Our year in photos – 2012
2012 was a year of healing and family time together.
All posts filed under: Random DJB Thoughts
This is where I put anything that is not easily categorized…
What would be in your user guide?
It is always helpful to be reminded of how others see you. Especially those who know you best.
Vote Early…or Late…Just Vote
Maryland’s early voting opened today, and I just returned from casting my vote at the Silver Spring Civic Center – along with hundreds of my neighbors. The line stretched back to the Whole Foods store, but moved briskly. There was a festive feel in the air. Of course, when I got inside the Civic Center and saw the tabulation for votes at 1 p.m. – over 500 registered Democrats and less than 30 registered Republicans – I realized that most of the people in this line were going to vote the same general ticket. No wonder they were festive! Our presidential contest is assumed to be no contest, but we do have a few national/local issues on our ballot – the most important being the state’s Marriage Equality initiative. Maryland, along with two other states, is attempting to become the first state to support marriage equality by popular vote. Waiting for 90 minutes also means you have a lot of time to talk with others in the line. I was in a typically diverse segment, …
Guitars and Baseball
James Nash once gave some good advice to aspiring guitarists: Rule #1 for learning to play fast: don’t practice while watching the ball game. Well, tonight…I’m guilty. Two hours after starting, I’ve finally put the last instrument back on its stand. I was watching baseball the entire time. However, I suspect that the San Francisco-based Nash would approve of my choice of ballgame, as the hometown Giants are in the World Series against the Detroit Tigers. And while I didn’t get any real practice in tonight, it sure was fun to multitask around two things that I love. (Note to regular readers: Candice, who has become a baseball fan this year with the emergence of the Nats, is out-of-town. I wasn’t ignoring her.) I grew up as a Giants fan. The Braves hadn’t moved to Atlanta, so we didn’t have a MLB team in the South. And Willie Mays is, to my mind, the most complete player in the history of the game. He was so much fun to watch as a young kid in …
Sunday Brunch…A Lifesaver
Last October, Candice and I inadvertently started a tradition of eating brunch out every Sunday. What a lifesaver…in more ways than one. It began as a way to get Candice out of the house after her fall. Since she wasn’t able to drive at the time, I was concerned that being home was making her stir crazy. Church was one of the initial places we ventured and that first Sunday I suggested that we add on brunch. My motives were probably less than pure. Sure, Candice would get out of the house. But I’d also get to eat great food…without having to cook! (I was doing a number of chores I don’t normally assume last fall.) Our pattern became pretty consistent. We’d begin to talk about our choices mid-week. In the process we’d check out the “best brunches” in the restaurant lists for the DC area. By Saturday, we go on Open Table and make our reservation. Candice would often study the menu and go to the restaurant knowing what she wanted. I’m not that …
The sound of genius
Congratulations to Chris Thile, a 2012 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship grant.
2012 N.L. East Division Champs!
Like Michael Morse – shown here grinning as he steps to the plate to lead off the bottom of the 9th in a 2-0 Nationals loss to the Phillies – I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun in a ballpark after a loss. Best. Losing. Night. Ever. Candice and I were at Nationals Park on Monday, October 1st, hoping to watch the Nats clinch their first ever National League East Division championship. It didn’t happen the way we hoped, with a Nats victory. But since they played so well from April through September, this loss on the first day of October didn’t keep our boys from clinching. About 10 minutes before our game ended, the Pittsburgh Pirates (bless their hearts) defeated the Atlanta Braves. With a magic number of one, the deed was done and the outcome on the field was anti-climatic. For the third time this year, I made the big screen, this time holding up a pair of Champs banners that our seat mate had brought to the park. Let the …
High and Tight or High Lonesome…It’s All Good
Last evening felt like an embarrassment of riches. The Nationals were mowing down the hated Phillies on the road, to maintain the best record in baseball and lower their magic number to 3. There were some high and tight pitches thrown. Michael “The Beast” Morse hits a home run “nine million feet” into the Nat’s bullpen in right-center field where reliever Tom Gorzelanny catches the ball in his cap, eliciting whoops, cheers, and raised arms all around. It was fun to watch. But the International Bluegrass Music Association awards (IBMA) show was being live streamed on Bluegrass Today’s web site from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville at the same time, with appearances by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Doyle Lawson, and many others. What’s a bluegrass loving Nat’s fan to do? Simple…multi-task. Zap goes the mute button. I’ll “listen” to Bob and F.P. on closed captions. Next, I turn on the live stream on the iPad and we’re off to the races. Loved the tribute to Ralph Rinzler and the story of how …
The World’s Longest Art Gallery
Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon is one of the unique cultural landscapes in the world. Earlier this week I was fortunate to tour portions of the canyon with some of the smart, passionate people who have helped save it through the years. As Jerry and Donna Spangler note in their guide Horned Snakes and Axle Grease, Nine Mile Canyon is…well, not nine miles in length. By its very name, Nine Mile Canyon is an enigma. From its upper reaches on the west, the canyon twists and turns more than 50 miles to its confluence with the Green River on the east. And how the canyon got its incongruous name remains clouded with the passage of time. Despite the misleading name, Nine Mile Canyon is an amazing landscape filled with rock art – or as some prefer rock writing – from Native Americans about whom we know very little. The miles of rock art has led many to call Nine Mile Canyon “The World’s Longest Art Gallery.” As the Spanglers note, “There is something undeniably magical …
Begin the New Year
For many Americans, the Labor Day weekend — not January 1st — is really the beginning of the new year. School years begin in late August and early September. Some parents — like us — have just dropped off one or more children at college this weekend. (In Claire’s case, she flew off to California on her own, but we did physically deposit Andrew in his dorm room for his sophomore year.) The somewhat slower rhythms of July and August at work, coupled with vacations, seem to be a bigger break in anticipation of starting over than the December break provides before January 1st. And this year, many Americans are just beginning to focus on the presidential race and the choice facing our country. So while Candice, the twins and I took a two-week family trip in mid-August to visit with our parents and siblings, we took the advice of those who said family trips don’t equal vacations and decided to tack on four days around the college drop-off to make sure our batteries …
MORE TO COME... 