THALIA, THALIA, WHERE ART THOU THALIA?

So Centre street runs from the heart of Jamaica Plain through the heart of West Roxbury--or at least the commercial hearts of both. Each neighborhood contains a large Post Office. The one in JP is like the United Nations. A lot of customers do not speak English and very few if any of the clerks speak any language other than
English. Unfortunately, this creates major back ups on all runways especially when only one clerk is even there. But Thalia was a special clerk. Though she speaks only English, she acted almost like a hostess--taking care of each "guest's" problems calmly and soothingly. Even when language was a barrier, she was able to bridge that with her demeanor. Having said all that, the place was nuts. And then one day Thalia was gone. So, in the process of renewing my passport(don't worry this story is almost over), I decide to avoid the JP post office because of its chaos and go to West Roxbury. VOILA!! My hostess re-appeared. Thalia had transferred out and was now hostessing in West Roxbury. I felt such relief and familiarity and she took good care of me. Now my big issue is whether to abandon my neighborhood post office altogether and follow Thalia. What a dilemma.

These next two anecdotes seem like they are about sports but read on you avoiders of all things sportish. Watching the Women's World Cup, one of the differences between the Northern Europeans and the Central Europeans was quite evident. The Norwegian and Swedish women were all blond blue eyed stereotypical Norsewomen. The Germans, English, and French had players of color and players with names that obviously were not French/German/English in origin. If those countries ever change to more restrictive immigration laws, I am not sure what their soccer teams will do.

Second sportish anecdote: Barbara and I made our annual summer excursion to a low level minor league baseball game. Saw the Brockton Rox of the Can Am League. This is a league which is independent. That means they have no affiliation with any major league team and the players have no contracts with any of those teams. $7.50 for a seat in the first row just beyond first base. A beautiful little field on the campus of Brockton High whose teams play there. Maybe 200 people there. Miracle of miracles--I got my first foul ball ever. One hop and into my hands without me having to push any kid aside. I did, however, being a great humanitarian, give it to the first kid I saw. A great night.

So Eric Cantor (he who is a member of my tribe) was disturbed at how the President treated him at one of those debt meetings. He is lucky the Prez did not kick his ass out. Eric needs to get a grip and quit whining. I happen to believe he is also mis reading people about revenue especially tax breaks for the wealthy. Be that as it may, it is beyond me how these guys get away with such disrespect of the President. I have seen disagreements before; but this borders on malice and in my deep dark paranoid recesses, I am convinced the issue of skin color is right below the surface.

I happen not to understand this debt shit anyhow though the end of the world as we know it apparently is tied up in resolving it. I get social Security but don't rely on it as a primary source of income. Some people do and that is probably the only reason I believe this will get resolved--no one wants to run for re-election having made a bunch of poor retirees miss a check. Or at least I hope that is true.

OK, we have the return of great white sharks off the Cape. Panic set in just like last year and it's the fault of those damn seals. If they would just stop reproducing and then lolling around with their kids just off shore, then the sharks would go bye bye. Some people have suggested the resolution is to shoot the seals. People are so needy for the simple. You say things are complicated and the glaze settles in over their eyeballs.

I did it again: I love most of Neil Young's song especially his acoustic stuff. On "Prairie Wind" which is one of my favorite discs, there is a song called "I'm Here for You". Its about a child (in his case his daughter) who is leaving home. And what I did again in the car as I listened was start to cry. I mean I love the song but it hits me on so many levels. I can almost predict these outbursts.

SPORTS TALK

So the American women played great but did not lose because of the penalty kicks. They lost because of the same reason many teams lose--they could not hold a late lead. That is primarily due to the part of the game played from the neck up. And Solo was not as strong as any of the talking heads had us believing.

ARod and Jeter, though elected, had no business playing in that all star game and I am glad they missed it. On the other hand, forget the home run contest, but Mr. Cano is the best second baseman in the game. And as I have said before, Dustin is not in the same boat as Cano and it is not close.

What is also not close is that the Yanks pitching sucks and I have seen Mariano look way too normal. Papelbon is not much better but if the red flops ever get Bucholz and Lester back, its theirs to lose. Lackey and Burnett cancel each other out since each is horrid. CC is the best of the bunch but can only go out every 5th day and that's not enough. My boys will have trouble being the wild card.

Great nickname: Ryan Braun is a member of my tribe as well as an outfielder with the Milwaukee Brewers though I cannot for the life of me imagine Jewish people naming their son Ryan but that's for another day. His teammates have nicknamed him "(He)Brewer". Is that great or what?

Off to Maine Wednesday to the old stomping grounds including a visit to my mother's grave--its been 27 years. Will say a memorial prayer/visit a few other relatives buried there and have some lobster on the return. My mother loved lobster.

Sayonara.