Dark Days for America

My parents were registered Republicans. So when the time came to register for voting many years ago, I registered as a Republican. I'm still registered as a Republican. And I have absolutely no idea why.

I'm not sure when the Republican party became the party of gleeful willful ignorance, but that's what they have become. Science doesn't matter. The human impact on global warming is a fraud. Math and science and education are overrated. The Covid-19 pandemic is going away on its own. We're doing a great job. All of it.

This occupant of the White House has made it OK to bring your racism out of the closet and proudly wave the flag of the 1950s. I don't get it. I don't get it in the slightest.

People voted for ... that person ... in 2016 in part in support of the idea of the Washington outsider who was going to come in and shake things up. The successful businessman who would bring that experience to the Presidency.

What we have seen instead is a man whose only business experience is in taking advantage of bankruptcy laws, and how to run a tax-avoidance shell game between dozens of failing business entities, passing debt from one to the other to the other. Whose only interest is in getting reelected for the stroking of his ego. Whose only interest is getting elected to the job, but who has no interest in actually doing the job. The self-proclaimed President of the 47% of the American people who voted for him. The rest of us are scum. His words.

Anyway...

Back to my original point. Disgust with the Republican party, of which I am theoretically one. When did we become the party of voter suppression? News story after story after story come out about someone taking someone to court with the express goal of invalidating legally cast ballots, or trying to put laws and procedures and processes in place that make it harder to vote. In the cities. Among the poorer populations. The people who are far more likely to vote Democrat. And it is ALWAYS Republican efforts to do this.

What are Republicans afraid of?

Well, that's easy. Republicans see the world turning brown around them, and it scares them to death. If every American who was eligible to vote did vote, the Republican party as it is constituted at this moment, would basically cease to exist as a relevant political party. Every position they hold is a minority position in the popular vote. That's what scares them. And so they have no choice but to suppress the vote.

Unfortunately, this is an all-too-easy card to play in the divided America of today. Fear the brown people. As a result, you get swarms of Trump-supporting pickup trucks, American flags waving, trying to drive a Biden/Harris campaign bus off the road in Texas. And on and on. Why are we Republicans always on the wrong side of what is right these days?

I have 12 American flags and you only have 10. I'm more patriotic than you.

We are better than this. We have to be.

Let the people vote. All the people. And let the cards fall where they may.

That's the American way.

And as someone who lives in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, I can only hope that we atone for our sins of 2016 and contribute to giving this narcissistic racist fraud the drubbing he deserves.

My prediction of what will happen tomorrow?

Regardless of what is happening in the real world, Trump will declare himself the winner. Which of course means nothing.

States will commit to counting all legally and legitimately cast ballots, as per their state laws, regardless of the time it takes.

The Republicans will ignite a firestorm of lawsuits attempting one last time to suppress the vote.

These lawsuits will be rejected by a variety of local jurisdictions, state supreme courts, and federal district courts, as they have rejected the dozens of similar lawsuits already filed around the country by Republicans in just the past few days.

Votes will be counted. All the votes.

The will of the people will be done.

Eventually.

I just hope that more Americans believe in what Democrats believe than believe in what Republicans seem to believe.

Either way, I'm changing my voter registration.

Sad but True

 That about sums it up.

More Football, and a Field Major

Garnet Valley had their second of three home games for this season on Friday night, and cruised to an easy 68-6 win over Conestoga. For the second straight game, we scored a long touchdown on the first offensive play of the game and never looked back.

More importantly, we had another band night. And with three senior Drum Majors and four quarters of football, the Drum Majors suggested to our band director that the two junior Field Majors should split the third quarter leading the band's playing from the stands. That meant Grace!

Field Major Grace

In the span of six minutes of game time that Grace was on the stand, we scored two more touchdowns (by the second or third string), and got to play When the Saints Go Marching In, our school's touchdown song a couple of times, plus a few other stand songs.

Our Director said she did great for a first timer. I thought so too, but then again I have no objectivity whatsoever...

