for being an Asshole. There were some fellow baby boomers in a section making inappropriate comments and laughter during the performance,  it rang of old and privileged, was embarrassed to be associated with this faction.  These actors, singers and dancers are working their butts off to entertain you, and deserve your attention and respect.  No more soap box.

The day is supposed to be reasonably pleasant and we will take an afternoon hike,  Going to see West Side Story at a matinee tomorrow, so more music.

all for now

stay safe

 

Berkley Blackout

 Harry went for bloodwork yesterday  in advance of his medical teeth cleaning which will be next Thursday. Never has so much been spent on a 15 lb dog to insure his good health.  But hey, he's worth it. 

Michael Nesmith of Monkees fame has died at 78.  He was the only true musician in the made up TV group hoping to capitalize on the success of the Beatles.  Mike was the heir to the Liquid Paper fortune so he really did not need the money.  Davy Jones was already a fixture on the London stage. The last survivor is Mickey Dolenz who was cast as Circus Boy on a 50's TV show when I was a kid.  His father was a B movie actor in the 40's and 50's.  Peter Tork died a few years ago and spent most of his post Monkee life as a teacher. These guys were as fake as Fabian and constructed for the show. Folks taught them to play and they were off to stardom, making people happy with their songs. even warming up for Jimi Hendrix. RIP Mike.

So Shannon was over for the night Friday.  She was up early as usual having breakfast and watching her selected slate of Disney movies.  Judy had completed her lengthy grooming process and I made her lunch and vacuumed the floor.  The winds were howling outside as predicted.  The flagpole out front was swaying in the breeze.  Then, the TV goes off and we are in a brownout condition in the building.  My ever brilliant wife remembers we had one plug working when this happened before and she hooked the fridge and the TV to it and we were semi-back in business.  Not long after, everything failed. We were certain that our girl would be with us for another night.  But alas the one elevator was operational and we shuffled her back to her home early.  

In the middle of all this, we get a visit from a scared lady resident troubled with cell phone problems and in the middle of that, we got a FaceTime call from Paxton our Covid bound grandson in Grand Rapids, which she of course stayed for much to our chagrin.  Anyway as the day wore on and the darkness fell, we went to see our friend Bill on the first floor for a beer.  I promptly fell asleep in the chair to the entertained delight of both of them. She showed a flashlight in my face and I did not know my name.  Gales of laughter followed. But really, it's good to be the source of entertainment. Power was restored about 10pm.  

Amidst this turn of events, had good conversations with Janine about dogs and vets and crates. Later Judy aired her frustrations about the whole mess and we made a plan to see West Side Story next week. Really appreciate that she welcomes these calls and gives her perspectives.

A couple more things, the first is that we take for granted that the lights will turn on when we flip the switch. Knowing full well that we had no power, I tried to turn on a lamp a couple of times.  Secondly, a man who became a woman is the current Jeopardy champ with over 500K in winnings and America is cheering her on. Bravo Amy and keep on winning!

It's time for me to get up off my ass and move! the weather is supposed to be reasonably pleasant today with sunshine most of the day.  Going for a midday jaunt with Harry.

all for now

stay safe

Ode to my Cast Iron Pan

I need to report the first that comes into my mind somedays. I purchased a 10 inch cast iron skillet recently to facilitate the construction of Latkes which I have yet to accomplish.  I took the new pan on a test drive this morning with a ham and cheese omelet. The results were outstanding.  The outside was brown and crispy and the the other ingredients melded together perfectly.  I am new to this cast iron cooking club but plan to do more.  It is truly inspirational that nothing sticks!  Hey, some of us have strange religions.  It is quite weighty and the handle requires a covering hot pad in that it gets nearly as hot as the cooking surface. Always impressed when something actually works.

 My dear little grandson Paxton tested positive for Covid last Monday.  He is five and not vaccinated along with his brother Everett who is 2.  He is on quarantine for 10 days.  Both parents have been vaccinated and are doing home tests daily. The illness has not been too bad for him thus far accept for fatigue.  I hate that this happened to one of my grandkids.  Sadly, it's the world we live in and exposures will continue.  Marie was sick after her party last Sunday but it was not Covid.  The shock of hearing the news about Paxton had me off for a couple of days.  This illness can have dire consequences.  Heard on a news report that 1 in 5 Americans are not vaccinated and are not going to be by choice.  I still cannot understand all these holdouts. Are they all drinking the Kool-Aid from online sources?  Does religion have a factor in this?  Do they reject the authority to offer these life saving treatments for free?

Ruth Olsen that was a resident of our apartment complex gave away much of the remaining stuff in her apartment thru her daughter and with Judy's help.  People that needed furniture received it.  Andrew got a comfortable couch.  Her friends collected small items to remember her with.  I got foodstuffs from the pantry including spaghetti sauce and pasta and some pakaged soups.  There was too much so LaSalette church across put the excess in their pantry.  I used the sauce and pasta to make dinner for Eli and Marie and their father earlier in the week.  Think of it for a moment, giving stuff away and feeding people has to be a good legacy to leave behind when you depart.

Ate a bunch of crap at Andrew's Wednesday by my own choice.  My digestion was in complete upheaval.  No one forced it down my gullet.  Hopefully it was a lesson learned.  Kept both his kids for the day from 7am to 5pm.  Everyone was quite pleasant and food requests were my only jobs along with cleaning up the aftermath. I actually had a great day.  While they were doing their things, I watched the latest iteration of Lost in Space made in 2018.  Some of us remember the 60's series in black and white of the same name.  I was completely entertained with characters, the dilemmas, the monsters and Molly Parker (which I kinda had a crush on during her Scandal days). 

