MillersTime 2015 Baseball Contest # 5: Predict who will lead the AL and who will lead the NL in getting the most All Star votes in 2015. Which of the two will receive more votes?
No one got this contest exactly right.
A Winner
27 Monday Jul 2015
A Novel and A Memoir: Each Tells a Story Worth Discussing
21 Tuesday Jul 2015
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Tags
"Between the World and Me", "Go Set a Watchman", "The Atlantic", "The Beautiful Struggle", "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Here are two books that consumed me in the past week. I read them back to back and think there is good reason to read them together. They are very different in major ways, one being a novel that takes place in the 1950s and the other being nonfiction, a letter to the writer’s son, written this year. Both are short and both deal with issues of family, race, and society in our country.
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, 288 pages
Japan: Through Ellen’s Lens
15 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures, Family and Friends
Tags
Buddhist Temples, Bullet Trains, Ellen Miller's Photos, Golden Pavilion, Golden Temple, Hakone, Hiroshima, Japan, Japan: Food Picture Slide Show, Japan: Summer 2015 Slide Show, Japanese Baseball, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Maiko Performance, Mt. Fuji, Nikko, Ryokans, Shinto Shrines, Takayama, Tea Ceremony, Tokyo, Tokyo Tower, Torii Gates, Tsukiji Fish Market, Tuna Auctions, World Heritage Sites, Yokahama DeNa BayStars, Yomiuri Giants
As I promised last week, below are a few of Ellen’s favorite pictures from our trip to Japan. If you want to see more — lots more — check out her slide show of 126 pictures.
While the 15 photos below mostly capture gardens and temples, our activities were hugely varied. We went to the Tsukiji Fish Market and Tuna Auction at 5 AM our first morning in Tokyo, wandered through the teenage fashion and anime centers, viewed the city from the Tokyo Tower, and took a hands-on sushi-making lesson. We were treated to a full-on Tea Ceremony and a Maiko (Geisha apprentices) performance. We soaked our weary selves at three different Ryokan onsens (hot spas) until we shriveled. We saw Torii gates, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples everywhere we went (in Tokyo, Nikko, Hakone, Takayama, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, and Kyoto). We visited a Gold Leaf museum/factory and a Sake museum along with the Edo/Tokyo museum, a ‘float’ museum, and the chilling museums and monuments in Hiroshima. Of course, there was a baseball game in the Tokyo Dome where we saw the Yokahama DeNA BayStars beat the Yomiuri Giants. We traveled by car, by van, by subway, by train, including the bullet trains, by boat, and we walked at least five or six miles everyday. We saw Mt. Fuji (barely), lakes, waterfalls, bamboo groves, and the wonderful Golden Pavilion. Everywhere there were gardens — miniature gardens, Emperor’s gardens, temple gardens, strolling gardens, rock gardens, ancient ones and modern ones.
Travels to Japan: On Being Schooled by the Younger Generation
07 Tuesday Jul 2015
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Tags
Bamboo forest, Bohemian Restaurant, Geoge Nakashima, Gora Kadan, Hakone, Heiruki Sushi, Hida Beef, Hiroshima, Honkawa Elementary School, Ikuzi Teraki, Japan, Kakinuma Restaurant, Kanazawa, Kenrokuen Garden, Kyoto, Lake Ashi, Mt. Fuji, Nara, Nikko, Romulus Craft, Ryoanji Zen Garden, Sekitei, Takayama, The Golden Pavilion, Tofukuji Temple/HoJo Garden, Tokyo, Tsukijiki fish market, Wansato, Yakitori's Memory Lane ("Piss Alley")
Once again our children (this time our younger daughter and her husband) have taught us a thing or two.
Although we have traveled much of our lives, we had never included Japan in those travels. My reasoning/excuse was a prejudice that it would be hard to get ‘inside’ the country (the way we have in India), and we would just be “visitors” there.
Well, I, should have known better. Almost without realizing it, we have been drawn to Japanese art and artisans. Two rooms in our house are furnished with the wonderful Japanese-American furniture of George Nakashima, and in our kitchen, our cupboards are filled with pottery, including our everyday dinnerware, made by another Japanese-American artisan (Ikuzi Teraki of Romulus Craft) who is located in Vermont. We also have two small Asian gardens, one outside of the kitchen and one outside of our sun room. And I just learned that my mother particularly loved Kyoto, something I may have vaguely known but clearly had forgotten.
Anyway, a while ago we suggested to our daughter Elizabeth/Beth and son-in-law Brandt that we take a trip together to a place of their choosing. They almost immediately chose Japan.
Promises have a way of coming due, and so we have just spent two weeks in Tokyo, Nikko, Hakone, Lake Ashi, Takayma, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Nara.
Movies Movies Movies
17 Wednesday Jun 2015
Tags
"About Elly", "Clouds of Silas Maria", "Gemma Bovery", "Love & Mercy", "Spy", "Testament of Youth", "The Farewell Party", "When Marnie Was There", "Wild Tales", "Woman in Gold", Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Fieg
Here are mini-reviews of four recent movies we found enjoyable, plus links to some we saw over the past six to nine months that are now available in some theaters.
Spy****
This one surprised and delighted me.
A mainstream movie, it stars Melissa McCarthy in a ‘take down’ of virtually every spy movie you’ve ever seen, especially the 007 ones. It’s a laugh out loud film about a woman who emerges from the basement of ‘Agency’ headquarters to track down and beat the bad guys.
McCarthy is terrific in her role and somehow walks the line between being funny and absurd. She’s helped by a good supporting cast (Miriam Hart, Jude Law, Rose Byrnem, and Jason Statham) and a script and direction by Paul Ferg that kept me laughing (despite myself).
