Poltrack Blog

My earliest memories of Christmas Eve & Christmas Day were spent around this table in Stamford, CT. I'm on the right (wearing suspenders) being held by my Aunt Mary. Christmas Eve was a fast day  prior to a change in Canon Law in 1983 and my devout Grandmother (seated center) took it to extremes. There was no bread, dairy and certainly no meat. Dinner was fish and beet soup. At the time I liked neither so it went out with my cousins to fill up on ice cream sodas at a nearby drug store lunch counter. My Grandmother would recite prayers in Polish before the meal and even though I didn't understand, I would catch our names being mentioned. She prayed for all of us and those who had pass. As a kid I would try to make my cousin laugh during the prayer which in retrospect was not very respectful. I guess I needed the prayer most of all. My favorite tradition from this meal is one we have continued into the present day. Sharing Opłatk ( Christmas wafer ) with friends and fam...

It was great meeting up with my cousin in Maine, played some tunes, had some laughs and reminisced about some crazy times.They have been on a 2.5 year adventure in a mobile home and I took a tour. I'll give some background taken from their excellent blog Vilia Adventures . Hello Maine "Wow, long time between posts. We are entrenched in our campground in Maine. Kokatosi Camp, in Casco, (or maybe Raymond, ME). We are 4 miles from the family compound. It is my sister and brother-in-laws place on a lovely feeder lake to the greater Sebago Lake water basin. It has been, over the many years, a "compound" like the Bush presidential family have at Kennebunkport, Maine. Well, it is a little less glam but no less beautiful. Our extended family has been drawn here since the purchase 49 years ago. My Sis and Bro in law have been the most gracious of hostess/host for those 49 years as this extended family has been drawn to this place.  Maine is a treasure trove of ...

I spent a good amount of my youth watching TV, shows like Howdy-Doody, Sky King, Roy Rodgers and recycled cartoons from the 1920s ( Farmer Al Falfa and his Terrytoon Pals ). But my favorite was a Space series called Captain Video and his Video Rangers . I decided to built my own spaceship in the back yard, fitted my craft with a cockpit and a steering wheel. I believe I used clock faces as the instrumentation. I have no idea why it had a rope attached, perhaps that day it doubled as a boat. My sister manned the spaceship as I did some rocket engine repair TV Stars  Don Hastings (left) and Al Hodge (right)   Don't Panic SpaceX Launch - Feb 6, 2018 I'm glad I actually get to see this in my lifetime Looks remarkably like my 1950s prototype  Seeing the vertical landing of the booster engineers was a scene taken out of every 1950s movie ever seen.   www.poltrack.net

In September of 2009, my wife's niece traveled from Nanaimo, British Columbia  to new Ipswich, New Hampshire to visit us. It was an epic coast to coast journey for them. I wanted to make sure that they visited the Atlantic Ocean so they could say that they traveled coast to coast, so after a New England lunch of lobster we headed over to Odiorne State Park in Rye, NH. Paul took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean, something I would never do and the girls did some exploring. During the visit I asked about a vest that Paul was wearing that bore the title "Prince Charles Canoe Club". It was an interesting story about the queen and a young Prince Charles visiting Canada. Recently I found a video by Bill Seward describing the club. At the end of the visit Paul gave me the vest as a parting gift. This is a detail of the embroidery. Paul gave me his vest as a gift after he told me the story Margie Robinson and family visiting New Hampshire in 2009 Paul Wyse-Seward...

Cathy says Hi…Bob and I visited Maine this summer….a great time, although we missed Lillian.  The hat collage pic was done with Lillian’s hat.  So I thought I would take a pic of everybody at Coffee Pond wearing Grandma’s hat.  Molly asked if she could have her picture taken sitting on the dock with her feet in the water so she would look like Babcia (see pic of Lillian on dock)!!!  That was one of her favorite spots!  Cathy Aunt Lillian at Coffee Pond, Maine A Collage

When we returned from vacation we were given the sad news that Pickles our elder feline warrior did not return from his nightly hunt of rodents and moles. It was impossible to keep this guy in the house for any length of time (and we tried). He loved the outdoors and and would complain loudly if we didn’t let him out. He was definitely a warrior, we found him as a stray many years ago. Over the years he lost a fang, managed to kill some big game (a rabbit) and gathered a few battle scars. He was gentle with us and the other cats but was not interested in typical cat distractions like boxes, bags and laser pointers. He couldn’t be bothered with such frivolities. Paris and Buster are still with us. Paris is an indoor cat and Buster spends time outside only when he gets banished for tormenting Paris. He’d rather sleep on an amplifier than hunt. Paris concentrates on insects and moths. If vermin are in the house I know I can depend on her. Pickle’s got along with both of them. He will b...

On April 16th, 1944 over three hundred bombers and fighters of the 5th Air Army took off on a mission to bomb and strafe the Japanese airfields located at  Hollandia , Dutch New Guinea. The mission was successful and no aircraft was lost to enemy action, however their safe return was blocked by a massive weather front. 37 aircraft were destroyed or went missing because of the bad weather.This event known as  Black Sunday  and marked the biggest operational loss due to weather in WWII. My uncle piloted a  B-25  on this mission. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Ed Poltrack's Squadron The experience of crews who did find an airfield was no better. Alfred B. Colwell,Jr., was the Navigator/Bombardier on a B-25 in the 38th Bomb Group based at Nadzab, New Guinea April 16 Mission #48 – Hollandia. … The whole area was full of planes-B-24s, B-25s, A-20s and P-38s. We got down to 50 feet above the coast and followed it towards Sa...

