Happy Birthday, Sweet 71!

It's the BillyBlog's Father's birthday today. The Ancient One, Blessed Be He, is a fine old Dad, and we are separated, as I type this, by two thousand eight hundred and twenty three and three quarters miles, or just under 43 hours of driving time.

The worst thing about living in Brooklyn is that I do not get to see my father as often as I did in the period of 1985 to 1997, a glorious twelve years when the majority of our lives were spent in the same time zone.

I am afraid to write something more poignant, because I fear that I will fall short of my true feelings for the dude. But he is many things besides a great father. He's a good husband (third time's a charm), a lover of Jazz, a fan of good baseball teams (the Tigers and the Dodgers, in that order), and a suffering fan of a bad football team (the Lions).

I have put him through a lot in this life. Choosing to fracture my skull at age 9, (when he wasn't able to get to my bedside, an ocean and a half continent away), piercing my ear, back when it was still slightly shocking, and moving to New York with his infant granddaughter before she even turned one.

We don't see each other enough, and that makes me sad. But, we have a relationship that is much better than most, I'd like to think, and that fills me with joy.

Today, he turns 71, and I thought I'd share these written sentiments, which feel so inadequate, in the grand scheme of things. I wish I could deliver them in person.

Above is a photograph of my father from almost seventy years ago (yes, kiddies, they had cameras back then) on April 15, 1939. I love this picture, because you can see his pronounced dimples, which make his smile, even with age, such a warm and welcoming expression.

Thanks, Dad, for all that you've done for me, all the wisdom you impart, and all the love and caring you have shown and will continue to give all of the people in your life!

With much love,

Bill

What’s Up with BillyBlog?

Hello, readers. Those of you who have been visitors here since the blog’s inception in September 2005 may have noticed that I occasionally will have posting droughts that leave fans o’ BillyBlog thirsting for more.

Usually you’ll see one of these self-reflective posts pop up during these dry spells, pondering the life of the blog, ruminating about its future, or whatever.

The National Poetry Month 31 Favorite Poems project sapped me mentally. Not that it was difficult, the poems were written, and I just had to rank them and post them. It was the feeling of obligation to the blog itself that took its toll. It became a chore. And I even resented it a little.

Perhaps what we’re seeing is the nature of the dual blogging mentality. BillyBlog used to be a year-round blog. But the beast that is Tattoosday, born in the heat of last summer, is rising again after a quiet winter. And even regular visitors over there will note, I’m not posting every day there either, despite the fact that tattoos smother the sidewalks of New York City like cherry blossom petals in a koi pond.

That’s why Umbrellacide has been a fun and easy diversion. Easy-peasy. Take a picture of an inanimate object, upload the photo, say where I saw it, title it cleverly, and schedule it.

And so here we are, thinking out loud. On April 26, I went to a poetry reading. There is a recap in the works, but it’s taken a while. I have read several books that I want to discuss. John McCain had a slice of pizza at OUR pizza shop, on the same block on which we live, my brother Seth came to visit and we went to a Tigers-Yankees game (if only the Tigers could play the Yankees all year long. It seems to be the only team Detroit can beat this year), Shayna’s been playing baseball, Jolee’s a blogging machine and an “A” student and I still have a dozen video clips I want to post and share from her drama club performance in February. The extra day that month didn’t help.

And here I am rambling about nothing and everything simultaneously. My sister Alicia just finished her master’s program and they had a big party for her out in California. I am sad because I missed it. Everyone understands why it wasn’t feasible to cross the country for the event, but it still makes me sad. The consolation prize is that she’s moving next month to Delaware to start a new job. Hooray! Congrats Alicia!

I’ll end positively with that note. No I won’t.

Do not give up on BillyBlog, folks. Try this exercise. Google “average life of a blog”. Use the quotation marks. Note the variance in average blog life spans. The range is 3 months to 3 years.

As Kurt Vonnegut would often say, “so it goes”.

William Alfred Bujold Coming Home to Maine

An interesting bit of family lore came my way recently due to some very newsworthy developments. This actually involves my Aunt's family, the Bujolds of Maine. This coming Friday (August 24, 2007), the remains of Army Air Corps 2nd Lt. William Alfred Bujold will be laid to rest, over 60 years since he was listed as "Missing in Action". "Uncle Al," as he was known, was my Uncle's uncle, which makes him distant kin to me. Nevertheless, the story of his short life and heroic service in the Pacific, is of great interest to me and many in my family.

There's a great article here with greater detail and photos. Truly amazing.

