Franklin High School

John MacLeod

Debra

Thanks for the holiday greetings from sunny, warm California. We have the sunny here in Washington right now, but somebody forgot to pay the heating bill. We may hit 32* for the high today.

Ah, the holiday season. I can remember being at Graham Hill Elementary at this time of year and wishing that I was Jewish. That is because they celebrate Haunakah over eight days and got a gift every night for eight days, or at least some friends did.

I count myself very lucky to have gone to Franklin. The multi-cultural and multi-ethnicity of our school put us strides ahead others.

Merry Chriskwanzakah...........

Debra Moore Murga

Hi John
I went to Van Assult Elementary and then to Sharples Jr. High. What I remember was walking to Sharples from Holly Park up on Beacon Hill and had to walk down what we called the 100 stairs... because there "WAS" 100 stairs go figure Ha. Not a easy thing to do in the snow. I recall slipping and sliding down to the bottom one time. It has been cold here as well, not like up there but cold for down here. Believe it or not sometimes it does snow in LA. Got in the 30's last night. I do appreciate it however I hear from people from Montana where it is below zero.

Mark Weaver

John,

For Chrismas the Portuguese dishes that are the most popular are Bacalhau (dried cod fish prepared in various ways) and habanadas. I am not that crazy about the Bacalhau but the habanadas are GREAT! They are somewhat simular to French Toast, but much tastier. The Portuguese are also well known for their sopas (soups) and their various other pastries.

If you don't like the Portuguese food (which you would be crazy not to) you can always go American. They have McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and now Subway restauants to chose from. However, if you want a milkshake at one of those places you are out of luck, they don't sell them here. They do sell beer at the fast food restauarants here, however.

John MacLeod

Debra,

Well do I remember walking to Sharples. For us it was uphill both ways. We lived over by Seward Park. It was up Graham Street in the morning and downhill to Rainier Ave. Then in the afternoon it was up Graham Street and then downhill to Wilson Avenue. The snow and ice could be quite the challenge. Now if my little gray cells serve me correctly, we never had a snow day off from school. I can remember watching the morning news and the school closures. We never, ever made the list. Speaking of snow days, we may be getting one in the next 24 hours.

Mark,

I forgot that the Portugese are noted for their cod fishing off the Grand Banks of North America. I imagine that they salted it and stored it in barrels for the return trip. Now I like my fish but I tend to give it a pass when it has been salt cured or pickled. I think I side with you on the habanadas.

Attention all doting grandparents. We have a couple of first timers. Esther Fisse has just entered the fraternity/sorority as well as Sandy Smith and her high school sweetheart/husband Chuck Hansen about two months ago. High fives around and let the spoiling begin.

John

John MacLeod

Open Invitation.........

If any of you out there in the cyberworld have any questions about friends and happenings, please post them. If you are uncomfrotable in doing so, you can always send me the question. I can maintain a secret if you so desire.

As most of you can tell my shyness left sometime after first day of college (read began drinking alcohol). Al Cohol is no longer with me nor is my shyness. As a trained professional I can make a fool of myself at a moment's notice.

John

John MacLeod

Weather updates.........

We may want to go visit Sue Niven, near Perth, Australia. Today they are forcasting a low of 59 and a high near 80 with clear skies.

In Porto, Portugal they are looking for a high near 51 and low around 39 also with clear skies. Mark, your 5 day forcast looks similar to Seattle's, once we pass this chance of snow tonight.

Again I was up early hoping to see work canceled due to snow. no such luck. Better get a move on. "She who must be obeyed" is giving me the look.

Mark Weaver

John,

You are right I think Sue has the best forecast at this time. It sure beats what we have been having here lately. Last Saturday night we played our football game in 34 degree weather. That was a big improvement over the weather he had last month when we played in near hurricane weather. On that night it rained harder than I have ever seen and we had sustained winds of 65 mph. That's not quite ideal weather for football trust me. Overall, the weather in Seattle and Porto is very simular. The only exception is that Porto for some reason never gets snow.

I also wanted to add to your listing of new first-time grandparents. Wayne Cofer and his wife Sam became first-timers a few months ago as well.

Debra Moore Murga

John,
I do remember having a few snow days when in Elementry school. I remember waking up and being excited and running out and playing in our pj's. However, I really don't remember having any snow days after that. Like you said, I always watched the news and hoped, but for some darn reason the busses always ran!!! We moved to 35th street over by Franklin my last year at Sharples and had to WALK to school every day, and back. The weather is crazy every where. I feel very blessed here in Southern California. It is nothing like the rest of the world. Some cousins in Montana and Canada are dealing with 30* F. "BELOW". Looking forward to spending Christmas with my kids and six grandchildren. I am truly blessed. Wishing all of you out there and especially my FB friends Happy Holidays.

