DETROIT’S AFFAIR--

Egad.

Have you noticed the latest news out of this once-great, world capital of the automotive industry? It is sounding like the story-line out of some smutty TV soap/cop drama.

They have a married mayor up there named Kwame Kilpatrick (pictured) who evidently and nonetheless had a smashing crush on his chief aide lady. It is alleged they took their mutual concubine-ness to new levels.

Then some local police got a little too close to the drama and hizzonor canned a couple of them.

That led to a messy law suit and it seems some evidence did exist to support the good guy’s allegations. That, in turn, led to a payoff with public money somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 million smackeroos.

About then a local newspaper filed suit to make all the tawdry paperwork public—and won.

A couple of hours later, (February 28th) those documents emerged and it sounds like the whole sordid affair is true.

Transcripts between hizz-not-so-honorable-honor and the temporary squeeze reveal they did indeed enjoy some sizzling frolics.

Which really was followed by a boat load of high-priced lawyers who slicked the entire episode past city council in the form of an out-of-court settlement that was “...in the best interests of the city” or some such nonsense.

Now what Detroit?

Are you going to struggle out of this swamp or will you continue to be like some wag once famously said of a then-declining Seattle, Will the last person out of town, please turn off the lights?

Curious? aim your favorite search engine at The Detroit News, where, by the way, the above photo originated.

ICE SKATING
ON THE VILLAGE GREEN--

Soft blue smoke from the crackling, foot-warming fire floats on the still air across Main Street while children shriek their happy protests each time gravity gives them a crashing lesson in this ageless winter sport.

Parents scurry around the temporary ice rink snapping pictures with their digital cameras and, for awhile at least, all is right with the world.

For a few months each winter the village constructs a temporary rink of a wooden frame and a liner on the lawn of the town hall and even non-skaters have just one more visual delight in this Norman Rockwellesque village we are privileged to call home.

LAST NIGHT'S CLEVELAND DEBATE--

I watched the political show on the lake last night.

Regarding Ms. Shrillary, not only is the "Fat Lady" now singing she is assembling her very own choir.

A LOOK AHEAD--

Editor’s Note: Thursday we are featuring a story we have been working on all winter—ice skating on the village green.

In preparation to shoot the photos I carried an 8 foot ladder around in the truck for several weeks in mid winter.

I had folks at the hardware store watching for the ice rink across the street to open.

Once, upon my phone inquiry, my friend Stoney ran out on his sidewalk (in his stocking feet) to see if the rink was active.

I went by twice one recent Saturday night and the rink was open--but vacant. Actually, given our freeze/thaw cycle this winter and society’s inclination to be couch-potatoes I believe the rink was only used about a half-dozen times max this season.

So, we are going with the story as-is; before the dandelions bloom.

CURRENT VIEW OF THE SPACE STATION—

The space shuttle mission STS-122, which ended February 20th, delivered the European Space Agency’s Columbus module; the silver colored cylinder forming the right arm of the “T” shape in the center of this photo. The cylinder is 23’ long and 15’ in diameter and will serve as an additional research laboratory for the next 10 years on the space station. (Photo by NASA)

AGEING; A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE—

The recent death of good friend Harold Zehner was just one more jolting reminder that an aging body is an inexorable and inevitable process.

And, while it beats the dickens out of the alternative, ageing does often challenge those who enjoy the process with wildly varying degrees of debilitation.

My bicycling friend Lynn and my lady friend Ruth both are grappling with parents on the verge of dwindling from independent living to some form of assisted arrangements.

My lady classmate and friend Doneen in Texas is dealing with poor eyesight issues and her husband is condemned to constant use of oxygen for the rest of his life.

Good friends Dave in upstate NY and Mike here locally are in the process of beating cancer away with a surgical stick.

Cousin Bill in south FL lost a leg to cancer as a young man, had a distinguished career as an electrical engineer yet has long fought eyesight deteriorating toward total blindness.

My dad, mom and sister died way too young. So did my bride Carol. Her final protest was having a smoke on the porch of the National Institute of Health’s cancer facility in Bethesda, MD. She was gone an evening later.

She took after my cousin Bob’s dad. He went out on the porch, enjoyed his after dinner smoke then sat down in his chair and shook hands with his maker.

Carol’s mom Maribelle also died way too early those many years ago. She managed to frolic until that week when she celebrated a family party one evening and died unexpectedly a day or two later.

My friend Harold, too, managed to check out on his own terms. Living independently. A sharp mind and a ready smile. He died after taking a morning whiz then crawling back into bed. I like to think he peed in the devil’s eye too.

May we who yet survive be so lucky.

LUNAR ECLIPSE and neighbor—

This image was done at 10 p.m., February 20th; one minute before totality. The eclipse was caused by the Moon moving into the Earth’s shadow and the red hue of the Moon’s surface is the result of the Sun’s rays being refracted around and through the Earth’s atmosphere.

The exposure was made at ¼ second, F 2.8 and ISO 800. The telephoto lens was set at 190 mm giving a field of view sufficient to record both celestial bodies; the second celestial body being the planet Saturn (lower left) which was located northeast of the Moon in this picture.

Because the temperature at the time of the picture was 5 degrees F., I did not fiddle with a tripod. Instead, I propped the camera firmly atop a 4 x 4 post near the pond’s edge, squeezed the shutter—and promptly scurried back into the house.