Why Templar Saint ?

Why my blog name? Well , in part it derives from my ancestors Masonic past. But that is only really 10% of the reason. It goes back to circa 1957. A new TV series was in part being filmed near Ocala Fl. Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges. They were filming some exteriors there and the underwater sequences at nearby Silver Springs. My Aunt and Uncle were managing a nearby Motel where Bridges stayed while filming. A guest arrived one August afternoon. A man of eastern looks but of more a British manner. He was there to talk with Bridges on some topic. Probably entertainment related. She agreed earlier to provide a picnic dinner for these gentleman. She delivered it to the Springs. Late in the evening they returned, spent a half hour in the bar , a few cigarettes etc. Late the next morning long after Bridges had gone off to the set the english sort of gentlemen was about to check out. My aunt an avid reader of detective fiction finally got up her courage to comment on the authors work. She then pulled out from under the desk her copy of one of his books. Yes he would sign it but first he wanted her recipe for her spicy deviled eggs he had in part dined on the night before. My aunt gladly complied. He signed the book plus drew for her a cartoon type human stick figure with a halo and signed that piece of paper as well. You see the author was Leslie Charteris......author of the Simon Templar mystery series. Templar was otherwise known as The Saint. The book was The Saint in New York. Don't know where the book ended up.....the stick figure is framed and hangs on my wall. The logo from the man himself. Templar is not as well known today.....but trust me Ian Fleming borrowed alot from Charteris when he created James Bond. You all know him. So in a sense, The Saint lives on in a very small way in my office in 06037 and with my blog name as well.

Lincoln Lost

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of Pres. Lincoln's birth. Speeches , reassessments of the man and his time as President etc. My comment today is an observation that came to me after a discussion with a southern relative not very long ago. If you look at the voting map district by district as I have it does not take a math major to realize that the current Republican Party has become a deeply Southern Party. It reminds me of the old solid south when it was Democratic. My uncle Belton was what was referred to as a yellow dog Democrat. They could run a yellow dog for office and they would vote for them. This of course stems from the Civil War and Reconstruction. The last Presidential election that was close to a solid south election was 1964 when Johnson was elected in a landslide. Much has changed in the intervening yrs. The Civil War is still close to many a southerners heart. The War of Northern Aggression as it is sometimes referred to down there. Pres. Lincoln it seems to me has become the crazy aunt in the attic for the conservative Republicans. One of the founding fathers of the Republican Party , the man obsessed with Union and the Gettysburg address. He is now the family embarrassment to many southern Republicans. Pres. Obama it seems has taken over the Lincoln Brand. The new man from the midwest paying frequent homage to the former. The current regional Republican Party does not know what to do with Lincoln. This I believe weakens the party , lessens it's history and
impact on the present. As the Republican Party attempts to reconstruct itself as it did after the 1964 election should be aware of the biblical adage of gaining the world and loosing it's soul. For Lincoln seems lost & yet to be rediscovered by his parties ancestors.

From Ripple to Riesling

The other night I attended a fund raising event for a NYC based human service agency. It was a wine tasting event....cheese....food events. My wife Elizabeth and I purchased 4 bottles from some of the exhibitors. On the way back home that night I thought about my younger days. America back then was not a wine nor exotic beer country back then. I remember attending several high school graduation parties in the summer of 1970 { the legal drinking age was then 18}. Wine was not on the list nor was any beer more exotic than Schlitz. My buddies Ron Kunicki and John Connellyand I spent a few evenings seeing school chums at the frequent graduation parties , drinking a few brews etc. Some of these people we would never see again. We did not yet want to see over the close horizon to college and beyond. That all could wait. I remember one week from our graduation we set outside of one of our parents cars on a small secondary road oddly namedFunk Road. We had a bottle of Ripple. Made by the Gallo Vineyards this was a cheap rotgut wine. About to start summer jobs we were poor seniors......but proud. Did not matter at that moment. Ripple came in a cork screwed shaped was a red wine with a semi sweetness. This wine did not have legs. I believe the cork screw shape was to aid wine drunks to hold onto the bottle. Later that summer my two buddies and I attended the Powder Ridge Music Festival in Connecticut. It was billed as a second Woodstock but was much a fizzle as far as the music part went. Most groups had a court injunction slapped on them so they never came. Ripple was a very common product at that loosely named music festival. That was really our last hurrah.....it was August , college approached just over our personnel bend in our youthful road. By the way , we were not a trio of drunks......just young , walking somewhat reluctantly towards our so called futures our parents had dreams about. Soon we were off to college. The years have gone by. I still know my childhood friend Ron. We tend to drink Merlot or a Riesling. This is not just because they don't make Ripple anymore. WE BECAME THOSE TAX PAYING < HARD WORKING < VOTING < CHILD RAISING ADULTS. We moved on. Wineries once confined to Europe or the west coast and even the southern tier of NewYork now are widespread. Micro breweries appear in small towns and cities from Lake Placid to Brooklyn , NY. America changed as our culture expanded. Wine once an oddity for maybe a Thanksgiving now common even in a local gin mill. In a truly odd way that generation looking for something different came upon and helped create this market. Slight snobs , graduating from a Ripple to Reasoning and Riesling.

Kirsten Jillibrand : Big Tent New York Democratic Pick

Recently , our esteemed Gov. has appointed Rep. Jillibrand as the new Senator for our state. That seat being vacated by Senator H. R. Clinton. A few evenings ago I attended a dinner party near 11001. Soon into the first course I realized that I was the designated upstate guy. I grew up in her now former congressional seat. Questions arose about her 100% NRA rating. Her hick upstate area she came from. The congressional district I grew up in. After several minutes of downstate bitching I simply made the point that she was a big tent Democrat. The kind of Democrat that people vote for, the kind that win in their district. My old hometown area is in the Columbia/Saratoga area of the state. The Hudson Valley region. The home of esteemed United States President Martin Van Buran. Her political genetics go deep there , her Grandmother was Polly Noonan for instance. She headed the powerful Woman's Democratic Club in Albany. This organization was part of the old Democratic Machine. Long lasting and well organized a smaller version of present day Chicago. West of the river was Democratic to the east was Republican. This has been a traditionally more conservative area atleast since the Civil War. Even Hudson Valley neighbor FDR when President had a difficult time cracking that District. The area has long since lost it's factories and papermills. It is now more suburban , with a large segment that has remained rural , still populated by small farms , apple orchards , horse breeding stables and many small hamlet towns. People deer hunt up there. So , to win as a Democrat one has to possess atleast a conservative tint. Ms. Jillibrand went to an Ivy League College. Lived part of her life in Manhatten , is a Lawyer trained at what is often referred to as a left coast university. Hopefully.....some of the Dinner party guests will calm down. Politicians have something for everybody......even downstaters who are unclear as to what is over that Westchester County horizon to the north.