Category: Family

A Monday Morning Status Report

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Status Report – Monday May 22, 2017

We have been lost in space and stranded on this planet for many years now… tired of that weasel Dr Smith and danger Wiill Robinson…. oops wrong status report.

Star Date 2017…..nope that doesn’t work either….

Donald Trump is still President! Arghhh! Danger USA!

My Morning Workout

Yesterday’a morning workout was a full 60 minute workout that burned 517 calories. Today’s workout was an abbreviated version of the same workout. It lasted 41 minutes, during which time I burned 309 calories . My average heart rate was 103 beats per minute and 69% of the time my heart rate was in the fat burn zone. All in all it was a good workout.

Today’s Adventures in Babysitting

When I arrived at my son’s house this morning, my daughter in law told me that my granddaughter was sick. She said she had a fever and to give her 5 ml of Tylenol after she finished her breakfast. She also said to tell her is was candy.

Usually my granddaughter is pretty good about taking medicine, but this morning she wanted no parts of it. The second time I offered her “the candy” she ran away to her playroom. When I came into the room she told me to leave so she could poop. (Yes someone is ready to be potty trained but wants no part of it.)

After watching TV for a while I tried to give her the candy again, which resulted in crying . My wife told me to ask her daddy what to do. I texted my son and he replied to tell her it’s candy juice. THis is how she responded when I tried that trick.

I don’t think she bought it. Do you?

What’s up for this afternoon?

Hopefully my granddaughter will nap this afternoon so I can get a little farther in my current read C J Box’s latest Joe Pickett adventure Vicious Circle. It is the 17th book in this excellent series.

The storyline features the return of Dallas Cates to Saddlestring and he is out to make Joe pay for what happened to Cates and his family. That story can be found in Endangered book 15 in the series. My suggestion is that you read it before reading Vicious Circle. I actually wish that It hasn’t been two years since I read Endangered.

Vicious Circle is book number 24 for 2017. I need to finish it quickly because I need to read another book before the end of the month to stay on pace to reach my goal of reading 60 books this year!

Just checked the Nest cam and my granddaughter appears to be sleeping. So it’s time to make some lunch and make my way back into the world of Joe Pickett!

The Hunt for DNA Connections Goes On!

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Through DNA the Hunt for Genealogical Connections Goes On!!

So over the last several weeks I have spent more time at Ancestry.com, trying to unravel the tangled roots of my various family lines, than either reading or listening to music. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading or listening at all, just that my focus has been on searching for dead people. One of the most interesting finds was a great-aunt Alice Matilda Ashton.

My great-grandfather John Sherrington Ashton III was born in 1858. The son of John Sherrington Ashton and Mary Parezo. John married Mary E Warwick in 1881. As far as I knew they had five children: Mary Catherine, Edward, William L., Horace, and Blanche. Of those children, my mother only knew one, William, who was to her Uncle Bill, who lived in Pennsylvania. From my genealogical searching I knew of Horace,Edward and Blanche. Edward and Blanche both died as teenagers. Horace was only one when he died. Recently, I discovered through DNA and Ancestry that Mary Catherine married an Emil Gottlieb and lived in Philadelphia. She even had a child named John Sherrington Gottlieb!!

Discovering the DNA Connection

Anyway, several weeks ago a high DNA match came up with a Jim Smith from New York. He was listed as a 3rd cousin and is one of my highest matches. When we (my wife and I) looked at his tree, we saw an Alice Ashton. After seeing that Alice was born in 1890 our thoughts immediately turned to Alice being a child of John and Mary.My wife quickly went to Family Search there she discovered a birth record for a female Ashton child of John and Mary born in March of 1890. No name was listed, but when we went back to the census we saw that the month and year of birth of the unnamed girl matched Alice’s.  (Alice’s mother Mary died in 1892 and John remarried.Margaret McCloskey, who was a grandfather’s mother.)

In the 1900 census,  Alice was living with a Danse family in Monroe Township in Middlesex County, NJ and her relationship to the head of the house was a servant!. Monroe Township is about 40 miles northeast of Beverly where Alice was born. A servant at nine years old! How sad!  Alice eventually married Sidney A Smith in New York in 1913. He was the grandfather of the Jim Smith who is my DNA match.