A Thursday Night Painting

Tonight's painting is a 9 by 12 canvas panel loosely replicating a work of Benjamin Haughton. The first pass at this was typical of what I have been doing recently. I paint the sky first, and it is fairly easy to do a semi-realistic sky. Then I move on to the foreground of the painting, which I want to be in a more impressionistic style. As a result, I have been finding that most of my recent paintings have had an inherent clash of styles within the work. This was no different. Impressionistic foreground. Realistic sky.

So I went back and repainted the sky in a more impressionistic style.

It might not be great, but at least when I was finished, the work looked consistent within itself.

Overlooking the Water

Another lesson learned.

Two More Little Paintings

On Tuesday night I did two more small studies in acrylics. I think (I'm forgetful in my advancing years!) that these are both also done after works by Isaac Levitan. If not...I apologize, but I'm too lazy to go back and credit them properly. Could be Benjamin Haughton, but I don't think so... (that's Thursday night's painting).

The first is a shoreline scene on a 9 by 12 canvas panel. I think this is one of the paintings that comes closest to the style that I would like to paint in at this point. I like this one about as well as anything I have done...

Shoreline

The second is a small 6 by 8 canvas panel... I like this but I might go back and tweak the top of the tree line a little bit. It bothers me because it looks too uniform. [Edit - tree line has been tweaked] 

Fields and Distant Treeline

Anyway, happy Thursday, and don't forget to vote.

What Racism Sounds Like

This is exactly what racism sounds like. It's what racism sounded like in the 1950's, and the '60's, and the '70's, and the '80's...and right on up until this past weekend.

"I think the women from the suburbs are looking for a couple of things. One of them is safety. One of them is good, strong security. And one of them is they don't want to have low-income housing built next to their house. And you know who makes up 30% of your suburbs? Minorities. African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, minorities. Okay?"

This was the current occupant of the White House in Carson City, Nevada on Sunday.

Disgraceful beyond words.

He wants you to believe that minorities are coming to the suburbs to defile your women and eat your babies for breakfast.

Look your kids in the eye and tell them this is OK. I dare you.

This is NOT what America is supposed to be about.

Football!!

A scrap of adapted normalcy happened last night. The Garnet Valley football team played the first game of its delayed and revised 5-game schedule; a home game against Lower Merion. Under the pandemic rules, only a fraction of the 1,500 or so occupancy capacity would be allowed in the stadium at any point.

A semblance of normal would be the best way to put it. To accommodate the limited capacity, the band would march into the stadium at 5:15. Band parents would be allowed into the stadium to watch the band perform their "halftime" routine at 5:45. Then the band parents would have to leave, so that the football and cheerleading parents could come in to watch the game itself, which started at 7:00.

So our band took the field in front of a small audience at about 5:40. The PA announcer introduced the show, naming the 3 drum majors and the 2 field majors, one of whom is our daughter Grace. Our small audience may only have numbered a hundred or so, but my parental pride filled the stadium.

The band played their show. The parents left. Football parents came in. And a football game happened.

We were more than a match for the competition, and were leading 42-0 at the half. Our coach called off the dogs, and the second half was a rotating cast of backups, allowing a Lower Merion touchdown with a couple of minutes remaining in the game, resulting in a final score of 42-6.

Throughout the game, a fragment of our band played in the stands. The high school had a Covid case identified earlier in the day, resulting in contact tracing, some students being quarantined, and others being scared into not attending. Some band members performed the pregame show and then went home. Understandably. Those who stayed were scattered throughout the stands, masked, six feet apart, in alternating rows...

Socially distanced band

The uniform of this year will be the show T-shirt, black pants, GV masks, and black marching shoes. With a limited schedule and pandemic-related concerns, we have been unable to fit the band with uniforms (especially 9th graders), so a casual uniform is the order of the day, by necessity. Drum majors will be in full uniform, and seniors will wear full uniforms for the final game. It's not much, but at least it's something...

It was far from a normal game. But it was a game. In these difficult times, the band kids (or some of them) had at least some semblance of a game experience. Not a normal one, but a game nonetheless.

