Happy Birthday Greg!

Dear Greg   Happy Late Birthday 2011  !!

At first I couldn’t think of what to say

That would make a difference in your day

Although you are now a full grown man

I’ll always be your biggest fan

‘Cause when you told me about your gig

I knew that this was something big

All those buttons, faders and wires

Have lifted your station to someone I’d hire

I know your new job is something great

And you will be a high-tech teacher first rate

Helping kids and teachers alike

You’re finding a niche that suits you just right.

Years ago I started to play --

Guitar in public, sometimes for pay

And now you’ve discovered this great avocation

You’ll never need another vacation!

‘Cause “doing sound” and “singing out”

Bring such joy - there is no doubt.

You’ll meet new friends and play great songs

With audiences everywhere singing along.

I know that music is more than “cords”,

And you have to remember a lot of words

But songs like yours go right to the heart

And this is where your true value starts

Sharing with others your joy of life

With melodies strong and support for your wife

I know that line doesn’t quite make sense

But I have to give Catherine her due recompense!

Your 31^st birthday now has come and gone

And the future is yours to enjoy from now on

Remember that a soundboard can be a big pain

But if you mix it just right you will certainly “gain”!!

Love Dad,   December 4, 2011

Green and Gold - Memories of Old

May 11, 2011

Dear Honeyhill Friends –

This writing brings me way back to yesteryear to my old hometown and neighborhood on Midrocks Drive,  the names, Tony Murphy, Fred Ehrlinger, Jack Richter, Sue Barish, Judy Sugarman, Fulton Li, John Elger, Johnny Saddler, Eric Warner, Joe Demaine, Andy Hatkoff, Michael Toobin, Betty Dell, Deidre Smith, Cheryl Wragg, Barbara Fife and others that may come to mind as I am writing.

My memories don’t seem to be in any order,  some pop up sooner than others, not sure why,  but they do.

I have vague recollections of playing around in the foundations of the school as it was being built, or course we weren’t supposed to be there, but it seemed like fun!   I also can still smell and feel the window putty we used to

gouge out with our fingers after the school was finished - for some reason?

I think we all can still hear Principal Mr. (Phillip) James, click his pen or pencil on his wedding ring as he walked down the hall – we could always tell when he was coming – like the crocodile in Peter Pan.

And if I’m correct, the 5^th and 6^th grade watched Alan Sheperd go up on the first 15 minute Mercury space flight in the Spring of 1961 on two fairly large black and white TV’s in the gym/auditorium  I think we also performed a version of  My Fair Lady on that stage at some point – and I remember my pre-puberty brain not getting any of the adolescent jokes the girls were making about the lyrics of some of the songs!!

And, those wonderful ballroom dance lessons in that same gym, where the boys sat on one side and the girls sat on the other and they “forced” us to mingle and chose partners to dance, I still can’t do anything but a simple 2-step.  Square dancing too I think.

And Ed Farris, are you reading this???  After a loud classroom session where everyone was talking out of control, you made us sit down the next day and listen to the song “You Talk Too Much”!!  We got the message.  Or the time that a “stink bomb” went off in your classroom and no one would fess up to the deed – so we ALL had to stay after school.  Does anyone know to this day who the culprit was?  It probably was an accident of some kind…

Way back around 3^rd grade – Miss  (Anna) Zanazzo was my teacher - We voted and chose the  Green and Gold Colors for our school – I remember we were all really proud, I still love those colors.  Did we have a school song?

Now Mr. Silva (Joseph) was one of my favorite teachers – it was in his class, (remember we had 4 rotating classrooms between Mr. Farris, Mrs. Olmstead Sawyer, Mr. Silva and another teacher) – in his class was where we had our first Atomic Bomb drills !!!   “Just hide under the desk, close the blinds and we’ll be safe!” sure…everything would be fine and we would be safe!!!! Did anyone ever question that??  Hello!!

