First of all, I know what you're
thinking. You're thinking...”Jim, even when you try to be funny
you usually leave the funny out”. And I would, you know, probably
have to (grudgingly) agree with you. But when I'm writing one of my
weekly TV pieces I usually try to have a gag or two in place, even if
those gags either get cut during editing, get usurped by a crack not
yet haven eaten a pasty, or (sadly) fall flat.
But not last night's TV piece. Nope; I
actually went into it thinking that I'd forsake the jokes for a
little poetic license, apt seeing as how the topic was the changing
color of trees throughout the UP. As to whether or not I succeeded
in that poetry might be up to the viewer, but as I was writing it
this past weekend I added not a joke to it...
Until, of course, my inner 11-year old
took over and made the adult me type the word “yellow” in the
script. But for the most part, I'd like to think that I was able to
accomplish what I set out to do.
Check it out for yourself--
I'm sure that next week I'll be back to
cracking gags about Bigfoot, the lack of an “R” in Ishpeming,
and, yes, even about yellow snow. But every so often, it's nice to
change it up, if even just a little bit.
Because, you know, I'm not in the media
enough as it is, prepare to be assaulted by my presence even more.
And this time, Loraine gets to come
along for the ride.
We spent part of our Sunday at the
Marquette Food Co-op being interviewed about and photographed for
their annual "Co-op Owners Month" campaign, where they
spotlight members of the Co-op in ads and in-store displays. I have
no idea why they chose us, although I DO know they were looking for
at least one couple that would be comfortable talking on camera.
They then use the results of the interviews (and photos) through the
month of October, when they try to get people interested in buying a
share of the Co-op and advancing its community standing.
I'll leave it to you as to whether or
not Loraine and I are the best people for that.
I'm hoping the answers we gave suited
them, as we talked about the community of the Co-op and how it's not
owned by a faceless corporation, but instead by your friends and
neighbors. And, for good measure, we threw in lots of good comments
about their selection of chocolates, cheeses, and Indian food
because, if you know us at all, you know those three areas are the
exact areas for which we really like the Marquette Food Co-op.
I'm just saying.
So if you happen to see both of us
flash across your TV screen or popping up on your phone as you're
doomscrolling, that's why. And, if nothing else, it's nice that
Loraine gets a little attention sent her way.
Me? Well, apparently, these are the
days when I can't avoid it, no matter what I do.
I don't think I had mentioned one of my
latest quixotic adventures, but this one came about after Loraine and I
finished watching the two-part (five-plus hour) documentary on Joel
last month on HBO Max. (And, as an aside, if you haven't watched it
yet, do so. If you like his music, it's amazing. And even if you're
not a big fan, the sheer volume of work the filmmakers put into it
really shows up on the screen).
Anyway, once the show, which covered
all phases of his career, was over, I thought it might be an
interesting to listen to all of his albums, starting with "The
Stranger", in order, on the mornings when I lift weights. In the show
he talked about his growth as an artist in the seven albums he did
once he became "Billy Joel", and I was curious to see what
I noticed myself
And I ended up being kind of surprised
at what I DID notice myself.
Now, this is gonna get really deep into
musical nerd-dom, so feel free to tune out now and then come back
Monday when, I promise, there won't be a word at all uttered about
"The Billy Joel Project”. But here are some topline thoughts
on my part--
1. "The Stranger" is an
almost perfect album and, as he said himself, anything else might
pale in comparison to it. After listening to them all, I kinda have
to agree. That doesn't mean that his other works are bad (in fact,
they aren't) but none of them, not even "Innocent Man",
come close to having the sheer breath, depth, and quality of each and
every track as does "the Stranger". In fact (and this
surprised me a little) the one that came the closest was "The
Bridge", and that kind of surprised me. But if I had to pick
one that came in second in the pantheon of Joel, that would be it.
2. I also noticed that on the albums
following "The Stranger" he & producer Phil
Ramone sequenced the works so that the strongest songs, the one that
would end up as singles, always appeared as the first tracks on the
album. Back in the 70s and 80s, you'd usually stick those songs as
the first and last tracks of each "side" of the album, so
that people would want to flip over the record or the cassette and
listen to the other side.
But not them.
