A quick note ...
I'm reading the book, "The Long Walk," by Brian Castner.
The subject is duty with EOD in Iraq.
Came across this exchange a few chapters in:
"Come on Captain, lets go," said Ewbank. "There ain't shit here to find. And anyway, we got another call. They found a car bomb that didn't go off. Let's di di mau."
("di di mau" - Vietnamese for "Let's go, quickly!"
Seems a small bit of vocabulary from my war has survived into modern usage.)
Good writing. Drew me in immediately.
He's good at relating all the mundane.
Remember, God lives in the details;
it's the ordinary that breathes life into
any tale being told."
-Fini
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
23 JUL 12
Time for some Photoshop artwork ...
Me and Shane ... (and a bit of Dov) ... at practice with Artsongjazz.
Me, at the New Fairfield, CT Car Show, with The Midnight Blues
At The Sherman Fest, Sherman, CT with The Midnight Blues
At a Wappingers Falls Dance Social, with The Dukes & Dutchess
-Fini
Me and Shane ... (and a bit of Dov) ... at practice with Artsongjazz.
Me, at the New Fairfield, CT Car Show, with The Midnight Blues
At The Sherman Fest, Sherman, CT with The Midnight Blues
At a Wappingers Falls Dance Social, with The Dukes & Dutchess
-Fini
Friday, July 20, 2012
20 JUL 12
Bad day ...
A shooting in Colorado ...
12 dead, many wounded ...
asshole who did the shooting in custody.
Now there are talking heads on the TV.
We really don't need the politicians to tell
us how we should feel.
The shooter, one James Holmes, seems
to have been a brilliant, hard working grad
student. Some how, some when, his brain went
off kilter ... he became delusional ... wanted to be
The Joker.
Here's a photo purporting to show Holmes being taken away
by police during the Occupy San Diego protest.
(Apparently he's not from the Tea Party side of town.)
_________________
On an entirely different note ...
there was a hummingbird flitting about on the rear deck
this afternoon. I do believe that this is the first time I've
ever seen one at this time of year. Normally, one will
visit in September, when the coleus plants finally bloom.
I may begin putting out feeders now ... see if I can
attract others to visit.
-Fini
A shooting in Colorado ...
12 dead, many wounded ...
asshole who did the shooting in custody.
Now there are talking heads on the TV.
We really don't need the politicians to tell
us how we should feel.
The shooter, one James Holmes, seems
to have been a brilliant, hard working grad
student. Some how, some when, his brain went
off kilter ... he became delusional ... wanted to be
The Joker.
Here's a photo purporting to show Holmes being taken away
by police during the Occupy San Diego protest.
(Apparently he's not from the Tea Party side of town.)
_________________
On an entirely different note ...
there was a hummingbird flitting about on the rear deck
this afternoon. I do believe that this is the first time I've
ever seen one at this time of year. Normally, one will
visit in September, when the coleus plants finally bloom.
I may begin putting out feeders now ... see if I can
attract others to visit.
-Fini
Saturday, July 14, 2012
14 JUL 12
Middle of July ...
and another 90 degree day ...
a start to another heat wave.
More inside-the-house chores to do.
Was out earlier ... plants all doing well.
To date, no squirrels in the flower boxes.
-Fini
and another 90 degree day ...
a start to another heat wave.
More inside-the-house chores to do.
Was out earlier ... plants all doing well.
To date, no squirrels in the flower boxes.
-Fini
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
11 JUL 12
From around here ...
Been out in the yard, looking at things.
The plants all seem to be doing well,
although there are many broken branches
high up in the surrounding trees (some of them
quite large) ... souvenirs of past storms and snow falls.
There seems to be a bumper-crop of squirrels
this summer ... there are even two black ones.
I'm surprised that they survived this long, given
the number of hawks living in the neighborhood.
The black squirrel has a silhouette that is easy to
pick out against the green background of a mown lawn.
-Fini
Been out in the yard, looking at things.
The plants all seem to be doing well,
although there are many broken branches
high up in the surrounding trees (some of them
quite large) ... souvenirs of past storms and snow falls.
