“A wet March plus Two”

Happy Saturday. And it rained for 40 days. No not really, and no, I am not into ship building yet. But we’ve had a bunch of weather (roof of our condo building damaged) and it’ll continue through Sunday. Currently, depending where exactly you measure, the river is between 8 and 10 feet above flood stage, and 3” more rain expected in under 24 hours – water won’t start to drop till next weekend.

In these parts they’ve closed the gates on the flood walls. The venue where we saw Willie Nelson last year would have been cancelled today since it’s now under water. Where it’s much more of an issue is immediately to our south in Kentucky with all the hollers and creeks.

Coffee update – Then, our dependable Mr. Coffee machine died. It died mid percolate cycle – and didn’t bother to alert us. In the morning it looked like it was ready and waiting when I noticed that the hot plate was really hot and when I added water the first cupful instantly spit out steam. All this with none of the normal lights lit. I could NOT turn it off other than by a plug/unplug scheme.

Hence, let me introduce our newest family member, Mr. Cuisinart the coffee maker. This one with more modes than I think we’ll ever use. So far so good.

Call me crazy – but during my school years, literature and history I always found enjoyable. This week it appears we successfully slid through April Fools Day. So how did these two, history & literature, meet up?

There is thought it harks back to one, Geoffrey Chaucer, who in the 1390s wrote The Canterbury Tales. Question, is there any kid who has not struggled with this wonderful poetic? Either case, this from “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” where a rooster tricked by a fox says: “Syn March bigan, thirty dates and two.”

Do the math, March has 31-days, so ‘March-with-30-plus-two-days’ becomes April 1st. Was this the genesis of all the foolishness?

An Anniversary – Decades ago it was one of my kids who got me interested in a singing duo: Over-The-Rhine (named after a, then, nasty part of the ‘Nati where they holed up on the cheap). As an aside, today in the Over-The-Rhine area with its myriads of Restaurants, Pubs, and Boutiques you can find condos clearing the $1-million mark.

Anyway, I finally heard a CD and fell in love with the group. Later there was a fund raiser to preserve the Norwood’s old St. Elizabeth church to which I went. It was Karin (Karin Bergquist) who with husband Linford (Linford Detweiler) quickly made up the band: Over-The-Rhine. Those few hours were time with talk, music and lunch. Meeting up with Karin over Pizza solidified my appreciation for the duo.

At one point I took Marcia to Wilmington where, at a restored old Opera House, we saw them at a concert. And so, it goes.

This week it was a “my how time flies” moment when the group’s newsletter informed me it was the 20th anniversary of the release of their album “Drunkard’s Prayer” (recorded entirely in the living room of their then in nearby Norwood home to mark them stepping through a rough spot in their marriage). This album is part of my ‘all-time-favorites’ lineup. I hope Marcia won’t mind if the music heard on Clinton Springs this weekend carries the sounds from that album – at least that is the prayer hope.

Should I? – should I restate the fun years and long affair with my little French Deux Chevaux (2CV)? Maybe you know this iconic car better by its long line of deprecating and dismissive nicknames: Umbrella on Wheels, Tin Can on Wheels, Le Canard, Leelijke Eend (ugly duck), Dolly, or Tin Snail.

No matter what you call it, these are amazing cars. Early on in their production they won one ‘First’ after another. Mechanically, likewise there were many a first: all disc brake, independent suspension, and for simplicity both cylinders fire simultaneously, to name just a few. And these little marvels worked, boy, did these cars perform.

Then recently I came across the best 2CV tale I’d heard about. In 1993, Émile Leray, a French mechanic, driving through the Western Sahara Desert ran into a major problem. It appears he crashed his Citroën 2CV into a rock and became stranded. Nothing nearby and remember this was 1993, so NO mobile or signal of any kind. The guy had two choices, find a solution (the best) or wait to die.

Apparently, he had both extreme heat and only a mere 10 liters of water. Thus time itself was an issue.

His solution, tear the trusty 2CV apart and try and use workable parts to build a motorcycle – totally unthinkable, but possibly possible.

So, in the middle of the desert heat and minimal tools he did the impossible, in 12 days. He tore the frame apart and modified it. Removed the engine and got it mounted. Made the transmission workable in his ‘motorcycle’ frame.

He got the improvised rig i.e. ’motorcycle’ started and managed to drive it a number of miles to where he was eventually rescued.

Émile Leray proved that with determination, a trusty 2CV (and some serious mechanical skills), a little Deux Chevaux can defeat even the Saharan Desert.

RUSH – I am talking about the band from mostly the 1970s (formed 1968) which created a sound that blended much of what we then heard. Personally, what makes it somewhat interesting is the fact that RUSH as a band originated in Willowdale (Toronto), Ontario Canada the same area I spent my high school years.

So today, actually this evening, I’ll be making the 50-minute drive to Oxford, Ohio and Miami University. Not to hear RUSH, but to hear the sounds of RUSH performed on steel drums!

Here’s the scoop. Granddaughter Vaioleti and her school’s Steel Drum band, along with like bands from 6 other high schools will be performing.

Should be so cool! Just to stay current for any younger readers the 70’s term ‘cool’ is now, and here take your pick; “awesome”, “rad”, “chill”, or “hip”.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Who declined his Nobel Prize in literature?

1) “Ernest Hemmingway”
2) “Jean-Paule Satre”
3) “Mercy Otis Warren”
4) “Robert Caro”
5) “(Irish Friar) Edward Hicks”