How to fill time in retirement

I often wonder how a random story or article I read may stir a nice memory or moment, all the while that the original item was tragic. For example, there was in the local newspaper  recently about two accidents. They happen fairly close to each other in time, and I thought there may be a some other connection. The connection was to me. The first accident was a pedestrian dying when she was hit by the Brightline train. Brightline is a new high-speed passenger train that now connects south Florida to Orlando International Airport. We spent the last two years in Brevard County having a second set of tracks newly laid along existing tracks, all railroad crossings updated for the new faster train, and a few of the trestles crossing rivers having to be rebuilt. Brightline spent the money but we as residents had to live with the turmoil generated by closed roads and many detours. And to top it off, Brightline did not even put a station in our county. They put up signs at the crossing warn...

 One of my many tasks I have assigned myself is to get my Dad's journal into a digital file. First, I had to learn how to read my father's handwriting, and then I had to learn how to type faster. Neither of these have been accomplished. But I did type in this "entry" this morning from March 1982. BJ came over Sunday morning, and he drove us down to Vero in his new Camaro – dropping Mom Shackett off on the way – we took in a ball game with Dodgers vs Mets – went over to talk to Bill Monbouquette – a former Red Sox pitcher – he is a friend of Ken. BJ took a picture of us together. Bruce Bochy pinch hit for the Mets and caught last two innings. Dodgers won 5 to 0. We had a good day, and sat in same 3rd base shaded area. First, here is the photo of Harold with the former Red Sox pitcher:  I looked up Monbouquette in Wikipedia and found out that he had a No-hitter for the Sox in 1962. It was against the White Sox (1-0) and he had only one walk in the game, so it was nearly...

 With the 2023 MLB Playoffs in full swing, I find that I start getting a little interest in the games. I do not spend much effort watching the regular season, but I do like to see which teams are playing well at the end. As part of my interest, I start using my old Spring Training photos as backgrounds on my PC. The next photo showed up from a game from 2016. It was one of the last games of the spring with the home team of Washington Nationals playing host to the St Louis Cardinals.  In the line ups, I recognized a few of the names from the current 2023 playoffs, and decided to do an analysis of the players and where are they now. There have been eight seasons played since this game. Surprisingly, of the 18 players, 7 are still active in the Majors and 2 have remained active in the Minors. Nine of the 18 have since retired, and most of them had pretty good careers. This includes 10 of the players playing in an All-Star game (once or more), and 8 of the players being on a winni...

 If you are a baseball fan, you probably heard of the passing of Tim Wakefield. If you are a Red Sox fan, it probably was very upsetting to see that he died at the young age of 57. If you live in Eau Gallie/Melbourne, where I have lived since 1979, we knew him as a local boy who made the big leagues. My parents became fans of him while he was playing baseball at Eau Gallie High School in the Mid-1980s. Back then he was known for his slugging ability. I found this team photo online. After graduating, he stayed in Melbourne and attended the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) where he played baseball. My parents continued to follow him there. He was playing at the same time I was attending FIT to get my Masters in Applied Mathematics. I never went to the games because I also was working. Most people do not realize that he was a first basemen on the Panthers team. He was named MVP in 1987 as a sophomore and 1988 as a junior. Some of his records still stand, including single season s...

 I have continued reading in the third quarter of 2023, including books from my list, a few I bought impulsively at Barnes & Noble, and some others that people lent me or suggested to me and then I got it at the library. I have read ten books in the this quarter, keeping me on track of my yearly goal of 36 books. Here are the latest...  My cousin Keith Willis lent me this book, A History of Canada in Ten Maps . Written in 2017 by Adam Shoalts, I give the book a 3.5 rating (Great to Excellent), which is high for a non-fiction book. I found all the maps and stories very interesting, and I actually learned some history I did not know and spent plenty of time looking up places on Google Earth. It is always interesting to hear stories about Canada since that is where my ancestors moved in the 1600s. There were actually stories told in this book that I knew from a book I read about the original Provencher (my French name) who came to New France. I have since lent the book out tw...