There seems to be a bumper-crop of squirrels
this summer ... there are even two black ones.
I'm surprised that they survived this long, given
the number of hawks living in the neighborhood.
The black squirrel has a silhouette that is easy to
pick out against the green background of a mown lawn.
-Fini
Saturday, July 7, 2012
07 JUL 12
No sizzle ...
The promised life-threatening heat never made it here.
It reached 90 degrees at about 1:00 PM ... but after that
the clouds moved in and rain began to fall. Right now it's
80 degrees and muggy.
That's it.
-Fini
The promised life-threatening heat never made it here.
It reached 90 degrees at about 1:00 PM ... but after that
the clouds moved in and rain began to fall. Right now it's
80 degrees and muggy.
That's it.
-Fini
Friday, July 6, 2012
06 JUL 12
Heat ...
Once again, the heat is in the news.
Tomorrow will find us sweltering in 100+ degree temps.
Once more I've got to say, "Thank God for central air."
________________
Thought to write about some subject today.
Actually had some firm ideas ... began composing
sentences in my head. Became distracted for a
moment and the subject was completely forgotten.
Gone from my head!
Old age??
Or a natural happenstance?
Dunno.
I'm done for the day though.
G'night.
-Fini
Once again, the heat is in the news.
Tomorrow will find us sweltering in 100+ degree temps.
Once more I've got to say, "Thank God for central air."
________________
Thought to write about some subject today.
Actually had some firm ideas ... began composing
sentences in my head. Became distracted for a
moment and the subject was completely forgotten.
Gone from my head!
Old age??
Or a natural happenstance?
Dunno.
I'm done for the day though.
G'night.
-Fini
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
03 JUL 12
Time and tide ...
Grandchildren grow up.
-while -
Grandparents grow old.
Granddaughters Gabi and Gracie Mei (center & right) with friend, Kaylie Schiltz
(Charley's Angels?)
The oldest grandchild, Thomas Keane - HS Graduation picture
Granddaughter Gabi Mei as Iron Man, friend Nicole Granata as Capt. America
( Avengers Lite? )
-Fini
Grandchildren grow up.
-while -
Grandparents grow old.
Granddaughters Gabi and Gracie Mei (center & right) with friend, Kaylie Schiltz
The oldest grandchild, Thomas Keane - HS Graduation picture
Granddaughter Gabi Mei as Iron Man, friend Nicole Granata as Capt. America
-Fini
Monday, July 2, 2012
02 JUL 12
On reading ...
When I read a novel, I like to immerse myself in the story ... live the adventure being lived by the characters in the book. That's why I'm overly picky about what I read. Right now, I'm trying to get through a military techno-thriller. It's failing a basic requirement, however. If an author wants me to believe the fantastic scenarios being concocted in the story-line ... then the author had better get all the mundane actual and technical details down pat. The book I'm currently trying to read deals with some highly evolved science ... but the author writes the statement "The golf cart's electric engine made a whining noise.. " From what I remember from basic science lessons ... engines are combustion-powered, while motors are operated via electrical power ... either AC or DC. Nit-picky, I know. But if you're gonna talk the talk ... you'd better have walked the walk (or, at least, looked it up!). It's the same (especially) with the military novels. I've come across many where the author seems to have gotten all his military knowledge at the Army-Navy surplus store. What's the old axiom ... "Write what you know."
Please do.
-Fini
When I read a novel, I like to immerse myself in the story ... live the adventure being lived by the characters in the book. That's why I'm overly picky about what I read. Right now, I'm trying to get through a military techno-thriller. It's failing a basic requirement, however. If an author wants me to believe the fantastic scenarios being concocted in the story-line ... then the author had better get all the mundane actual and technical details down pat. The book I'm currently trying to read deals with some highly evolved science ... but the author writes the statement "The golf cart's electric engine made a whining noise.. " From what I remember from basic science lessons ... engines are combustion-powered, while motors are operated via electrical power ... either AC or DC. Nit-picky, I know. But if you're gonna talk the talk ... you'd better have walked the walk (or, at least, looked it up!). It's the same (especially) with the military novels. I've come across many where the author seems to have gotten all his military knowledge at the Army-Navy surplus store. What's the old axiom ... "Write what you know."
