It’s a bit like a divorce, I once was loved and now, after seven years, I am “rejected”. I will get over this.

I took in one of my pieces for the auction (Dundas Valley School of Art’s 42 Annual Art Auction) last week. This was from a person who was downsizing, and he delivered five pieces from different artists he had purchased through me over the last ten years. I know this is a common occurrence, as people move and change, but it had never happened to me before. I didn’t know how attached I was to work I hadn’t seen in years. It’s a beautiful piece and while I’m delighted to see it again, I am sad to feel “rejected”.
As a very non prolific artist, I have much invested in each piece. I would never have realized my feelings about this before. I had withdrawn from the auction a few years ago as I don’t really have much of an audience here and I don’t want the piece to be not sold, or sold for next to nothing. I know it’s all for charity anyway, and we can’t live without our amazing auction revenue, but still, it’s my painting……
We sell between 1200 and 1400 items (95% art) every year, an amazing amount for such a small place. It is out main fund raiser and gradually it grows bigger each year. It requires more than 200 volunteers to operate and has 3,500 visitors each year.
We have more than 400 artists participate, and we now have a large secondary market, selling everything one can imagine, from local artists work to major names. We have sold from the Group of Seven, and this year will include such artists as Fantin-Latour and Rembrandt.
The “live” pieces (those sold in a live auction format) are on line (at least all we have so far) at our web site www.dvsa.ca and you’ll find the link to the live pieces. The other 1200 will be available as silent auction items, with a large group of pottery “seconds” and matted prints available at the school.
My painting will not be live; I can’t handle the suspense and the drama for me. The piece I show here is not that piece as I have no photo of it available here at home. It is similar.
For those of you who wish, if you are interested in any of the live pieces and want to bid by in advance or by proxy or by phone, just let me know at greenblatt@cogeco.net. I will need credit card info to qualify you in advance as well.
This is a big deal for me, the auction of course, but the feelings of having my own work returned. It’s a bit like a divorce, I once was loved and now, after seven years, I am “rejected”. I will get over this.

The Dishwasher Saga continues...

The dishwasher replacement which I have already written about included the removal of the molding in front of the old dishwasher. Now it didn’t match the cabinets adjacent to it. My wife complained and wanted the molding redone, and I knew I’d eventually get around to doing it. When she asked again, I decided to do it, and since she was present, and my knees have gone to hell, I asked her to measure what was needed.

I handed her a measuring tape and asked her to check, as I believed it was just a 1” x 4” piece of MDF, which it was. I guessed it was about 24” wide, as the dishwasher is that width. She measured with a bit of trouble and said it was, in fact, 24” wide.

I went off to Home Depot to purchase a piece of MDF, and have them cut it. The smallest size of 1” x 4” white MDF available is 8’ long, but since it was only $4.10, I figured I could always find a use for the rest, and besides, in case she measured wrong, I still would have enough left over.

I got the piece, had it cut and brought it home. It was too small!

I offered to caulk it to fit but she hated that idea. She wanted another piece and re-measured the space, after I got her mid-range reading glasses from the piano. The trifocals she has made the reading off.

It was 24 5/16” wide. I took the piece next door and got my neighbor, who was renovating his kitchen, to cut the right size piece as the whole thing was his fault.

You ask how is this his fault? He’s our optometrist!

I have never condoned such behavior, just mentioned it in passing.

My new dishwasher had a problem. Something had burned and as it turned out several things had burned on the bottom in error. One was a pair of chopsticks that I placed flat on a top shelf. These were wood chopsticks, a pair that came with my carry out lunch and I was going to save. The truth is we have hundreds of pairs so it was stupid to try and save them anyway and I could use them in the garden or somewhere eventually as short sticks. The other and much more important one was the round plastic disk that covers the rinse agent holder, an article that may have no real reason for being, and could be saved if the manufacturers would hang it as most car manufacturers do with the gas tank lids.

This little press in place lid had about a 2” diameter and looks a little like a diaphragm with a large rubber ring around one side. In this day and age of the pill, a diaphragm may only be a descriptor if you are over 50. However, it fell out of its hiding place next to the soap dispenser and went down into the bottom where the heat element lives. It burned and warped and is no good no more to no one.
I called Sears repair and asked if they would send out a new one and they told me that I had to have a technician come out to inspect in order to assess the damage. This would mean missing half a day of work for my wife or me and that seemed stupid. I decided to just order one. I mean, said I, “How much could the little thing cost?” These are always the famous last words before the fall of everything holy.

I called parts and a very nice woman commiserated with me, and told me everyone loses these and it’s very common. She herself had lost one. I gave her the model number and off she went.

