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Letter From Martha’s Vineyard 08 09 15 Musings from “the land of off…”

August 9, 2015

It’s nearly 6:30 here on Martha’s Vineyard; the entire day has been grey and blustery, no chance for a good sail today. When I woke up at 7:15, seeing how grey and drear it was, I slipped back into bed and slept another ninety minutes. Jeffrey and I went to Behind The Bookstore and had breakfast, watching what seemed an endless flood of vacationers fill the place. It was a little like watching a reality television program.

The afternoon before had been spent in a long four-hour sail out beyond the harbor. Jeffrey, Tim and “Bash” [short for Sebastian] Reeve, who is the nephew of the late actor, Christopher Reeve, crewed. Bash’s girlfriend, Jane, and I were passengers.

He has all of his uncle’s good looks, is studying to be a doctor in Boston and teaches sailing during the summers. His family has a farm on the Vineyard. His aunt, Sarah Sterling, lives in Hudson, is a local politician and a slight acquaintance of mine. He described seeing the President’s helicopters fly low over the farm while on their way to depositing him on the island for his vacation.

For a while I closed my eyes and rested, thinking. When I opened them, the world appeared to me as if I was seeing it through a camera lens with a filter over it. The water looked black and the waves crested with silver; everyone on the boat seemed sepia toned. It was magical.

A rubber dingy was floating about, having come untethered from another boat. We swung round and hooked it, to drag it back to shore. Intercepted by the Shore Patrol, we were asked to release it. Jeffrey requested rum and some women for it but the Shore Patrol lacked a sense of humor. They didn’t even say thank you. It added some excitement to the afternoon.

We attended a party last night on Chappaquiddick at a house that had the most magnificent view of the sunset. Several young musicians performed and we slipped away as they were playing so that Jeff and Joyce could make a final stop at the bookstore and café.

Last night, as I have been lately, I feel asleep reading a book, with the light still on. While I was sleeping, a skunk sprayed Lettie the dog, and Joyce cleaned him up. Apparently you use a solution of baking soda, peroxide and dishwashing soap. It worked. I didn’t smell anything on Lettie when she came and snuggled up to me when I came down in the morning.

Jeffrey calls the Vineyard “the land of off.” It feels like that. I have let two days slip by without focusing much on the news of the world.

There was a poetry reading at the cafe at four; I did some shopping and Jeffrey and I returned to the house.

Since coming up to my room to write my missive, I have been pouring over the headlines to catch up on The Donald and other goings on in the world.

Donald Trump offended many by his comments about Megyn Kelly, the Fox newscaster who asked him hard questions during the debate. He tweeted later he could see the blood coming out of her eyes, ears, everywhere. Some took it to mean that he was accusing her of attacking him because she was menstruating. Nonsense, said The Donald. Unabashed as ever, he refused to apologize and said he’d be great for women.

He was excluded from a Republican gathering after that but he bashed them too, for doing that. He’s taking credit for the whopping ratings of the debate. He is, as he says, “a ratings magnet.”

Trump has even offered the job of Treasury Secretary to hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn.

The Republican race has become all about Donald Trump, like it or not.

Frank Gifford passed away today, a Houston man is in custody, accused of killing six children and two adults, Singapore is celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence, on Friday jobs grew by 215,000 which depressed the market as Wall Street can see a rate increase clearly on the horizon.

Israel continues it crackdown on Israeli terrorists with new arrests.

And today is the seventieth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. A memorial was held there; the Mayor and hibakusha [survivors of the bomb] used it as an opportunity to protest Prime Minister Abe’s efforts to grow the Japanese military.

The world has been ticking on while I have been sailing and resting in “the land of off.” I wish it could be as peaceful as the scene outside my window, boats joyfully dancing at anchor, the sun appearing for the first time today to cast a golden glow across the harbor.

