Good Things Come in Threes

Tony at the races with Claire and monica

They came all the way from Georgia to enjoy a week of the America's Cup finals, so the least I could do was to play hooky and join them for a day.

Three San Francisco icons: The Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, close to the America's Cup festivities; Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill; and towering over the Bay on the Marin County side, Mt. Tamalpais

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Claire

I'd previously known Monica Mindling Heidesch, her husband Troy, and daughter Claire only through Facebook posts. I think grandfather George Mindling posts as many photos of Angelic Claire as her parents do, and no wonder. A spirit child in a way, 6-year-old Claire was born way early and weighed in measuring in ounces. She and her mother would likely not have made it in earlier times. It was a great treat to be able to spend some time with her.

Three fine folks at the races: Troy heidesch, daughter Claire, and Monica Mindling Heidesch ...

As far as the races went, we could not see much of it from our vantage point other than via the many huge screens. But the most telling scene played out in the morning right in front of me as the crew exited the stage after the introductions, marching right past me. The smiling and waving Kiwis were in telling contrast to the grim and determined visages of the USA Oracle team. And no wonder - entering the day already down by several races, Team USA would loose another two by days end. More photos from my day at the races here.

The grim and determined visage of Team USA was in contrast to ...

... the confidently smiling Kiwi team

Three New Typewriters ...

Kermit, the green Royalite

On the drive back from the Bay toward our rollin', golden hills, I stopped off to pick up a cute little Royalite from Mike Clemens. While reading his blog, Click Thing, a few days ago, I discovered that he still had a few machines looking for caring homes. What was I to do, but help him out by adding Kermit to my collection. I have a green ribbon that should suit him perfectly.

Kermit is a cute little travel typewriter in excellent shape. He even comes with a zipper travel case, that has also been well cared for. A great find by Mike, and I am grateful to him for making it available to me. Chances are it will go to one of my 13 or so grandchildren, several of whom have been clamoring for typewriters since I began my letter-writing program to them. Unless, that is, I decide to keep Kermit for my own use on our RV trips.

And then another stop. This one in downtown Sacramento, where it turned out that forging through the rush hour traffic was well worth it, as I picked up a lovely Remington Deluxe Model 5 from an eBay seller.

And then at home, awaiting me in a huge carton; A 1911 Harrris Visible. The first standard machine I've collected since pulling my cherished Royal no. 10 from a neighbor's trash can back in 1967. Who needs more than one standard? But I couldn't resist the opportunity to acquire a lovely vintage relic, a 3-bank double shifter at that, that seemed to possibly be in usable shape.

Already in very good cosmetic shape, some spit and polish should get this Harrris Visible gleaming. In case anyone
new to typewriter history has made it this far, the name of this machine points out its advantage compared to earlier
upstrike machines, where the type slugs impacted the platten from beneath, thus making the current line invisible
until the platten was rotated.

Lots of levers and keys whose mysterious functions have yet to be revealed to me

The spring that pulls the carriage draw string can be tensioned and adjusted by means of the winder on the left and the
lever on the right. The winder tightens the spring, like winding a mechanical alarm clock, and the lever releases the tension
one click at a time. this will make replacing the carriage draw band a snap - one of the few apparent issues of this
lovely old typer.