Hectic Days and Other…..

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Once again, I managed to lose a couple of days without posting due to multiple commitments and unfortunately was not able to dive during my “birthday window”. Ah well,  maybe I’ll squeeze a day in even though I have the two trips scheduled for Sept.

On the good news side, my brother and sister-in-law in Louisiana do have power back as of last night and they didn’t suffer any serious damage to their property or flooding. They were just far enough north to be hit with lesser winds. Being without power for almost five days is difficult, but the destruction for those severely impacted is always tragic.

When it comes to living in hurricane zones as we, and both my siblings do, I remember a few years ago in talking with someone who had moved from California. His view was at least with hurricanes, you have warning. He couldn’t adapt to the idea of earthquakes. Then there are the various “tornado alleys” around the country; another destructive force that comes with little warning. When we were hit by Hurricane Irma, much of that wind damage was from tornadoes spinning off rather than the actual storm winds. And speaking of annoying rather than hectic – wind insurance has jumped up again this year by right about 12%. According to our agent, that’s on the low side of the increases. There aren’t many options though. And also like most newcomers, when we moved here we were startled to learn that wind storm was a completely separate coverage from hazard insurance. I already knew hazard insurance did not cover flooding due to an unfortunate experience when I was in Texas. The fact is blizzards plague the cold parts of the country and other areas are prone to flooding. And even though we don’t have many, there is the volcano danger and that is very real for Hawaii.

The Comedy of Pompous….

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Having now finished watching the series “Northern Exposure”, I had never seen the first season of “Fraiser”. That was another one we didn’t watch routinely and at only half-hour, the episodes can’t include as much as an hour-long show. For those who may not be familiar, it was a spin-off show from “Cheers” where the psychiatrist Dr. Fraiser Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer, leaves Boston after his divorce and goes back to Seattle to become the psychiatrist for a call-in radio show. His brother, Niles, played by David Hyde Pierce, is still a practicing psychiatrist. Their father, a tough cop who certainly hadn’t envisioned both his sons being so very different from him, was forced to retire when he was shot in the hip. In not yet healing, it became apparent he could no longer live at home so the first episode and several subsequent ones were the utter disruption when the decision was made for him to move into Fraiser’s well-appointed apartment. Niles has a large, expensive house with plenty of room, but his wife (whom I don’t think we ever see) has many issues that are also worth a chuckle. Naturally, there is a spunky British live-in added into the mix who helps care for the father (played by John Mahoney) and his scruffy dog Eddy.

There are the other members of the radio staff and personalities to add humor as well as the pricey coffee shop where many scenes take place. There is the constant display of how pompous both sons are juxtaposed against the common sense of the dad and assistant. At the same time though, there are the moments when the dad or assistant stop to see things from Fraiser’s perspective to draw out the gentler person he can be. A few poignant exchanges serve as reminders that most of us do at times get caught up in our own views and perhaps fail – or are slow to consider another as valid.

Birthday On the Approach…..

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As it is birthday eve, Mother Nature is being a bit “blustery” and so diving tomorrow is more than I care to mess with. They cancelled yesterday afternoon’s trips and according to Hubby, the wind and waves definitely picked up the latter part of this morning. As long as I can get a dive in by Tuesday though it still counts as a birthday dive. Depending on what else I have tomorrow, I might jump in the pool to get wet at any rate. We are joining friends this evening though who are down from New Jersey. That steered me more toward a leisurely lunch out Saturday and nice steaks at home Saturday night. Yes, that’s the day after, but again, it’s close enough to count.

Since we have trip to D.C. area coming up that will also involve some nice dinners out although it’s difficult to know how things will be with the COVID situation. Hopefully, not as bad as last year’s trip with hotel services curtailed. On the other hand, we have that to use as a gauge, so don’t expect it to be worse. Other friends we haven’t seen in quite some time are coming up from North Carolina and while my girlfriend does have business to attend to she might take part of Tues, the 14th off. If she can’t, we’ll still all have dinner, plus the performance and the gala after for “catch-up” time. The reason we’re staying close to the Kennedy Center for the night of the performance is because the gala always runs late and at least we’ll have a short distance to go when we unplug. It is a school night due to how they had to reschedule from last year’s date and I don’t think the kids have decided yet if they will get up extra early to take granddaughter to school or let her skip a couple of hours. It probably makes sense to wait and see before making that decision.

 

Back in the Water At Last…..

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In all fairness, I often don’t get to dive in June and July due to crowded boats and my limited schedule. Therefore, this summer hasn’t been unusual other than I was really making an extra effort this year. Anyway, Hubby’s classes were postponed with the effect of “Fred” and the weather stabilized for yesterday morning. Since it was a day off gor him.  he was able to take his camera. Unless he’s teaching a specific photography course he’s not allowed to have a camera when with students.