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Letter From Martha’s Vineyard 08 07 15 The day after the night before…

August 7, 2015

Sitting at the kitchen table at my friends’ home on Martha’s Vineyard, I have a stunning view of the harbor in Edgartown. The sky is a muted blue, I am facing Chappaquiddick, sailboats bob at anchor. I came in on the ferry from Woods Hole and Jeffrey picked me up in his motorboat, the “Mata Hari.”

It seemed fitting, as today is the anniversary of her birth, back in 1876. The French executed her as a German spy in October 1917.

The easiest way to get to Martha’s Vineyard from the cottage was for me to drive to Woods Hole and take the ferry from there, which I did. The drive was about 4.5 hours, longer than it needed to be because I made a few stops.

Listening to “The Roundtable,” a morning panel discussion of the news on Albany’s NPR station, WAMC, I heard an exegesis of last night’s Republican debate, dominated, as all supposed it would be, by The Donald. One of the panelists, when asked what he thought, stuttered for a moment and said, “It was good television.” Not necessarily a good debate, but good television.

Telling for what was to have been a serious policy conversation. My friend, Jan Hummel, wrote to me once that she did think Trump was saying what was on his mind and she wished all politicians would do that and stop their political correctness. Trump declared the Presidency of George W. Bush “a catastrophe.”

Apparently Ohio’s Kasich presented himself well. It was 50/50 on Jeb Bush. Good marks for Fox’s format and a fair amount of commenting on the amount that Roger Ailes, President of Fox News, involved himself but that’s not unusual for Ailes, who is more “hands on” than most Presidents.

The talk then turned to our state’s Senator, Chuck Schumer, who came out against the Iran Nuclear Deal. The panel felt it came down to the fact he is running for re-election and needs, politically, to be against it. Schumer, who is Jewish, is very close to Netanyahu and strong armed Democrats to go to the speech Netanyahu made to Congress. Most of the emails coming in during the broadcast castigated Schumer though some were supportive.

It is a problem for Obama [who arrives today on the Vineyard for his two week vacation]. It gives cover for other Democrats to say no to it.

Jon Stewart said good-bye last night and the reviews of the show were very good. As suspected, even if I had been able to watch, I wouldn’t have been awake for it. I dozed off about 9:30; book tumbled to my side and woke up at 4:30 with the light still on.

IS captured a town in Syria and, as they do, rounded up a number of citizens, including dozens of Christians, and herded them up a mountaintop. There is no word as to their fate.

A typhoon is bearing down on Taiwan, thousands are fleeing and two are dead already.

North Korea is creating its own time zone, moving the clock back half an hour. It doesn’t want to be in the same time zone as South Korea and Japan. It wants to break free from Imperialism. When the Japanese occupied Korea they brought the peninsula into coordination with their time zone. So there!

Some reports are saying that the piece of 777 debris washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is from MH 370. Some are saying that it probably is. The conflicting statements are causing anguish for the survivors of those onboard. Some feel there is a great cover-up occurring and that their relatives and friends may be alive somewhere but hidden.

What is not hidden from me is that Jeffrey has finished his shower and is now ready to get a drink in town. So I need to get myself ready to join him.

Good evenings, all!

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Letter from Claverack 08 06 15 Thoughts while watching the creek…

August 7, 2015

It is still light in Claverack; the sky is now pearl grey. The creek is mirror still and there are birds chirping all around me. This morning, while on a conference call, an elegant bird that looked much like a pelican swooped low over the creek and then stood across from me in the water, standing proud on tall spindly legs. This afternoon, returning from the post office, a doe and her fawn crossed the road as I negotiated the curve. I’ve seen few deer of late so this was a particular pleasure.

The packing for my long weekend on Martha’s Vineyard is near completed. In the morning I will throw in my toiletries and be on my way. Depending on my mood, I may go into Hudson and breakfast at Relish, where I lunched today while reading my book.

My binge viewing has declined. My binge reading has increased. I am now in book four of Stephen Saylor’s series, “Roma Sub Rosa.” My Kindle will go with me to the Vineyard. There are twelve books in the series. I wonder if I will read them all?

I suspect so. I am enjoying the characters.

