Through Ellen’s Lens: A Weekend of Babysitting

01 Monday Jun 2015

Tags

Ellen Miller Photos, Grandchildren, Grandparents. Ellen's Lens

When Ellen and I agreed to ‘watch’ the three grandchildren (6, 4, & 2) for a weekend while their parents attended a wedding out of town, I thought, “Well, at least I’ll get a good MillersTime post out of it.”

You know, one where I ‘gently’ chide the parents, ‘herald’ the wonderful grandparents, and feature the antics of the three young ones. As the weekend started, I jotted down some events that I knew would bring smiles (to readers, if not to the parents).

But then a ‘funny’ thing happened. All three kids somehow ‘performed’ well and were a joy. Plus, we didn’t even lose the youngest, as we have in the past. So rather than my expected post, I thought simply featuring Ellen’s photos would be the best way to ‘memorialize’ the weekend and entertain those of you who enjoy such things.

3 cropped

Abby ‘Clarifies’ What Really Happened

27 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bryce Harper, Dear Eli, Granddaughter, Grandson, Home Plate Umpire, MillersTime.net, Vampire, Washington Nationals

admin-ajax.php

A few days ago, knowing that my grandson Eli was not yet reading MillersTime.net religiously, I read him my post about his 22-year-old hero Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals.

Little did I realize that four-year-old granddaughter Abby was also listening to the story of Harper’s ejection by the home plate umpire.

Later that night I got a text message from their mother.

It read:

Abby tells me that Harper got in a fight with the vampire and got kicked out of the game.

And that clarifies everything.

Dear Eli: Good News/Bad News

21 Thursday May 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"Player of the Week", baseball, Bryce Harper, Matt Williams, Nats, Washington Nationals, Worst to First, Yankees

gkorltoewqolaexccu3w

Dear Eli,

I know I haven’t seen you in a couple of weeks. I’ve been traveling a bit and was with your Auntie Elizabeth in California, Oregon, and Washington. We got to see three Red Sox games, and they won two of the three. Not too bad.

Then when I returned, your Washington Nationals were playing two games against that *#!^x* Yankee team. So, of course, I had to go to those two games, Tuesday night and Wednesday night. The Nats won both games by close scores (4-3 and 3-2).

In fact, the Nats are playing really well and with the victories over the Yankees they are now in first place in their Division.

That’s pretty good because in their first 20 games, they only won 7 and lost 13 and were in last place. Then, in their next 21 games they won 17 and only lost 4. So they have gone from last place to first place.

And your favorite player, Bryce Harper, has been a big part of both their losing at the beginning of the season and winning now. In fact, he is now doing so well he has been named “Player of the Week” two weeks in a row. That rarely happens. But he’s been “on fire”, hitting lots of home runs, knocking in runs, and getting on base with a lot of walks.

But that’s where there’s a bit of bad news too.

An “Impossible Dream”?

27 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Family and Friends, The Outer Loop

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

"Man of La Mancha", "The Impossible Dream", FOTONNA, Hope & Reassurance, Tent of Nations North America, William Plitt

The Impossible Dream

by William Plitt

bill_headshot_2010_palestine1

A month ago, at end of weeks of a seemingly endless winter, I gambled and
bought three tickets to “Man of La Mancha”, a presentation by the Washington Shakespeare Company at the Sidney Harmon Theatre in the City. I was needing some “lift”, both in attitude and altitude, and hoped to that “lift” in light-hearted theatrical/musical entertainment- a distraction from our work too!

Help Us Spread the Word

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Adolescents, Children, Families, Financial Aid, Grants, Helping Others, The Family Foundation, The Frost School

csc.4

For most of my ‘professional’ life I worked with children, adolescents, and families in various settings –- Peace Corps, John F. Kennedy High School, The Psychiatric Institute, and The Frost School –- and in a variety teaching, counseling, and administrative positions.

Never Leave Until It’s Over

11 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

baseball, Big Papi, Dear Eli, Evil Empire, Mark Teixeira, Never Over 'Til It's Over, Red Sox, Yankees

unnamed

Dear Eli,

It was fun going with you to the baseball game Thursday. And I’m glad we stayed until the very end of the game, even if your favorite team, the Nats, lost.

You always have to stay until the end of the game. No matter how bad or how good it might seem for your team.

Yesterday was a good example of why it’s so important to understand the game is never over until the final out.

Last night in Yankee Stadium, it was the bottom of the 9th inning, and my heroes the Sox were ahead 3-2. There were two outs. One more and they’d beat the Evil Empire (the Yankees).

Disaster struck.

Instead of the final out, the Yankees hit a home run to tie the game.

Extra innings.

Nothing much happened for the next seven innings, although Friday had turned into Saturday. Then, in the 16th inning, Big Papi, the great David Ortiz, hit a home run and put the Sox ahead 4-3.

Then, the Yankees got a home run in the bottom of the 16th when one of their players, Mark Teixeira, who was 34 years old when the game started and had turned 35 by the 16th inning, hit a home run.

Bummer. The game tied again, 4-4.

In the top 18th inning, again the Sox went ahead, 5-4.

And wouldn’t you know it, again the Yunkees tied it. Score now 5-5.

Then, in the 19th inning, after more than seven hours, the Sox went ahead 6-5.