We went to the wreck of the Benwood, a favored site because it is a) and authentic WWII wreck which makes it interesting. If I haven’t related the story before, the quick version is it was a Norwegian freighter and in the required nighttime running under blackout conditions to try to counter the U-boat threat, the Benwood and another vessel whose name I don’t recall collided in the dark. The Benwood was too damaged to salvage and is very broken up. It does have seven-plus decades of marine growth and always lots of fish. You can also see the anchor and a turtle has taken up residence. In this case, we saw him later on the surface rather than underwater. Although there was nothing very special on the dive, there were multiple different types of schools of fish and they are fun to watch. I saw my queen and French angel fish as well as quite a few hogfish and the big barracuda nicknamed “Psycho” took his usual place under the boat. I don’t actually know where the name came from. The behavior though is common as the barracuda use the boat to “mask” their presence and wait for prey. Interestingly, I’ve never seen a barracuda going after a fish while doing it.

Our second dive was on a popular reef and there was a large nurse shark taking a nap which allowed Hubby to get some good shots. Nothing else extra special, but once again a great many enjoyable “regular reef inhabitants”. In watching the snappers, groupers, and hogfish, it was a bit like looking at a menu and we did have hogfish for lunch later.

Tried An Oven Version, Plus…..

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We had friends over last night for their last time to dine with us as they are moving tomorrow. Probably not last time forever because they aren’t going that far away, but those, “of course we’ll visit”, plans do seem to get tangled in our busy lives.

Anyway, as I’ve posted before, one of Hubby’s specialties is risotto and neither of them cook that. We decided on the three-onion version for a side dish and I wanted to do an oven dish which could finish baking while he managed the risotto. I found a version for chicken cacciatore where you do the browning and initial sauce stove top, then a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes or 45 if the chicken is bone in. I was going with boneless as I didn’t want to bother with the mess of bones while eating even though bone-in does add extra flavor. The other reason for me to do an oven dish was Hubby also decided to do his Italian green beans with onions and sun-dried tomatoes. In explaining the chicken was tomato heavy, he reluctantly agreed to use only onion as I thought of an alternative. I can usually find pancetta at Publix although it’s never a guarantee. The plan was I would render the fat from the pancetta to add to the olive oil for browning the chicken and set the crisped pancetta aside to then add to the green beans. That satisfied Hubby and gave me the extra flavor boost for the chicken. The recipe I found also used carrots which I don’t normally include in cacciatore, but went with it.

The only drawback is I do like one-pot cooking when possible and I no longer have a large enough dutch oven to pull that off as I was making six chicken breasts in case anyone was really hungry. I did the stove top part of browning the chicken, removing it from the skillet to saute the thinly sliced carrots, chopped sweet peppers, onions, and minced garlic before adding the tomatoes, wine, chicken stock, and seasonings. I did let the sauce simmer for about ten minutes (my preference) before placing the chicken in a casserole dish and covering it with the sauce. I also don’t have a cover for that size casserole and used foil instead.

Speaking of Jobs and Working Together….

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Okay, my plan to post yesterday got completely away from me with a series of errands and having three articles again for the paper this week.

A longtime business (market and cafe) has closed in Kendall which is up the road a bit. People are posting about their memories and sad to see it go. We were only there a couple of times and did enjoy it. Like so many family owned businesses though, sustaining through the generations can be difficult; especially for the third and fourth. One of my “beats” for the community paper is multi-generational businesses and I’ve written about many of them. Two generations is not uncommon as the child/children often literally “grow up in the business”. This is a usually combination of struggling to make it as a “mom and pop” whatever it might be and therefore needing to use the business for day care/after school, then finding tasks for the child/children to do which segues into part time work. At that point, there is generally a growing appreciation for the business, a thirst to learn and do more or the other side of the coin, “I’ll put up with this until I can go my own way.” If there is more than one child, it can be split as to who wants to keep with the family business and who wants to follow another path.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts my career intentions had been to go into the Army to get the G.I. Bill to pay for law school and enter the small family law firm. In staying in the Army for a career instead, the cousin closest to me in age and his younger sister did both go to law school and took over the practice. Male cousin stayed with it and female cousin went the judicial route. So, that’s the third generation. Male cousin’s sons were not remotely interested, but female cousin’s oldest daughter is not only a relatively new lawyer, but also married to a lawyer. They’re in Mississippi and the daughter acknowledged the small – and I do mean small – Louisiana town may not be quite what they are looking for. On the other hand, they do have a toddler now and it is a good place to raise children. Who knows, there could be that fourth generation to step into the office after all.

Unfilled Jobs…..

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Although I try to stay away from politics per se, certain social aspects often come close to, if not actually share a line with politics. I genuinely don’t know how many people are continuing to stay unemployed because of drawing extra pay through COVID-19 relief. There are no doubt some as there always are. What I do know is there are “Now Hiring” signs in many places and restaurants/hotels are having an especially hard time finding employees. A response is, “Then employers should pay more.” In some cases, I agree. I do not agree with the concept of a minimum wage of $15/hr, but that is not exactly the topic here.

There are conflicting studies that show a raise in the minimum wage causes jobs to be cut to accommodate the increase in labor costs and studies that show no job loss. I suspect either may be correct depending on the type of company and location. The reality is  minimum wage and low-paying jobs are intended to be entry level, or perhaps second-job opportunities, or augmentation jobs for someone who wants a degree of income with no real responsibility. A “fairness issue” arises when those are the dominant type of jobs available in a location so there is little chance of “getting ahead”. That also applies when the cost of living is such that even making more money may not help lift one from having to live paycheck-to-paycheck with no buffer in the case of an emergency.

