Dick Summer Connection

In today’s podcast I told you that a waitress said I looked “borderline” like Sean Connerly. And that I thought I looked “borderline” like Harrison Ford. Arguments aside, Harrison and I may or may not look alike, but we do share some passions. We’re both pilots, and we are both terrified of skis. You will never see either of us on skis. My Lady Wonder Wench was a skier when I met her. The first thing I did when I met her was I saved her from the dangerous attention of smarmy ski instructors at the ski lodges. Well…that’s not the first thing…but you get the idea. I have never understood the allure of riding a ski lift up the side of a huge mountain, while admiring the magnificent peak high over head, and watching the little wire that seems much too skinny for the job of holding your chair up over the 3,000 foot canyon under you where you are dangling your feet. Silly of me of course because the contraption was built by a staff of engineers and computer scientists who are at the moment, probably observing you from the safety of the garage where they keep the ambulance over by the ski lodge. It’s a little like the way airplanes are designed. A bunch of computer guys work for days at a time over a sweaty algorithm, they get some company to build the experimental plane and they take it to a test pilot and they say, “Here, take this up and shake it down. Run a few inverted spins, and a few snap rolls. We’re pretty sure it won’t come apart.” Neither Harrison nor I would do that.

Today’s podcast is about fantasies, and how they sometimes get in the way of realities. For example, I sometimes fantasize about why we call religions organized. Does that mean there are dis-organized religions? And if there are dis-organized religions, does that mean they play guitars instead of organs at their religious services? I sometimes fantasize about the nature of nature. Fall for example.

What was I supposed to do when a woman says, “You look…borderline …like Sean Connery?” You see I’ve always fancied myself being more like Harrison Ford. That’s the subject of today’s podcast. Fantasies. Like me, Harrison is a pilot. Choppers as well as fixed wing. You may remember a few years ago, some kid got lost in a desert in some Godforsaken place like Utah, and Harrison found him. I’m thinking about that from the kid’s perspective. The kid is wandering around lost in a desert for days…no food…no water. He hears a chopper. He turns around hoping to be rescued, and…out of the chopper steps Indiana Jones!

Today’s podcast is about flying a small plane, sometimes at night over open water. There are lots of reasons you might hear a small plane flying at night. Lots of times, those planes are carrying canceled checks. Or pilots with canceled love affairs. And sometimes pilots go flying at night just for the joy of it. Or  the challenge of the danger. One dark night over Long Island Sound, some of my instruments went out. It was completely dark…there was no light. My Lady was with me, she knew something was terribly wrong. When we landed safely, she just said, “At least we would have gone together.” She really is MY Lady.

It’s T.G.I.F, which means it’s time for Dick’s Details in today’s podcast. Dick’s Details is a bunch of totally unimportant stuff for you to stuff in one ear, so you can squeeze the important stuff that’s keeping your feet on the ground out the other ear, and you can ease back on the wheel and go flying where ever you like in your imagination. You’ve heard wine lovers say this wine has good legs. I figured out what they mean. Most wine is made from grapes that are harvested by machines that cut through everything in their path, including sticks, insects, small animals and whatever else happens to be standing around. That stuff is known to wine growers as MOG. Material other than grapes. MOG could also stand for “Mother of God, I think I just tasted a hoof.” If the answer is, “Just pass some gas” what is the question. Don’t know do you. Of course not I haven’t told you yet, but I will in a minute. The next time you get stuck talking with a very boring person at a party, in my book “Staying Happy Healthy And Hot” available at Amazon dot com, the head guy of my Louie Louie generation, Big Louie himself says,  “Keep calm and just ask the boring person to call you on your cell phone, so you can check reception. When your phone rings, cover the mouthpiece and say, “Excuse me, I have to take this call.” Everyone within ear shot will take a couple of steps back away from you. The Bible is the most shoplifted book in America. Well at least that means the right people are getting it. If the answer is “Just pass some gas,” the question is “What’s the quickest and easiest way to stop people from talking about you behind your back.” It works especially well if you give a little toot in the process, then look innocent. Dick’s Details. They take your mind off your mind. A little housekeeping here, if you like these podcasts, or the spoken word CDs at dick summer dot com, or my book Staying Happy Healthy And Hot, available at Amazon dot com…shameless plug…please tell a couple of friends because they might like them too, and you’ll be doing me a favor. Thank you.