It has been another mostly perfect day in the country. The temperature was moderate and most of the day the sun shone down pleasantly. Up early, I sat in my bathrobe on the deck and sipped my coffee and read the Daily Briefing from the New York Times.

I am sure that Fox News will get staggering ratings tonight for the first Republican Debate, starring Donald Trump who reportedly has not prepared for it. He is what he is and will say what he will say. I am curious of course but I have cut the cord and have no cable.

It is also Jon Stewart’s last night as host of “The Daily Show.”   I really would like to see that but alas, I won’t and suspect I will be asleep before he takes his bows. It will be the talk of tomorrow.

The markets had a bruising day today, driven by a media stock meltdown. Disney issued a guidance, Viacom was off as their networks are not doing so well and so there was a little bit of panic about all old media stocks while Netflix rose another 2+ percent.

Media decline is still more perception than reality. However, the great change is coming and the landscape I grew up with is being irreversibly transformed. I was a bright young man when I opened the West Coast office for A&E and that was the beginning of the gnawing on the bones of broadcast networks. Now cable is feeling the bite.

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. A child at the time it was enacted I really didn’t understand the significance. But I do remember a phrase from my childhood. You could do anything you wanted as long as you were “free, white and twenty-one.” I have been thinking about that phrase lately and realizing that it was an expression of deeply rooted racial discrimination.

And there STILL seems to be a determination in this country to disenfranchise people from voting, by any means possible. Our racial record is really disturbing to me.

My sister once reported to my mother that I had called a man a “nigger.” I had not. My sister didn’t like me much and did her best to get me in trouble. My mother washed my mouth out with soap. I still remember it.

Sometime later, my brother wanted to bring home a friend from medical school who was black and my mother forbade it. She and I had a confrontation about it. She acknowledged she had prejudices with which she had grown up and could not shake but did not want us to have them.

Race relations in this country are, at best, fraught. It’s that pesky legacy of slavery.

Across the creek are the sounds of wild animals. I think it is coyotes howling. My neighbors have seen them skulking in the field across from their house.

The sky is still pearl grey. It is closing in on 8:00 PM. I am happy and grateful I am able to write this while on my deck. Tomorrow I will be on the Vineyard.

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Letter From New York 08 05 15 Thoughts from the train heading north…

August 5, 2015

The last letter I wrote was from a train headed south. This one in being started while riding north, headed back home for a day before a quick trip to the Vineyard. I’ll arrive on Friday and leave on Tuesday with a day back in Claverack and then to the city for a couple of days.

The Hudson River is steel grey and the sun is shielded behind clouds, giving a grey hue to the whole world. I am happily munching popcorn and sipping a Diet Pepsi while the river glides by to my right. It feels good to be headed home and I’m looking forward to my time on the Vineyard.

I’m having a good afternoon. I’ve been grumpy the last two days and this morning became dissatisfied with being grumpy and determined not to be. So far, so good.

The field has been declared for the Fox debate among the top ten Republican candidates. Leading the pack: The Donald. Almost everyone I know of is panting to watch the debate, eager to see how he performs because it will be a performance.

My family was Catholic. My two siblings and I attended Catholic school through high school. My brother’s entire education was in Catholic institutions as well as my sister, who, after high school, entered the convent. I rebelled and went to the University of Minnesota. My sister left the convent, got married, got divorced, got remarried. My brother is also divorced and remarried.

Today, Pope Francis encouraged Bishops to be gentle with divorced Catholics, to not treat them like pariahs. Still no communion or confession but a little reconciliation can go a fair way. Not deviating from church teaching, Pope Francis still managed to sound conciliatory and healing.

The Malaysian Prime Minister announced today that the piece of a 777 found on Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean is from MH 370, the first piece of evidence regarding the fate of the flight that has been found. At lunch, a friend said to me: at least we now know aliens didn’t abduct them.

Obama is working hard to sell the Iran deal, lobbying via speeches at various places. He has written off the Republicans and is hoping to convince wavering Democrats to stay the course with him.

