BOOK REPORT & TRAVELOGUE
I took advantage of the trip to Dallas for the Regent's Finance committee that Lou had to attend to start reading PALACE COUNCIL by Stephen Carter. It is amazing how fast the trip goes when Val is driving and I am reading a book. We ran thru a little rain but not raining at Dallas Presbyterian where the meeting was. I always enjoy that TWU campus because I get DSL internet. Didn't take long to read email. Val called a friend to have lunch with and I read more of the book. Carter's books are different. They all have some of the same characters. They give you a new insight into the negro culture. Carter is a black law professor at Yale and he always has scenes at universities, this time at Ithaca, NY at Cornell. He always has a law professor that plays a role. This time he was one of the bad guys. The story focuses on the black impact on politics with the Palace Council being a group of blacks and whites who decide that the country needs to change if it requires violent action by young people. He covers the unrest of the 50's and 60's. The protagonist is a writer who is the son of a prominent Baptist preacher in Boston active in black politics. His sister is the first black law student at Harvard and when she graduates she disappears. The rest of the story is about his search for her and reports or her going underground in the violent groups of the time.
Carter's books remind me of Clancey's books with the presidential candidates in place of the military in Clancey's books. There are murders, intrigues and convolutions to keep you wondering what will happen next. The protagonist interacts with Nixon, and the CIA, FBI, including meetings with Hoover who threatens him. He goes to Vietnam and almost gets killed a couple of times there. There are hired guns and intrigue to keep you reading to the last page. It is a good history lesson of that time period. I kept wondering how he feels about Obama and what his next novel will cover. He primarily shows how multimillionaire blacks work to affect politics in that time. The implication is that they still have an input and power.
Lou made the trip to Dallas and felt pretty good. She has been feeling better but still has back problems occasionally. Yesterday she felt pretty good and strongly considered going to church but because I had to deposit the offering and would be late she decided to stay home. This morning she said that her back had a small pain in the lower back, but we are thankful that another disk hasn't collapsed. In the afternoon I went back to a funeral for one of our church members, Sharon Koenig who was 70 and her death devastated Lou. She was such a vital person just a few weeks ago. I had to stand because our new church was overwhelmed by the crowd and in a light rain.
We have had 4" of rain the last three days with temperatures in the 60s and 70s and I am no longer jealous of Mary Ann Chaffin on her trip in Washington state. Here is her latest report from her travels:
Saturday, August 16, 2008 - Forks, Washington (Rialto Beach)
Enjoying our very large suite in Forks, we started the morning lazily and visiting with Ruth before going to the Pizza Factory for lunch. We have eaten there often before when we were up here. Disappointed mostly - but that's irrelevant to our day.
We drove through the Highway 101 RV Park which had charged us $25 cancellation fee for cancelling our reservation with them 6 weeks earlier "just to get even". Their landscaping is really pretty with the orange and yellow nasturtiums that I remember - and then headed out to Mora and Rialto Beach. Rialto Beach is a favorite of Richard and me - and Ruth and was a destination we didn't intend to miss.
Located within the Olympic National Park, this approximately 73 acres of wild coastline has as its "claim to fame" for us, the humongous "bleached bones" (beached logs of massive trees) caused by the erosion of the sea cliffs. There just are no words for the eerie sight of driving up to suddenly seeing the beach lined with giant "bones" strewn around on the rocky beach.
A heavy mist hovered over the massive sea stacks that were once a part of the ocean floor and some of the most impressive in the Pacific Ocean of the Northwest. But as Ruth and I walked around on the beach collecting wonderful rocks to take home with us and Richard sat up on one of the huge logs taking photos - the mist began to lift - thankfully. Then we could see them clearly with their trees miraculously jutting and sprouting out of the rock.
The last time we were there with Ruth & Tommy and Mary & Cecil, we had remembered walking on a beach covered 100% with the smooth, round colorful rocks, stones and pebbles (which are called cobbles). So I had brought our two walking sticks with us all the way from Texas to be prepared for difficult walks. This particular visit, the waves of the ocean were almost fierce and very high which caused more sand near the water's edge. This made for easier walking, but the tide was coming in so we didn't get to take the 2 mile hike down to hole in the rock formation and its tide pools which usually is filled with sea stars, sea urchins and lots of sea anemones. Of course there were the usual sea palms that had washed up. I coerced Richard to pose for a picture with one.