3. Finally, I had to laugh at something
both he and his ex-wife (and ex-manager) Elizabeth said happened more
than one time in his career--that when record company executives
listened to a works like "The Stranger" or “An Innocent
Man”, the first thing out of their mouths was "we don't hear a
single"... despite the fact that both albums were pretty much
nothing BUT singles (and number one singles, in some cases).
So that's my report on "The Billy
Joel Project". I realize no one asked for the project nor asked
for the results, but it's interesting what happens when you watch a
TV documentary, listen to a few albums, and then let thoughts run
unfiltered through your head.
*****
Tomorrow's a corporate holiday, which
means I'm off and there won't be a new one of these. Back on Monday,
though, with the story of how Loraine and I are embarking on a
strange new journey, even for us.
Yesterday, I wrote about a choice. A
very bad, bad choice. Today, let's discuss a slightly better one.
First of all, let me thank those of you
who sent notes of sympathy and/or horror after reading about the
skunk/cigarette smoke whammy of yesterday. I'm just glad you guys
didn't have to go through it and, hopefully, it'll never happen again
Can it?
Now, here's the other choice that
popped into my head while thinking about choice. Which month is
better—May or September?
Before you think I've lost my marbles
(yet again), let me explain the rationale behind it. May and
September are the “buffer months” of summer, which for the
purposes of these musings are June, July & August. May gets us
ready for summer, while September eases us out of it. Both months
have good points and bad points, but which is “better”?
And yes, I realize “better” is a
highly subjective term, so you'll have to decide on that for
yourself.
But here's how I'm thinking of it
because, seriously, I can't decide. May, while it's cool, has more
sun, a higher sun angle, and the promise of a warm summer yet to
come. September, meanwhile, is warmer than May, and gives us (on
occasion) a few last really hot days out of which to wring every
remaining second of summer-like weather. If you want to look at it
another way, May is a month filled with optimism and hope but will
often left you down. September., on the other hand, is reliable but,
as it wears on, is also increasingly gloomy.
So trying to choose between the two is
difficult, if not downright impossible.
I have no idea why my mind drifts to
questions like these; it's probably my id's way of trying to get me
ready for yet another wonderful UP winter. All I know is that it's a
choice that's interesting to ponder.
Much more interesting than, say, having
to choose between skunk and cigarette smoke.
I don't know which smell is worse. I
don't know which smell is more deserving as the scent that could make
up a theoretical 9th ring of Dante's Hell.
But at least now I have a side by side
comparison.
Loraine and I were jolted out of sleep
around 5 this morning by the smell of a skunk spraying somewhere VERY
close to our apartment. Sadly, it's not an uncommon way in which
we're awoken. As I've written in here before, despite the fact that
we live in one of mostly densely packed sections of the city skunks
seem to love our neighborhood. I have no idea why; they just do.
So, after enjoying that olfactory alarm
clock I went running a few hours later. And I was heading down the
bike path near McCarty's Cove some guy walking along it chose the
moment I passed him to exhale a lung full of cigarette smoke, aiming
it (or so it seems) right at my face.
That was awfully nice of him. And it
was one of those times I wished I carried a camera with me while
running. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of
the...smokehole so I could post it on social media.
For me, at least, those are two of the
most horrid smells on the planet. Granted, I've never come across a
dead body in the middle of decomposition, which I've been told is the
ultimate in mind-blowingly bad smells, but skunks and second-hand
cigarette smoke top my list.
Trying to figure out which is worse is
a hard task. After all, millions of years of evolution have gone into
making a skunk's smell putrid. However, smelling a skunk won't kill
you, which is something second-hand cigarette smoke has been known to
do. So how do you choose? It's like having to pick your favorite
between vomiting and diarrhea.
There is no winner.
Don't worry; I'll keep pondering the
idea. I just hope—really, really hope—that I don't get to do
another side-by-side comparison of the two smells within a two-hour
span any time soon. Because, and you can trust me on this, once is
more than enough.
First of all, hope you had a great
weekend. I had an insanely busy one, as most weekends seem to be
these days. One of the events in which I participated was a 150th
anniversary celebration for St, Paul's Episcopal Church in Marquette,
providing context as to what Marquette was like when their current
building was constructed in 1875, and when the whole thing was over
someone came up to me and said, quoting them here, "You're the
Ryan Seacrest of the UP, aren't you"?
At first, I laughed it off. But then I
started to think that she may have had a point.
I mean, think about it. Ryan Seacrest,
much like his idol Dick Clark, seems to be everywhere im the media.