USA Today had a good editorial about the deal today. It argues there is no real alternative; if it fails because of the U.S., the coalition that has brought Iran to the table will fall apart. Here is the link:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/08/05/iran-nuclear-deal-obama-congress-editorials-debates/31067637/

Tomorrow morning at 8:15, a temple bell will toll and tens of thousands of people will be silent. The representatives of a hundred countries will be present. It is 70 years ago since the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. The U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, will be there.

To some degree, we all have lived in terror since.

The survivors are called the hibakusha. Every year the names of those who have died since the last memorial service are added to the peace park’s cenotaph.  In total, there are 292,325 names inscribed.

The train arrived in Hudson and Jerry, my favorite cab driver, brought me back to the cottage. When I first moved here, he taught me how to pronounce the name of my town, Claverack, as if I were a native and not a weekender.

I am now sitting on the deck with the creek glittering in the setting sun. A chipmunk is settled on the deck near me, completely unfazed by my presence. The birds are chirping, the sky is blue with a light splattering of clouds.

The peace of the moment is overwhelming.

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Letter From New York 08 03 15 Thoughts trundling south on the train…

August 3, 2015

The west bank of the Hudson River is a verdant green as the train slowly rumbles south toward New York. It is a bright day, warmer than it has been but still very sweet. I am coming down to New York for a few meetings and a lunch and then am heading home to get ready to go to my friend’s Jeffrey and Joyce’s home on Martha’s Vineyard on Friday.

I’ll linger with them for four or five days and then head back to the Cottage and then down to New York for a meeting on the 13th. Jeffrey calls Martha’s Vineyard “the land of off” and it seems that way though I am not sure how “off” their summers have been since the bought the Edgartown bookstore. It will be interesting to see what changes they have made since I was last there two years ago.

They had ambitious plans and I am sure they have been realized.

The water in the Hudson is browner than usual; the river stirred by the recent rains. It quietly laps the shore. For some reason, it is causing me to think of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis where we’d go as children to swim and sail.

Having spent a few days surrounded by a delicious amount of natural beauty, it seems reasonable that President Obama is issuing today a set of environmental regulations that is intended to reduce, sharply, the amount of greenhouse emissions from power plants. They promise to remake the industry.

There is a controversy happening in Columbia County regarding new power line towers. Most people I know think we don’t need them and intend to fight to stop them from blighting the natural beauty of Columbia County. They are strongly supported by Democratic Governor Cuomo. It is going to be an interesting fight.

And Obama’s regulations will set off a firestorm of lawsuits. Again, it will be interesting to watch. At the end, I suspect there will be change and the lawsuits will determine the extent.

At one point in my life I spent several months in Canada and was impressed with Canadian friendliness. Some Canadian researchers built a “hitchBOT,” a robot that hitchhiked its way across Canada and most of Germany and the Netherlands. He came south two weeks ago to attempt to cross the United States. He was found destroyed beyond repair around Philadelphia, “City of Brotherly Love.” Shame on whoever did this. He was only the size of a six year old and reportedly quite charming.

IS, which is known for its clever and relentless use of the Internet to tell its stories, is now relentlessly cracking down on those inside its territory who are using the Internet. Anyone connecting must now do it through an open network that is being watched. IS is showing signs of fear.

The French are leading the investigation of the wing fragment found on Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean. Islanders are searching for more debris to see if it might be from the long missing Malaysian Airlines MH370.

The Chinese are having trouble with their escalators. Not so long ago a woman died saving her child in an escalator accident. Today, a man lost his foot and his leg had to be amputated. Both incidents, I believe, happened in Shanghai. Be careful.

Secretary of State John Kerry is making a round of visits to Arabic neighbors, drumming up support for the Iran deal. He seems to be having some success though I am sure it comes at a price, weapons and new pledges to counter Iran.

