Last weekend, after the Mid-Maryland Celtic Festival, I drove home by way of Eldersburg, mainly because it was easier to head north to Liberty Road instead of south to I-70. As I approached Eldersburg, I decided, entirely on a whim, to visit the church graveyard where my great-uncle and great-aunt are buried, coincidentally quite closeContinue reading “Exploring Cemeteries”
Category Archives: Life
Musings on a Water Tower
Last Saturday at Farpoint I went to dinner with some friends and their pre-school aged daughter. As we drove up York Road, the preschooler pointed to the west. “Look! A water tower! It’s so small!” I’ve worked in the area for the past ten years. Yet this was the first time I’d really noticed theContinue reading “Musings on a Water Tower”
Frank Delaney, A Reminiscence
The author Frank Delaney has died. He suffered a stroke at his home in Connecticut on Tuesday, and he died on Wednesday. He was 74. Delaney was an occasional guest on Scott Simon’s Weekend Edition Saturday, and that was where I first encountered him. Fifteen-ish years ago — ah, I’ve looked, it was merely twelveContinue reading “Frank Delaney, A Reminiscence”
Loving the World
I had to watch this video a few times before I really got it. It’s a short film, created The Climate Coaltion, a UK organization that fights climate change, that features Charles Dance, Miranda Richardson, Jason Isaacs, and David Gyasi dramatically reciting a poem by Anthony Anaxagorou about the wonders of nature and the threatContinue reading “Loving the World”
Fun With Lightbulb Replacement
Friday morning, my driver’s side headlight bulb blew on the way to work. I noticed, stopped on Shawan Road at the stoplight there that I didn’t have two headlight reflections in the bumper of the car in front of me. Just one. On the passenger side. Hum, I thought. Hum. At the office parking lot,Continue reading “Fun With Lightbulb Replacement”
Photographing a Baltimore Church
I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the Women’s March in Baltimore that I stopped along the way and took pictures of churches. It’s something of a hobby of mine. Sacred architecture speaks to the better angels of our nature, a monument to the human need for community that spans decades and centuries. Most of theContinue reading “Photographing a Baltimore Church”
Reporting to the Head Beagle on 2016
I received an urgent request to fill out an annual report to the Head Beagle. I think this urgent request may have come to me by accident — unlike Snoopy I am not a beagle — but in the spirit of the New Year, herewith is my 2016 response to the annual survey. 1. HowContinue reading “Reporting to the Head Beagle on 2016”
On the Year that Was
With 2016 drawing to a close and 2017 about to begin, I decided to take a look back at 2016 and spotlight the best (or most significant) blog post of each month. Some months — July, quite notably — were more difficult that others; there were a few months, like March and August, where IContinue reading “On the Year that Was”
Nollaig Chridheil!
On Christmas Eve I went to a church service. No, I’m not abandoning my atheism, nor am I plagued by doubts. The reasons are far more interesting than that. In June, I wrote about the walking route I take through Dallastown and how, when I passed a church on Main Street, I noted with approvalContinue reading “Nollaig Chridheil!”
An Unsettling Dream
I had a strange dream last night, and I’ve felt strangely gutted by it for much of the day, so I’m going to write about it. The dream begins in a city neighborhood. It’s a hilly neighborhood, as I walk uphill past rowhomes that were built probably around 1920 based on the architecture. At oneContinue reading “An Unsettling Dream”