Author Archives: rike52

I’ve got a new book out.  This one’s a lot more fun than the first one I published https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1417.  It’s about another youthful obsession I haven’t been able to shake 50 years on, only this time I don’t want to.  That’s Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen and all the paths they’ve taken sinceContinue reading “another shameless plug”

Last week I posted about actions on the U of M campus that may lead to Fielding H. Yost’s name being removed from the first building he erected as athletic director in 1923, then Yost Field House (the first multipurpose athletic building of its kind), now Yost Ice Arena. I refer you to that blogContinue reading “more Fielding Yost”

This one woke me from my nap today as it rolled around on John Fogerty Spotify https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqYiHkx7ils.  For me, it dates to my University of Chicago years (’75-9), particularly the first.  I think it was the break up song for me and Mary Ann, a tall, buxom, sassy, social work student from New Hyde ParkContinue reading “late for the sky”

I had occasion to send something to my Dixie chick (South Carolina) friend Donna today. I’ve mentioned her before in a few posts. One has a nice picture of her https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1101. She was my old chief’s secretary (er, administrative assistant). We always got along and had fun at work, and have become very good friendsContinue reading “thoughts shared with Donna on Decoration Day”

The contagion of applying today’s morals to great men of the past and hanging them by it has come to Ann Arbor.  A committee of eight historians, one of them my friend and fellow U of C classmate Joel Howell, has examined the evidence and judged that Fielding H. Yost’s name should be removed fromContinue reading “deathless loyalty”

Mussels mania continues unchecked at Harbal! For many years, Thursday evenings at our place have been reserved for “Jesus dinner”, a simple repast befitting our Lord consisting of fish, bread, and wine.  It grew out of my weekly foray to East Ann Arbor (EAA) medical campus, where higher ups deemed I should go see patientsContinue reading “clearly non-kosher mussels for Jesus dinner”

I don’t know how I stumbled onto this. But John Prine Spotify passed it by me once again tonight. Every boomer needs to hear this, again and again. Before this, I didn’t know who Rodney Crowell was. Now I have tickets to see him at City Winery in Chicago on Veteran’s Day. For fun, we’reContinue reading “the best”

Spotify runs so many by you. Tonight its the John Prine channel, which features very little John Prine. But some squeaks through, like the one below. This one was borne as something to roll over the credits of a movie. Daddy and them,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166158/ about a dysfunctional family headed by Andy Griffith (!), with Billy BobContinue reading “quick tune”

Kathy and I spent a wonderful early Saturday afternoon at lunch in Hopleaf in Andersonville https://hopleafbar.com.  We took a long Red Line ride to Uptown then a walk over to Clark, where the bustling once-Scandinavian neighborhood sits.  Our lunch feast was a full order of mussels accompanied by a big cone of frites and ailoi,Continue reading “Belgae moules!”