The month of August started off with a BANG! when my amplifier blew up! While watching a movie in the Screening Room one of the many remotes sat on top of the volume control of the SONY amplifier/receiver remote. It raised the volume so high, it blew the driver amplifier. The “Protector” signal blinked to indicate a short and the amp wouldn’t work, even though the remotes and all the functions worked for about five seconds when powering on before the Protector light blinked. I removed all the parts and no dice. Took it to McCann Electronics and $160 dollars later, it was working again. Could have sent it to SONY in Laredo for repair for $125, but the packaging, insurance, and postage hassle would have cost me about the same amount in aggravation. This SONY device had been giving me problems because its remote uses some of the same codes as the WEGA TV we watch a lot. Changing the sound source would cause the WEGA to bounce around to other channels. Very irritating. To eliminate this problem in the future, I went to Alterman Audio where a very competent salesman and audio expert, Rodney Davis, showed me a Pioneer amp/receiver which has DVR connections, something we were lacking before, plus it won’t cause interference with my SONY devices. Seems a shame to have to change companies just so their remotes won’t interfere with each other. In the busyness which followed our return from Alaska, I still haven’t gotten to connecting up the Pioneer. It is scheduled afterl I finish my Digest for September.
Adding up the days of August I was away from my PC, it comes up to 16 days, more than half a month away from writing of any kind or of processing the over 750 photos I took during that time. It was a relaxing vacation, of course, a true vacation for a writer when away from my PC, Laptop, Emails, and the Internet. But since I am the photographer, writer, editor, layout artist, galley-proofer, reader, and chief cook and bottle-washer, those remaining days of August were busy days for me. The one thing I could do while on our Alaskan Cruise was to read and I was able to start and finish “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and “Letters to a Young Novelist” on the boat. Those are included in my reviewed books this month along with “The Soul’s Probation” which I finished shortly before leaving for Alaska.
One more thing, I dropped my PC off to be upgraded with a new power supply, CD/DVD player/recorder, and a second gigabyte of RAM. The RAM is needed to lubricate the intensive photo-editing I do in preparation for the Digest and to process the many photos I do each month. Since I do about 300 photos in an average month, consider the impact of doing 750 in August.
First, Seattle. We decided to fly into Seattle a day ahead of time. Our other two trips there were made when our son Rob lived in Redmond and we only saw his home and the drive to Whistler, B.C. during those trips back before 2000. We wanted to walk around, smell, taste, and get the feel of Seattle on this trip, and we managed to do that by booking a room at the Edgewater Hotel on Pier 67 right next to Pier 66 where our Norwegian Star cruise boat docked. We left Louis Armstrong airport in New Orleans about 5:30 which meant leaving for the airport about 3:30 am, and got to Seattle around noon at the Edgewater. We had lunch with Vincent, a friend and contributor to the Doyletics Foundation, in the Edgewater Restaurant overlooking the picturesque Elliott Bay. After Vincent left, Del and I walked down the row of piers to the Pike Market elevator, went up six floors to the market. We enjoyed watching “low-flying fish” activity at the Fish Market, the abundance of flowers in bloom for sale for amazingly low prices, and the block-sized grassy park at the top of the six floors of parking garage with the great views of Elliott Bay and Mt. Rainer. 
Seattle was showing off for us on this trip. Nary a cloud in the sky, no raindrops falling on our head, just beautiful clear days and cool temperatures. We loved the Edgewater Hotel. The bellman Josh took care of getting our baggage to Pier 66 for us and we simply checked out of the hotel and walked down the Alaskan Way sidewalk, up the ramp, and into the ship. We went first to the top deck to watch the Blue Angels Airshow which took place over all of downtown Seattle and Elliott Bay. Difficult getting clear photos, but I managed a few. Sailboats, Victoria ferries, motorboats, cargo ships all plied the waters of Elliott Bay and made an awesome sight with Mount Rainier to the south of us and the Olympia Mountains framing our northern aspect. Lucky for me I had bought two more 1 Gb memory sticks to supplement the one in my new SONY P200 camera. I was still learning to use the camera and that made photo-taking problematic at times for me and Del. Lucky for you, I’ll only show you the good ones.