He has a daily radio show, a whole bunch of television gigs, and is a
prolific producer of reality TV. Substitute "history" for
"reality TV' and narrow down the scope from a national audience
to a regional one, and you know what you end up with?
Uhm...me.
I wonder if, like me (the Ryan Seacrest
of the UP), the real Mr Seacrest often wonders how he got to this
point in his life. I mean, he was working in radio in LA around the
turn the century when he got a phone call, went on an audition, and
ended up hosting a little TV show called "American Idol".
From there it's been, I'm guessing, a non-stop whirlwind of gigs,
offers, opportunity, and riches. And while I can't claim any of the
riches or the nation-wide fame, I certainly do know how one thing
leads to the other until you wake up one morning with a radio job,
two TV gigs, and a reputation as the dorkiest history expert in the
history of, well, history.
Once agan, I'm not in any way comparing
my fame to the fame of Ryan Seacrest. In fact, until one woman
mentioned it to me yesterday I hadn't even considered it. But now
that she's mentioned it, I can see the similarities. Whether that's
a good thing or a bad thing...
Well, I'll leave that for the ages to
decide.
Okay, I have to go get ready for (in
very Seacrest-ian fashion) my radio job and one of my TV gigs, so with
that in mind...
I've spent the entire week talking
about travel. Why stop now?
I caught the travel bug early, and
that's thanks to the two people who are celebrating a big day today.
When I was just a little kid I remember going on road trips to
strange and exotic places like Minnesota and Texas, and when I was a
senior in high school I joined those two on a long and unique trip,
thanks to something you'd never see today—fly as much as you want anywhere you want within a two week span for just one fare. On that one trip we ended up in such varied places as
Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington DC (yes, in one trip and for one
fare).
Needless to say, I haven't stopped
since.
Those two people, obviously, were my
parents, and like all good Gen X-ers I'm “blaming” them for my
urge to travel. I even hope I've paid them back, a little, when
Loraine and I convinced them to join us in Europe twice (among my
favorite travel memories, by the way). Today's a big day in their
lives, as it was on this day a, uhm, few years ago when they got
hitched. Since then, they've raised a family, owned and operated
businesses, retired, and became snowbirds, ensuring that their days
of travel are not yet over.
So two the two people without whom I
would (literally) not be possible, happy anniversary. Thanks for
instilling that love of travel (among other things) into me. And
thanks for being the kind of parents that still allow me to take them
out to lunch every year on this big day.
Now
that we're done with Chicago, maybe it's time to start thinking about
the next adventure.
It’s
been a while since Loraine and I went back to Europe. After
traveling over there every single year for a decade and a half...2020
happened, and since then, we’ve been back twice–once in 2022 for
a soccer match in Leipzig, and then in May of 24 on a “vacation”.
Now,
we’re thinking that the third time this decade might be the charm.
Things
are starting to happen, even though we live in a world with so many
variables these days that we’re more than a little skittish about
traveling to another continent, how we’ll be accepted as Americans
in an era when the rest of the world really doesn’t like Americans
(or at least the American government), and whether or not we’d even
be allowed back in the country (showing just how weird these days really are). Add to that issues in the EU ranging from border checks
and train systems totally shutting down, and you might understand why
we’re a little skittish about the whole thing.
Yet…even with
all that, we’re still pondering a quick little getaway that might
be centered around the (very) western German city of Saarbrucken.--
We actually stopped there for a few hours on our last trip, and think
it might be a neat place to explore. Not only that, but it’s
an hour away from the French border, and an hour and a half away from
the Luxembourg border, which means that we’d be able to buy
chocolate and tea from all the countries.
And,
if you know us at all, you know how important THAT is.
As
it's looking right now this will only be an eight or nine day trip,
flying over on a Wednesday and flying back on a Friday. Why,
you ask? Well, I answer, these days, if you try to fly back to
the US on a Sunday, which we’ve always done, it almost doubles your
air fare. We’ve never run into this issue before, but these
days, with the world so topsy-turvy and unsettled, nothing surprises
us any more.
It’s
sad, but it’s true.
Will
it all come off successfully? I hope so. After all, in the past
nine years we’ve spent aloof two hours in France, and haven’t
even seen a Luxembourgish grocery store–where they sell Belgian
chocolate–in almost as long. Besides, we’d like to think we
deserve a little getaway.
