Morning all:

Memorial Day weekend, enjoy it and reflect on it. Along with the start-of-summer stuff, my plans will include a bit of time at Spring Grove cemetery. In the meantime I am starting the day with my very first start-of-summer mug of coffee; and a good one it is. It is early and very quiet. Just now I can hear a plane starting its take-off rollout at the main airport—which is 12 miles away. Now, is that quiet or what?

I feel a bit like a dog marking his territory. This morning I am posting from the couch in the living room. Still much enamored with this wireless stuff. If, one of these weeks, you hear what could be construed as a “flushing” sound in the background then you’ll know I have taken this move from room to room thing beyond the bounds of sanity. Even as I am crowing about wifi, another era has come to an end. In Britain this past week they had the last run of the only remaining “slam-door” train. Reading about this evoked a memory of a flickering black and white film showing a lingering couple at a train, in the farewell scene of the 1945 film Brief Encounter. OK, quit doing the math, I am not that old. But, I did take a course in film appreciation while taking some evening courses at the local University; and yes, now that I think about it, that was quite some while ago.

As some of you know, Marcia drives a twenty year old Mercedes Diesel. The car still runs like a top and never fails to start. Needs to be kept somewhat cleaner, but that is a whole other story. The back bumper on the car has running the complete width of it a rubber “bump” strip. This strip is held in place by two other strips that slide in a grove in the rubber and then hook into holes on the metalwork. At this point I am beginning to hear my own snoring and am realizing that “boring” does not even start to describe this post. However, let me continue and make a point, this strip has come off and requires a new pair of hook-strips to fix it. Finally, here is what I wanted to get at. Yesterday I drove by a Benz dealership and asked for this very esoteric part for a twenty year old car. Thirty seconds punching the keyboard of the computer, a short hike down the parts aisle, and I had the bits I needed. I guess that is why I paid $60 for two plastic strips, solely because when needed, I could get them. I was quite impressed.

Last night Marcia and I ate out on a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. We tried a new place, Slim’s, in one of the city’s changing neighborhoods. They offer a three course meal for a fixed price—prix-fixe is what it said on the menu, and you bring your own wine. Marcia does not often rave about a meal but she did this time. As I wrote Adrianne last night, there was only a single hiccup throughout the whole evening; no credit cards. Yes, I had mine with me, just that they didn’t accept any—only cash or check. Had it not been for Marcia’s extraordinarily deep purse and the long forgotten checkbook at the bottom we’d still be spit-polishing their silverware.

Alongside all the amazingly fun things this weekend, i.e. bumper strip replacement, etc. will be the heading out for a Taste of Cincinnati. This is where about 200,000 of your best friends are to be seen walking through the streets of downtown, which have magically turned into one huge beer garden. Three days of eat and drink and music will bring the crowds, although I do believe many come specifically to see Marcia scarf down her annual six-inch German cream puff (maybe its eight inches). In years past she’s had to sit on a beer-slickened curb to finish this task. We’ll see how it goes this year.

Have a wonderful weekend and make it a great week.
Cheers,
Dirk