A Special Invitation from Uncle Sam...

On this Memorial Day, 2011, we pay homage those who have served

our country and paid the ultimate price.  We also remember those who

served, survived, and have since passed on, including our own

WJM.  This is the envelope that contained his Notice to Report for

Induction into the U.S. Army.  That Induction ceremony took place on

May 5, 1941, just a week after the postmark stamped above.

At the time, he was living at 2252 Edison Avenue, which is next door

to the long-time O'Brien homestead at 2244 Edison.  He would go on

to serve 51-and-a-half months during WWII, earning his Separation

from the military on August 20, 1945, six days after Japanese Emperor

Hirohito belatedly broadcast his speech of surrender to his

 battered citzenry.

Friends in high places...

Yeah...I'm on the list.  Me and Barak...buds.  Amazing that

with hunting Easter eggs on the White House lawn, knocking

off bin laden, chugging Guinness in Dublin, and authorizing 

bombing runs on Libya, he finds the time to write me. I have no

 idea what he wants -- I've decided to keep the envelope pristine,

unopened, so I can sell it on ebay one day -- but no doubt he just

wants to be my pen pal.  What a great guy.  Our President, my amigo.

Summer's coming: Time to stock up on your reading material...

Found this shot from HF2002, South Haven, while I was browsing some

photos stored on our old Dell desktop (that runs Windows 98!).  Have

to go old school for a while until I figure out what to do about my formerly

 trusty laptop, whose screen no longer lights up (most likely a bad
 screen inverter or backlight lamp).  Everything is still there --
I just can't see it. Ugh. 

But finding this photo reminded me of just how many R.L.Stine books

once littered our home. The girls must have gobbled up the entire  

series in a couple of swiftly passing months at the expense of
Shakespeare, Thackery, Faulkner, Lawrence, Dickens, et. al. 

Ahhh...those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer: Coming soon to a

neighborhood near you.

Alexander Wang’s “Marion” bag

we should all probably get one of these!

Eat, Drink, Sleep...

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, January, 2008

Amira, recuperating at the very table where she has just
 enjoyed a strenuous, energy-sapping, sangria-soaked lunch. 

Clearly, for her, the combination of eating and drinking is

 debilitating work: The incessant, repetitive movements of fork to

 mouth, glass to lips, napkin to brow. The cutting, the reaching,
the passing, the pouring.  Not to mention, the chewing and 
the sipping and the swallowing. 

Then there's the tiresome social necessity

 (so as not to be boorish) of engaging in idle chit chat with
 one’s tablemates, thereby fatiguing both the brain and tongue. 

Add to this the soporific breeze rustling through the palm leaves
and waves perpetually lapping up on shore in the background…
All of it together?  Just plain draining.

(Of course, you know that she awoke in time for dessert.

Never too tired for that!)

Happy 25^th young lady. 
All the Best on your Big Day.

Another Benefit of Senior Citizenship…

JP’s HiddenHackFest Cam, 5/18/11
RJ, out celebrating 60.

Few people are aware that Medicare Part B.77.C

provides eligible seniors with a qualified nurse's
 aide-caddy on municipal golf courses on their birthday.

  This is a free service that, fortunately, RJ was able to
take full advantage of this year.

The aide’s duties include driving cart; teeing up ball;

wheeling senior up to ball; standing by to catch senior

 after he hits ball; replacing all divots; fishing ball out

 of cup; serving Metamucil, administering meds, and changing

 golfer’s Depends at the turn; washing dirty balls (sorry, golf balls

only); changing golfer’s Depends at end of round; providing
mouth-to-mouth, if needed, at any time during round (the best
part for many seniors)....

Congratulations on your new eligibility for this exciting and

little-known government program, RJ.  Most importantly: 

All the best on your Big Day.

The (short) Ballad of Barry and Michelle...

One of Delicate Steve’s early influences, Dapper Michelle is
 seen above belting out “Lola” during her brief
 Barry Manilow phase.

Mercifully, her Manilow Mania soon faded, and

Dapper Michelle, reverting back to just plain Michelle, moved
 on to other important interests (i.e., ballet, honing her “picky eater”
skills, and saving the environment, etc., etc.).  For that, we’re all,

 most especially her parents, eternally grateful.

This is one of the popmeister’s performances that absolutely
 enraptured the highly susceptible and overtly impressionable
 youngster back in the mid-90s.  See for yourself just how disturbingly
  magnetic a pull B.M. could have on his audience by clicking right
HERE.

All the Best on your Big Day, Michelle!
(formerly known as Dapper Michelle)

Swedes say the darnest things...

Street sign, Gothenburg, Sweden

Translation:  Exit around the corner.

You just KNEW this was coming…

Click here:  OBL

It's all in the language...

