tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74298172024-03-23T11:47:15.394-07:00Frank Denton - The Rogue RavenFrank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.comBlogger286125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-19580092590637373522012-02-24T17:27:00.000-08:002012-02-24T17:29:17.334-08:00The Broken Token by Rich NicksonI quite often read mysteries with foreign settings because I have not been to these countries and I can learn a bit about them. Some examples: John Burdett - Thailand, Colin Cotterill - Laos, James Church - North Korea, Donna Leon - Italy. English mysteries I sometimes read because I’ve been to the places where the novel is set. I recently discovered Elly Griffith whose mysteries are set in Norfolk. Sometimes I read for the historical background, such as Bernard Knight’s ‘Crowner John’ novels set in 14th C. Exeter.<br /><br />I’ve just finished The Broken Token by Rich Nickson. Nickson has written two novels set in Leeds, England in 1730. Leeds was then much smaller than it is today. Central Leeds now has a population of almost half a million people and Greater Leeds nearly a million. A far cry from 1730. Richard Nottingham is Constable of Leeds. Someone is committing murders in pairs, man and woman, or more correctly, man and prostitute. What begins as two murders soon becomes six. The woman in the first murders was once a servant girl in the Constable’s house. The new mayor is threatening Nottingham with firing if he does not get results soon. The constabulary force is small; Nottingham has an assistant, John Sedgwick, and no more than six officers. They are also expected to catch a cunning cutpurse. <br /><br />Nickson writes well of the town with its wealthy cloth merchants, its tavern keepers, its poor people and its many prostitutes. Nottingham is having trouble with a younger daughter and Sedgwick with his wife, who ultimately leaves for another man, taking his three-year-old son. In the end Nottingham finds some unlikely assistance in catching the murderer. His childhood had been spent as an urchin on the street and what he learns about his own heritage is revealing. The Broken Token is an interesting beginning to a series which I hope will be a long one. Chris Nickson was born in Leeds but has spent part of his life in Seattle.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-74498687324649043202012-02-12T17:21:00.000-08:002012-02-12T17:22:48.277-08:00The Janus StoneA touch of food poisoning for the last three days. I won’t give you the awful details. It gave me a chance to sit in my recliner all day and alternate sleeping and reading. The book was a recent discovery of a writer I did not know, Elly Griffiths. She writes a series of mysteries set in Norfolk in England. This is an area of broads (rivers) and coast and saltmarsh on the east coast. It was an area that we visited on one of our many trips to England. I was happy to find a mystery set there. Ruth Galloway is a forensic archaeologist sometime called in by the police to help in investigations. DCI Harry Nelson is the policeman in this case, The Janus Stone. There is a dig near her home which is being supervised by a colleague from Sussex University. But the crime involves a child’s body being found under a doorway in a building which is being remodeled into condos in Norwich. Turns out to be a five-year-old girl. At one time the place was an orphanage and a girl did disappear, along with her older brother, during that time. Was this the missing girl? Or is the skeleton much older, Roman or even Iron Age? There are several suspects; the dig’s supervisor, the priest who ran the orphanage, some one in the developer’s family. And among several interesting turns, Ruth Galloway finds herself pregnant, a single university professor, overweight and nearing forty. Altogether a pretty good mystery, interesting characters, and to me at least, a setting with which I was fairly familiar, Norwich, the Norfolk broads and the coast.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-89860199367136486462012-01-08T17:35:00.000-08:002012-01-08T17:37:02.225-08:00Aching Back and a Good BookOh, my aching back. We got a cord of wood yesterday morning. There is no way that I can put it all in the woodshed in one day. About five wheelbarrow loads is enough for one day. It will probably take all week to get the job finished. But for now I can take my shoes off and put my feet up. I’m reading Connie Willis’ Blackout and enjoying very much. The trials and tribulations of historians who have time traveled back to the time of World War II, have various jobs as covers, and find themselves trapped in situations that were not supposed to happen. A shop girl during the Blitz, a caretaker of displaced children who have come to the country, a supposed American reporter who was supposed to be in Dover during the withdrawal at Dunkirk but finds himself in Dunkirk itself and a young officer in the FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry), transporting wounded soldiers to various hospitals. Things are not going as quite expected for any of the characters. A fascinating, well-written book.