Mecum Car Auction, St Charles

Checking out some hot rods at the auction in St Charles Saturday with my father. Should be fun.

Wednesday is Guitar Lesson Night

I remember as a kid, Wednesday had another purpose. You see, in Boston, especially Anthony's neighborhood, Wednesday is ....



Anthony--and even his mother--are still in Boston's North End!
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/_globe_photodav.html

Dodson Place, Geneva, Illinois

Look like a home anyone would wish to enter, relax and have a hot cup of java and kick their feet up by the fireplace? Well, it's the centerpeice of Shodeen's Dodson Place shopping and dining area at Third Street in Geneva, IL. A unique place, with enchanting gardens, a koi pond, great eating and drinking, and a true success. Anchors the far end of Third Street. A place I spend time on sunny days--especially when I'm hungry.

Broken, A Novel by Travis Thrasher, May 2010

Looking forward to western Chicagoland author Travis Thrasher's Broken, which I will purchase on Kindle and have forever, in May 2010. If it receives the accolades of Ghostwriter, it'll be a killer. Penciled in for my time in May.

http://thejourneyiseverything.blogspot.com/

Town House Bookstore and Cafe

A cozy nook of a bookstore on Second Street in Saint Charles is the ideal place to spend a late summer day, browising for that one novel, the single author, that you've never heard of before. Uneven wood floors, tight shelves; even the sunroom porch has books. This is the view from the sunroom porch back through a crackle-paned window back into the main store. Future photo and review of the attached cafe when I eat there this autumn.
http://www.townhousebooks.com/

Bowrudder in Mendicino, CA

My dear Bowrudder/Bohemia--you look comely playing in the caves like a seal or dolphin. Great cinematography by Peter-CA. Thank you for posting on paddling.net and contacting me. Wish I was with you and Peter taking a faceful of Pacific brine over the bow. Tsunami Ranger Bowrudder. A world apart from Lake Storey. Very nice, my professorial Canoecopia and High Noon Saloon friend. Until we meet in person again.

Brilliant Purple Flowers

Are they asters? I planted them, I should know. But I don't. Oh, they are pretty, autumn blossoming gems.

Draughts Hustler

My wife is a checkers champ. She played the game as a little girl against her father, and she is good. She's very good. We had a set and last played the game together about 4 years ago, at which time she beat me like an old rug. And the boys, too. Now, finding it hard to locate a suitable Go foil, I decided to crack out the old draughts board. And lo and behold, the learning to riding a bicycle principle holds: she's still got it going on and never forgets. It's frustrating, but she is unstoppable. I remember playing checkers with my dad when I was a kid, too, but she brings it to a new level. And Cathy has a truly competetive nature. No handouts or gimmees. So here I sit like a wishbone on Thanksgiving. Broken. Realizing that checkers is not for the faint of heart--it's not just a kid's game for playing over a half-whiskey barrel in front of the country store--it certainly stings to get trounced repeatedly. Hey, maybe I can bring her down to the park and score some coin from the old time checker champs down there. Where's my The Color of Money DVD for pointers on "the hustle"?

A Scene From My One Hour Walk Along RR Tracks Today

This plus my blog header. A quiet day at home. A long stretch of railroad tracks, gnarled from years of traffic and steel wheels. Echos of summer sliding to fall, like steel on steel braking at a crossroads. We work very hard all week: work, early awakenings, long hours, soccer practice and games, homework, house chores. Today was a day for individuals. Everyone did their own relaxing thing. We meet over apple bourbon pork in the slow cooker in one hour to update and review the week ahead.

A Flying Bug Lights On My Hand

A Study in Color Versus Black & White

Same image in both styles. The color photo is more authentic. The B&W is more textured and stylized.

Autumn 2009 Approaches

Nights are now longer and early dusk falls across the garden like the shadow of a giant bear creeping up on unwilling food. Mums bloom and roses fade in the metamorphosis of seasons; this year like last, next year like this. The ebb of life, hurtling toward winter when the bear will retreat, and the shadows will fall to the dark of hibernation.

