“Sing a Song of Sixpence”

Happy Saturday Morning – as I am sipping on my fresh and glorious mug of Starbuck’s Pike Place coffee. While thus sipping, Dinah and her team members from Syracuse University women’s rowing team are in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Wolverine Double Dual. She’ll be going against Ohio State at 9:00AM and then against the University of Michigan at 1:00PM.

Were hoping we’ll get real-time updates since Marcia and I have on site representation – Jason and Cathy are there.

Should you spot a few ‘fat-fingered’ errors here and there, excuse me. For dinner last evening I set out to make fancy hamburgers for our dinner. These are only proper dinner fares if properly fitted with all the ‘bits’ that make it so, i.e. tomato slices, onion slices, greens, etc.

Here is where I ran into difficulty. I had a great looking red onion and proceeded to make some thin slices. It was while doing the slicing thing on my mandolin that I proceeded to move from just onion slices to add a slice of my right thumb.

I was impressed by the efficiency of the Tri-Health Urgent Care facility I got treated at, especially CNP Eliezar Agaran who ‘addressed’ the issue. My health record shows that I had my last tetanus shot back in 2017, so all is good. Now, let the healing begin.

Skyline: Sad Day in Naples – This week, after several decades, the one and only Naples Skyline Cincinnati Chili parlor is closing. It would not surprise me in the least if my Naples brother is wearing black garb as a sign of grief for the remainder of the month; this I see as an opportunity for all of his ‘Naples-Pink’ shirt collection to get a ‘deep’ cleaning.

George claims that the area where the parlor is located is in a transition area where new are replacing old and rents are increasing substantially, i.e. franchise ownership couldn’t keep up with the times.

Skyline: Happy Day in the ‘Nati – For a limited time most Skylines, by popular demand, will be bringing back the: the Skyline Dip Chilito. This ‘beast’ is a combination of a chilito and Skyline Chili dip — cream cheese, chili, cheddar cheese and Fritos wrapped in a flour tortilla.

Hum that ‘80s advert jingle; “Tumm-tum-tum”, for the rest of the day after eating.

Aging, a mind thing? – This week the Boston Marathon was run. As expected, the Kenyans won (both men’s and women’s). But that is not what this bit is all about. This piece of Rambling is about an event dating back to 1966 and fast forwarded to 2026.

Her name is Bobbi Gibb (born Nov. 1942). In 1966 running the marathon was a men’s only event. That year 24year old Gibb hid in some bushes near the starting line. After the starting gun fired, she dashed out and embedded herself into the throng – running the race unofficially.

The next year (1967) a change was made when Katherine Schwitzer was allowed to register and run (bib # 261). One hiccup, a course official spotted her and tried to physically get her off the course.

But Dirk, you say, this piece is about aging. True, therefore the reference Gibb. This year a statue was unveiled showing a female runner in honor of the occurrence in 1966 and the beginning of both men and women participating. Not only did Gibb do the unveiling, but it was also Gibb herself (an artist during her adult years) who designed and crafted the statue. Her age? Merely a young 83 years!

Duck Tape? – Ohio has some craziness, one of this is the annual Avon Duck Tape festival by Cleveland. At the other side of the state is the ‘Nati and we feed into the Avon Festival with our very own Duck Tape sculpture display in Washington Park across from Music Hall. This year, to celebrate our 250th anniversary the sculptures will be on view in Washington Park from May 8 to 18 as part of the Art Academy of Cincinnati’s annual “Duck Tape® at the Park” exhibition. All right, here we go…….

Testing the New – I had an idea. This week after months of minimal activity I did a solo 5K – with my earbuds in and music playing. That’s when it came to me, why not introduce the music I enjoy to my (at least 3 or so) readers. Introduce just enough (1-minute) to keep it legal and give a flavor of what I enjoy.

I’ll post the artist’s name and the song title at the bottom of the Rambling to first allow you to try and guess what you’re listening to. Likewise, if anyone has a favorite you’re dying to share send me a note by clicking below with the song title and I’ll research and get it. Then, rather than just a boring read you can sit with bated breath waiting for your music to appear.

I’ll ‘give it a go’ as my British friends would say and see if this Ramblings add-on should be something to keep.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

This last week 41 years ago a new product was introduced. This new product became the worst marketing disaster of any new product to date. Which company introduced that disaster:

1. Coke
2. Anheuser Bush
3. Ford
4. General Motors
5. National Cash Register
6. 3M
7. IBM
8. Kodak
9. Hayes

Last week Bonus Points answer – #3
Music: Gerry Rafferty (Scottish, 1947-2011) – Baker Street

“Shilly Shally”

Happy Saturday Morning – So, last week we ran out of Peet’s coffee. Then out of the clear blue a couple of pounds of Starbucks Pike Place medium roast was delivered to our front door. What a delight!

