A PRODIGAL SPY: JOSEPH KANON

I must like Kanon because this is the fourth book I have read by him. The book begins in the 1950's during the Mc Carthy trials, outing supposed communists in the various government offices. A young Nick Kotlar learns of his father's questioning via the newspapers and gossip.  When it appears as if he's going to be convicted, the father, Walter Kotlar disappears and in his wake, leaves behind a wife and son.

The novel jumps ahead twenty years, the 1970's when Nixon is still in office.  Nick has served a stint in Viet Nam, has come home disillusioned by the war, his government, and its leaders.  Since his father's exit, Nick's mother has remarried an old friend of his father's, Charles Warren, who has adopted Nick as his son.  He also happens to be a diplomat currently involved in the Paris Peace Talks with Viet Nam.  Nick's in London, doing research for a professor's book on the Red Scare when he meets a reporter, Molly Chisholm, at a party.  She actually has been looking for him, as he finds out later because she had recently been in Prague and has brought a note for Nick.  It's from his father, asking if Nick will come to Prague to see him.  Nick at first refuses to go but rethinks his refusal when Molly agrees to go with him.  They soon become a couple, the romance of the book, and they end up in Prague, just after the Russians have clamped down on the dissidents, not a very peaceful time.  They are nervous passing from Austria into Czechoslovakia, then Prague, and the city, the people, all appear to be in the dark, figuratively as well as literally.  The city, compared to the rest of Europe, looks run down, unkempt despite having been spared by the Nazis.

Nick meets his father, his step mother, and whatever Nick held against his father disappears as the two two reunite. Walter is dying and wants to return to the States, to clear his name and find out who gave him up to the FBI.  He's positive the mole is still alive and working against the States.  Clearly, Walter is disillusioned with whats happened in Russia, especially during the Stalin era.  Nick agrees to help his father, waits for him at the train station but he never appears.  He then takes his car to his father's house and finds that he's been killed.  The local police arrive, assume Nick is the murderer but he is cleared by a sympathetic police superintendent and allowed to leave before the Russians find out about his connection to his father.

He returns to the States, with Molly and between the two of them, they discover the mole who betrayed Nick's father.  I won't say who it is but by the end of the book, we all have a pretty good idea who he is.  The ending is a bit complicated, as the reader finds out because the discovery of the mole only makes Nick's world worst.  A good read.

Early Saturday Morning Gray

A Bundled Up Evie On A December Morning

8:01

Up just after 6:00 to a chilly living room, a dark sky, as the days shorten till the equinox.  It's now 7:30, Evie just came downstairs and noticed a fishing boat out on the lake, near Long Point.  It will be in the 40's, maybe 50's later in the day, maybe even clear up some.  It could have been a kayak morning except for the fact that we are driving to Dunkirk this morning to participate in the Empty Bowls project, which raises mucho money for the food banks in Chautauqua County.

Late Fall Fishing

I just realized this morning that the Jamestown Christmas parade was last evening, upsetting because we missed it again. It's always fun, a small town parade, with all the bells and whistles.  Anyways, yesterday was like Thursday, a day of large leisure.  About 9:30, however, we realized the lake was like glass, so we bundled up, put on our gloves, and went kayaking, the two of us, the only presence on the lake other than wildlife.  We paddled down to Bootey Bay, uprooting rafts of mallards, as we went.  It was in the 30's so our hands got cold, at least mine, so we were only out for around 45 minutes.  The shoreline has the peculiar beauty of winter, almost haunting to be honest, with the barren woods and leafless arms of the trees, reaching skyward.  It felt great, however, to be out on the water.

Flight Of Ducks, Frightened By A Gun Shot

We had the last of the leftover pizza for lunch, along with the butternut squash and coconut milk soup, watching more of the news, as the pundits sought to place blame, the Dems on guns, the Republicans on Obama.  Things never seem to change.  The only excitement of the afternoon was the spotting of a pair of loons, hearing their recognizable yodel.