Update: Local news report on the funeral here.

Weekend Update

I know the week is almost over, but I'd like to take a fond look back and walk down memory lane.

Please indulge me as I pry open my brain pan and revel in the pleasant time I had one weekend, oh, it seems like it all happened yesterday ... Isn't that how it always is?

(Pausing for a moment of silent reflection)

So, last weekend, my calendar was full.

Friday night we joined our good friend Lisa at a 40th birthday celebration dinner she hosted at a nice restaurant called Compass on West 70th Street.

On the way, I snapped this shot, looking West down 72nd toward the Hudson River.


Anyway, Lisa had reserved a private room and we had a tasty dinner.

For appetizers, I had the fennel and arugula salad. Melanie had the spice crusted tuna carpaccio. My main course was pork loin with morels and Melanie had the bass, I think. She'll comment if she didn't. Vanilla chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Pictured (below) is Lisa blowing out her candles.


Saturday morning, Shayna had her first "July League" baseball game. A select group from her league that played April-June were asked to continue at a higher level. Kids born in 1999 were eligible to participate in a sort of round-robin abbreviated two-week tourney.

Shayna had been one of the older kids on her team previously in a league in which the coaches pitched, everyone batted, and no one walked or struck out.

Now, she is on a team with 8, 9, 10, and 11-year olds. The pitchers are 11 and, as far as I an tell, Shayna is the only girl playing.

Well, her first game on Saturday morning found her there but not there. Something upset her and/or she had some serious butterflies. The end result was that she sat out and did not play. She missed her Sunday game (more on that later), but she did suit up and was in the line-up Wedneday, so we're guessing the nerves are behind her.

Despite the early disappointment, the day impropved significantly as Grandpa Barry Liss was in town and through a friend, had 2 extra tickets to the Yankees-Angels game.


The first ticket was for me, a birthday gift from Barry, and the second ticket went to Shayna, who is definitely getting her share of games (this was her 3rd this year, one prior Yankees, and one Mets).

What made this even more special was that it was "Old Timer's Day" at Yankee Stadium, so we got to see a lot of old players introduced and welcomed by the masses.

Even though I have only recently (since moving to New York in 1997) become a Yankees fan, there's still a thrill seeing the old Yankees take the field. Chris Chambliss, Oscar Gamble, Bucky Dent, Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage and Ron Guidry, to name a few. Below, Goose acknowledges the crowd as Paul O'Neill looks on.



The Yankees were honoring the 30th anniversary of the 1977 championship season,
so the honorees were all recognizable to someone who was 10 that year, the stepson of a Yankee fan (at the time), and a collector of baseball cards. When the introduced Ed Figueroa, I told Shayna I had, like, fifty of his "traded" cards.

We all got collector's pins (above) affixed to special cards (below).


More info on Old Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium here.

By the time the actual game started at 3:50, the sun was behind us, leaving us in shadows. Sure we were in the upper deck, but the views were sweet.


The game was a classic, of sorts. Roger Clemens was on the mound.
He had thrown a gem in his previous start, so I expected to be disappointed. However, he was good, aided by some great fielding. John Lackey, from the Angels, was better, striking out 11 Yankees to Clemens' 3. At the end of the 8th inning, the score was knotted at 1 apiece.






The good pitching continued and Shayna, who has seen more extra-inning games than 9-inning ones, got another doozy.


Unfortunately, Miguel Cairo threw away the game in the top of the 13th inning, committing two errors on one play.

Despite runners on the corners with only one out in the bottom of the 13th, the Bronx Bombers couldn't get anyone across home plate, leaving the crowd disappointed.

An article about the game is here.

On Sunday (July 8), we headed to Paramus to celebrate cousin Alexis' 6th birthday. The party was at the Paramus firehouse and had a movie theme. Check out this cake:

In case you can't tell, the cake was gigantic. Here's another perspective:


After watching Ice Age 2: The Great Meltdown, Jolee and Shayna checked out the firetrucks.

After the party, we were invited by other cousins, Natalia and David Schull, along with their sons Nico and Matt, to join them for swimming at the Mamaroneck Beach and Yacht Club. The kids all had a great time playing together at the pool, and the adults had some nice R&R time. Below, Jolee relaxes (and tries not to pose) at the beach, before we had a nice dinner with the cousins at the club.

After a long day, Grandpa Barry drove us back to Brooklyn and I snapped some pictures from the car:

Quite a weekend. Much busier than most, yet very enjoyable for all!