And in the midst of it all, the most beautiful sunset...  [If I painted this, people wouldn't believe it]

Sunset over Garnet Valley High School

Appreciate what you do have, for nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. If you are fortunate enough to have a tomorrow....

Autumn Impression

I knocked this out last night between dinnertime and the Eagles Thursday night game. It's acrylics on a 9 by 12 canvas panel. I like it well enough that I am going to do a larger version, and will take my time doing a better job.

Autumn Woods

This one might be a little more cheerful...  At least the colors are brighter.

Copying More Skies

I've been enamored in recent days with the paintings of Isaac Levitan, a 19th century Russian landscape painter, and have done a couple more rough sketch copies of his works. The first is a 6 by 8 inch canvas panel. The second is an 8 by 10 inch stretched canvas.

Amp says they are nice, but they make her sad.

Ominous Sky

Which is not the intended affect. Painting them makes me happy.

Bright After a Storm

That said, for whatever reason, I am drawn to these kinds of admittedly dark and dreary landscapes.

Maybe tomorrow I will paint something happy. Or perhaps more of this.

October is turning into sky month.

A Mary Poppins Moment

Super

Callous

Fragile

Racist

Sexist

Nazi

POTUS.

...

We deserve better. Vote early and often! OK...just early.

A Bit More Painting

Amp and Grace were at a socially distanced parking lot performance thing for the Drama Club on Saturday evening, so I had a lot of time Saturday afternoon and into the evening. So I sat at the dining room table and worked on an acrylic painting. And then another. And then three more. By the end of the day, I had spent maybe 4 hours or so painting, off and on, and had completed five small paintings.

All five are either based on or copied from paintings by Isaac Levitan, a 19th century Russian landscape artist. They are shown below in the order that I painted them. All were intended to be impressionistic sketches. 

The first is a winter lakeshore scene, done on an 11 by 14 stretched canvas.

Winter Lakeshore

The second is a small seascape on a 5 by 7 canvas panel.

Headlands

The third is a rural road scene on an 8 by 10 stretched canvas.

Country Cart Path

The fourth is a seascape with clouds on an 8 by 10 stretched canvas.

Fading Light

The last is a small scene of trees and reflective water on a 6 by 8 canvas panel.

Reflections

None of these are high art by any means, but as I paint more, I am getting more confident. And maybe a little better also. As I get a little better, it gets less frustrating.

A Bit of Painting

For better or worse, here's a few pictures of things I have been working on recently. All are acrylic paintings, done using Golden heavy body acrylics on stretched canvases of different sizes.

The first, an Italian wine country landscape, has been in process since probably February or March. I have meandered about, changing the foreground, changing the mid-ground, and in general just being indecisive about where I am going with this one. There is still some cleanup to be done in the foreground, detailing of the wall, and figuring out what exactly to do with the weird patch in the center of the mid ground. Oh well, it's a work in progress... This is a 16" by 20" stretched canvas, so it is larger than most of the practice pieces I am doing these days. It has occurred to me at various points that if I chopped the bottom third off of the painting, I would have been done months ago. My level of satisfaction with this one is medium-ish. If I can finish the bottom portion the way I hope to, that could get better.

Italian Landscape - in process (still...)

The second is an 8" by 10" autumn scene (small stretched canvas). The original painting of this took about 2 hours on a weekend morning in late August or early September. The never-ending fiddling with it has taken the last 6 weeks or so, 10 minutes at a time, with days in between. It has definitely been a case of knowing where I want to end up with it, but not having the technical skill to get there. There is also something to be recognized in the limited ability to fix things that have got wrong early in the painting process after the fact. Amp chuckles at this one as the Little Painting That Will Never Be Done... Well, for better or worse it's done. My satisfaction level is medium-high on this one. Mostly because I know where it used to be compared to where it ended up. With a critical eye and a willingness to not let it go, it got better. I should note that this is a copy(-ish) of a painting video from Gebahi Artworks on YouTube. His is better (shockingly)...

