Stephen Collett

Dear John, Lillian and Mary,

You know, I didn´t think about whether the Patrick O´brian series would be interesting for women when I put that out there. Recently (again) I listen to them almost every day, anytime I am driving over 30 minutes, and I just wondered whether anyone else was hooked. There are some wonderful portraits of women, though as the women to the men. They are "admirable" each of the three main women (over a 20+ year span of time -the Napoleanic wars) and generally above their men. But the books (19) are mostly about men-at-sea in the British Navy ("Rule Bretannia, Bretannia waves the rules...").

Interesting that you have a different reader, John. I have Rick Jarrom, and couldn´t have another. He gets everything, from Killick ("Wah nowh....sir") to the dialects of the South Sea little girls adopted from an island devastated by plague. I always know who he is speaking for. But I felt this also for my Audible version of Wolf Hall, somewhat difficult to read (who´s speaking?) but helped by a good reader. I listen to Bluetooth through my hearing aids, great sound.

Stephogey

David Buchholz

http://www.davidkbuchholz.com/iceland/

Jadyne and I followed the Ring Road around Iceland.  I've put up forty-one or so photographs from our travels.

Philip Spiess

That's some Ring Road!

John Mather

Stephogey, I subscribe to Audible now but when I started I got them from the public lib. I'd go to the main Madison lib and look through the CDs & yes, tapes on the shelves. There were times when I had to pick something I had no info about. I came across some very interesting books.

When I started to download them in the more recent past I did a search and books with your reader showed up. I haven't tried one but I certainly listen to the samples they have. My friends have all listened to Tull. I di come across some pretty bad readers. The guy who read George Will's "Men at Work" could get all the players' names right. It was jarring to say the least.

I have to say audio books saved a daily work drive of 45-60 minutes. One great advantage comes into play when you have to deal with something while listening and you miss something. You can always go back.

Another interesting side note: a woman who worked for me and ended up filling my position when I retired has become a reader on Audible. I've listened to a sample and she's good but none of her books interest me enough. Yet.

John Mather

David, I'll check out your pics. Iceland is vertainly a mecca for photogs these days. Lot of workshops. A friend was just there for a visit and said the locals are getting a bit testy about the big influx of tourists. Did you get that feeling?

David Buchholz

Testy? Since so many are in the industry I'd say not at all. Triple the tourists in the last decade means a huge influx of money. We only saw locals in tourist related activities or in Reykjavik, and all spoke perfect English and were very welcoming.

Jeff Daum

John, I agree with David.  Susan and I were in Reykjavik, Isafjordur and Akureyri Iceland this past July and found small numbers of tourists, especially outside of Reykjavik.  The Icelanders were very welcoming, open and warm people.

John Mather

David and Jeff, I think my friend spent a fair amount of time with locals. I'd heard from other folks that it was a very friendly country.

BTW I enjoyed your photos. Both.

Susan Patterson (Schramm)

A photo from the birthday celebration our son gave for us last Sunday.  My 70th, Al's 71st are just a day apart. My diagnosis with ALS, made in May 2015, has put me in a power wheelchair, but it will not stop us from enjoying life.  We had a wonderful time.  

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

It is with much sadness that I learned of Michael White's passing earlier today from a Facebook post on his account by Mike Jr.  I have no other details.

I was aware that Mike had been concerned about some recent tests on his heart.  I was hoping he would have a positive outcome.   

He really enjoyed the reunion.  RIP Mike!

We had a mini-reunion  at my house right before the Birthday Bash. Here are a couple of pictures I took with Charles Woode, JoAnn Dyson Dawson, Mike, Sharon Hubbard McKenzie '65, Harry Martin, James Johnson, Me, and Phil Penn.

Dexter Roger Dixon

Michael Alexander White was one of my oldest and dearest friends.  He was a tower of strength when I needed emotional support.  I will miss him.  RIP

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

http://hosting-11936.tributes.com/obituary/show/Michael-A.-White-103998142

Ashley Brown

Mike White was one  ofhte first new friends I made at WHHS. We have stayed in contact over the years. He was a very good guy and a joy to talk with. I will miss him.

Tina Preuninger (Hisrich)

Susan, you look great and I imagine you are pretty quick with that wheel chair.  A long time Cincinnati family friend has had ALS for some time and she is never hindered in doing anything.  Looks like you and your family had a great birthday celebration.

