Beachcombing with Christina

This past Saturday, Christina and I spent a pleasant hour or so walking along Lewes Beach, looking for shells and pebbles.

It was a bright and beautiful day, so I was busy with my digital camera. The result? Another photo set on my Flickr site.

Christina shares my taste for pebbles, though I'm trying to teach her a bit of discrimination. If left to her own devices, I'm sure she would cart home every pebble and stone on the beach.

Instead, we brought home a decent sample. We've added them to pebbles from earlier visits and other beaches.

Pebble-collecting always makes me think of my paternal grandmother, Isabel Cooper Mahaffie. Grandma was an artist; mostly a painter, but she also dabbled in terrariums and miniature landscapes.

She had an extensive collection of pebbles she used, some of which I imagine came from this beach, from Rehoboth, Dewey, the barrier islands now known as Delaware Seashore State Park, and Bethany.

I can see her wandering along these shores in the 1920's, 30's and 40's drawing beauty and art supplies directly from nature.

I like to think that some of her spirit and creativity has come down through me to join with the color-sense and music in my mother's family and with the music and determination of Karen's family to help form the characters of Christina and Colleen.

Third Golf Game of 2005

I had a chance to play a solo round of nine holes this morning. I had hoped to be beyond the third game of the year by now, but life is busy, so I will take what I can get.

I played the Heritage course again; Christina and I played a father/daughter round there last month. This time I kept score. I thought I had a fairly good round. I shot a 54 for nine holes. Par for those nine would have been 35. That's pretty good -- for me; I'm not a great golfer.

I enjoy the Heritage course. It's not in great shape, but it could be worse. It's still just a converted cornfield, but it has its small challenges.

And it's cheap. I can walk 9 or 18 holes -- or as many as I have time for -- for only 15 bucks. At least until the "high season."

A Walk in Dover

Legislative Hall, Dover, Delaware
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

The other day I decided to try combining my new hobby (taking pictures of everything, all the time) with my long-term need to get more exercise.

Instead of hitting the treadmill and weight machines at the YMCA on my lunch hour (as I have been trying, and often failing, to do for a while now), I stopped at the Y to change into workout clothes, grabbed my digital camera, and headed out for a jogging/walking tour of downtown Dover.

It was a beautiful day, and Dover is a lovely city. I have created a photo set of some of the resulting photos on Flickr.

This was fun. I'll have to do this sort of thing more often.

Know Your Market

Know Your Market
Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

Sometimes I wonder what we're designing towards.

Based on this sign -- "Luxury 2 Car Villa Homes with Basement" -- the market for this new housing development is going to be . . . cars.

Cars that live as couples. Cars that like basements. Cars that want that little European flair that you get when you call it a "Villa."

I've seen similar advertising for other new developments around Delaware. I've seen town homes whose most prominent curbside feature is their garages.

Car culture, indeed.

Note to Self II: Remember to Spell

Neil points out that I misspelled "Remember" in the title of yesterday's post on Mug Shots.

I have no excuses. I was responsible and I'm willing to face the consequences of my actions.

On the bright side, this is not a crime for which they run your mug shot in the papers.

This was just a minor literary transgression. It takes a bit more effort to get into the mug shot collection on literary merit.

Note to Self: Remember to Smile

Reading through the news this morning, I noticed a mug shot of some fellow that the authorities are seeking as a person of interest in yet another disturbing crime. I don't mean to make light of that crime, or the need to find this guy, but I couldn't help thinking to myself: remember to smile; someday you may be in the news.

Here's the thing, if ever I have to have my mug shot taken, and let's hope I never do, it would probably help if I tried to look ... nice ... in that shot. Think about some of the mug shots of famous people that are out in public now (Nick Nolte's or Corey Clark's, for example); these photographs aren't helping these guys.

So, anytime you get your mug shot, try not to look like a complete degenerate. If things go south sometime in the future and you are a person of interest, wanted, a suspect or -- heaven forbid -- a victim, that's likely the photo they're going to use. You will want to look you best.

Brevity: Wit

They say that "brevity is the soul of wit." If that's so, then for much of the day, the News Journal web site made Al Mascitti one of the wittiest men alive.

Al's column from today's paper -- NCCo's history of nepotism lives on at the expense of historic Glasgow -- was edited, apparently by the New Journal web site itself, to just:

"Nancy Willing can be forgiven for thinking the fix is in."

The site is back to normal this evening, offering the whole of Al's latest column. I'm thankful for that, but have to say that, to Al's credit, I got the point from just the title and the first sentence.

Maybe the News Journal web site is eager to exercise some editorial control?

Have We Gone Completely Out of Our Minds?

We may have. We have purchased a horse for Colleen. His name is Old Tyme Jazz; but he answers to "Jazzy."

Jazzy is a 20-year-old thoroughbred. He was a race horse, but retired early. We know he worked as a schooling horse for the last several years, but we're not sure what he was up to in the intervening years.

So now we face monthly boarding costs. Monthly food-additive costs. Regular vet visits. The equine dentist. The farrier. And a dozen minor but recurring costs.

The costs don't really bother me so much; we can handle them. Our biggest challenge will be making sure we can make time to visit and care for Jazzy. Colleen and Christina carry heavy schedules already.

We also need a long-term home for Jazzy. The stable he's at now will be there through the summer, but the land is up for sale and we may need to move him in the fall.

Getting Ready for Gardening

Originally uploaded by mmahaffie.

Christina and I dropped some cash at Lowes Garden Center this morning. We got some soil to add to the flower beds, grass seed, annuals, perennials, and hanging baskets.

The big project this spring is a new flower bed built in the spot where a tree used to be. The tree came down in a wind storm and, despite having a crew come in and grind out the stump, we were left with a mass of thick roots. Rather than conduct a major excavation, we used left-over field stone to build a low wall, back-filled with new soil, and planted a mess of day-lilys.

There is a path, in life, and it is the path of least resistance.

Mahaffie House Entry In Wikipedia

My "Mahaffie" Google Alert turned up a new entry on the Mahaffie House in the Wikipedia on-line encyclopedia this morning. I had to have a look, and -- since Wikipedia is an open-source, anyone can edit it, collaborative space -- I had to add a few things.

Along with some text, I added a link to the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site and a link to a Google Maps aerial image.

The Mahaffie House was started by my great-great-grandfather (there may be another "great" in there), so I take an on-going interest.

Part of what I've been doing with this blog has been tracking the "Mahaffie-ness" of that area and Mahaffie family history in that area.

More connections!