A very touching sight caught my attention as a woman walked by with an obviously blind man holding on to her arm. He had the white stick which indicated he was totally blind. They were negotiating the logs and cobbles quite well actually - and he had the most blissful smile on his face! We just closed our own eyes to try to "see" what he was experiencing and realized that he still could enjoy the sound of those waves crashing and the giggles of a few brave children who would stick their feet in to the cold water and jump back out immediately. I believe we all said a silent prayer for eyesight at that moment in our day!
Myth or fact has it that a creepy guy named Alexander Conlin (Alexander Knows All) psychic and magician and friend to many of the old famous movie stars had a beautiful home on the edge of the cliff behind Rialto Beach and that the remains of his estate are still there. We looked for it, but if it's there, it is overgrown with vines and trees and bushes.
Hunger pangs set in and we drove over to the Indian village of LaPush where we remembered delicious food from previous trips also...specifically, the fresh halibut caught right there. After an extremely long wait, the buxom little waitress came over and asked us what we had ordered! We told her, later she returned to say she had forgot to turn the order in and could she bring us a bowl of seafood chowder? The answer was "yes". Ruth and Richard enjoyed it. I passed. Again the long wait for our food - but in the meantime, it was such fun sitting looking out over the water with the boats coming in for the day; the rotting, moss laden old dock outside our window; a pier lined solidly with seagulls - along with their antics - and I saw two birds which on first sight appeared to be eagles. I have later discovered that they were some kind of falcon. [Oh, Ruth and Richard ordered the halibut and were disappointed for their $25 meal. I ordered cod fish and chips with cole slaw and was very happy for $6.99!!]
We returned to our nice suite at Pacific Inn for the evening and watched the television program with Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church fame interview presidential candidates, Barak Obama and John McCain. We thought it was quite well done.
Oh, and Ruth just reminded me to write about our walk around downtown Forks last evening where we window shopped and enjoyed the full moon over the mountains. Forks is hosting a huge Biker Rally and Races this weekend with thousands of roaring Harleys and other such noisy animals, so it was a busy place for this normally sleepy little town - where it rains a lot. Ruth did not abandon us by taking off with one of the biker dudes!
I took advantage of the trip to Dallas for the Regent's Finance committee that Lou had to attend to start reading PALACE COUNCIL by Stephen Carter. It is amazing how fast the trip goes when Val is driving and I am reading a book. We ran thru a little rain but not raining at Dallas Presbyterian where the meeting was. I always enjoy that TWU campus because I get DSL internet. Didn't take long to read email. Val called a friend to have lunch with and I read more of the book. Carter's books are different. They all have some of the same characters. They give you a new insight into the negro culture. Carter is a black law professor at Yale and he always has scenes at universities, this time at Ithaca, NY at Cornell. He always has a law professor that plays a role. This time he was one of the bad guys. The story focuses on the black impact on politics with the Palace Council being a group of blacks and whites who decide that the country needs to change if it requires violent action by young people. He covers the unrest of the 50's and 60's. The protagonist is a writer who is the son of a prominent Baptist preacher in Boston active in black politics. His sister is the first black law student at Harvard and when she graduates she disappears. The rest of the story is about his search for her and reports or her going underground in the violent groups of the time.
Carter's books remind me of Clancey's books with the presidential candidates in place of the military in Clancey's books. There are murders, intrigues and convolutions to keep you wondering what will happen next. The protagonist interacts with Nixon, and the CIA, FBI, including meetings with Hoover who threatens him. He goes to Vietnam and almost gets killed a couple of times there. There are hired guns and intrigue to keep you reading to the last page. It is a good history lesson of that time period. I kept wondering how he feels about Obama and what his next novel will cover. He primarily shows how multimillionaire blacks work to affect politics in that time. The implication is that they still have an input and power.
Lou made the trip to Dallas and felt pretty good. She has been feeling better but still has back problems occasionally. Yesterday she felt pretty good and strongly considered going to church but because I had to deposit the offering and would be late she decided to stay home. This morning she said that her back had a small pain in the lower back, but we are thankful that another disk hasn't collapsed. In the afternoon I went back to a funeral for one of our church members, Sharon Koenig who was 70 and her death devastated Lou. She was such a vital person just a few weeks ago. I had to stand because our new church was overwhelmed by the crowd and in a light rain.
