Happy Mother's Day!

Created as celebrated in the United States on the second Sunday in May one hundred years ago through proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson, Mother's Day is one of the biggest guilt trips ever created even as women themselves say, "no, no, let's not...it's just a Hallmark holiday" (don't believe them!).  Reading about Mother's Day on Wikipedia was interesting, especially how Anna Jarvis was involved.  I don't think her mother would have approved of all of Anna's activities.

I get kind of down at Mother's Day time as I remember Frances Vivian Fanelli Dunphy, my late stepmother-in-law.  We celebrated it together as grandmothers without being mothers.

We still have some wonderful gifts for you to give Mom, Mama, Mami, Mamon, 媽媽 to honor all she gave and continues to give as long as you both shall live, for as long as you remember her and carry her inside you, your mother will always be a part of you.  (And we haven't even begun to sing the praises of wonderful stepmothers and grandmothers.)

And, if you can't decide, there are always a gift certificate, one size fits all.  Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Christmas to All and to All, a Good Night

It's not yet midnight as I begin this post (goodness knows when I'll publish it!).

It is in fact not yet 6:30pm Central Time. Books on First has been officially closed over 2 hours ago and Larry has been on the road for about a half hour. He looks forward to homemade BBQ Pork Lo Mein (the dish, not the pork) as well as jello with fruit in it (bring your own whipped cream) and burnt, hard-as-a-rock oatmeal raisin cookies -- his favs.

Our Christmas gift to each other is a trip to Toronto, beginning 9am on Boxing Day, with a flight on Jazz, whichI believe is a regional feeder for Air Canada. We booked on Air Canada, but look forward to this interesting aspect of airlines today. I am wondering why a flight from Chicago to Toronto does not warrant a regular Air Canada flight, but maybe not many Chicagoans want to go to Toronto and vice versa, making it a prime candidate for Jazz Airlines. I have never really walked this city which I am told is very cosmopolitan and look forward to all the culture to be absorbed. Of course, we will seek out bookstores, coffeeshops and live music venue as we can. Larry is handling the research on this, so he's got the Toronto Book of Everything ("The book the locals buy!). I took a look at the book, which is a real browser-trivial pursuit type of reference. Just tell me where the bookstores and coffeeshops are. An index, an index, my kingdom for an index!

I donated to USO today in memory of Frances Dunphy, who served in the Coast Guard during WWII. Did you know that the USO is not part of the Federal government and needs donations just like any other private not-for-profit? Books for Babes did very well this year, thanks to the generosity of Books on First customers and we were able to buy nearly $200 of mittens, scarves and hats for the children with a portion of the proceeds from purchases for this program. Everyone in this time of economic bottoming has been very caring of those in the community, whatever that community may be defined. Let us all continue to remember our community, now and throughout the year.

Happy Christmas, everyone! And to all, a good night.

After 11 Sep

In the collective consciousness of this nation and most of the world, "9/11" has a certain significance. For each of us as individuals, though, it takes on a different meaning for different reasons. And, while we commemorate those who are gone and mark the first time since Pearl Harbor that there has been an attack on U.S. soil, life (and death) marches on.
Today, we want to mark one year since the passing of Charles Francis Dunphy. Larry and I miss him very much. He was a great lover of reading literature, watching baseball, discussing politics and current events, telling jokes (which he called "stories") and playing cards. Larry said he could quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet. He loved gathering the family together ("any reason for a party"). He had flaws and made mistakes, yes, but he also had the wisdom of years and experience which he generously shared and an indomitable spirit. Even blinded in one eye due to a cataract surgery gone awry, he continued to enjoy books through his wife Frances's reading. She pre-deceased him by one month (see our August blog).

And, we would like to mention the passing of Agatha Tyne, mother of Margaret -- one of Dixon's strongest supporters and a good friend since we met upon opening of Books of First and grandmother of Courtney, one of our early PT employees. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the family.

