Henry V and Easy Compny

Back in 1599 Shakespeare penned the play Henry V. Within that play was Henry's Eve of Saint Crispin's Day Speech.

I've always found Shakespeare easier to follow when spoken instead of reading his works. If you have the time to listen to the speech, you will hear a simple phase that has been used to describe another group of men 345 years after those word were first spoken in 1599.

This past weekend the History Channel aired several episodes of The Band of Brothers. I always stop and watch. I've read Major Dick Winters book Beyond Band of Brothers. Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division was the unit Stephen Ambrose called the band of brothers. Most of these men are in their 80's or have gone to meet his maker. The living history will fade away so it is a good thing that some of these men have been captured on film telling their stories.

Nothing about war is good, the human stories are compelling history worthy of being remembered.

Fryeburg Fair 2008

I took this past Tuesday off and went up to the Fryeburg Fair in Fryeburg, ME. It turned out to be Senior Citizens Day with those 65 and over getting a free pass at the admission gate. As it turned out I was the the junior member of the three of us that went to the fair. Thus I was the only one that had to fork over the $8 to enter the grounds. But it was money well spent. The Fair is a throw back to the past. Agriculture is king here. Sure there are midway rides and a childrens midway for the little ones. Food to satisfy everyone's taste and whim. But livestock, harness race horses, 400 pound pumpkins, draft horse pulls, tractor pulls, oxen pulls, goats, sheep, cows being milked, arts and crafts contests, you name it, it was here on display.



The team of horses in the photo are pulling 7000 pounds. The teams had 5 minutes to pull and the team who pulls the sled the longest distance wins. The winning distance was 310 feet.

Lucky for me Tuesday also turned out to be antique tractor day. I don't know why, I didn't grow up on a farm, but I really like to see old tractors, both as is and those that are restored.

There were folks from the US Forest Service and the Maine State Forestry Department so for me it was fun to talk to them.

It was a fun day, a throw back to the past and a celebration of today's farmers and others that make their living from the land. As well a life style that looks better to me today than it did when I was studying forestry and hoping to make it my life style.

Old South Cemetery

I took a walk in Old South Cemetery which is about 1/4 of a mile away from my apartment this weekend. It is the oldest cemetery in Billerica, MA. Billerica was incorporated in 1655. The oldest grave I found was dated 1740. The thing that struck me the most after reading the headstones, was the ages of the people when they died were not that young. There were many graves where the people had lived long lifes. The oldest person I found was 92 when she died in 1785.

The grave's of the veterans were also interesting. I found one that was a Civil War vet and the others was all veterans of The Revolutionary War.



Makes one think.

Ponder the egg cream....

I had an urge for an egg cream yesterday. For those of us that grew up in the shadows of New York skyscrapers the egg cream has a magical allure. First I had to find Fox's u-bet chocolate syrup. Lucky for me Stop and Shop carries it. There is something about Fox's syrup that makes an egg cream taste like an egg cream should. Several co-works asked me as I returned from lunch with my prize in hand, "Does it taste better than Hershey's?" My answer, "No it tastes different."

Hershey's is fine for ice cream, but for a true egg cream it has to be Fox's u-bet. On the back of the bottle it has the directions for a New York Egg Cream;
In a tall glass pour 1/2 inch of u-bet, 3/4 inch of whole milk, add carbonated water & mix briskly.

Perfection in a glass.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older that the pleasures of my youth are coming back to me. A few months ago it was hard rolls, now egg creams. Anyone up for a game of stickball?

Wedding Day and Camera Fun

Saturday past my was my niece's wedding day. The weather turned out wonderful after a heavy rain Friday night. For those of you not residing in New England, this summer's weather has been the pits. I pulled out all the stops taking photos. I had my Nikon N80 film camera as well as the new dare I say, Canon A590 IS digital. At times I looked like a Japanese tourist with one camera around my neck and the other in my hand. To top it off on one occasion I also had a cup of coffee in one hand as I was shooting.

I was using Ilford XPS black and white with a orange YA2 filter with a 50mm lens. Bring back memories Neil? Then I loaded the Nikon with Kodak 200 print film switching to my 70 -300 zoom, and had the digital going all the time.

Here are a couple of shots.


I like the look on O'Brian face in this one.
What can he be thinking looking at the bag piper?





The photo of Meghan and her 3 brothers up top
is film.









This shot of Meghan and O'Brian was taken with the Canon digital. I went along with the professional photographer and took a bunch of shots as he was shooting. So as they were looking at him I was shooting away. The photographer was cool about me shooting while he was working. It pays to ask and stay out of the way.

I have about 150 photos to look through, if this keeps up I may have to break down and get Photoshop for the computer.

Vinyl is back

After years of moving my LP collection from apartment to apartment, and a few living arrangements I will not get into, this spring I enlisted my brother-in-laws' help and he build me a cabinet to store my LP collection.

I live in an apartment so I needed to get some headphones since I, unlike some of the other folks that I share the building with, actually do not like to be a pain in the ass.

I purchased a pair of headphones from Good Cans a web site run by the husband of a fellow Boise Cascade employee. Turns out these headphones are great. They are Grado Headphones SR60 made in the USA in a little place called Brooklyn, NY. Highly recommended!!!

So I've been listening to some stuff I haven't heard in years, and tonight I put Paul Simon's Graceland on the turntable. Anyone remember how good that disc is? Recorded in 1986 one of the best, maybe in the top 50 of all time. Discuss among yourselves.

Reading the liner notes I see that Steve Gadd played the drums on some of the tracks, and Ralph MacDonald played percussion on some of the tracks. Steve Gadd is on countless Lp's in my collection he is one of the busiest drummers of our time. Check out his discography. Ralph MacDonald is on the other half of my Lp collection. Ralph is a member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band that's enough in my book, but look at his discography.

Both of these guys have had a huge part in the music world in the past 30 years or more but the average person on the street does not have a clue who there are.

Time pick up some vinyl and read those liner notes!

Monsters Return

Last weekend the Monster Jam show made its stop at Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, CT. Noah and I went to the Sunday afternoon show, which was preceded by the Party in the Pits.



We had a great time and the drivers were great with their fans as usual.

The shots of the trucks in action where taken in the middle of the grandstand with my zoom lens set at about 150mm to avoid all the mass of humanity that surrounded us. Yes I'm still shooting film.

Noah cracked me up while we were standing in line waiting to get into the Party in the Pits. he said " Even though you are a 50 year old man you are still the best Dad."

Tickets for both of us $25.00
Hat and Shirt $45.00
Sending fun time with my son, priceless.