Thick Billed Common Loon Sighting

The rest of the afternoon I read, Evie played Word Brain, waiting for Julie Mason's cocktail hour on Potus at 6:00.  Supposedly, she was going to be sitting in a bar, enjoying cocktails with various journalists, talking about politics.  Unfortunately, it was somewhat of a bore, so we decided to have dinner rather than continue listening.

Dinner was one of my favorites, cabbage rolls which Evie pulled out of the freezer.  We made about 50 of them a month ago, frozen a couple of dinners worth, so we had them last night, smothered in sauerkraut along with mashed potatoes, always better than eating out.  And the rest of the evening we binged on three episodes of Fargo, a take off on the Coen brother's film, with the same quirky sense of humor combined with ruthless violence.  I cannot believe Evie likes it because violence usually turns her off.  It's a difficult series to summarize so I will only suggest it deals with a small towns sheriff's attempts to thwart a war between two gangs, one city, the other rural.  But it's much more than that.

Fargo, Season 2

It's now 9:00 and we are off to Empty Bowls in a half hour.  I will end with a quotation from the Huffington Post:

"Spending time in nature -- aside from being one of life's greatest simple pleasures -- comes with a whole host of mental health benefits, from lower stress levels to reduced depression and anxiety to improved memory and focus."

So, get out there and enjoy the day.  

CAREER OF EVIL: ROBERT GALBRAITH

We are back with Cormoran Stike and his female sidekick, Robin, a severed leg with three suspects, a pedophile, serial abuser, and serial killer, all three known to Strike as his enemies.  It's much more about Robin this time and her fiancee, the misogynistic Matthew, who finds the woman he wooed is not the woman he thinks.  And he does not like it.  It's about the violence against women, how the media treats this type of victim, how they tend to sensationalize it.

The novel begins with a severed leg being sent to Robin, a threat to both her and Strike.  The police get involved and as they often do when dealing with Strike, go off in the wrong direction.  Strike tells them about three violent thugs from his past, all who have a grudge against him but the police don't listen.  As the novel progresses, we are let into the mind of the serial killer but never discover who he is until the end.  Thus, we, like Strike and Robin, follow the trail of the killer and three more victims, all women.  And only we, the reader, know that he, the serial killer, wants to get at Strike by making Robin his next victim.  Strike senses this and is reluctant to send Robin off on any of the stake outs of the three suspects, but she angrily suggests that it's because she is a woman.  And it's true, as Strike fears for her life.  Robin, however, ignores Strike's refusal to involve her after the third murder and goes off to interview one of the suspect's abused wife and children and narrowly survives an attempt at her life.

While all of the above is happening, Robin's fiancee, Matthew, is convinced there is something going on between Strike and Robin.  And he hates her job, fears for her life, and welcomes anything that might force her to stop working for Strike.  This happens, as I mentioned above, when Strike finds that Robin, ignoring his orders, goes into the home of a pedophile, rescues the children and nearly loses her life.  He fires her and as the novel ends, with Strike finding the killer, without Robin's help, and we think all is over between them. The final paragraph describes Strike, late to everything, rushing to Robin's wedding, arriving just as she and Matthew are at the altar, taking their vows. To be continued no doubt.

This novel differs in that much of the text allows us into the mind of Robin, her feelings towards her work, Strike and Matthew, how they all try to manipulate her, deny her the freedom that they would easily give to a man  A good read, well written of course, and not much fun at times,  especially when we follow the sickness of the serial killer as he revels in his crimes by cutting off various body parts as souvenirs.  Gristly, readable, and concerned with the way society treats women.

Back In Routine

7:35

It's almost 8:00 and I am angry already listening to Joe Scarborough whiplash Obama for being soft on terrorists because he was measured and cautious yesterday when talking about San Berandino. Joe cannot seem to talk about anything without bringing it back to a criticsm of Obama.  It's a troubling enough world we live in without blaming everything on one party or the other. He suggested that Obama was 'clueless' about terrorism.  What a daming and ridiculous things to say about the man who knows more than any of us about terrorism, having gotten updates every day for the past seven years.  Joe's comments are what I call 'irresponsible journalism' because people will believe him. This is why I rarely listen to either Fox or MSNBC, preferring the reasonable NPR and POTUS (Michael Smerconish).  Anyways, another gray morning, a slick lake, with ducks floating by and they look like buffleheads the first of this fall.  They are smaller, somewhat squat, with white, perhaps a hood.  We love seeing them.