And......Christmas is coming.  For some reason, I don't feel nearly as gloomy as last year.  Maybe its because Judy put up some decorations including our tabletop Iron Butterfly tree festooned with a few ornaments

Having lunch with friend Bob today with a Shannon pickup later.

all for now

stay safe

 

Bowling Alley/Renshaw/Bob Dole and Jaco

Marie's party at the bowling alley was a raging success with girlfriends of hers and boys for her brother to hang around with with everyone on the alleys.  Even Nanny scored a strike at one point.  It was great fun for me to see all these kids having fun and getting along.  I am pleased for both parents for this success.  Even though they are no longer together, they maturely work out the details of child rearing and their kids are happy both mom and dad get along. 

The charging of the parents in the Oxford school shooting will set a long overdue precedent for assigning responsibility to parents or guardians that provide access to firearms or other weapons to minor children for the crimes committed.  I believe the fifteen year old shooter is far less culpable for these tragedies than the parents that gifted him the gun.

We went to a late lunch at Renshaw today.  Food was good and the price was right. Later, it proved to be a dreadful afternoon with cold rain/sleet pelting us as we marched to Kroger to get a cake mix for Marie's Nanny cake as promised.  As I stood out in the cold and wet pumping gas, I am reminded how much I dislike this season and it is just beginning.

Bob Dole has died at 98.  While I probably disagreed with most of the policies he espoused, he seemed to be a fine man with a sense of humor able to laugh at himself.  He suffered battle injuries from World War II and yet endured to a long career in public service.  It should be noted that there are few of these men left.

There have been a few mentions of the 70th birthday of Jaco Pastorius, the seminal player of the electric bass that passed away in 1987.  I had occasion to see him perform with Weather Report in the seventies.  He was one of the few players that could make the instrument sing a lovely sustaining song. Few if any have matched his playing.

Janine's new puppy Pippa has had a challenging first day in her new home learning about her unfamiliar surroundings . I think this new family will grow in love and companionship. Patience will be tested but love and nurturing will win out.

Judy is watching Shetland a Scottish crime series with many twists and turns in the plot. I suggest using the subtitles feature provided due to the dialect.  I for one am completely lost and have given up on this program.  It's a good show on Amazon Prime for those much smarter than me.  

All for now

stay safe
 

Marie!! and I bought a car

Today is the 11th birthday of my darling grand daughter Marie.  Shown is our picture after a cooking extravaganza in our tiny kitchen.  She goes through each step methodically always aiming for perfection and generally achieving it.  I think this day we were making cheese ravioli from scratch. I love her dearly and am looking forward to the young woman she will become. 

I posted a goofy photo on my FB feed this morning of a much younger Marie with her wild morning hair and a What? look on her face.  In those days they had Alexa in their house so I could pick out the morning music to get them up.  We played Suite Judy Blue Eyes (my personal touchstone) followed by the Iron Butterfly classic In-a-gadda-da-vida.  That pissed her off, but she got up. Going to her bowling birthday party this afternoon.  Should be fun.

The lease on our Ford Fusion is complete after 3 years.  Its been a pretty good vehicle and with all our travels over the past years, we have far exceeded the mileage  allowed.  Also Ford no longer makes passenger cars, only trucks and SUVs.  So even if I wanted to obtain a vehicle from them, it would not be practical trying to get my lovely shorty daughter Shannon in the front seat. So with all the forgoing, we bought the car.  Millage is low and its in good working condition.  This is the first car I have owned since the eighties and really the first owned outright. Oh well, its another part of the senior saga.

The parents of the Oxford shooter have been located in an industrial building on Bellevue in Detroit.  I think I was there making calls in my freight days.  They have been justifiably arraigned on Involuntary Manslaughter charges for providing the firearm to their son.  This is the right call.  If not for their callous stupidity, four children would be home with their parents and others would not be visited in the hospital.

I belong to the Berkley MI FB group the features local events and local political opinions.  We have a new smoking materials emporium opening up on Coolidge down the street from my home.  I posted my opinion that they could have made a better choice when picking a business to go in the storefront in that cigarettes do not promote good health although perfectly legal.  A guy replied noting that we have a lot of pizza places that also don't promote good health.  Really, if pizza could kill you,  I would have been dead by 40 considering my consumption rate.

all for now

stay safe

 

Clearly, that kid shouldn't have had access to a gun

 

I hate to write about this topic. Aside from thoughts and prayers. a praying hand emoji and a new logo invented for the event, this is yet another school shooter tragedy this time in our midst in northern Oakland County in the pleasant little burg of Oxford. Fifteen year olds get bullied, feel helpless, vengeful and angry. They are frustrated because they feel beat up and lack the needed coolness to cope with high school.  As a former fat kid, I remember feeling that way. 

His dad purchased the firearm at a Black Friday sale four days prior.  The kid was super pissed about something or someone, found it and massively changed many lives by its use.  I blame the parents a lot more than the kid. There will be a lot written and spoken about this event in the coming days.  The media will have their usual field day reporting on every minute detail.  There will be feature stories on 60 Minutes and Inside Edition.  They will try to drag every bit of info from the Police agencies.  None of that makes any difference for me.  And after all the media blitz, offers of counseling and pleas for legislation,  nothing will change.  This event will become another sad statistic for 2021.

Schools should not be scary places.

that's it