Scum of the Earth

Well I haven't posted here in over a year as FB is so quick and easy but I found a bunch of spammers the lowest scum there is on some of my posts and cleaned them out.Maybe I'll start posting again.By the way one of my last posts was on the person/s leaving gifts on the church steps before X-Mas.The saturday before Easter I was sitting across the street from the church waiting for the bus when I glanced across the street and saw someone had left a Weber Charcoal grill on the top steps next to the doors and not a little picnic Weber the full size one.

The Hat Lady Returns

I picked up a bus in Santa Monica today and there was the hat lady from my neighborhood whom I haven't seen in months.But instead of a homemade grocery store hat she was wearing a store bought thing I can only describe as something a Victorian woman would have worn on a tiger hunt in India.She did not seem to know who I was today so I did not mention to her the rather strange headgear.

Farewell to an old friend

I received an email last night about an old friend that passed away in early Sept down in the North County San Diego area.Suzy was our bookeeper for years and had retired some years back and moved back south to her home area.She was born in Brawley CA in 1920 and lived in St.Louis,Paris and Los Angeles but she was also Japanese American and she and her family were interned at the Poston,Ariz war relocation center.Poston was three camps with 17,000 people which made it the third largest city in Arizona at the time.Irony of Irony it was designed by Del Webb who went onto fortune building retirement"resorts" in Ariz but Suzy was a prisoner in her own country for doing nothing wrong.The camp was built on the Colorado Indian Reservation over the objection of the tribal council but approved by the BIA.What is sad is that the same thing could happen today given the hate filled rants of folks like Rush,Ann,Glenn,Sean etc who use the "Illegal Aliens" as the bogeyman.Suzy was a fascinating woman who did not mention very often her treatment at the hands of a right wing sentiment gone overboard much like they still preach today with of late more invective.I have never been to Poston but I have been to Manzanar up in the Eastern Sierra a few times and it is a haunting place to think they kept loyal American citizens prisoner because they wern't white anglos.

This Years Haul

Well no Mercedes but a good day.I received a great hooded sweatshirt from the Wellfleet Beachcomber,A Fenway Park,Red Sox long sleeve T-Shirt,a four CD set on the Philly Sound,a mutli dvd set of Charles Kuralts On the Road series,The hardcover book on America's Natl Parks from the recent Ken Burns Series,A jug of NYState maple syrup,A nice framed photo of an old barn in Naples,NY,a 2010 calender of old Rochester,NY photos,A Bluto Pez dispenser and several other gifts.

Let it Snow

I've been watching the Weather Channel a lot and they had a Guaranteed White Christmas contest going on and the winner turns out to be a family from Summerland Key which is down in the Florida Keys*.I'm thinking snow in the Keys,gee that's a novel thing but it isn't the straw snorting kind of snow so I can't wait to see what their backyard looks like when the Weather Channel gets done spraying the snow all over.*back in the early 90's we rented a place in Middle Torch Key down near Big Pine and each night we would walk down to the beach waving lanterns hoping to entice a coke boat to drop a load.

Provincetown Jug Band pre-1977

Happy Winter Solstice

A X-Mas wish?

About nine days ago while waiting for the bus out front of Saint Timothy catholic church on the corner of Beverly Glen and Pico I was looking at the statue of Mary that is carved into one corner of the building outside.Someone had placed what looked like a bible on the ledge at her feet.Now it rained for four days after that and the bible got a bit wet but it was still there.So imagine my surprise this morning when waiting for the bus again I saw a wrapped gift box with bow on top sitting on top of the bible.It got me to wondering if the same person placed both items there or was it two different people and is it just an empty box or is something in it?While folks are leaving gifts at Saint Timothy up the street at our building some is taking gifts.For the second time in three months someone has walked off with one of the beautiful potted mixed succulents that graced our front steps prompting my neighbor to remove the other two up to the entrance door area.

Driving fun

On sunday I was waiting for the bus to go to Trader Joes and as I'm sitting on the steps of Saint Timothy's an asian woman in a large SUV pulled up to the light.She had her left hand on the wheel but in her right hand she had chopsticks.Now I've seen a lot of foolish things folks do while driving but this is the first time I've seen chopsticks.She was dipping down to the center console to whatever she was eating and I was hoping a police car would show up to set her straight on her really really dumb driving habits.

A new Book Jones

So I rejoined Quality Paperback Book Club about ten days ago and today I received my five books for like 20.00.I now haveH.W. Brands"Traitor to His Class" about FDR,"down at the docks" by Rory Nugent about New Bedford and it's fishing industry,"The Last Fish Tale" by Mark Kurlansky about Glouecester and it's fishing industry,"The Virago Book of Ghost Stories" edited by Richard Dalby and last but best a coffee table sized hardback "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee:the illustrated edition" which is a 40th anniv edition of a book I love and this illustrated edition is a beaut.New essays also included though I prefer one of my smaller paperback editions for bedside reading.The ghost stories book is all by female writers of mostly the past like Wharton,Nesbitt,Riddell etc.These are literate stories not the vampire type nonsense rampant now.I can't wait to read the Nugent vs Kurlansky books because they both write not only the history but the everday things.Kurlansky is much better known but I loved Nugents"The Search for the Pink Headed Duck" some years ago.Nugent is much more offbeat.So my to read pile is now approaching the National Debt but I blunder on.

