I was in the waiting room of a doctor’s office this week when a pharmaceutical representative came in, triggering memories of my father. I only saw the backside of this gentleman as I did not notice him until he had pulled his trolley of samples up to one of the windows of the office personnel, and I went in shortly thereafter. From the backside he struck me as very fashionably dressed. His clothes appeared relatively new and of the current fashion. To me, the current fad in men’s sports coats and suit jackets always appears as if Continue reading “Shoes Did Not Get the Invitation”
Life Lesson Learned…Maybe
I am going to start this article with a couple caveats. First caveat being that you cannot tell a person’s physical ailments/limitations from a distance. Sometimes you cannot tell standing next to them. Second caveat is that a regular Pepsi can and a Bud Light can, again from a distance, are very similar, especially in color.
I was driving home from someplace I do not remember. I noticed a young man playing catch in his front yard. I then realized he was playing catch with a gentleman the right age to be the young man’s father. My initial reaction was, “how nice.”
This is somewhat of a not so fond remembrance of my childhood…said the 67 year old man. My father did very little with me. I do not Continue reading “Life Lesson Learned…Maybe”
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
I reread this novel recently after having seen the play. Part of my interest in seeing the play was to see how they adapted the novel to the stage. The relationship between Christine Daaé and the Phantom is portrayed in the popular perception as a beauty and the beast romance. My reading of the novel did not leave me with that feeling.
The plot is this. The two current managers of the Paris Opera House are tired of being blackmailed by the Opera Ghost aka the Phantom of the Opera aka Eric. They pass the reins onto two new managers, Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard. The Opera Ghost continues his blackmailing ways, but the two new managers initially think it is a practical joke either on the part of the exiting managers or their other co-manager. There are a series of incidences and disasters that change their minds.
There is the Opera Ghost who is obsessed with Christine. He becomes her musical tutor in a cryptic manner, but Christine thinks he is the Angel of Music sent from heaven Continue reading “The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux”
Jog On, Young Father, Jog On
To the young father jogging pushing a jogging stroller with his small child therein:
You looked at me sheepishly when I glanced your way as rode toward you on my bicycle. No need to do that, puff your chest out. How much more comfortable you must be in your skin than I was at the same age. You probably could not have gotten me to do that for love nor money as I erroneously thought it was not a manly activity. It was my lost.
I am glad this generation of fathers does not have that hang up. What could be a more manly activity that participating in the care of your children.
Jog on, young father, jog on.
Bacon by Richard William Church
Again this was an individual from history whose name I knew, but did not know why I should remember him. From the Librivox blurb about The Essays of Francis Bacon: “Diderot and Voltaire considered him the father of modern science. Others consider him only the father of the scientific method.” Mr. Church went back and forth on this at one pointing stating that he was mainly the individual who had a platform and broadcasted the fundamentals of experimental science to a larger audience. Either way it was an important contribution.
Bacon was a collector of “facts” and searcher after a key to unlock the meaning of the collected facts. He was a proponent of deductive reasoning over inductive reason to understand our world. Deductive reasoning with the scientific method1 was the key he sought.
Generally, when they call someone complex or complicated it is an indication that the good and bad side of humanity comes out frequently in an individual. Francis Bacon was a complicated individual. His real passion Continue reading “Bacon by Richard William Church”
My Father, Ted Weinhaus
(This is the remembrance speech that Robin gave at her Father’s funeral. I thought it amazing and beautiful)
I begin by starting with the end. Dad died at 8 pm Sunday night. He spent his last day allowing his body to do what it had always done, keep him alive the magical way it could. His breathing was such a struggle and yet breath after breath he persevered. For days, our breath labored along with him, ourselves struggling with each breath. In the end, the pneumonia won and we gentled our breath in gratefulness and surrender.
Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s many years ago. He lived in a world where he could not express himself with his words and thoughts. We will never know what he thought. But we did know that he had joy in his heart. He showed this daily to his caretakers at the nursing home. He showed his joy to most anyone who he could have eye contact with. Just last Wednesday, less than one week ago, he looked into my eyes, opened his mouth and laughed and smiled. He was filled with joy to see me. You could not help but wonder why he laughed and smiled but we all came to the same understanding that there was a shining, golden appreciative man inside.
I am grateful. I am grateful to have been taught by my father to love life and appreciate each and every moment of it. Even when life is tough and it Is not the way you want it to be, there is a lesson and a blessing to be learned. My father has been a great teacher to me. Continue reading “My Father, Ted Weinhaus”
Interesting Medal of Honor Factoid
Theodore Roosevelt of Rough Rider fame in the Spanish-American War was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor repeatedly. There were multiple letters from a wide range of people in this campaign. Probably for political reasons he was never awarded the medal during his lifetime.
103 years later, after Congress changed the law on posthumous awards of military medals, he received it. It took another campaign during which the Army turned down the request once. Bill Clinton signed the award into law during the waning days of his administration.
There are now two sets of father and son to receive this medal. Theodore Roosevelt and his son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. who received it actions on D-Day at Normandy, are one set. The other set is Arthur MacArthur during the Civil War and his son Douglas MacArthur (yes that one) during WWII.
Now you know.
Dissed by a Little Rascal
In the early 70’s my father’s job took him overseas again. My mother and my three youngest siblings went with him. 
This left me living alone in Rhode Island. A fourth brother was living in Oklahoma. My cousin’s husband had recently graduated college with an art degree. He found work in a regional theatre company in Springfield, MA. Being Okies (less in my case, more in her case) and relatives living in the East we would visited occasionally.
Her husband Steve worked as a set designer for the theatre. Also at the theatre was a former member of the comedic series Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals), Shirley Jean Rickert. She worked as the theatre’s secretary, and she would occasionally act.
One of my visits was just after successfully opening of a new play. Someone was putting on a party for the production crew. My cousins dragged me along to this party. I say drag as I am still not much on parties, and at that point in my life I was painfully shy. Ms. Rickert was there. Continue reading “Dissed by a Little Rascal”
Who carried the cross…do we go with 3 out of 4?
The first 3 gospels have Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross. John has Jesus carrying the cross. Go with the majority???
Matthew 27: 32 — And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
Mark 15:21 — And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
Luke 23:26 — And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
John 19:16 -17 –Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
Ali Goes Home Early
Picture Tehran, Iran in the early 1970s. The Shah was still in power. The students had not yet taken 52 American citizens hostage at their own Embassy. While there was tension between Iranians and foreigners, it had not yet gotten to the point where it was unsafe for them to be there.
My father worked for an aerospace company who had sold helicopters to the Shah’s Air Force. He was assigned to set up a repair and maintenance program for those helicopters with the Iranian Air Force. Since it was to be a long assignment, my mother and the 3 boys still at home went with my father to Iran. In fact my middle brother, Mike, graduated high school there. The graduation ceremony for his class was held at the American Embassy that was later to become the site of the prolonged diplomatic crisis. Richard Helms, the former CIA Director, was Ambassador to Iran at that point and gave a speech to Mike’s graduating class.
As my brother Mike puts it living overseas was always a bit upside-down. In America our family was middle class. Go overseas with a good American salary, per diem and other perks for taking on such duties in countries such as Iran you are vaulted into a different social stratum. While my parents and brothers were in Iran they lived in North Tehran, the “rich” part of town. The houses in this section of town were behind walls and gates. Continue reading “Ali Goes Home Early”