Second Acts

I arrived back in Philadelphia last weekend, a city I left thirty-five years ago. There was some change in the skyline but much remained the same - the cheese steaks, scrapple and Tastykake. My best friend from third grade is still there. I also met my wife in this town. So you CAN go home again. I began to think of Garrison Keillor's opening line to his radio show: "Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average." As Keillor does, we all take pride in our home town. Oh, and the Philly fans are loud, loyal and demanding and they still play Kate Smith at the ice hockey games.
tjs
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Mood Indigo

We have been trying to sell our home in Florida for the last fourteen months. During that time we have had eighteen prospects visit. Each visit mandates that we leave the premises so the prospects can meander uninhibited. You can tire of visiting the library so we located a new watering hole within a fifteen minute drive called The Indigo Hotel. It is a charming and friendly boutique facility with a outdoor patio overlooking a lake with a steady breeze. There are a few ducks paddling and a couple of herons wading near the shore. We keep waiting for the pelican parade but they seem to prefer the coastline. Their wine glasses are imprinted with the following mantra:
"Traveling the world - one glass of wine at a time - embrace the moment." After twenty years in Florida as we prepare to leave we now find a new hangout and as the realtors keep walking thru we have a few more moments to embrace.
tjs
Next -Second Acts

Quiet Places

A friend of mine spent his honeymoon in New Zealand the land of the Kiwis. You can't get much farther down under than there. There is not much to do at night and the most excitement is found by going to the town square to watch the sheep being shorn.
Some years ago I spent some time in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I learned after the fact that there are three things you can do on the island: you can go to Christiansted, or you can go to Fredericksted - or you can go to bed instead.

Of course, the quietest place is the cemetery and while I am in Philadelphia I will be visiting the family plot and say a few Aves for those who have gone ahead.
tjs
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War Heroes Sequel

When France surrendered to the Nazis in 1940 there was a rush to evacuate out of France. Among the refugees on the VILLE DE LIEGE was the mayor of Bordeaux. When Captain Jorgensen next returned to that port on the PIONEER COVE fifteen years later he was afforded a hero's welcome. Coincidentally, Capt. Don who related the original story was himself a fifteen year old Dutch boy on a grain ship from Argentina also anchored at the mouth of the Gironde River and witnessed the Luftwaffe bombing on the vessels around the same time. Three decades later he replaced Capt Jorgensen on the PIONEER COVE. Bill Stern could not have written a more gripping story.
tjs
Next - Quiet Places

War Heroes

One of my favorite sea captains at USLines was a large, amiable Norwegian, Captain Arnt Jorgensen, Master of the S.S. PIONEER COVE. His ship called at Philadelphia every seven weeks and was dedicated to the Bordeaux/Bilbao run and this was circa mid 1950s.  But in an earlier life he made another visit to Bordeaux which was related to me via Capt. L. Don who followed Capt. Jorgensen in command of the COVE.  Capt. Don  joined the COVE in Savannah in 1968. Capt. Jorgensen had just died and Don was collecting his effects which included a letter from Eric Severeid dated June 23, 1940. Severeid was one of Ed Murrow's boys and later an anchor with CBS/ABC. The letter is a transcript of a broadcast from London BBC and is quoted below in its entirety.
"If I'm in England tonight I owe it to a young Norwegian American Captain, Captain Jorgensen of the steamship VILLE DE LIEGE. His was the last ship out of Bordeaux, and to this captain two hundred Czechs and Poles certainly owe their lives. At the last moment he took them too, and his crew clambered one after another up that swinging Jacobs ladder with the children clinging to their necks. The Captain slept on the bridge, gave up his room to them. The crew doubled up. The steward fed them all on the little food we had. There were a hundred too many for the lifeboat space, so the men were sent off the boat deck, except soldiers posted with our sole defense - those ancient French army rifles.
While we were anchored in the river the first night I stood on deck in pajamas and a steel helmet watching a British cruiser 500 yards away blazing at a German bomber. In the morning streaks of oil, loose spars and oars floated past us. One ship had been sunk. An hour later we left the mouth of the river (Gironde) and a bomber got one more. Our sister ship VILLE DE NAMUR was torpedoed near us and sank. The refugees never knew that. They didn't know that every time the Dutch radio operator climbed to the bridge with a sheet of paper another ship had gone down around us. Five or six in all, but we moved in a wide circle up to Northern Ireland. At first the Poles and Czechs acted toward each other like Poles and Czechs, but the last night, in the messroom, a Czech played the piano and a Czech woman sang peasant songs. The wounded Polish general with the tired, white face was present to indicate officially that all was forgiven. On the bridge next morning they went together and gave their respective army badges to the Captain. When the tender pulled away with them on it the ship blew a farewell blast and all of them cheered the Norwegian American who had eluded the German army and German submarines and got them to England for one more chance at life."
Eric Severeid, June 23, 1940.
tjs
Next - War Heroes sequel.

NASA

 I think it takes a well rounded person to become an Astronaut. NASA selects the cream of the crop from the various branches of the services.  They put them thru a battery of tests - both physical and mental - to gauge their suitability.  I heard of a would be Astronaut being interrogated by a psychologist. The head doctor handed him a blank piece of paper and asked him what he saw in it. The applicant answered that it's upside down. I guess when you are spinning around in orbit with zero gravity a lot of things look upside down........I think he passed the test.
tjs
Next - War Heroes

Carolina in the Morning

June 30, 2011

After 803 miles and a pleasant 90 minute ferry crossing I am finally in Cape May, N.J. esconced in my in-laws summer home two blocks from the beach. The trip was uneventful with one exception. At about 5:40AM Wednesday the fire alarm went off in the hotel in North Carolina rousing us from bed. The alarm was a high pitched screech accompanied by strobe lights which lasted fifteen minutes and could be heard by every dog within miles. I yelled to my wife “Grab your jewelry!”  So you could see where my priorities were. She said “What about me?” The management calmed everyone by explaining that a waffle iron in the kitchen began smoking. And I wanted waffles for breakfast, too.

South Jersey is east of Jacksonville so the sun rises about a half-hour earlier. We have the luxury of sleeping with the windows open but with such an early sunrise the birds start chirping around five A.M.. And on the first night we were welcomed by a skunk who wafted his aroma at the house around three A.M. – welcome to Cape May! But the real pleasure is listening to the surf at high tide when the wind is right. There is nothing quite so soothing after a long drive.

tjs

Next - TBA
 PS - See NYTimes travel section Sun. July3 for 36 hours in Cape May.