She came back and explained she was having a problem but I should hold.

The problem was my model did not have such a part listed, as its part of a multi hundred dollar dispensing system. However, she figured they were mainly the same for all models and she did her best to measure and figures she will send me a different model one and it should fit.

She has done a good job and hopefully it will work. The $2 part costs $24 and shipping is $8.95. I will wait and see if it works. If it does not, I will call the technician back and demand service. They may argue in the end that we loosened it and didn‘t tighten it back up and therefore, technically, it is not a system fault, and they will be correct but I won’t admit that as I have never used the thing. It will cost at least one visit if not two, where the part gets ordered, delivered to the technician, and he come back to install it.

The other option is to go to the store and steal the thing from a floor model. No one ever watches the big appliances for theft of a little part; they may stop you if you steal the whole machine.

I have written before about the removal of a button from a coat or a shoelace from shoes and how you can find these items on clearance sale late in the season waiting for you who has secreted the missing part at home. I have never condoned such behavior, just mentioned it in passing.

Hands

I’ve never been much of a worrier about hand washing, although I’ve seen enough warnings on TV and on public bathroom doors to pay attention. I do worry about using chicken on a wooden cutting board (I don’t do that) and other germ related stuff, but I’ve never gotten to an OCD level or worry; never at least, before yesterday afternoon.

I had stopped into a fast food chain as I was making my way back to the office and because there was a long line, I had nothing to do but watch.

There was only one server on the front line when I arrived, and she was visibly overworked. There were plenty of others there, they were making food and addressing the drive-through. I watched the one lady, and the people in front of me began to complain to each other about how long it was taking and how they had to be back at work. I was feeling the same way, and had I not been the boss I might have worried about being late. I just continued to watch the poor server work.

There was a garbage can at each end of the kitchen area next to the front counter. The cans were pretty full, not yet overflowing, and admittedly, they were full of plastic bags and not loose garbage, so it was less of an eyesore, but it was one. The server realized as she ran around that the garbage can on the left side was sticking out and she absent mindedly stuck her hand it and moved it back into place. She must have gotten “something” on her hand when she did that so she absentmindedly wiped her hand on her pants, and continued to serve the food.

I was dumbfounded! I knew she need to wash her hands or put on gloves and not grab open containers of fries etc. and serve it to people. She never even consciously knew she had done it, and my turn was coming up! What would I do? Was I going to tell her to wash?  Would I make a big deal about it?

(If you never read my story found on the right side of this blog, "Minnie Mouse's Dirty Little Secret", now would be a good time.)

Thank God I never had the opportunity, as another person, a managerial type, took over and opened a second till so I received my food from a different server.

I ate my lunch, and when I returned to work I washed my hands.

I used to believe that my in-laws ate toilet paper......

I used to believe that my in-laws ate toilet paper. When they would come to visit, toilet paper and Kleenex went out the window, or at least our usage was compounded by some unknown factor.

Where did it disappear to?

When they would walk their dogs, they dropped toilet paper or Kleenex on each little mound of crap so that they could find it the next day when they went back to reclaim it. Our lawn looked like it had some weird disease when they were through throwing paper upon it. The crap itself was too offensive in its natural state for them to pick up and they preferred, I believe, a dryer form.

Now my father-in-law has passed away, and my mother-in-law spent a week with us without a dog. The jury was out on this one but now that she has gone home it is clear that she is the toilet paper eater! There is some show on TV about weird problems, and she may be eligible. I have no idea if she really eats it, but when she is here it disappears!

My mother-in-law probably weighs about 95 pounds at the most, so how much toilet paper can she need? We suddenly go through mounds of toilet paper and paper towels as well when she is here. It makes no sense.

I forgot to check her suitcase before she left. It may be full of paper products. I should have warned the US border guards to be on the lookout for a paper smuggler. I don’t think it’s illegal to bring paper products back to the US, but if they’ve been pilfered…….

The Clandestine Meeting

And so we were off to the Renaissance Center in Detroit for a drink. This was the least likely place, but we were going to meet friends from out of town and this was a good meeting spot. We were to go to the bar at the top of the hotel which spins around and lets one watch the skyline of Windsor and Detroit spin around every hour or so. This was sometime in the mid-eighties and my friend and I were set for a night in the town.

We made our way to a table and we came upon a couple, who least expected to see us. Here, they were a very unlikely pair from our perspective, bent on having a drink where no one they know would run into them. Here we were the last people they expected or wanted to run into.
It was a standoff, as they looked embarrassed, and looked like they had been caught. While there were probably ways to ignore us or the situation, it was evident that we had run into something secret, a clandestine meeting. This couple had been caught!