Okay, Alaska. We disembarked from Pier 66 on time about 4 pm or so and headed north for Alaska. Our stateroom with an outside patio and balcony was great! The room was about four or five staterooms back from the bow and we could sit on the couch and watch Vancouver Island slip past us, whales spouting streams of water into air, pilot boats coming near, and even go outside and lean over the wooden railing if we wished to get a better look down, fore, or aft.
First full day on the ship we began with a long breakfast in the Versailles Dining room aft, looking out over the receding wake of the ship. We met two couples at an adjacent table. I took a photo of Del at the table, and a lady offered to take our photo together. I then took photos for the two couples at their table using their cameras We talked about the NCL’s freestyle seating and shared how we liked the RCL better. They invited us to join their table for lunch in Versailles Room, and later for dinner in the Aqua restaurant. These were the two places we dined most of the time. Marilyn and Joe (he, professor of physics, Wheaton College) Coral and Art (she retired prof of English Literature and he prof of Greek at Wheaton College). This made us very happy: two sets of friends to enjoy dinner, lunch, and breakfast 
with. It was still different than the Royal Carribean Line where we had the same table waiters each time for dinner, but we quickly got to meet a lot of the serving staff. The cute girls from Romania were the sweetest and easiest to talk to. The rest were mostly Asians who usually gave out with the abrupt stereotypical Berlitz lingo, “Goot Morning. How are you?” and such. Very little conversation with them. The hostess at the two restaurants came to recognize our party of six and gave us the tables we wanted.
The glacier lecture was given by a Professor A-meritus (yes, a professor without merit!) who couldn’t spell John Muir’s name correctly (WUIR) on all of his PowerPoint slides, sometimes two or three times prominently. He also had no clue as to how to pronounce “fiord”, saying fuh-jord instead. He was an embarrassment to watch in action just to glean a few grains of information from his lecture.
Del and I joined the other two couples for dinner in the Aqua Room, and had a fine meal and great company getting to know each other. We went to a show in the Stardust which was fun. I think it was the Magic-Comedy act. He was hilarious, especially when he opened his instruction sheet to “refresh his memory” in the middle of performing one of his tricks.
Next day we pulled into Juneau for our first trip into Alaska. We went ashore, disdaining to take any of the long shore excursions, but to explore Juneau. We went through the shopping area and Del took a photo of me coming out of the famous Red Dog saloon through the swiveling saloon doors. In the afternoon, we took a bus with Sonny as our driver out to the Mendenhall Glacier behind Juneau. We saw a bald eagle sitting on a dead tree in the middle of a river to our left, but only from a distance. It was misty and cold and I kept my cowl from my red jacket over my head the whole time. We bought some souvenirs in the shops, but ate on the ship. 
The next day found us in Skagway, and we toured the small town of 600 or so with the other two couples. Marilyn had a knack for researching the internet and reading all the brochures and deciphering the maps, so the rest of us were happy for her to lead us through the Museum, and other parts of Skagway. When they split off from us to take their early train ride on the White Pass Express, Del had lunch at the Red Onion Saloon. With the vested piano-man playing away and the young ladies with their bare bosoms pressed up by the tight corsets, the place was redolent of its olden days as a house of pleasure. They were all very sweet and not lascivious at all, but one could get the flavor of the ghosts of the gold miners titillated by the ladies’ presence. Across the street I noticed Jeff. Smith’s Parlor, an abandoned building not much wider than an old stand-alone barber shop in which Jefferson “Soapie” Smith met with his henchmen who ran Skagway 
until the famous shootout which ended his reign after the townspeople had had enough of his thieving and scheming ways. He’d take money from people under the pretext of sending a telegraph to their folks back home and then a week or two later would fabricate a telegram coming from home asking for money. He’d then take that money under pretext of wiring back home for them, but pocketed it instead.
We enjoyed our lunch, took photos, took a nap back in our stateroom later, then boarded the train for our trip to the White Pass. Even though we had hoped for as pretty weather as Seattle, it was cloudy most of the time in Alaska, and still the views on the train ride were spectacular. I was able to stand on the end of our car, the last on the ride up and take photos in almost 300 degrees of the terrain, the river gorge below, the stately Christmas trees, and the mountains when occasionally the clouds revealed their snow-covered tops. On the way down, the engines pulled us as the first car and photo-taking was not as much fun, but we were on the side facing the mountain inside of the gorge, so it didn’t matter.
