bjbass

2017 was a year of loss for us. In April, Meg’s sister Beth, of Ann Arbor, died after a long battle with lung disease. Then in November, her brother KC, of Yakima, Washington, died of cancer. Both were in their 50s.

Meg’s aunt Dodie also died this year.

My friend and former co-worker Priscilla of Ann Arbor died. She wanted a time of celebration rather than a traditional funeral, so we all celebrated Priscilla’s life with an event catered by Zingerman’s.

My friend Suzie died. Suzie had a wonderful voice. We often played together with Rick Jobe and Tuxedo Junction, and sometimes we worked as a duo. Lullaby of Birdland was our theme song, and it will always make me think of her.

Elizabeth lost both of her cats, Seymour and Gambit, this year.

And last but not least, everybody’s favorite dog Peppie died in 2017. Peppie was a rescue Pomeranian who weighed in at six pounds when we got her. We kept her name because she answered to it. When Meg had the yarn store, it was not unusual to see a customer walking around with yarn in one arm and Peppie in the other.

Meg stayed in Ann Arbor with Beth for the first three or four months of 2017, so I lived the bachelor life for a while, just me and the cat bouncing around in this big house.

We each had reunions in Wisconsin in 2017. Mine was our 52-nd. Granville High was a smallish suburban school when I was there. Now known as Brown Deer High School, it has grown in size, programs and athletics. I was impressed by the huge fancy gym, pool, weight room, and other facilities for athletics, but was disappointed in the puny band room.

Meg’s reunion was a little more of a traditional Wisconsin reunion, in a bar with a back room, somewhere near the end of the world. She enjoyed seeing old friends. I enjoyed the food and beer.

While in Wisconsin, we enjoyed a fish fry at the Lakefront Brewery with my brother JR and sister-in-law Kathy. And we enjoyed a dinner with my old roommates Tim and Ken at the Golden Mast, out near Oconomowoc.

We got new phones, iPhone 7+.

Elizabeth and Meg and I went on a road trip. We started off going to Niagara Falls. The view from the restaurant on the 33rd floor of the Hilton is spectacular, and much more comfortable than riding in a crowded boat.

We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame. There were videos of many famous events, but there were also a lot of displays with small writing that I couldn’t read.

Our destination was Maine, and more specifically Calais (CAL-lis, not Cal-LAY). Meg’s father was from there. She has no living relatives in the area. Her grandparents’ house was long gone, but we found the site where it stood.

We spent a couple days in Portland and Freeport. Elizabeth and I made a visit to LL Bean, where I bought a winter jacket that I am just now learning to appreciate.

Liz and I also visited the Allagash Brewery.

We met with friends for lunch in Ashville.

I watched a lot of baseball this summer. I was watching a game on TV when I made the comment that it would be nice to be able to get Detroit’s channel 50 to be able to watch Tigers games. Certainly, with hundreds of channels on DirectTV, you can do that. DirectTV said we could then said we couldn’t, and we ended up getting the entire baseball package.

The Tigers were a powerhouse a few years ago, but by last year they were a team with past-their-prime stars with huge salaries. So they started trading these guys for prospects. I’d just get to know a player and then he’d be gone, playing for some other team. The Tigers GM traded his own son to the Cubs. Next year the Tigers will start rookies and journymen, as they rebuild. It will be awful, and they’ll end up in last place. But I’ll still watch and enjoy it.

I took eight weeks of physical therapy to improve my Parkinson’s-impeded motion and balance. The results were good. I was able to do things at the end that I couldn’t do at the beginning. Like getting up off the floor.

We got a new 65-inch TV this year. Our “old” one, which was not all that old, got zapped by a lightning strike very nearby. Everything else was OK, but the TV got zapped.

We got to enjoy meals with longtime friends Tim and Ken, and an excellent fish fry at Lakefront Brewery. And, of course, with brother JR and SIL Kathy.

It was a tough year for music. I played for Beauty and the Beast at Grissom High School. It was an excellent production, and a fun bass part. Unfortunately, I fell while moving stuff before a rehearsal, and fractured a rib. I think this may have to be my last musical. I love playing for them but I don’t have the stamina to do all the work involved.

I worked on and off on Thursdays, playing Sinatra-style vocals with Dave McConnell and Ron Simmons.

And I got fired by my rock band. I helped get this band put together three years ago. It’s an excellent band, a rock band with horns. The night I was fired I had played “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is,” twice, a tricky part that I nailed. They said I was losing the groove, and maybe I am, although I don’t feel it. I do have trouble once in a while with Parkinson’s restricting my arm and hand motion, and that may have something to do with it.

I’m still with the Sinfonietta, a string orchestra that I guess you could say is bigger than a chamber orchestra and smaller than a symphony. I guess. Depends on who signs up.

I only got one call for a Christmas gig, although I didn’t market myself much. After I accepted it I had to sub it out, because I had just found out that I needed oral surgery.

I had all of my upper teeth pulled, and several lowers. I am trying right now to get used to an upper denture.

I think our neighborhood is the last one where kids still trick-or-treat. I wore the witches wig and put the witches hat on the porch floor. It would assign the kids to fictitious houses, like PepperPickle or Hassenpheffer.

We hosted the family Thanksgiving feast, as we usually do. It was sad to have some empty seats, but good to see brother JR and his wife Kathy, and nice to have CJ’s girlfriend Caolin with us.