My wife and I were having lunch at the exotic Wendy’s, stopping by sometimes about 10 to 15 years ago, when I ran into a friend having lunch with his employee. This would not have been even noticed beyond a hello had we not been approached by our friend who said, “We’re not having an affair here” even though neither of us had asked or even looked strangely at them. The denial of the non-event made the event memorable, and clearly indicated a clandestine meeting to us.
The late morning wandering through Ann Arbor Michigan by myself with my new girlfriend was interrupted by running into an old friend on the street, sometime in 1984. I had been out of my house for a month or two at the time, and living in an apartment. My oldest son was a local vitamin specialist at one of the area health food stores and was at work that morning. I met my friend and introduced him to my girlfriend, who I introduced by name and not by the title girlfriend. However, as I remember, this was a post-coital morning and we may have exuded pheromones indicating a relationship or something.

He left us and ran off to find my son and see what was up, and if I was secretly having an affair he was outing me to my son, I guess. I was not having a clandestine meeting; he just seemed to believe it so.

As it is said, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”. - Sir Walter Scott

Farmers Cheese

My Grandmother used to make Farmers Cheese. I have a vivid memory of her hanging the ball of cheese tied with a string, in the kitchen window. I have no real idea how long it hung or why, but hang it did.

Last week I decided that in keeping with the aforementioned family tradition (only because I decided to make it one) I would try my hand at cheese making. I perused recipes on cheese making and decided that Farmer Cheese would be the easiest to start with, as it did not use unusual ingredients nor did I need a thermometer. As well, there was the newly minted family tradition.

I looked at recipes for Buffalo Mozzarella but my local supermarket had no buffalo milk available. I looked at exotic cheeses but clearly Farmers Cheese was a good start. I put several recipes together and came up with the following:

Ingredients:

2 liter container of whole milk (about ½ a gallon)

½ teaspoon salt

Juice of ½ a lemon

1/8 teaspoon white vinegar

(not much to buy here)

Directions:

Put the milk into a large pot and add salt.

Turn heat on to medium to medium-high and cook until it is almost boiled. Stir every now and then to make sure the bottom of the pot doesn’t stick and the milk doesn’t boil.

When it’s almost boiling and little bubbles appear at the edges, take the pot off of the heat.

Stir in vinegar and lemon juice which will curdle the milk. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Put cheese cloth in a colander and put the colander into a large pan so the cheese will drip through the cheese cloth and the colander.

After a while (when it’s cool enough to handle) squeeze the cheese (the curds will be in the cheese cloth and the whey will be in the pan) as dry as you can do easily, wrap up the cheese in the cheese cloth and place on a plate in the refrigerator for several hours.

Serve with salt and pepper on top and you can add some spices or chives as the occasion occurs. However, if you want to use it with raisin toast, no salt, pepper etc. will do.

Farmers Cheese is much like a cross between Cottage Cheese and Cream Cheese. I had it this morning on a toasted bagel!

Final Destination 5

Last night I had a chance to see Final Destination 5, the end (one thinks) to a long series of films depicting death as a living entity, sort of, who demands you to be waiting in line. Those that skip death because of a fluke (in these cases, visions by one of the folks) must die in order of their supposed death order. If you would have been in your seat when the plane went down you would have died first of the survivors who didn’t die. So now, you die first of them anyway.

It’s a bit hard to explain, but a great series to watch. I highly recommend these films but suggest you see the first one before 5, or at least one of the others so 5 makes more sense to you.

My favorite was probably 2, as it’s big death scene was spectacular, followed by 5 as death scenes  go. These two had such major crashes, so well depicted, that it’s a shame to miss them.

Individually there are so many gory deaths that are so amazing, because they have been caused by a totally unique chain of events. Most are not clear cut, but have taken a circuitous route around to get to the end.

Here, from the Final Destination Wiki website are the plots:

Final Destination

Final Destination is the first entry in the series. It follows a high school student named Alex Browning who foresees a plane explosion that kills hundreds. He panics and is thrown off the plane along with six others including his best friend Tod Waggner, his arch rival Carter Horton, Carter's girlfriend Terry Chaney, and two fellow classmates Clear Rivers and Billy Hitchcock. His teacher Valerie Lewton volunteers to stay behind and look after the students. Initially everyone believes Alex is nuts but are stunned to witness the plane explode in mid-air upon take-off. Months after the incident Tod is found strangled to death in his bathtub. His death is deemed a suicide but Alex is convinced this isn't just a coincidence and believes that death is claiming the lives of those who were meant to die on the plane. This is confirmed when he witnesses Terry being hit by a bus first-hand. He also finds out that death is killing them in the order they were to die if they were to stay on the plane and deduces that his teacher Mrs. Lewton will be next. He rushes to her house but looks very suspicious and is taken into custody. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lewton's coffee mug leaks into her computer monitor causing it to explode. A shard slits her throat, she stumbles into the kitchen and her stove ignites causing her to tumble to the ground. She reaches for a rag to stop the bleeding which is sitting on a rack of knives on the counter causing it to tip over and sending a knife into her chest. Another explosion causes a chair to topple over driving the knife deeper into her chest. Alex is released and finds Lewton bleeding out on the floor near death. By the time he pulls the knife from her chest she has already bleed to death. He flees the scene realizing it will look like he is responsible for her death. He goes into hiding but is found by Clear. He explains to Carter and Billy that death is after them and Carter stops his car on train tracks wanting to die on his own terms. At the last moment he changes his mind but can not get out of the car. Alex saves him and a shard from the wreckage is sent flying through the air decapitating Billy. This leads Alex to believe that because he saved Carter, death has skipped him and went to the next person on its list, Billy. Alex realizes he is next and distances himself from Clear. He then remembers that Clear was meant to die before him in the plane explosion. He rushes to save her and finds her trapped in a car that is seconds away from exploding with an electric power cable flipping around outside. He grabs the cable electrocuting himself and allowing her to leave the car before it explodes. Six months later it is revealed he has survived and is now in Paris along with Clear and Carter the three celebrate their victory over some drinks. Just then Alex says that he has saved Carter and Clear skipping them but, in his case he has never been skipped. Just then he begins having a weird feeling and leaves the table he walks into the street and a bus swerves to avoid hitting him driving into a sign which swings off its hinges. Carter wrestles Alex to the ground saving him from being hit by the falling sign. Alex tells Carter that death has skipped him just then the sign comes swinging back down killing Carter. This means that once death has skipped everyone on its list it will go righe back to the top of the list and start over again.

Final Destination 2

Final Destination 2 starts exactly one year from the first film. Kimberly Corman his headed to Daytona beach, Florida with her friends for spring break but she has a vision just like Alex had of a car pileup on route 23 killing her and her friends. She stalls the on ramp and is saved by Officer Thomas Burke from being hit by a large truck which kills her friends. Everyone is taken in for questioning and after hearing of the events of the first film they all storm off. Following these events two survivors are killed in freak accidents just like in the first film and Kimberly seeks help from Flight 180 survivor Clear Rivers who is now a willing inmate at an insane asylum. She is the only remaining survivor after Alex was killed by a falling brick. Initially she refuses to help Kimberly but eventually agrees. Clear, Kimberly, and Thomas all visit William Bludworth a mortician who tells them the only way to defeat death is via new life. This leads them to believe that by Isabella Hudson, a survivor of the pile up having her baby they will all be scratched off deaths list. That night they call a meeting so all the survivors can look after one another. Nora Carpenter storms off to plan her son’s funeral but is alarmed by a man with hooks who is standing behind her. Her hair is caught by a hook and as she tries to leave the elevator her head is crushed by the sliding doors and she is decapitated. The next day they all leave to find Isabella who has just gone into labor. They learn that death is working in reverse because all of them are all somehow alive because of survivors of flight 180. For example:

Kimberly should have been killed by car jackers along with her mother although she was caught up watching a news report on Todd Waggners death. Thomas should have been killed in a shootout with his partner but was called to the scene of Billy Hitchcock's death. Rory would have been killed in a theater collapse in France but was to shaken up after witnessing Carter being crushed by the fallen sign. Eugene was given a job as a substitute teacher after Mrs.Lewton's death avoiding being killed by a student at his old job. And Kat would have been killed by a gas leak in her hotel but her bus was delayed after hitting Terry Chaney. Just then they get in an accident and Eugene's lung is punctured by a pipe. The Gibbons family who witnessed the accident try to help out by calling firefighters to the scene. A firefighter tries to help Kat out who is trapped in the van. He sets off the air bag which pushes her back into a pipe protruding from the head rest. She drops her cigarette which ignites causing an explosion that sends a barb wired fence flying through the sky which trisects Rory. Kimberly, Clear, and Thomas follow Eugene to the hospital and witness the birth of Isabella's child. Just then Kimberly realizes Isabella was never supposed to die in the pile up and Eugene and Clear are killed in an explosion. Kimberly drives a van into a lake to end it but, she is revived thus granting her new life. Months later they join the Gibbons for a barbeque where they are told that their son Brian was saved from near death by Rory just then the grill malfunctions and Brian explodes with his arm landing on his mother’s plate who screams in horror.