This time, the bad guys didn’t tie it in the bottom of the inning, and the Sox won.

And that’s why you never, ever leave a game until the final out is made.

Never give up.

How Selma Changed Todd Endo’s Life 50 Years Ago

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Family and Friends

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

"Selma", Japanese American, The Washington Post, Todd Endo

Endo0021423167670

(Todd Endo, 73, portrait by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Todd Endo, a long time friend, was featured in an article in the Washington Post last week. In A Japanese American in Selma, he describes how a trip to Selma 50 years ago changed his life.

Todd is returning to Selma this week to compare 1965 to now and “to make a connection again.”

I look forward to hearing about his return trip to a place that had such an impact on him and suspect he’ll find a very different Selma.

Or maybe not.

Check out the WaPo article.

“Hip, Hip, Hooray” – Photos of the Third Grandchild

22 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 10 Comments

Hip.20

Ryan Hip.1

Usually, by the time there’s a third grandchild, particularly if all three are siblings, there aren’t many pictures of the ‘last’ one.

So that’s our excuse for posting these of Ryan, age 20 months, as ‘captured’ at a recent play date at our house. Photos come courtesy of Ellen Miller, known as “Nonna” to the three grandkids.

Ryan.12

An Apology to Mr. Rizzo

19 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"MillersTime" Contest, Listen to Your Father, Max Scherzer, Mike Rizzo, Nats, Tyler Clippard, Washington Nationals, Yunel Escobar

201501191123410159091

According to the Washington Post:

The Washington Nationals radically altered the baseball landscape Sunday night, ending a winter of relative inactivity by agreeing to a seven-year contract with free agent pitcher Max Scherzer, according to a person with direct knowledge of the talks.

I shoulda listened to my father, the chess player.

He tried to teach me to take my time when my opponent made a move that perhaps seemed weak, foolish, or one I didn’t understand. He warned not to jump too quickly in my next move and to beware of what further moves my opponent might have in mind.

For the most part, I’ve followed that advice, at least with reference to MillersTime.

Baseball: Business vs Family

16 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, Go Sox

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

baseball, Family, Loyalty, Nationals, Red Sox, Tyler Clippard, Values, Winning, Yunel Escobar

10480070_10152715876599776_4831979598159836562_o

My post yesterday, Nats: Terrible, Terrible Decision, reminded me of what most bothers me about baseball, a game I’ve loved for as long as I can remember (at least six and a half decades).

32 Hours in NYC*

05 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", Blue Fin, Chinatown, Civic Hall, Eataly, Excellent Dumpling House, Genesis, International Center of Photography, New York City, Rockefeller Center, Saks, Sebastiao Salgado, Tarallucci E Vino, Times Square, Union Square, Upland Restaurant

* Any resemblance to the NYTimes series “36 Hours in ____” (you name the city) is mostly accidental.

Most New Yorkers stay as far away from the city as they can the last few days of the year, but we actually love it. So, we planned to meet our KC daughter there just before New Year’s. In the end, she couldn’t make the trip. But we did.

flatiron

32 Hours in New York City

Grandkids’ Extended Visit = Photo Opportunity

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Grandkids, Grandkinder, Pix of Grandkids

The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby’s grandparents. You feel comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida. – Dave Barry

Telling us some story about having their ‘floors’ redone and having to move out of their house for ‘at the most’ two weeks, our daughter, son-in-law and their three kids (it felt like at least a dozen) moved into our quiet, “retirement home” in mid-October. They just left to return to their own house, and I sure hope they like their ‘redone floors.’

For those of you who largely use MillersTime as a way to keep up with the grandkinder, here are some pictures from the last two and half weeks, mostly taken with Ellen’s iPhone.

“An Incredible Run…An Awful Lot of Fun”

31 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends, The Outer Loop

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

"The American Prospect", "Tom Paine", Campaign for America's Future, Center for Responsive Politics, Ellen Miller, Pike Permanent Select Comittee on Intelligence, Public Campaign, Ralph Nader, retirement, Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, Sen. Committee on Governmental Affairs, The Sunlight Foundation

admin-ajax.php

Today mark’s the final day of public service (1968-2014) for Ellen Miller.

Ellen’s first work in Washington was with Ralph Nader at his Center for Responsive Law and at his Center for Auto Safety. She then worked with Sen. Abraham Ribicoff at his Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and also with the Pike House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Following her government service, Ellen worked for two journalistic enterprises, Tom Paine and The American Prospect and also directed the “Project for an Accountable Congress” at the Campaign for America’s Future.

Most of Ellen’s work, however, was invested in the three organizations she created and lead, The Center for Responsive Politics, Public Campaign, and The Sunlight Foundation. All three groups have been focused in different ways on the issues of money and politics, on how our elections are funded, and on accountability and transparency in government. All three organizations continue to exist.

Ellen told a gathering of friends and co-workers last week, “It’s been an incredible run…I’ve been extraordinarily lucky…and I’ve had a lot of fun.” She also said she is “not one bit wistful” as she happily looks towards her retirement and has no plans other than some extended travel, lots of photography, and spending time with her three grandchildren.

PS – For a bit more on Ellen’s retirement, see her Time to Pass the Baton.