Autumn Path

The third painting is a spring/summer landscape on an 8" by 10" stretched canvas, done this morning in about a half hour. While Amp (and I, from time to time) watched Rafael Nadal win his 13th French Open title and 20th overall Grand Slam, I wanted to throw some paint on a canvas in a very impressionistic style, with simple colors and bold brush strokes. As far as that goes as a goal, I would consider this a huge success. After the initial painting, I would wander back into the dining room from time to time and spend a few minutes adding a little but here and there, but it is certainly fair to say that this was painted in a total of less than 60 minutes of actual working time. I like it. Personal satisfaction level very high. And it was FUN to paint something like this quickly and with no regard to nit-picking details. 

Summer Landscape

Colors used in the third painting... The sky was only ultramarine blue and titanium white. Distant hills were only viridian green hue and titanium white. Foreground got more complicated. Permanent green light and indian yellow hue were the basis of the greens/yellows, with sap green, cadmium red medium hue, and burnt sienna filling in most of the rest of the foreground colors. Burnt umber and titan buff made the path, with cadmium yellow medium hue highlighting the bright yellows. As best I can remember. I have a lot of Golden colors on my dining room table...

Anyway, the learning experience continues. It is equal parts frustrating and exhilarating to be on the steep front end of the learning curve of how to execute a painting. The quality of my critical eye still vastly exceeds the quality of my painting ability. But I can take some comfort in the fact that I am getting better, on average, I think.

More importantly, I am having fun. With age (hopefully) comes some degree of wisdom, and I am enjoying the challenge of learning something new. I am reveling in the journey and not focusing on the destination.

Heading into Fall

So far so good as we head into the fall flu season. I'm still working at home, and have been since mid-March. Amp's dialysis clinic has been only regular patients for a while now, but the resurgence of Covid patients are on the horizon, and they will likely be back to the Covid days of the spring and summer shortly. Bring on the full PPE...

A bit of normalcy in all this craziness is Ryder. We've had him for about 3.5 years now, making him ~4.5 years old. Hard to believe that time passes so quickly, but given the way Grace's experiences are flying by, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He's still...odd. But he's a member of the family.

Big Sister Julia

At a primal level, there is something immensely gratifying about returning home from running some errands, or a short shopping trip, or any other reason to be out of the house for the briefest time, and to be greeted by an ecstatically happy pup.

Not to mention that he can sleep anywhere, and takes great delight in finding new places to crash. We recently cleaned out a storage cabinet containing extra pillows and comforters. Heaping them in a corner to decide what to keep and what to send to Goodwill, we were somewhat surprised (not really, I guess) to find Ryder burrowed into a cave in the middle of the pile. It's good to be a dog.

How'd Ryder get in there?

On the people front, masked and socially distanced band practices have been going on every Monday and Wednesday evening. The other night, I was in the band room with some of the other band parent association board members taking care of some paperwork and admin stuff, only to come back out to the side parking lot and see my little girl up on one of the side stands helping conduct the practice. Happy dad moment.

Field Major Grace

It's impossible to predict what the future will hold in the days of Covid, but as of now, Garnet Valley will be having a 5 game football season, all within the Central League. Three of those 5 games will be home games, at which the band can play their routine for band parents before the game. The band parents will then need to leave the stadium, so that football and cheerleading parents can come in to watch their kids and keep everything under the heavily restricted spectator limits. As of now, the band will be able to stay to play throughout the game. Things can change. Or be cancelled. Who knows. But so far at least, in the overall scheme of things, is good news.

I hope that Grace can have some semblance of a decent Junior year, and that we will be at least somewhat past this for her senior year.

Or herr Trump could inexplicably get reelected. In which case we are all doomed. Our kids deserve better.

Whispers of the Past

Or... Another childhood hero passes into memory. Eddie Van Halen, legendary guitarist, died October 6 after a long battle with throat cancer.

In middle school in the late 1970's, Van Halen was the most amazing thing to listen to. Finger tapping, classical inspired riffs, heavily overdriven guitar. Unbelievable stuff. And totally new. Or at least new in the widespread popular sense, as one might discover later.