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-16788435861484269092011-12-25T18:46:00.000-08:002011-12-25T18:50:29.036-08:00Merry Christmas, etc.Just a short note on Christmas day to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hannukuh or just general good wishes. I hope your holiday was as nice as ours. I'm off to our cabin for several days of general laziness and overeating with so old cohorts of mine. Will return of New Years Eve. So I will wish you the best of New Years now. I promise this blog will be written more often this coming year.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-57949662804562171312011-12-22T16:22:00.005-08:002011-12-22T16:39:40.382-08:00A Little SuccessI haven't talked about our race horses of late. Actually I haven't talked about anything of late. One of my New Year's resolutions will certainly to to do better with this blog. Who knows? I might even garner a few readers if I wrote more often.<br /><br />But this is about Seven Demons, our two-year-old colt. We've had a piece of him since before he was born, as we bought shares in Go Girl Gone before she was bred. We had to wait for two years until he came of racing age. He ran during the summer at Emerald Down in Auburn, WA. He didn't win but consistently came in second or third. After a short layoff he was shipped to Portland Meadows in Portland, OR. He didn't do very well there until last week. All of sudden he woke up and waltzed away with a win by ten lengths. We think he has grown and learned and maybe he's on the winning path. We're looking forward to seeing whether he can carry this winning attitude into this next summer at Emerald.<br /><br />He's one of only two who are racing at present. Appealing Resume is running at Golden Gate in CA. Bella Cavalla has been bred to Grindstone, A Kentucky Derby and we expect a foal in the spring. Holy Mama has retired with an ankle injury and will be bred in the spring.<br /><br />We're holding our breath that Boogie to Seattle will be sent to Kentucky to be bred to Big Brown, another Derby winner. Though we probably send her back to Kentucky for the Keeneland sales as a mare in foal. We think she will bring good money. Wish us luck.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-4974314972728757162011-12-22T16:22:00.003-08:002011-12-22T16:22:55.240-08:00A LittleFrank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-66801530870626345332011-12-22T16:22:00.001-08:002011-12-22T16:22:54.730-08:00A LittleFrank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-23892183815598075082011-10-07T15:02:00.000-07:002011-10-07T15:09:53.524-07:00Gone Away! Gone Away!That's what the Master of Hounds says about the hounds when they are sent after the fox. And that's what I say, now that the first eye surgery is over. Our usual fall trip is somewhat shortened by the pre-op appointment for the second eye surgery. We have to be back by the 25th. I suspect that we will get to Yellowstone and perhaps see a bit more of Wyoming. I'm not very faithful to this blog but I actually may find some time to write something along the way. Don't whistle while you wait. I'm grateful for the few faithful. And I will return, I promise.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-75159196848474846342011-10-07T14:56:00.000-07:002011-10-07T15:00:20.564-07:00Eye SurgeryI had cataract surgery on my right eye a week ago today. I had to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. so we were up at 4:30. Or as my friend who had a career in the artillery says, 0 dark 30. After we checked in, we waited for a call to the preparation room. Over the next hour I met many people who were somehow involved in my operation. They were something like a United Nations. There was a nurse from somewhere in Eastern Europe, a nurse from Kenya (she had a wonderful lilting speech and reminded me, a couple of Japanese (one a doctor new to the hospital who asked me if she could observe) and several Caucasians. All were cheerful and gracious. At that time of the morning? I applaud them.<br /><br />One of the things I was surprised about was the number of people involved. There was the first woman nurse who took my blood sugar levels, and blood pressure and pulse. And covered me with a warm blanket. Next was a male nurse who went over my meds and asked about my heart attack in ‘93. We had a nice chat. He lives in Austin, TX and works on 13 week contracts. He’s been asked to stay until January. He’s married so I don’t know how that works as his wife is a teacher. But I can see why they’d like to keep him. Next was the anesthesiologist with a few simple questions, then two nurses, then a nurse anesthetist and finally the doctor. And after the operation two people in the recovery room. That’s a lot of people for what seems like a simple operation.<br /><br />Shortly they wheeled me off to the operating room. There was some general conversation while the sleepy time medicine worked it way through my system, then one by one the team introduced themselves and spoke certain information, obviously being picked up by a mike and recorded. The doctor repositioned my head to his satisfaction and the operation began, removing the lens from my right eye and replacing it with a new lens. Apparently it went well, the doctor was pleased and said that I was an excellent patient. Soon they were rolling me into a recovery room, where I was fed. Bagels and cream cheese and apple juice never tasted so good. Soon Anna was called and told to get this bum out of here.<br /><br />The eye was irritated and I had to cope with that for a couple of days. I played pirate for a day, then went in to have the patch removed and the doctor looked at his handiwork. I’ve been assured by many people that I’ll be very pleased with the results. No more will I have to read the newspaper with a magnifying glass. What a relief that will be.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-21150437747699457972011-09-11T14:36:00.000-07:002011-09-11T14:39:51.196-07:00A Sad Tale with a Charitable EndingA month ago a little girl died in a terrible automobile accident. One always is sorry for a death in one so young. Rachel Beckwith had only recently turned nine. She was bright, vivacious and above all, caring. As she came close to her birthday she told her parents that she didn’t need any presents. She wanted to raise $300 for a charity called charity:water. It provides clean water to African villages that have no water or no clean water. Her mother put the request on a webpage that she created. To the time of her death there had been $200 donated. Her death in the accident was reported on local news. It was a couple of days later that they reported on her request for donation to the safe water charity. Money began to pour in and to date over a miilion dollars has been raised. The death of this little girl and her birthday request has obviously touched the hearts of people all over the U.S. If you’ve got a spare dollar or two you might consider sending it along in this thoughtful little girl’s memory.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-71759047970837797102011-07-24T18:31:00.000-07:002011-07-24T18:32:17.951-07:00The Tale of Boogie to SeattleWe retired Boogie to Seattle from racing on Friday. This filly had a bunch of potential. Her sire was Bluegrass Cat, winner of nearly $ 2M. She was originally offered at the Keeneland sales and was expected to bring $50-100K. For some reason she was withdrawn from the sale and sold privately. I’m not sure how she ended up here in the northwest but our partnership claimed her out of a 2-year-old race last summer. She ran well and we had grand hopes for her as a three-year-old.<br /><br /> But such are the vagaries of racing. Boogie showed little desire to run this year. Our trainer, one of the best at Emerald Downs, tried everything. We ran her short at 6 furlongs; we ran her long at a mile. We ran her from the back of the pack and we tried her up front. She just didn’t seem to want to run. Friday evening she acted up at the starting gate. She finished last in a five horse field. It was decided to retire her.<br /><br /> Her grandsire was Storm Cat and back in her pedigree is Unbridled Song and A.P. Indy. So her breeding is pretty darn good. Boogie will be bred to Demon Warlock, one of Washington’s top sires and the sire of our two-year-old colt, Seven Demons. We hope he will contribute some of his heart, courage and willingness to run to the foal. So now we have another foal to look forward to. Wish us luck.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-64788890585147680602011-06-03T15:05:00.000-07:002011-06-03T15:07:31.106-07:00Days at the Cabin5.20.11 Posted a little late: We’re spending a few days at the cabin. We haven’t been here over the winter. There was a lot of snow so we just stayed home in the lower elevations. Here it is May and the trilliums are in bloom. The stellar’s jay visited when we put out some seeds and this evening I heard a winter wren quite near and farther off in the woods the coarse cry of a raven. Over the winter or early spring there obviously were some pretty good wind storms. There are a lot of small trees down. Eventually I’ll drag them out of the trees and brush and add them to the pile of things that need to be sawed. This will provide firewood for the fall when it begins to get cold. And the path alongside the cabin and into the back of our property was filled with fir needles and small twigs. At my age I am concerned about tripping on some small thing and falling. So out came the rake and I spent a little time raking the paths and making them safe for old men (and my much more youthful wife. She may be nearly my age but she’s in a lot better shape than I.)<br /><br />Mostly, though, I’ve been reading. I brought three books along, S.J. Bolton’s Sacrifice, Sharan Newman’s The Difficult Saint, and William Murray’s Tip on a Dead Crab. I’m almost finished with the first, have a decent start on the second and haven’t touched the third. I also have a couple of magazines, the newsletter from International Campaign for Tibet and the latest copy of CADS, Geoff Bradley’s wonderful magazine from England about crime and detective stories. Plenty of reading for the few days that we will be up here. And perhaps I will get some other writing done besides this blog.<br /><br />There has been a lot of snow in the higher elevations of Washington this year and snow much later in the spring. Mount Rainier was absolutely white. In normal years there are places where rock sticks out and gives the mountain some detail Not this spring. Of course it will melt some during the summer and the rock will reappear. But for now it is just a gigantic snow cone jutting into the sky.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-80602794845251602472011-05-05T20:12:00.000-07:002011-05-05T20:15:02.528-07:00Northwest Symphony OrchestraWe enjoyed a fine concert last Saturday evening performed by the Northwest Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Anthony Spain. Part of the orchestra’s mission is to perform works written by northwest composers. The first piece was Concerto for Horn and Orchestra by Samuel Jones. Jones was Dean of the School of Music at Rice University and is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Seattle Symphony. I don’t generally enjoy contemporary classical music, finding it often too dissonant for these ears. Not so this piece, which was very listenable. The French horn soloist was Jeffrey Fair, assistant principal horn player for the Seattle Symphony.<br /><br />The second piece was Prayer of St. Gregory by Alan Hovhaness. This was a relatively short piece by one of America’s most prolific composers. Its trumpet solo part was played by 12-year-old Natalie Dungey. With perfect aplomb, her playing was exact, her tone bright and clear. Afterward she took her place in the trumpet section of the orchestra.<br /><br />This was the one hundredth anniversary of Hovhaness’ birth. Mr. Hovhaness lived in this area and I can remember seeing him in our local super drugstore, writing music while he waited for his wife, who was shopping. Probably his best-known composition is Symphony No. 2, Mysterious Mountain. This work was premiered by Leopold Stokowski and the Houston Symphony.<br /><br />The orchestra finished with the superb playing of Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, the New World. The orchestra performed wonderfully and the audience responded with a standing ovation at concert’s end. A wonderful evening for little old Burien.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-17690134934108467562011-04-27T21:32:00.000-07:002011-04-27T21:34:02.124-07:00Our ThoroughbredsI don’t recall whether I have ever talked about our horses on this blog. Well, they are only partly our horses. Several years ago we got involved in a partnership which owns a number of thoroughbreds, race horses. The particular partnerships we are involved in own horses which mainly race at Emerald Downs in Auburn, WA. Currently we are involved in four horses.<br /><br />Appealing Resume and Boogie to Seattle are racing at Golden Gate Fields in northern CA. They are fillies, aged 4 and 3 respectively. AR raced at Emerald last year, took some time off from late August to March was then was sent to run at Golden Gate. Seven Demons is a 2-yr.-old who has been broken and been to the track to train, but was sent to his home farm to let his knees develop. He should be back in June to resume training at Emerald and could race by July. Our fourth is a mare, Bella Cavalla, who is to be bred to Grindstone, the winner of the 1996 Kentucky Derby. We will have to wait several years to see what the offspring will do at the track.<br /><br />Appealing Resume has had some success at Golden Gate, winning four in a row and stepping up in class each race. Last time out she met horses of her own level, running third. Boogie was ready to race up here, but couldn’t find a race so the partners shipped her to Golden Gate also where she will become accustomed to the track before racing.<br /><br />Currently we are disappointed to have no horse to watch. The partners attempted to claim a lower level horse last Friday. She won her race, but there were several claims in on her and we lost the draw. Gizmo Girl went to another barn. We’re still looking. Wish us luck. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe I won’t neglect this blog so much if I write about the horses and the track.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-27427101039121049832011-02-19T19:45:00.000-08:002011-02-19T19:47:19.051-08:00George Shearing DiesGeorge Shearing, jazz pianist, has died. Shearing was a piano stylist and probably today would be termed soft jazz. He was quite popular in the fifties and had many fans during his working life. George was blind and it was interesting to watch him play and to see him get around during his intermissions. Of course there have been other blind pianists: Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Marcus Roberts some immediately to mind.<br /><br />In the late forties and early fifties I was working in a plywood mill in order to pay for my college education. Going to school during the day, I worked the swing shift, roughly four to midnight. There was a jazz show on the local radio station. My wife, Anna, was listening one evening. There was a quiz with the prize of two tickets to hear George Shearing. No one had won by the time I got home sometime after midnight. The jazz dj had played a jazz piece featuring a clarinet, piano and drums. Identify the players. I said that had to be the Benny Goodman Trio, with Benny Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. She immediately called the program and we won two tickets to see George Shearing at some funky roadhouse outside of Olympia, WA.<br /><br />I remember that I had to borrow my folks’ car because we didn’t own one. We drove from Tacoma to Olympia and had a wonderful evening listening to Shearing. At one intermission I was able to talk with him for a few minutes. There was not a very big crowd. I told him the story of how I had won the tickets. He chortled and said that he was glad that I had known the answer. That’s a fond memory from sixty years ago.