It's a beautiful tree

I was wandering the frozen aisle at Ralphs Grocery on wed afternoon when I looked up at all the Xmass stuff for sale on top of the freezers and spotted"The Charlie Brown Xmas Tree"So I bought one and brought the box home and when Sweet Pea and Knuckle Sandwich came out on the patio I gave it to them and they scampered upstairs to pull it out of the box and put it together.It looks just like the pic.I see other ones online that don't come with Linus's blanke but that was the clincher for me.

It's a beautiful tree(pic)

Tis More of the Season

"Bumbles Bounce"

Tis the Season

I was up at the mall today looking for my XMass cards after a Kung Pao chicken lunch and man cards have gone up.I picked up one box and it was 32.00 for 14 cards.For that price I could give a few friends a pack of smokes for XMass like they do in Canada.I found a box of 20 smaller cards that I picked up to send to a few friends and stay in the good graces(wills) of several aging Aunts and Uncles.Passing by the post office sub-station at the mall I was surprised to see them getting a mail delivery from a letter carrier.Who knew the post office got a mail delivery? I wonder what they do with the junk mail.Finally my buddy did his Naples Run today and picked up two more jars of Sour Cherry jam for me.Oh and before I forget has anyone else seen the PBS special recently of Ed Sullivan and the music acts on his show.Some really good stuff and some of the nights I can recall where I was watching these for the first time.I swear though Mick Jagger is stuffing his pants when they do"I Can't Get no Satisfaction".

A New Jones

So on one of my drives down to Naples,NY to buy grape pies at various places I made a visit to Monica's Pies the biggest of the pie sellers.Monica sells great Chicken Pot Pies frozen andI bought 8 of those to take back up the road to Pittsford and I bought another jar of her Seedless Blackberry Jam but I also bought a jar of her Sour Cherry Jam which I tried last night with some ham.Oh my lord the stuff is wicked wicked good.But I just found out Monica not only quit shipping pies which were way expensive fed ex but she no longer ships the jams and jellies and conserves also.So I'm going to call my buddy I stay with who calls on a Doctors office in Naples twice a month and see if he will pick up a few jars I can give as Holiday gifts.The sour cherry jam is that good.Loaded with chunks of Sour Cherries and the sugar gives them a slight sweetness that with sweet cherries would be overkill.I don't know how to describe the taste but my tastebuds love it.

Botany of Desire

I'm watching the PBS video version of Michael Pollans great book from several years ago"The Botany of Desire".Not to be missed.It's almost as good as the book was reading it the first time.In case anyone doesn't know Pollan took four plants,Apples,Tulips,Marijuana and Taters and detailed their origins and how they manipulated animals and humans into spreading them and using them.Fascinating to watch.

Bad Weather

Last week after three weeks in Western New York I came out of the Ralphs Market in Century City to around a temp of 75 with some clouds passing overhead.As I was waitng for my cab with all my groceries to stock an empty Fridge. I hear an older lady walking by say to her caretaker lady"My it's a gloomy day isn't it","Yes it is" replys the caretaker lady.

Lazarus

Welll I was thinking I sort of miss it here and Facebook does limit one to rather short posts so I think I'll give this space another shot.Hopefully more books along with the same old ramblings.Today I received in the mail a 50.00 gift card if Iget my Mercedes serviced at Beverly Hills Mercedes.Now I don't own a Mercedes but it was addressed to my name not resident so I'm thinking with X-Mass coming my brother and boss is springing one on me and the guys at Beverly Hills Mercedes just let the cat out of the bag so to speak.I shall be looking out the window each morning the latter half of Dec for my German Automobile.

New Post or last post

I haven't been posting here of late because now that I have a Facebook Wall page thingy I find it better suited to my short rambling sometimes lucid thoughts.I'm thinking of doing another blog to talk books because that's what I miss from the defunct NYTimes forums and a few other sites I have found lacking or atarted out promising only to have the owner shut down.Plus I have a few blogs I love to read especially Trout Towers and Fast Grow the Weeds and I feel guilty that these folks actually write things while I find my thing not suited to a blog well except for my old Parkrat blog which I had fun telling all those drug stories and tales of wasted youth but I'm afraid when I decide to run for a higher office I will be outed.

North to Alaska

I loved it when the local weatherman chuckled about being wrong about today's high,It was supposed to be 89 but went to 96 making this as he laughed the 10th straight day of 90 or above.He didn't mention the fact that all the LA stations said this was going to be a four day heat wave when it started and that after day two the temps have been 94 to 100 each day with east coast humidity the past several days.I came across a Spanish language version of Call of the Wild this early am and watched it with little sound just because when I came upon it it showed a beautiful snow storm.