Thanks a lot M & D (not to be confused with D & M).

Now some breakfast.

Today is Vili’s birthday and this afternoon we’ll join the gathering. Happy birthday guy. Remember this Japanese proverb: “The soul of a 3-year-old stays with them until they are 100”.

This week’s been a bit of a shilly shally business, did much of what I expected to accomplish, but nothing in a straight line. I keep hearing comments regarding the disarray of my little office. OK, it’s not complete but, at least to my eyes, serious efforts at a cleanup have begun.

Following instructions, I’ll quickly clip a few of the blooming Iris in our front yard. We’re supposed to get some rain and wind over the next few hours. Marcia wanted me to snip some and I’d let it slip. Amazing what a weather report can do for a ‘memory’ lapse.

Spotting Watches – Thursday evening Jason spent a little time with Marcia while I made a dash out. A bit earlier I had tuned in on the “Ronde van Vlaanderen” (Tour de Flanders). It’s a very prestigious 278KM (172 miles) bicycle race, stretches are on cobblestones and climbs approaching 20-degrees (the Koppenberg actually has a short 22-degree climb). This year’s race had the winner, Croatian Tadej Pogacar. Me? I was rooting for the Dutch rider, Mathieu van der Poel who came in 2nd and had won this race in 2024.

That is when Jason arrived and when I had to leave for a bit. Jason loves watches. Jason collects watches of specific note and interest.

These major bicycle races have a number of motorcycles, each with a videographer sitting on back. They swarm around, in and out, and between the riders. This is where Jason, our watch guy, spotted what one of these motorbikes caught; a closeup of van der Poel’s wrist and hand on the handlebars of his bike. It also caught a very clear closeup of the watch he was wearing.

When I returned, I asked for a race update. Instead I got a bit of a history on the watch van der Poel was wearing. I forgot the name Jason told me (it was not a Rolex), but I do remember the price of the thing. Jason had already scoured the internet found it. This rider, van der Poel, was in the thick of a 278KM race complete with many crashes and tumbles by riders all around him including a big group in the 175-rider peloton and he was wearing a $300,000 US dollar watch!

Did you catch that, $300,000!

Dinner – Well, not so much the dinner but food in general especially when preoccupied with just how good it tastes. I enjoy gherkins as a snack. You’ll see what I mean.

Marcia says there is no such thing as a ‘gherkin’: “they are just small pickles which I dislike and can’t eat.”

Now comes the dinner. Mid-week I prepared a Tuna salad placed on a bed of fresh Power greens along with wedges of 21-grain toast. Aside from a couple of dollops of mayonnaise my Tuna concoction included turmeric, mustard powder, cayenne, a dash of wood-barrel aged soy sauce, finely chopped onion, and are you ready? Included were several finely chopped gherkins.

Marcia LOVED our dinner!

Liminal: her Word of the day; Her expression showed a liminal hint of doubt before she answered as she was asked how she liked dinner.

Hereis a picture from Vai’s Steel Band concert at Eden Park last weekend (I’ve shared it with some family members – so pardon the duplicates).

You should possibly take note that yesterday was End ALZ Day.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

This week I mentioned that our Jason collects watches. Building on the collecting theme, did you know that the Actor Tom Hanks collects typewriters? So, just how large is his collection? One answer is correct

1. 33
2. 250
3. 67
4. 118
5. 341

Last week answer – #3

“Not dead yet”

Happy Saturday Morning – The last of our Peets coffee beans went through the grinder yesterday. Plenty for a while so no worry.

Post surgery, Marcia is still getting stronger by the day and is back to eating heartily. Since the weather has turned it’s now a daily walk around the building. She has also persevered by walking from our place to Adrianne and Tevita’s, worked with Adrianne potting flowers, and then walked home.

And I should add that there is a daily up and down 15 times on the first step in our hallway. If she keeps it up, she’ll soon be a member of my Zoom exercise class.

These days, being home is the norm. As part of that, Marcia and I – as mentioned last week – are watching a lot of sports. This week it was both women’s and men’s bicycling, especially the Tour de Flanders. Having done a fair bit of bicycle touring during my early years on rides such as Michigan’s DALMAC and Indiana’s Hilly Hundred, I am stunned with these racers standing on the pedals and managing slopes as steep as 20-degrees. Oh, did I mention that much of the Flander’s race is on cobblestone roadways?