The next morning we headed into Glacier Bay and spent most of our time at Margery Glacier. About 4,000 feet thick of ice which is pushing the ice into a flowing glacial form. You need a minimum of only 63 feet of ice to make a glacier. So the Andes ones in Peru may be minimal glaciers and thus they disappear and re-appear with minor temperature fluctuations. These glaciers will be here indefinitely, simple shrinking and growing a bit into the bays as they’ve done in the past few decades. Yes, they actually grew shorter and longer during the past thirty years, and are on a shorter run at this time.
We took photos of the glaciers and had lunch the two of us in the Versailles. That night we joined our friends in the Italian Specialty Restaurant, the Trattoria, which required a reservation. Our waitress was fun, a Romanian gal, Daniella, I think.
The next day we docked in Canada for the first time at the port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Quite a coincidence that we had a descendant of Prince Rupert in our midst, Art Rupprecht, which is the German spelling of Rupert, I believe. Again Marilyn had the map in her hands. Del and I tried to find the Museum of B.C., but headed in wrong direction and when we turned around there was the Museum. We’d walked right past it. The Wheaton group came into the museum after we had seen most of it. While there, we heard about the sculpture studio where they did wood carving, and I wanted to see it, as did the rest of the group. So we walked there. First we located a sunken garden, a small-scale version of Buchardt Gardens, and I took a bunch of photos. Then we found the shed with the sculptor at work, but too many folks were there for me to get more than a simple thru the door snapshot. Got a nice shot of Coral and Art sitting on a bench outside.
Next day was Saturday and we steamed into Victoria about 6 pm, with still plenty of daylight to tour the city and even do Buchardt Gardens if we wanted to, but we’d visited the gardens on an earlier trip to Vancouver Island. Our friends went to the gardens, and we went on a double decker bus to downtown. Stopped in front of Empress Hotel across from and with great view of theAugust 29, 2006 Parliament Bldg which lights up at night. We had eaten a big meal for dinner about 8 pm before we left the boat, so we were too full to attempt the high tea in the Empress. We were impressed by the Empress, of course, and the High Tea looked scrumptious. We saw them serving tea to some latecomers even after dark.
Afterward we walked through the incredible art galleries in the Empress and surrounding convention center, especially notable were the images of Indians in bronze with treated surfaces looking like green buckskin, we took a cab back to the pier for only $6 Canadian. When we got back we did our final packing for exiting the ship in the morning.
In the morning we docked bac at Pier 66, Del and I took a table for six and our friends from Wheaton joined us for our last meal together on the boat. We shared our stories of Victoria. Marilyn decided to accept our offer to store their bags at the Edgewater Hotel and they met us there. Joe actually called me on his cell while we walking our bags over and were in the parking lot of the hotel. The four of them were enjoying themselves in the lobby when we got there. We checked in and we helped them get their bags secured. Then the six of us began walking down Alaskan Way along the piers. Marilyn checked the bus schedule and found a free shuttle bus and we took it to the end of the line. It did not return back, but went to the bus garage, so we walked into Chinatown with Paul, a former employee of MS and now with Amazon, who acted as an informal tour guide after we met him on the bus. Art and I needed a rest room and we walked into Starbucks only to find that coffeeshops do not have to provide rest room facilities in downtown Seattle as they do almost everywhere else in the country. Luckily, Paul was getting coffee at Starbucks and he pointed out a Men’s room in his office building. Later we walked across the street to the only store open on Sunday, a Mall full of Chinese shops.
The three ladies did what ladies do in shopping malls, while the guys mostly sat and talked. Then we took the bus back and got off at Pike’s Place Market elevator. Del and I, only two days in Seattle became the tour guides. We took them upstairs and into the Pike Fish Market where the guys were tossing large fish to each other when someone ordered them. A guy right in front of Del caught two fish in a row, but the next one went over his head into the crowd. Del ducked, but it turned out to be a stuffed fish and a practical joke. Got that on .mpg with my camera, but you can’t tell what the shadow was flying past. The Wheaton group needed to go to the airport, so I led them quickly through the park area overlooking Elliott Bay and down the other elevator and across to the Edgewater where the limo took them directly to the airport. Del and I were alone again in Seattle. What to do next? It was only mid-afternoon, and the days are long.