We have had 4" of rain the last three days with temperatures in the 60s and 70s and I am no longer jealous of Mary Ann Chaffin on her trip in Washington state. Here is her latest report from her travels:
Saturday, August 16, 2008 - Forks, Washington (Rialto Beach)
Enjoying our very large suite in Forks, we started the morning lazily and visiting with Ruth before going to the Pizza Factory for lunch. We have eaten there often before when we were up here. Disappointed mostly - but that's irrelevant to our day.
We drove through the Highway 101 RV Park which had charged us $25 cancellation fee for cancelling our reservation with them 6 weeks earlier "just to get even". Their landscaping is really pretty with the orange and yellow nasturtiums that I remember - and then headed out to Mora and Rialto Beach. Rialto Beach is a favorite of Richard and me - and Ruth and was a destination we didn't intend to miss.
Located within the Olympic National Park, this approximately 73 acres of wild coastline has as its "claim to fame" for us, the humongous "bleached bones" (beached logs of massive trees) caused by the erosion of the sea cliffs. There just are no words for the eerie sight of driving up to suddenly seeing the beach lined with giant "bones" strewn around on the rocky beach.
A heavy mist hovered over the massive sea stacks that were once a part of the ocean floor and some of the most impressive in the Pacific Ocean of the Northwest. But as Ruth and I walked around on the beach collecting wonderful rocks to take home with us and Richard sat up on one of the huge logs taking photos - the mist began to lift - thankfully. Then we could see them clearly with their trees miraculously jutting and sprouting out of the rock.
The last time we were there with Ruth & Tommy and Mary & Cecil, we had remembered walking on a beach covered 100% with the smooth, round colorful rocks, stones and pebbles (which are called cobbles). So I had brought our two walking sticks with us all the way from Texas to be prepared for difficult walks. This particular visit, the waves of the ocean were almost fierce and very high which caused more sand near the water's edge. This made for easier walking, but the tide was coming in so we didn't get to take the 2 mile hike down to hole in the rock formation and its tide pools which usually is filled with sea stars, sea urchins and lots of sea anemones. Of course there were the usual sea palms that had washed up. I coerced Richard to pose for a picture with one.
A very touching sight caught my attention as a woman walked by with an obviously blind man holding on to her arm. He had the white stick which indicated he was totally blind. They were negotiating the logs and cobbles quite well actually - and he had the most blissful smile on his face! We just closed our own eyes to try to "see" what he was experiencing and realized that he still could enjoy the sound of those waves crashing and the giggles of a few brave children who would stick their feet in to the cold water and jump back out immediately. I believe we all said a silent prayer for eyesight at that moment in our day!
Myth or fact has it that a creepy guy named Alexander Conlin (Alexander Knows All) psychic and magician and friend to many of the old famous movie stars had a beautiful home on the edge of the cliff behind Rialto Beach and that the remains of his estate are still there. We looked for it, but if it's there, it is overgrown with vines and trees and bushes.
Hunger pangs set in and we drove over to the Indian village of LaPush where we remembered delicious food from previous trips also...specifically, the fresh halibut caught right there. After an extremely long wait, the buxom little waitress came over and asked us what we had ordered! We told her, later she returned to say she had forgot to turn the order in and could she bring us a bowl of seafood chowder? The answer was "yes". Ruth and Richard enjoyed it. I passed. Again the long wait for our food - but in the meantime, it was such fun sitting looking out over the water with the boats coming in for the day; the rotting, moss laden old dock outside our window; a pier lined solidly with seagulls - along with their antics - and I saw two birds which on first sight appeared to be eagles. I have later discovered that they were some kind of falcon. [Oh, Ruth and Richard ordered the halibut and were disappointed for their $25 meal. I ordered cod fish and chips with cole slaw and was very happy for $6.99!!]
We returned to our nice suite at Pacific Inn for the evening and watched the television program with Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church fame interview presidential candidates, Barak Obama and John McCain. We thought it was quite well done.
Oh, and Ruth just reminded me to write about our walk around downtown Forks last evening where we window shopped and enjoyed the full moon over the mountains. Forks is hosting a huge Biker Rally and Races this weekend with thousands of roaring Harleys and other such noisy animals, so it was a busy place for this normally sleepy little town - where it rains a lot. Ruth did not abandon us by taking off with one of the biker dudes!
posted by Dr. Rodenberger at 8:27 PM
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