Susan Boyle in *I Dreamed a Dream*

I Dreamed A Dream lyrics

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dreamed he'd come to me
That we would live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

Oh, what a magnificent voice! I will not covet, I will not covet, I Will Not Covet that Voice of hers. Now the lyrics are not exactly the cheeriest. Melodramatic, maybe.

Cincinnati Chili: Cheers for Local Cuisine

What would you like for Sunday lunch, Rosalie asked?

How about something local? What's unique to southwestern Ohio?

Amish cooking would have been perfect, but Der Dutchman is closed on Sunday. So Rosalie's wheels started turning and overnight she came up with Skyline Chili. Oh, I had heard of Cincinnati Chili, their specialty, and always wanted some.


And here it is. Cincinnati Chili is served on spaghetti. It might look low-calorie. But don't count on it. (Double-click photos to enlarge) Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. . .



Skyline Chili is a chain out of southwestern Ohio. We headed there Sunday after church.


Lucky me. I got to spend time with some pretty special folks. Bill and Lowell, left and right, are elders in the South Dayton Church of Christ. What a fine congregation and I'd say that's thanks to wise leadership, for one thing. Does the local chili have anything to do with that? Well, some things are known only to God. . .


Anyhew, here's the story of Skyline Chili, simply because you might want to know. And yes, dear blog reader, I was thinking of you. . .and you. . . and YOU during lunch.

So Cincinnati Chili originated in Greece. did it?. Hey, I've been there - I've been to Greece. Somehow I missed out on Cincinnati Chili a la Aristotle.


Looks as though this evening I'll be in Dayton area again. Lucky me, I get to overnight at Rosalie and Bill's big huge old farmhouse. And guess where Rosalie wants to go for dinner? Oh, she's a smart woman. . . she knows I like local foods.


A plug for Facebook: Rosalie and I have been friends for some time, thanks to a mutual friend in Dallas (Thank you, Jan!) who realized that we both have connections to Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Rosalie and Bill had visited in 1993 or so, long before I'd ever heard of that fair city, let alone moved there. Eventually Rosalie found me on Facebook and finally we got to meet. Rosalie is a goldmine of information and experience. I want to just listen and take notes when we're together.

How about you dear blog reader, have you tried Cincinnati chili? Any idea where the sauce gets that extra, spicy kick? Or have you managed to connect with a Facebook friend for the first time?

Aloft with a Superstar Astronaut

I had cleared security at Moscow's Sheremetevo-2 International Airport week before last and was waiting to board Delta to Atlanta. Across the room was a young man I recognized. I had seen him up close and in person but he didn't seem to recognize me earlier when we'd nearly bumped into each other.

Across the waiting area, I kept staring. He was busy poking away on something digital and I was wracking my brain trying to place him and chatting with a young lady from Houston. She said, I'm seeing NASA labels on several people's bags. We must have people here with the space program. Suddenly things clicked and I bolted in his direction.

Excuse me, but aren't you the guy who paid his own way into space last year?

I certainly am, he smiled. Hello, I'm Richard Garriott.


I took your photograph. Now I know where I've seen you. You've been in my living room on my television. (Pictured above with his translator. Click image to enlarge.)

I had seen him and fellow astronauts during a press conference in Moscow last October. That crew with two Americans was particularly interesting and I took lots of photos. I remember being impressed with Richard's thoughtfulness and eloquence when he answered questions about his motivation for going into space.


Now, wasn't your dad an astronaut too?

Richard pulled out a postcard with a photo of the two of them.

Here, you can have this, he said.

Well I remember Googling your name, I babbled, and didn't you pay for this trip all yourself?

Yes, I paid for it by writing computer games.


He pulled out another prize. Here, you can have this too. And he kindly proceeded to explain the meaning of each item on the patch. Fellow astronauts are listed around the edges.



Well, what do you know, I have a photo of Michael Fincke, too, the shuttle flight engineer who hails from Pennsylvania.

Mr Fincke was impressive because he spoke good Russian.


By now it was time to board and I ran back to get my carry-on. Li Ming, the young lady from Houston who was watching my things devised a plan for getting a photograph. She would follow me through first class with her camera and we would try for a shot as we headed back toward steerage. ;)


Richard graciously agreed to a photograph and . . . here you have it. He had come through Moscow and then gone to the launch site in Kazakhstan to meet astronauts from Soyz 14 who had just returned from work on the space station. What a genuinely nice fellow.

How about you, fellow blog reader. Have you ever run into a celebrity on a flight? Gotten a photograph? Or have you ever dreamed of being a space tourist?

Dallas Cowboys New Stadium: An Inside Look

You've heard about the Dallas Cowboys New Stadium and the superlatives of that structure: That it is the largest domed structure in the world and will seat 90 thousand. The stadium is scheduled for completion in May and insider sources say it's one busy place. Care to join me for a look around? (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Here's the stadium from a distance. The ends of the building will open and the roof is retractable. Let's go inside for a look around.


Here we're on the top row of seating, a seven-story climb up steps but we're only a third of the way to the roof. The screen-scoreboard there in the center, 5-stories high, dominates the view. The playing field is three stories below ground level.


Here's a look up at the retractable roof, an improvement on the original stadium in which the playing field was open to the sky. When it rained, people on the field got wet. I myself got rained on there. Ask me about it sometime. . .



Oh mercy me, I'm getting ahead of myself. Please allow me to introduce our guide, Dan. How we know each other is another story but here he is on the retractable roof.



Dan works for the Birdair, a contractor who specializes in tensile structures. And the retractable roof on the stadium is one such structure. Dan flew in from North Carolina two weeks ago to start on this roof.


The roof crew use large irons to activate the glue on the fabric. This fellow gives a thumbs-up as he presses on.




These motors open the retractable roof. What a relief that they're not operated by hand-cranks, eh? Boy howdy, this is one fancy schmancy operation.



Across the roof, we see Ranger Ballpark, home of the Texas Rangers. Beyond that toward the left is a roller coaster, part of Six Flags over Texas.


Well Dan, thank you so much for the tour and the photos. Dan's my brother, and to see what he's doing with himself, his life, his family - well, it's heroic. I'm as proud of him as if he were the star quarterback for the Cowboys. Not that he can get me any complimentary tickets or anything. But I plan to be in Dallas area soon and I hoping Dan will get me inside for a look around. Go Cowboys! Go Dan!

Superpower Presidents Meet in London

Presidents Obama and Medvedev met for the first time in London at the G20 summit. Highlights of their conversations in this report from Russia Today.



Note to self: Barak Obama plans to visit Russia in July.