Morning all:

Quote Of The Week:

“If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean….”
Procol Harum 1967 from “A Whiter Shade of Pale” Lyrics that stay modern since they surely could reference the current political carnival

A week ago Marcia got her first ever All-Clad cookware – a stainless-steel 13” skillet. She is absolutely thrilled! Now it appears that everything has to be replaced with All-Clad.

No way, not everything! I am hanging on to my Krupps coffee machine. Well, now that I think about it, there is something else. Maybe I could be talked into this $20,000 Japanese beauty. My morning coffee is just too good to mess around with.

Last weekend was our neighborhood’s annual Progressive Dinner; 75 people streaming through four houses on a very cold night and it was great. I promised a full report. Suffice it to say that I ended up going to the ‘secret-party-after-the-party’. I do remember my host saying, “here try some of this moonshine I got in Tennessee”, as he grabbed a 1/3 full Mason jar.

I staggered home at 2:00 AM.

I paid a heavy price Sunday morning.

A week ago I was fortunate enough to attend our symphony for an all French evening. I think I like these ‘spur of the moment’ events the best. Living in what most of the country refers to as “fly over” country I often need to remind myself that we have an awful lot in the ‘quality of life’ arena. Our Symphony Orchestra, led by the renowned music director Paavo Järvi is no exception—it is truly world class. The final number of the evening was Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky was Russian but it was the Frenchman Ravel that arranged the piece for orchestra) was amazing. I knew we were in for a treat when the lead Timpanists (there are four) put in his earplugs for the finale. Wow!

My musical tastes are somewhat eclectic, hence this announcement: Robin Trower is on a 1-year national tour, April he heads Europe. He’ll come through town April 1st so I will make certain my calendar is clear. Who is Robin Trower? He was the “classic” guitarist for the British band Procol Harum, which recorded one of my all-time favorite songs, A Whiter Shade of Pale. In the 80s he produced and recorded the monster album Bridge of Sighs. Over the years he’s kept on recording and collaborating.

Marcia stated she was not interested getting caught up in an evening of amazing riffs.

This was the week at Davos Switzerland. Ho Hum. Once again it was the annual gathering of CEOs, politicos, environmentalists, economists, many wanna-bes, hangers on, and Bono (our current god of ‘do good’). Other than publicity, wild statements, and a lot of empty hot air, what actually was accomplished? Ok, Bill Gates gave away $300 million while the rest of the gathered crowd packed a nearby chalet for skiing and hot chocolate; they stopped long enough to give him a round of applause.

Inherently it is a wonderful idea to gather and discuss, even to accomplish something of value. However, as nations we seem to struggle getting anything done; any leader willing to make a hard choice is immediately castigated and drummed out of office. The United Nations certainly is inept. I think that the Davos crowd should just get honest and state “we are here for a great party – a world-class one at that – and if something positive comes out of it so much the better”.

This week it’s truly a ‘ramble’ so let’s finish by saying goodbye to the “Gimli Glider”. This early model Boeing 767 was officially retired by Air Canada and mid-week was flown to the aircraft ‘boneyard’ in the Mojave Desert; do not fear, it will surface again in the form of thousands of brand new soda cans.

In July of 1983 Canada was in the midst of converting from the Imperial system to the Metric system. Air Canada flight 143, then the newest aircraft in Air Canada’s fleet, was preparing for take-off, was caught in a screw-up calculating between the two measurement systems. That coupled with fuel gauge problems had the plane leave for a cross-Canada flight with half a load of fuel. At 41,000 feet and no fuel the plane effectively became a 132 ton glider. 100 miles away was an abandoned military airfield – Gimli, Manitoba. The pilots made it and landed on an old runway where car races were in process. All survived, including the aircraft. Goodbye Gimli Glider. My apologies to those who do not give two-hoots about anything dealing with aviation. I guess that one has to be a flying buff to take note of this passing.

Make it a great week. Happy birthday to Cathy and Kirstin, both the grand result of spring-time celebrations! Now maybe I’ll begin work on some, previously parked, winter projects.

Cheers,

Dirk

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