Hinckley Blog

As you know, we drew a bye on the the 2008 travel season, and a good thing it was with everything else we have dealt with this year. But for 2009 we are back on the schedule, co-hosting a 12-day cruise that includes Italy, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, and Israel.

A new trip, of course, can mean only one thing - getting the right clothes. The Rockport shoes I bought for China still work great; the LLBean travel shirt is indestructible; the REI jacket I bought for New England is perfect; but I don't quite have the right pants. This is a 12-14 day trip and I need to do it with just two pairs of pants...

Luckily, the REI Labor Day Sale is still in full force. I had read the flyer a few days ago and noticed that their nylon travel pants came in a 34" inseam and were on sale for only $29. After this morning's half-marathon we dropped by REI (Mom's new Nalgene, with the flip-top lid, was defective!) and I thought it was worth looking. While most of the sale items were either size small or XXXL, the perfect travel pants were in stock in a 34" x 34" at a great sale price! Even without the planned cruise, I might have had to buy them, as my general policy is to buy any shirt or pants that I find in my size, my size being so rare... Here is the official description:

• Washed Neo-linen nylon has a peached finish for a soft, worn feel
• Moisture-wicking, quick-drying finish keeps you comfortable; UPF 50+ rated fabric blocks harmful UV rays
• Secure your travel or trail essentials in the two concealed, zippered pockets at side seams and the zippered hip pocket
• Also features two front slash pockets and two rear button-closure welt pockets
• Contrast bar-tack stitching throughout adds durability
• Launders easily in washing machine or by hand, if need be while traveling

Neo-linen, UPF 50, concealed pockets! As you can see, they do pretty much everything except fold into their own pocket! So I think I'm ready now. And none too soon as the trip starts on March 25, 2009...

BTW, at a starting price of $1999 per person, this trip is a great deal. And immediate family members qualify for a discount.

Happy sailing!

Dinner tonight was nothing less than spectacular - lemon grilled chicken over pasta, with just the right amount of red pepper, fresh basil, lemon juice and olive oil. It was a truly Rowanesque meal!

In fact, it was so good that we finished it off by driving down to Dolcetti's for some gelato!

You can't get much closer to the middle of America than here. On the way to the airport (well, not exactly on the way, but as part of the same trip), Momma Kath and Joseph visited Sister Hansen who took them on a tour of the Visitor Center! As you can see from the photo, she is doing great!

By all reports, it is a nice college town just a short 15-hour drive from Salt Lake. John Gorka is playing there next month, so it may be worth the drive.

This morning at 7:00 a.m., Ellie and I headed out for an appointment with my psychiatrist, Dr. Wu. Who knew doctors took appointments starting that early? Her staff certainly doesn't show up that early. There was only one other car in the parking lot - a cream colored mini Cooper - and I figured it had to belong to my slender Chinese doctor who sits on an oversized exercise ball and types on her laptop in a room full of weeping green plants.

When we walked into the office, Ellie looked at me and asked, "Dr. Froehlich?" No, that's my OB. "Dr. Pretorius?" No, that's the endocrinologist. "Fix Mommy's back?" No, that's Dr. Korchok the chiropractor. She didn't make it all the way to Dr. Wallace, her pediatrician, or Dr. Choo, her ENT, before I said, "This is Dr. Wu." "Oh," she smiled, "Dr. Wu." And, yes, she pronounces all the names perfectly.

When we show up at Dr. Korchok's office, Ellie knows that Brenda the receptionist will give her pretzel sticks, and she starts asking for them. She knows that Dr. Froehlich has Curious George books on the table. She's perfectly happy to visit everywhere except Dr. Wallace, where she knows that the numerous toys and movies are just a seduction, and that this time she will be the one poked and prodded.

Should we be eating more apples?

Dr. Jamin was hooded and moved to Winston-Salem; Joseph graduated from college, lost an election, had his first son, and took his little family to law school in Lawrence, KS; JT left Goldman Sachs behind, bought a car and moved to Connecticut; Spencer turned 30 and found life after PCE at NAMI; Chris's Crimenelli Fine Meats became award-winning Cremenelli; and Rob is big enough to put in his mission papers (someone alert Elder Richards!).