Final Destination 3

It has been en five years since the second film. Wendy and her graduating class have attended an amusement park for grad night. With her is her boyfriend Jason, her best friend Carrie and Carrie's obnoxious boyfriend Kevin who also happens to be Jason's best friend. They are about to board a roller coaster called Devil's Flight when Wendy has a vision of the Roller coaster derailing. She demands to be let off along with Kevin and several others. Unfortunately, Jason and Carrie are killed in the accident. Days later Ashley and Ashlyn two survivors are incinerated while tanning. During their funeral, Wendy and Kevin find that death is claiming those who were meant to die on the roller coaster meaning that Frankie is next. They deduce that there are hints as to how the next person will die hidden in photos that she took the night of the accident. They go through a drive through trying to find clues in Frankie's picture. Suddenly a man loses control of his truck and it is headed in their direction. They are trapped in the drive through and break through the wind shield escaping near death. The truck causes the engine in Kevin's truck to fly out killing the man in front of them who they later find out was Frankie. Next they try to warn Lewis Romero convinced that a weight will come crushing down on his head. Sure enough they find him at a gym. He fails to believe them and weights crush his head as they predicted. Next they try to warn Ian and Erin who don't believe them as well. Kevin saves Ian from being impaled by fallen planks of wood skipping him. Death moves onto Erin and she is shot multiple times through the face by a nail gun. Later on Wendy views a picture taken on the roller coaster realizing her sister Julie was on the ride as well and is next. She rushes to a tricentennial celebration were she finds Julie being dragged by a horse. Kevin cuts the rope saving her. Wendy demands to know who was sitting beside her on the roller coaster as they are next. Julie's friend Perry backs up in fear and is impaled by a flag pole. Kevin is next and is almost killed when a fire ignites in his face but is saved just in time by Wendy only suffering minor burns. Ian blaming Wendy for Erin's death tries to kill her but Wendy, Kevin, and Julie dodge a set of Fireworks that go off causing a cherry picker to tip over and crush Ian. Months later, Wendy meets Kevin and Julie on a train which crashes causing a tire to fly through midair killing Julie, Kevin to be grounded between the train and the tunnel wall and Wendy to be run over by a second train. Wendy realizes this was just another vision and they try to stop the train but to no avail. The screen fades to black and the train can be heard crashing presuming all three are dead.

The Final Destination 4

Four years after Final Destination 3, Nick O'Bannon and his friends visit a speed way. Nick has a premonition of a car crash sending cars into the stands and causing the stadium to collapse on him his girlfriend Lori, and friends Hunt, Janet and several innocent by standers. He panics and pushes past several people to escape the imitate accident. Several people leave the stadium seconds before it collapse as her foresaw. Days later Carter Daniels blaming George Lanter for the death of his wife attempts to burn a cross on his lawn. But his plan back fires and he ends up being dragged down the street on fire before the truck finally explodes. The next day, another survivor Samantha Lane has a rock propelled through her eye. Nick, after hearing of the three previous incidences, returns to the race track to try to remember who was next to die in his premonition. George shows him several security tapes of the accident helping him refresh his memory and he deduces that a man named Andy Kewzer will be next. They find him working in a mechanic shop. As they try to talk to him a Co2 tank is sent in his path knocking him into a grid linked fence. Lori and George go to find Janet while Nick tries to find Hunt. George and Lori find Janet at a car wash saving her from near death. Nick is not as successful and Hunt has his intestines sucked out of his body by a drain while visiting a public pool. George realizing he is next tries to commit suicide but, all his attempts fail. This leads them to believe they must have cheated death. Nick then realizes that in his premonition he switched seats with a man who was killed in the accident. But because he fled the stadium before switching seats with the man the man survived the accident. They find him at a hospital but he is killed when an overflown bath tub in the floor above him comes crashing down on him. George is then hit by an ambulance and Nick rushes to save Lori and Janet. He gets to the mall in time to save Lori but Janet refuses to come with them and is killed when the screen to a movie they are watching explodes. Lori and Nick are also killed by a faulty escalator. Nick realizes this was just another vision and after George is killed he rushes to save Lori and Janet, successfully stopping the fire that would have caused the initial explosion. Weeks go by and they all celebrate their survival at a coffee shop. Nick suddenly realizes that death has actually been manipulating them the whole time and they were meant to have survived all of that just then a truck crashes through the window crushing Janet's spine, twisting Lori's neck and throwing Nick into the wall breaking his jaw and killing him.