We had some great field trips – memorable was the trip to the United Nations in New York – I think I sent Judy a few photos and I have a few more to send also – I’m going to try and upload them to an album on my facebook page…

One of my favorite friends was neighbor Freddie Ehrlinger, he was a fabulous baseball player, even at a young age, I think we saw Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris play at Yankee Stadium in the early 1960’s with the Recreation program out in the back of the school in the summertime.  We also used to have boxing matches in our back yard with real boxing glove s, no one ever got hurt  but we got in some good jabs…Later, in Jr. High, he started to fade out of social events and sports and for a long time no one told us why.  Turns out he had Hodgkin’s Disease and was undergoing intense radiation therapy – After high school I came back to Norwalk for Christmas break and visited Freddie in the Hospital, he was quite ill but we had a really nice visit.  He had earned his driver’s license and was taking courses at Norwalk Community College, but only lived a month or more into the new year.  His mother Vilma, brother Skippy and sister Jeanie were still around when I was back home to visit on several occasions.  I seem to recall that Vilma was a very jovial person and had a “crush” on Tom Jones in his platform shoes because he was so short – really…

And Miss Olmstead (at the time) our 5^th grade teacher, assigned us to write a report on what happens to a ham sandwich when we digest it…

Back to 2^nd grade, can’t remember the teacher – it was Miss Beladeau (I just found my old report cards in a keepsake box which my Mom had saved for me over many years – thanks Mom) Miss Beladeau made me stand out in the hall because I talked too much, humiliation itself.  Now I earn my living talking!!  Also in 2^nd grade we had a reading group out on the lawn in the fall or spring and I got stung by a bee on my lip – ouch. My Mom always put ammonia on bee stings – not sure why but it seemed the thing to do…

And something very meaningful happened to me in Mr. Silva’s class one day, the class was making various jokes and comments about something without giving it much thought, and I said something innocently about someone being a “guinea pig” and was quite taken aback when Mr. Silva called me out with him into the hall for a talk.  He informed me that the use of that term is sometimes offensive because the word “Guinea” sometimes referred negatively to Italian immigrants..  I apologized because I did feel bad but I also learned the importance of learning what words may mean before using them, and about the context of the words as well.

Now how many remember Winnepauk School, down the hill on Route 7.  We used to walk down Linden Street and cut in over a stone wall down a grassy slope to the playground and the back door of the school. Where my Kindergarten class was, complete with sandbox. I remember the teacher wrote in my report card that I ought to “swallow” more (drool less).  She was Miss Tomaselli and our first grade teacher there was Miss Della Russo.

We stayed at Winnepauk until after the Christmas vacation and then our whole class with Miss Della Russo moved up to be the first first grade at Honeyhill and we were the first “graduating class” five and a half years later who went all the way through Honeyhill.

 

Well it’s time to come back to the present and get some other work done, but this has been a pleasure and I hope it brings back memories and stories for everyone else…

I’m scanning some photos now, hope they come out nicely….

They got cars, I got boots!

Hi Everyone, these are some of the last traces of winter in our neighborhood, the first two even look like little puppies "Patches"!!!  the last one, I'll just call "Spot".  I've been walking to and from work for several years now, not every day but almost. Rain, snow, wind, heat or shine.  It's been an educational experience, observing the weather, feeling the fresh air, saying Hi to joggers, fellow walkers, or bicyclers.  Thinking about the day ahead or the day that just passed.  or What I'll be having for my lunch (I walk home for lunch break too - and most the of the time I walk back to work after 35-40 minutes)  Sometimes I figure out difficult problems, musical, financial, familial, creative, technical, psychological and so on. 
    Recently I've added a new feature to my daily footwork routine, a small inexpensive mP3 player that I bought on the internet for about 15 US dollars a few years ago. It's great! - I can put dozens (and dozens) of songs on it, of my choice, oldies, reminiscing songs, new hits, rock, country, classical,  folk - etcetera etcetera - - great fun to help pass the time without worrying as much about being tired, or the cold, snowy or hot weather (yes we do have summer in Maine).  And I arrive at work (or back home) with great tunes in my head that help (I'm sure) my endorphins to lift my mood or raise my HDL, even on the coldest days, at times this winter it was 10-15 degrees below on some mornings - I wear a coat (or two) with a nice warm scarf, a cool gray felt cap with a visor and flaps for my ears (that also help me hear the music "earbuds" better - a nice perk!) - gloves or mittens are not mandatory as I like my hands free to feel the air or plunge them into my pockets on the windchill mornings...
    Now many of you who might be reading this, already know how far it is to my work here in South Berwick, I was going to reveal that distance now - but decided to have anyone who would like - to make their best guess on my daily treks to and from work.  A hint would be that I did not walk 5 miles in the deep snow to go to my elementary school when I was younger, and I still don't walk that far!  By the way, we went back to my Mom and Dad's hometown of Bellevue (Pittsburgh suburb) PA many times over the years and found that my Dad's grade school was less than a mile from his house!!  So some memories aren't that accurate (or honest!!!). 
   Meanwhile, it was in the 40's today, and as the above pictures show, most of the snow melted this week, a few icy patches left, and the crocuses are pushing up everywhere and blooming, as a strong protest to the lingering winter weather.  So by the time people come to visit us this summer it will most likely be in the 70's or 80's, but not me, I'm only in my early 60' - really....  the ocean temp however will also be in the low 60's - too cold for anyone but the most avid tourists who want to get their money's worth after driving all the way up north to see our beautiful Maine, as the greeting sign says on Interstate 95 - "The Way Life Should Be".
     Thanks for reading this epistle, I'm very grateful for the beauty of this land, and if you every get the chance, my beautiful wife Leona has written and recorded with her group, "Salt River" - her song, "Livin' on the Coast of Maine".    Night night all!  and keep those sidewalks clear!!

