odds and ends

babs and i went to nj and nyc this past weekend. noticed a couple of things. the globe truly has become the stepchild of the times. it is thinner for one thing. and for another the times does not use very many wire services or wire reports--the globe is chock full of them. kind of like stepchildren in a dysfunctional family. i do think it needs a local buyout. second, neal, tess, anna, and i went to see the Brooklyn cyclones on coney island--a class A minor league team of the ny mets. just a gorgeous night though the nathan hot dogs inside were a bit lower in quality than the ones from the original stand just outside the stadium (those greasy grills must be 100's of years old). but minor league baseball is very special. young kids playing ball in a small stadium (seats about 3500) with the roller coaster visible over the left field fence and the no longer used parachute ride visible along the right field foul pole. been to three of these small fields now and have a trip to maine in august to see the sea dogs of portland. love them all



a long time ago, i visited brooklyn, played stickball with my orthodox cousin joseph in the street, went on the parachute jump, used tefillin for the very first time, and saw a game at ebbets field. on our way to maine we had made this stop to visit relatives who never moved onto maine after their arrival from europe. i believe joseph remains somewhere near mt. holyoke college where he was or still is a professor.



so sessions will lose his fight but did get sonia a bit on the defensive--now they will hold things up a week just to show folks they have some back bone. but she will get approved. some of those reublicans are just unpleasant and/or stupid--has anyone ever seen that cantor guy from virginia--oh my and i am deeply worried he is a member of my tribe.



we should all worry about health care however. just hope he gets tough about it tomorrow night. all the yakkers are yakking about his ability to win this one (and of course what it means to his presidency in just the 6th month) which is even more of a reason to be sure he does win. but given the experience here in mass., it will be a bank breaker and the hospitals will not lose in any of these deals. we are"all insured" here but it is costing a fortune and people are still clogging up er's partly because there are no primary care physicians available.



WARNING--SPORTS TALK FOLLOWS: Sorry charles but i have no clue why the jays would trade halliday. dont care what they get back. he could be a hall of famer and could win 300 games. gotta give him the $$$ and maybe lose wells.



am very excited about mr. brady and the boys coming back in a couple of weeks. i do believe belichik is special even if i think his act is a bit boring at this point. do love him for not wearing a tie on the sidelines.



my yanks have pulled up even with those bloody sox who do miss manny's bat but not his attitude. i do believe ortiz's problems reflect partly manny's absence. he can get pitched around without any worries that someone will hurt them deep.



SPORTS TALK OVER



I hate it when olberman and/or jon stewart are on vacation--their replacements are just not good. lewis black was on stewart as a guest last night and had me in tears. bob and i are going to see him in august. plus the big news is that john prine is coming here in november. with patti griffin.



we visit charles and myra this weekend in newport at the same time that jess and her family head for germany for a month. we will miss them but are looking forward to our time in newport

charles and i have been friends now for almost 60 years and it feels very special.



the memorial for sy was this past sunday. i found it very sad but they gave out bookmarks with his picture on them--a voracious reader and learner, this was a perfect "gift" for us to hold onto.



more later.