Father's Day

The cards have arrived from my 3 daughters. They all signed off with “Love” – one with “Love you very much.” That’s very nice. I like that because it’s great to know that you are loved. I know the feeling as I experience it every day from my best friend and loving wife, Lois. Each called me as well today. That was also special. Card and call is a winning combination.

The picture in this posting is from 12 or 13 years ago on top of Half Dome in Yosemite. This was our last day of a week of hiking around the rim of Yosemite for Georgia and me. We may not look it, but we didn’t have anything to eat that day because we had been raided by a bear the night before. I’ll never forget what Georgia said as we watched the bear haul up our bear bag from a high tree branch and proceed to devour everything in it.

She said, “Dad, you have to do something about that bear.”

Sorry Georgia, that was beyond the scope of a Dad’s job.

Today Georgia and Dot are in Chicago and Julia is in Ohio. I would love to spend some time visiting face to face, but the distance is great and the costs of travel are extreme. I did have a good visit with Dot this morning on the phone. She has always been great about calling me on holidays and other special times.

Lois and I went out for lunch in Ellenton at a place called “Crepes and More.” It’s new and it was fun. Lois had a “chick flick” and I had the Father’s Day special which was a meat pie in puff pastry. For dessert we shared a “Swedish Delight” with lingonberries. We remembered the Magic Pan on Oak Street in Chicago where we used to go for crepes and coffee. We really enjoyed that so I think we’ll be going back to “Crepes and More” often.

This evening Ken and Renee had us over for a Father’s Day dinner. We had a very nice time. The dinner was expertly prepared by Ken who cooked chicken thighs in a Southeast Asia style with roasted cauliflower and salad. They topped that off with a beautiful card and gift.

We all watched Tiger Woods make his must-go-in putt at the U.S. Open to tie Rocco Mediate for a playoff round. We ended the day watching the Celtics and the Lakers compete for the NBA championship. All in all, it was a wonderful Father’s Day.

Friday the 13th

Today was another day like the rest this week. We spent cooler morning hours at the motor home, getting it ready for the next four months. We feel good about the preparations we are making.

However, this afternoon, we got the news on TV that Tim Russert of "Meet the Press" had collapsed and passed away at age 58 in his office in Washington, D.C. It was a shock to both of us, because, even though we had no personal connection to Tim Russert, we both admired him and relied on his word in delivering news and moderating "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning. We always planned our Sunday mornings around "Meet the Press."

This is the Friday before Father's Day -- ironic that Tim Russert had written two best selling books on the subject -- "Big Russ and Me" and a second one consisting of letters reacting to the first. He had just returned from Rome, celebrating his son, Luke, who just graduated from Boston College with a degree in journalism. Tim died of a thrombosis which took him quickly even though he had had recent echo tests and stress tests which showed he was in good health.

Loss is something that Lois and I are dealing with on a continual basis. Friends and neighbors are passing and we know some time we will be doing the same thing. It puts a damper on making new friends because those relationships will end sooner than later when one is in his or her 70's and 80's. Older people seem to be more guarded about establishing new frindships.

That doesn't mean Lois and I don't have fun. We do. Everyday. We stick to ourselves and socialize as much as we feel we need to. We have a lot of contact with family members and that sustains us enormously.

In the meantime, we continue to get ready for the trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia. We are looking forward to a wonderful summer.

Hillary Hiatus

Hillary has been a part of our lives for the past 17 months and we are hoping she will continue to be during our summer this year. Today was a historic day as she "suspended" her campaign to become the Democrat nominee for President and urge everyone to place their support for Barack Obama. The choice of the word, "suspend," was done for legal reasons in order to be able to continue raising money to reduce her campaign debts of up to $30 million. Worth it? However one looks at it, she needs to retire as much of this debt as possible.

Hillary's speech was really great -- great turns of phrase and great thinking! She talked about the progress of the women's rights movement starting as far back as 1848 and the progress of African-Americans and other groups. This progress needs to continue, she said, and we both agree.

Lois and I hope that she will be back to try again. Hillary has proven that she is a tough, persistent campaigner and she deserves the opportunity to try again. Let's see what other news she creates for us this summer.

Fiery Distraction

On Wednesday, June 4th, our preparations were interrupted by a terrible accident on I-75 near our home which affected and will change the way we do things for weeks to come as we prepare for the trip North.

A gasoline tanker truck, carrying gas and diesel, lost control and careened off the bridge at I-75 and Hwy 301, dropping 26 ft. to the pavement below. The explosion burned the driver over 90% of his body and burned the concrete bridge span with 2,500 degree heat so that the bridge was declared unsafe to drive on.

That evening, heavy equipment was brought in and crews have been working 24 hours a day to dismantle two spans of the bridge. It will take 6 - 8 weeks to rebuild.

The affect for us is traffic -- the extra load being put on local thruways, because the southbound lanes of I-75 have been closed. Officials are creating a two-way traffic pattern in the northbound lanes of I-75 but that will not be ready until June 9th. The local thruways have been jammed with heavy traffic. For the most part, we have stayed home and ventured out only when necessary, using the back roads and staying off of I-75.

Nobody was killed or injured, except for the driver of the tanker. He was quickly pulled away from his truck and flown by helicopter to Tampa Bay General Hospital. He is listed in critical condition.