* * * * *
Posted by Richard | Filed under Escapes and Pleasures
Join Me – Nats Tickets in July
16 Tuesday Jun 2015
Posted in Go Sox
Tags
Dodgers, Giants, July Baseball, MLB Baseball, Nats' Tickets, Strasburg Bobblehead, Washington Nationals
There are three games in July that are available to friends and foes to either join me or to use my tickets for upcoming Nats’ games.
“The Precious Ordinary”
13 Saturday Jun 2015
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Kent Haruf – 1943-2014
This post is going to sound a lot like one from a couple of weeks ago — Summer Fiction Update — wherein I thanked a friend and MillersTime reader for introducing me to a writer I didn’t, but should have, known.
Ellen: “At Least We Won’t Have to Worry About an August Slump”
11 Thursday Jun 2015
Posted in Go Sox
Mostly it’s bad news for Red Sox fans, and it doesn’t seem as if it’s going to get too much better. Other than having a few young players who could be future stars — Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, and Eduardo Rodriquez — there’s not much to like about this season.
However, there is one bit of good news: Ellen Miller is getting interested in sports’ photography. At least baseball photography.
We (foolishly) went to a Sox vs Orioles game the other night, with the usual result. But Ellen brought her camera and long lens, and here are a few examples of her first serious baseball pictures.
Summer Fiction Update
09 Tuesday Jun 2015
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Tags
"Gilead", "Home", "Housekeeping", "Lila", Marilynne Robinson, National Book Award Finalist, Pulitzer Prize
How is it that even though I read a lot and think I’m attuned to books and writers of value, I did not know of Marilynne Robinson?
The Marilynne Robinson who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for her novel, Gilead and whose other books have won or been finalists for numerous awards (National Book Awards, etc.).
Thanks to friend and MillersTime reader Robin Rice, I have spent the last two weeks reading Gilead, Home, and Lila. And rather than waiting for the year’s end listing of MillersTime readers’ favorite books, I thought of bringing your attention to Robinson and her writings now (in case you have been as clueless as I was).
What Pres. Obama Believes About American Exceptionalism
05 Friday Jun 2015
Posted in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop
Tags
"Selma", 50th Anniversary of Selma to Montgomery March, Obama's Remarks at Selma, Pres. Obama, Selma to Montgomery March, Video of Obma's Selma Remarks
The Washington Post recently had a lengthy article about the background to the speech President Obama gave in March at the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march.
That article sent me to read the entire transcript of his speech and then to watch the video of that speech. I was reminded why I thought the election of Obama was so important.
While we must wait for historians to judge what kind of president he has been, it can be said that his words and his oratory have been powerful.
As the presidential election ‘season’ is emerging, we are and will hear much about patriotism, about what it means to love America, to believe in America, to say America is exceptional.
If you want to understand what Pres. Obama has learned and believes about our country, take some time to click on one (or more) of the three links below. The first is to the WaPo article. The second is to the written transcript of the Selma speech. The third is the video of the Selma speech.
Sheryl Sandberg Marks the End of “Sheloshim”
03 Wednesday Jun 2015
Posted in Articles & Books of Interest, Family and Friends
Sheryl Sandburg, the Chief Operating Office of Facebook, the author of the 2013 book Lean In, and the mother of two children, has just posted the reflections below on her Facebook page, following the end of her 30 day mourning period for her husband David Goldberg, 47, who died in a recent accident.
Through Ellen’s Lens: A Weekend of Babysitting
01 Monday Jun 2015
Posted in Family and Friends
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.
Abby ‘Clarifies’ What Really Happened
27 Wednesday May 2015
Posted in Family and Friends
Tags
Bryce Harper, Dear Eli, Granddaughter, Grandson, Home Plate Umpire, MillersTime.net, Vampire, Washington Nationals
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 in Family and Friends, Go Sox
Tags
"Player of the Week", baseball, Bryce Harper, Matt Williams, Nats, Washington Nationals, Worst to First, Yankees
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.
On the Move: A Life
20 Wednesday May 2015
Posted in Escapes and Pleasures
Tags
"A General Feeling of Disorder", "A Leg to Stand On", "Awakenings", "My Own Life", "On the Move", "The Mind's Eye", 'The Many Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", author, neurologist, Oliver Sacks, Uncle Tungsten"
If you ‘know of’ Oliver Sacks, have read one or more of his 12 previous books, then the picture above might be a bit surprising to you.
Usually, the pictures we see of this neurologist/author portray quite a different image.
More like this picture to your right:
As you may know, Sacks is a prolific writer, using cases from his work with a variety of patients to describe a world that most of us do not know, a world where anomalies of the brain lead to behaviors and lives that often seem strange, at least until Sacks explains them to us.
As you also may know, Oliver Sacks is dying of terminal cancer, as he announced in an eloquent and affecting NYTimes column, My Own Life, three months ago (although since writing that piece in February, he wrote a second column in April, A General Feeling of Disorder, NY Review of Books, and seems to have ‘rallied’ and may be with us for a while longer).
I have long been intrigued by Sacks’ work, his writings, his findings, and by the man himself. Thus, when his 13th book, a memoir, On the Move: A Life, was published several weeks ago, I, of course, read it immediately.
Some of what we read in this memoir is familiar as he has written about himself previously (particularly in his Uncle Tugsten and in his A Leg to Stand On). We know he is a doctor, a scientist, an author, and above all an advocate for (our) understanding strange behaviors and listening to the lives of (his) patients.
But there is much that is new also.