THE CAIRO AFFAIR: OLEN STEINHAUER ****

I really enjoyed this espionage novel, mostly because the major player ends up being an Egyptian secret service agent, perhaps the only one with a conscience in the novel.  Usually, the protagonist is the heroic American.  This time it's Omar Halawi who saves the life of Sophie Kohl, wife of Emmett Kohl, State Department liason. The book jumps back and forth in time, from the Kohl's honeymoon in Europe, where they get a taste of 'real life' in Novi Said, a part of the then disintegrating Yugoslavia, an experience that colors and influences the rest of their lives, thanks to their guide, the pragmatic Zora Balasevic, a Serbian nationalist.

The novel begins with Jabril Aziz, an American of Libyan descent who was the architect of a CIA scenario nicknamed 'Stumbler, a plan to take over Libya from Ghadaffi.

Later, we find that Sophie has been recruited by her old Serbian friend, Zora, to pass on US State Department secrets, which she then sells, to the Egyptians and another bidder.  Sophie breaks into her husbands computer to get the information and even ends up having an affair with CIA agent Stan Bertoli, to ensure that she may have a safe haven if discovered.  Plans go awry when her husband is accused to sharing secrets.   He is sent to Budapest, rather than lose his job, where he's been for a couple of years with Sophie.  They go out to lunch, seemingly an innocent lunch; he tells her he knows of the affair with Stan just before he's assasinated by an unknown terrorist.  Actually, this is how the novel begins, which starts the flashbacks to this point, and leads us forward to finding out who has arranged the assasination.

DOWN BY THE RIVER WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO: GEORGE PELECANOS ***

This is the third and final Pelecanos book that follows Nick Stefanos on his journey through vigilantism and alcoholism, an interesting combination of character traits.  In this story, Nick goes on a bender, wakes up in the mud, next to a river and overhears two guys shooting a young black kid.  He knows nothing more about them than that but he becomes obsessed with finding out who they are, why they did it. Again, like his other novels, Nick bar hops and drinks throughout the story, eventually costing him a relationship with his current girl friend, Lyla.  In between his working at The Spot, he begins to talk with people who knew the boy, especially his mother and the mother of the boy's best friend. Neither are helpful but a new character enters the story, Jack La Duke, hired by one of the mother's to find her son who is missing.  Jack is a straight shooter, non drinker and smoker, the perfect foil for Nick.  Together, they begin to gather information about the two kids.  Both were involved in drugs, to a certain extent in prostitution and the porn industry, complicating things.  It seems clear they were both shot because they knew too much.  Nick and friend track down the suspects, and Nick ends up getting beaten up and almost shot before LeDuke comes to the rescue, guns down two guys holding Nick, and seems to go out in a blaze of glory, setting the building on fire, him along with it.  Nick is still dissatisfied, does some more searching and finds the guy at the top, a real estate/drug dealer named Samuels.  He picks him up, drives to the river, and shoots him in the head, dumping his body in the water, which is fast becoming his modus operandi...doing things on his own without the cops.  At the end, Boyle, his cop friend from the previous book, stops by and basically tells Nick that he knows he shot Samuels but admits to doing the same sort of thing when he cornered a serial rapist a few years ago.  Thus, he lets Nick go, to live another day, perhaps appear in another novel.

NICK'S TRIP: GEORGE PELECANOS ***

This is the second novel featuring Nick Stefanos, Greek roustabout, who works in a down and out bar called The Spot.  Nick is working the bar, serving the regulars, when an old high school buddy walks in, Billy Goodrich, and Nick knows something is up.  In fact, Billy's wife is missing and he wants Nick to help him find her.  This story takes up half the novel, the other half dealing with the unexplained murder of an old friend of Nicks.  Nick reluctantly decides to help Billy and finds out that not only has Billy's wife been unfaithful, but left Billy and seems to have headed home.  Nick soon discovers that Billy has been lying about the reasons for her leaving.  Billy eventually fesses up, that the two of them had stolen a couple of hundred grand from her lover but she absconded with the money and left Billy empty handed.  The trail leads to his wife's old stomping grounds, an ex lover who happens to be a pig butcher and you can imagine the rest.  She is never found; Nick ends up shooting the pig butcher, recovering the money, giving it away and telling Billy that he never wants to see him again.