Microsoft Courier Twin Tablet! The eReaders Parade Continues

http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet?skyline=true&s=x

The Reader Movie 1 Word Review: Zzzzzz

After downing some Mexican chow at Los Zarapes, rented with my wife The Reader starring Kate Winslet. A fine example of a very well-acted movie telling an interesting 30 minute story in two hours.

Punctuation. I Dont Need No Steenkin Punctuation

CORMAC EXPLAINS WHY PUNCTUATION IS FOR WIMPS

Cormac McCarthy

There are few authors on my "must read when a new book comes out" list. I have just added American novelist Cormac McCarthy to that list. In the meantime, I will work my way back through some of his old material, such as the National Book Award winning All The Pretty Horses eventually. For now, it's back to No Country For Old Men. In this instance, I am reading a book now of a movie I saw 18 months ago--not just any movie, but an Academy-award winning Best Picture movie. Chicken--or egg? Movie--then book? I hate doing it this way, in general, because the image of each character is already there, etched in from the movie. This is particularly poignant in the case of McCarthy because he goes to great lengths, it seems, to not describe one morsel about the character's physical appearance. He just tells the story. Simply. Movingly. Moves the plot along like a winding river carving through the Texas floodplains. A perfect pace. Ideal tone.

McCarthy is much more Ernest Hemingway than he is John Irving. Irving = humor, character thoughts, long sentences, inner meaning, painstaking physical descriptions. McCarthy = action, motion, pacing, no commas or quotations, sparse sentences with occasional hard word (keep that dictionary handy). Which is better? Each has it's purpose. When Irving slogs, as I am seeing about 1/4 way through A Widow For One Year, he's molasses. Cormac never has gum in his shoes, and that makes for fun reading. On the contrary, when Irving is "on", and I hear that the hardcover sitting next to me in the "on deck" circle, Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany, is a modern classic, I know he is truly spot on. Fun diversity in storytelling. Two styles meeting on my bedside table.

The Road, Cormac McCarthy's masterwork and Oprah pick and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Writing in 2007, will be a movie next month. Trailers and photos are out now. A shame to ruin McCarthy's unique writing style, meant to allow a reader to enjoy his own image of the players and the places, with film. Read The Road now...watch the movie never.



Oprah did the only filmed interview with Cormac, and many report that she blew it--silly questions of an author clearly uncomfortable in front of the camera. But I do agree with her about The Road being poetry. A long moving poem. The only book I have ever read that has actually made me cry.

High Class Pets: Le Doggie Divine

I feel fortunate to live within walking distance of many neat places, gift shops, The Little Traveler, the Geneva Library--you name it, it's within walking distance in this great western Chicago town. Or at least my place in that town. Geneva is fairly affluent, but not grossly so. But with tongue in cheek, our pet shop has crystal chandeliers and doggie jewelry. This the the pet store on State Street. I walked past it the other night. It's called Le Doggie Divine Pet Spa. Indeed.

Scenes from The Little Traveler

The Little Traveler, Geneva, IL

Despite living in Geneva, and walking past it plenty of times, I never went into The Little Traveler until this past weekend with my wife. That store is incredible! Much larger than it appears from the outside, it really is one of the key centerpieces for Third Street. And I'll have to eat at the Atrium Cafe, just like in Kelly's Geneva Daily Photo blog. Right in the middle of the Little Traveler.

Here's Looking At You , Kid

Axel emails---

Hy and this is me.

Who is this? Where are the photos? I would like to know the color of your hair? The sice of your wrinkles? How do your joints feel?

Let's talk about the real topics: sex, constipation, money

Best wishes, Ax


You are still a knee-slapper, my Northwestern friend. Happy times in Germany to you.

P.S. No worry. I will not place all your emails on blog. Just this one, because it means much to me; means you are alive and well. Here's looking at you, Kid.