Train Trip
The Whistling Season, The Boathouse at Hendry's Beach, Kate Wolf, Lefty Driesell, Studebaker Survivor
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue includes my professional pet peeves, my favorite book of a favorite author, a beachfront lunch, a singer/songwriter who died too young, the greatest program builder in the history of basketball, and a lingering Lark. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Our grandson Julian likes trains, as he will frequently announce to anyone he meets. My daughter Tracy and I took him on his first ride on a real train on Saturday, as we rode the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from Santa Barbara to Ventura. At the Santa Barbara station he was given a cardboard train that Tracy made into a piggybank.
I have played City of New Orleans by Steve Goodman so many times for Julian that he knows it well. He was thrilled to have a snack with me “in the club car” and later told me that he could “feel the wheels grumbling through the floor.” I sang the entire song to him as we rolled “past the houses, farms, and fields.”
When we arrived in Ventura we headed directly to The Great Train Show. Julian wanted a steam engine with a tender, and pointed to a collector’s item with a $3,000 price tag. I was able to steer him toward less expensive items, and he left with a caboose given to him by a nice vendor and a $1 box car.
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Fave Five 73: Train Trip
Montana Masterpiece (The Whistling Season), Beach Boathouse (The Boathouse at Hendry's Beach), Sweet Singer (Kate Wolf), College Coach (Lefty Driesell), and a Studebaker Survivor.
Fave Five Lists: Professional Pet Peeves
In my professional work, I regularly see posts that raise my ire.
Commenting on a headline, image, or individual slide, but failing to read its source that contains much greater detail.
Replying to a post with a question that could be answered by actually reading the post.
Replying to a public community post with a private message intended only for the person who made the original post.
Asking for help and then not doing what was recommended.
Repeating tired bromides or long-debunked concepts as if they are new or profound ideas.
Honorable Mention: Not taking a moment to check spelling or usage before misspelling or misusing a word.
Book Best Bet
The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
When I previously featured the The Sea Runners in a previous issue, I stated:
Ivan Doig is one of my favorite authors, and I have read all of his books. The one that I suggest picking up first is The Whistling Season.
I recommend this novel to everyone who likes to read. It has a great story, fascinating characters, and a beautiful setting. As Barb likes to tell people, be sure to read it carefully all the way to the end. This is the first of a trilogy, and all three volumes are worth reading, as are all of Doig’s other books.
From Amazon: “Can't cook but doesn't bite." So begins the newspaper ad offering the services of an "A-1 housekeeper, sound morals, exceptional disposition" that draws the attention of widower Oliver Milliron in the fall of 1909. That unforgettable season deposits the ever-whistling Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, in Marias Coulee along with a stampede of homesteaders drawn by the promise of the Big Ditch—a gargantuan irrigation project intended to make the Montana prairie bloom.
When the schoolmarm runs off with an itinerant preacher, Morris is pressed into service, setting the stage for the "several kinds of education"—none of them of the textbook variety—Morris and Rose will bring to Oliver, his three sons, and the rambunctious students in the region's one-room schoolhouse. A paean to a vanished way of life and the eccentric individuals and idiosyncratic institutions that made it fertile, The Whistling Season is Ivan Doig at his evocative best.
Ivan Doig (born June 27, 1939 in White Sulphur Springs, Montana; died April 9, 2015 in Seattle, Washington) was an American author and novelist, widely known for his sixteen fiction and non-fiction books set mostly in his native Montana, celebrating the landscape and people of the post-war American West.
With settings ranging from the Rocky Mountain Front to Alaska's coast, Puget Sound and Oregon, the Chicago Tribune noted in 1987 that Doig wrote of "immigrant families, dedicated schoolteachers, miners, fur trappers, town builders"[1] and of "the uncertainties of friendship and love, and colossal battles of will, set amid the vast unpredictabilities of a land noted for sudden deadly floods, agonizing droughts, blizzards and forest fires." Doig himself would later say "I come from the lariat proletariat, the working-class point of view." In particular, Doig "believed that ordinary people deserve to have their stories told". This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind, Doig's 1977 memoir, was finalist for the National Book Award for Contemporary Thought. In 2007 Doig won the University of Colorado's Center of the American West's Wallace Stegner Award. Doig's 2006 novel The Whistling Season became a New York Times best-seller. He won the Western Literature Association's lifetime Distinguished Achievement award and held the distinction of the only living author with works of both fiction and non-fiction listed in the top 12 of the San Francisco Chronicle poll of best books of the 20th century. Doig's life and his works are the focus of the documentary film by Montana PBS and 4:08 productions, Ivan Doig: Landscapes of a Western Mind.
In 2006, Sven Birkerts described Doig as "a presiding figure in the literature of the American West."
Restaurant Recommendation
The Boathouse at Hendry's Beach 2981 Cliff Dr, Santa Barbara, CA 93109
Our friends Bill and Cora Sterling visited us over the past four days. They arrived during another of Santa Barbara’s downpours, but the sun came out yesterday in time for us to enjoy a delicious waterfront lunch.
Clam Chowder Bowl
Shrimp & Chips
From the restaurant: The Boathouse at Hendry's Beach, featuring exquisite dining and Santa Barbara's most spectacular ocean views.
