Eiffel Evening

The Good Father, Le Jules Verne, Gale Bird, Clayton Kershaw, Table Trash

Nov 06, 2025

Welcome to my 161st weekly newsletter. This issue includes five heroes from World Series Game 7, a book about a father and his daughter, fantastic food in the Eiffel Tower, a trio from Charleston, a dominating Dodgers pitcher who just hung up his spikes, and parting with a picnic table. I hope you like the picks and pics.

On Saturday, my brother David performed a solo acoustic concert at Cranbrook House in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He played Cranbrook’s 1929 Steinway & Sons Model D Concert Grand Piano—iconic for its use by Leonard Bernstein. The concert was sold out and was held in the library. Here are comments I received after the show:

What a privilege to see your brother play live for the first time—in a stunning room. Goose bumps when he performed “Whiter Shade of Pale”. An incredible arrangement of a classic. He did JS Bach and Procol Harum proud. Great performance. Incredible room.
It was a total pleasure to be there. David is so talented and charming. Loved every minute of it.
It was a fantastic concert! David is so talented and you could tell he was really enjoying himself. The setting was lovely.
It was an honor to be there.
It was a beautiful venue and a pleasure to meet David and hear him play.
It was an excellent performance by David and I loved being there. The setting was outstanding as was the music.

After the show, we enjoyed carry-out Greek food from Leo’s Coney Island while we watched Game 7 of the World Series. David is from Los Angeles, so he was very happy to see his Dodgers win.

On Thursday I presented as part of a virtual conference: Internet Librarian Connect 2025. My topic was Communities of Practice (CoPs).

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Fave Five 161: Eiffel Evening

Daughter Dilemma (The Good Father), Paris Perfection (Le Jules Verne), Carolina Coastline (Gale Bird), Extraordinary ERA (Clayton Kershaw), and Table Trash.

Fave Five List: Five World Series Game 7 Heroes

The 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays was one of the best ever. Filled with incredible twists and turns, remarkable plays, game-saving heroics, and two extra-inning classics, it finished with game-ending double plays in the final two games. There were heroes galore on both teams, but these five stood out in Game 7 for the winning team.

Will Smith doubled and scored the first Dodger run in the 4th inning. He homered in the 11th winning to provide the winning run.

Max Muncy singled and moved Mookie Betts to second, who scored the second Dodger run in the 6th inning. Muncy homered in the 8th inning to pull the Dodgers within one run, 4-3.

Miguel Rojas homered in the 9th inning to the tie the game at 4-4. He threw out the potential winning run at the plate in the bottom of the inning to preserve the tie. He had not started a game in the World Series until Game 6, but he ended up being a key offensive and defensive star when it counted most.

Andy Pages sent the game into extra innings by making an unbelievable catch of a 366-foot fly ball hit to left by Ernie Clement, Toronto’s hottest hitter, in the bottom of the ninth. Pages had lost his spot in the starting lineup to Miguel Rojas, but was inserted as a defensive replacement for Tommy Edman with one out in the bottom of the 9th. In making the game-saving catch, he collided with left fielder Kiké Hernandez, but held on to the ball.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief one day after he was the starting pitcher in Game 6. He had gone 6 innings, made 96 pitches, and was the winning pitcher in that game. So he was the winning pitcher in both Games 6 and 7, winning a total of three games in the series, and was named the Series MVP.

Book Best Bet

The Good Father by Diane Chamberlain

I read this book ten years ago. I recall liking it a lot.

From Amazon: A beloved daughter. A devastating choice. And now there’s no going back.

Four years ago, nineteen-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. But he’s never regretted his decision. Bella is the light of his life. The reason behind every move he makes. And so far, she is fed. Cared for. Safe.

But when Travis loses his construction job and his home, the security he’s worked so hard to create for Bella begins to crumble. Then a miracle. A job in Raleigh has the power to turn their fortunes around. It has to. But when Travis arrives in Raleigh, there is no job, only an offer to participate in a onetime criminal act that promises quick money and no repercussions.

With nowhere else to turn, Travis must make another choice for his daughter’s sake. Even if it means he might lose her.

A compelling tale of friendship and motherhood told with compassion and vivid honesty. Chamberlain takes the reader on a taut journey filled with secrets, heartbreak and the power of hope. Impossible to put down. —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times–bestselling author of The Overnight Guest

Restaurant Recommendation

Le Jules Verne 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower, 6 Avenue Gustave Eiffel, 75007 Paris

Frédéric Anton, a three-star chef and a “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” is at the helm of Jules Verne. I used ChatGPT to help us plan our Paris visit, and it recommended booking a meal at this vaunted restaurant, which has earned 2 stars from Michelin. To do so, I had to visit the restaurant site exactly 90 days before the desired date and pay for the desired number of 5-course meals in advance. I was able to do so, and it ended up being worth it. The views of Paris, the service, and the food were all exquisite.

