On the South Side

(This was from last week one night when our DSL was down.) When I was in high-school, the words “Spring Concert” brought pure joy to my life. It was usually the biggest concert of the year. It was certainly the most interesting musically. Tonight we went up to Metro High to hear Emily’s Spring Concert. It was quite good considering Metro is an academic school and not a performing arts school. Before the Concert Band came out we were treated to Chopin’s Etude in Eb, one of my favorites. The Jazz Band then came out and they were very good too. Then the Concert Band finally took the stage. Emily is playing 1st Flute, second chair this year and next year she’ll be first chair. Not bad for someone who “hates” band. They played about eight pieces or so. One of them was called “At Dawn They Slept.” This is taken from the book, “At Dawn We Slept” which is about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. A musical representation of the Pearl Harbor Attack? Interesting. Emily knows how I feel. N...

Well, it's been raining here in St. Louis. Really raining. Our internet connection was out for three days. I've posted some pictures from the local media below for any of you out-of-towners. And, we're expecting another "supercell" through here on Sunday. A lot's been going on, I just haven't had the time to sit down and write anything lateley. With the Memorial Day Weekend coming up followed by the 60th anniversary of D-Day on the 6th, I've been thinking mostly about all the soldiers throughout our history who have sacrificed everything. I'm not exaggerating when I say that hardly a day goes by that I don't think about them. But, tonight, it's late and I've got to get some sleep. You'll be reading much more from me over the next week about Memorial Day and D-Day. Monday we're visiting Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery and I'll share some pictures from that.

Rush hour traffic last Tuesday. 

'little help?! 

We've got lots of big oak trees in St Louis. This one came down with a vengence.  

This is Highway 40. Normally it slow going but this is ridiculous! . 

APPLY THINE HEART UNTO INSTRUCTION AND THINE EAR TO WORDS OF KNOWLEDGE.

This is the group from Science Camp of last year. I'm really looking forward to this year's camp which is coming up in three weeks. The sessions I'll be doing this year include: Introduction to Astronomy, What is Darwinian Evolution?, What is the Internet? and Brian Greene's "Elegant Universe." I'm hoping to be able to post some pictures from this year, although that can be problematic dealing with kids and pictures and the Internet. At least I'll post some thoughts and reflections. Here's the historic Morrison Observatory owned by Central Methodist University. Inside is a 19th century refractor that's just about the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The craftmanship and artistry that went in to making it are astounding.  

George Harrison with his Ivory Stratocaster at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1972. Other Beatle Strats of note can be heard in Day Tripper and Nowhere Man.(Just playing around with some photo-posting software tonight.)

Tonight we went to the Fox Theatre to watch and hear Emily participate in a special production put on by the Fox Associates. This one was the second annual. The schools get together with a couple of big corporate sponsors and put on a big show which includes all the music programs from all the city schools. It was really, really good. Just the challenge of getting all these different groups on and off the different stages seemed awesome. And let me tell you, anyone who thinks you can't bring religion into the public schools hasn't been to many musical presentations. I've been to lots of them and many times, tonight included, there are sacred pieces presented and no one from the ACLU jumped out of hallways to stop it. Many times at these events I choke back tears. Why? I'm not sure. I know that it reminds me of some very pleasant memories of childhood. From seventh grade on through high-school I performed in school bands. I loved every minute of it. One of the bands t...

As I stated in an earlier blog entry , the next year after these events was pure hell. I had a total of twenty years in the restaurant business that can be divided up neatly like so: ten years at O'connell's, one year in hell, six years at the Art Museum Cafe and four years at the Ninth Street Abbey. During that one year, I worked at at least four different places. All of them crappy. The big difference was I learned that I really wasn't cut out for "front of the house" management. I was much happier in the kitchen. So the end of the year in hell found me working two cooking jobs. I had started at a burger chain called Fudrucker's just to put some food on the table. I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going. I kept my eyes open for opportunities though, and one day I say a opening for a cook at the Art Museum Cafe. I was hired right away. I became friends with the Chef there and he started teaching me the basics of fine dining. It was a very n...

The year Emily was born, 1987, I was playing in a rock band and still working at O'Connell's. Annette had more earning power than I did in the work force so we thought I'd quit working and take care of the baby, still practice with the band, and Annette would get a full time job with benefits etc. What a laugh! The day she was born, I called the band manager to tell him I quit. Suddenly life looked very different. I was to be the primary bread-winner and mom would stay home. OK, sounded good. Just one problem. I was making about nine bucks an hour. That wasn't going to be enough. So, Annette got to working on my resume and we sent out dozens of them to restaurants far and wide. I finally got a call from KC Masterpiece. They were expanding their restaurant chain into the St. Louis area. I was hired as an Assistant Kitchen Manager and was soon off to Overland Park Kansas to train in the restaurant there. It was only supposed to be one month, but it turned out to be tw...

Rembrandt portrayed famous scenes from the Bible in many of his paintings. Tonight we revisited the one titled "Christ in a Storm on the Sea of Galilee," which he painted in the year 1633. It's commonly used in Christian teaching to illustrate the idea of each of us looking at our own faith. In the painting is Jesus and 13 other people. The twelve disciples, of course, and Rembrandt. He's put himself in the boat too. How would I act in this situation? When the sea gets rough will I panic? Will I cower in fear? Will I turn to God for strength? I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of repeating this pattern: when things are going good for me, I forget about God. I neglect my prayer life, I neglect my Bible. Sure, I attend church every Sunday, but whoopee, aren't I a good Christian? When things go bad, I turn to Him. And guess what? He's always there. I've always felt a common thread with the story of Jacob. There's a scene where's h...

