The Edmund Fitzgerald

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down.......". Do those words ring a bell? They're from the opening line of Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", detailing the true story of the sinking of an iron ore ship on Lake Superior, occurring on today's date in 1975. Twenty-nine men were lost. "Superior, its said, never gives up her dead, when the gales of November come early", are the closing words of the song. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" is another historical story-song by Gordon Lightfoot, who is from Canada.

I enjoy historical songs, whether folk, country, rock, or whatever style it takes to tell the story. Al Stewart had some good ones in the 70's......"Roads to Moscow", "Lord Grenville", "Merlin's Time", "On the Border". A couple more that come to mind quickly are "Vincent" and "American Pie" by Don McLean, and "Trail of Tears" by Southern Pacific. Surely, there are many more historical popular songs that I'm not aware of.

The gales of November are coldly blowing today here in Iowa. No rain or snow, fortunately, but plenty of gray clouds. My son caught a ride to Cedar Rapids for the state volleyball finals this evening in which our local team has earned a berth. Yes, our football AND volleyball teams are in the state finals, as they were last year. Too much fun and commotion! I will be totally satisfied to watch the volleyball game on TV tonight from the comfort of my recliner.

I chaufferred my son and three of his friends to Cedar Rapids on Thursday afternoon for the volleyball quarterfinals. After dropping them off in front of the arena downtown, I went and browsed at TJMaxx and Barnes & Noble. Fun! Fun! Found some Christmas gifts for relatives and a great book for me......The Science of God by Gerald Schroeder.

Truth is, I've never even attended a high school volleyball game or match, whatever its called, since my daughters didn't go out for volleyball in high school. They played in 5th through 8th grades on our Lutheran school team, so I watched my share of volleyball in those days. (My toddler son, at the time, called it "bolleybally".) Some of the rules have changed since then------rally scoring is used all the time now, and also there is a new player called the "le barrow" (sp?), and net serves are allowed.

Thursday evening, after getting home from Cedar Rapids, and doing chores and supper, I could hardly wait to start reading my new book. One of Gerald Schroeder's other books, The Hidden Face of God, is a favorite of mine. He's able to bring the Bible and science together in fairly peaceful union, without upsetting beliefs too much on either side. He goes back to the original Hebrew words of Genesis, and shows where biblical literalists, as well as scientists, may be in error.

Anyway, I settled in to read after supper, and completely forgot to watch my current favorite TV show, "Silent Witness", the British CSI show on PBS. Its the only show I've been watching lately. The main character is Dr. Sam Ryan, a female M.E. in Oxford, England. She's great, always digging, not only in bodies, but also in the situations that produced the dead bodies, in order to get to the truth. She often gets in trouble for caring enough to get to the heart of the matter. This episode was the last one of the series. I woke up in the middle of the night, suddenly realizing I had forgotten to watch the show! Darn. Who knows if the network will run it again. Darn. Did I mention that Dr. Ryan's detective partner, played by Nick Reding, is quite easy on the eyes. Sometimes I take notice of such things. The other characters are interesting, too, and down-to-earth in that low-key British way, unlike in most American TV shows, where women are unrealistically gorgeous and slim, and dressed provocatively. Also, "Silent Witness" utilizes many close-up facial shots, so you really feel like you're getting to know the characters.