Somehow I’ve become the kind of person who buys vintage cookbooks. In the spring, shortly after the COVID shutdown began, I bought a cookbook from 1912 published in conjunction with Washington, DC’s Heurich Brewery. At the end of July, I bought another cookbook through eBay, this one a Peanuts-themed Chex cereal cookbook published in 1991.Continue reading “A Vintage Peanuts Cookbook”
Author Archives: Allyn Gibson
Harrisburg Baseball, A Century Ago
I love old photographs, especially if they have a baseball connection. Consider my efforts to colorize Swampoodle Grounds, or the collection of women playing baseball in Washington in 1919. This photograph of the Pennsylvania State Capitol, taken from the west shore of the Susquehanna, circa 1906 fits the bill. It’s from a panoramic shot ofContinue reading “Harrisburg Baseball, A Century Ago”
Carbon Leaf’s New Project
Carbon Leaf, the Richmond, Virginia based band I’ve been a fan of since my days at the University of Richmond in the 90s, is running a Kickstarter for their next album, their first “full-length album in 7 years,” and several other projects, including an EP, a live album, and a Blu-Ray of the live performance.Continue reading “Carbon Leaf’s New Project”
Searching for Comets
For the first time in recorded history, Comet NEOWISE is visiting the inner solar system solar system. The last time it was here, streaking through the Earth’s skies in the year 4745 BCE, in the midst of the Neolithic period. I’ve seen a number of comets in my life — Halley, in 1986; Hale-Bopp inContinue reading “Searching for Comets”
Full of Sound and Fury
To say that I was exhausted Thursday evening would be an understatement. This was publishing deadline week at work, and it’s easier — and more efficient — for me to work out of the office than from home during that week. The deadlines are tight; I don’t have time for laggy connections and connectivity issues,Continue reading “Full of Sound and Fury”
Genealogy in Old Photographs
Facebook reminded me yesterday morning that I went to Washington, DC six years ago — July 4, 2014 — for a Washington Nationals game and A Capitol Fourth. That trip provided me with one of my most-trafficked blog posts of the past decade on why I didn’t stand for “God Bless America” at the NationalsContinue reading “Genealogy in Old Photographs”
Finding Beauty in Sorrow
In March. when the world was shutting down in the face of COVID-19, Elbow announced two things. First, they were postponing their upcoming live shows due to the pandemic. Sad, but not unexpected, and not something that affected me directly, as the band hadn’t announced an east coast tour. Second, they were releasing a newContinue reading “Finding Beauty in Sorrow”
American Surrender
One of the best baseball writers working today — or, rather, one that I enjoy reading a great deal — is NBC’s Craig Calcaterra. He’s as good at writing about the individual moments as he is at taking the hundred year view, and he’s at his best when he put baseball in a social context.Continue reading “American Surrender”
Getting Productive with LEGO
Working from home these last three months, I’ve had to participate in a new thing for me — video conferences! Unfortunately, I don’t own a webcam. I did, at one time, have a PlayStation 2 camera, and I had the drivers for Window XP for it, but I’ve no idea what happened to the PS2Continue reading “Getting Productive with LEGO”
Speculating about The Great Gatsby
Some recent thinking on Twitter… F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby enters the public domain at the beginning of 2021. Header photo: “Gatsby,” by Larry Yeiser, licensed CC BY-ND 2.0