After we unraveled the mystery of the DNA connection I emailed Jim and welcomed him as a new cousin. Jim was thrilled to discover his Ashton roots since Alice was one of his brick walls. So through DNA Jim discovered more about a grandmother he didn’t know anything about and I discovered a great-aunt that I didn’t know anything about!!

Since then we have spent many hours trying to find connections to high DNA matches in my McCloskey line and also a connection to the Lehman family. So far we have had no luck in establishing either of those connections.I fear that both connections are back in Ireland!!

What Else has been Happening!

Over these last few weeks, I have also been reading. Today I finished Red Cell by Mark Henshaw. Yeah Me!. I will try to write about it tomorrow! I am also about halfway through 2 or 3 other books, that I can hopefully finish over the next week or so!!

An Am Walk with Oliver and the Music of Eldad Tarmu!

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Eldad Tarmu – Vibraphone – Born August 26, 1960 in California

 

Today we are babysitting our grandson, Oliver and so far so good. He has been in a good mood, ate his breakfast and we just went for a long walk at the end of which he fell asleep!!

This morning, I decided that I was going to listen to some music when we went on our walk and for the soundtrack I thought about making it some jazz, possibly someone new whose birthday is today!!

Many times when I review the jazz birthdays I look for musicians who play an instrument that I love and today the instrument that was prevalent was the vibraphone with three musician’s sharing today as the day of their birth. The first was Eldad Tarmu, then Patricia Franceschy and finally Peter Appleyard. I chose to listen to Eldad Tarmu

. When I went to Spotify to check out Eldad’s music the first album that popped up was Songs for the Queen of Bohemia. Okay. I said to myself, I  have listened to this album before and liked it. When I went to Eldad’s website I immediately remembered the picture of him. I thought maybe I have previously written a post about him, so I searched my posts and with no results!

I guess he is one of the many musicians, I have listened to and never written about! So let’s do it now…..

About Eldad Tarmu

from his website biography……

Eldad Tarmu

Eldad Tarmu was born in Los Angeles, California, (August 26, 1960) where he started studying drums and percussion. After graduating from Tel Aviv University in Israel, he returned to the US and started touring and holding jazz clinics with various jazz ensembles, mainly in Europe and Asia.

In 2005 he got his Master’s degree in Afro-Latin Music, from California State University Los Angeles. The same year he was appointed Head of the Jazz Department at “Richard Oschanitzky” Jazz School of Tibiscus University in Timisoara, Romania, following a fruitful collaboration with Romanian bassist and violinist Johnny Bota, one of the school founders.

In 2009 he relocated to the US again, in order to continue his education at Stony Brook University, where he got a second Master’s degree, in Classical Composition. He is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Performance from the same school, degree pursued under the guidance of Ray Anderson.

He is a professor of World Music Studies, Intro to Music and African-American Music at Hudson County Community College in Jersey City. He has recently developed a Latin American Music Studies course for the College. He has also been teaching summer music classes (MUS101, MUS308) at SUNY Stony Brook Manhattan, as well as MUS568 Jazz Combo and MUS309 Music After 1900, as a teaching assistant at Stony Brook University. Read More

About Songs for the Queen of Bohemia

Songs for the Queen of Bohemia was recorded by the Eldad Tarmu Jazz Chamber Ensemble. Here’s some information about the Ensemble….From Sonicbids

The Eldad Tarmu Chamber Ensemble began as a septet formed in 2006 in Timisoara, Romania, where the band leader, American vibraphonist and composer Eldad Tarmu, taught Jazz Studies for four years.

The initial members of the septet were Romanian bass player Johnny Bota, Israeli drummer Yoni Halevy and Tabac String Quartet. In September 2006, after their first tour, they recorded Tarmu’s compositions under the album name Songs for the Queen of Bohemia, which was released in March 2007 in Romania and in June 2009 in the US.
This rare formation, comprised of vibraphone, bass and drums in the rhythm section, augmented by a string quartet (two violins, viola and cello), create the ideal palette for the musical styles blended in Tarmu’s compositions. Middle-Eastern melodies and grooves mix with jazz and classical harmonies to make a distinctive cutting edge world jazz chamber sound. Read More

Final Thoughts

Songs for the Queen of Bohemia was the perfect album for a leisurely stroller walk around the streets of the Billingsport section of Paulsboro this morning. I enjoyed both Oliver and Eldad on the walk. So Happy Birthday Eldad – Hope you have a great day!