I asked for a copy of the menu, which was presented to me in a gold-embossed folder:

Here are the details of the six creative concoctions served to us that night.

Amuse-bouche

Lobster: Flavored with Vanilla, Granny Smith Apple Zephyr, Olive Oil

Girotte: Puffed Comte Cheese and Yellow Wine, Buckwheat Galette

Langoustine: Prepared as a Ravioli, Parmesan cream, Thin Beetroot jelly

Farmhouse Poultry: Poached, confit thigh, Mushroom

Chocolate: Mucilage Sorbet, Sweet Clover Zephyr, Roasted Cocoa Beans

We also received chocolates at the end. A fitting final touch for a memorable meal.

After the meal, we were escorted to the floor below to catch our ticketed elevator ride to the top of the tower. When we came back down, the hostess called us a cab, and a doorman escorted us to our waiting driver. And thus our Eiffel evening ended.

Marvelous Musicians

Gale Bird

I heard this trio on my friend John Bommarito’s Sunday morning Acoustic Alternatives show. They have only released 8 songs so far, but they sound great.

From the band’s site: Gale Bird is a Charleston, South Carolina band built for the stage—high-energy, full-band performances that swing from roof-lifting rock-and-roll to hushed, harmony-rich intimacy. The group began when longtime friends and bandmates Joshua Gale and Sean Monahan set out to finish the music they started writing together in their early twenties while attending college in Charleston. The missing piece arrived close to home: Joshua’s wife, Melissa, whose voice and presence helped define the trio’s warm, welcoming sound.

Now signed to Charleston imprint Holy City Music, Gale Bird crafts songs that tell love stories with clear-eyed commitment—celebrating devotion, confessing flaws, and inviting the audience into the conversation. Onstage, they deliver big: wailing guitar solos, stacked vocal harmonies, and those special quiet moments that make a packed room feel like a living room. Offstage, they call the Carolina coastline home and draw steady inspiration from the Lowcountry’s salt air and easy light.

Lookie Here

Stones Under Rushing Water

I Still Do

My Playlist

Sports Star

Clayton Kershaw

Last week’s sports star was a little-used Dodger reliever. This week’s is one of the best starters in franchise history. Clayton Kershaw had a rough outing towards the end of NLDS Game 3, but he was a crucial part of Game 3 of the World Series, one that lasted 18 innings. He entered to face a bases-loaded jam in the 12th inning and got out of that tense situation. That turned out to be the final appearance of his 18-year career, and he went on to celebrate winning the World Series with his Dodger teammates. He has retired, and will surely be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2031.

From Wikipedia: Clayton Edward Kershaw (born March 19, 1988 in Dallas, Texas), nicknamed “Kersh”, is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), all for the Los Angeles Dodgers. A left-handed starting pitcher, Kershaw was a two-time World Series champion, an 11-time National League (NL) All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, 2014 NL Most Valuable Player. He is one of 20 pitchers, and four left-handers, to be members of the 3,000 strikeout club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.

Kershaw was drafted by the Dodgers with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2006 MLB draft. He worked his way through the Dodgers’ farm system and reached the majors at age 20 after one season. In 2011, he won the pitching Triple Crown and the NL Cy Young Award, becoming the youngest pitcher to accomplish either of these feats since Dwight Gooden in 1985. Kershaw pitched a no-hitter on June 18, 2014, becoming the 22nd Dodger to do so.

He was the first major league pitcher to lead MLB in ERA in four consecutive years (2011–2014) and also led the NL in a fifth. Kershaw is also a three-time NL wins leader and strikeouts leader. His 2.53 career earned run average (ERA) is the lowest among starters in the live-ball era (min. 1,000 innings pitched). Despite his great regular season performances, however, Kershaw struggled and was inconsistent during the postseason, with a 4.62 earned run average in 196+2⁄3 innings pitched over 41 appearances, 32 of which were starts.

Kershaw attended Highland Park High School in Dallas, where he played baseball and was also the center for future NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford on the varsity football team. After a growth spurt and further development of his pitches, he established himself as an elite high school prospect in 2006 when he posted a 13–0 record with an earned run average (ERA) of 0.77, and recorded 139 strikeouts in 64 innings pitched. In a playoff game against Northwest High School of Justin, Texas, Kershaw pitched an all-strikeout perfect game; he struck out all 15 batters he faced in the game, which was shortened because of the mercy rule.