Good tidings from Father Hart

Father John Hart, the good man of Dorchester who left his people behind to take up residence on Sunnyside Ave. in Chicago, sent a package the other day. Seldom is the mail box a source of good news. Usually it's bills and solicitations. The former you pay, the latter you stare at and just wish you could heat the house with a junk mail furnace.

Inside the sharply wrapped package was a book, SIX FRIGATES, The epic history of the founding of the U.S. Navy, by Ian W. Toll.

Father Hart wrote on the inscription page, "Joe, this is the kind of boat you should be sailing!"

Actually, it's the kind of book I should be writing. Ian W. Toll attended the same high school as your humble correspondent, but he went on to great things.

According to the book jacket, "Ian W. Toll has been a Wall Street analyst, a Federal Reserve financial analyst, and a political aide and speechwriter. Six Frigates is his first book. He lives with his wife and two-year-old son in San Francisco."

He also sails a variety of boats in the excellent breezes of San Francisco. Good for him. Boston has tremendous wind, sadly, in the coldest months. This makes for good wind-powered energy production in Hull, but causes frustration, as sailing in the winter is uncomfortable at best, and foolhardy at worst.

In the "somebody out there somewhere is reading this thing" department, our favorite subject, Scott Noble, has received some more fan mail. Last we spoke, the human incarnation of Oscar the Grouch was incensed that Sweet Sarah of the West Coast had read of the Noble 7 push ups that resulted in the groin injury. Seeking to offer him some emotional support, she sent a little note expressing her condolences.

As you would suspect, the note made the grouchy Noble even grouchier.

Please buy Six Frigates by Ian W. Toll.

You won't be disappointed. After all, he's not some Middlesex man.

Best to all,


JWB

PS Father Hart, come home to Melville Ave. Gather up your sweet young thing and her dolls and dishes and get back to Dorchester.