We attended Stephanie & Jesse’s graduation today. Both graduated as engineers, Jesse is a mechanical engineer and Stephanie is a chemical engineer. Stephanie is a member of the Society of Women Engineers. This commencement was “Green”. Power for the ceremony was supplied by methane produced by a landfill. There were recycle and compost bins near the food area. Shuttle service was available and I noticed a train depot right on campus. I was especially impressed with the commencement address given by Gary Hirshberg the CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm . I have a warm spot in my heart for the Stonyfield Yogurt folks because for a short time I lived next Samuel Kaymen one of the founders here in New Ipswich. When he came over to introduced himself I was actually cooking up some of my own yogurt in a Salton yogurt maker (this was in the wonderful 70’s when we were going to change the world and be self sufficient). I remember having a fine burrito supper with his family with plenty of win...

My nephew is a mechanical engineering student at UNH. He sent me a photo sequence that makes me a bit queasy but I’m a bit nervous about heights. I’ll include his description of what he is doing. For those of you out there who think that Engineers just sit around all day in front of a computer, here is a little taste of what we do on a regular basis. For those of you who don't know, I work for Sig Sauer (one of the world's foremost handgun manufacturer) as a Design Engineer. I work primarily on R&D and the design of firearms and firearms components. An average day for me includes several shootings, the handling of a minimum of 20 different firearms (more often than not there are machineguns, grenade launchers, and suppressors thrown in the mix also), and it is not uncommon for me to have to move a firearm or two to get at my keyboard. The pictures depict me investigating the possibilities for wind power at my parents house. I scaled the 32m (105ft) tower to get dim...

Maxine’s daughter Martha wrote a beautiful testimony to her mom: In January of last year, I attended a Day of Recollection for caregivers and was struck by the words of the homily during Mass. Our celebrant referenced the Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins‘ reflection on the scene of Jesus’ birth speaking of “God’s infinity dwindling…dwindling into an infant.” Our celebrant then paralleled this by saying we see the same dwindling in Christ’s crucifixion – God’s infinity dwindling into the reality of the world we live in. This theme of dwindling struck me as I too was witnessing my mother’s failing health. It was painful at times to watch this once vibrant and energetic woman “dwindle” into the form of an infant. And I know it was painful for her to reconcile herself to her state of health but eventually she “let go” of her need to do for herself and trusted in God’s mysterious designs. It was the greatest lesson my mother taught me – to “accept and trust in God’s plan”. My mothe...

I know that I carried a few folks in high school. I was pretty good at figuring out the English homework.

Even though it is fake photo, this fashion statement won with 13 votes 8 votes for the bucket look, but UV protection too! This was my favorite, but it only received 5 votes Thanks to all for participating and Happy Groundhogs day

All our neighbors had power as of 6:30PM on Wed... but not us.. apparently there are five "issues" on the line and they are working on it. So we are shoveling snow and showering at mom's. Also sweeping water in her basement (underground stream that sump pump didn't get with power off) and doing laundry. Ah.. 6 days into this is getting old. Ice can be hazardous! The welded lawn sculpture that Jesse made "the gardener" was speared from behind by a branch through the shoulder and out the front of his chest! Yikes.

We’re in a serious weather event – ice storm w. major power outages, but we have no idea about what is going on since we don’t have communications access. I took Mom around for my Saturday errands. Fortunately they did have power where I was scheduled for my haircut…nice to get a shampoo. And then I went to the gym for a shower. When we got back to town we went to the elementary school to check out the first run of our “emergency shelter” situation. Since they needed a midnight to 6AM shift “supervisor” we volunteered. [Mom felt she wanted an “adventure” Actually Mom is the one who could stay up all night reading her Jodi Picoult book.. I slept. Weird to sleep in the gym where I taught 22 years ago! ] In town, we do have two couples who have been trained in CERT Community Emergency Response Training – a national program for community members to be prepared in event of emergencies. They have been putting in 12+ hours a day shifts. Picture of Mom w. walkie talkie (is it still called tha...

By Terence Poltrack The fans didn’t work, and it was already hot at 6:00 a.m. as the boys sat slumped in the no. 11 bus. CD dozed against Denny’s shoulder, occasionally jerking awake, only to repeat the cycle. Denny killed time watching the streaming images from his window of shops and gas stations and neighborhoods, choosing which house he’d most like to live in, sometimes examining his own face or secretly spying on other passengers. Only a few others rode with them, mostly Key & Lock night laborers just off their shifts. They looked worn out. Denny couldn’t sit still. He and CD had attracted attention when they first boarded. Denny blond, pale, thin, 12 years old, CD just slightly shorter, darker though, and all of 7. Two boys on their own, wearing mismatched clothing, carrying brown paper bags, towels over their shoulders. Even the most passive passengers eyed them. The driver hesitated. “ Hey, now, where’s your Aunt Janie? Does she know where you’re a...