 Final Destination 5

The film opens up with co-workers gathering together for a company retreat. Sam Lawton has prepared the breakfast before the bus ride. His best friend, Peter, is awaiting everyone else's arrival for the trip. Molly Harper, Sam's girlfriend arrives and she then breaks up with him, due to his dreams of going to Paris to be an apprentice for his mentor. Meanwhile Peter's girlfriend, Candice, an intern for the company and a gymnast comes along with rival Olivia Castle. Molly is hit on by Isaac Palmer, a co-worker and womanizer. Sam then goes to the construction wing of the building to find his other friend, Nathan Gregory, a supervisor who has a hard time dealing with construction worker, Roy. Nathan and Sam regroup and head on the bus to their destination. As the bus heads up on the bridge, Sam notices the roads construction is rather suspicious, and he begins to have weird feelings while on the bus. The bus is stopped by a traffic operator, and then the bridge starts to crack. Sam watches as each of the co-workers dies, excluding Molly, who reaches safety. Sam then comes to, realizing that the incident has yet to occur. He and Molly leave the bus, and Peter, Candice, Olivia, Nathan, Isaac, and Dennis follow. The bridge collapses and Sam rushes all of his friends to safety. During the company funeral, William Bludworth, a local coroner is present and he warns the group that Death is after them. They all ignore his warnings and move on with their lives. Sam and Molly reconcile later that night. The next day, Candice is with Peter at her gymnastics practice. While she does work on the balance beam, a nail from a malfunctioning fan falls on the beam, nail side up. Candice then goes to do some vault work, and while she is flipping, another girl on the beam does a routine and she falls on the nail, causing her to knock over a pit full of powder. The powder is blown into the area and Candice loses her sight, and she flips, accidentally letting go, causing her death. The next day, Isaac goes through the dead co-workers desks and comes across a Chinese massage parlor. He goes there and flirts with many of the women, but is forced into acupuncture by a woman disgusted with his sexist attitude. After the procedure, as Isaac rolls over on his bed, the leg of it caves in sending him on the ground, pushing the needles into his body. He staggeringly gets up, but a bottle of alcohol causes a fire from a candle falling. Isaac avoids the fire, but as he leans against the wall, a shelved Buddha, falls and crushes his head. Bludworth, who has been present for all of the deaths so far, tells the remaining survivors that there is another way to avoid Death. They would have to kill someone to gain their remaining days on Earth. Meanwhile Agent Jim Block is covering the case of Sam and his friends, but he finds all of the deaths hard to believe. Olivia goes to get eye surgery the same day, and the doctor straps her head into place. Olivia, fearful, holds a teddy bear, and as the doctor put in tools to keep her eyes open, she rips off an eye from the bear. The doctor leaves the room for a moment, but the machine begins to malfunction, overheating, and the button to begin surgery is dropped as she reaches for it in panic. The laser severely burns her eye and hand, but she manages to escape. As Sam, Molly and the doctor run in to her but she trips on the teddy bears eye, and falls through the window onto a parked car, her eye then rolls away to be run over by a passing car. Later Nathan is working in construction and talking to Roy. Suddenly Nathan sees a beam moving closer to him with a lifting hook under it. He urges Roy to move, but accidentally pushes him backwards as the hook falls, which results in Roy being impaled by the hook, through the head. As the group comes together, Peter learns that Nathan accidentally killed Roy, taking his days, skipping him in Death's design. Meanwhile, as Dennis grills them all, a wrench that Roy placed on a belt-driven machine is launched into Dennis's face. Later that night, Sam's mentor allows him to become an apprentice in Paris, along with letting Sam have the restaurant for the night to spend it with Molly. Peter crashes the dinner, and he tells of how he tried to push a woman in front of a truck to steal her life. He admits that he couldn't go through with it, deciding that while he can't take the life of someone who doesn't deserve to die, he can take the life of someone who deserves to live, referencing an earlier conversation about Molly. Peter then attempts to kill Molly, with Sam stopping him. Molly then takes refuge in the kitchen and Sam fights off Peter before Agent Block is shot by Peter, taking his years. The struggle leads to a gun being placed on the burning stove, but as Peter is about to kill Molly, Sam stabs him in the back with a large skewer. Sam then realizes, that he stole Agent Block's life from Peter. Two weeks later, Sam and Molly are boarding a plane to Paris. As they are taking their seats, they notice a group of high school students fighting and being removed from the flight. After the plane takes off, Sam looks at his plane ticket, and it is revealed that he and Molly are on board Volée Airlines Flight 180. Sam then overhears a stewardess mention that one of the students removed from the flight claimed to have had a vision that the plane was going to explode. Suddenly, the jet engine bursts into flames. Molly is sucked out the side and cut in half by the wing, and as the rest of plane explodes, Sam is incinerated. As the plane goes down in flames, a flame engulfed engine detaches from the aircraft. Meanwhile, Nathan is at a local bar mourning Roy's death and is approached by a factory employee who tells him that Roy had an enlarged blood vessel in his brain and had only a short time to live anyway. After realizing that the life he took from Roy was going to end shortly in any case, Nathan is suddenly crushed by Flight 180's landing gear as it crashes through the ceiling of the bar.