I liked the sign they had posted yesterday:
Marvelous Musician
We saw Karla Bonoff perform in Santa Barbara last Friday. As usual, she was accompanied by Nina Gerber on electric and acoustic guitars. Nina was also the long-time guitarist and mandolinist for the late Kate Wolf. You can see her on guitar in “Eyes of a Painter” and on mandolin in “Like A River” in the first two videos below.
I first heard Kate Wolf’s music on the TV show An Evening in Austin. I bought the CD of that show and the Gold in California compilation. Kate wrote wonderful songs and sang them beautifully. She died much too young at the age of 44.
From Wikipedia: Kate Wolf (born Kathryn Louise Allen, January 27, 1942 in San Francisco; died December 10, 1986 in San Francisco) was an American folk singer and songwriter. Though her career was relatively short, she had a significant impact on the folk music scene and many musicians continue to cover her songs. Her best-known compositions include "Here in California", "Love Still Remains", "Across the Great Divide", "Unfinished Life", and "Give Yourself to Love".
She started her music career in the band Wildwood Flower before recording six albums as a solo artist. Her songs have since been recorded by artists such as Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris (whose recording of "Love Still Remains" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999). An important mentor, friend and touring companion was Utah Phillips. She died in 1986, at age 44, after a long battle with leukemia. Her remains are buried at a small church cemetery in Goodyears Bar, California. In 1987, the World Folk Music Association established the Kate Wolf Award to honor her memory.
Eyes of a Painter
Like A River
Across the Great Divide
Give Yourself To Love
My Playlist
Sports Star
Lefty passed away on February 17, 2024. He had the misfortune to coach in the ACC for 17 years against Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, Norm Sloan, and Terry Holland. He never reached the Final Four, but he was one of the most successful college coaches of all time.
Lefty Driesell, coach who built Maryland into college basketball power, dies at 92 by Kelyn Soong of The Washington Post
“When you talk about legends and icons in the game of college basketball you’d better include one Charles ‘Lefty’ Driesell,” broadcaster Dick Vitale told Sports Illustrated in 2017.
In appreciation of Lefty Driesell, an all-time great basketball coach by John Feinstein of The Washington Post
He also was part of what was considered at the time the greatest college game ever played, the 1974 ACC championship game between Maryland and North Carolina State. The Wolfpack won, 103-100 in overtime, in a game played with no shot clock, no three-point shot and virtually no turnovers.
That was the last season in which only conference champions went to the NCAA tournament, what was then a 25-team event. After the N.C. State players got on their bus, they looked up to see Lefty standing in front of them.
“Men, I just wanted to tell you I thought you played one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I was proud of my team, and I’m proud of you. You’re a great team. I hope you win the national championship. You deserve it.”
The Wolfpack won the championship after upsetting Bill Walton’s UCLA in the semifinals.
From Wikipedia: Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell (born December 25, 1931; in Norfolk, Virginia; died February 17, 2024 in Virginia Beach, Virginia) was an American college basketball coach. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools: Driesell led the programs of Davidson College, the University of Maryland, James Madison University, and Georgia State University. He earned a reputation as "the greatest program builder in the history of basketball." At the time of his retirement in 2003, he was the fourth-winningest NCAA Division I men's basketball college coach, with 21 seasons of 20 or more wins, and 21 conference or conference tournament titles. Driesell played college basketball at Duke University.
Driesell was hired by the University of Maryland, College Park in 1969. During his introductory press conference on March 19, 1969, he famously and boldly stated that Maryland "has the potential to be the UCLA of the East Coast or I wouldn’t be here," referring to the nation's dominant college basketball program in the middle of a still unrivaled dynasty. While Driesell fell short of that overreaching goal, he was successful in leading the Terrapins to eight NCAA tournament appearances, a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship, two Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championships, and one Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship. Maryland was ranked as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings for four consecutive seasons from 1972 to 1976, and produced a number of All-Americans, including the Number 2 pick in the 1986 NBA draft, Len Bias.
Driesell coached the Maryland Terrapins from 1969 to 1986. In 1974, he signed a can't-miss prospect sure to dominate college basketball, 6' 10" center Moses Malone. Instead, Malone opted to join the ABA Utah Stars, becoming the first modern era player to proceed directly from high school into professional basketball; by the time he retired, he'd become a 16-time ABA and NBA All-Star, three-time NBA MVP, and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer. Among other top names during Driesell's Maryland tenure were NBA stars Tom McMillen, Len Elmore, John Lucas, Albert King, Buck Williams Adrian Branch, and Brad Davis. At Maryland, Driesell began the now nationwide tradition of Midnight Madness.
Driesell led four of his squads to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight but was unable to ever advance to its Final Four. Driesell's final record was 786–394.
Honors and awards
Driesell earned conference Coach of the Year honors at each of his destinations. He was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year four times at Davidson (1963–1966), twice named the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year at Maryland (1975 and 1980), twice named the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year at James Madison (1990 and 1992), and once named the Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year at Georgia State (2001).
In 2003, Georgia State University dedicated their basketball court to Driesell. On April 2, 2010, the first annual Lefty Driesell Award for the best defensive player in NCAA Division I basketball was bestowed upon its first recipient, Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State.
Driesell was nominated numerous times for the Basketball Hall of Fame, receiving wide support from contemporaries. In 2018, Driesell was selected for induction into the Hall of Fame. He was formally inducted on September 7, 2018.
Maryland Men's Basketball Tribute
Picture Pun
I bought this car on a lark.