Came across this shot (from shutterstock) quite by accident on

google images. Not sure what country it's from, but it sounds veddy,

veddy English. In any case, I was impressed with how quickly and 

clearly and elegantly it communicates its point.  Nothing worse in this

 world than stepping in a stinking, steaming pile of dog "foul,"

then trying to scrape it out of the treads of your tennies with a stick.

  Ugh.

Ahhh, the vigor of youth...

Baltimore, 1967 - Clinging tenuously to single digits on her

inexorable climb up proverbial age ladder, an earnest

Mary Ella Franz eagerly tackles the daunting challenge 

presented by no less than 9 flickering candles on her

 homemade, handcrafted chocolate birthday cake. 

A dainty, delicate girl, with notably virginal lungs and given to
fits of fainting in the midst of any spirited activity (i.e., dodgeball,
tag, red rover, checkers, walking, taking a bath, gabbing on her
 Princess Phone, blowing out candles, etc., etc.), she nevertheless
 insisted on being given this opportunity.

As her anxious family looked on -- an oxygen tank had been
 surreptitiously wheeled into position behind her chair --
she absolutely nailed it:  All 9 candles went dark.
A riotous party ensued, featuring a keg of soda, a cracker barrel
overflowing with Utz Old Bay-seasoned crab chips, and extra
 servings of cake and oyster-pecan ice cream.

Fast forward to May 12, 2011 - The real test comes tonight when
she attempts to blow out nearly 6 TIMES as many candles as are
displayed above.

 Can she do it?  Having been crushed numerous times by her on the
 free throw line at various Hackfests past, I offer this bit of advice: 
Don't bet against her.

All the Best on your Big Day, Mary Ella.

The Whole Enchilada.

Before...

After...

My lunch, Enchiladas de Chili Poblano, on Friday, May 6, in

the celebratory aftermath of Cinco de Mayo.  Of the dozen enchiladas

displayed in the pan above, I (quite remarkably) ate 8 of them that meal,

which is exactly the number on the plate.  My sister-in-law Angie Molina

 not only made this feast, she went through the recipe step-by-step for me, 

which I recorded and now possess. 

It dates back to 1800s Mexico and was passed down to Angie from her

 grandmother Jovita who had learned it from her grandmother Guadalupe

 who, in turn, had learned it in her hometown of Guanajuato from a local

chef of some repute named Pepe Luis Escoffier, or so the story goes ....

Click here:

The Aftermath.

A DS-MM Production.

MJ passed this along.  Check it out... 

click me:COLLABORATION.

Mothers (and others) O'Brien...

Detroit, MI, circa 1963 - These are the mothers (sisters all)

 that WE grew up with, shown here with their father and only brother...

(left to right) Martha Marion, Anne Kelly, Eleanor Fenech, Papa M.E.

O'Brien, Kitty McCluskey, John O'Brien, and Margaret Moore.

Happy Mother's Day to today's generation of mothers!

Happy Hour...

May 2, 2011 - RJ & MJ, hanging at the Delicate Steve Concert,

 the Kennedy Center, Washington DC.  Joining them are a

 couple of longneck Budweisers, that most American of American beers,

 the perfect choice of libations the day after the astounding announcement

by President Obama that (to paraphrase) "Osama bin laden has been

 summarily and permanently dismissed from the premises."

 Well done, boys.  

Sweet Sixteen...

Char sent along a treasure-trove of vintage photos of her mother,

including this classic:  Rose at 16.  It was 1940, and

she was still living on the farm in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, about

20 miles south of Erie.  Must be be Sunday, given her fancy attire (not 

exactly milking clothes).  Note one of her little brothers lurking in

the backround, trying to muck up the shot. 

I'll be posting more pics of Rose as the days go on and also photos

taken at her memorial on April 23, 2011, which turned out to be an

absolutely perfect day of tribute from start to finish. 

Directly from our nation's capital...

If you missed Delicate Steve's recent K.C. concert, not a problem.  Click just below, and there you are...

Delicate Steve Live 

Our boy Stevie, seen here trying to give a Delicate twist to Roger
Miller's all-time classic, Dang Me.  He later admitted that it's
tough to improve on perfection.

Have a ball, Julie! After all, it's your birthday...

Detroit, circa 1948

Young Julie practices her dribbling (note spittle coursing down
 her chin onto her soggy shirtfront), as she practices her, well, dribbling
 in this vintage scene.
 
All these years later, she can still dribble with the best of them --
which is why she is never without her hanky. 

All the Best on Your Big Day, Julie!

THE place to eat in County Cork, Ireland...

Best of all, these are handcut sandwiches, as

opposed to the vile, unsavory footcut kind.

Scary Hairy.

Life is unfair. On one hand, you have bald guys.

On the other hand, you have this beast. My suggestion

for such hirsute humans?  Wear a turtleneck.  Always. Without fail. 

Please.