Donald Trump is still leading in the polls. The Republican mainstream is running in circles, unsure how to counter The Donald. The Koch brothers, rich as could be, with eighty some billion dollars between them, are simply freezing him out. David Koch and Trump are reputedly friendly but the organizations they fund have not given him any opportunities to speak. They own data firm i360, the best data and voter analytics company on the right, and it won’t do business with the Trump Organization.

The big winner at the Box Office was Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation” which not only claimed the top spot in dollars but also garnered very good reviews.

Without doubt, this is the longest it has ever taken me to get to the city on Amtrak. I have been traveling now for three and a half hours. Traffic ahead. The compensation? The Hudson River is beautiful. I’ve had time to read and write and contemplate.

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Letter From New York 08 02 15 Striving toward the light…

August 2, 2015

It is a little after five and I am, once more, sitting on the deck. It has been another perfect day in Claverack; the day dawned gloriously. I sat on the deck reading and having coffee before showering and heading down to church. The air was pristine and the creek a mirror, just like it is now.

From far away, I can hear an occasional truck on 23, a road to the north of the cottage. It has to be exceptionally still for me to hear one. There are birds singing and a few insects buzzing.

The entire scene is so serene; I can’t believe sometimes I am living it. Year round, I am endlessly fascinated by the changes in nature that unfold before my eyes. The sun is warm on my back but not so warm as to be uncomfortable. There is almost a suggestion in the air that a light jacket would not be unreasonable this evening.

In a little while, I’ll be heading into Hudson to meet my friend, Jeremiah, and to go to dinner. It feels like a Sunday for a trip to Hudson for dinner.

Jericho, brother to the slain Cecil the Lion, was himself rumored dead but he has been now reported alive and safe. Walter Palmer, the man who hunted and killed Cecil, has apparently, through a representative, reached out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife law enforcement officials who want to have a conversation with him. A petition regarding Palmer to whitehouse.gov has garnered over 200,000 signatures. The result will be some sort of White House response. The Executive Branch, as I understand it, has to give a response to any petition with over one hundred thousand signatures. This is twice that.

Zimbabwe wants Palmer extradited to face charges there. I am sure he will not want to go.

Shira Banki, a sixteen-year-old Israeli girl, has died from knife wounds inflicted when she was marching in a Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, allegedly carried out by an extremist Orthodox Jew who had recently gotten out of jail after serving ten years for having performed a similar attack years ago.

Her death and that of an eighteen-month-old little Palestinian boy in an arson attack, also by suspected Jewish terrorists, has resulted in thousands of Israelis participating in peace marches. President Rivlin of Israel has asked that the attacks “be a wake up call” for all Israelis.

It has resulted in widespread outrage in the country though the backlash against Rivlin on Facebook and other social media outlets has his security forces asking for help from the Israeli police.

In 1995, Prime Minister Rabin of Israel was assassinated as he was departing a peace rally.

All that hate and anger seem so far away as I sit on my deck, smiling at the beauty of the creek.

But it’s everywhere.

Turkish soldiers killed by Kurds, Syrians killing Syrians, IS just being IS…

My friends, Alana and Patrick, sitting on the deck with me yesterday, talked with me about how unfathomable the horrors are that men will wrack on other humans. But we do.

And we do march against the darkness, as Israelis have been doing, in the thousands. I truly believe we strive for the light though the dark souls of some would drag us down.

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Letter From New York 08 01 15 Thoughts from the west bank of the Claverack Creek…

August 2, 2015

Behind me, soft jazz plays on Pandora. In front of me the creek is reflecting the green that overhangs it. The sun is setting and I am at the table on the deck writing on my laptop. It seems the perfect way to end a day.

It was not an eventful day. I woke early. As I went to turn on the coffee pot, the deck glistened with a recent rain. I went out there to sit.

In the early morning, I sat reading the NY Times and taking in the fresh air, listening to the songs of the birds in the trees. It seems right that I am bookending the day with more time on the deck. Every moment here is precious. In a time I can see coming, the trees will turn the brilliant colors of fall and then the winter will come. I enjoy the seasons and am grateful that my little piece of heaven includes four of them.

