Click click bang bang

This post is about two things that maybe could be humorous but actually aren't.  Ilana and I just read a book about Hip Hop history called "Can't Stop Won't Stop" which we both found illuminating; both of us living through these times and both of us not being aware of the events and certainly not understanding the context.  Go back to times when I having real troubles with her brother.  Maybe think when he's 16 and she's 12.  That would be  1998 or so?  He would sit in his room and play gangsta rap really loud.  Really loud.  With all of it's violence and foul language.  I'm not somebody who freaks out about profanity but this stuff was truly offensive.  "Don't you remember?" she said "He had this song that starts with a gun being cocked and then shot 'Click click bang BANG,' and then the rap would start.  And he would play that starting part over again and again, really loud.  Click click bang BANG, click click bang BANG!"

No wonder I was going nuts.  Something like that brings it all back.  The actions of the acting out kid.  And the effect on the younger siblings.  Here's a 12 year old having to listen to all those violent sounds.  Myself as a parent certainly NOT wanting thing in my house but feeling powerless to stop it.

But, in a way, kinda comic.  Kinda funny.  That this stuff and his stuff could throw a household into disarray.  Click, click bang BANG!

I'm going to ask him about the song.  Maybe he remembers it and I can feature it on this blog.  He probably doesn't remember.

Make you feel for the 12 year old.

Plants seen better days

My class this quarter is in a Forestry building Bloedel Hall.  I like this building with its contemporary mid-century modern feel but think, like a lot of UW buildings, it's seen better days.  Not as bad as the gothic quad but similar.

These large plants live in a glass hallway and I like the idea of them.  But they also look like they might have looked better 10 or 15 years ago.  One (in the right foreground) is out and out dead.  I'm sure they have received their love from the forestry people, I am sure.  Still, they are a little forlorn.

Tiny baby

This tiny baby was born into my extended family last week.  A micro-preemie, they call them, born at 24 weeks at 1 pound 7.8 ounces.  I don't think she's gained any weight yet.  She's in a NICU in a Denver hospital.  My friend, a pediatrician, says she has a good chance.  But a long haul!  They tried so hard to keep that baby from coming to early but here she is!  I understand they have good insurance but nobody has that much money to withstand this plus time off work.  And there's the rest of your life too!  They have a gofundme out there but ...  This family is completely committed to their little daughter so we all have to help as we can!

UW Medicinal Garden

As I've mentioned many times, I'm an Access Student at the University of Washington.  Much of it is very beautiful.  Not like Univ California, Santa Cruz, nothing could beat that.  But very scenic, mostly.  Here's a picture of a portion of the Medicinal Garden at UW.  I know my doctor was involved with this garden and most of the plants looked in good shape.  The road is before the big trees in the background, cross that road and drop down just a little bit to Bloedel Hall where I have my class.  Never seen that building before, nice mid-century modern in a forest setting.  But looks like it might have looked better 30 years ago.  Big improvement over the original classroom assignment, an interior room in Bagley (Chemistry building) which was truly dreadful.

I do think they could have done much better in the Campus Parkway portion of the campus.  What was anybody thinking?

Tippecanoe County canoe races!

https://www.facebook.com/TippecanoeCountyIndiana/videos/477738782982882/UzpfSTEwNzI0NjA3OjEwMTA5MjA3MDU1NjgzNTA4/

Each year, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, they hold the Wabash Riverfest on the banks of the Wabash River.  There's Voyageur Canoe Races.  A grudge match between the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette.  And so much more

9:30 am             Harrison High School Football Offense vs Defense

10:30 am            Public Safety Challenge – Lafayette Police vs. Lafayette Fire

11:00 am            City Challenge – City of Lafayette vs. City of West Lafayette

11:30 am            County Challenge – Tippecanoe County vs. Warren County

Ilana was thrilled that, as a county official, from the inside, that she could participate in the canoe races.  She could paddle.  Actually there's not too much competition.  And, um, the other county dropped out.  It's still good, they got somebody else to be in the other boat.  She knows what end of the paddle to put in the water, she knows how to sit in the canoe, she even knows how to steer a canoe.  Actually, she led scouting canoe trips in the Border Lakes before college.

Click on the link above for the actual Tippecanoe Country canoe race.  They're the blue team on the far side and they won!  As she says, she was squealing in delight the whole time!

Dinner with friends

We had our friends Lee and David over for dinner last night.  I have a summer menu I've used several times and it's worked well.  We've found that our refinished table and chairs make a comfortable place for people sit around and talk.  Which is what we want!  We spent a lot of time talking about everything like we do.  About their son's upcoming wedding and party.  David's 'new' retirement.  Current topics, what we're interested in.

A fun time, glad they could come and we should do it more often!

Recent pictures from Charl

My brother Charlie Ginsburgh has some recent pictures up on his website https://charlie-g.smugmug.com/

He gives me permission to use them on my blog.

How can you beat a picture of flying parrot?  Who's ever seen a flying parrot?  And so up close and personal.   He has some beautiful flower pictures also.  Not only beautiful flowers but interpretations of beautiful flowers.

He steered me to his fireworks pictures.  The more I looked at them, the harder it was to pick one out.  But I love the blue and red on he water and the firework that looks like a peacock.

A smoking gun(let)

The illustration above, drawn by me, is from the 1970s.  I've been working with the Ginsburgh side of my family, trying to sort it out.  And, I really wanted to throw out a whole branch because they just didn't fit in.  My aunt had never heard of them. 

I did give in and do some DNA testing.  As a result, I've made some new connections which has been fun.  One, a 4th cousin Phil from Liverpool (not kidding) in some correspondence, challenged me, what evidence did I have that Isaac Ginsburgh was really the father of Jacob Lester?  Evidence is everything in genealogy; there's a ton of wrong stuff out there.  So I thought and thought.  I remember interviewing my grandfather Harold when I was in college.  I was his favorite.  He could be intimidating but he was a sucker for me.  I figure he would know the name of his own grandfather.  I had made some charts and some writeups, where was that stuff?  If I had marked Isaac as his father THEN, that would mean that I had gotten it from an interview directly with my grandfather because there was nothing else then. 

Miraculously, I found that old folder and here's my chart from the 1970s.  There you have it, I've marked Isaac as his grandfather.  But also there's Celia and Samuel and they were the ones I wanted to dump.  So I guess I will have to keep them.

A smoking gunlet

Front of Matt

A followup picture of my son in law Matthew.  Before you had the back on him, now he's facing the camera.  He's been working at Pops installing their new popsicle wrapper.  And look what he's holding!  A wrapped popsicle!  That was the goal after all.  He worked hard all week starting with a wrapped machine, got it wired, plugged in, got it going and calibrated.  It didn't quite go as far as they were hoping but it does wrap popsicles.  He'll continue to monitor the situation from Indiana.''

It was nice to have him around this week.