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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Father's Day

Our girls, one Christmas!
You know it seems that fathers are often forgotten in the shuffle of everyday living. We all make a big deal of Mother's Day (and you better, I've talked to her!), but Father's day in this nation is celebrated in June:  school is out, Dad acts like it's no big deal but, in his heart, it means so much to be remembered.

Putting it in perspective, if it weren't for that random dude named Dad, none of us would be here! Now don't laugh and stop reading -- think about it for a moment. After all, if that guy had not cared enough about your future existence to marry your mother and then stick around for all those years, you wouldn't be who you are today. He stuck through it:  from pregnancy to toddler to full-fledged brat (the teen-age years still sting), to watch you grow into an adult -- and that is one incredible commitment! The time, money, effort and heartache is unimaginable -- unless you are a Dad yourself.

So Dads get a special day set aside to be celebrated for all of this. You send a card, or give a little gift that says, "Yes, I know I was a pain sometimes, but thanks for being there! Thanks for everything you do and for just being you!"

In today's society with divorce, parental abandonment, or those fathers who never commit to being "Dad," it seems more appropriate than ever to give Dad his due. There are fewer such noble warriors than we might wish to contemplate.

We will write this piece from multiple perspectives, and try not to give you headache -- but I think on one level or another, you will all find something to which you can relate.

L, of the J and L team, remembers her own father as her hero. He taught her about the ways of the world and instilled that good old Puritan work ethic which has helped her become who she is. He was there when his grand-children came, to help teach them about riding a bike and other skills that Dad just seem to do better than Mom. As time went on, distance and the choices made in life took their toll, but there are memories which are still fond and fresh.

Our daughters, and I can say this before I turn the keyboard over to J, of J and L, had the best father I've ever known. A good man -- not always a nice guy (who can be when you must play the role of "Dad") but a very good man who to this day, loves and protects his little ladies fiercely. He knows when to encourage, when to chastise, when to play, and when to listen. And, he had a comment about anyone or anything they would ask. You may not always like the answer, but you got an honest, well-informed opinion when you sought one. Even as adults, the girls call home, sometimes filtered through Mom, to seek his wisdom. They don't always take the advice, but they still ask. Ah, such is the life of a Dad!



J, of team J and L, remembers his father with bittersweet joy. He lost his father nearly thirty years ago. The man who fought valiantly through three wars, lost his last war with cancer, but not before sharing his wisdom and love with his two sons.

Writing comes so easily for a wordsmith but when I discuss my father, George, my throat constricts and my eyes fill with tears of love. My father passed away from cancer when I was in my twenties. The years when the youth believe they know everything and know nothing about life. Those years when we generally are so self-absorbed that we forget or never realize life is just a blink in time. I was one of those twenty-somethings and to this day I regret it.

My father was a wonderful man - quiet and never spoke much about himself but when he did you were meant to listen. My brother and I often disagreed with dad but realized he had been right and we had been wrong.

I recall a special moment in my senior year in high school while playing football and it was father's night - the night when the dads would come out to the field with their sons and place their hand on our shoulder pads in recognition of our accomplishments but now eons into the future it was we, the players, who should have realized we had dads to place those very hands upon our shoulders. I was one very fortunate child.

When cancer took my father from our lives a great hole opened in my life. Though I did not yet have children, I wondered who I could look to for guidance. My mother was great but she was a mother and not a dad. I needed the strong hand and will only, sometimes, a father can muster when a question arose. Not all a dad's answers are welcomed but they come from the heart and the years upon this earth. We do the best we can with the knowledge we have and hope they are the right calls.

I miss my father more than I can state since he never met any of my four gorgeous and talented daughters but my hope is he is looking down from heaven and saying; "You did a fine job, son."


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A Nevada night in San Diego

John and Zlata

The evening was clear, warm and beautiful with the sun setting to the west of San Diego Bay and both J and L felt very fortunate to be standing on the deck of the fifty foot motor yacht, Bay Watch. We were there at the invitation of Johnny Nevada, the producer, director, and voice of the Talk of San Diego to discuss the recent release of the novel Hunted. Johnny's show was both live radio and a cable show shown on three different cable networks in greater San Diego, the radio broadcast being one of the favorites in the city by the bay.

After being ushered aboard by a dapperly dressed Captain Bill, who is owner and operator of Bay Watch Cruises located on Shelter Island at the Silver Gate Yacht Club we were given a tour of the three story luxury yacht and were duly impressed. Three staterooms, one for each story was our guess, and two heads (that's bathrooms to the landlubbers), a large salon, kitchen, dining area, and overall a great place to live which is exactly what a Captain Bill does when he is not out giving water tours on the bay.

