Author: DJB

A Magical Day at Acoma

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Yesterday was magical for the Browns as we visited Acoma Sky City, the country’s oldest continuously inhabited community, on a splendid summer day.  Acoma Sky City is a National Trust for Historic Preservation Historic Site and one of this country’s very special places.  Rising early we arrived at the spectacular Sky City Cultural Center – a center that blends with the land and was designed only after the community held a series of focus groups with tribal members ranging from age 4 to 96.  Every detail at the center has been thoughtfully considered, and we received a top-to-bottom tour from Center Operations Director Randy Howarth.  Randy was our host for the day and saw to it that we got to experience all that Acoma had to offer. Acoma Sky City – the spiritual home of the pueblo – sits on the top of a 357 foot mesa.  We joined a tour group that included some bikers from Belgium who were riding Historic Route 66 from Chicago to LA.  After riding to the top of the mesa, …

Petroglyph National Monument

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On our first day headed west, we spent most of the day in the air getting to Albuquerque, but did arrive in time to walk a bit around Old Town and then visit Petroglyph National Monument; Our time in Old Town was spent eating some good New Mexican food and taking photographs. We’ve included one above by Claire that we all enjoyed. After leaving Old Town, we drove out of Albuquerque a short way to visit the Petroglyph National Monument.  Most readers will know that Petroglyphs are Native American sacred art — images etched in stone that may date from 2,000 – 3,000 years ago according to the NPS brochure.  The landscape itself is amazing.  This is a 17 mile mesa created by volcanic eruptions which left striking basalt boulders.  The images were then etched into these boulders — some 20,000 in all with the majority made 400 to 700 years ago.  On our hike to the top of the mesa, we took countless close-ups of the petroglyphs.  These are wonderful works of art and …

Summer Reading

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An email from the husband of a friend who shall remain nameless showed up in my home email in-box recently with a list of books on his table ready for his summer reading.  There were a lot of very serious titles—some of which I’ve read and many of which I’ve missed—but the one that caught my eye was War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.  Now I’ve read that book, and I don’t consider it light reading.  In fact, it is pretty depressing.  For while Hedges calls for humility, love, and compassion as the only chance for the human race, he writes of the addiction of war and its unifying force.  When you read this, our chances seem pretty slim. But that’s NOT why I’m writing about Summer Reading Lists.  There are 9 other months of the year to read books like War is a Force…  Summer reading is different.  Here are three books (two on baseball; one only tangentially on architecture but really on love) I think are great for …

Lovell Sisters at Strathmore Music Center

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It was a beautiful evening in Bethesda, Maryland as a few hundred fans stretched out on the lawn in front of the Strathmore Mansion with picnics in hand to enjoy a free concert by the Lovell Sisters Band.  This band of three young sisters from Georgia played two spirited sets bringing together bluegrass and country classics with some very tasteful original music.  All three sisters – Jessica on fiddle, Megan on Dobro, and Rebecca on mandolin and guitar – are excellent instrumentalists and the harmony singing is as good as expected from three musical siblings.  While all three sisters had their moments, the standout for me was the youngest, Rebecca – the writer of much of the original material and the owner of a nice bluesy voice that will only get better as she matures.  She also played some spirited mandolin breaks, trading licks with guitarist Matt Wingate.  During the concert I turned to my wife and said “that guitarist is good,”  so I wasn’t surprised to find out later that he is a former Merlefest guitar …

MVYRadio – A Wonderful Source for Good Music

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I discovered MVYRadio (Martha’s Vineyard Radio) when I was unable to attend the 2008 Merlefest Celebration in Wilkesboro, NC.  Remembering their advertisements at previous Merlefest events, I checked them out online and found they were streaming live from the festival and had a rich archives of performances from past years.  Check out the archives section and you’ll find performances from a number of great festivals. Recommended! DJB

Travels in India – Establishing the International National Trusts Organisation

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This November I’ll head to Slovakia for the annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the International National Trusts Organisation (yes, we use the British spelling).  While there, I hope to post some comments and photos about both the work and the historic buildings we tour.  In preparation for that posting, I am linking to the posts made on the PreservationNation blog last December, when I was in India for the establishment of INTO.  It was an extraordinary trip which included an opportunity to share the stage with the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh (who just last month survived a vote of no confidence in India).  Slovakia will be with a much smaller group, but we are looking forward to reviewing the progress we’ve made with INTO in the first six months.  More to come. DJB