So
keep your fingers crossed that it might, that we won’t run into too
many problems when we’re over there, and that, most importantly,
they actually decide to let us back into the US when and if we
return.
Because
these days, you can never be 100% certain about anything.
Okay. Yesterday I promised that today I'd have trip pictures.
And for once, I didn't over-promise.
That's a good thing, right?
We had a blast during our four (well,
three and a half if you count the fog delay) trip to the second
greatest place in the United States. We stayed at a hotel in the
Loop at which we've stayed once before. It was in a great location for
getting everywhere from Grant Park to Greektown, and if there was
some place we didn't feel like walking, our 7-day Ventra Pass allowed
us to hop on Blue or Red Line trains and be somewhere in a matter of
minutes.
And by the way, if you're ever in
Chicago for any length of time, I HIGHLY recommend the Ventra Pass.
I really do.
One interesting aspect to this getaway
is that while I brought a camera I didn't pull it out of my backpack.
I didn't feel like lugging it around and I've taken so many
long-lens pictures in Chicago that I didn't think there were any
pictures left to take that way. Of course, as always, I was wrong
about that, but that's on me. So, for the first time ever, every
single picture I took was with my phone, perhaps not the best way to
take pictures but still a pretty good way to take shots of the famous
skyline--
Of the Greek food we ate--
Of the Indian food we ate--
Of the park were we ate some of the
80,000 pieces of baked goods we purchased--
Of the ice cream selection at the
Korean grocery store where we buy European chocolate, including
flavors like avocado and purple sweet potato--
You could also take shots of the Chicago River--
Of the light shining through one of the
bridges on the Chicago River--
Of the sun setting between buildings
because we were lucky enough to be there during "Chicagohenge",
when the sun sets directly down the middle of the streets--
And, finally, a shot of what's rapidly becoming one
of our of favorite buildings to visit every time we're there, the
sandstone Marquette Building--
Marquette and sandstone. If you've ever scoffed when I said Marquette and Chicago and alike, just 100 times
apart in size, scoff no more.
8-)
Like I said, the only pictures I took
were with my phone, but you know what? I think what I did take
turned out quite nicely. Marquette South (excuse me, Chicago) is
just one of those places where it's almost impossible to take a bad
picture.
Just like it's almost impossible to not
enjoy yourself while you're there.
Okay, you know how I said I'd tell you
about our Chicago trip and give you a bunch of pictures today?
Apparently, I lied.
8-)
Okay; maybe “lie” is a little too
strong of a word. Let's just say I “over-promised”, instead. I
was hoping to get everything put together last night, but work, TV,
the desire to unpack my luggage, and the need for groceries (among
other things) kind of got in the way. Believe it or not, I haven't
even gotten the pictures off of my phone yet (a story in and of
itself), and since I can't post pictures without actually getting
them off of my camera...
Well, you see the issue here, right?
Thankfully, I have a little time
blocked off tonight to get the pictures off my phone and into my
laptop so I can share a few with you. So here I go, hopefully not
over-promising, and saying TOMORROW, you'll get the story of what we
did in Chicago, and, with any luck, pictures to go along with it.
Hopefully.
In the meantime, if you're bored,
here's what I did on TV last night, because as I explained yesterday,
it ties directly into the way our trip started (plus, you get to hear Kevin start to sing for no apparent reason)--
First of all, we're back safe &
sound from Chicago, where we had a great time. I'll write more about
that tomorrow (and share some pictures), but first I'd like to
address the one adventure we had, and that was Thursday as we were
trying to fly down. Because Sawyer was socked in with fog--
The plane we were supposed to fly out
on hadn't arrived yet, and we ourselves didn't leave until five or so
hours after our scheduled departure. That was no big deal (and
something I'll actually talk about on TV tonight), but it did provide us
with our first chuckle of the trip.
While we were waiting at Sawyer a woman
came up to us and said, and I'm quoting here, “what great adventure
are the two of you going on now”?
See? We're at an airport and people
think we're up to something wild. I hope we didn't disappoint her
when we said we were just going to Chicago for the weekend.
8-)
I suppose that if you're gonna have a
reputation, that of globe-trotting fun seeker isn't the worst to
have. And I don't know how this woman knew that we do take these
grand jaunts; neither Loraine nor I knew who she was, so we're
guessing that she must listen on air or follow along with our blogs
or something.
