First of all I would like to thank my blogging friends for their encouraging comments on my last entry. I really do appreciate it and I thank you!

When I started writing this I had asked if anybody had heard from Nancy, then I decided to send her an email. She responded the next day. She is fine. Some computer problems but that's all. She also left a comment on my previous rather whiny post. She's a friend from back in the days of Spaces. And I'm glad she ok.

As you may or may not know I work in a supermarket. Specifically the deli. There are times when I have to work the counter. It's part of the job and that's ok. However, after doing this for nearly 42 years it only takes one twit to set me off saometimes. Not that I go into a Basil Fawlty rant .In case you don't know, Basil Fawlty was the main character in the  British comedy series starring John Cleese called Fawlt Towers. Just about my favorite  television comedy along with Cheers and not just because it was set in Boston. It was genuinely funny. OK I just went off on a tangent. Anyway I asked this woman what she would like. She then pointed at what she wanted. Now from behind the counter I can't see what she is pointing at so I asked her again if she could tell me what she wanted because I can't see. Now she gets annoyed and forcefully points and says "This!"
Now I'm getting annoyed and walk around front. She says "This!" again.
What was so hard about saying low salt ham. The biggest word had four letters. This type of behavior happens more than you would think and it seems to have become more prevalent in recent years. I guess it's just getting to me. I think people are just more distracted these days. They seem to have forgotten how to comunicate face to face. They are all wrapped up in their phones. Staring at the little screens unaware of the surroundings. Walking into traffic. Funny how these devices of communication, fantastic as they are, really don't always bring people together, rather they seem to isolate them from the outside world. I have texted a few times and it is a remarkable way to send a quick message but I work with people who are constantly running into the corner to stare at their phones and typing back something. More than likely it's a generational thing. I certainly remember when I was young, we were such an oddball generation compared to our parents. We grew our hair long and listened to very different music than our parents. We were so different than the World War II generation of our parents. I am by no means knocking the younger generation, well maybe a little, but I think that constant attention to a little screen while trying to perform life's more mundane tasks that involves interacting with fellow human beings like shopping, walking or driving rates as annoying to dangerous. 

Well sorry about that little rant. I had a few annoying people to deal with at work and I just had to let off a little steam.

Here's a video I made the night of the blizzard. It's off the television. I just held the camera as I sat on the couch over the course of an hour. It's not an hour long. It's about 11 minutes. The temperature dropped about 8 degrees in about an hour Sometimes it's a little out of focus and shaky and though I have tripod I didn't use it because I didn't think about it. It's a reminder of that storm as the weather slowly improves. It's just a little slice of local television news about one big pain in the ass storm that's thankfully just a memory now.

 Well I sort of just rambled on (the checks in the mail Carole) with this post. I'm off tomorrow and am going tot the movies. More than likely to see 42 The Jackie Robinson story. It looks to be quite good. Time to get ready for bed.
I'm outta here.

A few of my dads paintings and a few thoughts on my blog and some local lore.

My dad would always draw. My dad was a very talented man. He played the piano quite well though he never had a lesson. I wish I had a recording of his playing. He could also play the guitar and the mandolin. One day my sister gave my dad an oil painting kit for either Christmas or his birthday and he was off to the races. He watched a guy on PBS who would paint a landscape in less than 30 minutes. My dad had no problem in copying the technique. He wouldn't just do landscapes he did portraits and his biggest project was recreating some of the Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings by Michelangelo. I have six of his paintings in my living room and my sisters have about the same. The are about 50 or so that remain back at the family house where one of my sisters still lives. The Sistine chapel Painting are quite large and still remain in the basement. I don't know what we will do with all the remaining paintings. I took some pictures of the paintings in my living room. The pictures are not of the greatest quality as some of them are  framed behind glass. You can see light reflecting off the glass and in some you can see a reflection of me taking the pictures. Here are a few of them.
  

 

I am not able to visit Blogger as often as I used to. So much of my time is taken up by just every day life. My days can be long often starting with a wake up at 5:30, sometimes 4:30 for a 6 a.m. work start. I am not complaining because I am fortunate to still be working for the same company (more or less) for 42 years. There are 700 people that recently, weren't so lucky. By the time I am finished with work, domestic chores and dealing with the phone it's around 9 p.m. and pretty close to bedtime. I enjoy writing a blog and visiting around but sometimes I just can't. I have also thought about just shutting it down because there are times when I write stuff that just doesn't attract anyone save for one or two people. That could be because I don't publish that often or I write things that are of no interest to anyone. I don't know.

Still here I am writing another one. During the course of the day, while at work, I find myself thinking of things to write about, often jotting ideas down so I would remember them later.

OK. Enough whining. I do have to continue my spring cleaning though I honestly feel like sitting around like a lump. It's a beautiful day outside and I have opened the windows. I have an urge to go out and visit things in my own city. Not Boston but my community 5 miles north. I am reading book on my city and have to honestly admit to not knowing some of the history that happened within a mile or two of my home. Where Jingle Bells and "Over the river and through the woods to grandfathers house we go" were written.

Grandfathers house is still there. Fanny Farmer lived here. The modern roller skate was developed here. The Issac Royal House, on the same street as my elementary school was on, housed the Continental Army including George Washington during the Revolutionary War. New York Mayor  Michael Bloomberg grew up here and went to the same high school as me. His mother still lived here until her death in 2011. One street over is the Peter Tufts house thought to be the oldest surviving all brick building in New England.

