A Happy Thanksgiving

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia 10/9/18, 8:31 AM

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving Day.

I drove to Janie's house.  One and one-half hours away.  Up the country road from my house to the cross-provincial highway then back onto a country road and then finally down the dirt road that led to her house deep in the country.

It had rained the previous day and was to rain the next but not today. So we went for a walk before dinner.

Sierra lead us up the road as we feasted our eyes on the splendor of the autumn leaves.  All the colors, yellow, green, brown, red and gold.



While up above, the white puffy clouds drifted slowly across the bright blue sky and the English poet, Robert Browning. intoned:

"God's in his heaven, All's right with the world".

We walked over the wood bridge fording the brook that powers the Saw Mill.  The oldest in Nova Scotia.  In the same family for generations.

As Janie stood at the fence by the side of the road she remarked -----

on the reflections in the water in the pond created by the wooden dam built to back up the water to power the sawmill.

We looked at the cows in the field and they looked at us.

We stood on the bridge and watched and listened to water cascading in the brook below. Feeling the power and wonder of this force of nature that powers the Sawmill.


When we got back from our walk Janie decorated the table with flowers and leaves she had gathered by the road.

Since, as she said, I would be having Turkey or Ham when I celebrate Thanksgiving back in the States with my family in November,  both of us, vegetarians mostly, could eat meat just this one day without too much harm.

So we dined on Roast Beef, and Yorkshire Pudding, and Vegetables, and Cherry Pie!

And Conversation. We have known each other ever since I started coming up to Nova Scotia in the summer. More than 15 years ago.  So we had much to talk about.

Our children and grandchildren and our siblings and parents.  The current events of the day - but not too much of that to mar this peaceful day.  And our memories.  Holidays are a fine time for remembrance.

As Janie spoke, I was transported to the great Canadian capital city of Ottawa. The center of the world when and where her "Uncle Mike",  Canada's greatest Prime Minister, Lester Pearson, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace strode the world's stage.

She recalled going to a reception where she met the nation's other most famous Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, the charismatic intellectual, who spoke five languages and who was attracted to young women as they were to him.  And how there was another beautiful young woman in attendance, Margaret, who was later to become the mother of the current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And who, like Janie, this young woman was fully 30 years the Prime Minister's junior  And how he held Janie's hand as he lit her cigarette. And later asked to see and speak with her again as he was about to leave the reception.

Together we remembered her year in Paris when as a 21-year-old ingenue and "Au Pair" (nanny) she occupied a position at the very bottom rank of Parisian society when her Uncle Mike sent a car to pick her up to go to a grand reception.

Off she went, the only passenger in the government's grand limousine with flags flying.  Much to the delight of her employer who told her he dined out for months on that story.

As we talked into the late fall afternoon,  while our minds were off both long ago and far away, in those two great capitals of North America and Europe, I was especially glad to be both here and now in body and spirit in a more tranquil world as the sun flickered and sparkled through the leaves and gently descended behind the trees in the surrounding forest.

With the speed, ease, and comfort of thought, we then traveled back to Nova Scotia and recalled our days of sailing together.  And our "Last Sailing" so named at the time as it was the end of the season but prophetically turned out to be our very last day ever, sailing together

She said she would like to see again what I had written about that time and the pictures I had taken. So this morning I was delighted to find that experience forever memorialized on the Internet as so much can be today in a Blog post I then wrote.

All too soon, I noticed it had grown dark outside.  The day had ended.  It was time for the long drive back to my home in Southwestern Nova Scotia by the Brook and the Sea.

And so I told her, only half joking, I can't wait until next year when we get to repeat this day. To be our third time in a row here in this lovely home, she had acquired just last year.

And that's what I look forward to doing, as we say in the country -

"God willing and the creek don't rise."

Shame and Redemption

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia 10/7/18, 1:30 AM

Friends in Canada react:

"I'm imagining the reception Kavanaugh will get from the other SC justices with a certain satisfaction. With all the circumstantial evidence that was blatantly ignored, or real evidence never investigated, the Justices must be as disgusted/depressed as the rest of us. Perjury and lying wouldn't top their list of preferred traits! It's a wonder Kavanaugh now has the nerve to face them!"