The legend of Eddie is probably a bit overstated, as all legends are, but that doesn't diminish his stature. Eddie invented finger tapping. Which might be news to Steve Hackett of Genesis, who was finger tapping on Supper's Ready in the early 70's. And he invented classical inspired guitar riffs ala Eruption. Which might be news to Steve Howe of Yes, who was doing the same in the early 70's.

But...  And this is a huge but...  It is undeniable that Eddie Van Halen popularized these aspects of guitar playing far beyond anything that the various Steve's (and others) had been able to accomplish previously. EVH had an influence of absolutely mammoth proportions on future guitarists. And that is where the legend is born (and validated). Who didn't want a red (or black) pseudo-Strat with white (or yellow) abstract tape lines? I know I did. And I couldn't even play guitar.

Looking back on those early VH records, the combination of Eddie's guitar work, David Lee Roth's vocals and charismatic stage presence, Michael Anthony's solid bass work and terrific high-end backing vocals, and Alex Van Halen's solid drumming, were an example of a case where everything came together in a perfect storm of late 70's hard rock, and probably made the whole greater than the sum of the parts. This "hard rock" would seem tame by today's standards, but those weren't the standards of the day.

Van Halen as a band certainly had waaaaay more than its share of interpersonal drama, but it would be a shame to let their later years overshadow what they were at their peak. If you have paid any attention to their recent-years reincarnations, it is almost too easy to fall into the trap of "yeah but back in the day they used to be good...", which is fair in an objective sense. Sammy Hagar was terrific. Everything after that (including returns of David Lee Roth) was... meh... at best. Painful at times. But I digress...

The best compliment I could give to Van Halen (as a band), perhaps, is that when you go back and listen to Van Halen and Van Halen II, as I am doing as I type this, the popular hit songs are great, yes. But everything else on the albums is terrific. End to end. It's the perfect example of the brilliance of many bands in their early years, with a raw energy and style that is hard to replicate afterwards...

I was going to list some of those lesser known gems from VH1 and VH2, but having listened to them again end to end just now, it's all of them. Simple genius. Spanish Fly is the genius of Eddie. Women In Love is the genius of all of them. Just to list a couple of favorites... Feel Your Love Tonight. Ice Cream Man. DOA. And on, and on....

Which isn't to say that there wasn't great Van Halen music after this. Much of the "Van Hagar" stuff with Sammy Hagar was terrific, and Right Now is a song that resonates particularly well these days. Check out The Circle's quarantine version (Hagar and Anthony, with Vic Johnson and Jason Bonham [John Bonham's son]...).

I have a very clear and totally random Van Halen memory that Brother Dave might remember (but probably not). It must have been a summer evening somewhere around 1980. We were at the River, and our neighbor Rob H had access to his family's ~20 foot Boston Whaler (motor boat). We took the boat out to the end the Sassafras, to Betterton, near the Bay. We docked at a public pier there and went into a waterfront place that had coin operated pool tables and a juke box (and wasn't a bar, so minors could come in...). I distinctly remember playing Dance the Night Away from Van Halen II on the juke box while we shot some pool...

Which is a memory, I guess, because Dance the Night Away has always been my favorite Van Halen song. Listen to the original version, or the remastered version if you can; both are great.

And if you want to listen to a forgotten gem, check out Women in Love. It showcases all of what made early VH great. Or so says me. :-)  I guess the point, from my vantage, is that all the technical mastery in the world doesn't mean much if the music isn't beautiful, and doesn't move you when you listen to it. And for all of Eddie's technical skill, that means less to me than the beauty of the first 30 seconds of Women in Love. But that's just me I suppose.

PS - A freebie. Check out Toto doing Africa, covid version.

And as long as we are doing Covid versions of classics... Doobie Brothers Listen To the Music. And Black Water.

PSS - In my memory lane ramblings I seem to have strayed from the original point. Eddie Van Halen was an innovator, a pioneer, and yes, a guitar legend. He will be missed, but his place in rock and roll history is assured. More importantly, his music will live on. Rest in peace.

