Ridgeline

The Police set list, Fenway Park, Boston, MA 29 July 2007 Message In A Bottle Synchronicity II Walking on the Moon Voices Inside My Head When the World Is Running Down Dont Stand So Close To Me Driven To Tears Truth Hits Everybody The Bed's Too Big Without You Every Little Thing She Does is Magic Wrapped Around Your Finger De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da Invisible Sun Walking In Your Footsteps Can't Stand Losing You/Regatta De Blanc Roxanne First Encore: King of Pain So Lonely Every Breath You Take Second Encore: Next To You

Did I see that one coming? No. Will it good be good for the New England Patriots? You bet, if the team keeps its corporate culture intact and Randy fits in. This is a team that finished up just shy of the Super Bowl, almost entirely on the will power and gut of Tom Brady. Was I wrong before? Well, Randy was not always a team player, and didnt always show up on field when his team was out of it. But I'm willing to reconsider and give him another chance.

Did not see that coming. Best season ender yet, even better than Battlestar Galactica's 2006 and 2007 finales. What a great way to stretch into a whole new realm of mysteries. Once again, Lost's creators have found a way to keep the focus on the character mystery, rather than the supernatural, almost trivial questions about "the Numbers" ( OK , it's a prediction of the end of the world), etc. etc. More than that cannot be written without giving much away. It was a great framing technique to use around the "real time" island world of 2004. Some early questions: will there me more stories similar to that revealed in the final minutes at the airport is the airport story true or a dream, hallucination, or a hypothetical situation?

There she is... Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . Some of Rachel's earliest smiles...

Red sweatshirt Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . Nate was rolling around on the lawn, and the last picture I got gave this amazing light on his face, with an expression I don't ever see on my two (almost three) year old.

OK, some of last fall's style awards were dead on. Some were not. Random thoughts and comments: Departed - Oscar. Spot on. Still haven't seen Little Childrem and neither has most of America. But I loved the book, and my wife loved the movie. I liked The Queen, but that's not a fall movie. Oh, yeah, love it when my two fave shows for the fall were The Nine (cancelled), and Studio "Sickly" on the Sunset Strip. Brilliant. Why not go on about Heroes, instead. Or Friday Night Lights. Or Galactica.... Haven't written in a while. Well, welcome to Earth, Rachel...and hooray. She's great.

A couple of early awards for this fall's TV and music pop culture events: Comeback of the Year: Nip/Tuck (FX Tuesday 10pm) They're back to the stylish, dark comic fun that made this show a gem originally, and that was sorely missing during the tired CSI:Miami "Carver" plotline. Joely Richardson's richly shaded performaces, week in and out, are the stuff of statues. Best New Show: The Nine (ABC Wednesday 10pm ), if the rest lives up to the pilot. Honorable mention -- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC Monday) -- I got chills wathcing the Gilbert/Sullivan parody-homage come together. Why Why Why? Survivor, The Bachelor, According to Jim. Why are they still on the air??? Who watches them? Fun CDs: Brazilian Girls, The Killers, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer Movies I can't wait to see: The Departed (will Scorsese finally get the Oscar); Little Children. Music rants and raves: I do really like Snow Patrol, but something about them reminds me of Moby. Remeber a ...

I've written several times about l'affaire Owens, and his excursions from the 49ers, to the Philadelphia Eagles, and now to Dallas. (I've never understood how Cowboys fans, or even Parcells, can stomach the fact that the visiting receiver who once celebrated on the 50 yard line star at Texas Stadium is "now" a Cowboy, but we'll leave that for another post.) But enough on that. Whether his pills incident last week was a suicide attempt, or an overdoes, or a cry for attention, scarcely matters. It would seem to this observer that Terrell Owens has some sort of emotional or mental illness, and the only decent response to this is to hope that he gets treatment, and gets well. Privately.

Franconia Parkway, from Cannon Mountain Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . An older panoramic shot, a little grainy, of the entrance to the Franconia Notch, taken from Cannon Mountain and looking to the south.

Hometown farm, Laurel, NY Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . Happy Independence Day, everyone! This farm runs down toward Peconic Bay -- the road on the left is Laurel Lane -- almost a mile (well past the trees over the white barn.)

The Skylark Brothers of Comedy! Here's a comedy classic...