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-53964017097662114332011-01-30T19:06:00.000-08:002011-01-30T19:14:23.800-08:00Empty BowlToday (28th) was empty bowl day..that should be Empty Bowl. Once a year there is a benefit in our fair city for the food bank. Potters work in a building at Mosier Field, which backs onto Highline High School and the football stadium. Each year these potters make, among other things, hundreds of soup bowls. Several of the restaurants in the area make soup, usually three kinds. People come, pay $15 (up from $10), pick out a bowl, get soup, bread, cheese, cookie and coffee and sit down and eat. When finished the bowl is yours to take home. The crowd was so big last year that they changed the venue to the community center, which is Burien's old library remodeled. Shannon and Mike, our daughter and husband, came in. Jenny, our granddaughter also met up with us. They had to be to work at 2 pm so we did the soup thing for lunch. Last year they had 900 bowls and made $13,000 for the food bank. It should be even better this year. We sat with Merillee Cogswell, who is the managing librarian for the Burien Library and the Highline cluster. That includes several other smaller library branches in the area. Later who should appear out of the blue but Don McQuinn, a local author. I greeted several other people that I know in the community. Anna Jo saw lots of people that she knows through exercising at the community center several times a week. So a good time was had by all.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-76876593695867182712011-01-13T21:28:00.000-08:002011-01-13T21:32:26.590-08:00Picasso ExhibitTuesday we finally got to the major exhibit of paintings by Pablo Picasso at the Seattle Art Museum. The paintings were on loan from the Musee International Picasso in Paris. The exhibit was about to close in a few days and the museum was crowded with people like me, who waited until near the end. Tickets were sold for a specific time for entering to prevent overcrowding, staggering the entry times. Still it was crowded enough. I avoid the crowding at the first paintings in the exhibit by going past and picking up the paintings a bit further along and later backtracking to the beginning when the crowd had thinned.<br /><br />I must say that I am not enamored of Picasso’s work. His early work was representational and I enjoyed seeing works from his blue period and red period and even his cubist period. Once he got beyond that, I was less enthralled. I think I understand what he was trying to do but I’m not sure I care for some of the works for which he is famous. Still, it was a must see exhibit for me, though what little I know of art is self taught. I try to see any major exhibit which comes to Seattle and I have visited many art museums on my travels, both here and in England. I particularly love the Impressionists, French and American.<br /><br />Our daughter and son-in-law accompanied us to the exhibit. We were all worried a bit about the weather. Snow had been forecast for the evening commute time. We were fortunate to get home before the snow, which came a bit later than anticipated. It snowed several inches but was gone by noon the next day.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-5192479896240251142010-12-24T21:45:00.000-08:002010-12-24T21:52:37.872-08:00Happy HolidaysJust sitting here on Christmas eve. Family has all gone after opening presents and sharing a meal...Way too much food...but delicious. I was thinking it's was time to send holiday greetings to my readers. You've been faithful although I have not written much this past year. A New Year's Resolution...No. But I will try to do better. Off to the cabin after Christmas to spend six days with old friends. Eat, sleep, tell tales, watch movies. We've been doing this for forty years. Why stop now? I'll return to civilization on New Year's Eve. Unless we're snowed in.<br /><br />Meantime all of you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'll catch you in 2011.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-22448014454159163242010-12-22T21:00:00.000-08:002010-12-22T21:15:05.058-08:00WeatherWith nothing else to talk about, should I talk about the weather? By chance this morning we were watching Canadian television, the one channel that we receive down here in the states. The weather news from the Maritime Provinces was pretty bad. Cape Breton and the eastern side of Nova Scotia were especially hard hit, with much rain, flooding and high tidal surges. Beaches are getting ripped away, a boardwalk through a wildlife refuge swamped. I am particularly interested in these things because I've been to many of the places the newsperson talked about. <br /><br />And then my friend, Andy Porter, of jolly old Brooklyn, sent me a message about photos of the snow in Devon, England. Devon is one of my favorite places in England and I know it pretty well from a dozen trips there. The website can be found by googling "BBC E-mail Snow Across Devon" I found the photos very interesting. The Exe River is frozen. I've hiked along the Exe. The shingle beaches are covered with snow. I hope the people weather it well. The photos seem to indicate that they are taking it in stride.<br /><br />We've had our bit of snow here in Seattle a week ago. We don't deal with it very well and it brings the city and environs to a crawl. We hope that it is finished for the year.