Yesterday was like a Sunday, a day of rest, a day when we felt no guilt if we did nothing, not that we did nothing.  But it felt luxurious to sit around and read, watch TV, make Turkish tea, take a nap, all the things we missed over the past few weeks because we were traveling, not that we did not enjoy that. And it's not like we did nothing.  Evie worked on and off much of the day, getting laundry done from our trip, putting everything back in order.  And I enjoyed getting outside, despite the gray skies, the drizzle and ended up picking up a barrel of twigs and branches, down from our trees, as well as another barrel filled with leaves.  Cleaning up our yard is a never ending tale.

Late Afternoon

Lunch was frozen coconut and squash soup which I made and froze a month ago and a piece of pizza. And it was good to settle back into the world of the television series Longmire now that I had met one of the actresses from the series in New Orleans.  Big Deal.  The afternoon went quickly and neither of us ventured out, even when the late afternoon turned somewhat sunny, highlighting Long Point and other sections of Bemus.  While I read, Evie spent a good hour with Time Warner, wrangling a better deal on our internet, adding our phone, a high speeed internet, all for the same price we were paying.  All she had to do is be patient and stay on the line.

Tom's Point

Long Point with Seagulls

Our good friends the McClures, up for a couple of days, picked us up at 6:00 and we went to our usual destination, The Seezurh House, more crowded than usual for a Thursday night.  It was good to see them, and they wanted to know all about our trip.  So that took up most of dinner.  They are off by train to NYC for four days Sunday, to meet Linda's sister from Palo Alto.  Our dinners were not splashy but what we expected.  I even had wings for some reason.  We were home early enough so that we were able to watch two more episdoes of Homeland and we are now caught up.  It's getting better, more tension, action, less fluff.

Home Again....Again (After A Short 3200 Mile Drive)

7:26

7:51

Waking up to the lake feels right after almost three weeks on the road.  We had a wonderful trip, got to see our kids and grandchildren, visit cities we have never been to like Nashville, New Orleans, and a few we have visited before, Kansas City and Oxford, Ohio. It's great to travel, to see new places but it's also good to return home.  And it's a Chautauqua morning, overcast with a wet snow and 34º.

We took our time getting home yesterday, stopping at a Walmart in a small town in southwestern Ohio to pick up some groceries, making sure we had some staples when we returned home.  Traffic was fine though it seemed like truck day, as they tended to dominate the highways, especially on #70, connecting the East with West.  After Walmart, we had two stops, both for something to eat or gas, and we filled up at Love's, the last stop in Ohio because gas is 50 cents cheaper a gallon than in New York.

A Chautauqua Welcome

Ironically, as we neared Chautauqua County, it clouded up and as we began to unpack, it started to rain. Ah, Chautauqua!  We unpacked quickly despite a car filled with our belongings and started putting thing away as we began to hear more about the terrible shootings in California yesterday afternoon.  We decided we did not want to fuss with dinner, other than Evie making a salad, so I picked up a pizza from Coppola's, in Bemus Point.  That made our evening much easier, so we relaxed before dinner with a much needed mannie after our drive, listening to the news, enjoying our first late afternoon back at the lake.  It was not an attractive dusk, cloudy, windy, and wet but we were still happy to be back home.

Dinner was what we expected, a better pizza than usual and a salad, as we had difficulty deciding what series we should begin watching because we are behind on many of them after three weeks on the road. So we decided on Homeland but had a hard time following the confusing story line, so we switched to the news, following the events in California, listening to the talking heads trying to make sense out of the massacre.

I am off to breakfast in Bemus with the guys, the first time in a few weeks.  And today sounds good, nothing we have to do and a dinner out with the McClures at the Seezurh House this evening so Evie does not have to cook.  We are back in our Chautauqua routine!

