On April 14, 2018 I went to Cecil County and explored four cemeteries, looking for graves I knew about and graves I didn’t. I had been planning this for about two months, and you never know what you’ll find until you go and look. The roots of my dad’s family come from what I jokingly … Continue reading Exploring Cemeteries in Cecil County
Category: Life
Tomorrow is a big day. In addition to Cecil Con, a small comic book convention in North East, Maryland, I’m going to visit four cemeteries in the area. My dad’s side of the family comes from what I call “the borderlands of Maryland and Pennsylvania”; there are Gibsons and Browns and Reynolds and Russells that … Continue reading Plans for a Cecil County Outing
Of late I have been experimenting with cheese and onions sandwiches. I mentioned back in March that, because of George Harrison’s 75th birthday, I rewatched Eric Idle’s The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. Harrison was a huge fan of Idle’s satire of the Beatles, and he even had a cameo as a reporter covering … Continue reading Cheese and Onions Experimentation
Until today I had never solved a Rubik’s Cube. Now I’ve done it twice. Solving a Rubik’s Cube was something that I never learned how to do. Or, never figured out how to do. I had Rubik’s Cubes, several of them, actually, and I’d twist them and turn them. The best I could do was … Continue reading Solution Time
When I got to work this morning and thought about my commute, I had the thought, “Yeah, that could have resulted in a fatality.” The situation… When I left home this morning, the sky was overcast and the air was raw, but there was no precipitation. I stopped at Royal Farms to get some gas, … Continue reading A Harrowing Moment on the Highway
Lately, I’ve been working on a couple of projects. In the fall, I colorized a photograph of Swampoodle Grounds, Washington, DC’s baseball park of the 1880s. I liked working on that, and now I’m working on colorizing another old baseball photograph, this time of Babe Ruth and (future president) George H.W. Bush. The photograph was … Continue reading Projects In Progress
As some people know, I like to visit cemeteries. And when I visit cemeteries, I tend to take pictures of headstones and the cemetery itself, even if I have no familial reason to. I’ve visited Dallastown’s cemeteries many times, I’ve taken many photos, and I’m related to absolutely no one. I have a particular fondness … Continue reading The Things You Find in Your Photo Collection
This is a real conversation I had with myself recently: “Farpoint is this weekend! Maybe I’ll go to Andy Nelson’s and get some BBQ for dinner.” “You freaking moron. You drive past Andy Nelson’s every single day when you go to work. You can stop anytime you want after work. You don’t.” “Oh. Yes. You’re … Continue reading Conversations I Have With Myself
In the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will be asking people to write in their ethnic background. I have decided that I will report that my ancestors come from Grand Fenwick, an independent, English-speaking principality somewhere in central Europe. If I need to name a second country, I will name Ruritania. Grand Fenwick, of course, … Continue reading My Grand Fenwickian Heritage
Probably the most profound thing I’ve read today, if not this year. A pediatrician in South Africa, Alastair McAlpine, who works with terminally ill children, asked them what was important to them, what they liked doing, and what they’ll miss when they’re gone. The children, aged four to nine, talked about their pets and how … Continue reading The Wisdom of Children
The cold snap, which has seen temperatures below zero and wind chills well below zero, should end in the next few days. It won’t be warm, but we’ll at least see the thirties again. On an unspeakably cold day like today, you need something warm to eat, and for that I turned to Grape Nuts. … Continue reading Cold Weather, Hot Breakfast
There are things you don’t want to feel while driving. Your car, moving 60 miles an hour, shoved about three feet to the left is one of those things. The commute home wasn’t bad. At least in the Baltimore-York corridor, the Great Bomb Cyclone Blizzard of 2018 was a lot of sound and fury, signifying … Continue reading The Great Bomb Cyclone of 2018