It's was the 32nd anniversary of the death of Jay Silverheels

It's was the 32nd anniversary of the death of Jay Silverheels on Monday. As a long time fan of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, I was moved to include his biography, and note that his ashes are scattered on the Six Nations Reserve in Brantford, Ontario, a place I've visted a few times.

Jay Silverheels (May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980) was a Canadian Mohawk First Nations actor. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the faithful American Indian companion of the Lone Ranger in a long-running American television series.
 
Silverheels was born Harold J. Smith on the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, near Brantford, Ontario, Canada, the son of a Canadian Mohawk Chief and military officer, A. G. E. Smith. Silverheels excelled in athletics and lacrosse as a boy before leaving home to travel around North America, competing in boxing and wrestling tournaments. In the 1930s he played indoor lacrosse under the name of Harry Smith with the Rochester, NY "Iroquois" of the North American Amateur Lacrosse Association. He lived for a time in Buffalo, New York. In 1938 Silverheels placed second in the middleweight section of the Golden Gloves tournament.

He began working in motion pictures as an extra and stunt man in 1937. During the early years of his screen career, he was billed variously as Harold Smith or Harry Smith, and appeared in low-budget features, westerns, and serials. He adopted his screen name from the nickname he had had as a speedy lacrosse player.

From the late 1940s he played in more prestigious pictures, including Captain from Castile starring Tyrone Power, Key Largo with Humphrey Bogart, (1948), Lust for Gold with Glenn Ford (1949), Broken Arrow (1950) with James Stewart, War Arrow (1953) with Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler and Noah Beery, Jr., Drums Across the River (1954), Walk the Proud Land (1956) with Audie Murphy and Anne Bancroft, Alias Jesse James (1959) with Bob Hope, and Indian Paint (1964) with Johnny Crawford. He made a brief appearance in True Grit (1969) as a condemned criminal about to be executed. He played a substantial role as John Crow in Santee (1973), starring Glenn Ford. One of his last roles was a wise white-haired chief in The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973).

He achieved his greatest fame as the Lone Ranger's friend Tonto. Being irreplaceable as the Lone Ranger's best friend he subsequently also appeared in The Lone Ranger (1956) as well as in The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958).

Following the end of the Lone Ranger television series, Silverheels found himself firmly typecast as an American Indian hero. Eventually Silverheels had to work as a salesman to supplement his acting income. Simultaneously he began to publish poetry inspired by his youth on the Six Nations Indian Reserve and appeared on television reciting his works. In 1966, he guest-starred as John Tallgrass in the short-lived ABC comedy/western series The Rounders.

Despite the typecasting, Silverheels often poked fun at his character in later years. In 1969, he appeared as Tonto in a comedy sketch on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Silverheels also spoofed his Tonto character in a famous Stan Freberg Jeno's Pizza Rolls TV commercial opposite Clayton Moore, as well as in The Phynx, opposite John Hart, both actors having played The Lone Ranger in the original TV series.

He appeared in three episodes of Daniel Boone starring Fess Parker as the titular historical frontiersman.

Among his later appearances were an episode of The Brady Bunch, as an Indian chief who befriends the Bradys in the Grand Canyon, and an episode of the short-lived Dusty's Trail, starring Bob Denver of Gilligan's Island fame.

In the early 1960s, Silverheels supported the Indian Actors Workshop as an institution where American Indian actors refine their acting skills, in Echo Park, California.

He had had his final great appearance when he was awarded a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jay Silverheels died from complications of a stroke in 1980, at age 67, in Calabasas, California. He was cremated and his ashes were returned home to Six Nations Indian Reserve in Brantford, ON.

Round and Round we go......

I was watching the Shopping Channel the other day and was fascinated by a machine that grinds frozen bananas. It made me want to eat a banana and I did, but I also ruminated on machines in the kitchen.

We know how to make things go round and we know how to make things get hot. Almost all kitchen aids are things that go round and get hot, or at least one of these. In fact, most things we buy that are mechanical go around and or get hot. A few things get cold, and maybe even get cold and go around.

The banana machine grinds frozen bananas and you could add chocolate and cinnamon and crap, but it just tore bananas apart. I realized I could do the same thing with a hand blender (goes around) or a regular blender (goes around) or a mixer (goes around). You could possibly do it with a fork and some pressure but it would be a lot of work.

