A week ago Carol and I went to Torah Study, the portion was Pinchas, I never miss since it is one of the few portions named for a person and somehow that is my Hebrew name. I say somehow because I have no idea where my parents came up with it other than it begins with P and they needed a Hebrew name beginning with P. But, as usual I digress. Rather than stay for services after the study we had another place to be. Keith Hoose, a wonderful man I worked with in the New England Life insurance office had died at age 89 and there was a memorial service for him at 11 AM. There are days when one thinks ahead and at least prepares oneself for what is to come. I was thinking Memorial Service like we do in the Jewish world, some appropriate prayers and a reasonable amount of eulogizing and off to either the cemetery or home unless you are a close friend or family in which case back to house after the burial for a meal and sharing stories. I had not quite gotten my head around a full Anglican Mass with too many people for a tiny church. Needless to say it was a bit of a jolt, especially on Shabbat.
The following night we went to Abilene to hear The Blind Owl Band. I am sure that the next oldest people in the crowd were the ages of our boys. The music was country, as promised. The band was from Saranac in the Adirondacks, hardly a likely place for a country band, but the bar environment certainly was consistent with their source. Saranac may have more bars than people in the winter. We enjoyed the music for most of the first set out on the patio in back of the club. Eventually the beginnings of a contact high convinced us it was time to leave. I saw a couple of bongs being passed and we decided enough was a bit too much.
To sort of round out the weekend we had dinner with Susan and Marty Denning. Marty had been the GA in the office through most of my time with New England. Our parting many years ago had not been the most cordial although we had worked together and liked each other for many years. Time has past and many of the agents we had worked with are now gone. It is never to late to return to a friendship. If you read this Marty, thank you for joining us for a very pleasant dinner.
Just to round out our rather weird week, on Thursday I was fitted with hearing aids and I have found a whole range of sounds that I had forgotten existed. Of course I got high tech aids with all kinds of capabilities which I am just exploring. They work better than any prior Bluetooth device I ever had for my phone 🙂 stereo hearing is really great. I can even listen to TV or radio at my preferred volume – much lower than it used to be – and let Carol listen at hers, or not even be bothered by the sound. I just wish this hadn’t come at the reduction of my own natural hearing ability, but such is life.
Friday night, late, there was the first night of a new festival – 2015 Street Light about 1 mile or so from our apartment. The night was glorious and warm and there was no rain so we walked over to see what it is about:
