The coldest winter I ever spent
On our summer trip in Grand Teton National Park, we were in a boat going across Jenny Lake and I asked our boat guide, Nathaniel, “Is there a place you can stand for a million years and get sucked under by the fault?” He laughed and said he hasn’t heard that one before. Megan said she was proud to be married to me for that.
My dad sold his 1951 Packard in 2013. It’s crazy that it feels like yesterday but that was 11 years ago. He loved the car, loved restoring it, driving it, and having it. It was a part of our lives from 1988. The article below tells parts of the story very well. He sold it because, he told me that he wasn’t taking the car out as much as he used to, it was getting harder to store it, and it was time to let it go. I am deeply nostalgic about the parking garage we set up for it. We’d walk in and turn the lights on, a radio tuned to oldies would come on, filling the space with the right ambiance. He’d walk over and unhook the battery maintainer and screw the battery protectors back in. I’d look under the hood and see the magic of the glass belled carburetor. He’d start it up by pushing the gas pedal a few times to prime it, then pushing the pedal all the way to the floor. It ran on a 6 volt system so it always sounded like it wasn’t going to turn over. It would lazily turn and turn and turn. But it always eventually did! The smell was a beautiful mix of oil and partially burned gas until it warmed up. And then we’d take it out. It floated on the road like the world was moving around it, not the other way around. It was just so heavy and stable and comfortable.
Two share life-long love affair with cars-link to Plymouth
Plymouth Voice · November 11, 2014
Chantal Charbonneau with Margaret Dunning
Chantal Charbonneau with her 1951 Packard convertible and 104-year-old Margaret Dunning with the 1930 Packard convertible she has owned for 55 years.Nov. 11, 2014 PLYMOUTH VOICE.
Plymouth Michigan News“A trip in a ’50s car such as this provides a voyage in time with every ride, not to mention a special link with my own family history” – Margaret Dunning
Montreal woman has had a life-long love affair with Packards
By: Alyn Edwards
For the past 23 years, Chantal Charbonneau has been editor of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, an institution that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year in the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. She has produced hundreds of publications and videos, some of which have earned the Musée distinguished awards.
With a master’s degree in art history from the University of Montreal, Chantal has always had a keen interest in items from the past including a fondness for “rolling sculptures of yesteryear.” She refers to these as beautés mobiles as she has a long-standing personal connection with antique vehicles.
She was barely three months old in 1962 when her father went out shopping for food and came home with an unexpected item: a massive black 1940 Packard Super Eight, to her mom’s astonishment. The man loved classic cars and would own more than a dozen Packard cars in subsequent years, several of which he restored himself.
First family trophy at Connecticut Concours, 1966
First family trophy at Connecticut Concours, 1966
Chantal grew up taking Sunday drives in her dad’s old Packard classics. With her parents and siblings, she attended many car shows in Canada and the U.S. At age 17, she learned to drive on their 1951 Packard Patrician 400, an elegant sedan painted Argentine Gray. She vowed to have her own Packard someday.Last year, she and companion Michel were attending the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance when an e-alert from Trovit popped up on her computer. The sight of a hot 1951 Packard 250 Convertible advertised for sale in New Jersey got her excited. It was painted period-correct Corona Cream, her favorite color for that model.
“Where I live on the South Shore of Montreal is seven hours from where the vehicle was in New Jersey. But to make things more complicated, we were much farther away, in California at the time,” she recalls.
After learning from the seller on the phone that his Packard showing just 37,000 original miles on the odometer had been thoroughly restored in 1988 as a barn find near Buffalo, New York, Chantal and Michel rushed to the local post office in Carmel to mail a deposit, hoping to lock in the deal.
Although the Packard Motor Car Company grew to produce one of the most luxurious marques in the U.S., the company’s fortunes declined following World War II. By 1950, Packard sales had become moribund because of a stale 1940s design. But a complete redrawing for the sleek new 1951 models, known as Series 24, made them more stylish and contemporary, resulting in a phenomenal, albeit temporary, sales rebound.
Production of only 42,000 cars in 1950 was trumped by more than 100,000 units flooding out of Packard dealerships in 1951. Once a vehicle for celebrities and the wealthy during the ’20s and ’30s, the marque was made famous by its advertising slogan: Ask the man who owns one.