Thanks, Ann, for posting about Mike's passing.  I recall his concern about his heart tests.  He will be missed. I recall him as a funny and nice person. 

JoAnn Dyson (Dawson)

I am just getting back to reading these WHHS64 posts today after a gap of several weeks.  I too am very sad to learn of Michael White's passing.  We had a chance to catch up a bit at Ann's home.  This news is very distressing.  My heart-felt condolences to his family and close friends.

Thank you Ann for letting us know.

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

With the passing of our Michael White, I remind classmates to please post remarks/memories of Michael on his In Memory page. That way, it will be forever easily accessible for others to read about Mchael. Classmates willl receive notification of any new posts on his or other classmates In Memory pages. Thank you.

Susan Patterson (Schramm)

Thanks for the encouragement Tina Hisrich.  We have been as busy as we can, trying to not let my condition  shape everything.  (I'm trying to set an example for my grandchildren! ).  Would your friend be willing to chat online?  My email is sschramm46@gmail.com.  Thanks!

Nelson Abanto

Opera lovers,

On Saturday the Metropolitan Opera opens its "live in HD" season with Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner.  It stars Nina Stemme as Isolde.  If you are at all inclined to Wagner, this is a must.

Enjoy,

Nelson 

Philip Spiess

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is considered his greatest opera (though I am a devotee of his The Ring Cycle and Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg).  But the music that depicts in most unsettling recognizable terms the love act (i.e., the sex act) is undoubtedly the most lubricious ever created in music (and I include rock music here).  So it was recognized even at the time (1860s).  I will confess I was almost embarassed the first time I heard it (1967), and, as you may surmise by these pages, I'm no prude.  But the overall opera changed the course of Western classical music forever.

Nelson Abanto

A profound comment, Phil.  I, too, prefer the Ring (particularly Die Walküre) and Parsifal.  

Philip Spiess

I'm sorry:  I have just reviewed the "In Memory" page after some time has passed, and I'm shocked at how many members of our class have actually gone.  "Ave atque vale!" -- and God bless them all.

Jerry Ochs

Couldn't remember the Roman numerals for 51, 6 and 500. Livid

Dale Gieringer

 Not to stir up a political altercation on line, but it's depressing to hear pundits explain Ohio's pro-Trump tendencies relative to other battleground states by an overabundance of non-college-educated white males.   Since when has Ohio, renowned "home of Presidents," fallen behind North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Nevada in this regard?   Makes me think that the Buckeye State would be better off if all us WHHS grads had stayed home.

Jeff Daum

If you like collector cars, I just finished a week's shooting at the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas Auction.  I have put images up at my website http://www.DaumPhotography.com.  Look under the "Events" galleries and enjoy 

Philip Spiess

Jerry:  I'm sure Livy was livid, too.  Have you ever seen the cartoon piece (ages old now) where a Roman soldier tries to multiply using Roman numerals?  (It really can't be done, at least by our modern arithmetical metrics and methods.)

Dale:  My first detention was in Fifth Grade at Clifton School (I had several from Mr. Ahlert in Shop Class in 7th Grade at WHHS -- but that's another story; I'm sure we all did) when I disputed with the teacher, Miss Harris, about Ohio's presidents.  She said Grover Cleveland was an Ohio President and I said, "No, he wasn't; he was from New York."  She said, "But the city of Cleveland is named after him," and I said, "No, it wasn't; it was named after Moses Cleaveland [sp. correct, I believe]."  She gave me a detention for disagreeing with her and "disrupting the class" (which had laughed -- they knew who was the history brain!).  When my mother came to pick me up after the detention, she asked Miss Harris, "Well, did you look it up to see which of you was right?"  Miss Harris, who had been teaching for a long time and was actually a very good teacher (she defended having lots of art history books which we could look at in the back of the room which had lots of nude men and women in them -- and we did look at them), blushed deeply and admitted "No."  So the three of us looked it up (waay before Google), and I was right (which I knew, which is why I was outraged at the detention).  At least she had the integrity to report on the incident to the class the next day and admit that she was wrong.  It taught me a lot about teachers and teaching, and I hope I never did anything similar in my eight years of teaching Middle School History and Geography.

Jeffrey:  Your picture reminds me of the Edsel automobile.  If you don't know the apocryphal story about the Edsel, I'm not going to tell it on this Website.