Mark Russell

My father used to love to watch Mark Russell's comedy on the public TV station. I thought of this because Russell is still doing his show and it was on tonight. Frankly, I didn't care for it so much when my dad was alive nor do I care much for it now.   ¶ 5:54 PM

  New HR Streak Ends. Old HR Streak Remembered.

Yesterday, Barry Bonds's HR game streak ended at 7 (8 HRs in those 7 games). I remembered back to May 12-18, 1968 when Frank Howard had 10 HRs in 6 games with at least one HR in each. This was during the best pitchers year ever. Frank Howard lived not far from us.   ¶ 7:23 PM

  More plant memories

The peonies and the shamrock plants I have from my mother are coming up fine this year. The best plant they had was a wide spreading red maple tree. It is such a beautiful plant but it grows very slowly and until it is about 10 years old it is vulnerable to drought and disease. I don't have room here for such a tree -- probably good because I would obscess over it.  ¶ 5:40 PM

  Lawn memories

I used to mow the lawn in the 60s for my parents. I remember I didn't mind it and even mowed other people's lawns (for pay). Even in the late 60s when I had a summer job as a letter carrier I would mow the lawn. As I got older, I began to dislike the smell of gasoline intensely (probably this happened in the 80s). I remember this today because the new generation of gas cans is essentially leak proof and has a good vapor lock.   ¶ 7:33 AM

  Another Sedar memory

When I was young, my brother and I had the task of carrying a bowl and towel around for everybody to use at the Sedar table before the Passover meal (actually before the karpas and then before the matzah). I also had Beth and George do this for a number of years when they were young. However, I stopped this practise one year after a big water spill. It is obviously safer for people to get up, go to the sink and wash. I explained this change in practice during our second sedar this year (April 6, 2004) just before the 2nd washing. Afterward, one person (I think he was hard of hearing, he was 89 years old) said to his wife, "they are supposed to bring the bowl around".   ¶ 3:24 PM