An Evening With Good Friends, Now On To Chautauqua Lake

Joe And Mary Lou At Home in Oxford, Ohio

It's pitch black in Oxford, Ohio, the #1 college town in the US according to some survey I read recently.  Everyone is still sleeping, lucky for them, but I work at my usual 6:15 and am now waiting for my coffee to finish.  We hope to be on our way by 8:00 or so, as both Joe and Lou have things to do this morning.

Wheat Fields And Skies

Commerce And Religion, A Middle Ameria Mix

Yesterday was not our usual eight hour drive; instead it was nine and a half hour drive in partial sunshine, a nice change from the past few days of rain.  The drive was long and uneventful, through a couple of major cities, St. Louis and Indianapolis, and across two great rivers, The Missouri and The Mississippi, along the great flatlands of America.  Not much change in the scenery, mostly vast fields of some sort, off to the left and right, with occasional farm houses and silos.  Only when we got near cities did the landscape change to businesses, fast food places, and truck stops.

Orchards

Countryside

Our last hour and a half was off the major highways, on back roads to Oxford, Ohio, again through largely farming areas but also through a couple of neat towns, like Rushville, IN, with imposing, stone city halls we presumed.  It was a nice change from the eight hours of mindless driving which is what it ends up being.  Put the car in cruise and go.

Small Towns, Impressive City Halls

We arrived at the Barry's around 4:45, just about the time we expected.  Joe was my roommate and teammate and Ohio University.  It was there that he met his wife Mary Lou and we were both in each others wedding parties back in 1965, the year we graduated from Ohio University, excuse me, Ohio, a new branding for the school.  Joe and Lou have lived in Oxford most of their married life, mostly because Joe was the assistant basketball coach at Miami University for over 30 years I would guess. And Mary Lou taught in the elementary school until retiring a few years ago. They have a great home, comfortable and the perfect size for the two of them, about five minutes from the town and university, so they can take advantage of all that both have to offer.  I think this is the third time we have taken advantage of their hospitality and stopped on our way back from Kansas City.

We have friends in common from college and grandchildren, we are never at a loss for something to talk about.  They, like us, are always on road trips East, to either New Jersey or Connecticut, where their seven grandchildren live.  They are always on call and get called quite a bit lately.  Most recently, their daughter, Barb, who teachers at a prep school, spent a couple of weeks in China meeting parents, so Joe and Lou did the baby sitting.  What else are grandparents good for after all.

They profess to reading my blog so that they know our kind of restaurant, a bar with good fries and burgers.  So around 6:30, we drove the long five minutes into town to Mac N Joe's, a short walk down an alley and some stairs.  We knew it was good because we could smell the grease before we got in, and heard the noise from the people enjoying the beer and food.  And it did not disappoint, especially the onion rings we dipped in an aioli sauce.

Dinner At Mac N Joes

In a college town like this, Joe assured us there were lots of places like this.  Afterwards, we walked around the town, past the square all lit up for Christmas, and Joe gave us a tour of the various pubs, Irish and German, as well as a couple of the shops. Everywhere we went they seemed to know someone which was fun.  Joe is a minor celebrity having coached and still does the play on TV for the Miami basketball team's games.  I can see why it's such a great college town.  And according to Joe, many of the buildings downtown have added a couple of stories of apartments, changing its appearances though not drastically.  The apartments are spacious and modern, filled with college students who can afford them, many from Asia with cash to spare.  The demographics of college campuses has changed drastically over the past twenty years or so with the influx of Asian students not only to colleges but to prep schools.  Asian parents want the best education for their children and the US colleges are still the best in the world.  And Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is a safe, picturesque school with a great academic reputation.

We were back by 9:30 and stayed up till 11:00, having a bowl of Graeter's ice cream, a Cincinatti specialty, and talking about both of our sojourns over the past month to visit our kids and grandchildren.  Both Joe and Lou are readers so we talked about the books we have been reading recently.  We of course bragged about our grandchildren, how smart they are; our grandchildren are a little older than Joe and Lou's, whose oldest is a junior in high school this year. Our evening reminded me of our visit with another of my college teammates, Paul Storey, who stayed with us perhaps a month ago after baby sitting for his two grandchildren in the Boston area.  All of us talk about how much fun it was but after a bit, the truth comes out.  It's really work, hard, especially if the grandchildren are young.  We marvel at our children's energy and patience in dealing with their kids.