I cant say I never watch TV (ha!) but Tivo has helped me become far more selective about only watching what I want. The rest of the TV videoscape is pretty much a black box to me. Well, this week I've been forced to see TV against my will. In particular, daytime television. I had a minor medical procedure this week, and had to wait for three hours in a doctor's office yesterday -- and I'm home for the rest of the week. I don't know what crazy soap opera was on -- something about a disfigured monk imploring his young charge to help him retrieve a sacred chalice in Rome to keep it from those who would do evil (hello, Da Vinci Code?), mixed in with a plot about a mermaid girl who's keeping her tail behind her legs, if you will, and so on. The woman hoping to get her child's assassin to start tailing her was the most conventional plot line. The quality of the acting was on par with the plot constructions. All I can think is, who watches this stuff? Then the ads came...

Hang on! Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . Summer's coming, and though I'm laid up this week, about time to get back to a hiking/climbing post. This is from a few years ago, while hiking on Wachusett Mountain. My daughter Devin was about six inches from the ground for this.... Wachusett used to be one of my favorite "introductory" hike for Bostonians who wanted to get beyond the Blue Hills (which I love, btw). Anyway, for a while the mountain road was closed ad it was a nice starter climb. Unfortuately, now since the road has reopened you'r eas likely as not to run into the "Mt. Washington" prbalme at the summit -- dozens of idling cars, truck and motorcycles seem to take away from any natural mountaintop ambience.

Weathered fence Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . Some love this, some like this -- it was a "found" moment in May 2006 when I was stopped on the side of the road, later in the day, in Westhampton, Mass. It was that "Cape light" time of evening... I had actually stopped to take a picture of an old truck and barn across the road, and noticed this shot forming up out the side window of my car as I was getting back in.

Some believe all time is a line. Everything that ever was, and ever will be, is happening, right now, somewhere else on that Line. Somewhere else. I am a child. My father is always comfortable with margins. He is an attorney. Lawyer jokes are not common. There is no Perry Mason, Johnnie Cochran, L. A. Law. Dad stops, remembers his early career. He is a farmer. Homesick, he postpones his college career. Then, he has bachelor's degree, a masters in engineering. An engineer in industrial America. Here is an old photograph of sixteen men and two women. My father and mother are both on law review at St. Joseph's University Law School. Mom is in her early twenties. Law review is a chance for the best and brightest students to compete by writing and editing scholarly articles on the most obscure points of law imaginable. My mother is 25 and beautiful, surrounded by a dozen young, brilliant, upcoming future judges, partners, CEOs. Somehow, Dad gets ahead of her many suitors. Dad works ...

Slipstream Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . This one's gotten a lot of good notes on Flickr as well -- it's a timelapse from the side of the MassPike last week.

Orient Point Light at sunset Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . Summer is almost here, and it was nice to find this picture from summer 2002 just the other day. I got a lot of nice comments on it from Flickr, too. I had almost forgotten I took it. Didnt do much other than wait for the sun to pass the lighthouse on the ferry.

Surf Clams, Nantasket Originally uploaded by cmcnulty2000 . A cold day in Hull...

Thanks, Uncle Bill. Good morning. Show of hands -- how many of you ever saw one of Mom's shows? Wow. Well, Mom loved a good audience, and you all are the best audience we could have hoped for this morning. Thank you. I also just want to especially thank the eighth grade from Trinity and Kathy Barnhart for you beautiful singing of the "Dona Nobis" -- I know it made Mom very happy. On behalf of the family, we’d like to thank each of you for honoring my Mom, Maureen McNulty, with your presence here today. We’d also like to thank the parish of St. Hugh for welcoming us, as they have for the past 35 years. It’s nice to be home. Here today with me are her children Tom, Liz, Mark & Meg, her brother Bill Tobin, her grandchildren, family, friends, colleagues and so many of her students. Many of us also honored my father on another beautiful morning. In 1993, we welcomed Dad into the arms of a loving God. It’s fitting that we gather here to do the same for my mother....

My mom, Maureen McNulty recently passed away -- April 23, 2006 -- which was her 69th birthday. We held her funeral at St. Hugh of Lincoln R.C Church in Huntington Station, NY on April 27, and buried her alongside my father, William E. McNulty, in family ground at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Cutchogue, NY. About my Mom, I can't say much right now, other than thanks so many of our freinds, family and students who eased our grief by their presence, their love, their support, and all the wonderful stories we've heard this week. Thank you, thank you. Love you, Mom...