Just shared some time with Shelly Franz who loves mysteries and reads mainly with an EZReader, which she says is better than a Kindle. She has little use for smell of a book or feel of turning pages. She is of the argument that as long as we are all reading, why not electronically. Ahh, yes, we are in agreement there.

Let me tell you a little about our time back east Down East. Sunday before Labor Day, we flew (on a plane -- no arm-flapping necessary) out of Chicago O'Hare to Boston Logan. Met by Carolyn's maternal aunt & uncle Mary & Allan Tow, we went to the Union Oyster Bar for some great Cherrystones and Little Necks raw on the half shell. The fried clams were delicious. A lot of history within its walls, including Attorney Alan's -- after every trial, win or lose, he came to this restaurant. Having a meal here meant, "it is done." Mary very gamely played tour guide and recent historian as we walked along North End (not very much changed), the waterfront (unrecognizable except for the New England Aquarium), the Rose Kennedy Greenway (new over the Big Dig which was also before my time -- reminds me a bit of Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago) and Chinatown (quick walk-through). We stayed at the Omni Parker House (great Labor Day price via internet price shopping!), also full of history (Larry loves this stuff), but best of all, very centrally located.
We also managed in the next 24 hours to walk through the Boston Commons, Beacon Hill, Fenway Park, MFA, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Northeastern University/Huntington Ave, Copley Square, Newbury St and Back Bay...
I had hoped to eat at No Name, having fond youthful memories of arriving with co-worker Lisa Tuttle et al. at the end of a Friday night after finishing work at the now defunct lawfirm McCabe/Gordon P.C. and buying some California sparkling at the Store24, eating, drinking, flirting with and helping the Greek waiters re-fill ketchup bottles and salt shakers. However, a bartender we asked had never heard of the place and it wasn't on any tourist map -- which probably merely means the restaurant did not pay for any advertising. Having done no prior research, I conceded that the place may have gone out of business and did not want to drag Larry all over the docks in the dark, looking for the real Boston. I do believe, though, that that would have made for an interesting story (and we all know how Larry -- not unlike his father -- enjoys being able to tell a good story). However, as you can see, I found it on the internet with recent (conflicting) comments, so, it will be a destination for next time.

Onward to Gloucester, MA, where we spent much time reading the names of all 5,800+ fishermen who died through the years, including those featured in The Perfect Storm, which occurred in 1991. You can tell that ocean fishing had become relatively safer, fishermen were taking less risks, etc, by the number of names by year on the memorial -- 1623 up through 2001. I couldn't tell if there haven't been any deaths since 2001 or no one has updated it in 7-1/2 years.
There appeared to be a miniature museum in every shanty in town, but we restricted ourselves to 1-1/2 and managed to finish the visit with a beer from Cape Ann Brewing Co for Larry and a lobster roll (my one and only on the entire trip) for me.
In Portland, ME, a wonderful city, we visited another brewpub Gritty McDuff just a couple of blocks from the harbor, supported live music by a local artist and a number of other Maine microbreweries' offerings at Andy's Old Port Pub, visited with a bookseller of used volumes Cunningham Books in Longfellow Square. Proprietor Nancy has two storefronts (like we have our West Wing) but is cutting back to one. We wish her the best of good luck.

There is at least one, maybe more, coffee roaster in Portland. We dropped by a branch store of Coffee by Design. It was a fun space on Congress, right between Longfellow Square and the art museum. I noted that beans were being sold for average $10.75/lb, not much different from our smaller selection, offered for sale 100 miles from the roaster. Their dark roast on that day was quite good, but we were a little disappointed in the double espresso.

We also stuffed in a few hours at the Portland Museum of Art which currently has a wonderful exhibition: Call of the Coast -- Art Colonies of New England. Atop that, while the permanent collection might be modest compared to other art museums, the works are well-displayed.

