Leaving On a Jet Plane

Perspective

Today was the last day of my best friend Skip's visit. We haven't had a chance to spend any time together since last October, so we were WAY overdue.

Skip posing in front of Union Pacific "Big Boy" No. 4023 at Kenefick Park.

It was a wonderful visit, including great food (Skip gets to eat "naughty" stuff like bacon when he comes to visit me!), an Omaha Storm Chasers baseball game, a visit to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, watching my Kansas City Chiefs and his Philadelphia Eagles play exhibition games (plus watching my beloved Kansas City Royals lose the finale of their 3-game series in Tampa Bay 3-2), horsing around with my electric trains (which now have a demonstration track I can show them off with thanks to Skip's expertise), sipping excellent single malt Scotch, and having the sort of conversations that can only occur between best friends. A lot has happened since that last visit...

The "going home" part is always the most difficult part of these visits for me (and for him, too). But I'm gradually getting used to it...

Southwest Airlines Flight 1071 bound for Philadelphia by way of Chicago.

Needless to say, when Skip is around I'm not especially interested in whatever outrageous things Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump have said or done. Politics (and everything else about this world) can wait until tomorrow...

My Newest Toy

Although Skip doesn't share my Starbucks obsession, he was thoughtful enough to pick this as a birthday gift. My birthday was February 18, but I actually waited until he was able to come for a visit before taking it out of the box.

The Mr. Coffee Café Barista is a 15-bar pump espresso maker. Fortunately for me, it is almost fully automatic, including the awesome milk-frothing function.



We celebrated the last day of Skip's visit by setting up the machine and giving it a test drive. Using some Starbucks Italian Roast that I had ground especially for this machine, I made Skip a cappuccino, and a latte for myself. Both drinks came out quickly and tasted great! Highly recommended.

Word Play

From the classic comic strip B.C., now produced by creator Johnny Hart's grandson Mason Mastroianni, which you should read every day, as I do.

[Note: For those of you not in show business, a "plant" is someone paid to sit in the audience to laugh at and applaud a comedian's jokes. See definition 3a here.]

Until Next Time...

As I sat in the lounge at Eppley Airfield in Omaha this afternoon waiting for Skip's plane to depart, I couldn't get this song out of my head. The most famous version of "Leaving On a Jet Plane" was recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.

A little over 43 years ago (August 19, 1972, in fact), John Denver (who wrote the song) appeared on The Midnight Special TV show, and sang the song as a duet with Cass Elliot of The Mamas and The Papas. Their rendition is today's send-off. Enjoy....