I remember going to the Tufts University Campus to see the stuffed remains of Jumbo the Elephant that was donated to the University by P.T. Barnum after he was killed when he was hit by a locomotive in Ontario Canada. It was destroyed by fire in 1975 and supposedly the ashes are kept in a 14 oz Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter jar in the office of the Tufts Athletic directors office. At least according to Wikipedia. The Jumbo's is the nickname of the Tufts football team.
Then there was early colonial shipbuilding on the Mystic River two streets over from here.

On the more notorious side there was the grizzly murder of "The Black Dahlia" in Los Angeles in 1947. She was born in Boston but grew up here. She left for California for fame and fortune as an actress and wound up brutally murdered. It remains unsolved.

The Depositors Trust Bank Robbery in 1980, one of the largest bank and jewel robberies in the world pulled off by crooked police over the Memorial Day weekend even as a parade went by. It wasn't so much the cash that was stolen but what was in the safety deposit boxes. Who knows what was put in there and by who. Not everybody came forward to tell what they lost. Part of the former bank is now a restaurant. The bank vault door is still there as the entrance to the private function room an the hole in the ceiling where the robber entered the vault was left untouched. On the same street almost directly across ( the same street Jingle bells was written on about a block down) was the Pewter Pot Cafe. This was the site of a Mafia hit. It is now called the Lighthouse Cafe and is a popular breakfast spot. I had more than a few Sunday morning breakfasts there.

In 1989 the FBI succesfully taped a Mafia initiation ceremony here not too far from where I live.

Alrighty then I've gone on long enough. It's time for lunch or maybe a very early supper then it's back to work.

I'm outta here.

World of Wheels, Easter, Spring cleaning and an extra day off!

Yup. I went to the World of Wheels Show downtown last Sunday the 24th. I like cars. I always have. When I was a kid my dad would take me to various dealership showrooms in the fall when all the new models were being introduced. I don't know all that much about cars. A basic knowledge on how an engine works and the like but I have never been one to work on a car save for changing a flat. For me cars are eye candy, performance numbers and other related numbers. There were customised hot rods, classic cars, and various other kinds of curiosities including the three Bat Mobiles. One from the 60's TV show, one from the first Hollywood movie and the latest version. Not only that, there were personal appearances by the Caped Crusader and Cat Woman in the flesh. A fun afternoon but not cheap. About $15 for a burger and a drink before hand. $20 for parking and $18 for a ticket.

It wasn't easy to take all the pictures. Finding a spot where you can frame the picture without someone walking in front of you or coming up behind you wasn't easy. Some of the pictures came out too blurry and were essentially useless. On some shots a bit of the rear end of a car got cut off. I took my small pocket camera. I didn't want to lug around that suitcase with the camera and lenses plus the booklets and various other camera devices. Most of the time it was aim the camera shoot and hope for the best. There are a couple of slightly blurred shots that made it on to the forthcoming slide show. By the way check out the very thick soles on Bat Mans boots. He looked to be about 5,5" without them. Oh and one more thing. I made a rather silly intro to the whole thing.

Then I made a slide show out of the pictures I took during the blizzard on Feb. 8,9 and 10th. The morning of the 9th we were met with around two feet of snow. It took two of us 8 hours to clear the cars and driveway. The tenth day was a beautiful day. Most everything important had been cleared or dug out. I went down to the lakes and took a few pictures. I readily admit that I put another silly opening at the beginning and an overly dramatic soundtrack to the beginning part of the video. I'm just having a little fun here.

And then, on the night of the blizzard I took my little camera and pointed it the television. I shot clips of the local news coverage over the course of two hours or so. There are reporters here and there, by the ocean or on the highway. I Just hand held the camera. A bit shaky or out of focus at times but what can I tell you, The airport was closed so Spielberg's plane couldn't land. You watch as the temperature dropping over a relatively short time. Anyway it's a long video. At about 11 minutes I'll save it for next time.

And then there was Easter Sunday. I had a potential conflict between my sister and my lady friend. I was invited to both places. I won't go into the delicate negotiations but I didn't have a real winning chance with either my sister or Arlene if they both didn't concede something.
 The conflict ended up resolved by the lucky fact that my sisters meal was going to happen around one-ish in the afternoon. Arlene said her meal would happen around five because her daughter had to work. I won't go into the delicate negotiations but it worked out.
We had roast pork at my sisters with various side dishes including something I haven't had since before my mother passed 9 years ago, broccoli rabe or rapini. It's a green that's pretty simply prepared. Boiled, cooled and sauteed with olive oil garlic and a pinch of hot pepper. Sometimes you can add sausage or whatever. They may be an acquired taste for some but I think they're pretty tasty. We had our now traditional toast at the beginning of the meal which I think I have mentioned before. My brother in laws botched attempt to say Nostrovia, or as Jim mangled into something like, "nice driveway".
Around six I went to Arlene's. Couldn't eat anymore so I had some wine and some home made pizzelle my sister made. All in all a nice day.

And now I have an extra day off this week. A bit of spring cleaning is in order and some relaxation. I still will have to wait another two months for my first week off.

Well that's all for now.
I'm outta here