Ben's Debut

Last Tuesday was a day that i will always remember. It was the day that my grandson Ben played his first organized Baseball game,and at 5 years old he was most likely looking forward to it as much as i was. For this event held something special for myself as well. Ben would become the 5th generation to carry my family name on a ball diamond in Hespeler. My grandfather in the 20's and 30's, my Father in the late 30's and 40's my brother in the 60's myself in the 70's my nephew in the 80's and now Ben was going to make his debut on the Field of Dreams. Sure it was only t-ball but it was baseball, the sport of summer, my favourite sport. To watch the kids play was as fun as i hoped it would be, to see them scramble after a ball and try to throw it to first, running the bases and getting that first swing and first hit was a hoot. Ben did the best he could and looked good doing it, not once did his uniform look dishelveld. He looked the part and i hope he felt the part and he made me proud...If Ben never plays the game again it would not matter, for history will remember that day, and some day hopefully a sixth generation will appear on the Diamond, but not too soon.
However there is one thing i must point out, if my Father was still alive, i don't know who would win a race between he and Ben, as unfortunately he inherited the running skills of my family[poor kid]. Play ball, Ben!

Sittings 6

Just a few thoughts on the 1st long weekend of the summer.
8Degrees Celsius, not the best way to start the summer...Barry Bonds may hit more homeruns than the Babe, but he will never be the Babe...my pick for the Stanley Cup finals, Edmonton vs Buffalo, and Buffalo will win in six...the death of a female captain in Afghanistan does not change anything, we are there and not leaving, let's face it...The Federal Liberal leadership race comes down to 4 people ,in my opinion,Ken Dryden,Michael ignatieff,Bob Rae and Gerad Kennedy...most television commercials suck but i have to admit that the Mastercard"i want to drive the Zamboni" spots are actually brilliant....the Da Vinci Code is out and the early returns say the movie is not that good, but already has made 60 million dollars or so..Iran may be tops on Bush's agenda, but what worries me more is the fact that Russia and China support them.
http://captainhespeler.proboards52.com/index.cgi check it out...the 2005/2006 television season is winding down and not much on that was worth watching..at least Law and Order was renewed...and no! i don't care who wins American Idol...seems Al Gore thinks he can take another run at the Presidency of the United States, Al, give it up...i spent Friday night in the emergency room at my local hospital, more interesting people you could not meet...i know i am getting older, my grandson plays his first organised baseball game this week..
that is all for today hang in there summer has to get better..

Between Woodstock and Reagan[intro]

Welcome to between Woodstock and Reagan. This is a blog series about the 1970's, an era in which i came of age. I was born in August of '57 in a small town called Hespeler,which made me 12 when Woodstock happened. So the '70s were my teenage years, a time of discovery personnaly and a time to discover the world. In this series i will try to tell the events that occured and my reccollections of them. The music, the politics and the world events that made the era ours. Trudeau,Nixon,Stanfield,Carter,Saturday Night Live,All in the Family,Iran,Lemon Gin,Pink Floyd,Kiss,Queen,Max Webster,Wasaga Beach,the birth of the Blue Jays,the gas shortage,high school,my first car,discovering marijuana,stubby beer bottles,George Carlin,Richard Pryor,the Matador Tavern,the Coronet Hotel and all the other events that made the '70s. There will be no chronological order to this series, as i feel a story or event needs to be told, i will tell it. It will be rambling and some of it will be personal, so i hope you will not mind. This will be my view of the era so it may be biased, but it will be real.
Between Woodstock and Reagan is dedicated to two friends that are no longer with us. Paul who did not make it thru the '70s having drowned in 1979 and Mel who while making it thru the era could not survive the Millinium, passing away in September of 2001. Both were near to me and while i miss them both life goes on, and with that i dedicate my stories and my memories to them.
Enjoy.

Changes are coming

Sorry for those few die hards that have e-mailed me and wondered about this blog and if i was still writting or not. Due to some unexplained internal problems with my computer my abilities to write have not been there. However starting now problems are fixed i hope and i will be more active. I will also be changing some things. I will still do sittings and my stories but i have decided to catagorise some topics. "The Roadhouse report" will be about the Resturant business and "From Woodstock to Reagen" will be about growing up in the seventies. "Gravel Roads and other tales from the Vinyl Jungle" will be a look at the world of music. Hope you will enjoy, and please let me know. Yak at you later.