Stay safe. Be well. Vote against the Fourth Reich.

Life Coming Full Circle

...or, we're getting old.

...or, just appreciate the random symmetry.

32 years ago, fresh off of our graduations from Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College, we moved to west Philadelphia, Powelton Village to be specific, to be near both my new job in Center City and Amp's PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania.

One of the first things we found in our new neighborhood was the White Dog Cafe, a quirky and revolutionary restaurant on the 3400 block of Sansom Street. Judy Wicks founded the restaurant in 1983, and was an early disciple of the kind of farm to table cooking and sustainable agriculture focus that was pioneered by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in California. Such a thing might not seem unusual now, but it was very unusual in the 1980's...

Anyway, despite being one of the better restaurants in Philadelphia, the White Dog's prices were very reasonable, and the food was astonishingly good. So with a good job, and a stipend, and no kids...we ate at the White Dog maybe once a week. For a couple years. We became familiar with the staff, and became friendly with the Manager at the time. We attended a few fundraising dinners and wine tasting events with Judy Wicks and Kevin von Klause in the residence space above the restaurant.

September 1990 rolled around, and a wedding was happening, so we needed a place to have a small reception for 50-60 family and friends, with us footing the bill ourselves. Our first choice was to have everyone to the White Dog, but they didn't do wedding receptions. Until we had a nice conversation with the manager, let's just call him Mr. Blake, who agreed that we could have our wedding reception there if we could squeeze it in between the lunch service and the dinner service. Which, for a noon wedding at my childhood church in Havertown, would work out fine.

We picked a menu, worked with the pastry chef to come up with a chocolate raspberry wedding cake, and had a wonderful wedding day. I still have the copy of the then-current dinner menu from which we picked the three entrees from which the guests could choose. Keep in mind the prices are circa 1990...

White Dog dinner menu c. September 1990

So we got married...

The Bride

And some years later we had kids. And the kids grew up. And Grace got a job as a junior server at a retirement home. And then Grace decided that she would like to work in a somewhat similar but more dynamic environment (i.e. a real restaurant). And she saw that the White Dog was opening it's 4th location, less than 10 minutes from our house, this September. And this name rung a bell for her. So entirely on her own, she applied for a job as a food runner and hostess trainee. And got the job. She starts later this week, when the place opens for business.

First, I am immensely proud of her initiative, in that she decided entirely on her own that she wanted to do this, did the research, applied, and got hired. Without any help from us other than an enthusiastic "go for it!"

Second, it gives me a warm feeling inside that she is going to be working at the White Dog Cafe. The White Dog was a part of the earliest years that Amp and I had together. And now... Well... Less than a month short of our 30th anniversary... If you have kids (or a heart!) you'll get what I'm feeling.

It's strange how things work out. Pure chance, or a graceful symmetry, who can say.

That being said, with time to spare on this Labor Day holiday Monday, Amp and I put together a meal with help from the White Dog Cafe cookbook.

The Cookbook...

We did a simple grilled chicken with Lime-Mojito marinade (McCormick's marinade, not White Dog), with Warm French Lentils (page 206) and Lavender and Honey-Roasted Butternut Squash (page 198). We decided to do something simple as the main course/protein, and try a couple of new side dishes from the cookbook.

All I can say is "wow!" This was one of the best meals we've had in a while, and given that we have been stuck at home cooking a good bit to kill time during the pandemic, that says a lot.

Mojito-Lime chicken with Lentils and Roasted Squash

So... Who knows what the future brings, but I am happy that my daughter is going to start working at my favorite restaurant, and one the has a strong connection to our little family's history.

Not to mention the fact that we now have a White Dog right down the street, as dangerous as that may be...