Then track and field events are fun, especially the short fast races, High Jumps, and the Steeplechase events with hurdles and water jumps. Yup, great viewing.

But we have a winner! Marcia and I are totally hooked on an event held in the UK. These are the Pre-War Vintage Roadster automobile races. Track used is F1 style complete with corners, chicanes, and straight runs, even with a mandatory pit stop and driver change. Just watching these sputtering old machines rumble and roar, running on skinny tires and sliding through the turns – it’s LOVELY!.

Bitcoin – I should ‘fess up in that this is not really a dissertation (Rambling) about bitcoin, it’s more a lead-in to the wonderful cartoon below.

Having said that, last week I read that investigative journalist John Carreyrou, whose previous reporting led to the downfall of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, might have uncovered the person behind the search for the identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto (the name is believed to be a pseudonym).

Carreyrou spent 18 months digging through thousands of decades-old internet postings in search of Bitcoin’s creator and now suggests that – drum roll please – prominent Cypherpunk movement figure from the 1980s Adam Black as being the person behind Bitcoin.

Artemis II – With Marcia climbing in the ‘sack’ early on I had the opportunity to watch the return and splashdown of Artemis II. The whole event was pretty awesome.

I got a bit of a chuckle when the radio signal wasn’t cooperating and so the recovery ship couldn’t spot them. Awesome, travel for hundreds of thousands of miles without a hiccup to then be stymied when within the distance of a ‘stones’ throw. No worry, it all worked out.

A Perfect Quotation – Artemis II pilot Victor Glover responding to a reporter asking about skin color “I hope we push that one day…it’s about human history, humanity, NOT ‘black history,’ not ‘women’s history,’ but that it becomes human history!“

Sasse – Ben Sasse, age 54, University President, father of three, church involved, historian, taught at Yale, 2-term US Senator from Nebraska, stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer patient, partaker in a protocol at MD Anderson in Houston, and a prognosis of having three or four months of life; “Thanks for having me.”

This week in the New York Times I ran across a long-form interview between interviewer Ross Douthat and Ben Sasse which I couldn’t put down – I devoured it. Sasse, as a human being and as he showed during his time in the US Senate, presents as an absolute quality person. His views on life and death, politics and religion, marriage and children, and the passage throughout this fragile period we call ‘life’ are deep and insightful. All of this presented without being morbid.

As President of the University of Florida he set in motion a program, the Hamilton Center, which strives to again make Liberal Arts rigorous, useful, and an integral part of the academic experience.

Quotation from Ben Sasse reason for the Hamilton Center: ”We should be preparing the mind and the character for all of the various vocations and callings in life — and to be prepared for the first job, but also for the third job in an industry that doesn’t even exist yet and won’t for 15 or 20 years.
“So, we need a lot more rigor. We need a lot more both/and.”

Vaioleti – how time flies. In a month she’ll be graduating from Highschool and start preparations to begin studies at the University of Cincinnati. Meanwhile, her weekends are busy with her job at the Cincinnati Zoo.

In the meantime, since it’ll also be the end of her four years as a member of the Clark Montessori High school’s Steel Drum Band, the band with the seniors still part will be performing a final time this Sunday. Any readers who are local and are interested? The performance will be in Mt. Adam’s Eden Park at the Seasongood Pavilion which hosts outdoor concerts tomorrow – Sunday afternoon.

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Last evening Artemis II returned safely with its crew of four. Question, with swings around the earth to then ‘slingshot’ past the moon, loop the moon a bit and return to earth. Question, which of the following are the miles flown NASA claims as being correct? One the correct.

1. 695,082 miles
2. 252,756 miles
3. 694,481 miles
4. 1,107,582 miles
5. 549,441 miles

Last week answer – #1

Ranka

Happy Saturday Morning – Last night Marcia and I had a delightful hand-folded Potsticker dinner with a choice of two sauces, Yee-mama’s: Scallion Sweet Soy or Garlic Sweet Soy. The whole ‘kit-and-kaboodle’ I purchased at Findlay Market last Sunday. As a bonus Marcia got a dish of French with real-vanilla ice cream for dessert. The net result being that she was in bed well before 7.

This allowed me to watch a little TV along with some Tortilla Chips and chunky Salsa.

All the above set the stage for a solid and restful sleep. So now this morning, I am looking forward to the coffee to finish brewing even more than usual. Let’s get started!

Another reason I’m glad to be in a condo.

The War – is chugging along. Competing with NASA‘s Artemis II manned moon mission launched early Wednesday evening was a Nation-Wide address by President Trump on the status of the Iran war.

Sometime during last month I read a description of a wartime fistfight which, at least for a while, brough both battling sides to a complete standstill. Here are the details in short form.