Today’s podcast is about the day my friend Joe Goodavage went flying with me a little while before he lost his battle with Cancer. We took off into some fog, and when we came out on top, there was a rainbow waiting for us. Joe said, “Oh my God.” And he was right. You can’t imagine how sweet it can be flying over holiday traffic as they’re banging and screaming down on a highway…while you’re all comfortable and happy sitting in your little airplane. When the kids were little they all went flying with me around the pretty lady in New York Harbor…and they smiled and waved at her. I swear she smiled. The Aircraft Carrier Intrepid is docked not far from where she sits. Intrepid was the recovery carrier for the Mercury and Gemini space flights. I always marveled at the skill of the Navy pilots putting their planes down on a tossing, heaving carrier deck. Our grand daughter Cassie went flying with us out to Block Island one day when she was just a little kid. We flew over the island and she couldn’t get over how it looked from the air. When we landed, she jumped up and down a couple of times. She said she wanted to see if it would sink into the ocean. There was a peaceful Connecticut Sunday morning when I took off over a church with a white steeple…and I could hear the bells ringing.”Oh my God.”

Sunrise, Sunset…and lunch time in between. Today’s podcast is about the wonderful lunch time I’ve had between my flying Sunrise when I was five, and last week’s sunset. My Lady Wonder Wench and I flew to visit friends and relatives in different states, our Tall Son Eric flew the bumpiest flight of my life one very windy day when his Sister Kris was about to give birth up in Massachusetts. We’ve seen rainbows from on top, and fire works too. And flying over Manhattan at night. And one night, there was the city of Boston silhouetted against a brilliant full moon.I know it was the right thing to do, but I’m feeling like it’s time to pull the blankets up over my head, and hide a while.

Today’s podcast is about giving up our airplane. My Lady Wonder Wench has a comment about it too. It goes like this:

How strange.  This Louie Louie Lass had only a small difficulty accepting the fact that I could no longer ride.  But I am having a very difficult time accepting the fact that today my dear Louie Louie Lad actually gave our well-loved Miss T away to a charity that will use her well. Most of you probably already understand that Miss T refers to our Piper Cherokee airplane; her registration number ends in T and since mostly guys are pilots there is a certain ego involved with pilots discussing their “girl-friends”. The Lad (and Big Louie His Own Bad Self) have come to a not-wanted-but-totally understandable decision to let Miss T “go on and prosper” without them.  She has been a good and solid lady for us, showing off rainbows from above; rivers and mountains from all angles, and cities and towns lit up like Christmas trees in the silence of night flying.  She has taken us for food (one of the prime reasons for flying) and for the meeting of friends in far-off places.  All of our grandchildren have seen Miss Liberty in New York harbor from close-up.  And our granddaughter Cecelia refers to Miss T as “her own” airplane.  I took a course to learn how to fly enough to help in an emergency, and the Lad always let me do my famous talking on the radio when we weren’t flying in heavy airspace around major airports.  I don’t want to watch the sky early in the morning to check for clouds and not have the excitement of “going flying” to look forward to.

Take care of yourself, Miss T.  I will miss you nearly as much as the Louie Louie Lad will.

In today’s podcast I was remembering taking my Lady Wonder Wench for lunch at the airport diner, so we could watch the planes come and go all those years ago. One day she said, “Come on, lets go into the office.” I said, “Why?” Two blue eyes just looked up at me and smiled. So…ok…we went into the office. She went over to the guy behind the counter and said, “Here he is.” She had signed me up for an introductory flight. I remember thinking, “Wow. I never thought this would happen.” It was in a little 2 seat Piper Tomahawk. The flight instructor checked to be sure I had the seat buckle tight, and the door was latched, and then he said, “This knob is the throttle. Push it all the way in steer with your feet on the pedals, and when the air speed hits 55, ease back on the wheel. So I did. And that little two seat airplane trundled down the runway, and lifted off into the sky. OMG! Me. FLYING!! Until you do it you can’t possibly understand how that feels.

Dick Summer Communications. Good Night Podcast//

Sunrise, Sunset” is one of the most beautiful and powerful songs ever to grace Broadway. It’s from a show called, “Fiddler on the Roof.” It’s  in today’s www.dicksummer.com/podcast “Sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years.” It’s about a man and woman trying to come to grips with the changes that have taken place during their lives. Sunrise, sunset. A beginning and an end. But I sometimes wonder what happened in between the sunrise and the sunset. What went on at lunch time? “Sunrise, sunset, Swiftly fly the years, One season following another, Laden with happiness and tears.” There was a “Sunrise” in my life, a very long time ago. My Dad took me to Madison Square Garden in New York for some kind exhibition. Part of the exhibit was a Piper J-3 Cub. Yellow. Fabric. Just like the ones I saw flying over the house in Brooklyn. I think I was 5 years old. Dad picked me up, and put me in the cockpit. I very clearly remember that my eyes felt like about 30 pounds each they got so big. It was the beginning, the Sunrise of my life as a pilot. The Sunset came yesterday. Oh but the lunch time in between was good.