Del wanted to see the Space Needle so we got Josh to arrange a restaurant reservation for the Needle and a van to take us there. Then we checked into our new room, upgraded to Bay side, and took a long nap with the windows opened and the breeze over the water flowing in. Also put on the fireplace in the room. The hotel’s van dropped us off near the Space Needle. We were half an hour early so they made us wait for the next elevator and then let us up to the observation deck where we could walk down one flight of stairs to the restaurant when our table was ready. I took some photos of Seattle through the glass but there was iron cable railings in the way. Del went outside to shoot a couple of photos. When Del came back in, I suggested we leave without eating, ride the monorail, do some shopping and find another restaurant near Elliott Bay. We ended up in downtown, but Nordstrom’s and all the other places we wanted to shop were closed. We found Pike Street and walked to the market which was by then closed and most everyone gone. We started to go down the elevator when Del saw Cutter’s Bayshore Restaurant and we went in and got a table. Had a great crab appetizer and white ivory salmon. We walked back to the EW hotel and went to Room 146, watched the boats on Elliott Bay, watched a movie on the flat screen TV and went to sleep.
The next day was Monday and we spent it flying back to New Orleans, arriving about 9 pm at the airport and 10 pm at home. The Edgewater bellman put our bags in the trunk of a Lincoln Towncar and off we went. I asked the driver about his native country – Ethiopia – and who Haile Selassie was. I recognized the name because he appeared so often on Newsreels and later on TV news in the 1950s. He said Selassie was a despicable despot who lived off his people but did not help them at all. After 40 years he was deposed and killed by his right hand man who then asked the USA for help, and getting none, turned to Russia (USSR) for help. The Reds were delighted to have another country become communist so gave him money, guns, and this advice: “Kill anyone who disagrees with you.” He did and he was a worse despot than Selassie. Things have settled down there now with a modicum of democracy. A nice history lesson to pass the time on the way to SEA-TAC Airport. The flap over liquids in carry-on baggage forced us to check all our bags. With a long stopover in Houston and a loss of two hours due to time change it was a long day spent flying. We lucked out on the flight from Houston to New Orleans and got an empty seat between us. It was a great way to end a long and at times tiring and sometimes trying vacation, but we enjoyed it to the fullest.
Arrival home at Timberlane was a blessed relief, but I spent most of the ensuing week fixing things. My PC was not working when I got it home. I could only get it to re-boot in Safe Mode, so I left it there and was able to begin processing my photos. For me processing involves inspecting each photo, cropping, lightening, editing, dating, and storing in a compressed mode appropriately in a file labeled with the date and identification of the places and people in each photo. Almost took as long in terms of days to process my cruise photos as we spent on the cruise. About 7 days later, my cruise photos were done and then two more must-do events came up:
Our son Jim celebrated his wedding to Gina in the Beaumont area of Texas. We drove out on a Friday and as we drove to Lafayette, I called my brother Paul to see if we stop and visit them in Opelousas where he and Joyce have recently moved into a new house. He said they were in Lafayette, heading to Landry’s Restaurant in New Iberia to meet some friends at 5:30 for some boiled crabs and dancing. I said we would be passing Landry’s about that time and he invited us to join them. Well, we ended up with a table of eight couples! On the left side of the table were Henry & Sue Campo, Joyce & Paul Matherne, Lou & Carroll Hernandez, and Joella & Buck Matherne. On the other side were Bill & Josie Champagne, Lawrence & Marion Melancon, David & Marie Ann Arata, and Del & me. The Cajun buffet was scrumptious! A dozen or more delicious Cajun dishes topped off by large boiled crabs, all for $14 dollars a piece. We ate our fill, danced a couple of dances when the live band started playing, said our goodbyes, and took off for our motel in Kountze, Texas. We drove to see our daughter, Carla, new house in Beaumont. She made a bulletin board for her son Garret, five, and he wouldn't let her put tacks in it, so it became a wall-hanging in his bedroom instead. See photo below of him pointing to his favorite cowboy, Tex.