Too much of the story involves Nick's drinking, at the bar, after work, and in various bars around the city of DC when he tries to make sense of things.  The second story is not as bizarre.  A reporter  friend of Nick's is found dead.  Nick hunts around, finds the kid who let the suspect into the condo, and finds that his buddy, William Henry, got to close to the mafia like dealings of a series of pizza parlors and they had him killed.  Nick uncovers the kingpins and along with Boyle, a straight cop who frequents Nick's bar, they take down the group, leaving the law out of it, vigilante style I suppose.  O, yea, Nick becomes friends with a couple of lesbians, is asked to father a child, which he does.  He becomes a father but not in the traditional sense since his lesbian friend has moved to San Francisco, a typical aside in a Pelecano's novel.  We read the book as much for atmosphere as for the story.

Sun's Up, Partly Cloudy Morning

Storm's A Brewing At 8:53, Late Tuesday Evening

6:07

I was up just about 6:00 and was surprised to see a sunny living room, after the rain and thunderstorms from last night though the worst of them were south of us.  We did get a little rain, about 2/10ths of an inch, if that and this morning, the lake is quiet, a shimmery mass of wrinkles, the sky at 7:30 mostly clear.

Evie was up early yesterday and I slept in till almost 7:00, if that's called sleeping in.  After writing my blog and breakfast, of a granola mix put together by Evie, with yogurt and blue berries, I drove off to yoga with Courtney at 9:30.  This is usually a class of two but three new students appeared, much to Courtney's delight.  All seem to be visiting for the summer so they may return.  I came straight home, no stops for me, and Evie had basically put together the eggplant parmesan for dinner and was busy with getting the house ready for our weekend guests, Ron and Vickie Armontrout, friends from our early days at Western Reserve Academy.

It was an uncommonly humid and warm day, the high of 87º, not your typical June weather at the lake.  While Evie was working inside, I did a few chores outside, trimming hedges, putting the cover on my boat, watering plants, things like that and worked up enough of a sweat to jump in the lake before lunch.  Evie made me tuna melt sandwiches, and with a bowl of soup I was happy, watching the Mexico/Brazil game on TV, in our cool house, a contrast to the humid outdoors.

Because of the humidity, we did little the rest of the afternoon; Evie read on the porch for awhile, then braved the heat and humidity by sitting on the dock for a short time.  I decided to do a weed check, got out my weed rake and bucket, and dodged barn swallows for about thirty minutes, cutting weeds in our swimming area.  The weeds are just starting to sprout which is good, especially compared to the Bemus Point area, and I gathered only a partial bucket of weeds.  It looks like we are fortunate in this part of the lake (so far).  The lake bottom has changed somewhat, much more mud than sand, as things shift each year, a result I suppose of a long winter, spring rains.

Around 6:00, Evie went in and made the bechamel for the eggplant parmesean put it in the oven, and we sat on our front porch with a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc, enjoying the late afternoon, waiting for the clouds and heavy winds and thunderstorms to arrive.  We ate around 7:00, and the eggplant parm was great, along with a salad, accented by the bitter arugula greens.  We caught up on Nurse Jackie and Bill Maher from the weekend, as the thunder and lightning began in surrounding areas.  Fortunately, as I mentioned earlier, we were spared the heavy winds and rain, but to the southeast, lots of trees were downed and 10,000 people are without power in Olean County.  I finished my George Pelecanos fix, the third and last of the Nick Stefanos books, and started American Romantics, a new novel by Ward Just, set in I assume Vietnam though it's not named, in the mid 1960's, as America is beginning to increase its military presence.  It reminds me of Graham Greene's The Quiet American, one of my favorite books.

As I finish up, I am sitting on my front porch and the martins are filling the morning air with their songs, or animated conversations.  They are happy birds at the moment, flitting from house to house, sharing their hous keeping secrets.


Random Think: "Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think." A quotation by Albert Einstein that guided my teaching for forty five years.

Morning Haze

Sadly, Our One And Only Peony 

5:55

Well, I did not get up till 6:45 and was surprised to see the coffee made, Evie sitting in the living room, on her iPad, writing an email to my sister Ellen.  Aren't I supposed to be the first one up, the man of the house.  Because of the warm weather, the humidity, the lake is hazy, the trees seemingly dripping with moisture.  It's supposed to be very warm today, with thundershowers moving in tonight if not earlier.