The Confederate and Union Armies were ‘duking’ it out at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, in Saunders Field, Virginia. To avoid the flying bullets, a Union and a Confederate soldier had both jumped into a gully.

These two guys, alone together got to argue as to who had captured the other. Soon ‘words’ were exchanged and it was decided to go onto the open road and hold a “regular fist and skull fight” — a hand-to-hand duel where the winner would take the loser prisoner.

Next thing you know, all fighting ceased, guns stopped, and nearby men from the Union and Confederate army gathered to watch. HistoryFacts reports that; “According to Confederate soldier John H. Worsham’s account, the Confederate soldier quickly subdued the Union man, who then surrendered as agreed.”

US Grant at the Battle of the Wilderness

HistoryFacts also report that Worsham who reported the ‘mini-truce’ much later while giving a talk, was a Confederate.

I believe it would have been a hoot had President Trump inserted this 1864 bit of fighting war history into the current Iranian fracas speech.

April Fools Quotation – “The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.” Mark Twain, from “Pudd’nhead Wilson and Other Tales”

Ranka – I got reminded what a wonderful thing the mind is. While the kids stayed the early evening with Marcia and I had the opportunity to head out for a three or so mile hike.
Cutting through neighboring St. Bernard I spotted a young family enjoying a children’s playground park, mom, dad, a couple of ‘kiddos’, and a dog.

It was the dog!

In a nano second, I was transported to my years as a toddler in the Netherlands. Neighbors had a dog (not many around due to the war years) which fascinated me. It was what I now know was a Welsh Wire-Haired Terrier they called “Ranka”.

For many years, oh say seventy or more, the name ‘Ranka’ hadn’t crossed my mind. Now here in little St. Bernard, there playing was a rust-red with black Welsh Terrier and ‘WHAMO’, the name Ranka sat front and center. As I said, the mind is a wondrous thing.

Black Box Theater – is alive and well here in the ‘Nati. For 28 seasons Know Theater of Cincinnati has existed, founded by a troupe called the Tribe. The performances located in a theater in the heart of the Over the Rhine area have brought original, cutting edge, theater to life.

Last weekend Kirstin was in town. It also happened that the Know Theater was introducing original World Premiere by Derek J. Snow called; The Ravenside Occurrence. What made this even more interesting is the fact that Derek Snow happens to be the father of a 10# ‘child’ named ‘Spud’ and that our Kirstin was the mom.

What?!

Here’s the story. Snow and Kirstin were classmates at the city’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA). I believe it was in economics class at SCPA where the idea of experiencing what all it takes to raise and manage a family took place. Students formed pairs, had to buy a 10# bag of potatoes, decorated this ‘baby’ in swaddling clothes and cart it around for an extended period of time while recording all of it.

Hence, we have Derek and Kirstin the parents of ‘Spud’. Now around 30 years later, whenever these two catch up the first question asked is “how’s Spud?”

You might be asking two things. First, was the play any good? Yes, it was wonderful. Set in late 1800s in a village outside of London. It revolves around four women, escapees from a facility called Bedlam who hole up in an old, abandoned gathering place remembered by one of them. It’s a gripping tale of hauntings and family.

Second, did Spud’s ‘parents’ get to meet again? No, they did not. Our decision to go was at the last minute and Snow was at another event. What actually did happen was some busy and fun back and forth texting between those two.

Me, in the role of Spud’s grandfather had a lovely evening at the Theater. We also brought Spud’s uncle Jason, while aunty Cathy stayed at the condo for a chat-up evening with Marcia.

Dinah Update – The Syracuse University’s Rowing program has a total of 48 women athletes in their program. This past weekend Dinah was on one of the three 8-crew boats sent to the invitational regatta at Rutgers in New Jersey. They came second to Rutgers.

But, here is what’s new. Syracuse’s nationwide coaches’ rankings just moved the program from being ranked 12th nationally to 9th place. Second, it was suggested to Dinah that she boost her daily caloric intake to 6,000 calories. Not an easy task for a vegetarian.

Good grief!

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

Probably beginning with a game you received when you were just entering Kindergarten had you play a game which contained dice. It appears that the idea of and subsequent creation of dice goes back a long way. Which is the correct answer?

1. Indigenous people in US invented dice over 12,000 years ago
2. Vikings, dice were found tucked in a sunken Viking long-boat.
3. China, archeologists found dice by a watchtower at the great wall.
4. Uncovered graves of sacrificed children in Tenochtitlán, Mexico contained dice
5. A trove of fancy Dice is kept at Versailles, France.

Last week answer – #4