Links for the Further Explorations of the Music of Eldad Tarmu…..

Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Wikipedia.

Here is the Eldad Tarmu Jazz Ensemble performing the Improvisation parts and ending of “Traveling Alone”. Composition: Eldad Tarmu John Lenis – bass, Michael Winnicki – drums

 

A Special 40th Anniversary Night!!

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The featured picture at the top of this post was taken from the rear of the Beverly Presbyterian Church on August 23, 1975 the night Kathleen Anne Clarke and I were married!

It is hard to believe that 40 years have passed since that night! They always say that time flies when you’re having fun and for the most part we’ve had fun, oh we’ve had our share of sorrows, the deaths of our parents, particularly Kathy’s mother who died at the age of 48 from breast cancer, losses of favorite Aunts and Uncles, but those sorrows have been more than made up for by our four children, although much of the fun was at the expense of Dad, now that fun comes from our grandchildren Zoe and Oliver.

Yesterday was a pretty nice 40th anniversary day. I started the day with a pretty good run although it was slightly messed up when I accidentally turned off my GPS tracking app when I turned off the music

. But I did get through a solid three miles at an overall pace of just around 11:00/mile. After the run I went to Target where I did listen to the album that was to be the soundtrack for the run the latest from Royal Hunt. The album did become the soundtrack of today’s run so I will write about it tonight or tomorrow!

When I came back from Target, I suggested to Kathy that we call the kids and see if they could all maybe meet us somewhere for dessert. Kathy suggested The Pop Shop in Collingswood. So we tested them and all could come except for Elizabeth.

We decided that we would go at about 6:00 hoping that it would not be as crowded on a Sunday, particularly close to the closing time of 8 o’clock. It was fairly crowded when we arrived and we had to wait about 15 minutes, which wasn’t all that bad. Well for everyone except Andrew who had a squirming Oliver on his shoulders!! Finally, we were seated and ordered our food some folks got dinner and some just dessert. The piggy me got a very LARGE banana split called The Lost Weekend and it was great! For the most part the kids were good both young and old!

We ended the day by watching an episode of Who do you think You Are?? For me the answer is a VERY LUCKY Man!!

Here are some snapshots from our visit…..

You know I have called Oliver and Zoe Yin and Yang because they are somewhat different i.e Zoe is calm…

Zoe

 

Zoe2

Oliver not so much…….

Oliver Strraw

speaking of bringing us laughter, yes he does!

Zoe Oliver Andrew

Andrew whispers to Zoe: Yes, he is your cousin…..Oliver: I can’t hear you!!!!

All in all it was a VERY nice 40th Anniversary Day! The day was made extra special by our children and grandchildren!!

Elizabeth Conquers the Broad Street Run!

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Lizzie Came, She Ran, She Conquered – 2015 Broad Street Run

 

So the Broad Street Run went pretty well today! We parked in the Wells Fargo parking lot and took the Broad line up to the starting line around the Olney Station. While I rode the high-speed line from Lindenwold into the city back in the 70s, this was my first trip on the Broad St subway, and I believe Elizabeth said itself her first trip on any subway.

Broad Street Run - Yellow CorralLizzie was in the yellow corral, which was the next to last group to start. Since I have never been in a race with this many runners, I was unfamiliar with the starting procedures. The start of each corral was spaced maybe five minutes apart. I always thought that the group moved as one, but your time didn’t start until you crossed the starting line. Instead it’s like having seven smaller races! Unfortunately I missed seeing Lizzie at the start!

Lizzie - Pre- Broad Street Run

Lizzie – Pre-Run

Anyway the race started a few minutes after 8 AM.(See Featured Image) Mayor Nutter was there hi-fiving runners from the first few corrals!  I think Lizzie said her corral didn’t start until 8:50, which is near the time when the winner was crossing the finish line!  The winner Haile Mengesha finished in 47:53!

After everyone had started, I walked down to the Logan Station and took the subway back to the Wells Fargo Center . Then I followed the crowd down to the finish line at the Navy Yard.