Either that, or the reputation we're
developed REALLY precedes us. I don't think it's that, but these
days you never know.
I'd write more, but as we all know,
there's no rest for the wicked, not with the first day of our
“Yooper 101” contest today and TV tonight. But tomorrow, there
will be more. I promise that.
And if you behave, there may even be a
picture or two.
For once, the weather looks like it
might actually cooperate. And that would be nice.
All systems are go for our little
weekend jaunt to the second greatest city in the US tomorrow. And I
have to admit—it'll be nice to get away for a few days, just to
wander the streets of Chicago and soak up the ambiance of the place.
Not only that, but while it's supposed to be in the 60s here (THE
greatest city in the US), highs (at least as of now) are supposed to
be in the lower to mid 80s (and mostly sunny) while we're down there, so for
once, the weather is on our side during a vacation.
So thank you, Mother Nature. We really
DO appreciate that.
I was thinking about that yesterday, as
the rain rained down upon Marquette. It seems like almost every time
we go somewhere it rains when it normally doesn't. I mean, think
back to our trip to Germany in 2018 when it rained for six straight
days, or our trip to Freiburg, Germany's sunniest city last year,
when it was sunny & warm the day before we got there, then rained
for the four days we were there, only to return to sunny & warm
the day we left the city.
And here, you think Mother Nature
doesn't have it in for us?
8-)
But like I said, it looks good for the
next few days in Chicago, and at the moment, that's all that matters.
While we're off enjoying views like this--
There won't be a new one of these.
However, I'll see if I can whip something up for Monday morning. If
not, I'll try to get to everything I can as soon as I can, just so
you can see that for once (hopefully), Mother Nature took pity on us
while we were traveling.
You know, I don't think I'd make a very
good billionaire. I'd want to give all my money away.
The Powerball saga that just wrapped up
(with a jackpot of 1.8 billion dollars) prompted my semi-joking TV
piece last night, about what I would do if I happened to hit the
lottery. But one thing in the bit was serious—if I had a billion
(or two) dollars, I wouldn't want to keep it.
I'd want to use it to help out as many
people as possible.
And right there, that would make me a
bad billionaire. Back in the old days, people like Andrew Carnegie
gave away their wealth for the betterment of others. These days,
billionaires want even more billions, and once they get more billions
they do things like build rockets or overthrow governments because
they don't want to pay taxes on their billions.
I mean, heaven forbid THAT happen.
So if I were to actually buy a
Powerball ticket and if I were to actually win a billion or two, I
probably wouldn't be allowed into the Billionaire Boys Club. But you
know what? I'm actually okay with that. I'd keep a couple of
million to live on (because I'm pretty sure pretty much everyone
could live on a couple of million bucks) and then I'd use the rest to
help out others who aren't billionaires.
Call it a character flaw if you must,
but that's what I'd do if I had a billion (or more) dollars.
*****
I don't know that I'd spend those
billions on what I talked about last night, but maybe a few of the
ideas might be a start.
By the way...I LOVE the expression on my face on the video screen grab. I'll start using that on my "Dpork of the Year" ID badge!
First of all, happy “Star Trek Day”
to those who celebrate. Second of all?
This is going to be a very busy week.
“Well”, you say, “What week is
your life ISN'T busy, Jim?”, to which I would replay “You're
absolutely right”. But in this case, it's extra busy, as I have a
mere three days in which to do five days of work, because Thursday
morning Loraine and I are blowing this Popsicle stand for our annual
long weekend in Chicago.
THAT'S why this is going to be a very
busy week.
As you know, we like to get away to our
second favorite city in the US on a regular basis, and as we've found
the past couple of years the second weekend in September seems to
work really well. The weather (at least down there) is still nice (in fact, the forecast calls for 80 or so & sunny each day we're there),
it's before "High School Bowl" starts shooting for the
year, and and there's enough going on in the Windy City that we
always seem to find a new experience or two which, considering the
number of times we've been there, is no mean feat.
We've already packed the three and a
half day schedule with waaaaay too many things we like to do, like
go to our favorite Indian restaurant., go to our favorite Greek
restaurant, go to our favorite Mexican restaurant, visiting our
favorite markets, go to out favorite food truck fair, and, uhm, eat
some more. But that's one of the great things about Chicago--you can
DO all that stuff, plus look at amazing architecture and spend a
little time in some very cool parks.
