I took Lorelei to a small local show. I had a good time. I got to look at restored cars, unrestored cars, and custom cars.
Many of the cars were very good looking. I answered questions about Lorelei, and I asked many questions or just complemented people.
The 300SEL 6.3 was a very expensive car new; equivalent to about $90,000 or 100,000 today. During a conversation someone made a comment about inheritance. I replied with "There is a negative side too." I then look up at my beautiful car in the distance and saw a piece of father.

At work there are pictures of father, Lorelei, Baxter, and me. These are from Daria's slide show. I will find myself staring at them. I'm looking at father, very alive at 90, showing off Lorelei to me with pride. That is my inheritance; pride. Pride in Lorelei, but even greater is pride in my parents.
A week ago on Friday Amy Goodman of Democracy Now told us listeners to take a moment to take a deep breath as her mother was struggling for each breath. On Monday we were told that Amy's mother died. I am honored that Amy thought enough of her listeners to let us know about her personal struggle. Amy's mother gave us all an inheritance; a woman of seemingly unending energy and concern for humanity.
The other day at work there was a lot of noise around me so I put on earphones to listen to music. During a Creedence Clearwater Revival song some phrase made me think of father. I tried to work with tears in my eyes. When the song ended I decided to listen to something without words. I played Michael Cedric Smith. It brought back memories of Vermont and the joy you could see in father as he listened to Michael play the guitar.
There is a negative side to material inheritance; death. Recently events have illuminated inheritances given to me long before death: pride, concern for humanity, enjoyment of life, love of music. There is one more I want to write about.

This last picture is of a beautiful car. It has the beauty of age. It has a history. It has a story to tell. It is up to us to ask about it. Likewise people have a story to tell, but we have to ask.
With love to my parents, my wife, my children and grandchildren, to all my family, and to anyone that happens upon this page.

After Abby's death we got an Australian Shepherd mix, Star, to keep May company. Greyhounds do not do well alone. The companion can be a person or animal. Star will be that companion when we are not home.

Star is about 2 years old. The previous owner kept her in the back yard. They had too many dogs, and when there were noise complaints they took Star to a shelter. She was untrained, so Dianne busy.

Star is a bundle of energy. Somewhere in her keeping the back yard free of intruders (squirrels) she cut the pad on her paw. (If you click on the picture you can see her bandage better.)

Being a peg-leg hasn't slowed her down. She still jumps on her guard rounds, and clears the step to the deck when she comes in. She gallops around. When I was downstairs and she ran down the hall I heard br-dr-dr-RUMP br-dr-dr-RUMP all the way down the hall.

She has an Elizabethan collar to keep her from chewing the bandage. She doesn't know how lucky she is not to get the old plastic type. (Poor dog!)
She recognizes animals on TV. I tried to catch her sniffing the TV, but missed it.

I ordered something from Newegg. Here is a quick post of opening the shipment.

This is the box that arrived.
When the box was opened this is what was there.
Everything is now out of the box. There is the small box, an invoice, and packing paper.Inside the small box is a 2 1/2 inch hard drive.
Of course I blew my order and have to get a different one!

Bad News, Old News, and New(ish) News

First the bad news. While we were in Berkeley Abby started to limp. When we returned we took her into the vet, and learned that she had a very aggressive bone cancer. We kept her as pain free as we could while we decided what was best. You could see in her eyes that she was scared and depressed.

The vet told us that often another dog will take the departure better is they witness the death. On Saturday Dianne, May, and I took Abby to the vet and said goodbye. Normally when May and Abby are apart May will whine and keep looking for Abby. May misses Abby, but clearly knows that Abby is not coming back.

The pictures in this post vary in quality. It is the content I am after.

In the old news department, here are some pictures of Ellie's 1st birthday. One problem with having multiple cameras with film in one of them is one set of pictures is always late.



OK! Now I'm bragging. Remember the pictures of the plane Dianne and I did for Ellie? Here are some more pictures.
A closeup of the propeller I made.
Steering wheel details.
When Josie visited we went to Tiny Town. Here are some pictures of the trip.


Frog picnic


At least one paper is still in business!

The day Josie, Charlie, and Jon left Dianne and I went to Berkeley.

On my birthday we went to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The living roof was beautiful.





There are old and new exhibits.Here fishy fishy
Guess who I took this picture for. Live ones are better though.
Can you count the snakes?
Again?
Mother signed Lorelei over to me.

Some of the car parts were too big to fit in the car, so we ended up pulling a trailer. Wow can Lorelei go (though I admit nothing)!

This peaceful picture belies what is ahead. We crossed Nevada and Utah with no A/C. It was HOT.
Colorado was cooler. We stopped for a picnic lunch by the river. The car made it over the Eisenhower pass with no issues, except people thinking that every Mercedes is a diesel and trying to get ahead of me.
We made it home.
I brought home the N.Y Martin guitar. It is a ladies model. I hung it next the the other guitar to show how much smaller it is. I love the sound once it is warmed up (yes this guitar needs playing to sound good).

