Farewell to The Baby Grand

Mom has parted ways with this baby grand piano after more than 40 years of ownership! Unfortunately, nobody had played the instrument in decades. It hadn't been tuned in so long that when Mom inquired about bringing it back into shape, she was told it was a lost cause. ALL of the piano's inner workings and the keys would need to be replaced.

Let this be a lesson to others-- If you own a real piano (no offense to owners of electric versions, but they aren't real-LOL), keep it properly maintained. As you can tell from looking at this one, it is a BEAUTIFUL piece of furniture. However, since we didn't keep up with the maintenance, it was nothing more than a huge decorative piece.

I took lessons on the piano when I was 9 or 10 years old. Had a very patient teacher named Mr. Marius Fossenekmper, who once played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  He lived somewhere in Midtown Detroit and took DDOT busses to our home in Sherwood Forest to administer my weekly lessons. I played one recital at which he called me the only student of his who properly used the foot pedals as I played.

The late Marius E. Fossenkemper

(far right) in October 1941 at a 

Detroit Symphony Orchestra event. 

Sadly, after our move to Southfield in 1976, Mr. Fossenkemper had no way to get to us and we didn't have a way to get me to him so I stopped taking lessons. While searching the Internet for the photo at left, I learned that Mr. Fossenkemper died in 1999 at the age of 96.

I have few regrets in life. Not continuing with the piano is one of them.

Mom had the piano removed from her condo this afternoon. She decided to keep the bench.

I'm so glad we had this time together...

Muted Emotions

Sandy Hook School in Newtown, CT

I woke up this morning and the emotional enormity of what happened in Newtown, Connecticut finally hit me - 24 hours after the event.

President Barack Obama wipes tears

from his eyes while addressing the

nation following the Newtown, CT

school shooting on December 14, 2012.

Despite having watched a great deal of the coverage and watching President Barack Obama deliver emotional remarks from the White House while wiping tears from his eyes and fighting to control his emotions, my emotions didn't fully manifest themselves until this morning.  This morning, when I turned on follow-up coverage and listened to the latest information and saw many of the same photos from the day before and found myself doing, a day later, what the president of the United States did at the White House. I wiped quiet tears from my eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

GO LIONS!!!

Lions win in Stafford's Return

I am ghoulishly giddy on this Halloween night thanks to my beloved Detroit Lions and their big win over the visiting Washington Redskins!

Lions QB Matthew Stafford
Photo Credit: NFL.com

Quarterback Matthew Stafford made is first start since Week 1 when he suffered a separated shoulder at the hands of Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers.  Oh, what a return it was!  Stafford threw four touchdown passes-- three of them to Calvin Johnson-- and for the second straight season, handed the Redskins a nice big "L" to show for their visit to Ford Field.

While I am extremely happy to get the win, I can't-- for the life of me-- understand why Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, down by six points late in the fourth quarter, benched starting quarterback Donovan McNabb in favor of backup Rex Grossman claiming Grossman could best run the two-minute drill.  HUH?!?!  Shanahan really blew that one and Detroit's defense made him pay.  Grossman coughed up the ball after taking his first snap!  Ndamukong Suh scooped up the loose ball and danced into the endzone! Now, we're up 13.  Game over!

Lions DE Kyle Vanden Bosch sacks
Redskins QB Donovan McNabb
Photo Credit: DetroitLions.com

I'll take my wins any way that I can get them and I was fairly confident that the defense would do what it had done all game long-- give McNabb fits-- and protect the win.  But, Shanahan pretty much conceded defeat when he inserted a barely warmed up Grossman into the game at such a critical point.

Hmmm.  The Redskins are off next week giving Shanahan, McNabb and the media two weeks to let this thing simmer.  It will be interesting to see how things play out for the rest of the season.  More importantly, it will be interesting to see how things play out after the season.  My guess is that Donovan McNabb-- while standing on the sideline after being pulled from the game-- was thinking to himself, "I'm calling my agent as soon as we get back to DC and telling him to start quietly planning my departure from this comedy of errors."

Oh, Good Evening!