What I do know is this. Companies who want to hire and retain employees and can do so increase pay and benefits in order to have a stable qualified workforce. Small to mid-size companies may simply not have the capital to do so. In the small company I worked for after I retired from the Army, the owner was great about getting around to talk to all the employees. (That changed as the company grew and was one of the reasons he and his co-owner wife eventually sold off most of what became a “group”.) Anyway, during one session, the subject of increasing compensation was raised. The boss nodded and said something like, “Everyone always wants higher salaries. We understand that. We have to stay competitive. If we charge too high a price for our services, we won’t get the contracts and can’t stay in business or grow.” The belief that any company that refuses to pay employees a bigger salary is motivated only by greed for the bosses is generally not correct.

Does It Belong In A Museum?……

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An interesting conversation the other day. I think I’ve mentioned Hubby and I don’t watch much network TV and prefer cable. Movies, BBC series, and the “Discover” family of channels  are mostly it for us although we don’t have the streaming and we stay with HGTV, Food, Science, etc. One of the shows  is “Dino Hunters” which is what it sounds like. There are a couple of different teams who look for fossils, but for profit, not academic/museum purposes. That led to the discussion about private collectors. I am a big believer in  museums – public as often as possible for the sake of those who can’t afford entrance fees. We certainly don’t mind paying and of course make donations when we are in one that charges no or small fees. The fact is most museums that have been established for any length of time have far more in their collections than can be put on display. If they have the resources, they can have appropriate storage and research areas that can be jaw dropping at times in their scope. If, however, space is limited, they may have to turn down items or prioritize and divest certain items to take something in they consider more important.

That leads to the question of does a private collector “deprive” museums of something that should be on public display? No doubt that is true at times; which then leads to the question of how many dinosaur bones does a museum need? (since we’re talking about this show) I’ll agree if it is a species they don’t have, that might make a difference. If they already have a velociraptor – or two or three; why not let a private collector enjoy one if they have the space and money? I suppose the actual “downside” of private collectors is they may contribute to black marketing of artifacts instead of going to legitimate dealers.

A Pleasant Surprise…..

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I have posted on more than one occasion about the frustration of no commercial breakthrough despite having now published 15 novels, 3 non-fiction, and co-authored 4 non-fiction books. Fortunately, the satisfaction in creating those books and the enjoyment of the small, yet loyal fan base I have is greater than the frustration. I received a pleasant surprise a few days ago when Hubby came in from work and said a young lady he’d been guiding asked if he was the one who wrote books or if it was his wife. She then asked if I would select one of my books for her to buy and sign it. Since I’m hoping she becomes one of those loyal fans, I started her with Shades of Truth. I wrote a note explaining I chose that as it is the original scuba-themed mystery series and I later spun  the character of Chris Green to create that series. To add to my surprise, one of the individuals who works at the dive shop was in on part of the conversation and told Hubby to tell me his mother was asking when the next book would come out. At some point she started reading me and buys all my books on Kindle. These are those “high moments” and are familiar to any creative person.

It would be wonderful if we did live in a world where people could afford to buy as many books, pieces of art, as much music as they wanted or attend as many performances in whatever form as they wished. Better yet, if there were enough philanthropists or government resources to fund even more free performances, book, music, and art distribution. It doesn’t work that way of course and thus a great many people who would like to spend their lives in a creative way must instead have it more as a “hobby” or choose to have a lower standard of living while pursuing whichever Muse drives them. It is an old story that really hasn’t changed ever since humans took that first step to express themselves in some form of art.

Creative Spirit on Display……

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Big day Saturday! This is a follow-up to the previous posting as it is a bit more about the Homestead Center for the Arts Art and Artisan Show we’re having. For anyone who has been in South Florida in July, you’ll understand why we’re holding the show inside with air conditioning. Even though it is a large facility, that still means space is more limited than if we have it at one of the outdoor venues. We have thirty four vendors lined up, plus one civic group and our two tables for HCA. Because we have a lot of artists in HCA, they and our woodturners basically had first priority for space. Then it was other HCA members involved in either a craft or in a couple of cases, a specific group we thought would appeal to the market we are going after. One of our members has a small publishing company and a bookstore up in Miami and that relates to the Lamplighters Writers group that has recently been re-energized. Then in opening up to non-HCA members, we were looking for a nice mix of options for our “unique shopping experience”.

We have done a couple of planned campaigns on social media and encouraged everyone we know to use their social media accounts and email lists. We are popping up all over Facebook and apparently have been on Instagram several times and we did do an old fashioned print ad in the local paper. How many attendees we’ll actually get is of course the big unknown at the moment. We are about as well organized as can be and set-up tomorrow afternoon for the tables and chairs should help make check-in of the vendors Saturday morning go more smoothly. We are all keeping our fingers crossed as summer thunderstorms are common. The good thing is even if it does rain, it usually passes fairly quickly and everyone around here is accustomed to the pattern. With the show from 12:00-5:00, there should be ample opportunity to work around rain if it does happen.