May 20th, 2024

      This past Thursday, Julie and our youngest daughter Grace flew to  Minneapolis, Minnesota to purchase a very good collection of vintage instruments and drive them back to Rochester. Our friend, Tom Skramstad, from Minneapolis,  put us in touch with the widow….as is the case too often these days. There are a couple of nice Martin guitars and some fine banjos, and quite a few ukuleles. If all goes right, they’ll be back sometime Sunday or today… depending on how many fun stops they want to make! I have been on dog duty and commuting back-and-forth to work since they left. I was going to go on the trip, but I just felt a little trepidation at the last minute and Grace rose the occasion. As chance would have it, her birthday was on the 24th so they did a mom and daughter thing, and visited some of the sites of Minneapolis. But most of all they were treated to great friendship from customers of ours who, perhaps met Grace when she was very young. Larry Marcus brought them some delicious pastries from a new bakery in town and took them to the sites of the outdoor sculpture park. That evening Curtis and Loretta Teague took them to a delicious Thai restaurant. It’s amazing how friends step up when you’re out of town. Julie was just sorry they weren’t able to see a few more folks as they were only in town for a matter of hours before they head off towards Chicago and back to Rochester.

Today in America we pause and reflect on Memorial or "Decoration" Day. It is a federal holiday for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces. It is said to have begun in nearby Waterloo, NY. which claims to be the founding place of the holiday.
In popular culture it is the beginning of summertime, celebrated with picnics, barbecues beer and  beaches. The solemness is often overlooked as the intention is to reflect upon those who gave their life in service of their country. Every town has a parade and there is a lot of patriotism, flag waving and fireworks, but we can never fully comprehend the suffering that this ultimate sacrifice bestows upon the families left behind after losing a loved one in war. When I was in High School we read a poem by Wilfred Owen, a 25 year old English infantryman who lost his life in WWI. It had a profound effect upon me. The poem is now over 100 years old and theme of the devastation of war is more appropriate than ever.

EVERY MEMORIAL DAY I POST THIS POEM I READ IN HIGH-SCHOOL: 

 "Dulce Et Decorum Est" 

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt,the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

The store will be closed today in honor of Memorial Day but of course the online store is open around the clock. Lots of new and interesting vintage instruments have come in this week so check our new this week.  Every day we get calls with interesting instruments for sale.  Bernunzio’s has become the place to trust for buying and selling vintage instruments at a fair price. These are exciting times for vintage instrument enthusiasts.

With peace,

John Bernunzio

This past week we fished Honeoye Lake with great success: that is warm weather, fun conversation and a couple of little fish!

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori: 

it is sweet and fitting to die for the fatherland