I didn't have to work when I was growing up. My dad had worked hard from a very early age, so he decided to protect his kids from that. We've since discussed this parenting philosophy and he admits that he might have gone too far. Since I didn't get my first job until I was twenty years old, that meant that I had to learn how to work. Sure, I had some chores around the house, but taking out the trash and sweeping the steps now and then could hardly challenge me like a real job could. So, not counting a miserable year in college, I was living away from my parents house for the first time in 1979. I was unemployed, broke and living off the grace of some good friends who had decided to all move in together. No one romanctically involved...yet. One of these good friends, Dave, had a brother that worked at O'Connell's Pub . This is a south side bar and restaurant famous for their hamburgers. He started working there first and I remember feeling betrayed. "Hey, w...

Here's some ideas for future Coffee House sing-a-longs: Country Movie Themes Great songs from Musicals Wacky Songs Rat Pack Neil & Neil (Sedaka and Diamond) Burt Bacharach What do you think? How about some more?

I haven't really written about my Mom before. I don't know why. Possibly because she doesn't intrude into my life very much. She rarely asks for anything. Well, before I get going my relationship with her, I'll tell you as much as I know about her as a person. She was born in 1930 in Pittsburgh PA. From what I can gather, her family was quite poor. That family consisted of her mother Ellen, her father Ralph Lindsay, two older brothers Russ and Don, a younger sister Lois and a younger brother Ralph. Ralph was way younger, born during WWII when the two older boys were off fighting. After the war, Russ got a job at Emerson Electric and he moved to south St. Louis. The began attending Kingshighway Methodist where he met my dad's family, the Hudsons. After some flirting and courting, Jim and Alice were married. Four kids would come along; three girls and one boy. If had to sum up my entire experience growing up with her I would say that it was peaceful. In that house ...

Please read the last couple of entries from the Iraqis blog. There's a permanent link over on the right side, or click here now .

Blogger, the folks who host this site, revamped their services today. So I figured I'd try one of their new templates. What do you think? My first thought was that with this new clean look, the ad at the top looks really out of place now. So, maybe I'll spring for an ad-free site sometime soon. I thought I'd spend a little time writing about my Mom tonight. After church this morning Annette, Emily and I took her out to eat. To Arby's! She didn't want to do anything much because she was going out to dinner with my sister Becky and her boyfriend. Tonight was to be special because the two moms were going to meet. But, I love my Mom for her easy lifestyle. I get my appreciation of simplicity from her. I love simple things and I live a simple life. Whenever confronted with a complex problem, I break it down into simple parts. Like the fact that it's 1:30 am and I need to go to bed, but I told myself I'd write about my mother tonight, but now tonight is to...

With the next Coffee House coming up a week from Saturday, we've been trying to finalize the list of sing-a-long songs. After much arguing with Annette, here's the list: Joy to the World (Three Dog Night) Take it Easy (Eagles) Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (CCR) Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Jim Croce) When Will I Be Loved (covered by Linda Ronstadt) Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver) I Feel the Earth Move (Carol King) It Never Rains in California (Albert Hammond) Drift Away (Dobie Gray) The arguments always center around whether people will know the songs well enough to sing along or not. For this reason I always want to stick songs that hit #1. The problem this time around is...well, it's the '70's! I almost put "You Light Up My Life" on the list! That was a big hit. The Gibb family had more than a few hits in the seventies. I don't know, when you look at the list , it just seems like the music degrades as the decade goes on. Maybe I'm...

I've decided that I really don't know how to write. I heard an interview with a woman named Lynn Truss today on NPR . She's written a book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves. It's about punctuation. Then I stumbled across this column from a guy named Paul Robinson . It too is about proper punctuation. I think it was a sign from God for me to try a little harder in my writing endeavors. The only reason I started this blog was to write regularly. So now when it gets a little tough I don't feel like it any more. I remember my composition teacher in high-school when asked how long should a certain essay be, he would say, "however long it needs to be to say what you need to say." I always said to myself, "no extra words." So, tonight, enjoy the links to the punctuation sites above. Also note the link to Andrew Sullivan over there on the right. He's the original blogger that kind of got everyone going. He's a good writer. And, I know I keep...

OK, now you got me started. It just so happens that next month marks the 60th anniversary of D-Day. But you knew that already. If you didn't, you would have soon started seeing the books laid out in front of the bookstores and ads for the TV specials. It's a pretty big deal. You'll have to put up with me for a while and I'll probably get worse as the day approaches. For now let's just say it was a pivotal event in history. There's hardly a day goes by when I don't think about the guys who jumped off those boats and into hell. Some of them by the way, had been in those landing craft boats a full day already because the invasion was started and stopped the day before. They were really, really sick. The flat bottoms of their boats were covered with vomit and excrement; I'll bet they thought anything was better than that. I'll just mention one more thing tonight. Freedom like we enjoy in this country doesn't happen by magic. At the foundation o...

My cousin Russ called me this evening to say, "I bought a video A & E Biography of Eisenhower. You want to come over and watch it?" I said, "sounds good, I'll be there." On the way out I said hello to a couple of neighbors and one of them said, "what's with you and Eisenhower?" Knowing I had to go, I responded simply, "well, he was a great guy." Brilliant, eh? But, that got me thinking; what is with me and Eisenhower? It certainly is fair to say that I've always had an deep interest in history, especially American history and more specifically, World War II. This is something that Russ and I have shared since we were small boys. We've had dog-fights over the phone, me in a P-51 and him in a Messerschmitt-109. We've re-enacted the landing on Anzio Beach on his bedroom floor. We have built models two and three times over of every airplane that took part in the war. We still have lengthy discussions on the war and all of i...