We’re blogging this Christmas Eve from Terry and Nancy’s home in Kennett. Everyone but Ripley and I are packed in at the First Presbyterian Church for the annual choral extravaganza.
A few minutes ago I had some delicious chicken salad that Nancy made. She said it was quite likely that Lance Armstrong enjoyed some of this very same chicken salad earlier today. He and Sheryl Crow were in for an early Christmas and Nancy sent over some sandwiches. We are but two ships, knoshing in the night.
I think the best part of publishing (?) a website is connecting with others. I get the most amazing email from strangers who google their way to my sites. Got a couple tonight. Maybe it’s the holidays. People are wondering about old friends:
“By chance I typed into Google the name Norman Shainberg as part of the research I’m helping my father with. Mr. Shainberg and my father were in the same room together at Stalag IX C known as Meiningen, during the WWII. IX C was a camp for Krieges who were recovering from wounds prior to being shipped out to more permanent locations. Dad’s note book indicates that Mr. Shainberg was the pilot of a Boston, and that he had lost his leg to the propellor upon bailing out over Pas de Calais, France in July 1944. Is Mr. Shainberg still alive? My father is well and lives in Montreal. I’ll have to direct Dad to your web site, he’ll be very interested.”
Unfortunately Mr. Shainberg died about 20 years ago. But it sounds like he lived an amazing life.
Larry Thomason died today. He was having some kind of routine surgery and his heart stopped. I’ve known Larry Joe since high school and he was a big part of The Basement Diaries. Great poker player. Good photographer. Loved politics.
The incoming rounds are getting closer.
“The new man in Sheryl Crow’s life is Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong, 32. The pair have been quietly seeing each other for the past few weeks, and sources say the rocker, 41, is smitten.”
I’d been hearing/reading that for a few weeks but didn’t think much about until getting some on-the-ground confirmation this week in Kennett. My sources tell me Lance spent Thanksgiving with Sheryl and her family in Kennett. Okay, that’s surreal enough. But the five time Tour de France winner is reported to have gone cycling while in town. Don’t know the full route but he apparently biked down HW 25 to Senath. I just don’t have the words to express how bizarre that strikes me.
He was at home with friends and family nearby. He was 83 and –until very recently– worked his morning shift at a local radio station. I won’t attempt to sum up such a full, rich life. I had the good sense to sit down with him a few years ago and record some of his memories from the early days at KBOA. Mr. Rudy was a radio personality at a time when that really meant something and it was the perfect medium for him. Radio –and those of us that knew Mr. Rudy– are poorer for his passing.