Taking a break from the Neal and Fumiko Zellers family saga, here are a couple family photos from 1954. I believe they were taken at the same time as the Neal and Fumiko photos taken by my uncle Allen as we were probably all gathered in my grandparents home. I don’t know who took this … Continue reading Family Photos
The Welcoming Family
Pepper, Harry, Tillie, Fumiko, NealDebbie (Allen and Jane’s dog), Reed, Kathy Neal and Fumiko’s stay in the Zellers household was not a happy one, at least not to hear Kathy tell it. Reed, the youngest son, was the problem. I don’t know exactly what went on, but I know that in my dealings with Reed, … Continue reading The Welcoming Family
Love Conquers All?
According to my mother, my grandparents—that would be Harry and Tillie Zellers—tended to give their son Neal a hard time growing up. He was their youngest, after Allen, Arlene, Harry Jr., and Mark, having been born in 1930, and would remain their youngest child until Reed came along rather unexpectedly in 1946 when Tillie was … Continue reading Love Conquers All?
Neal and Fumiko’s Wedding
My uncle Neal Zellers, my mother’s brother, was stationed in Okinawa when he joined the service. He was there from the late 1940s until 1953 or so. That’s where he met and married Fumiko. I thought I had scanned almost all of the photos in the various photo albums that my mother had left behind, … Continue reading Neal and Fumiko’s Wedding
I Never Joke About My Work
I threw some shade at James Bond movies the other day, so I thought I ought to mention my favorite Bond movie, the first 007 mega-hit from 1964, Goldfinger. It’s the only Bond film that remains roughly faithful to its Ian Fleming source novel, though it still takes plenty of liberties, including changing the villain’s … Continue reading I Never Joke About My Work
Create a New Password
“Create a new password” That’s the subject line of a lot of email messages I’ve been getting recently from Instagram. Apparently someone has been trying to reset my password, that someone being not me. When that happens, Instagram sends a message to the email address of the account holder to verify that the request is … Continue reading Create a New Password
In case there’s a change in the weather
The wheels are yeller, the upholstery's brown,The dashboard's genuine leather,With isinglass curtains y' can roll right down,In case there's a change in the weather.—“The Surrey With the Fringe on Top” by Oscar Hammerstein II And what a change in the weather we’ve had these past couple days.
Scanners Live in Vain
I had been mulling over a particular topic for a blog post for some time, and then all of a sudden the perfect title for it just popped into my head, and I decided to start writing. It was going smoothly but I came to a part where I mentioned someone from Elco, and well, … Continue reading Scanners Live in Vain
Thunderball’s Original Title Song
With Thunderball on my mind, I decided to watch it the other evening. My reaction was definitely different from what it was the first time I saw it. In fact, my reaction was probably pretty close to the way I ended up reviewing it: I think I’d rather have watched Othello. Any Othello. The … Continue reading Thunderball’s Original Title Song
Terry and the Parents
When we were doing the morning program over the PA system in Elco High School as The Irregulars during our junior year (1965-66), we sometimes did book reviews. So it was that when I noticed that a new James Bond movie was being released, I decided to review the novel it was based on a … Continue reading Terry and the Parents