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Saturday Potpouri:Broad Street Run and more….

Broad Street Run

Broad Street Run, Books, children and grandchildren,  NFL draft, does it get better?

So today has been a busy and very nice day.It started with a trip into Philly to pick up my daughter Elizabeth’!s race packet for tomorrow’s Broad Street run. She will be running down Broad Street tomorrow along with around 39000 other people! She has to be at the start at 7:40 for the 8:00 start. Since there is no parking for 40000 people at the street we have to park at the Sport’s complex and take Septa to the start and then I will have to travel back by Septa to the finish at the Navy yard! I don’t know if I will go all the way at once or go half way and wait to see her and then go to the finish. The question is will I be able to see her among the crowd of runners! Anyway it should be interesting. Wish us luck!  Oliver sent his advice to Aunt Lizzie via his talented mommy!! Read More

Randy Raine-Reusch: World Multi-Instrumentalist

Randy Raine-Reusch – Plays an Amazing Array of World Instruments        

Born : May 2, 1952

 As I looked down the list of jazz musicians who are celebrating their birthdays today (May 2nd), I saw the name Randy Raine-Reusch a multi-instrumentalist. Since I am always interested in multi-instrumentalists I clicked on his name to find out more about him and I saw several pictures of Randy playing some very strange-looking instruments.One of them that interested me was this one… hum?? What instrument is that?  As I explored more I discovered that….. Read More

Endangered – C. J. Box

Endangered – C.J.Box – Joe Pickett Series # 15

Stealing an idea for a friend of Goodreads, I am going to start this review with the first paragraph of Endangered the latest Joe Pickett novel from C.J. Box….

When Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett received the call every parent dreads, he was standing knee-high in thick sagebrush, counting the carcasses of sage grouse. He was up to twenty-one Read More

Ambrose Akinmusire – a glistening trumpeter emerges!

Ambrose Akinmusire – Trumpet – May 1, 1982

Ambrose Akinmusire (ah-kin-MOO-sir-ee) was born on May 1st, 1982 in Oakland California.  His latest release The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint  has been in my listening rotation and I have enjoyed it! This was not my first meeting with Mr. Akinmusire, winner of the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, two of the most prestigious jazz competitions in the world. No, I first listened to his trumpet back in August of last year when  I  spent A Night of Exploration – Contemporary Jazz Trumpeters!  Since then I have listened to his second album on Blue Note records,When the Heart Emerges Glistening  and I like it more and more with each listen. The New Yorker calls Ambrose:               “a thrilling young trumpeter and astute bandleader [with a] unique spark in his playing”  Read More

April 2015 Reads and Reading Challenges Update!

Update: April 2015 Reads and Reading Challenges 

It’s time to update my reading for the month of April and to look forward to next months reads. To say that as far as reading goes April was a good month is a vast understatement. It was an exceptional reading month, as I finished SEVEN books! That brings my total of 2015 up to  19! Way, way above the average over the last several years!! Now all I have to do is keep it going!! Read More

Bangs Trimming Can You Relate??

Can you relate to the above?? When were your bangs cut like these!

Yesterday my wife updated her Facebook status using the card featured above with the accompanying tag  “almost every woman I know who grew up in the 1950’s-1960’s can relate to this one lol” So the questions before house today is, was this phenomena restricted to the 50s and 60s or is bangs’ trimming   still going on today!! Did it go on in days before the 50s! Read More

Tangentially Running with A Spark in the Aether

Running Soundtrack: The Tangent A Spark in the Aether: The Music that Died Alone Volume Two

Today’s run showed me the value of running at LEAST twice a week. Last week was busy, making it was very easy to put off running. As a result, I have not run in almost 2 weeks. My last run was on Tuesday the 14th. The lack running was not a problem on the first mile, which was run at a pace of 10:24 min/mile. I started to feel it on the second mile, but I made it through that mile at 10:51 min/mile. I think it was at about the 2 and a third mile mark, that I started to struggle, and actually thought about shortening the planned 4 mile run!! But I finished third mile in a somewhat slower 11:13 min/mile,  still not bad. I continued to struggle through the last mile and ended that mile with an 11:51 min/mile pace!! The final overall pace for the run was 11:07, which really isn’t that bad, but  I just missed my goal, which was to run the four miles at under an 11 minute per mile pace. Read More

The Presidents' War – Chris DeRose

The Presidents’ War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them       Chris DeRose (Book 18 of 2015)

 
Through the years,I have read many books about the Civil War. Most of those books center around the battles and the Generals. Until I saw the book The Presidents’ War I never thought or knew about the former Presidents who were alive during the conflict. As a matter of fact, the book’s author Chris DeRose writes in the Acknowledgments of the book
….I had never known of the former presidents who lived to see the Civil War until a visit to Seattle in 2012 and a conversation with my friend.
It was that friend Rob Peck, who inspired the book! Anyway, the point is if Mr DeRose author of two previous Congressman Lincoln: The Making of America’s Greatest President(2013) and Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election That Saved a Nation ( 2011) and  a visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Arizona Summit Law School, where he teaching Constitutional Law, International Law, and Election Law/Voting Rights hadn’t heard about the presidents alive during the Civil War until 2012, I don’t feel so bad about not thinking about them until after reading his book!!
The five living ex-President’s alive at the start of the Civil War were John Tyler, Martin Van Buren, Millard Filllmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.  Each of those Presidents faced the underlying causes of the War and did little to avoid the coming conflict. Here’s a little about each of those Presidents from DeRose’s website…. Read More

The Presidents’ War – Chris DeRose

The Presidents’ War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them       Chris DeRose (Book 18 of 2015)

Through the years,I have read many books about the Civil War. Most of those books center around the battles and the Generals. Until I saw the book The Presidents’ War I never thought or knew about the former Presidents who were alive during the conflict. As a matter of fact, the book’s author Chris DeRose writes in the Acknowledgments of the book Read More