It is a soft and silky evening. Alana, proprietress of the Red Dot, and Patrick, her partner, were here for part of the afternoon and recently left. As I was leaving after lunch at the Dot, she asked me to stay and I did. She wanted to come and sit on the deck, watch the creek and experience a moment of peace. It has been a tough week for her.

They came. We had wine and cheese and then they left and I am here in the silver light of the end of day, listening again to the songs of the birds and thinking about the world.

An eighteen-month-old Palestinian baby was laid to rest today, immolated by Israeli extremists apparently. The rest of his family is being treated for burns. It is unsure that his mother will survive. Following a Jewish Orthodox man attacking the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem, knifing nine people, including a fifteen year old who is fighting for her life, this is a week when Israel is asking itself serious questions.

The serious questions they ask themselves are the same serious questions we all need to be asking ourselves. In America, we have become inured to the violence and that is tragic. For a few moments, after an event such as the killing of nine in Charleston, we ask questions but then go on, forgetting what has occurred until the next atrocity and when that happens, we quickly forget. It seems, sometimes, we learn nothing. The Confederate Flag has gone down in South Carolina and that is good but shouldn’t it have come down long ago?

While it is warm in upstate New York, it is blisteringly hot in Iran and Iraq. Iran posted a heat index of 165 degrees Fahrenheit today and in Iraq a four-day mandatory holiday has been declared to help people cope, especially since the delivery of electricity is not very reliable. I can’t comprehend a heat index of 165 Fahrenheit. Sorry, not processing. I think I would incinerate.

The Donald is still leading the Republicans in the polls and I am still confused how that can be but it is.

There has been no agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after meetings in Hawaii. Everyone seems to thing it will still happen but that it didn’t happen was unexpected. And a bit of an embarrassment for Obama… However, there were 650 people meeting! It’s hard for me to get three people to agree on where to eat!

Facebook is prepping a drone to bring Internet access to people who don’t have it. Its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is expecting a baby. Gosh, the world keeps going on. I’m more excited by the Internet access than the baby but that’s probably because I don’t know Mark personally.

An Ebola vaccine looks more than promising and, hopefully, it will help contain and eliminate that scourge from the world.

The light around me is very silver. The day is ending. I am in twilight and the world around me is growing quiet. The birds are not as outspoken. Far away is the sound of something motorized, a sound I don’t recognize, something new. The jazz continues playing and soon I will go into the house and watch a movie.

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Letter From New York 07 31 15 A very Hudson sort of day…

July 31, 2015

At this moment I am sitting on my deck; the creek is mirror still and once more reflecting the foliage in all its green majesty. The day threatened to be agonizingly hot but turned out to be rather mild, humidity low, air clean and fresh. I sat on the deck and read, had a conference call while sipping lemonade. It was an idyllic kind of day.

Last night’s party for Ray, our conductor, was an outstanding success. Forty or so of the “Empire Regulars” showed up for the event. A beautiful cake was presented to him that had “Thank you for riding Amtrak” in icing on it. My “Ray Martin” cocktail was well received and there were some grand food offerings. We took over the unused café car and made it party central.

We forced Ray to give a little speech and he did so graciously. Most of the “Empire Regulars” get off in Rhinebeck but they rode on to Hudson and we took a group shot of all of us at the Hudson Station. Then the Rhinebeck riders leapt onto a southbound train and headed home!

It was a great success and a tremendous send off for Ray. I am totally delighted I could be there and be part of it.

Usually I don’t drive to the train station. I like to leave my car at the house so it looks like I’m there. When coming in on Monday, I did drive to the station but completely forgot. My friend James gave me a lift home and only then did I think: where is my car? At the station!

So this morning, I took a taxi into the Hudson, down to the train station to retrieve my car. Unlike New York, you often share a cab here with others. This morning there was a couple on their way to the Laundromat. They were obviously friends with the young woman driving. I had an interesting fifteen minutes of insight into their lives, full of drama, threats, and machinations. It was amazing. When I got out of the taxi, I told them I hoped all their stories had happy endings. The young man wished the same for me. There were complicated relationships with everyone knowing everyone else and everyone seeming to be related. It was dizzying and a little frightening.