Another says -

"What is wrong with you people"?

And another -

" I am soooo distraught with the daily NPR news that I cannot concentrate on anything".

And another -

"The whole scenario is despicable".

And finally. A friend who is packing for a trip she will take to the U.S. tells me -

"Crossing the border.  Just the thought of it.  Makes me sick to my stomach".

The former Dean of the Yale Law School says - "Kavanaugh's very presence will undermine the court's claim to legitimacy, it will damage the nation's commitment to the rule of law.  It will be an American tragedy.  There will be Hell to pay".

We faced a defining moment in our nation's history. A test to see who we are.  And we failed.

Most shameful was the fake "investigation".  Orchestrated by Senator Jeff Flake to the enthusiastic applause of Senator Susan Collins as conducted by Donald Trump.

And Trump did again what he does best by attacking Dr. Ford, the one person in the Country who might have saved us from this national disgrace with her incredible courage along with the one Republican, the ONLY Republican who had the moral courage to stand up to her colleagues and do the right thing: Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Is that it?   Is it over?  Is there no hope?  No redemption?

Time will tell.

But, The Day of Reckoning is coming.

And soon.  The mid-term elections.  Less than a month away!

If all goes as expected, the House of Representatives will be won by the Democrats who are promising a real investigation with subpoena power leading to the impeachment of the now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

And Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of appeals has sent over a dozen complaints to Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court. The complaints are in regard to Kavanaugh's alleged perjury in the Senate confirmation hearings which I believe a real investigation will easily establish.

Never before has a Supreme Court Justice nominee been poised to join the court while a fellow judge recommends that misconduct claims against that nominee warrant review.

All of which, I believe, will most likely lead to Brett Kavanaugh's expulsion from the high court and disbarment as well.

So is it over?  No.  Not by a long shot.

Instead, I believe we are about to embark on a new path.

Restoring honor to our country and saving our Democracy.

But first, it is absolutely essential that we, the citizens, do one thing -

Vote!

Remembering Bob

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia 9/27/18, 5:30 AM

Last night it took me a long time to be able to go to sleep and this morning I woke early and was unable to go back to sleep.  My mind was flooded with memories of Bob.

Last evening I received an email from Tom.  Bob had a stroke and had passed away.  I wasn't expecting this. Perhaps I should have.

Bob had his first stroke several weeks ago and had been in a facility which cares for people who have memory and associated problems.  Bob was a tough guy and I guess I was expecting him to recover and return home unlikely as that may have been.  In reality, I guess I was just in denial.

I don't know exactly when or where I first met Bob, but I guess it was 15 years or so ago. And I suspect it was at the City Cafe in Baltimore a 15-minute walk from my house where he and I would go for coffee.

Bob lived a couple of blocks from my house so he would walk over to my house and we would walk down to the cafe together.  Sometimes I would stand in my bay window perched out over the sidewalk with a good view up the street to where Bob would be walking down to my place.

And it was good to see him coming before his arrival for if I were upstairs his knocking on the door could be a bit unsettling as the front door on my house is old and a bit fragile and Bob could be insistent and impatient and shake the house or at least the door with the force of his knocking.

If I had to pick one word, I might describe Bob as a "curmudgeon".  Not everyone appreciated his personality.   But I did.  We had a similar wry sense of humor. He always got it when I said something a bit outrageous as a joke that others might not "get" and would immediately respond in kind.

He could be difficult. I would marvel with friends at what a "Saint" Barbara, was to be able to deal with Bob.  But to his credit, Bob knew, how lucky he was to have found his "sweetie" (his appellation).   And her steadfast support of Bob showed how much she well knew this and appreciated him.

Bob had a notebook where he kept track of all the cultural events in the city.  We shared a love for classical music and our great Baltimore Symphony Orchestra ("BSO") just a 10-minute walk from my house.

Often I would attend with my friend Diane and often we would meet up with Bob and Barbara at the table they had secured by going early and chat before the performance and during the intermission.

Occasionally I would walk down and attend the symphony with Linda.  But there were many times that I attended alone and on those times I was especially glad to find Bob sitting at a table either with Barbara or like me on his own before the performance.