I've said this before, and I'll say it
again. Going to Chicago is just like being in Marquette,. except
it's (at least population wise) 4,000 times bigger.
So as the week (or at least the next
two days ) wears on and these might be just a bit shorter than usual,
please forgive me. Just know I've working hard to we can spend a few
days getting away to Marquette South, where we'll eat.
And, if time allows, maybe do a few
other things, as well.
It was nice out once. In fact, it was
even nice out earlier this week.
I know because I have photographic
proof.
We're now in the third day of a stretch
of gloomy, cold, wet weather (when I went running this morning it was 45 & raining), a sure sign (much like the empty park I
wrote about a few days ago) that fall is on the way. Yet we started
off the week with summer hanging on.
How do I know? Because I took pictures
on Labor Day.
The Peter White Public Library in
Marquette has a corps of volunteer master gardeners who keep their
grounds well manicured. They've been planting flowers throughout the
summer, and in the past week or two those flowers have been blooming
left and right. So Monday—Labor Day—when the sun was out and it
wasn't, you know, autumn, I took a camera over there to see what I
could see.
And just what DID I see? Well, I saw a
little magenta...
I saw this flower--
And I saw what might be its polar opposite--
I saw two bees busy at work--
And I saw what might be every single purple or purple-oriented color available in flowers--
I was snapping pictures left and right,
and wasn't really paying attention to what I shot until I transferred
them into my laptop. It was only then that I noticed this picture--
I don't know why, whether it's the
composition or the contrast of the colors, but I like it. I like it
a LOT.
I'd like to be able to go out and take
more pictures of flowers this weekend but, as we all know, that's
probably not gonna be possible. So just let me offer this—stay
warm this weekend. Stay dry this weekend.
We have some interesting neighbors.
And that's all I'm going to say about that.
As I've mentioned in here before, we
live in one of the most densely packed neighborhoods in Marquette.
On our block the ten houses hold a little over 20 dwellings, and
behind us is another string of houses, some single family and some
multi-family. So let's just establish the fact that there are a LOT
of people in our neighborhood.
Now usually, all these people living
near each other is fine. Those of us who've been in the neighborhood
for a while occasionally chat with each other, and we know that a
little courtesy goes along way.
It's just too bad not ALL of our
neighbors realize that.
In fact, the past two months have
brought three different kinds of neighborhood problems to the fore.
The first regards a couple across the street who've opened up a
landscaping business. Now that's fine, except for the fact that they
run it out of their home in a neighborhood zoned residential. When
they opened their business they bought seven different kinds of trucks (pickups, dump, and the like), and
since their driveway only holds two of the trucks at any one time the other five are
usually on the street, taking up parking spots from the people who
live in the twenty dwellings on the street.
Now, our car is parked in our driveway
and that really doesn't affect us, but based on the shouting and the
nasty notes I've seen left on a few of the trucks, it DOES bother
other people living in the neighborhood..
Then there's the dude whose garage is
about 60 feet behind our apartment, separated by the small back yard
of our next door neighbor. For some reason, this dude decided to buy
a 60s-era sports car that doesn't run, and is attempting to fix it
with a friend and/or relative. That means that during random hours
of the day and the night we're subjected to the sound of the car
backfiring (and sounding for all the world like a gunshot) followed
by at least 60 seconds of four letter words as the two people trying
to fix the car take out their frustrations on each other.
Finally, there's a dude who moved into
one of the apartments in the house next door to where we live. The
dude, who apparently doesn't have much of a life, sits on their front
porch day and night. Now, I don't have a problem with that; after
all, we should probably ALL spend more time on our front porches,
especially when its nice out. But when this dude sits on his front
porch he lights up what appears to be one of the world's biggest
joints, and when he exhales the smoke wafts into our living room,
causing us to either shut our windows or enjoy what I'm sure is quite
possibly the world's biggest contact high.
And he does this four or five times a
day.
Now once again, don't get me wrong. If
you want to partake, partake. Even though I don't, I DID vote to
legalize marijuana, and I've met people for whom it's a lifesaver.
So I don't have anything against smoking pot. But when you do it
four or five times a day, and let left the smoke from it drift into
other people's homes?
Well, it's almost--ALMOST--enough to
make one wish that the pot dude would buy a 60s-era sports car
himself, and unleash a volley of four letter works every time it
backfires, instead of what he does do.