After retrieving my car, I stopped at Relish, the little restaurant across from the Train Station, and had breakfast. There, too, was drama, all the employees gathered around one of them, giving her advice on how to handle her romantic situation, whatever it was.

I was beginning to think that this was going to be the theme of the day.

It hasn’t been. I took my car to be serviced, returned home after collecting the mail and have been cuddled by the beauty at the cottage for the rest of the day. In about an hour, I will head down to Hudson for a light dinner and then home to continue reading the book I’m engaged in.

Speaking of Hudson, Forbes had an article recently about the reasons you should come here. Below is the link for the article if you’re interested.

http://lifeforb.es/1K5gYWN

I have not been to Fish and Game. It’s been reviewed by my friends as a little over the top pricey, very good but has always seemed a little pretentious for my taste. I should give it a try and make my own opinion.

The sun is a golden orb behind me and I am winding down, getting ready for dinner. I have not commented on the world situation. It is too beautiful a day. I want a moment’s respite from the trials and tribulations of the world. Surrounding me are a couple of acres of the most beautiful places on earth and I am inhaling them right now.

If possible, the creek is even more mirror like and I am surrounded by the sounds of birds and soft jazz on the stereo. It is a perfect way to slide into a weekend.

I hope your Friday has been as delicious as mine.

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Letter From New York 07 30 15 A party on the train and a missing dentist…

July 30, 2015

The moment I stepped out of the apartment this morning, my glasses steamed up. It was that kind of day. Stopping at CVS to pick up prescription, I exited into a torrential downpour. I stood for ten to fifteen minutes getting a cab, while balancing a suitcase, knapsack and CVS bag before one arrived.

The reason I was weighted down with all this “stuff” is that tonight is July 30th and I was appointed bartender for tonight’s Empire Regulars’ Retirement party for Ray, one of the most beloved conductors on the Empire Service. I think tomorrow is his last day; today is his last time conducting on one of our regular trains.

Emails have been racing back and forth all day about who was going to bring what…

Cheese and crackers and cold meats and Italian sausages, soft drinks and my “Ray Martin” drink, a concoction of limeade, seltzer, ice, and vodka, topped by a maraschino cherry.

It’s been my job for nearly ten years this fall to come up with a signature drink for our train parties. I did “Baby ‘Tinis” for a baby shower, held for a couple of regulars having their first child. One was pink; one was blue. They had opted not to know the sex of their child so I did one for each possibility. For a Halloween party, I created a “Pumpkin Tini” and so it has gone for all these years.

Ray has been great to all of us and we want to send him off in our signature style, a party on the train.

Not very much a party was Gay Pride in Israel. An ultra-Orthodox Jew named Yishai Schlissel stabbed six people in the Pride Parade. Just a few weeks ago, he was released from prison, having served his time for stabbing three people in the 2005 Pride Parade.

The plane part found on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Western Indian Ocean, is being closely examined to make sure that it is truly from a 777. If it is, it is probably from MH 370, as there are no other missing 777’s. There is no desire to give friends and relatives of the flight’s passengers anything but 100% certainty.

Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati policeman, has been charged with murder of a black man, Sam Dubose, after he shot Dubose following a stop for a missing license plate. Tensing was wearing a body camera. The Cincinnati prosecutor has called it “senseless and asinine.” Tensing has pleaded not guilty and is held under a million-dollar bail.

The Greek Debt Crisis continues roiling. Tsipras is being confronted by the far left of his party and he has thrown down the gauntlet to them. Germany wants the IMF to be part of the bail out. The IMP says not right now; it wants to know Greece can succeed. Who knows what will happen?

Tsipras remains incredibly popular, even after his U turn. He seems refreshing to the Greek populace, so used to career politicians.