Pensive Boy

Yesterday was my first yoga day in a month if not more.  It was good to get back on the mat, class was small, and we did some interesting things, like walking on our mat while try stretching our toes, something I have never done before.  Afterwards, I shopped briefly at Wegman's, picking up a few things for Evie and came home and took the cover off our boat, to let it air out after nine months covered in a garage.  I wanted to watch  the Germany/Portugal World Cup game at 11:30, so I made lunch and watched Germany score two goals early.  I am interested in the German team because a Turk, Mesut Ozel, plays for them and is one of the top ten players in the world.  The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and read, waiting for the USA/Ghana soccer game at 5:30.  I taped it so we could go for a boat ride before dinner, then watch it while we ate.

Enjoying Our First Lake Cruise Of The Summer

Around 5:30, we cruised the lake for an hour, dismayed by the masses of floating sea weed, off of the shore front in Stow.  I had to reverse my engine a couple of times after getting out of the weeds.  When we cruised Bemus, I also had to avoid the heavy, high weeds, cruising quite a distance from the shore.  This does not bode well for the summer, though we don't have many weeds yet.  Let's hope the waters  around Woodlawn stay weed free.

Late Afternoon Clouds

For dinner, we had a dinner we have grown to really like, polenta, with mushrooms and spinach, on the side, a couple of fried eggs on top.  Healthy and tasty.  We watched the entire US soccer game though I missed the first minute, carrying our food into the TV room, thus the goal.  I rewound it so I could watch it again.  The US then played defense for the rest of the 90 minutes or so it seemed, and won on an amazing header by a twenty one year old rookie substitute.  The soccer gods were smiling on the US.  Both of us are into our books, so we went up to bed to read early.  And Evie discovered that the book she's reading, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, recommended to her by my sister Ellen, is also one of our daughter Beth's favorite books.  I guess I will have to read it too.

It's now 8:00 and Evie has already started our dinner, eggplant Parmesan hoping to get it done before it gets to warm.  And I am off to yoga in an hour.  The rest of the day we may stay inside, in our closed up house, ten degrees cooler than the outside.

Random Think:  "All he had to do was place one foot in front of the other.  The simplicity of it was joyful.  If he kept going forward, he would, of course, arrive."  from The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Another Too Early Mornng

5:55

6:05

Fishing On A Sunday Morning

I walked out on the dock at 5:45, the sky a mix of clouds and colors, the sun just about to rise.  A fisherman just puttered off, hoping to get the early fish.  It's a mild 55º, warming some from Saturday's 46º, and lots of sun today and tomorrow.

We both just relaxed and enjoyed our Sunday, with no tasks on the to do list, other than read on the dock for Evie, watch some World Cup for me, in between bouts of relaxing and reading on the dock. I did kayak around 9:00, before the boaters descended on the lake.  It was a great morning to be on the lake, blue skies, warming and I was able to take a couple of pictures.  And I was able to paddle within 10 feet of a common loon, I think, before he dove and I watched his shape swim away under water, going at least 50 feet.  Amazing swimmers.

LOON

Around 11:00, I drove off to Wegman's, again, to pick up a specialty beer for Linda McClure's birthday and stopped at the wine store with a list of wines from the NYTimes wine column, all recommended and discussed.  Unfortunately, Evans Wine did not have even one, so I left the list and we will have to see if they will order some.  I came home and made a couple of eggs with leftover linguine noodles, nothing like buttery, fried noodles with fried eggs.  I then watched some of the World Cup, Evie finished up the picture book, ready to send in today.

We both spent lots of time on the dock, and the lake was busy with boaters, as this has been the first really nice Sunday of the past month, so everyone seemed to be out on the lake.  Fortunately, most cruise past Long Point and do not bother us here along Woodlawn.  I also noticed mega numbers of boats parked off of Sandy Beach, near Wells Bay, the party spot on the lake.

Marisa Dancing

Evie's really into her book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, recommended by my sister, Ellen, so it was hard to get her off the dock.   Late in the afternoon, I talked to our daughter Beth, who called to wish me a Happy Father's Day.  They had spent Saturday at Marisa's Dance Recital, Sunday at her soccer game, so they had a busy weekend.

Dinner!

The Mc Clures had invited us for Sunday dinner, to celebrate Linda's birthday which is today.  It was the perfect evening, the nicest day of the summer so far, mild temperatures, no breeze, blue skies, the trees the healthy green before the hot summer begins to turn them.  We sat on their porch, enjoying a beer for an hour, then went in for a great  salmon dinner, with a tasty sauce, cooked perfectly by Ron, the master chef.  Along with the salmon, we had salad with homemade blue cheese dressing, roasted asparagus, sesame noodles, and a lovely wine.  We went home after dinner because Evie was getting tired.  When we got home, I watched some of the NBA finals, but went up to read when it looked like the game was in the Spurs control.