Anyway, I wish any and all who may stumble upon this blog post health and happiness in these difficult times. Stay safe. Wear a mask. And recognize that the choice in the USA this November is between democracy and the slippery slope to fascism, between progressive views and a reversion to the social stone age. Personally, I prefer democracy, not living in the stone age, the rule of law, checks and balances, and an open-minded viewpoint that respects and supports everyone. I prefer living in an America that the rest of the world respects, not laughs at. I reject "Make America White Again" as a thinly-veiled campaign slogan. Or a world-view. Despite being an aging, relatively well-off, straight white guy... Right is right. And I need to be able to look my kids in the eye and tell them that I used my vote to try to make their world a better place. For myself and for them. Your mileage may vary. 

PS - It has been pointed out just now that I always seem to avoid posting pictures of myself. True. Very true. So...

Amp and myself, downstairs at the White Dog

Clearly September 1990 didn't still count as the '80s, judging from the lack of hair on me. A trend that would continue... We won't be posting high school pictures of me anytime soon, thank you very much.

The Happy Couple

Well, nobody pays any attention to the groom anyway, right?

Band Camp 2020

 It's August, which means we should be having Marching Band Camp. In a normal year. Which this isn't.

Socially Distanced Sectionals

Fortunately, we are able to have voluntary band practices, with certain accommodations. We wear masks at all times. We have bell covers for all of the wind instruments. We maintain proper social distancing at all times. We do not congregate in large groups...

The Central League has just announced that there will be no sports until January 1, 2021, with the 2020 fall sports season (i.e. football) expected (hoped) to be played in March/April of 2021. (Winter sports in Jan/Feb and spring sports in May/June).

So the band rehearses music. And learns basic drill. But more importantly, for the first time in ~6 months, the kids sorta get to do something together with their friends. It's difficult to put a value on that...

School in the district starts next Tuesday, virtual for at least the first month. Beyond that, who knows, but I would doubt that anything but virtual will happen until 2021.

But at least for the moment, we have 100+ kids scattered around the width and breadth of the high school campus, doing something that has the vaguest hint of normalcy about it, which is a good thing.

I think that one of the things a parent would wish for the most is the ability to protect their kids from this sort of...whatever you would call it. But that isn't possible. So at the very least we can sew bell covers, do temperature screenings at check-in every day, ask about Covid symptoms, and spend 3 hours every evening strolling the campus and checking for proper social distancing. It's a very small sacrifice...

Something to Last

Roughly 21 years ago, in about 1998-99, we planted this tree. It's a Dawn Redwood, and was about 6 feet tall when we planted it, maybe a little less. All these years later, it's about 40-45 feet tall, which would make it a relatively fast grower for a tree. Which is a good thing, since it has a lot of growing left to do.

Dawn Redwood in the mist

The cool thing about this tree is that is has a good 60 feet or so of growth left, reaching a final height of about 100 feet.

The Dawn Redwood was only known as a fossil until found growing in a remote valley of the Szechuan province of China in 1941. Since then it has been propagated around the world. Including right here in my part of Pennsylvania, by me and my wife.

With luck, it could outlast me by a few hundred years. With a huge whole lot of luck, it could see the year 3000.

Highly highly unlikely, but possible. Which is kinda cool to contemplate. The end of life for this tree could be as far ahead of us as the defeat of Harold Godwinson by William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings is behind us.

Perspective is good.

Our lives are a fleeting instant in the life of the world. Which I think means we have an obligation to not irrevocably mess things up for all that may come after us. My kids. My grandkids. Yours, and your descendants.

Mad Max is a good movie series. Not a good future.

What Passes for Normal

We're in the middle of August, and we're supposed to be halfway through the first week of band camp. If there were a band camp this year, which there isn't. At least not until maybe sometime in September. I've taken the week off anyway, as time is going by quickly, and there's no particular need to take days off, but I need to take some eventually, so, yes, this week is vacation. We should have been at the beach last week, and helping with band camp this week and next. Instead, we are home. Again. Like always.

