Fourth of July memories

According to my Facebook memories a couple days ago, I posted this on my feed in 2015:

 

 

I don't even remember doing this, but I'm glad to have it now. This was Sophie in her prime (she would have been 9 years old at the time), this is one of my favorite pictures of her, and this is what I've been missing for the past two months plus.

 

Too much counting

This is my 16th Father's Day without my Father. That's just crazy, but the time does go by. Between him, my Mom, and now Sophie, I can't stop counting the days/weeks/months/years without them. I wonder if everyone does it as obsessively as I do.

 

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

I've commented on this one in the past, but this popped up on Post Secret this morning:

 

And again I say, NO! You don't need to temper your celebration just because there are people who can't or don't celebrate this day for whatever reason. Enjoy it and celebrate your Dad while you've still got him. Have a great day with him. No one gets to tell you that you can't or shouldn't. Today is for you and your Dad, no one else. Celebrate!

 

Too much mortality

Today is the ninth Mother's Day without my Mom. March was eight years since she passed away. I'm staggered by both of those things. Yesterday we visited her grave and left her a really beautiful bouquet we bought from a super nice vendor set up outside the cemetery. Just beautiful flowers.

 

Thursday will be the fifteenth anniversary of my Dad's death. Again, boggled that it's been that long. His house just sold for the fourth time since his death, for more than twice what we sold it for. Apparently that's how long it takes for your house in Hawaii to double in value - about fifteen years.

 

Everybody was really young when I was born, so for the most part I didn't have to deal with loss until I was well into adulthood. My grandfather was diagnosed with emphesema the year before I was born, so I only ever knew him as a sickly old man (he died when I was twelve, having outlived the doctor who diagnosed him). 

 

 

Then my stepmother Diane died in her early fifties when I was in my early thirties. That was a jolt. She had breast cancer at forty, had the mastectomy, chemo, radiation, lost her hair, the whole bit. She as cancer-free for almost five years, then went through treatment again. The final time they were going to try something new, but her heart started failing (apparently years of chemo and radiation will take a toll) and she just went downhill. A brutal two weeks later she died. I still remember being stunned how the world could just continue to turn after the loss of someone so wonderful, someone who deserved to live forever. Diane was really one of the good ones. She was just awesome.

 

Eventually the grandmothers passed, then the first uncle (the middle brother), then my Dad, then his younger brother. And then my Mom in 2018. It all doesn't seem so long ago, but it was. It's boggling to me how fast the years have flown by.

 

 

 

 

And of course, Saturday marked two weeks without Sophie. Still adjusting to that, and not happily. She was a daily presence in my life for almost two decades and her absence is going to take time to get used to. I understand now why crazy rich people clone their pets, ethics be damned. If someone told me for some ungodly amount of money I could always have a Sophie with me, I'd have done it. I'd have paid that price. 

To everyone fortunate enough to still have their mothers with them, I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day.

 

Happy Easter!

 

But seriously...

Happy New Year's and Happy Public Domain Day!

2026 is upon us! 

One thing that has become a NY tradition for me is checking out the works entering the public domain. You can find the complete list here, but here are a few that jumped out at me: 

 

Books:

• The Maltese Falcon (full book version) (Dashiell Hammett)
• The Murder at the Vicarage (The first Miss Marple story) (Agatha Christie) 
• The first four Nancy Drew books.
• As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)
• Private Lives (Noel Coward) 
• Are you old? Would you like to feel older? The debut of Dick and Jane is now in the public domain: Elson Basic Readers (William H. Elson) 

Films:

• All Quiet on the Western Front (Director: Lewis Milestone, winner of the Oscar for Best Picture) 
• Animal Crackers (Director: Victor Heerman, starring the Marx Brothers)
• The Blue Angel (Director: Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich)
• Anna Christie (Director: Clarence Brown, starring Greta Garbo)
• Hell's Angels (Director: Howard Hughes, film debut of Jean Harlow) 

Music:

• Four songs by George and Ira Gershwin: I Got Rhythm, I've Got a Crush on You, But Not for Me, Embraceable You
• Dream a Little Dream of Me (Gus Kahn/Fabian Andre/Wilbur Schwandt)
• Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight (Al Lewis/Al Sherman)
• Just a Gigolo (first English translation by Irving Caeser) 

Characters/Comics/Cartoons: various Betty Boop, Pluto, Blondie and Dagwood cartoons and comics, along with some more Mickey Mouse cartoons and comic strips, and ten more of Disney's Silly Symphonies.

 

Some interesting stuff this year. 

Here comes 2026!!!

I know I probably say this every year, but 2026...sooooo futuristic!

 

Here's a wild thought: we're now closer to 2030 than 2020.  SOOOOO FUTURISTIC!

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful new year!

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

I could do this

Totally doable:

 

Count Orlok wishes you the happiest of holidays

Except for the morning part...

 

Have a Retro Christmas

The good old days. Images collected from around the internets.

 

 

With age comes...

 

Ooooh, swirly!

I like trying non-traditional desserts for the holidays. I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with pumpkin pie, it's always welcome, but this Thanksgiving I went with pumpkin cake. And because I love Bundts...

 

 

Snagged recipe from here. Also, if you use a bundt instead of the pan in the recipe, it needs a lot longer than 30 minutes in the oven. More like 50-ish. Use the toothpick test to determine doneness. The result: well-baked on the outside, incredibly moist on the inside. And remember, dusting with powdered sugar makes everything prettier!

 

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Hope it's a fun one!!!

 

 

Happy Halloween!!!

A blast from the past - when I lived in Hollywood and carved Comedy and Tragedy punkins!

 

Boo!!! 

 

No Kings! Bad Kings!

Seriously, will this team ever be good again? Just look at this abysmal start:

Click on the image to biggify and see how awful the Kings have been so far this season. And it probably isn't going to get any better on Saturday because that game is against the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that actually knows how to hockey:

Also, seriously:

 

 

Although I do think we have some career politicians, at both national and more local levels, that definitely think it's their divine right to lord it over us little people. 

 

Given the way the Kings are playing, it's too bad Saturday really isn't a "no Kings" day. In fact, if the Canes play to their ability it will be like the Kings don't exist, so same thing really. 

 

As for me I will be spending Saturday avoiding Los Angeles freeways and any other places where mostly peaceful protests are likely to occur, as I've seen enough of these to know how ugly they can get. 

 

Have a great weekend! Unless you're a Kings fan, and in that case best of luck to you.

Update: Called it.

 

Tied it up in the third only to lose in OT. That's so Kings.

 

This is going to be a sad but true season.

 

We have...no Kings.

 

Updated 11/16/25: A month later I'm eating these words. The Kings are currently on a brutally scheduled but so far undefeated road trip. They are 7-2-1 in their last ten games and have won four in a row. The result? First place in the division:

 

 

Not only that, they have one of the best records in the NHL all of a sudden. Only four teams have more points: Colorado (29), Dallas (27), New Jersey (27), and Carolina (25). Crazyness. But of course the Kings can't have good news without bad: Drew Doughty was injured in the latest win (ankle) and is probably out as much as six weeks.

 

Happy 4th of July America!!!

Have a great fireworks day!

 

 

Remember this little gem?

 

Images snicked from around the internets.