Charbonneau and 1951 Packard
Charbonneau and 1951 Packard
Chantal’s Packard 250 convertible is one of fewer than 2,400 such rag tops built in 1951, representing just 4% of the company’s production that year. It is equipped with a 155-horsepower flathead straight-eight engine, Ultramatic transmission and power everything: steering, brakes, aerial, seat, windows and top. The ivory and deep red interior is sporty and inviting.Packard experts and friends John and BarbaraAnna Kefalonitis, who live in New Jersey, generously offered to trailer Chantal’s “new” car to Plattsburgh, N.Y., just south of the Quebec border, following its purchase in August 2013. Ironically, this was soon after Chantal’s 51st birthday and exactly 51 years after her father had bought his first Packard.
As the third owner of this rare model, Chantal got behind the wheel, drove it through Canada Customs at night and then home to the Montreal suburb of Saint-Lambert. “I felt as comfortable doing this as I would sitting on a plush sofa in my living room,” she says.
Typically, when she arrives home from work on a Friday night when weather permits, she takes the Packard out for a spin to the local shopping center. She loves driving her car as opposed to letting it sit idle like a big fancy trinket.
Her passion has led to a lot of reading, research and publishing on the subject, as well as becoming one of only a handful of female judges at several Concours d’Elegance shows of prized classics in Canada and the U.S.
Some time ago, she stumbled upon her family’s 1951 Packard Patrician 400 that she had learned to drive on 35 years ago. It is stored in a barn north of Montreal. Although it is in poor condition, she hopes to bring it back to life someday.
On her bucket list of must-do events for next year is the Euro Packard Meeting in Studen, Switzerland, where she has been invited by the Chairman of the organizing committee.
Her role model is car collector friend, business woman and philanthropist Margaret Dunning of Plymouth, Michigan. At 104 years of age, the “Belle of the Concours”, as she is known, still drives her 1930 Packard Straight Eight 740 convertible. The two recently spent time together at the 2014 Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance near Owen Sound, Ont., trading notes about their Packard cars.
There is no doubt that Miss Charbonneau plans to dedicate the rest of her driving days singing the praises of her iconic Packard: “A trip in a ’50s car such as this provides a voyage in time with every ride, not to mention a special link with my own family history,” she says. “You get a lot of interesting comments, but people always seem stunned to see a woman at the wheel of a vintage automobile, which amuses me no end.”
If this sounds like a lot of fun, ask the woman who owns one!
Photos: Chantal Chardbonneau
Plymouth Voice.
Dad sold the Packard to Michel Lamoureux as a present to Chantal Charbonneau of Quebec on about Sept 1, 2013
About them: http://cobblebeachconcours.com/entry-judges.html
CHANTAL CHARBONNEAU / Judge As an art and design historian with a Master’s degree from the University of Montréal, Chantal Charbonneau has been Editor of the Montréal Museum of Contemporary Art for the last 22 years. Her exposure to antique automobiles started as a child whose dad was an avid collector and restorer, particularly of the Packard marque. In 1974, he co-founded what has become Québec’s largest vintage auto association, the Club des Voitures Anciennes du Québec (VAQ). From childhood on, Chantal participated in countless antique car events and Concours in both Canada and the U.S. She has published various articles, including on the Packard, notably in Le Magazine de l’Auto Ancienne, a 39-year old French monthly; and for the Packards International Magazine based in Santa Ana, California. She has served both as Judge and Assistant Chief Judge at the VAQ’s annual Concours d’Elegance, a major event held each July for the last 30 years in Chambly, Québec, South of Montréal. She will be a Class Judge at the Louisville Concours d’Elegance this Fall.
MICHEL LAMOUREUX / Judge Mr. Michel Lamoureux currently serves as Senior Advisor to the President & CEO of the United Nations Association in Canada on strategic development. He also advises multiple automobile organizations, foundations and museums, both in Canada and the U.S., on growth strategies. Mr. Lamoureux has been car crazy as far back as he can remember, particularly muscle cars.