All in all, it's been a big year for the boys in the family.

Joseph and Spencer began the long drive to Lawrence on Thursday, so we held what may be the last picnic of the season (Joseph being the barbeque chef) on Wednesday evening. A good time was had by all.

Legends indeed! Steve Gadd on drums, Luis Ponte on percussion, Michael Landau on electric guitar, Blue Lou Marini on sax, Arnold McCuller, David Lasley, Kate Markowitz and Andra Zahnn doing the backup vocals, Walt Fowler from Salt Lake City on trumpet.

Walt Fowler? Could he be Bruce Fowler's brother? Bruce Fowler, Skyline High School class of '65, who played trombone in the jazz band and the pep band with Craig Hansen, Conan Grames, and Alan Rappalye? Indeed he is! It turns out Bruce and his younger brothers (their father was the jazz professor at the U) live in LA and are major players, having played in Frank Zappa's band in the 70s. They now do mostly movie soundtrack work (Bruce won the 2007 Film and TV Music Awards for best Best Score Conductor and Best Orchestrator). Bruce's credits include The Dark Knight, both Pirates of Caribbean movies, Oceans Twelve and Thirteen, The Bourne Supremacy, and scores of others.

But back to JT and the Band. They played several songs off the upcoming Covers album, including a nice rendition of Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, from Oklahoma! There was a bit of '50s soul thrown into the mix with The Temptations' It's Growing and the Silhouettes' Get a Job, and a very bluesy Hound Dog (a long ways from the Elvis Presley version).

And, of course, the old favorites. Sweet Baby James, You've Got A Friend, Carolina In My Mind, Steamroller Blues (about 10 minutes!), Shower The People, Your Smiling Face, Country Road. The show began at about 8:30 and finished around 11:00 (with a 30 minute break). James was lively, talkative, funny, and generally just having a great time, as were the Legends.

There was some fear that there would be no encore - the audience applauded and shouted for what seemed like an eternity before the band began wandering back on stage, but when they came they gave us another three numbers and about 20 minutes of rockin'!

Our VIP tickets included dinner, our own private "box" and VIP parking (no hassle leaving the amphitheater). It was a swell event.

And here's the clincher. "Mr. Mac" Christensen was there and stopped to talk with us for a few minutes and let us know that they have been talking to James Taylor for a couple of years about doing the MTC Christmas special. "Don't you think he'd be great?" said Mac.

Think about it.

After eight dutiful years of post-graduate study, Jamin victoriously defended his dissertation, Urban Sympathy: Reconstructing an American Literary Tradition, YESTERDAY! That makes him "Dr." to you.

"...In Winslow, Arizona

I have been listening to that kid from Tucson, AZ - Jackson Browne, Solo Acoustic - for the last few weeks. Since we have been talking about lyrics lately, here are some of my Jackson Browne favorites:

Everybody's going somewhere
Riding just as fast as they can ride
I guess they've got a lot to do
Before they can rest assured
Their lives are justified

I've been up and down this highway, far as my eye can see

But no matter how fast I run, I still can't get away from me

And no matter where I am, I can’t help thinking

I'm just a day away from where I want to be

I can see it in your eyes - you've got those bright baby blues

You’re not sure what you’ve got gain, but you don’t like to lose

You watch yourself from the sidelines,

Like your life was a game you don’t mind playing

To keep yourself amused

I don’t mean to be cruel baby, but you’re looking confused

Sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder

Where the years have gone

They’ve all passed under

Sleep’s dark and silent gate

Better bring your own redemption when you come
To the barricades of Heaven where I'm from

I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening?

I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Though true love could have been a contender

Time is running out
For the fool still asking

What his life is about

In '69 I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on

Mostly melancholy lyrics, but aren't most of the good ones always melancholy? Anyway, it makes for some good hours of running.