Lyn McKinney McGraw

Hello All-
Am taking a quick moment to wish you all a magnificent Christmas. I bid you all peace, good health, and a wonderful New Year.

John and 'she who must be obeyed'
Thank you for the joy you bring with your quick wit, off the wall sayings, and news around the world....and now the rest of the story....

As for me, I have been tasked with developing a disaster plan which includes the worst possible happenings within the county. We have created interoperability radios and procedures that connects all agencies to assist in carrying out any major disaster that may befall us. It is quite distressing planning for major catastrophies, however quite necessary as those in this profession are required to go on auto pilot and carry out the tasks needed to protect and aid the community. Wow, that sounded so dramatic. Alas, today I am taking time out of my duties to take my children to see the Princess and the Frog. So I know my priorities.

Mark -
Karl just got back from Iceland. To update everyone, I introduced a friend at work (Karl) to Mark. Karl took a very long vacation to....Portugal. There Mark and Louise connected with him and were quite gracious hosts. Anyway Karl showed me pictures of a oh darn it I can't think of the name...it's very hot water in the ground. The water color was beautiful. It looked so odd to see ice all around the water.

Also, I went to Asa Mercer. I walked from Rainier across Martin Luther King (what was its name before I forgot)...anyway then up some large hill through a park then to school. When I transferred from Franklin in my senior year to Highline I remember a day when it snowed. I had moved to West Seattle and drove all the way to Highline. I had ski clothes on due to the cold. When I got to school, only 8 people made it that day. They told me I needed to go home and change into a skirt. I was hot, I said 'I'll go home but I'm NOT coming back!' Go figure.

Well my kids keep pacing around me looking at the screen wondering when I will get off...so bye for now.

Lyn

John MacLeod

Lyn.........
Great to hear from you. Ah, I can only imagine the joy of developing a plan for interagency cooperation and communications. The communications seems to be the toughest. What with different frequencies, radio procedures and various com centers. Just like the story from the bible and the tower of babble. Our bible scholars out there can fill in the details (Nancy).

Memory updates for those of us in early to late stages of CRS (can't remember stuff). Martin Luther King Way used to be Empire Way, named after James J. Hill the "Empire Builder" of the Great Northern RR. Lyn, I also think you are trying to remember Cheasty Blvd. It started right next to Copeland Lumber and angled up the side of Beacon Hill and came out on Beacon Ave, at the south end of the golf course.

I think you were trying to think of geysers as opposed to geezers. The difference being that geysers are filled with hot water and geezers are filled with hot air.

John MacLeod

Weather Update.............

Classmate Bob Barber may have been hit in the head one too many times while on Mr. Caddy's golf team. It is currently 10* in Saco, Maine, where Bob and his wife live. I've got the shivvers just thinking about it. It is however sunny there today, so Bob may be out on the golf course.

My brother Allan (geologist)just returned from a project in Idaho, where it was 25 below the day he left.

Nancy........Is there room in your back yard to set up a tent?? Phoenix is starting to sound pretty good.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Well, you could put a small tent on the deck but you wouldn't want to get too close to the koi pond. Seriously though, I am just back from Seattle and the snow, rain and sleet over the weekend sent me hurrying south with my tail between my legs.

I could actually use your expertise in San Diego though John. I have a wrought iron room divider that I want to mount perpendicular to the wall next to the door jamb for double doors. Unfortunately when the doors were installed they only used a single stud for the jamb instead of a double stud. So, I am trying to come up with an idea for metal plates that could attach under the trim piece to the one stud and have bolt holes on the other ends for the wrought iron to attach. My handyman moved to Minnesota and is not available to help out.

In other news, I did receive info for Everett LaVigne. I was also informed that Freida Madden passed away.

Susan Niven

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas & a safe, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year!

Susan

Debra Moore Murga

FOOD FOR THOUGHT



Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people:

My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all...

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The Other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
Which wolf wins?

The old Cherokee simply replied,

The one you feed.

John MacLeod

Hey, hey, hey...........2010 is here. All the bowl games are on TV. Im not sure who half the sponsors are and if they will still be here in ten years. Tick, tick tick. Time moves on. Remember, growing up is still an option.

Debra.......Great proverb. Feeding the good wolf has worked well for me. I heard once that holding a grudge is letting someone live rent free in your mind. I haven't enough time or energy to hold a grudge, let alone give it free rent.