The crown jewel of our visit was going to Rockland, ME, where Melissa Kelly's Primo was our destination, as featured in Michael Ruhlman's The Reach of the Chef. We stopped by the Rock City Coffee & Bookshop to check it out plus confirm directions. Melissa is a good friend of our daughter Kelly Dunphy (well, ok, Larry's daughter -- see August blogs on Frances and me). She graciously led us around the compact homefarm hehind the restaurant named for Melissa's maternal Italian grandfather, housed in a 130-year old renovated & now expanded house, where they raise everything from Tamworth and Large Black hogs to butcher to honeybees to hens producing some 90 eggs daily to herbs, vegetables and flowers all used in the incredible dishes in a daily changing menu. We returned for dinner at 7:30 after checking into The Ledges by the Bay, an old-fashioned motel with rooms featuring decks overlooking the water, and had a lemon drop martini made with house-made lemoncello, great local oysters with nasturtium butter, handmade pasta with wild boar ragout, house dry-cured beef, wonderfully prepared local tuna and halibut (with a zucchini risotto that Larry practically licked the plate to finish), a tisane of fresh picked herb leaves like lemon balm accompanying housemade grapefruit & Campari sorbetto.
We sincerely thank Melissa and co-owner Price Kushner for the generosity of their time. It was a great visit.

While we were getting ready to go to dinner, we discovered our FT (position: "Larry's Favorite Employee") Brenda had attempted to call Larry at least twice in a half hour. So, we kept the mobile on after reaching only her VM and lo, and behold, she was full of exciting news: ABC network television was coming out again to follow up after dropping by approximately a year ago to get the pulse of those in Ronald Reagan's boyhood home. Again, neither Larry nor Carolyn would be present. However, we all know Brenda Spratt, who celebrates 9 years with Books on First this month, is the boss of us, anyway. We hope there'll be a moment with her on air. We believe the segment with David Muir will air on Tuesday (15 Sep) night's ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

Remembering Les Paul and Frances Fanelli Dunphy

Larry just told me about the death of Les Paul, whom we saw in 2002 at the Iridium in New York (two years before this picture was taken per AP), while in town for the BookExpo at Jacob Javits Convention Center.
That was a serendipitous occasion. Larry was reading one of those visitors' bureau publications put into the hotel room for guests' information for "things to do" (yes, and we didn't even need to fire up a laptop), and he said, "Look, Les Paul is playing. I didn't even know he was still alive." So, we had to go. Already dark, of course, as it was after 9pm on a June night. Walked down Broadway, enjoying the hustle & bustle and lights of New York City at night. Nearly passed the unobtrusive entrance to the jazz club with a lone attendant at the door. Paid the cover charge. Walked into a room where all the light was focused on the stage on which Les Paul sat on a chair with his guitar in lap with two much younger musicians accompanying him. The audience sat at small tables in almost total darkness not more than a few feet away. And, except to respond to the show (ripple of laughter, round of applause), in attentive silence (I recall little of that chit-chat you usually hear in clubs during live music). It was a very intimate setting, and an enjoyable and moving time, being in the presence of a living legend.

Let me also take this moment to mention the memory of Frances Fanelli Dunphy who passed away one year ago Tuesday (11 Aug 2008). I like to think we had a tiny bit in common. We celebrated Mother's Day together, two women who had borne no children yet were (still am) quietly proud and loving grandmothers. She had a rich life, enjoying playing cards and participating in so many groups and extension classes. I loved hearing stories and talking with her about her childhood in Amboy, IL, her stint in the Coast Guard during WWII, her family including her brother who died in The War, her sisters, nieces and nephews, the Fanelli Candy Store where she worked after school (she especially liked assignment to the Dixon branch shop where there was a soda fountain),... And she made the best fruit pies -- especially crust which "makes" the pie. She used to make a special one to order for a family member's birthday. Since Larry's b-day is in February, he once asked for a raisin pie, instead of one made of frozen or canned fruits. I had never heard of a raisin pie until I met Larry and then, Frances. We all miss you, Frances.