In memory of Patrick Meadows and Stephanie Shepard
My father is referenced in the very first line, and Lois is mentioned later. I think this is one of Fred’s poems, but I’m not sure. The penmanship in the note matches a 1971 letter of his to a reasonable degree (the L and W in particular) and he references Bob, so I think my guess is good.
Con los ojos cerrados
te veo.
Con ellos abiertos,
te miro.
Con las manos cerradas,
te hablo.
Con ellas abiertas,
te palpo.
Con la boca cerrada,
te hablo.
Con ella abierta,
te beso.
Te escucho y
suspiro,
respiro y
te inhalo.
Con los cinco sentidos,
TE AMO.
Luz Adriana Rojo Estrada
(Found in Patrick’s files, dated 12 Sep 2013)
Here are a pair of rejection notices from The Carolina Quarterly, offering analysis while encouraging further submissions. These are undated. I have no clue as to which poems were being considered.
I’m not exactly sure when I wrote this, but based on the Gary Hart reference, it may have been on 8 May 1987. (You can click on the image to see a larger version of it.)
The job reference confirms that it was some time of May 1987. Mary was flying in because Dean and I were celebrating, with our respective girlfriends, five years at our respective aerospace firms. Indeed, I even had a cake made for after dinner that read “FFY” for “five years.”
Here are three pages from Patrick’s 1962 diary.
(Click on the images to enlarge them.)
Diary (page 1)
Continue reading “Diary – 6 May 1962”Here’s a postcard I sent to Gretchen (c/o Patrick) on 6 April 1987. Not much news but included for the completeness of the record. (Click on it to see a larger version.)
About the Mary reference: Mary and I had driven to Vegas for my birthday celebration, but I failed to make hotel reservations. It was snowing up there, but we walked around and had dinner and enjoyed the sites, such as they are. I couldn’t find a place for us to stay so we drove to Henderson, still couldn’t find anything. We finally traveled over Hoover Dam through heavy snow and stopped for the night in Kingman, following big trucks, who cleared the tracks for us, in my Karmann Ghia. She was quite angry with and thought we were going to die.
I’m an imperfect copy of an imperfect father
Adopting his failures
Mimicking his weaknesses
Poorly duplicating his better qualities
His virtuosity in music
His confidence with women
His tenacity in publication
We shared the joy of teaching
A love of words and music
A sharp wit and curmudgeonly air
A familial void
The absence of each another
Over too many years
I’m an imperfect copy of an imperfect father
Yet I must self-acknowledge
My few qualities, the ones he lacked
As a racer
As an engineer
As a responsible man
7 May ’17
Palma, Mallorca
Copyright © 2017, 2019 John Dillon
Stephanie’s instrument was recorder so from the outset it was evident we needed a harpsichord. My experience with music told me that if you had the instruments, the musicians would appear, a kind of magic. So if you had a guitar, for instance, everyone with an illusion of being the next Bob Dylan or Cat Stevens would show up in your living room. Given our new interest in Baroque and Classical, best would be to dispose of the guitar. I passed it along to my daughter Gretchen. She at nineteen was visiting Spain for the first time. She fell out with a bartender named Pedro and smashed my guitar over his head.
Continue reading “Oktav (the Story of the Harpsichord)”Here is a link to a YouTube video of the Russian String Orchestra directed by Patrick’s good friend Misha Rachlevsky. You may recall that Misha led the memorial concert for Patrick in September of 2017.
This video is from the last concert of last year’s USA tour (November 19, 2018, for Friends of Chamber Music in Miami). It’s only 37 minutes long.
Misha wrote “Each member in this composition, which I commissioned for our anniversary season, is featured as a soloist. And at the end (last 7 minutes or so, including the encore) we show, that classical music concert can pump adrenaline as well as any rock band on a good night.”
Patrick and Stephanie would have loved this.
Here’s something a little different, a list of wines Patrick or Stephanie saved on 15 Nov 1998. I found it in his Dropbox account.
Alphonse Mellot
Menetou Salon 1997
Blanc (From Guy and Stephanie)
Bourgogne Aligoté
1997
mis en bouteille par
Bouchard Pere & Fils
Pinot Noir de Bourgogne
mis en bouteille par Thorin
1995
Cru Bourgeois
Chateau La Mouline
Moulis en Medoc
mis en bouteille au chateau
1995
Alphonse Mellot
Pouilly-Fumé
mis en b outeille par Alphonse Mellot a Sancerra – F. 18300
1997
Les Tourelles de Longueville
Pauillac-Medoc
mis en bouteille au chateau
1994
Merlot
vin de pays d’oc
mis en bouteille pour SVG
par Clement Pascalet aF 11590
1997