What we have been doing

This first picture is just for fun, though behind the cold duck is a salvaged railing that goes around our deck. The railing came from a restaurant, and is sturdier than what is sold for residential use. I could not find mounting brackets that fit the tubing, so when I cut the lengths I Heated and bent a tab to be the brackets.

Dianne got a wood rocking plane. When we got it two of the wing stays were broken. It was also missing the propeller and the steering wheel. I made the repairs and Dianne painted it. The cowl in front of the propeller is an old drawer pull that I shaped. The horn button is the same type of drawer pull, but with less shaping.



Dianne also has bee sewing. She made Ellie and Ainsley each a reversible sun dress.



We have a few pieces of granite pieces from our kitchen remodel several years ago. I have been wanting to make an outdoor table out of one of them. Dianne and I went looking for something to use as table legs. We saw this lamp.


The glass tabletop had chips in it.

When we got the lamp home and disassembled, it was clear that one piece was flimsy, and that the tabletop would be too heavy. To solve both problems I took old tire balancing weights and encased them into the weak part.


Here is the final lamp. The shade is a plastic flower pot with a hole drilled in the center of the bottom (now top).


A long time ago we found this radio and record player at a Salvation Army store. It had an ugly applied plywood on it. When the plywood was removed I learned that it originally had been a larger console, and someone sawed a TV off of it.


Here is the side that was cut.


I decided to veneer new wood onto it, something I have never done before. The wood working shop suggested a new way of veneering that he had been reading about, and I tried it. Next time I will use a traditional veneering technique.

Random memories and thoughts

I call father "father". To me it is a loving term equal to "dad" or any other word, plus I like how the word father flows off the tongue.

When I called the house father answered most of the time. The call went like this.
Father in his deep voice: Hellooooo?
Me: Father, Stanford.
Father in a voice almost exactly one octave higher and with excitement: Stan

I keep hearing this lovely welcome in my head.

I would ride down the hill with mother to pick up father at the university. She would sit in the car and send me in. I always stopped to play with the exhibits as I walked to his office. When I got to the office he might be "ready to go", and it would take just a few minutes to come to a stopping point on whatever he was doing. Other times he was with a student. I would sit quietly as father gave his student whatever time was needed by the student.

I have very few memories of Brazil, though I remember smells and tastes. I have a memory of posing for a picture. I think father took it. We were stopped by the road and I posed in front of a leaf that was much bigger than me.

There were many times up at the cabins that we would be working on plumbing or something else and father would say "go back to the house and get ..." On time stuck in my mind.

We were walking back from the lower spring following the polyethylene pipe. We found something that needed fixing, but we couldn't loosen a joint. Father sent me back to the house to get a tool. I think father was using a pocket knife and he needed a screw driver. I went back to the house and got it. When I returned he thanked me, and then told me that he had gotten the connection loose.

He thanked me. It stuck in my memory because of the frustration of getting the tool and then not needing it. But, I remember he thanked me. Father often thanked us for our help.

The drive home last Saturday and Sunday was long and tiring. We switched drivers every 2 hours. One time while Dianne was driving we drove under some high power lines. I started to cry. Father would have tried to figure out where it came from and where it was going. He likely would have asked me a question I never could remember how to calculate. He would ask the voltage of the lines.

Here are some pictures from the trip out to Berkeley.

Deer in the back yard

Friday before we came home: Tilden Park

Sterling and Otto in the park

Some wild flowers were blooming in Tilden


Donner Pass on the way home

Almost exactly 180 degrees from the last picture

Most of the way home this was what we saw.

Most of you know that my father died.

My parents' love for each other is a model for living with a partner. Even in the last hours of life the love between them was visible to all who had the honor to witness it. I will not go into any details of their life or his death. I will, with my mother's permission, include one of her poems.

The Old Lovers
Asleep, their bodies rest as spoon to spoon
or else are pressed together spine to spine.
One of them dreams a night of summer moon
when firm young bodies meet and intertwine.

One dreams they climb a trail in blazing noon,
leap boulders, savor scent of fir or pine,
gaze down on unknown lands they’ll travel soon,
their years before them in an endless line.

They dream apart, but each dreams they’re together.
They drowse then turn and waken face to face,
illusion’s threads unravelling seam by seam.
They touch the dear soft flesh of one another
then almost desperately the two embrace
fearing that one might soon hold only dream.

Phyllis Smith

The world has lost a man who spent his life making the world a better place than he found it. I have lost a man who loved me unconditionally, and proved the love when I did not deserve it. I cry for my loss. I mourn everyone's loss; those who knew him, those who knew of him, and those who never had the honor of knowing what he did for them.

With love to all who read this regardless of if we have ever met
Papa of Honey and Papa