The Bachelorette-Canadian Train Ride

They've got a ticket to ride, but she don't care. I love that Beatles's song. That train ride through the Canadian Rockies looked absolutely fabulous! Had I known you could do that from Vancouver, I would have done it when we were there. Poor Robby, nothing like getting dumped and then left on the side of the tracks tossed out like yesterday's garbage. Man that's cold! The producers are getting ruthless on the dumping. The meaner, badder, bolder the more we watch, typical. Jillian cries that she doesn't like hurting people yet she's ok about leaving them stranded, looking like a fool in the ultimate dump. We got to see Wes's true side and finally the words spoken out of his smarie mouth that he doesn't care about the girl, just the fame. What does she have left? All boys and one bad guy. Does she have to quiz every guy about how serious they are and when they want to have kids? I'm getting sick of her same tired monologue and lame conversations. Thankfully the scenery was breathtaking to take the place of otherwise a wretched evening of bachelorette mayhem. Emerald Lake and Lake Louise in Banff go on my bucket list. Jillian did less crying this time, but she did manage to toss out my favorite guy, Mr. Perfect, Jake, who in the end said it best, "good guys do finish last". Now that she ejected him chosing to keep break dancer, Mike, I'm hoping that she does chose Wes, so there! Goodbye Mr. Perfect, white picket fence, 3 1/2 kids, big house in the burbs. Goodbye to foot freak, Tanner, to which my daughter said "What's wrong with him?". I'm wondering why didn't one of those two throw Wes under the bus when they left. Cowards! If she's so blinded by Wes's bad boyness not to see through his thinly veiled ambition of wanting to become the next big country star, then she deserves to get her heart broken which is surely in the cards for her if she ends up with him. He's so full of it, can't she see he's just playing her for a fool? Wes is like the wolf in the nursery picking off all the good wholesome boys. Looks like from the previews, his band does get some air time just as he hoped for. Hey Wes, go back to Chihuahua, they love you there and take Jillian with ya! I'm not disgusted, I'm not disgusted, oh yes I am!-Single D

A Father's Day Memory

A Family Portrait - I was cleaning out a closet the other day and found this old photograph of my father and his parents, Frank and Mary. They were from the old country of Italy and are the typical immigrant story. This photo was taken on the steps of my grandparents house in upstate New York in a small town called Friendship. I remember spending summers there and seeing my grandparents for the first time and my grandmother touching my face and saying bella, bella. I remembered their house smelled of brown eggs and malt and my dad bringing Grandpa Frank a mysterious bag of hops. Little did I know then Grandpa was a brewmister and brewed his own beer in the cellar. Grandma had chickens in the backyard and grew her own vegetables. I remember the heat of the summers and reading comics in the attic. And when we left for our long car trip back to California, Dad would cry beneath his sunglasses and silently wipe away the tears. When I made a copy of this picture for him, I knew he remember those days and I shared in his longing for them.-Single D