People cough at the symphony.  I do so myself at times.  That can be distracting.  But, I find that listening to recordings with coughing in the background actually adds to the performance.  Makes it seem "real" and "live".

At least once a year at the BSO I would hear something that I've never heard at any other symphony. Not at the Philadelphia, nor the Boston, nor at the Symphony Nova Scotia or the Kiev, Lviv, or Odessa symphonies in Ukraine.   A sneeze accompanied by a very loud yell.

Bob and I seldom sat together at the symphony so I couldn't always see if that was Bob but I always knew that had to be Bob as I knew no other person who would do it, nor had I heard it in any other symphony hall but Baltimore's.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Bob that he could sneeze without yelling at the same time but he remained unconvinced or, I think, more likely, chose not to believe and instead perversely enjoyed startling and drawing attention.

Over time I got to accept this disturbance and even found it amusing as did a guest conductor who rather than disapproving of this outrageously rude distraction turned around and with amazing grace and good nature acknowledged  Bob's "performance" just as he was about to wave his baton to start the evening's performance.

Bob was an artist.  He graduated with honors, Summa Cum Laude (I think) from the Sorbonne and taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art.  In the summer I would sometimes join him for coffee at another cafe, the Tavern, which has a nice courtyard in back where he would sometime paint his watercolors.

There, a City Paper reporter found him one day and I guess struck up a conversation from which he learned about Bob and wrote an article which I recall was entitled  "Baltimore's Most Interesting Man".  I just looked it up and see it now has a different title but the title I remember is quite appropriate given the amazing richness of his life and experiences.

Bob had indeed a most interesting life.  He served in the American army in Germany from where he learned to talk German.  And of course French at the Sorbonne.  He traveled all over the world including many exotic places where he had unique and unworldly experiences and much more including parts in plays and movies as described in the City Paper article.

He had lots of photos .. the old kind .. from a Kodak camera .. which he liked to show you.  One of my favorites was the one with him dressed elegantly standing next to his 1936 Packard automobile. And the one that had him dressed as the Pope for some theatre performance he was in.  So attired I think he looked more "Pope-like"  than any of those in recent memory.  And, dare I say if Popes were elected by the people rather than the Cardinals and if non-Catholics were allowed to vote I would gladly vote for Bob rather than any of those who have done such a poor job tending their flocks.

Another favorite picture Bob displayed was one which juxtaposed the Great Egyptian Pyramid with the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. in which the Capitol building appears dwarfed by the Pyramid.  I came to share Bob's fascination with the Great Pyramid and because of Bob and this perspective, I often think about it as I ponder the other mysteries of the universe when gazing up at the stars in Nova Scotia and the impossibility of this pyramid's creation in ancient or even modern times.

Upon further reflection, the word "curmudgeon" does not do Bob justice. Not even close. Quite to the contrary, Bob was often quite outgoing and friendly and would greet complete strangers we encountered in our walks. He carried treats to give to the dogs these strangers might have.  And, as my daughter reminded me, he gave out little ceramic frogs he had made of which she has two. He must have given out a hundred of these or maybe many more to friends and to complete strangers he would meet on the street often to their startled delight.

Bob's hearing declined in recent years and he experienced gradually increasing Dementia.  He was five years older than I and so I came to think of him as perhaps a kind of role model to emulate should my advancing years bring similar challenges.

Rather than withdrawing into his own thoughts. as I suspect I might do, he would be insistent that he be spoken to directly and loudly so he could hear and continue to participate.  And although there was certainly reason for him to be terrified with his increasing loss of memory, that is not what I saw.  Instead, he appeared to face this challenge with curiosity and a kind of bemused acceptance and would even draw attention to new observations he encountered of forgetfulness.

Of course, his ability to deal with these challenges was enormously aided by the tremendous support of Barbara and his friend Tom.  Support that along with a very strong will remarkably allowed him to continue to live independently up until the last couple of months of his life.

Losing a friend can happen anytime in life but as one gets older it seems to happen more frequently. Yet no matter how often it happens it seems to me to be a totally new experience.  And the reality of it takes time to settle in and accept.