Through the magic of technology I was able to see Lizzie’s time at both the three and five-mile marks. She finished three miles in 32:17 and crossed the five-mile mark in 54:38. At that pace I figured she would be ok at the finish! Once I got to the Navy Yard , I didn’t get another update on her time. That time should have been at the seven mile mark. It would have given me an idea about where she was and when she would finish. Instead I went to near the finish to watch for her, and like I did at the start, I missed her! After standing and watching finishers from the last corral, I checked my phone in case she had messaged me and then headed to the Dunkin Donuts truck,which is where we said we would meet. No Lizzie, so I messaged her asking if she had finished! She responded yes and she said she explained where she was. She had actually been finished for about 30 minutes!

So we gathered our stuff and began the trek, along with a throng of people back up Broad St. to our respective cars!

Overall Lizzie finished in a time of 1hr 53 mins. She was in 27533rd place., 14037 for her gender and 1818 for her division. pretty good for someone who has been running for only a couple of years and until today had not run more than six miles!  Someone who walked during the mile run for gym! Way to go Lizzie. It must have been those thoughts of chasing Oliver,who had your phone that kept you going!

 

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I am proud of you and hope we can run together next year’s Broad St. Run!

Links for the Broad Street Run

ABC6 News:THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN BROAD STREET RUN
Broad Street Run Photos
Newsworks: Broad Street Run Photos
Philly.com Broad Street Run

Granddad Babysits a Cranky Zoe – not!

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So yesterday I babysat my five month old granddaughter Zoe. I watched her from 12:30 until my son Peter got home around 5 o’clock. When I first got to their apartment, my daughter-in-law Melissa was holding, said Zoe was a cranky baby, who wouldn’t nap! So I thought I was going to be in for a tough afternoon with a cranky baby!! After Missy left I laid Zoe down on her playmate and much to my surprise she did not  fuss and cry. Instead she laid there and played very nicely!!

Zoe lounging!

SShortly after laying her down I took this picture and tweeted it to my wife…. Her response was “LOL she doesn’t look cranky to me” and she wasn’t! I read to her for a bit,  then we watched “Baby Einstein on the Farm” and “Wheels on the bus” and before long it was two o’clock and time for her bottle. I still don’t have this bottle thing down, four kids and it took me until I was 63 to give a child a bottle! Anyway, Zoe drank about 2/3 of the bottle and then fell asleep. She stayed asleep until after 4:30.When she got up, I read to her again and she sat and played  with some toys, – by herself! Before long Dad was home and granddad was on his way home!!

Zoe being cranky-not!

Here’s the way see spent most of the afternoon! Oh what a difference five months makes. Here’s a composite video of my grandson Oliver Edward Karn taken over the last month or so. In the first part, he is doing a little home redecorating and later he is rocking out to “Uptown Funk” Of course, Mr. Oliver has ALWAYS been a little more active than Miss Zoe!

Anyway it was a nice afternoon, with a very non-cranky, good napping little girl ……LOL! Now with that said, next week may be a whole new ballgame!!

 

On the way over to babysit Zoe, the new album Blackbirds from Gretchen Peters was the soundtrack for the ride and  on the way home it was a great new blues album from Brandon Santini. I will try to write something about both albums at Me,Myself, Music, and Mysteries later tonight or tomorrow I will post a link when the posts are done!!

Discovering a Karn Cousin!

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A few weeks ago, my daughter Elizabeth went to Target and when she checked out the cashier, an older gentleman, asked her for identification,  since she was using her family team member discount card. After he checked the name, she thought he said “Karn, my mother’s maiden name was Karn”. When she came home and told us what he said, my wife and I couldn’t figure out the family connection. With not many Karn’s around the area, we knew he had to be related, but there was no one that we knew of who could be his mother! We needed to find out!!

The only way it would work is if he actually said that his grandmother’s maiden name was Karn! In that case his grandmother was probably Emma Karn, my grandfather’s sister. Emma married Fred Neuman and they lived on Creek Road in Delran. They were actually the next-door neighbors of my long-time boss Wayne Lippincott! Emma and Fred had three children two duaghters and one son, Fred. Since the name of the cashier was Fred, it was a good bet that the above case was true!! Fred and I often talk at the check out and he calls me “Young fella” telling him once that I’m old too, he said – but not as old as me and he is right, I’m ten years his junior!

Anyway a few days later, I went into the store and sure enough when we talked he said that he had told my daughter his grandmother’s maiden name was Karn, and she was Emma Rose Neuman!!