It's now 8:00 and I just returned from eating my breakfast on the dock.  When I walk out, I create quite a commotion among the barn swallows and martins, who swoop and dive when I threaten their nests. Once I sit, they relax and go back to their nesting.  Barn swallows have built a nest under our dock and I am sure they have babies.  The two parents sat on our neighbor's dock for about five minutes while I was eating, checking to see if I was a threat before finally flying under the dock to feed their babies. They then swoop off, to catch insects, before bringing them back to feed their chicks.

Today I begin my yoga classes after a month hiatus.  I need to get back into my routine of yoga and either walking or riding my bike.  I have been too much of a Joey Bimbo lately, couching it.  But today the World Cup features two great matches, Germany and Portugal at 11:30 and the USA at a5 5:30 so I am sure I will be on the couch for a good portion of these games.

Another Too Early Mornng

5:55

6:05

Fishing On A Sunday Morning

I walked out on the dock at 5:45, the sky a mix of clouds and colors, the sun just about to rise.  A fisherman just puttered off, hoping to get the early fish.  It's a mild 55º, warming some from Saturday's 46º, and lots of sun today and tomorrow.

We both just relaxed and enjoyed our Sunday, with no tasks on the to do list, other than read on the dock for Evie, watch some World Cup for me, in between bouts of relaxing and reading on the dock. I did kayak around 9:00, before the boaters descended on the lake.  It was a great morning to be on the lake, blue skies, warming and I was able to take a couple of pictures.  And I was able to paddle within 10 feet of a common loon, I think, before he dove and I watched his shape swim away under water, going at least 50 feet.  Amazing swimmers.

LOON

Around 11:00, I drove off to Wegman's, again, to pick up a specialty beer for Linda McClure's birthday and stopped at the wine store with a list of wines from the NYTimes wine column, all recommended and discussed.  Unfortunately, Evans Wine did not have even one, so I left the list and we will have to see if they will order some.  I came home and made a couple of eggs with leftover linguine noodles, nothing like buttery, fried noodles with fried eggs.  I then watched some of the World Cup, Evie finished up the picture book, ready to send in today.

We both spent lots of time on the dock, and the lake was busy with boaters, as this has been the first really nice Sunday of the past month, so everyone seemed to be out on the lake.  Fortunately, most cruise past Long Point and do not bother us here along Woodlawn.  I also noticed mega numbers of boats parked off of Sandy Beach, near Wells Bay, the party spot on the lake.

Marisa Dancing

Evie's really into her book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, recommended by my sister, Ellen, so it was hard to get her off the dock.   Late in the afternoon, I talked to our daughter Beth, who called to wish me a Happy Father's Day.  They had spent Saturday at Marisa's Dance Recital, Sunday at her soccer game, so they had a busy weekend.

Dinner!

The Mc Clures had invited us for Sunday dinner, to celebrate Linda's birthday which is today.  It was the perfect evening, the nicest day of the summer so far, mild temperatures, no breeze, blue skies, the trees the healthy green before the hot summer begins to turn them.  We sat on their porch, enjoying a beer for an hour, then went in for a great  salmon dinner, with a tasty sauce, cooked perfectly by Ron, the master chef.  Along with the salmon, we had salad with homemade blue cheese dressing, roasted asparagus, sesame noodles, and a lovely wine.  We went home after dinner because Evie was getting tired.  When we got home, I watched some of the NBA finals, but went up to read when it looked like the game was in the Spurs control.

It's now 8:00 and I just returned from eating my breakfast on the dock.  When I walk out, I create quite a commotion among the barn swallows and martins, who swoop and dive when I threaten their nests. Once I sit, they relax and go back to their nesting.  Barn swallows have built a nest under our dock and I am sure they have babies.  The two parents sat on our neighbor's dock for about five minutes while I was eating, checking to see if I was a threat before finally flying under the dock to feed their babies. They then swoop off, to catch insects, before bringing them back to feed their chicks.

Today I begin my yoga classes after a month hiatus.  I need to get back into my routine of yoga and either walking or riding my bike.  I have been too much of a Joey Bimbo lately, couching it.  But today the World Cup features two great matches, Germany and Portugal at 11:30 and the USA at a5 5:30 so I am sure I will be on the couch for a good portion of these games.