The bread machine (which I no longer use as it’s fallen out of favor) goes around and gets hot. The convection oven gets hot and the fan part goes around. The air conditioning gets cold and goes around (the fan) and in the winter it is the furnace and it gets hot and goes around (the fan).

Digital stuff seems to actually do nothing I can perceive, so it doesn’t count. But mechanically, the toaster gets hot and it is amazing in that it goes up and down, not around. The toaster oven just gets hot unless you have a convection one and it also goes around (the fan).

The micro wave does some weird high tech thing but as it does that it goes around.

Record players used to go around as do CD and DVD players even though they do high tech stuff.

Pretty much things go around and get warm.

Nose hair clippers (personal shavers) go around. Electric toothbrushes go up and down while they spin around. Shavers go back and forth I guess, and don’t get hot or cold.

Food processers go around very fast and some of them get hot, the soup machine versions.

Coffee percolators and drip machines get hot. Sun tea makers don’t do anything as best as I can figure.

Espresso makers get hot.

Electric knives (perish the thought) move back and forth.

It’s all a pretty simple deal. All you have to do is invent something that does something that spins and gets hot and give it a good hype and you’ve got it made! Maybe the heated spinning bed would work! I could get rich on that one and probably a bit nauseous.

The Road Less Traveled

Making a decision to be anything (career wise) when you are 17 or 18 is absurd, but we are all forced to forge our paths early on. I guess men and women have always done this, but when we used to have a life expectancy of 30 to 40, there was little time to get stuff done.

As my daughters have moved forward and had to make these decisions, I have had some time to reflect on the process. We start to indoctrinate kids very early with those “what do you want to be when you grow up” kinds of questions and they have to eventually learn a response. My oldest son was torn between his parents opposite wishes for him to be a lawyer or a musician. He did the best a child could do and became a lawyer and a musician. This is a rare if not insane gift and one which made both of his parents proud.

My eldest daughter has followed a musical path which I sort of convinced her to decide, not so much because I felt she needed to be a musician, but because it just seemed to be the way she was going and she was making other career choices for the sake of common sense. I chose no sense and eased her into musicianship which may or may not have been a good move, only time will tell.

My two other sons chose interesting paths, although one was on his own tape and did what he wanted and became a successful banker, which truly was the way he was when he was a kid. He was the only one in the house with money!

My youngest son who has a career in health care information (whatever that may be) studied to be an artist. He did what I wanted him to do and found it interesting but not the path to a successful life as he saw fit. So, he found unique ways to go. All of his exploration we owe to an art education which teaches you to find and solve your own problems, and in fact allows you to become what you’d like to be.

Now my youngest daughter is moving toward journalism on her own, as it seemed to come from within, and was certainly nothing either of us suggested.

It seems impossible to understand choices. My own trip made no sense to my parents, and I find no direct tie into anything I brought to the table, although I have a cousin who is an artist and another, on the other side of my family, who is an art teacher. Maybe there was some genetic link somewhere to make these things happen.

My two musicians must link somewhere but I can’t put it together as my mother-in-law is a professional violinist but has no connection with my oldest son the lawyer/musician so my link is missing. I was surprised when in about 1955 or so my father was sitting on our piano bench and started to play the piano, something he had never done before in my presence and never did afterwards. Maybe there was a much hidden genetic link.

 I know none of this has to be nature, and nurture may be the answer. We all do not become what our parents were. I certainly didn’t do what my parents wanted me to do or expected me to do. I did however go to college which was expected so in that respect I followed their directions.

My questions and thoughts are so many:

Do we have ancestral ties to our career choices, genetic links?

Given the cultural shifts we have experienced, all of this may not matter as my people were forced to wander around the world and art was not really portable.

My wife has a grandfather who was a photographer, and maybe he’s the link in her visual arts background.

Maybe this is all stupid and we just do what we want to do, or are programmed to do (?) or, we happened to be standing in the right place at the right time and ended up with the right answer because of it.

I am continuously confused these kind of choices. I spent much of my life in post-secondary education dealing with mainly students and faculty who had made the same kind of decision I had made, and who all knew (or thought they knew) that they wanted to be artists. I cannot imagine wanting to be an accountant. I can’t imagine wanting to be a dentist. It’s not that there is a thing wrong with being these quite lucrative professionals, I just can’t imagine having that as a desire. But that’s me. And yet, I can imagine really wanting to be a musician, an actor or a dancer. I guess I’m just hard wired that way.

When, years ago I took a professional aptitude test the results showed that the only career path open to me was to be an artist or a musician. These would be frightening results for some parent to see, but for a 50 year old artist, it made complete sense.