What I think of when I awaken on August 29, especially when it falls on a Sunday, as it did today and in 1982.

Back then, Ingrid Bergman died on the same day as my father. This year, Ed Asner -- the "Lou Grant" of my youth -- passed away today. And of course it makes nine years since my astronomer friend Andrea's father died. She and I are two only ( Read more... )

Today makes 38 years since my father died, and eight years since my friend Andrea's father died. (Andrea's parents hosted me for a few days when I visited England in 1989. They were kind to me.)

My friend Janina just marked the four-month anniversary of her husband's passing on the 27th, and yesterday would have been their 44th wedding anniversary.

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Some of you may be wondering how I can get so excited about the Nationals in 2019 after cheering for the Red Sox in 2018. Obviously I have deep roots in Massachusetts. My Dad was a huge Red Sox fan (even though the only time the Sox won the World Series during his lifetime was when he was 12 months old), and I went to college a few blocks from ( Read more... )

Sorry for the lack of updates. Since the previous one, I've been to two SCA events on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (one overnight, one day-trip), worked on a frustrating freelance assignment, and had to go to the MVA again to remedy this stupid Real ID compliance thing. (In the course of rounding up the necessary documents, I found some World War ( Read more... )

One: I finally finished writing my "letter from Pennsic."

Two: Today was the 101th anniversary of the birth (and 36th anniversary of the funeral) of my father. Here is a photo of me and my parents when I was in college. The quality of the photo isn't that great, but it's a nice memory.


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It's July 3, a big anniversary in my book, and not *just* because I started my LiveJournal 15 years ago today.

Seventy years ago today, this happened:


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One hundred years ago TODAY, a couple of Lithuanian immigrants in Gardner, Massachusetts, welcomed their first child: a boy of fair skin and hair who resembled his mother. They named him Anthony, later nicknamed "Tony." He grew up active and strong and took technical courses in high school, but his parents died when he was a teenager, so he went to ( Read more... )

In case you may be wondering why I find August 29th a day to be endured rather than enjoyed ... today is the 35th anniversary of my father's death. For those of you who haven't been around me long enough to know the full story, and/or those of you who don't want to touch LiveJournal with a ten-meter pole, I'll put the original LJ entry from Aug. 29 ( Read more... )

For those who were wondering about Expo 67, 50 years ago this month ( Read more... )

On January 12, 1997, the New England Patriots won a playoff game. I know this because I had to plan the calling hours at the funeral around this ( Read more... )