For the last four years, he has represented Québec on the Board of the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada (NAACC) and hosted, in 2011, the first annual general meeting of the NAACC to be held in that province. Mr. Lamourex has been Class Judge at the Louisville Concours d’Elegance in Kentucky and has participated in numerous such events across North America. In 2010, he was Director of Partnerships for the Le Mirage Concours d’Elegance held in Blainville, Québec, north of Montréal.
Mr. Lamourex is well published and is a regular contributor to Hagerty Classic Cars, the company’s weekly on-line magazine and to Le Magazine de l’Auto Ancienne, Québec’s oldest antique car monthly magazine, established in 1974. In 2012, he was named “Personality of the Year” by the Club des Voitures Anciennes du Québec (or VAQ), the province’s–-and this country’s’-–largest vintage car club, in recognition of his outstanding involvement across North America and quality of his writing in both of Canada’s official languages.
Inflation in the US in the last 4 years has been a hardship. So I ask, how does US inflation compare to the rest of the world, and why are we seeing it? There’s no full answer here but some insights….
Takeaway:
The next time you blame Trump’s first presidency for inflation, pause first, because Trump signing the CARES Act may have saved us from something worse.
The next time you blame Biden for inflation, pause first, because it was Trump and a pandemic that caused it.
Ugh.
My Reasoning:
TradingEconomics tells us that the US saw a much higher inflation rate than Japan and China. The EU saw inflation similar to the US, though the start was delayed by about a year.
(I picked these countries/groups in my analysis because they are the 4 largest economies in the world)
This article from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco “blames” the 2020 CARES Act of 2020 (signed by Trump) but is quick to say, “However, without these spending measures, the economy might have tipped into outright deflation and slower economic growth, the consequences of which would have been harder to manage.”
(More specifically, they believe that about 1/2 of the recent inflation was caused by Americans’ increased disposable income from the CARES Act. They didn’t comment on it but I believe they would pin the other 1/2 on the pandemic itself)
“It’s a real game changer.”
Stop saying that. Your product isn’t that good.
(I’ve been hearing that phrase a lot recently in advertising and I don’t like it!)
Abigail and I have been making recipes out of this book and it’s been a blast! Crepes! Cream Puffs! (Make the shoe!!)
But I have to warn you…
The 2023 edition of this book is tremendously inferior to the 2019 edition!
Look in the photo, the 2019 edition on the left has MUCH more useful content for budding chefs, with many more helpful photos and larger print. The one on the right only highlights the finished product. It’s a little prettier but this is a COOK BOOK for kids, not a coffee table book!
EVERY recipe gets this new, glamorous but useless treatment.
As of May 2024 on Amazon, the yellow edition with no author mention on the cover is the bad 2023 edition. The blue edition with the author mention (“Angela Wilkes”) is the 2019 edition.
Thank you, Angela Wilkes for making a fun cookbook!
Writing postcards for Harris!
The family and I went to Outback Steakhouse in Pinole last night. The money came from some American Express rewards that my dad had earned. So yeah, my dad paid. He always got great pleasure from paying the check. I’ve got his black billfold in my nightstand, the billfold he always held in his jacket breast pocket. We toasted him heartily for the meal. He would have loved going out to dinner with us all last night. I miss him very much.
At dessert, Abigail said that her favorite sauces were raspberry and chocolate and she wanted them on her cheesecake. I choked up as, of course, raspberry and chocolate was my dad’s favorite as well.
2 hours of seeing how the impossible is possible provides delight and inspiration for life! The family saw the Flynn Creek Circus in Sebastopol this weekend. It was time very well spent!
Hint-hint: they have more shows happening soon in Northern California and Oregon https://www.flynncreekcircus.com
Whole milk is better for kids than skimmed milk. So why does the United States insist on providing skimmed milk to children in schools?
Here’s a great article I found on Quora on the subject:
TLDR: Big sugar is to blame.
My own note: a “low fat” diet is, by definition, a “high sugar, high protein” diet.
———————————
Evidence is emerging that in fact yes, it is largely due to dietary changes.
Prior to circa 1970 most people, including children, drank whole milk. I should state that in two parts: (1) most people drank milk, and (2) the milk was very largely whole milk. But then a huge shift in consumer habits came about in relation to milk consumption, and this was due to the enormous influence of a 1967 report from Harvard, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The report looked at certain carefully selected studies, and ignored other studies that gave contrary evidence. The report’s conclusions were simple: Cardiovascular Disease was mainly caused by eating animal fats, and sugar had no causal link with Cardiovascular Disease.
