August 18, 2013 "Community Theater"

Last night Paula and I went to a community production of Euripides  "The Trojan Woman".  Community theater has been part of my past.  The last production I was involved with was "The Rimers of Eldrich".  The first was "Plaza Suite".  In between I had parts in "The Odd Couple", "Brighton Beach Memoirs", "The Diary of Ann Frank",  and "Our Town".  The parts I have wanted but never had the opportunity were "Marty" and "The Fiddler on the Roof".  Funny thing about my  career in theater is that I aways enjoyed the  rehearsal more than the production.

August 15, 2013 Back to School

This week it is back to school down here.  We did not return to school until after Labor Day in my day. However, this period of time  coincides with preschool preparation.  That preparation involved an annual trip to Delancey Street.  Delancy Street in the Bowery was called then Jew town, of course that would be politically incorrect now days.  That part of  the city was the center of  "wholesale" garment stores.  Our reason for going each year was to buy new underwear, socks and towels for the upcoming  school year. The trip also involved a stop at  Katz's Deli.  Katz's was a renowned  Kosher deli where the pastrami sandwiches were 8 inches high  The bustle of the sandwich makers was raucous, loud but there efficiency was incredible.  What i remember  most dearly about Katz's was the opportunity to reach down into the brine of the pickle barrels.  Yes reach down with our hands, which today is "unhygienic" but the flavor of the pickle was incredible. Cream soda and/or celery soda accompanied the meal..
So after  lunch and garment buying we would cross the Williamsburgh bridge back into Brooklyn making our way to Pitkin Ave where new shows were bought to add to the  new school year outfitting.

July 29- August 11, 2013 Flying Memories

Have been involved with Latin studies ergo, no blogging these past two weeks.  But after sleeping until 1300 today, I am back online.  I flew to Charlottes to save 7 hours of driving. However, with the state of American air travel these days I did not save time.  Got to the  charlotte airport at 2 PM for security reasons.  The 5 PM flight was delayed till 630 PM b ut didn't take  off until 815.  Which got me into Atlanta with an hour to spare to  meet my 845 flight  to Huntsville which had been delayed until 1010 PM. Finally arrived in HSV at 10 PM central time which  was 11 PM EST, which meant that I was in transit for 9 hours to fly two legs that should have totaled 1 hour 10 minutes.

All this leads to remember some early flying experience.  The first time I ever set foot on an airplane was on a 6th grade trip to LaGuardia Airport. We were given a tour of the airport, taken up to the  traffic control tower and allowed to  board a DC 6 that taxied around the airport with engines  roaring and propellers spinning.  The next time i was airborne was when  my Civil Air Patrol Drill team won a statewide competition that gave us the opportunity to float through the air on the Goodyear Blimp.Of course that was soon followed by a rather long flight via "Flying Tiger Airline" that transported  me and a few others  to Ton son Hout Air[port in Viet Nam. There there were numerous flights on Huey Medivac missions.

July 27,28 2013 hecho in mexico

have been in mexico for two days.  my fist trip to mexico was while in officer basic.  we drove from san Antonio texas to Monterey mexico.  back the it was still safe to so or we were foolish to do so.
we stayed at "motel" in Monterey. spent the evening drinking wit some young mexican folks.  Sunday we went to the bullfights. to our surprise one of the matadors was drinking friend from the night before.  from what  i remember the bull should have won that fight.
a few years later, while stationed in el paso we made frequent trips to juarez. the food and drink were cheap, they had great steaks.
twenty years ago went to a mexican prison  to provide anesthesia on a medical mission on isola tres marias.
been scuba and snorkeling in cancun and cozumel.
today i am at casa oracion involved in latin studies.

July 24,25,26, 2013 Priest Memories

Thursday night i hosted a fete for a departing priest which got me to remembering priest I have worked with over the years.

The first priest I remember was the pastor at St. Rocco's- Msgr DiGiovanni who prepared  me for Communion, He waled with a staff that he often used to correct our incomplete genuflections.  Fr. Cunningham and Fr. Stafford were the pastor and the curate at St. Ann'e in Flushing  where I received Confirmation.  In the Army I encountered a Fr. Thomas, an army chaplain in Viet Nam.  When not in combat I would go to a leprosy  orphanage where I met Fr. Tran who ran the orphanage with a group of VietNamese nuns.

When I returned stateside I wandered  away for a while until I met Fr. O'Connell who was the Chaplain at SHAPE who was followed by Fr. Mastroantonio.  O'Connel was light hearted Marcantonio was despondent.  There was also Fr. McGee, the Irish chaplain to the  British forces, who was the  priest  that married us

When I was transferred Kaiserslautern I worked with Fr. Alcuin Greenburg, a jewish convert to the faith who was a Benedictine Monk serving as an army chaplain to Landstuhl Hospital.  There was also Malachi Higgiston who I met  at  Cursillo , who was stationed in Kaiserslautern.

Stateside again I  worked with Fr. Colonel Speitel at Fort Dix. I reconnected with Malachi at Fort dix    who sponsored me through the diaconate.

While in Italy there was the catholic chaplain Fr. Weydowich.

After my military career i lived and served in the Upper Darby area of Pennsylvania.  Monsignor Fitzgerald was a typical Irish  Philadelphian, Fr. Bill Chirriaco, Fr, Dominic, a Viet Namese priest,  whose English was better than  an irish immigrant priest who was in town to serve the illegal irish immigrants.

Coming to Alabama there was  Joe Allen who rejected my help. Then there was  Fr. Murphy at St. Johns where i have been for 20 years.  Since Murphy left and died there was Monsignor Sexton and now Phil O'Kennedy as pastor.  Ran through a number of associates, Allen Mackey, Thomas Woods, Joe Lodi, Fr. Jose, Mark Spruill and Fr. Roy Runkle who is the departing priest we feasted with last night.

All of these men have had varied influences on my life, for which I am grateful/

July 22,23, 2013 Medical Experiments

Went to enroll as a subject in a medical experiment.  This not my first time as a subject.  I do not know if they still do it but way back when colleges use to be recruiting grounds for medical test subjects.  I was  once put to sleep with drug that later was marketed as ETHRANE, an anesthetic that was widely used in the 1970's but is now off the market.
I was in a cohort study looking for a correlation between pre medications  before anesthesia and memory awareness.   That study led to the development of VERSED, a popular amnesic that is still in use today.
When i worked at the Aeromedical research center at Fort Rucker Alabama, i was involved in the development of a new helmet for helicopter pilots as well as an experiment in oxygen consumption during simulated "auto rotation" events.  Guess what ? if your helicopter is about to go down, you consume more  oxygen.  I also conducted studies in the reduction of blood loss for  total hip replacements by the use of a group of blood pressure lowering drugs, most of which are now off the market.

July 20,21, 2013 Royal Memories

Today I learned that  Belgium has newly crown King.  I consider King Philippe,  his Queen Matilde and his two young princes and two young princesses are my royalty family since i have been spending so much time there the past years.  So my memory is about how close I have been to royalty.  Once on leave in New York i wanted to go the theater, so I purchased some tickets at the USO.  When I arrived at the theater the usher "upgraded me".   Waiting for the curtain to open i was aware that the three rows in front of me were empty.  Minutes  before the music started two men in dark suits with earphones  stood by the empty rows.   Moments later in walked an entourage.  They took their  seats.  it was then just before the house lights dimmed that i recognized I was sitting directly behind Princess Grace Kelly, Prince Ranier and daughter Princess Caroline.  I have forgotten what show i saw, but  I will always remember going to the theater with Royalty.