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-57521338823502957312010-12-16T19:55:00.000-08:002010-12-16T20:07:08.888-08:00Terrible! Terrible! I haven't blogged for a month. Surely even an old guy should find something to say in a month. I've been catching up on reading other blogs. One such mentioned the writer's favorite CD for the year. I don't know that I could name my favorite but I've been listening to several good things in the last week or so. I felt in the mood for some vibraphone music and pulled out a Modern Jazz Quartet CD and listened to Milt Jackson. I decided to follow that up with other vibe players. Cal Tjader came next, then Gary Burton, then Lionel Hampton and Dave Samuels. <br /><br />Recently I replaced my turntable. The old one went kaput. Now I have access to a rather extensive collection of LPs. Yesterday I suddenly had a yearning to hear some Atlanta Rhythm Section, a rock banmd from Doraville, GA in the 70s. Fun to hear them once more in a live concert. The record is called Are You Ready?<br /><br />Well, that's it for now. At least I've put down a few words. Maybe I'll write more often if I select mundane topics.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-34710570698598348132010-11-12T21:58:00.000-08:002010-11-12T22:02:50.646-08:00Lost in Yaak ValleyAdventure #1 - For a number of years I have been reading a writer by the name of Rick Bass. When I first started to read his work and early in his career he had moved to the Yaak Valley in northwestern Montana. At the time there were only about seven people living in the valley, pretty isolated in the northwestern corner of Montana. I decided that I would like to see what the place looked like and put it on my travel map for this year’s trip. We traveled over the north Cascades highway in northern Washington, then across norther Idaho, passing through Sand Point. The road to Yaak follows along the Yaak River. At one point we stopped to see a small falls in the river. Talking with a couple of bikers, they recommended traveling straight on at Yaak, coming out at Eureka and then dropping down to Whitefish. It sounded like a good idea.<br /><br />There really is no town of Yaak, just a couple of bars across the road from each other. One is The Dirty Shame and a number of motorcycles had stopped for a beer. It was mid-October and they were taking advantage of possibly the last good weekend for a ride. We went straight ahead at Yaak, heading for Eureka. The road ran through pine forests and occasionally we would spot a house or a weekend cabin. I'm told there are probably about a hundred people scattered through the valley now. The days were getting shorter and the sun began to go down. Finally we came to a T in the road and took a left, as the biker had described. In another ten minutes we came to civilization.<br /><br />Anna decided we needed to find out where we were. Map in hand she crossed the road to talk with three women standing on the porch of a saloon. She told them she thought she might be lost. “Honey, you’re not lost. You’re right here. We found you.” one of the women said. They took the map from Anna’s hand and pointed at a spot where the name was Yaak. Anna turned and looked the other way. Across the road was The Dirty Shame. We had obviously taken a wrong turn somewhere and driven in a circle. We were back to where we had passed through a several hours before.<br /><br />“Where were you headed,” the woman asked. When Anna said, “Eureka,” the woman said, “Well, you just go straight on from here and you’ll come out at Eureka.” “Oh, no,” Anna said. “How do we get to Libby?” The woman grinned. “Just turn right at the end of the porch.”<br /><br />And we did. So much for one of our big adventures. Getting lost in the Yaak Valley.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-21547926063371865182010-10-21T19:52:00.000-07:002010-10-21T19:58:52.051-07:00Three Weeks on the RoadWe've been on the road again. We took a little car trip. starting with the North Cascades in northern Washington. We crossed into northern Idaho, stopping briefly in Sandpoint and Bonner's Ferry. On into Montana's Yaak Valley, Libby, Kalispell, Polson, Missoula and on to Helena. The final destinations were Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole. Then it was time to turn around and head home. I have a few stories which might be interesting. Or not. They will follow in a day or two.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-28703918652869299212010-09-20T19:50:00.000-07:002010-09-20T19:52:18.855-07:00Visit to Vancouver Art MuseumEarly September: Recently we traveled north to Vancouver, B.C. to catch an art exhibit at the Vancouver Art Museum. We had not been to British Columbia for a couple of years and were surprised at how much the traffic had increased. I think Vancouver’s geography is even worse than Seattle’s. The city is very much hemmed in my mountains and water. High rise apartments and condominiums are dense in the city. Much growth has occurred across the Lion’s Gate Bridge over Georgia Straits in West Vancouver and North Vancouver. Houses have been built up the mountains as far as they can go, I suspect. The other way for growth is out the Frazer River valley to the east. Thus the heavy traffic out that way. And that highway is having a lot of construction along it. It looked like light rail perhaps.