The rest of the month passed normally with one more day of intense photo-taking when my Uncle Purpy flew from his home in Englewood, Florida for a visit. Del and I joined him and his 7 siblings at Aunt Lydia’s home in Westwego. Purpy is the younger of my dad, Buster. Their given names are Francis and Hilman, but everyone knows them as Purpy and Buster. “Purpy” is the Cajun word for “red-faced” and ever since I’ve known Uncle Purpy, he had a reddish glow on his face. Even now as he faces inoperable cancer in the final stage of his life at 85, he still has that “purpee” glow on his face. “Buster” is a name for a robust young boy, and that is likely how Hilman got his nickname. Their other brother Terry was there together with all the sisters, Hilda, Lydia, Lorraine, Marie, and Carolyn, ranging in 
age from 91 down to 69. Eight of the original Matherne family of Clairville and Nora from Bourg, Louisiana are still alive. (We lost Ray a couple of decades ago and Elaine a couple of years ago to the physical world.) It was a complete hubbub in Aunt Lydia’s kitchen. Everyone talking at the same time. Five or more conversations going on at times. My cousins, Evelyn and Deanna showed up, plus several of Aunt Lydia’s kids, Paula, Sandra, and Mark, and my brother Paul and his wife Joyce. We were treated to a tasty shrimp fettuccine and salad prepared by Lydia and we took photos of the gang. Spouses there were Yvonne (Terry), Nancy (Ray), Frank (Deanna), Randy (Ann), and Chantel (Mark).
One of the memorable moments: Marie, I think, said that Lorraine hated the dentist so much that she grimaced when he was working on her dentures even though she was sitting across the room watching him. Lorraine said, “He told me, ‘Lorraine, I’ve never had another patient who winced when I was working on their dentures!’” That’s my Aunt Lorraine.
The rest of the month I kept busy with what I’m doing at this moment, typing, and processing photos for the Digest and our archives. Vacation is almost too much work some time. No wonder it only comes once or twice a year. This year we’ve got a few vacations coming to us from the past few years when we were unable to leave town even for a day or so because of Del’s mom. Her new medicine seems to be working and her memory is back to normal for an 83-year-old. No more calls at 7:30 pm asking where she is or when we are coming to pick her up. She looks chipper again and Del enjoys spending time with her. They’ll eat together and maybe watch a movie in her apartment once or twice a week. On August 30, our Oakwood Shopping Center, devastated by vandals who came across the bridge from New Orleans before the bridge was blocked, will re-open for business. This will be our only Department on the entire West Bank of the Mississippi River, and we’re hoping the rest of the Oakwood mall will re-open in time for Christmas. For the past year, we’ve had to shop for clothes in Bloomington, Indiana, Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Alexandria, Louisiana. It’s nice to be able to buy a new shirt without having to spend $25 on gas. So that’s how we’ll celebrate the first anniversary of you-know-who: going shopping!
Till next month, may God hold each of you safe in the palm of his hand, and set you gently down to sleep each night.
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This book appeared on a list of most popular books in Britain along with such classics as these: The Bible, The Lord of the Rings, A Christmas Carol, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, All Quite on the Western Front, The Lord of the Flies ,Winnie the Pooh, Wuthering Heights, The Wind in the Willows, Gone With the Wind, and Great Expectations. So it was with great expectations that I ordered and read this book and my expectations were fulfilled many times over.
We all have likely said at some time, upon arriving too early at a function, "I’m too early — I’ll come back later." How would it be like to arrive too late and to say this? "I’m too late — I’ll come back earlier." Henry the protagonist of the story might say that because he had the genetic mutation which allowed him to spontaneously time travel to the past or the future. Unfortunately his travel was not so specific to allow him to arrive earlier at some function on purpose. No. He could choose neither the time nor the place.
And besides he would have left all his clothes on the spot where he left and would have to don them upon re-arriving earlier, but his clothes wouldn’t be there yet! He’d have to put a robe on, wait for himself to arrive and drop his clothes on the floor as he left for elsewhen. Not quite an elegant way to arrive for a party on time. Luckily Henry couldn’t decide the where or when whenever he time-displaced.
Unfortunately, he often didn’t know where or when he was. And being stark naked, and often hungry, he needed clothes, food, and shelter as top priority. The very things you and I take for granted as readily available: 1) Knowing where we are, 2) Knowing what time and date it is, 3) Having clothes on, 4) Having food available or the money to buy food, and 5) Having a place to live — Henry would arrive somewhere and somewhen with none of these.