For me, the hardest part will be when I go by myself to the symphony and out of habit look for Bob at his table and see he is no longer there.  I think that is when I will miss him the most.

The Flake Maneuver

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia 10/5/18, 9AM

I now think that what I thought was a great story is not so great.  It's going to have the long expected ending.  Not a surprise ending. Not a Happy Ending.

It looks like Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed

The question is how Senators Flake, Collins and Murkowski will vote.  But only Murkowski's vote appears to be in question.  Even though the other two have not said how they are going to vote.

Collins has said that the FBI Investigation appears to be very thorough and Flake says he agrees with her.

No intelligent informed person believes that the FBI did anything close to a thorough investigation.

So the question is why did Flake ask for a delay and an FBI investigation and not raise hell when he didn't get a thorough investigation.

There is only one answer.  He wasn't looking for one.

All he wanted was something he could pretend was an investigation.  And I believe that was the deal he made with his fellow Republican Senators and Trump:

Delay the vote.  Do a fake investigation.  Find nothing.  Say Kavanaugh is clean and we can all proceed to vote for him.

Otherwise, his fellow Republicans would have excoriated him for delaying the vote.

Well, you say, no one will fall for such an obvious maneuver.

Really?

Trumpsters fall for his lies every day.

So what have we learned from this story?

The number 1 villain is Jeff Flake.  Followed by Collins.

Unfair you say?   Maybe Collins and Flake won't vote to confirm.  True. If they get enough pressure from those who see through "Flake's Maneuver".

But at this point. with the likely loss of the Supreme Court --

The midterms have become even more critical for saving Democracy.

Heroes and Villains

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia 10/4/18 5:30 AM

Every great story should have a hero and a villain.

This great story has a large number of each.  And it should.  It's one of the biggest of my lifetime.  And I've been around for a long time.

Is it a true story or fiction?  Well, it's all true except maybe for the ending.  Look at the date and time.  I'm writing this before I know the ending.  But, I'll tell you the ending.  At least what I expect it will be.

All the rest of the story is true and will remain true no matter the ending.

The first hero is Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.  The "Reluctant Hero".

But for her, the story would have been a complete bore.  With a predictable and unhappy ending.  Trump and his sycophant Republican senators doing the wrong thing. Again.

Instead, Dr. Ford risked all with nothing to gain personally and made this an exciting story with a cliffhanger ending.  She is by far the biggest hero.  Unmatched. Not even approached by any of the others who are nevertheless hugely impressive on their own.

The next one is a total surprise.  Senator Diane Feinstein. The "Unexpected Hero".

She was viciously attacked by the Republicans for outmaneuvering them.  I'd like to give her credit for that but I think she mostly just did what they never do or forgot how to do: "The Right Thing"

She respected Dr. Ford's desire to stay anonymous and did not share her letter with her fellow Senators knowing they or their staffs would leak it.

Instead, she did something quite brilliant for which she was roundly criticized:  She released only the contents of Dr. Ford's letter, to protect Dr. Ford, (not the letter itself), and she did it at the last minute which delayed the hearing long enough for someone (we don't know who) to leak Dr. Ford's name and for Dr. Ford to come forward and change the whole outcome of the story.

How unfair.  The Republican Senators were reduced to almost incoherent rage. Especially one of the principle villains, Senator Lindsey Graham.

Next came the supporting cast of heroes the Democratic Senators on the Committee who were magnificent in their untiring efforts to speak "truth to power" in spite of the inevitable defeat they faced.

Most impressive of these was Senator Amy Klobuchar who by her calm, respectful but pointed questioning of Judge Kavanaugh's drinking led to his revealing who he really is.  A bully without proper judicial temperament.

And even more impressively, Senator Klobuchar did not respond in kind, which she was entitled to do, but remained calm and disciplined which served as a most valuable contrast to the Judge's behavior.

The other two accusers, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick are of course greater than all the others with the exception of Dr. Ford.

And all the other women who have remembered their experiences with great personal pain and have spoken up and who have educated the men in their lives.

There are many more heroes: The former students with Judge Kavanaugh at Georgetown Prep and Yale. The ABA, and the Dean of Yale Law School who called for a delay and FBI investigation. The hundreds of University Law Professors who signed a letter in opposition to the Judge. The Jesuit Order's America magazine which urged his withdrawal

And many many more. Too many to recount.