Johnny Nevada, as usual was busy making sure everything was ready for the show that evening, a live radio broadcast as well as television but that didn't mean Nevada was too busy to throw lively jokes, one-liners, and an occasional fun-intended bard toward this writer. Somehow the lovely Laureen seems to escape this good natured hazing by many while the not so lovely John gets broadsided. Since we knew Johnny and now consider him a friend, the real time banter was fun and enjoyable.

It was a great way to relax before sitting down in front of a television camera.


Zlata, John and the illusive Johnny Nevada
Shortly after our arrival the hostess for the show came on board and introductions were once again shuttled back and forth. It was the first night for this newcomer to serve as the host for Johnny's show and she only smiled, sat behind the microphone, tossed her hair, and said she was ready.

Zlata Sushchik (yes, definitely a Russian name) was the 2009 Miss Alaska Teen beauty pageant winner and the competition surely made her ready to sit behind microphones without a bat of an eye or a nervous twinkle for that matter.

To hear John and Zlata, click the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqFW0AxOkn0&feature=share&list=PL4CBF129279744325


We learned during the interview, where both J and L were interviewed separately for the audience that Zlata recently announced that she will be running for the upcoming Miss California pageant. She would have our votes after listening to her questions us about the novel, our blogging escapades, how we met, and eventually married, and other topics which showed what a wonderful interviewer she was. And she easily kept up her momentum even with Johnny Nevada shooting jokes at her while on-air. She was a true professional.

As the moon rose over San Diego the show round down with laughter and good feelings for a show well done and from the look on everyone's faces it had been time spent in the company of friends.

Laureen and Zlata chat -- to hear them, click the link:

It was great publicity for Hunted, Bay Watch Cruises, Silver Gate Yacht Club, Zlata Sushchik and her many quests (this is one very determined beautiful young woman who has her eyes and fingers on many different venues), and of course for the Talk of San Diego.


Again, Johnny Nevada was a gentleman (hope this doesn't tarnish his image) and we were glad to have spent a truly gorgeous San Diego evening aboard a yacht with him and his entire crew.




"The Talk of San Diego" Cox Cable Ch 23 - AT&T U-Verse Ch 99 ...

www.thetalkofsandiego.com


A Bay Watch Cruise

www.sandiegoboat.com/

Silver Gate Yacht Club

www.sgyc.org/

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Ode to a Work Horse

Original Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota has always built a strong and reliable vehicle but until J and L purchased the newly updated version of the old Land Cruiser did this writer know how tough and reliable they truly were. We were the first to take delivery of the 2007 Toyota FJ back in 2006 in the city of Victorville and loved the Cruiser the moment the ignition key lit the beast up and we drove out of the dealership.

'New' Retro Toyota FJ
The auto maker knew a good thing when they came up with the retro Land Cruiser from the sixties and seventies introducing one of the best off road vehicles in the world according to most industry reports. We did not realize how accurate those publications were until we took a short one thousand mile road trip within the first six months of owning the vehicle down south through Baja California to Cabo San Lucas along some of the worst roads Mexico has to offer.

Just before dusk on a lovely Tuesday evening J and L were racing down a rutted gravel path falsely listed as a road on a torn map listening to Phil Collins on the CD player belting out 'Something in the Air Tonight'. At that moment I did not realize Mr. Collins was alluding to us.

Laureen calmly looked over at me from the co-pilot seat and smiled sweetly. "Honey, there's no road in front of us."

I unconsciously shut my ears to Phil and widened my eyes to witness the front of the FJ grab air and suddenly we were the 'something in the air' that the crooner had been mentioning.

A line from Zachary Marshall, the antagonist from my novel Hunted, came into mind as he plunged a stolen Cadillac Escalade off a roadway and nose dived it onto a busy highway below. "This is going to hurt."

When the FJ finally landed, luckily on all four wheels sixty feet north and eight feet down into a dried river bed it didn't hurt. It didn't hurt at all.

The FJ was amazing.

click the link below for the Ode to A Work Horse Slide Show


After that trip through the wide open deserts of Lower California the Toyota has been on countless road trips exploring and researching all over the United States and never failed once.  Heavy snow drifts, torrential rain on muddy roads or nearby tornadoes weren't enough to even slow the six cylinders down but in fact seemed to the give the FJ more power and strength.

In fact, in all the time we've owned the Cruiser not once have we ever had to put snow chains on while visiting our weekend home in Big Bear but simply slipped the transmission into four wheel drive and off we went. The wheels gripping firmly and securely while all the rest of the travelers had chains or cables wrapped snugly about their tires.

Though it has dents, scratches and overall looks like it's been through hell, much like the main driver, it is still a beautiful machine.

One well worth a mention now and then for all its given us on the many adventures from the past and we pray well into the future.