How in the world can anyone survive such dislocations in place and time? Thereupon hangs a tale, and Audrey Niffenegger weaves a dandy. Not ready to read the entire book? Read the review.
When I began my review of the second play in Steiner’s four mystery dramas, it occurred to me that some readers may wonder what the intent of my reviews of these plays are. I would like you to consider my reviews as composed of Hansel-and-Gretel crumbs of truth and beauty that I find strewn along my reading path. Rather than picking them up and consuming them, I place them on a tray to entice you, dear Reader, to walk the same path and pick up your own crumbs of truth.
The use of the word “probation” in the title must be understood as the process of subjecting an individual to critical testing and examination. In this mystery play it is Capezius who undergoes a probation of his soul which reveals to him truths about Johannes, Maria, and others. This play opens several years after the time of the previous one, The Portal of Initiation, and Capezius is in his study reading. Soon he interrupts his reading with an insight which comes to him about his life:
Capezius in Scene Ten is back from the fourteenth century and endures his soul's probation. He
awakens from a dream which brought him images of his previous incarnation. He was filled with terror and
lost, but something amazing happens:
Benedictus has the final words in this play and voices once more the refrain of "karma spinning the
threads of world becoming."
Inside the Sun Temple with him is Maria, who has pinned Lucifer's limitations and dispatched him
as an agent of the Earth and humanity's progress. Benedictus tells her that Johannes will find her again once
he finds his own selfhood. Apparently Johannes is still "a dream which dreams itself."
In closing this review, I dedicated this poem I wrote, inspired by this play, to all the Johannes’s out there in the world who have yet to meet their Maria. Keep dreaming and keep walking, perhaps one night or one day, you’ll find out for yourself the meaning of love at first embrace.
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The best source at the best price is to order your copies on-line is from the publisher Random House/Xlibris's website above.
"Belle Epoque" (1992) One of Penelope Cruz’s first movies. Set in Spain a young Fernando befriends an older man and is urged to leave town before his four daughters arrive. Naturally he checks them out at the train station and "misses" his train. One by one he "inspects" them more closely till settling upon Penelope. She went from chorus line to star. One guy with four chicks — turns this from a chick flick into a guy flick. A fun and funny movie.
nineteenth century England and Australia. Ralph Fiennes in another role as a long-suffering man in a star-crossed love affair, this time with Cate Blanchett. Two fiery redheads in a torrid almost love affair.
ndure is one of those "great myskeries of the sea" as Popeye would say. Still it keeps your attention through all three hours and has a happy ending after Kong takes his great fall. As unlikely I thought it possible, this one gets a "Hit"! A double-bagger for the popcorn crowd. 
“Syriana” (2005) When the CIA takes out the son the Emir passed over to succeed him by satellite-guided-missile, one could only wish that they had hit the storage bin of all the masters of this movie instead. Disjointed, skipping all over the world, and the page to tell a story whose only claim to fame is it got an actor an Oscar. The Oscar was the only gold to come from this DVD Stomper! 
"Laura Croft and the Blah-de-blah" (2003) Does it really matter what the full title is? Oh, yeah, "Cradle of Life" — I get it now, it was a joke title. Jon Voight’s daughter has Croft’s Disease. Don’t know what that is? Watch any recent Tom Cruise movie — you know, the "MI: I’M Tom Cruise" ones — he was the first one diagnosed with a full-blown case of Croft’s. Oh, Sean Connery and some other actors had it, but they also provided entertainment instead of vile blather as they accomplished extraordinary feats for otherwise fallible and mortal human beings. But victims of a full case of Croft’s Disease have no pretense of being human or mortal or fallible. Why not use cartoon characters? They’re surely cheaper plus they could be designed with better balanced sneers and lips on their faces. Why did I watch this turkey? Let’s say it was a penance to remind me of my mortality. Not a DVD stomper because you have to see it to believe how bad it is.
Cherry Goop, a Dessert
This is the first day
While I was reading this book, I found this note scribbled on the Men's Room wall in the Red Onion in Skagway, Alaska, August 9, 2006:
