Diners

So Phil Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond, Somebody Feed Phil) is opening a diner called Max and Helens. They were his parents that appeared on his latest show.  Phil would have comedian pals send a "joke for Max." in many episodes.  As all parents do, they died.  I saw a recent interview with him where is was shared that the diner and is concept is a dying tradition.  It's really an eastern convention that serves regular home style meals like you may get for breakfast or dinner.  Coffee that flows like a river of life is served in thick ceramic cups and never is empty.  

In New Jersey there still are many of these places.  Old men gather there in the mornings to meet with their life long friends.  Men in work clothes shuffle in for breakfast before starting their labors.  Discussions over the work ahead and last nights sports event fill the air.  No one is fancy.  Everyone has their favorite waitress looking like your favorite aunt, that recognized them by name.  This was a place that just felt like home away from home.  

When I was out as a salesman,  I would stop to eat at diners always noticing mood of the places and leave quite satisfied full of the spectacular cheesecake.  

Eating together is an important ritual that has fallen off with everyone being so busy, getting thru the day jamming something in the mouth and running out the door..  Family dinners are more of a rarity because all are going in multiple directions at once. Cooking and plating and placing it in front of family members does not occur enough.

So, make soup or spaghetti or blintzes or shawarma sandwiches and eat together.  That is the key word.

thats it

a deal?

its a helluva tradeoff.  Raise healthcare costs for millions of Americans or feed hungry citizens. So a group of Democrats caved and joined the opposition to re open the government.  They could have fought on with no hope of a change of position of the opposition.  More federal employees would not be paid and air traffic could be slowed to a stop. SNAP benefits that feed children would not be renewed and kids would go hungry.  The tradeoff will triple healthcare costs for some and eliminated healthcare for many.  This is not good.  

I have a daughter that is a federal employee that has been working without pay since the beginning of this.  I cannot imagine working for free.  Frankly, pay is the reason we do it at all. Quite frankly, they need the money for housing, food and gas in their cars.

This is not a good solution.  It is not equitable.  I am not happy about it.  But it lives in the reality we created.

New photos taken this weekend of the fam.  They turned out great.  Katey, my planner, setup the whole thing.

Happy Veterans Day to her and her brother Jon along with all who served.;  thats it.

afraid to be hopeful

I am afraid to be hopeful.  In local races around the country, Republican candidates were soundly defeated in yesterday's elections.  America has spoken.  Women have spoken and were elected to many state and local positions.  Trump said the results were because he wasn't on the ticket. These elections were in fact a referendum on his rule.   And in truth, I find myself being emotionally exhausted all the time I think of the state of our republic.  

We have visitors last night after dark.  I was upstairs with Harry letting out.  Peering out the back window, I saw a set of antlers marching across the back yard.  This was a really big guy.  Somehow Harry got out and decided to challenge the deer.  The outcome was not good.  They when eyeball to eyeball and the dog backed down.  I yelled for him to come in and reluctantly complied.  We have a fenced in yard (to keep the dogs in) and really didn't other critters would get in.  This deer leaped over the fence clearing it by about a foot; so much for fencing.

Completely unrelated subject.  Did you ever have a dream and wake up shaking and panting?  Last night I had an overflowing toilet in my dream and it terrified me.  Knew it was a dream but struggled to wake up. Retreated to the couch for the rest of the night.

always good to take a Harry picture.

that it

SNAP

Broke citizens that cannot afford it, are stepping up and paying for their neighbors to feed their families with food staples. Politicians are taking vacations and our president is on a tour of the far east.  World Central Kitchen will be here next preparing meals.  Federal workers are working for no pay and they too are in the food bank lines.  This shutdown is having dire consequences for most of us.  Those in gated communities are not suffering much.  

Daughter Shannon resides in a well run group home.  There are 5 residents, all adults thats are profoundly disabled.  Most are not employable but still should be cared for by our government.  All receive SNAP benefits that are now cut off.  Staff tells me they are not in trouble financially yet.  These benefits fill the refrigerator and the cupboards with food and supplies. This is essential for their care and survival.  Each resident receives SNAP and the staff spends the money at the grocery store and everybody eats their 3 meals a day.  I cannot say this any plainer.  There are no magical charity funds filling in the spaces.  

This matter needs to be resolved soon and those using ACA cannot pay the huge increase that is slated.  

thats it 

a big beautiful addition

 

It's not like you put on an attached garage at your house in Warren MI or other city in America. And there is an awning or breezeway connecting the new structure.  Be is known that The Peoples House operates under the auspices of the National Parks Service.  Changing the shape of the structure and more than doubling the size of the edifice of one of the most recognizable buildings in our country without permission of the Parks Service is wrong in my opinion,  I don't care if you want to put a bowling alley in the basement or tennis courts in the yard or a putting green in.  These don't bother me.  But when the East wing is demolished and there are holes in the structure, I am unhappy.  

Also we used to have a Rose Garden.  Countless ceremonies took place there.  There were lots of roses.  Some were probably decades old.  Roses restart every spring.  All gone, all ripped out replaced by a concrete slab with garden tables set up.  I think of all those gardeners that tended the roses.  Tending is the key word.  Gardens need to be tended, snipping off the dead stuff, feeding, watering allowing for more propagation and growth.  Not so much with a concrete slab, a quick spray down with a hose and you're done as there is nothing growing there.  I know that ladies in heels are better off on the concrete.  They could wear sneakers and no one would mind..

I have spoke my piece admittedly a bit rambling. Yes I know that FDR operated on the building in the thirties. It was wrong then as it is now.  

Locally, Ford could have ripped down Michigan Central Station, but they didn't. They cleaned it up, preserved the building and have repurposed it.  It is the neighborhood jewel again.

thats it

ATC

 When I was in my twenties and working the afternoon shift at Central Transport in the rate department, I first became acquainted with All Things Considered.  Because of my desk job seated in front of a computer screen, I could listen to the radio quietly.  At five o'clock, the familiar theme music came up from the speakers and "from. National Public Radio, it's All Things Considered".  One of the early hosts of that program, was Susan Stamberg.  Hers was a familiar voice that I looked forward to hearing each day, a smart friend that delivered information about the world.  Her tone was always comforting and assuring.  Not a pretty voice but a resonant one, she helped me complete my day and taught me a little.  I was always sad when the daily program was done.  She left us recently and was again another reminder that good things cannot last forever.

Big "No Kings" protests coming today, about 2500 around the country are planned.  Citizens will be streaming onto the main streets with signs and shouts.  The most fierce of the protesters are not the youngsters with tattoos and nose rings.  They are the grandmas with concerns for their grandchildren. Unlike those worried about the economy, they are furious for their precious grand babies futures.  Push them aside and push them down; these ladies remain undeterred and will not be silenced.   At a variety of advanced ages, these folks have little to lose and fewer cares about who they piss off. MAGA's, watch out for these furious old ladies!  

My driving is not what it used to be.  Venturing to new places makes me uneasy.  Driving at night with all the glares is somewhat unsettling.  I do it, but not happily.  It's another one of life's unpleasant realities.

We will have Shannon today and more Disney movies coming up.  Considering everything, it will be a good break

an old guy at the Riverwalk 

thats it

A passing

How could you not fall in love with Annie Hall?  She was pretty, cute and quirky and instantly attractive.  You just wanted to be with her and gaze into her eyes.  It  was not a sexual thing, but a closeness thing.  Diane Keaton will be and is missed already.  As a person, she seemed approachable which was one of her most enduring features.  I don't write about celebrities that passed on.  But for her, I made an exception.

thats it