<br /><br /> The exhibit we saw was one of sketches, studies and drawings by the Impressionists. There were ninety-seven pieces in the show. Most were in charcoal, red chalk or pastels, although a few were in watercolor. All of the important Impressionist artists were there plus many minor artists, or should I say, artists with whom I was not familiar. Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gaugin, Manet, Seurat, Pizzaro plus many more.<br /><br /> These drawings were from the collection of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Oddly enough, they have never been exhibited there. Apparently the museum does not have the space to exhibit drawings, although such a space is being planned for the future. These drawings were only going to be shown in Vancouver and then were to go directly back to Paris and into storage. So if a French person wanted to view these drawings he or she would have to come to Vancouver.<br /><br /> We spent nearly three hours in the exhibit and had no time for any of the other exhibits on display. Anybody who loves art and has taken their time with an exhibit knows how tiring it can be. Although we missed the other floors of the museum I was more than pleased with just the Impressionist drawings. The exhibit was called “The Modern Woman.” It was divided into The Portrait, the Nude, The Space of Intimacy, the Private Realm, the Public Realm and Beyond the City. I have never before purchased the catalog of an exhibit which contained reproductions of all of the pieces in the show. As far as I can tell, this catalog did. It is exceptional. I am so glad I roused myself to travel north to view this exhibit.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-33510716649632045642010-08-18T15:52:00.001-07:002010-08-18T15:54:03.873-07:00Under HeavenAt the end of Zen meditation the other morning, during that delightful time we dub “Tea and Conversation” someone asked me, “Who is your favorite science fiction writer?” Without a thought I responded, “Guy Gavriel Kay.” I went on to say that I really didn’t read much sf, that I read much more fantasy. I’m not quite sure why I or many other people, make that distinction between the two, but there it is.<br /><br />I’ve read all but two of Kay’s novels (and you can be sure that I will be reading them soon) and have enjoyed them all. But his latest novel, Under Heaven, is, for me, the best. It is set in ancient China, taking the Tang dynasty (900-1200) for a model. Shen Tai, second son of a deceased general, has determined that, to honor his father during the two-year period of mourning, he will remain at Luongo Nor to bury the dead soldiers littering the battlefield and lay their ghosts. The White Princess of the neighboring country learns of this and gifts him with 250 Sardian horses. This makes Tai a very powerful man in Kitai (China).<br /><br />We follow Tai as someone attempts to assassinate him, as he travels toward the capitol to present the horses to the emperor. Several more attempts are made on his life. A warrior woman, Wei Song, has been hired to protect him. He longs to see a woman courtesan he knew, but she has become the consort of the first minister. An Li, general and governor of several provinces in the north of Kitai, rebels and war ensues. This is a long novel, nearly 600 pages, filled with action, intrigue, wonderful well-rounded characters. It holds, perhaps, a hint of how life was lived in that far off time in China.<br /><br />Kay seems never to write about the same period or place twice. I would like it very much if he were to write another novel set in the same time and place as this one. There are minor characters that could well be developed into major characters. But perhaps that is asking too much. I will be grateful for whatever he writes next. Alas, that is probably several years away. Meantime, if you have the slightest interest, I recommend this book, or any of Kay’s, quite highly.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7429817.post-64242691681066982962010-04-07T15:21:00.001-07:002010-04-07T15:21:48.175-07:00Traveller on HorsebackRecently read: A Traveller on Horseback; in Eastern Turkey and Iran by Christina Dodwell. New York, Walker and Company, 1989.<br /><br />Miss Dodwell must be an amazing woman, although she probably doesn’t think so. She has written several books on her travels in China and Africa. Here she chose to travel in the mid-east by horseback and alone. She had acquaintances in a couple of places but otherwise was not averse to going it alone, speaking some of the local language (of which there were several) and dealing with the inhabitants of the towns and villages she came across. She seemed most interested in the ancient architecture of churches and castles, some built before Christ. Some that once were Christian churches are now mosques. This adventurous journey was taken during the war between Iraq and Iran. She was arrested and questioned more than once, propositioned at least once. But mostly she was welcomed, found lodging with the local headman or others and had an interesting journey. This was a book that seemed to fit my mood at the moment and I enjoyed it.Frank Dentonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08406945158459906185noreply@blogger.com1