What is so encouraging in all this is how many spoke up and told the truth, many with risk and without benefit to themselves.

And the villains you ask?

No surprise here except of course Judge Kavanagh who faced with a defining moment failed miserably.  And miserably is the right word.  Breaking down in self-pity.  He was disrespectful and resentful of the process which he of all people should have known was necessary, however unpleasant for him to endure.

This together with his easily provable prevarications showed he's not within a country mile of being qualified to be a judge in any court let alone the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

The other villains you already know.  The Republican Senators who wanted Kavanaugh confirmed and did not want to find out or care who he really was. Who felt he would solidify their hold over the third branch of government which is all they cared about.

Party over Country. Again.

And last but never least. Donald Trump.  Who for some time held his tongue (or let his handlers hold it) but then did what he always does and does best:  use the situation to rally his base, appealing to their worst instincts by attacking Dr. Ford. And doing his all to restrict the FBI investigation and make it useless.

What about Senators Flake, Collins and Murkowski?

As of this writing, we don't know whether they are heroes or heels.

Senator Flake's last-minute conversion and putting his action where his mouth is by calling for a delay and an FBI investigation made a happy ending to this story possible.

The heroes behind this conversion were Senator Coons of Delaware and the two Sexual Assault victims who confronted him in the elevator and convinced him to "do the right thing". To match his brave words with action.

Never a sure thing with Senator Flake.

So at this point, we don't know if  Flake will become either a hero or a villain.

My guess is he'll be a hero.  He's got nothing to lose.  Unlike Collins and Murkowski the other two undecided Senators. He's not running for reelection.  They will do whatever he does.

This is Flake's "moment of truth".  What an opportunity!  To be the one person in the entire country who can make a difference and save our third branch of government.

My bet is he will, unlike Kavanaugh, pass his big test and this story will have a happy ending.

But, whether he does or not the other heroes and villains will remain the same.

And this will remain one of the great stories of our lives.  A real cliffhanger.

And yes it's way more than just a story.  It's one of the most defining moments in our country's history.

Advice to a Friend and Trump/Kavanaugh Supporter

Little Harbour, Nova Scotia  10/2/18, 11AM

Don't despair.  It's not over yet.

Trump always surprises like when he got elected.

And although the delay and FBI investigation looked like that was it for Kavanaugh, Trump seems to be doing what he can to limit its scope and ability to get to the truth.

And Senator Flake who demanded an FBI investigation may still Flake out.

However, I think it looks increasingly like it's gonna be over for Kavanaugh.

If so, don't blame Senator Diane Feinstein. She's not that crafty.

Or Dr. Ford's lawyers for outmaneuvering the Repubs and getting an open hearing where the Repubs couldn't hide her testimony.

I think Flake has caught "Running for President" fever.

And he has nothing to lose by doing the right thing since he's not running for reelection where he would lose as Arizona is a red state.

Instead, he knows he needs the Women's vote to become Pres. and if he Flakes out he can forget that.

So you are right to be worried about Kavanaugh losing.

Just like I think Senator Lindsey Graham was when he had his complete meltdown at the hearing.

And it does seem so unfair.

Dr. Ford and the Dems have used a weapon that has seemed to become irrelevant.

One that Trump never uses and Kavanaugh couldn't use.

The Truth.

More and more we are learning that Kavaugh lied about his yearbook, his drinking,  parties etc. etc.

Trump lies all the time and since he gets away with lying, it seemed to be OK

But apparently, it isn't OK when you lie to Congress in sworn testimony.

So if you want to blame someone for the Kavanaugh debacle. You could blame Trump for picking Kavanaugh.

He should have picked Amy Conan Barrett who is maybe even more anti-choice than Kavanaugh.

She's a woman so she would have had an easy confirmation with none of the sex assault problems like Kavanaugh.

But I guess Trump thought he had to pick Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh appears to believe that a President can't be indicted.

So you can't really blame Trump for picking the guy he needs to protect him from the Mueller investigation.

No, I'm thinking you only have yourself to blame.

For trusting Trump.