I am writing this on Sunday, 4/12. There are a few pics.

Tranquility Point

1971 was sandwiched between the Kent State shooting and Watergate. (Raise your hand if you remember Al “I’m in charge” Haig.) It was the year the Pentagon Papers were publicly published; and the year that documents from the FBI office in Media, PA were stolen and made public. I just finished reading the book “The Burglary” by Betty Medsger. Her focus is on the team that stole the FBI documents. The FBI never caught the team. Medsger found all of the team members except one. She did detailed research and in-depth interviews. The result is a compelling story of how the illegal actives carried out by J Edgar Hoover’s FBI were made public. As Medsger points out near the end of the book, the secret government culture that developed around Vietnam and was finally outed in the early 70s was never effectively eliminated. And, of course, it came back in force after 9/11. I thought I knew the 60s because I was there. I was surprised by how much I had forgotten, and how much I had wrong. The book has some weak points. Parts of the book are tedious and preachy. She seems to think that the FBI’s efforts to find the team was a Keystone Cops episode. But my reading of the facts she presents indicates the FBI did a reasonable job, and used some breakthrough techniques to gather evidence. In spite of the book’s imperfections, reading the story of the burglary team was very interesting. It’s a compelling book, and one you should find interesting.

What if I could ride by here twice a week? Wait! I already do that!

It’s spring and the weather is great. I heard my first peepers and saw my first heron. I’m slowly building up my biking endurance. I’m pleased with my progress, which is pretty much keeping up with the additional daylight and improved weather.

We had a busy week. Wednesday was the meeting to review our application to fix the deck. We got approval from our condo and from SOCA. The next and last step is neighborhood approval (Long Reach). We should hear by Thursday. This was my first visit to the Long Reach office. They call the office “Stone House”. I thought, how quaint, they restored an old stone farmhouse to use for their offices. Wrong. There is no house; there is no stone. “Stone House” is in a brick office building behind a shopping center. This is Columbia, after all. But they do have a wood plaque on the wall with a couple of lines from an obscure poet that includes the words “Stone House”.

Lake Elkhorn Turtles

Friday was a SOCA party. Saturday was a walk around Elkhorn Lake and Seder dinner with circle. Danita is so organized. She cooked an excellent dinner for 9, with plenty of time for the afternoon hike. While we were walking, Danita stepped off the path, twisted her ankle, and half-fell a half dozen steps, almost into some brambles. Today she’s hobbling around with a sore right ankle and a sore left knee.

Today was breakfast at Rudy’s Grill. Rudy’s is a strange place. They have the best Gyros I’ve ever had, but they’re only available before 3. They are reputed to have a good breakfast, but they don’t open until 8. We’re usually seated, ordered, an drinking coffee by 8. But Palm Sunday is the longest mass of the year, so we took that opportunity to visit Rudy’s. We still waited 7 minutes in the parking lot. The breakfast was quite good and reasonably priced, but I don’t think we will visit often — at least until Danita retires and we can have Gyros before 3.

We’re looking forward to Easter festivities next week — including Ryn’s arrival Saturday. I hope this finds everybody doing well.