In lieu of band camp, there will be socially distanced outdoor sectionals next week and the week after. I spent much of the morning today cutting wind instrument bell covers of all different sizes from exercise fabric (82% nylon and 18% spandex), which is the recommended fabric for homemade bell covers. It is said that you learn something new everyday, and over the last few days I have learned that the bell diameters of various musical instruments are (typically) as follows. Trumpets 5 inches. Clarinets 3 inches. Alto saxes 4.75 inches. Tenor saxes 6 inches. Baritone saxes 7+ inches. Baritones 10 inches. Trombones 8 inches. Mellophones 10.5 inches. Sousaphones 25 inches. And that the GV band this year has roughly 27 trumpets, ~35 saxes of various types, 7 trombones, 1 baritone, 2 sousaphones, 5 mellophones, 17 clarinets, and who knows what all else. It's a big band for us, with a big incoming freshman class. And fraught with uncertainty. The district and the volunteers are all doing a lot of work in the hopes that we can have some sort of band season this year.

On the home front, we are all still healthy. The company I work for still continues to be doing more Covid testing than any other commercial lab in the country, so that feels good. Amp still works in a dialysis clinic serving Covid patients, so that feels good too. The kids are starting to climb the walls a bit, which is to be expected. But no serious complaints.

I haven't been feeling much like creating any art recently (i.e. painting), but hopefully that will change with my sister in law's family staying with us this week (since she is a watercolor painter). I've been writing a little, but not much.

The biggest news here, I guess, is that Grace passed her learner's permit test and is now beginning the process of learning how to drive. She and I go out at least a little bit practically every day. She needs the experience of time behind the wheel, but she is doing fine, and our driving sessions have been remarkably stress-free thus far. Fingers crossed.

It's hard to believe that my little girl has turned 16, and is the tallest female on her Mom's side of the family. Mom is 5'4+". Julia is 5'2" on a good day. Her two aunts are less than that. A lot less... She is a shade under 5'6", and growing fast the last couple of years (a good 6 inches+). It's a remarkable thing to watch. And funny as well. I laugh on the inside when I find myself saying things like "where's the rest of your shirt?", "are you planning on wearing that outside the house?", and "what's with the green hair?". Most of which is just giving her a token hard time to let her know that we care, and that we are paying attention. I figure as long as she's taking all Honors and AP classes and getting fantastic grades, she can color her hair any color she wants.

Anyway... We forge ahead, doing the best we can with what passes for normal these days. School in the fall is still up in the air, with at least the first month being entirely virtual. Beyond that, who knows. The current occupant of the White House is still a worthless moron. So, same old same old. Hopefully in the not too distant future, things change for the better. I wish you all peace, health and happiness.

Appreciate the simple beauty in the world

Stay safe and wear a mask.

Mr. D, and High School Band

I was sad to see where Brother Dave posted on his blog that Mr. D, our high school band and orchestra director, had passed away. [see Dave's Musings link at right]. We were in SHS in the early 1980's, and Mr D retired way back in 1991. A very long time ago...

I don't know that I could add much to what Dave very eloquently said, other than "I completely agree".

Many of my fondest memories of high school revolve around the band room, and band and orchestra in general. High school wasn't always easy, especially the first couple of years, but the band room was always a safe place, and it was where most of my friends were.

As a volunteer for the Garnet Valley marching band in recent years, I have been back to Springfield 3 times for what are now "away games", and while much of what surrounds the football field has changed, the field itself is the same. Ghosts from the life of a much younger me haunt the place. I wouldn't want to guess at how many hours I spent on that field for 4 years as a trumpet in the marching band. Summer band. Evening practices. Games. Sweltering heat, bitter cold, and every temperature in between. A bunch of girls who weren't interested. A few who were.

It's funny...I can think back on 4 years at one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the country and feel...not much. But I think back on 4 years at Springfield High School and smile, and have lots of good memories come flooding back.

As for Mr D, there are worse things, I think, at the end of a very long life, than to know that you touched the lives of a great many young people.

Rest in peace Mr. D.

The Dog Days of Covid

Sometimes I feel like this too...

 

School will start virtual-only for Grace's junior year. Band camp is postponed. Football season likely won't happen since the governor has recommended no scholastic athletics until at least January. Everything is in a state of flux.

Bah humbug.