Hours of shloshing through the Jersey Meadowlands tracing the path of a freakin glacier that came through there a trillion years ago soured me.  I am a city boy.  Should have been home with my fuzzy slippers and hot          chocolate or     whatever I was drinking in those days.  Should have gone to University jn Florida or Arizona 

Then I would have been trekking the everglades or desert.   I think my birth offended the gods

Thread drift: author, today, in most of Australia, it's been the Queen's Birthday public holiday (a long weekend). in Queensland however, we don't observe this holiday in June, we delay it until October. At work, I ensured our program participants enjoyed an English-inspired menu: English scones with butter and strawberry jam for morning tea (they're not into cream), and lunch of oven-baked crumbed fish, chips, mixed veg in parsley sauce, dolma (a nod to Prince Philip) and dessert of bougatsa and Greek coffee. Yum!

Drift over.

Never a drift when you mention matters Hellenic.  Most people don't realize that Prince Phillip is Greek. His father  was a British officer who with his family was being held prisoner on the island of Corfu.  Daring raid on the part of British commandos rescued them all from the Nazi'z and brought the future consort home to    England.    God save the Queen

Anita Pallenberg. Ex of Keith.

A R Gurney,great playwright.

shall we acknowledge the passing of Helmut Kohl? If so, how? He was certainly 'a man of history', 'a man of his times' a man whose life and deeds affected greatly a great many other lives.

Another death from pancreatic cancer.

John Avildsen, director of The Karate Kid

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...

To heaven, Mr. Avildsen.

The Invention That Shot Rocky Up Those Steps

DaveSchmidt said:

To heaven, Mr. Avildsen.

The Invention That Shot Rocky Up Those Steps

Wow, interesting. 

A Maplewood celebrity, of sorts.  Unfortunately, we just missed his memorial service.

Herman W Gruning

Born in New York, NY on Aug. 23, 1917

Departed on May 24, 2017 and resided in Maplewood, NJ.

Herman William Gruning was born on August 23, 1917, in New York City, to Meta Schnaars and William August Gruning. The family moved to South Orange in the early 1920s; his brother Bill was born in 1927. Herman attended public schools, finishing at Columbia High School. He went to Princeton University, where he majored in political science, graduating in 1938, followed by Columbia Law School, graduating in 1941 at the top of his class. He married Jane Gedney in June of that year. He joined the Coast Guard, which stationed him in Scotland. After the war, the couple and their daughter Christina resided in Maplewood. He practiced law in New York City with Sullivan and Cromwell, eventually leaving law practice to join the family business, Gruning's, full time. Two more children arrived, James in 1945 and David in 1951.
Herman managed Gruning's until the business was sold in 1983, when he retired. It is Gruning's and its ice cream and candy with which he is now mainly identified; on a Facebook page devoted to memories of Gruning's, the announcement of his death quickly elicited several hundred appreciative responses.
Both he and Jane enjoyed tennis and golf throughout their life together (he especially enjoyed the way Jane even well over seventy surprised other golfers with her utterly reliable drives), and they enjoyed travel, both to Florida for their own pleasure, and to visit and share vacations and holidays with family. When Jane fell ill, Herman took on her daily care until her death in 2005. He lived at the home on Clinton Avenue they bought in the 1940s until he died peacefully on May 24.
He is survived by his children Christina Hembree (Wylie), James Gruning (Dee), and David Gruning (Martha), by his grandchildren Marc Hembree, Amanda Hembree, Kristin Lindquist (Eric), Natalie Seeboth (Casey), John Gruning (Megan), and Jane Gruning, and by his great-grandchildren Georgia and Adele Seeboth, Samuel and Martin Lindquist, and Emma Gruning.
A memorial service will be held at Morrow Memorial United Methodist Church, 600 Ridgewood Road, Maplewood NJ 07040, on Saturday June 17 at 11:00 AM.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Morrow Church Chapel Garden.

Heres a guy who never played a character that I didn't like. Stephen Furst, best known for Animal House, St. Elsewhere and personal favorite as the pivotal Vir in Babylon 5.

http://www.avclub.com/article/...

Gabe Pressman. My fave NYC reporter ever.

annielou said:

Gabe Pressman. My fave NYC reporter ever.

Pressman was not a pretty face,  like so many NYC  tv reporters. He had substance and professionalism

                                                                                                                       -30-

Paddington Bear's creator

https://www.theguardian.com/bo...

Michael Bond wrote some witty books, and kept children entranced for many years. A little magic has left the world.

Awww. Love Paddington

Loved Paddington. Grew up on the books and the TV series and OMG the movie is hilarious. I can't not stop and watch it if it's on. So happy there's a sequel coming out this year.

John Blackwell. Prince's amazingly great drummer in recent years. Saw him last in concert just before he was diagnosed with cancer. 

Ms Sheila Michaels

https://www.theguardian.com/li...

Nelson Ellis.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv...

One of those times you feel life's really unfair.

Elsa Martinelli. I always think of her as the photographer ("Dallas") in "Hatari" - saw that movie with my dad when it first came out.

It's like someone we love dies every few days...

Ray Phiri, a great singer and musician http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...

Fields Medal winner, Prof Maryam Mirzakhani has died, of breast cancer. She was only aged 40. Terribly tragic news. 

http://www.bbc.com/news/scienc...

Martin Landau 

http://m.jpost.com/Breaking-Ne...

George Romero.

While I wouldn't say I was a massive fan, I appreciated what Linkin Park did and at such a young age Chester Bennington had a massive rock voice that spoke to a whole generation. RIP.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...

WTF is it with musicians and suicide?

The world has just witnessed the passing of a passionate anti-nuclear testing and no nuclear armaments campaigner. Personally affected as a young child, when dirty clouds from British tests blew across bush and agricultural land in South Australia, he devoted his life to ensuring his homelands, his nation and the world would be safer and more caring for all. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...

'His family said his death "leaves an incredibly legacy of better global understanding of the devastation of nuclear bombs and for the ongoing battle for recognition for the consequence of them".'

May his memory be among the stars; may his family and kin find comfort with others who share their cause. 

(Although the article both mentions his name and shows a picture, I will not out of deference for indigenous custom. The ABC clearly has permission, I don't)

Farewell, Susie.  We shall miss your hairy ears.

And the entertainment and education your gave to tens of thousands of people - both young and old.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...

it's going to be tough for her widowed partner, Brutus- I hadn't realised they were mates for so many decades. And he knew her when they were just 'bubs', too.  

Sad for both Taronga and Adelaide.