SCOTTY RESTON OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

SCOTTY RESTON OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

Comments 0 Comment

I've just finished John F. Stacks book on James Reston Scotty  which has some notable passages. Reston is quoted as referring to an editor as "charming, but with sharp elbows" and about another "his skin was a lot thinner than his skull." At a press conference with President Dwight Eisenhower he asked Ike about starting a "preventative war" against Russia. Ike said: "A preventive war, to my mind, is an impossibility today..How could you have one if one of the features…

Read More Read More

STORIES ABOUT THE U.S. OPEN

STORIES ABOUT THE U.S. OPEN

Comments 0 Comment

Steve Rudman has written an interesting collection of facts about the U.S. Open in the sports section of the Seattle P.I. One involved the famous 1913 Open in which Francis Quimet, a twenty year old amateur beat the professional Harry Vardon. I’ve reported on the extraordinary book about this Open The Greatest Game Ever Played written by Mark Frost which describes that year’s Open. The book was later made into a movie by the same title in 2005. Rudman notes the…

Read More Read More

BIG OIL WINS AGAIN

BIG OIL WINS AGAIN

Comments 0 Comment

The media reports that Senate Republicans blocked a  poposed windfall profit tax on the oil industry. The Bush administration and Republican Congress have had their way for eight years in protecting the oil industry while it continued to collect more and more profits. Sixty votes were needed to pass the bill and  only fifty one voted for it. Senator Mary Landrieu, Louisiana was the only Democrat to oppose the bill and she has ties to the oil industry in her…

Read More Read More

Books: Mad Ducks and Bears by Plimpton and A Thousand Days in Tuscany by De Blasi

Books: Mad Ducks and Bears by Plimpton and A Thousand Days in Tuscany by De Blasi

Comments 0 Comment

I came across a book George Plimpton wrote some time ago Mad Ducks and Bears which I read on our trip. It discusses football with a lot of time devoted to Alex Karras and John Gordy stories. I’d always admired Karras as a player. It turns out Karras had been selected in high school as All State four times during his playing in Indiana. What’s even more remarkable was he was selected each year in a different position in football:…

Read More Read More

KIRK DOUGLAS’S BOOK LET’S FACE IT

KIRK DOUGLAS’S BOOK LET’S FACE IT

Comments 0 Comment

I’m listening to a book on tape during my commute from our home in Gig Harbor to our office in Seattle. The actor Kirk Douglas has written nine books in his retirement and this one was written at age 90 years. The book Let’s Face It,  is, like his other books, enjoyable. One story I enjoyed was about his close friend, the late Bert Lancaster. The two were together at a dinner honoring Douglas. Lancaster noted that Douglas wasn’t eating…

Read More Read More

JOSE CONDE, ERNEST HEMMINGWAY & BULLFIGHTING

JOSE CONDE, ERNEST HEMMINGWAY & BULLFIGHTING

Comments 0 Comment

I'm not a real fan of bullfighting because I can't get past the problem of the cruelty of the sport. However, ever since reading Ernest Hemmingway's 1932 book Death in the Afternoon I have been a huge fan of the courage, skill and art of the matador. My favorite quote from the book deals with timing and courage. Hemmingway writes about the concept of "Ver Llegar" or "to watch them come" which he describes as the ability to watch t…

Read More Read More

THE FINAL TRAVEL REPORT

THE FINAL TRAVEL REPORT

Comments 0 Comment

We are home. We left London on a sunny afternoon. London is eight hours ahead of Seattle time so, we arrived on a overcast cold afternoon in Seattle, tired and jet lagged. I have piles of newspapers to thumb through (I’m afraid I might miss something important) lots of mail to read and accumulated bills to pay. There are also suitcases to unload and contents put away. Dirty clothes to be washed and unfinished business to be faced. Unfortunately, the computers…

Read More Read More

GREETINGS FROM BEAUTIFUL HONFLEUR, FRANCE

GREETINGS FROM BEAUTIFUL HONFLEUR, FRANCE

Comments 0 Comment

Today is Sunday June 1st. This will be brief because on this French key board the A, W and M are all in different places then our key board so it is one finger typing for now. Our drive from Paris was pleasant with Alan who lives near here and speaks very good English. The hotel is a very old farm remodeled into a hotel outside of town. We ate in the hotel last night: The food is very good…

Read More Read More

GREETINGS FROM PARIS

GREETINGS FROM PARIS

Comments 0 Comment

Today is Friday May 30th and we are in Paris staying in the wonderful George V hotel. Our suite has a narrow balcony area with a view of the Effile Tower and the city.. Last night we ate at the Le Cinq restaurant in this hotel which is worth visiting Paris for by itself. A modified menu in which each small course is accompanied by a wine and all of it delicious. Waiters dressed in tuxedo's with tails. The lobby…

Read More Read More