Like I said, almost everyone who lives
in our densely packed neighborhood is a good neighbor. They think of
others before they do something that might affect others. But there
are always those few who, whether they intend to or not, that make
you shake your head and hope they they soon find themselves another
place to live.
Because yesterday was (perhaps) the
last nice day we might see until next May, I grabbed a laptop and, as
I do on occasion, went down to Lower Harbor Park to write a bunchy of
stuff. I've done that many times this summer, and the park is
usually filled with throngs of people playing, picnicking, or, like
last week, filled with kids tearing up the grass on e-bikes.
But yesterday, a day when it was 77
degrees and sunny? I was the only one in the park except, sadly, for
about two dozen geese (which you may or not be able to see in this
picture).
You really CAN tell that summer's over
and the kids are back in school, can't you?
It's funny; I was actually down at the
park the day before yesterday (Labor Day) and the place was teeming
with people, what I'm sure were a mix of locals and tourists taking
advantage of one of the crown jewels of the Marquette park system.
But yesterday, a day that was arguably nicer than Labor Day itself?
Let's just say I'm both surprised and, simultaneously, not surprised.
I joked on TV last week that the "weather" portion of
summer ended August 16th.
Well, now we know when the "fun"
part of summer ended, as well.
I'm hoping there will be more nice days
and I'm hoping that on those nice days parks like Lower Harbor will
fill up, even if it happens on a week day. But sitting alone in an
empty park (well, except for those perpetual pooping machines walking
around) was a strange sight.
An yet another sign that summer is, if
not totally over, very close to being that way.
Every time I start to think about doing
another set I shake my head at the fact that I'm about to jump back
into the fray. You'd think I'd learn my lesson one of these days,
right?
First of all, hope you had a great
holiday weekend, and took advantage of the fact that summer returned,
especially here in the UP. I know I sure did. I played outside as
much as I could, and for a few precious hours each days did something
that was strange--
I did nothing. And with the way my
life is going these days, we all know how weird THAT is.
But when I was doing something, one of
those “somethings” was to begin work on season five (5!) of those
"Pieces of the Past" videos I make for the Marquette
Regional History Center. The videos are a ton of work to put
together, although in the end both the comments I get from people and
the creative satisfaction I get out of seeing the finished product
almost makes that work worth it. In a way, they're kind of what
someone once told me about having children--when you're in the
process of popping them out you never want do it again.
But as soon as you see them, you know
it was worth it.
Not having any kids, I'll take their
word for it, but I kinda understand the point they're trying to make.
It seems like it's very much like the reaction I have when I'm about
to tackle another set of the videos, and I'm hoping I get the same
reaction with this series. There will be twelve of them this time
around, a slightly smaller number than normal, but for a good
reason--the first and the last of them are what I'm calling "epics".
The debut episode will be a video version of my "...And Put Up
a Parking Lot" tour, and it's looking like it'll be 15 minutes
or so long.
That, however, is nothing compared to
what I'm planning for the final one, which will be at least half an
hour and deal with the history of grocery stores in Marquette. I'm
actually interviewing people for this one, and I haven't finished
that portion of it yet, so at this moment I have no idea how long
it'll be.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed it won't
be, like, three hours or anything. And it wouldn't surprise me if it
actually isn't part of the “season” and, instead, becomes
something else altogether.
We'll see.
I'm getting a little help on a few of
them, as well. My pal Emily, who runs the History Center's social
media accounts and (briefly) made me a Tik Tok star last year, has
been shooting a bunch of B-Roll (background footage) with a Steadicam
she has. And as I'm starting tp put the parking lot epic together I
have to admit that her work bumps these little things up a notch in
quality. She was originally just shooting B-Roll for the “Parking
Lot” piece, but I'm trying to incorporate her stuff in as many
pieces as I can.
We'll see how it all turns out.
I have no idea when these will debut.
but I'm looking forward to sharing the big stories I previously
mentioned, along with a bunch of shorter ones on topics ranging from
the DSS&A railroad to JD Pierce school to the incredibly strange
(but true) story of Marquette's favorite old-time lady of the night.
The end product, I'm sure, will be something about which I'll be
quite proud.
The putting together of the end
product, as I'm doing now? Well, that might be a pain in the butt
for a while. We'll just have to see how much it compares to, say, childbirth.
