So, Saturday and Sunday I was heading to and returning from the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire. This has turned into an annual pilgrimage to commune with “the boys.” I called it a meeting of the He-Man Woman Haters’ Club but really, it’s just an excuse to hang out with friends and shoot the breeze about life and getting old. So, what’s wrong with that. To continue a tradition (started last year) we watched a classic comedy from the bad old days. This year it was “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987). I had forgotten some of the minor characters and the absurdity of some of the episodes but it was just as funny today as it was almost forty years ago. Remarkable. They actually knew how to make a relatable comedy back then. Who knew?
Most of the festivities consisted of us eating and drinking good stuff, listening to music from our heyday and throwing wood on an outdoor fire to keep from freezing to death. Oh, and the boys drank a bunch of bourbon and smoked some (what I assume were) good cigars. Being an abstemious bore I only enjoyed this aspect vicariously. But they observed due moderation and therefore could still communicate in intelligible English even at the end of the celebration. Kudos!
And the festivities included music by our two troubadours debuting a song in voice and guitar accompaniment that celebrated our long association and its origins in the legendary “coffee walk” from out of the mists of time. And its various incarnations over the years including the present-day Wednesday Zoom call. Wonderfully entertaining.
And then we segued into a sing-along by the group on favorites in the folk and country genres. Even I, a man with absolutely zero singing ability, had to join in during the verses that I knew from Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
“The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early”
And every once in a while, there would be a conversation where we’d talk about current events and political considerations. And one of them was early Sunday morning before most of the crew woke up. It started with a story from one of the guys about a relative of his that had serious TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) and the futility of trying to “discuss” facts or anything else in these situations.
And I gave my stock answer. I said Trump is far from the perfect politician or president but he attempts to accomplish the things he says he wants to do. And those are the things that other Republicans say they want to do but never, even try. He’s the real deal. He exposed the liars like JEB! Bush and all the rest of the RINOs.
And my friend said his favorite aspect of Trump’s reign of terror was how he took “Little Marco” and turned him around and showed him he could succeed by actually giving the voters what they asked for instead of what the donors want.
And I said my favorite part was DOGE. Closing down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is still the sweetest moment of the whole second term. And all the demolition done at USAID is music to my ears.
So, as you can see, it was a very worthwhile gathering. Now back to work.
I was stationed at Minot AFB, ND when “The Edmond Fitzgerald” came out. We could feel for those wives and families, even though we were a long way from any lakes. The winters were brutal, and every winter there were news stories of locals lost in the white outs that weren’t found for days or weeks. Service members had winter survival beaten into us, and the first rule was “DO NOT LEAVE THE VEHICLE!” (I think Death from Exposure was a court-martial offence). At 40-below the air is SCAREY clear, and a farm light that looks within walking distance may… Read more »
“I think Death from Exposure was a court-martial offence.” My father was stationed in the Aleutians during the Korean War and so he used to tell us, ad nauseum, in the winter to dress warmly and that “frostbite is a court martial offense! (in New York City where fifteen degrees is considered record breaking cold most winters). Yeah, that song makes a powerful image of nature turned deadly.
Yah, the “Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald” was impressive and memorable even to a die hard southerner.
Having grown up by water (Long Island Sound) I have a great respect for water. Even the silly little pussycat of a shallow salt water lake that is the Sound can turn nasty with the drop of a hat. And Places like Superior or heaven help you the North Atlantic make large ships quail. That folks plied the North Atlantic to fish for cod with moderate sized schooners that that sent out 14-20 ft fishing dories is astounding. Just take a peek at the Gloucester, MA Seafarers Memorial here https://gloucester-ma.gov/74/Lost-at-Sea. Even in peacetime the Merchant Marine is a rather risky… Read more »
Boats are completely outside of my wheelhouse. A friend of mine had a sailboat and he brought me along with him in Narragansett Bay and I found the whole experience quite confusing and unrestful. But I did manage to get a good sunburn. Quite an accomplishment for an Italian-American.
I grew up on the North Shore of Taxachussettes, and even pulled lobster pots for a summer, and developed a healthy respect for the Winter Seas. Even Lake Champlain, where I spent 25 years can turn it into a killer with a southerly gale, as the over 300 wrecks on her bottom will attest.
Yes, Lake Champlain is nothing to take for granted. I found that out fishing in a rowboat without an anchor or a motor. I was at the northern tip of the lake and the wind or the current was headed south and before I knew it we had drifted a good long way. Ended up with a lot more rowing than fishing.
That song is well-crafted.