Karn Brothers - Charles and Edward and brother-in-law George Hintermeier

 

It’s really cool to connect with that side of my father’s family, because I never knew them. My grandfather, born in 1898, was the youngest of the five children of Henry and Pauline Karn.  The oldest child  Harry was born in 1888, followed by Emma born in 1890, Anna in 1891, and Charles in 1894. I don’t remember any of them well, including my grandfather who died in 1953.  Of that side of his family  my father was the closest to the children of Charles – Gloria and Charles. I do believe that we also visited Anna and my mother amd father were friendly with her daughters. But we were estranged from Harry and his children as well as Fred and Emma.  One of  causes of the estrangement between the family and Harry, I believe was, that my grandmother would not let Harry in to see my grandfather after one of his heart attacks. Another cause involved  Fred and Emma, I always heard  the story that the family was mad at them because they got money from the PSE&G easement that went across the family land on Creek Road.  Ha – it’s many times about the money!

Anyway, I am looking forward to sitting down with Fred after the holidays and talking about his family. I hope that he can identify folks in some of the family pictures that I have as I don’t even know what Emma looks like!! Bottom line it’s  a small world!

 

Babysitting Granddaughter Zoe leads to the New Age Music of A Beginner’s Mind – Thanks Zoe!

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MindustSo last week while I was babysitting my two month-old granddaughter Zoe, I had Soundscapes one of Comcast’s Music Choice  stations on the TV. My thought was that the instrumental New Age music would keep us both relaxed, and I think that for the most part it did the trick, at least for me. Some old friends like R Carlos Nakai and Peter Kater made an appearance with a track from their album Ritual, along with some music from David Arkenstone. There also was  a lot of music from folks that I didn’t know, like Armand & Angelina and their album Sacred Flute Journeys and a group named A Beginner’s Mind and their release Mindust. After I came home I went to Spotify and gave the album a listen and really liked the album a lot.

I went searching for information about the band and album,  but I didn’t find much. It doesn’t appear that they have a website, no Facebook or MySpace page, the only thing that I found was a page at BandCamp! At that page I read……

Peter Day and Ben Brooks have been playing music for over 30 years off and on. They are from Pasadena, California. Mindust is currently being played on Air Force One, the Soundscapes Music Choice channel and other outlets.

Ok so now we know that Peter Day and Ben Brooks are A Beginner’s Mind. Peter plays keyboards and nylon-stringed guitar
while Ben plays the flute!! Both of them are fine musicians in my ever so humble opinion. Here’s what Ben wrote about making the album…..

I don’t have a reference point to describe this collection of pieces. That’s because Peter and I were flying by the seat of our pants. No writing, no rehearsal, no idea what we were going to play. Peter would arrive at my home studio on a weekend afternoon. We’d talk about our lives for a little while….then punch RECORD. That’s the truth! That’s where these recordings began. We added the orchestration and percussion later. But, the original recording was just guitar or KORG KARMA keyboard (when Peter felt like playing it) and flute. We really had no expectations or agenda. Over time we accumulated quite a few recordings and narrowed them down to what you have here. Hope you like it!  — Ben Brooks January 1, 2014

The percussion they added later was provided by Rich Mangicaro!

So if you get a chance head over to their Bandcamp page I think you’ll like them! Here’s a short three track playlist from Spotify…….

Two Eggs and Jerry Jeff: A Family Moment

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Two Eggs and Jerry Jeff: A Family Moment

So I just finished a four mile run—well, actually more like a one mile jog and a fast walk. I hate the hot weather! After I was finished, I collapsed in my chair in front of the computer and almost fell asleep. I did manage to get up and take a shower. As I was getting out, I was trying to think of what to eat—something quick and light. I settled on a fried egg sandwich.

That means two eggs on toast… which in turn leads my mind straight to Jerry Jeff Walker:

“Well, it’s two eggs up on whiskey toast…”


Yesterday we went to Surf City for the traditional July 4th potluck picnic with my wife’s mother’s side of the family. It had been rescheduled from the 4th because of the weather. This was the first time in many years that most of my children could attend. Unfortunately, Nick couldn’t make it on Saturday because of his work schedule. But the young man that everyone wanted to meet—Oliver—was there, and he didn’t disappoint.

My wife took a series of pictures of Oliver with her Uncle James Browne. Thinking about it, Jim was really the only one of our aunts and uncles around except for Kathy’s Uncle Roy, who lives in California. So here is Oliver with his grand-uncle:


Oliver with Uncle Jim

Yes, Oliver flirted with several of the women, but he was entranced by only one thing… the iPhone!