Walter Palmer, the Bloomington, Minnesota dentist who has brought down the world’s wrath by killing Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, has disappeared. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife law enforcement officials have been relentlessly attempting to contact him. It’s not the first time they’ve been in touch with him. There was an incident a few years ago here in the States.

No success. Silent as a tomb, where some people would like him to be.

But if I am going to be successful at tonight’s party, it’s time for me to finish this and head for Penn Station to join my fellow revelers. Shhhh! It’s a surprise.

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Letter From New York 07 29 15 Of missile launches, lion hunts and other things…

July 29, 2015

It is a sunny and blistering hot day in New York. I had a lunch today at Sarabeth’s in Lord & Taylor on 5th Avenue. It is not a terrible walk but by the time I arrived there, I was more than damp and glad I had topped off with a cold drink of water before I left. Coming back, I caught the bus right outside the store and rode it to Penn Station, walking from there to the office.

When I left the apartment this morning, I turned off the air conditioning but it may have been wiser to leave it on. Heat warnings are in effect for NYC until tomorrow at 8:00 PM. People are to restrain outside activities between 11 and 4 and cooling centers are open for those who might not have air conditioning.

As the day begins to fade, I am gathering my thoughts about the events of the world.

Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban, has apparently been dead for the last two years, according to the Afghans. US Intelligence is examining the claim closely. Supposedly, he died in a Pakistani hospital of an undetermined illness. If he is dead, it may help the peace process. Or not. Some of his supporters have broken from the Taliban and proclaimed their allegiance to IS.

The murkiness continues.

Some parts of a plane washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. They are being examined to see if they are pieces to the missing MH 370, the Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared in March of 2014, leaving behind no trace. Despite huge search efforts, nothing has been found and the mystery has been unabated.

Another Malaysian Airliner was shot down over Ukraine. Effort has been being made to initiate a UN tribunal to look into the events surrounding the downing of the flight but they are being blocked by Russia.

Two young Florida boys went fishing. Their boat was found capsized 180 miles from where they started. The search continues, without a trace of them so far.

There is a religious festival that is held every five years in Nepal. Five hundred thousand [500,000] animals have their throats cut. It won’t be happening this year. Priests at the temple of Gidhimai have said that there will be an indefinite halt to the sacrifices to this Goddess of Power. Animal activists are pleased but don’t intend to lower their watch. I think it’s the use of the word “indefinite” that concerns them.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is an old saying that is not holding up between the Turks and the Kurds. Both are fighting IS but they haven’t quit fighting each other. Erdogan, President of Turkey, is concerned because the Kurdish party won 13% of the vote in the last election. Something it has never done. Erdogan is accusing some of the Kurdish members of Parliament of having ties to terrorism. The Erdogan accusations are getting a lot of play; Kurdish rebuttals are receiving little attention.

The Government of Kim Jong-un, everyone’s favorite pudgy little dictator, looks like it is getting ready for a new missile test, having just finished upgrading its rocket launch facility. It will raise tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world, again, and probably result in more sanctions. It will probably happen in October when there is a big political celebration.

Over the last couple of days, hundreds of migrants have stormed the Chunnel, between England and France, desperate to make it to the UK. Riot police have been called out. The Mediterranean problem is sweeping north.

A Minnesota dentist paid $50,000 for a big game hunt in Zimbabwe. He hired a couple of locals. They lured a lion out of a park and he was felled with a crossbow. It turns out the lion was a local tourist favorite, Cecil the Lion. The uproar is horrific. Walter Palmer, the dentist, is apologetic, saying he relied on the locals to ensure a legal hunt. But it looks like the website to his practice has been taken down and he has been thoroughly trashed on social media.

I was not aware that one could still legally hunt wild game in Africa. I thought the only shooting that could be done was with a camera. I was wrong.

It took the hunters forty hours to locate Cecil and to end his misery with a gunshot.

And in ending today’s blog, how better to end it than with an update on The Donald? He has gone on record saying he would welcome Sarah Palin in his administration.

Oh my.

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