The three Harvard researchers had been paid $5,000 by the Sugar Research Foundation to produce that report. And the people who paid for the report also were able to read it prior to its publication, to ensure that its conclusions were what they wanted them to be. These three researchers were working in a department of the Harvard Medical School. In the mid 1960’s these same researchers and their colleagues needed a new building in which to work at Harvard. The makers of Cheerios, the company called General Mills (who are BIG users of sugar) donated one million dollars to Harvard for that department to be based in. If this seems shocking, it is. Have a look at this article in the New York Times to get a fuller understanding of that episode.
How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat
Please do click the link above, and take the time to read that article.
Now, how does this relate to milk, and childhood obesity? The New England Journal of Medicine was the most authoritative journal of its kind in the world, and the report was from researchers at Harvard, so it had HUGE influence. By that I mean within several years the report had laid the basis for government policies in the USA, in Canada, the UK and most of western Europe. The official nutritional advice from all these governments was simple: avoid animal fats. If you want to be healthy, don’t just eat lean beef, or fish, or chicken. You should also switch from butter to margarine (BIG mistake..!!). And stop drinking whole milk, and instead have skimmed milk. And if you don’t like the taste of skimmed milk, then at the very least drink semi-skimmed milk. PLEASE AVOID that dangerous WHOLE milk..!! But don’t worry about carbohydrates and sugar, those are fine for you.
Have you ever read Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White? In that story, a common farming practise is mentioned a few times, which is to give skimmed milk to pigs. In the UK and the USA this has been done for over a century. Why? Because a farmer knows that skimmed milk leaves the pig hungry, and so the pig will gobble up its food more readily, and thereby put on weight more quickly than would otherwise be the case.
Not sure if this is a reasonable answer yet? Then here is the evidence.
A new study has just recently been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It is a “systematic review and meta-analysis led by St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto.” It found children who drank whole milk had 40% lower odds of being overweight or obese compared with children who consumed reduced-fat milk.
They analysed 28 studies from seven countries that explored the relationship between children drinking cow’s milk and the risk of being overweight or obese. The studies involved a total almost 21,000 children between the ages of one and 18 years old.
and
Children who drank whole milk had lower risk of being overweight
One of the authors of this new report (Dr. J. Maguire) had conducted his own “observational” study a few years ago, looking at over 2,700 children in the greater Toronto area, aged between 1 and 6. Their own study had results that directly led to the meta-study mentioned above. What they had noticed was that the young children being raised by the parents on skimmed and semi-skimmed milk had a tendency to snack considerably more than the children being raised on whole milk.
In the UK, one well-known ‘media Doctor’ recently published an article in the Mail of Sunday, looking at the topic from a different angle.
DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Why full fat milk is the best thing you drink
Dr. Mosley discusses our need for iodine, and how whole milk is typically our best source for it. We need iodine for the thyroid to produce thyroxine, which helps control our metabolic rate. If we don’t get enough iodine, we don’t produce enough thyroxine, and our metabolic rate will then drop, causing us to put on weight.
And he himself had drunk semi-skimmed milk for 20 years, having believed it was the healthier option.
So… we need to stop drinking skimmed and semi-skimmed milk. We need to stop fattening our children like pigs are fattened by farmers. And by the way, you won’t hear this advice from the dairy industry: they make more money by skimming off the cream, and selling that separately, than they do selling whole milk.
It tends to be only the small dairy farmers who understand the truth of the matter: that we have been lied to by industry and governments now for decades on this topic. I’m married to a dairy farmer, and she and her 3 sons are all lean and muscular. And they drink whole milk, every day.
I spent several hours pouring over a new technical memorandum (“BSR/IES TM-39”) about lighting flicker and commenting on it! I’m excited that the flicker “needle” is slowly moving toward creating a world that doesn’t surprise me at every turn with nausea-inducing strobe lights!
It’s very gratifying to see that Naomi Miller and other scientists have been using my experiences and images to move things forward!
This poster (via) created by the PNNL uses a quote from me and an image I created! That’s my phantom arrayed car in our driveway!