Marlene Souriano.......From your profile it sounds as if you have managed to pack a lot of life in the last 41 years. Nice update.

I have a line on Jeff Yoshinaka. He may be living in the Ballard area. Be on the look out for him. I don't imagine he has changed much. I got this intel from a Garfield Bulldog (seems to be a reliable source).

John MacLeod

Birthday wishes to Evelyn Findley today. How did we manage to get this old? I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel the miles.

If you check out Evelyn's profile, you will find that she is the Manager of Port operations. The port has just completed a new cruise ship terminal at Pier 90-91. Perhaps she can get us aboard a lumber scow bound for Australia. We can call it "The Class of '68 Creaky Bones Fact Finding Mission and Geriatric Cruise". Upon reaching Perth we can hitch a ride to Warawaraup and camp out in Susan's back yard.

Ideas ????

John MacLeod

Hey, I am rethinking the Australia trip at the moment. It would seem that it is the season to fry eggs on the sidewalk. Today in Susan's neighborhood it is forecast to be between 104-106* F.

John MacLeod

News at 11:00.

Seems that Gary Locke shares January 21 with former Governor Rosselini as their birth date. Rosselini will be 100 yrs old. According to the news Gary will be 50. Hunh?? How does that work? Brenda Riddock and I are looking at 60, coming at us like a runaway freight train, on the 17th. I'm moving myself into a zen state of mind over matter. If I don't mind, it don't matter.

Mark Weaver

John,

A belated happy Birthday to you and Brenda. Hope you enjoyed your day. I think we need to find out what Gary is taking so that we subtract 10 years from our lves too.

I am still on for Australia. Right now that weather sounds better than what we have been getting here lately. It has been an awful fall and winter so far. Every football practice it seems that it's cold, blustery and raining heavilly. I come home soaked to the gills and freezing. But I still love ooaching.

Susan Niven

Hey gang,

Don't pike out on me because of the weather. At 5.00 am this morning it was 27 degrees Centrigrade, with an annoying wind from the east. It got up to nearly 43 degrees C up in Perth yesterday and wasn't that much cooler down here in Harvey. A cooler change is on the way, but February is the hottest month of the year.

I think I have mentioned that either Spring or Autumn is the best time for a visit!

Aside from that all is well.

Cheers.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Hello????

Anyone here? We must be getting the weather that belongs in Seattle. Our rain total is up to half of what we normally get in a year. Fortunately when it isn't raining, the sun is out so we usually are getting 5 or so days each week of sunshine. If any of you norhtwest types want your rain back, just let us know we will send it to you. The one good thing is that with all of the rain we should have a great display of desert wildflowers come March.

I hope all of you are doing well. I talked to Karen K the other day and we plan to get together in March. If any of the rest of you are down this way, let me know so that we can meet up. Phoenix isn't so bad especially this time of year.

Mark Weaver

Nancy,

Don't complain about Phoenix's weather. It could be far worse. Our team's football game was cancelled this last Saturday because we had heavy rain and 100MPH winds here in Portugal. It did a lot of damage to buildings and killed three people here. The storm then moved on into Spain and France where it killed 56 more people. It was a pretty scary storm.

I hope I can see those desert flowers you are talking about soon.

Susan Niven

Please don't complain about rain! Here in Western Australia we've had over 100 days with no recorded rainfall. It's been the driest summer on record. And it's been one hot day after another with the no prospect of cooler weather in the foreseeable future. My place looks like a desert and when the Easterlies blow it's about the most unpleasant place I can think of being stuck in. One more summer like this and I'm off to New Zealand where the grass is green all year round! (That is if I can figure out a way of getting my horses over there, too, that doesn't cost the earth!)

Mark Weaver

Sue,

I saw on the news that Melbourne got some heavy rains and flooding a couple of days ago. Did you get any of the precipitation up your way? When I saw that I immediately thought about your last message here. Things are starting to slowly improve a little here in Portugal.

Nancy Raetzloff Groth

Okay, okay I will stop whining about the rain. It is just disconcerting though to see grass growing in the desert. Yesterday we drove back to Phoenix from San Diego over I-8 and I was dodging snowflakes over the mountain pass. That just doesn't happen down here in March so it was really strange. It must be "global warming" or the next ice age coming or something. I do remember way back in the early 60's that scientists were worried that we were headed into another ice age.

While I was out of touch for a week, two new classmates joined our website. One is James Turner and I have no record of him so if any of the rest of you remember him, please let me know. The other one is Jim Vancura, and he is currently working in Iraq as an agricultural advisor. There are some great pics on his profile.

Susan, I sure hope you are getting some much needed rain.