Please do.
-Fini
Sunday, July 1, 2012
01 JUL 12
Olive Street ...
I've been a member of Ancestry dot com for the past ...... maybe 2 years. I've managed to trace my various family lines back about 4 generations ... with the one exception being my estranged father's family. Ironically, through his line (the Coopers), I've gone as far back as the American Revolution (although that trace becomes questionable at about the time of the Revolution). I've, now, pretty much run out of family connections. To look back further in time would require spending several hundred dollars for expansion into European records. I'm just not that interested.
Enter Google ... through census records, I found out that my maternal grandmother grew up on Olive Street in Philadelphia. She was ten years old when the family moved there. I entered the address on Google Maps and found the location in central Philadelphia. I switched to the "Street View" and suddenly I'm moving up the block where my grandmother played. Row houses ... 3 stories, brick faced, narrow. Some structures now gone, giving the block a gap-toothed look. Where my grandmother's house had stood was one of those gaps. It's now a family garden plot, surrounded by chain-link.
Still ... it was something to see ... something that I never before knew of.
My grandmother married young ... to Clarence Meyers.
My mother was born in 1928, my grandmother was 18 years old. The marriage didn't last. There was a bitter divorce and my mother was not permitted to visit with her father again (although she did ... but that's a story for another day). That portion of their lives was never spoken of ... at least in front of me.
Josephine and Clarence Meyers with daughter, Kathleen Meyers
at the beach - Atlantic City, NJ - ca. 1930
My mother, Kathleen Welsh (on left) with my
grandmother, Josephine Sabin - ca. 1958
ca. 1991 - Josephine Sabin (on right) with her sister, Catherine Grear.
My grandmother would die the following year, at age 82. My great-aunt
would follow her four years later, dying at age 97.
-Fini
PS: My mother did some basic research and found out that her father, Clarence, had served in the U.S. Army during WWII and was buried in the Veterans Cemetery in Beverly, NJ. She also discovered that, like me, she had half-siblings that she'd never met.
I've been a member of Ancestry dot com for the past ...... maybe 2 years. I've managed to trace my various family lines back about 4 generations ... with the one exception being my estranged father's family. Ironically, through his line (the Coopers), I've gone as far back as the American Revolution (although that trace becomes questionable at about the time of the Revolution). I've, now, pretty much run out of family connections. To look back further in time would require spending several hundred dollars for expansion into European records. I'm just not that interested.
Enter Google ... through census records, I found out that my maternal grandmother grew up on Olive Street in Philadelphia. She was ten years old when the family moved there. I entered the address on Google Maps and found the location in central Philadelphia. I switched to the "Street View" and suddenly I'm moving up the block where my grandmother played. Row houses ... 3 stories, brick faced, narrow. Some structures now gone, giving the block a gap-toothed look. Where my grandmother's house had stood was one of those gaps. It's now a family garden plot, surrounded by chain-link.
Still ... it was something to see ... something that I never before knew of.
My grandmother married young ... to Clarence Meyers.
My mother was born in 1928, my grandmother was 18 years old. The marriage didn't last. There was a bitter divorce and my mother was not permitted to visit with her father again (although she did ... but that's a story for another day). That portion of their lives was never spoken of ... at least in front of me.
Josephine and Clarence Meyers with daughter, Kathleen Meyers
at the beach - Atlantic City, NJ - ca. 1930
My mother, Kathleen Welsh (on left) with my
grandmother, Josephine Sabin - ca. 1958
ca. 1991 - Josephine Sabin (on right) with her sister, Catherine Grear.
My grandmother would die the following year, at age 82. My great-aunt
would follow her four years later, dying at age 97.
-Fini
PS: My mother did some basic research and found out that her father, Clarence, had served in the U.S. Army during WWII and was buried in the Veterans Cemetery in Beverly, NJ. She also discovered that, like me, she had half-siblings that she'd never met.
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