Oliver and the iPhone

That’s his dad holding him as he stares happily at my iPhone!

While I was looking for these pictures on my Facebook page, I also came across photos of my daughter Elizabeth and my wife’s mother, Ruth Browne Clarke. I knew there was a strong resemblance, but I didn’t realize just how strong:


Elizabeth and Ruth

One of my biggest “I only wish that…” moments in life is that my children never had the chance to know Kathy’s parents, Bob and Ruth Clarke. They were two wonderful people who would have had such a positive impact on our family. I know that their spirit has been passed on to our kids through Kathy, but still—it would have been nice if they could have done it themselves.

Ruth Browne Clarke died of breast cancer in 1981 at the age of 48, and Robert Nelson Clarke died of a heart attack in 1993 at the age of 60. Damn.

🎵 Related Family Moments:
Jerry Jeff’s music has popped up at other family milestones too—most memorably at Peter’s wedding, where a JJW song found its way into the celebration.

PS: Funny side note—about the only Jerry Jeff song my wife actually likes is “Navajo Rug.”
Of course, it’s not really a JJW song at all—it’s a cover of the Ian Tyson and Tom Russell tune.
But I’ll take the win—if it gets Jerry Jeff playing in the house, I’m happy!

Thoughts about Abiyoyo and grandbaby Oliver Edward Karn

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Abiyoyo - Pete Seeger

So sometime this month, my wife and I will become grandparents for the first time, when my son Andrew and his wife Meaghan have their baby, Oliver Edward Karn!!

Well, it’s actually Meaghan doing all the work right now and Andrew just gets the congratulations!! A couple of weeks ago, they had Meaghan’s baby shower.and Oliver’s gifts from Andrew’s brothers and sister and my wife and I were books and not just any books, but ones that were special to us.

The kids picked ones that were read to them and my wife and I picked either ones that were read to us or ones that we read to the kids! After my wife, whose idea it was first announced the idea. Peter immediately said “I’ll get Where the Wild Things Are” – though Bossy Boots may have been a better choice! What surprised my wife and I, was the first book that Elizabeth picked, which was Abiyoyo! The picture book based on the Pete Seeger song….

Four out of the five books that I gave Oliver were ones that I read to the kids. The only one that I could think of from my childhood was The Little Engine that Could. I remember that my mother’s mother always read that one to me!! Here’s my other four….

In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak

In the Night Kitchen – Maurice Sendak –  I always loved to read this one to the kids and I think that the controversy over the nudity of Mickey is ridiculous!

Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola – I always enjoyed the mayhem created by Strega Nona helper Big Anthony when he does what he is not supposed to do!

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher – Beatrix Potter –  I had to include a Beatrix Potter book on my list I think we wore out all the copies of the many books that we had!! This one was always a favorite but they are all great!!

Runaway Bunny –  Margaret Wise Brown – Now this pick was a little controversial only in that when my wife told me that it was one of the books I had on my list. I didn’t believe her. I thought that the fifth book on my list was Ezra Jack Keats’ Maggie and the Pirate and it wasn’t until she showed me my list that I believed her!! But I’m glad it is on the list because it’s a great book that talks of parental love!!

Other books included Ezra Jack Keats. The Snowy Day from Elizabeth. Gregory the Terrible Eater and The Tomten from Nick and Noisy Nora, Max’s Toys, and The Tale of Miss Moppet another Beatrix Potter favorite!

So Oliver we hope you enjoy these books, which are the start of a library that I know will get bigger and bigger, because you know Oliver, you can never have too many books!!

Now the reason that this all came to mind today is that I was looking at videos of Doc Watson’s music because today is his birthday (video to come soon) and while I was thinking about Doc – the other folksinger that came to mind was the late ( I hate to write that) Pete Seeger and I went and found this video taken from the show Reading Rainbow with Pete telling his tale of Abiyoyo!!1

https://youtu.be/uVGbgJqXuPc?si=iqhyQ5wBW4UQiotW

Postscript, 2025: My daughter recently read In the Night Kitchen to my granddaughter Emma — and, true to form, Emma didn’t bat an eye at Mickey’s lack of clothes! Some things age better than the headlines.