It's almost 7:00, and I am through writing and I assume the others will be up shortly, for their coffee and  then all of us will get moving, eager for the day.  We four are a fortunate group, healthy, happily married, with great kids and grandchildren.

It's now 9:00, and the four of us have been talking over our  morning coffee until 8:30, when Lou and Joe  had to leave, and we are soon closing up the house and heading home to Chautauqua Lake.

Heading Home To The Lake, With A Stop Tonight In Oxford, Ohio

Finally, A Kansas City Barbecue From Jack Stack Barbecue

Mary And Bella

We have a nine hour plus drive ahead of us today, to Oxford, Ohio, plus we lose an hour, so we want to be off by 6:15 at the latest.  We should make it easy since I was up at 5:15.  And it looks as though we may have some sun shine on our drive!

Yesterday was another rainy day in Kansas City, making it the fifth day in a row that we have had to stay inside because of rainy weather, both here in KC and in Dallas our last day.  What made it worse was both Nick and Marlena were gone, so we were stuck here at home with Mary, or rather, she was stuck with us.  We both decided to go our ways shopping, Mary off to Overland Park in Kansas and we decided to stick around Lee Summit and go shopping at their shopping area which has all the stores we needed or I wanted to be honest.

So we left about 11:00, a fifteen minute drive and we were already shopping for bargains in an Eddie Bauer discount store.  Unfortunately, I don't really need anything and the deals were not that great. Anything I thought about buying, with a discount was in the 40's so I just looked and did not buy anything.  The same went for Evie; two years ago we were able to pick up some real bargains so we were a bit disappointed with our results.  We then stopped briefly at Kohl's where Evie returned a jacket and found one she really liked as she walked out, and with the discount and coupon, it cost her only seven bucks.  I couldn't complain.  We then spent another hour shopping, Evie in TJ's and Bed Bath and Beyond, me in Dick's Sporting Goods but neither of us ended up buying anything.  I did not want anything and Evie could not find anything that she wanted.  And so it goes, as Billy Pilgrim from Slaughterhouse Five would say.  

Bella, Happy To See Us

We were home by 1:30, Mary by 2:30, Nick by 2:35 and Marlena around 3:00.  Both kids immediately sat down and started working on their homework to get it down.  I never remember walking in the house and immediately sitting down to get my work done.  Both grandchildren have Chrome books, compliments of their schools, which is neat.  I just hope the teachers, in their classes, are making good use of them to make the purchase worth it.  I found when I taught that much of the new technology which the school invested in went to waste.  Few teachers ever really got into the 'new, new thing.'  For me, the best investment the school made was to buy all the teacher's laptops back in the 1990's, which changed everything.  

Playing A Final Game Of Telefunky With Granny

Around 4:00, we went up and packed our things, then the car, so we would be ready to leave early this morning.  Once that was done, we were ready to relax with the kids, enjoy a glass of wine, and Evie played more Telefunky with Marlena.  The rest of us waited for Tom to get home with dinner, ribs, brisket, burnt ends, and all the fixins from Jack Stack Barbecue, the famous barbecue place now easily found all over the KC area.  

Looking At Topsail, NC, Photographs

Dinner was great of course, and we ate and ate and ate until there were no ribs left.  Nothing like good barbecue, especially Kansas City style.  We then took it easy, watching some TV, some news shows, featuring another meaningless Donald Trump faux pas, then the Browns and Ravens game until we got sick of watching football. We then had fun going through the photographs from our week at Topsail, North Carolina, which seems so long ago.  It was nice to do something other than binge on football. During the second half, Evie, Mary, Nick and Tom played Word Brain on their devices, a fun word game Evie showed them, rather than watch the game except me who stuck with the Browns like a true fan. We went to be early because we wanted to get up around 5:15 so I missed the thrilling, typical ending to a Browns loss.