Ueo Muite

Years ago, I'm old enough to say that!, there was a beautiful number One hit from Japan in the early 1960's called "Ueo Muite" - known for marketing purposes in the USA as the "Sukiyaki Song" - a sweet and beautiful melody with whistling and all - a song that was covered my several other artists over the years, all successful - and it was the only number one hit from Japan ever in the USA billboard charts.
     Another popular song from from Japan, usually sung by children in the schools, is a folk song called, "Sakura" - I woke up this morning singing this to myself and remembering the months I spent living with a Japanese family (Nihon no kazoku) in Sapporo, Hokkaido, with the AFS exchange student program, never knowing what effect it would have on my future.  As part of the experience I spent 3-4 days living with another host family in Sendai, yes Sendai.  How the name of that beautiful city comes back to me these recent weeks.  The harbor was a fantasy land dotted with green islands like dabs on a painting, with blue ocean waters all around - a National Park to be sure, but I'm also quite sure that much of it was overcome by the tsunami of late.  And yet the people find beauty within themselves and with each other, sharing warmth, water, food, prayers and shelter and triumphing over the tragedy around them.
    So as I remember these songs and others, such as "Kimito Itsumademo" for which I still have the lyrics in the original handwriting of my Japanese host Brother, Kotaro Uchida, in both Nihongo (Japanese - and
Eigo (English-Ramanji), I remember the beauty of their faces, their homes, their friendship, their hospitality and yes - their Food! (By the way, the best kept secret for Sushi - the real deal!- is at a restaurant in Newington, NH called "Great Buffet II" - during the week at noon, all you can eat buffet for $7.99 plus beverage - just a quick plug!). 
   So for many of us in many places, Japan is more that a Headline or a Tragedy, it is a place for beauty and love and caring and with international support they will learn with the rest of the world how to overcome this terrible situation which has come upon them.  So as the athletes in Japan say, "Gumbate!!"  Fight on!
Larry

larry lyrics

This is my first posting - lots of thoughts from over the years - maybe others might interested...

The Traveler

40 years have come and gone

Like a fleeting summer’s day

Learning lessons about my life

With loving friends along the way.

At the start, my heart was really lost

In a sea of false conclusions

Moving ever closer to the edge

And drowning in confusion.

Then a light appeared in the eastern sky

With a ray of hope it glimmered

Giving meaning to the empty days

The shining waters shimmered.

It gave me life amidst the fog

And led me to the fountain

With trails of light I came around

And found the misty mountain.

40 years did Moses roam

And 40 years He fasted

Praying to one God above

While strength and hope still lasted.

The Blessed Beauty walked this earth

With the lash and exile tortured

He gave the Word to all mankind

And planted the heavenly orchard.

For forty years He poured out His heart

His mind, His love and His Word

And back in time about 40 years

A glimpse of His beautiful voice I heard.

Now some have also walked this path

And traveled much further than I

But I remain so grateful and true

For the love and sweet friendship I see in their eyes.

So if you’re starting to travel this Way

His glorious gate is open wide -

Look down the path to where it bends

And take the one less traveled by.

leh    March 22,  2011