Happy (Gubernatorial) Anniversary, Jack Markell

reflected inauguration 1, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell gave his inaugural address on this date in 2009 in front of Legislative Hall, in Dover. It was a very cold day, but clear and sunny.

I knew Jack Markell very slightly already. He'd spoken, as State Treasurer, at a conference I organized years ago. I like the guy, and I think he's done a good job so far.

Videos of Lewes

I've been taking my new small video camera on my walks around Lewes. And I have been playing around with iMovie with the images I collected. Here are some of the results.



I took a look at Zwaanendael Museum.



And I looked around 1812 Park.

Good Advice From the World of Improvisation

I just finished reading Tina Fey's book Bossy Pants. My eldest daughter gave me this book, and Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, for Christmas. They are both great fun.

Tina Fey worked her way into television through Chicago's Second City improvisation theater and in her book she offers a set of Rules of Improvisation that she says can be applied to everyday life. I've extracted the main heads here; the full thing is well worth reading as is the whole book itself.

• The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES.
• In real life, you aren't always going to agree, but this rule reminds us to try to keep an open mind.
• The second rule is to not only say yes, but to say YES, AND...
• Don't be afraid to contribute. Make sure you are adding something to the discussion.
• The third rule is to MAKE STATEMENTS.
• Whatever the problem, don't just ask questions and point out the difficulties; suggest solutions.
• Finally, THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities.
• Many of the world's greatest discoveries have been made by accident.

Let's face, we're all mostly improvising our way through life anyway; why not look to the practice and rules of that art form to learn how to do what we're doing because we really don't know what we're doing?

Polly vs The Faucet

I suppose something more thoughtful and dignified would be more appropriate for a blog post on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the video below makes me happy. It has a cute, fat cat. It has sunshine. It has humor. It has almost everything. Including a kitchen sink.

Odd: Family History For Sale, By a Stranger

I was doing some idle family-name searching this weekend and came across a person on Etsy selling illustrations by my grandmother from a book published in 1929.

This gorgeous double-sided plate features the work of the artist Isabel Cooper from specimens at the American Museum of Natural History. One side features seashells from tropical waters and the other American specimens.

Isabel Cooper was an artist and illustrator who provided paintings for a variety of publications, created murals for public buildings, and traveled to remote outposts with scientists where she fulfilled the role later filled by color photography.

As near as I can tell, these are plates cut from a book my grandmother did illustrations for in the years before her marriage to Charles Mahaffie. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this sort of thing appearing for sale. My grandmother was paid for her work back in the 1920s, so that's not an issue. But I hate to think of great old books being cut apart and mined like this. Also, I always thought of Etsy as a site for artists and artisans to sell things they created themselves.

Remember When We Could Golf?

Fore! And Fore more!, a photo by National Library of Ireland on The Commons on Flickr.

Actually, it was only last weekend that it was warm enough to head out for a round of golf. And the weekend before that as well, though the weather continues to roller-coaster its way up and down, dropping form balmy to freezing and then rising back again.

This nifty old photo, from the National Library of Ireland, brought me back to wanting to head out and play again, even though this weekend is too cold and windy.

This is from flickr's "The Commons" project, by way, which is worth any amount of time you can spend wandering through the national memories of any of several countries.

Tree Shadow

Tree Shadow, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

There was a wonderful glow to the pre-sunset sky in Dover this afternoon as I walked from my office, past Legislative Hall, to meet my vanpool. It was projecting this tree's shadow onto the state capitol.

"the delight of a well-found, well-handled man-of-war"

I shall soon finish Blue at the Mizzen, the 20th novel in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, which I have been reading again, straight through. Here's a sample of the kind of writing that keeps bringing me back. I've done this a few times before.

In this passage, ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin is describing life aboard the Surprise, captained by his "particular friend" Jack Aubrey, in a letter to his intended:

I wish I could convey the delight of a well-found, well-handled man-of-war, sailing with all reasonable sail abroad, a steady, urgent wind coming in over her larboard quarter, her prow (or I think I should say cut-water) throwing a fine sheet of spray to leeward with each even, measured pitch: there is a generally-diffused happiness aboard; and since this is a make-and-mend day, the front part of the vessel is littered with hands busy, some with shears, many more with needles, cutting out their length of duck and sewing the pieces together, making their hot-weather clothes with wonderful dexterity. And each time the log is heaved they pause, ears cocked for the midshipman's report to the officer of the watch. "Nine knots and two fathoms, sir, if you please," croaks little Mr. Wells, whose voice is breaking at last; and a discrete wave of mirth and satisfaction ripples over the forecastle, while ten knots is greeted with such thumping on the deck, such enthusiasm, that the officer of the watch desires the mate of the watch to attend to "that God-damned bellowing and trampling, like a herd of drunken heifers mad for the bull."

Interestingly, I was just looking back at a post from October of 2006, when I last finished reading the series straight through. Here's what I wrote then:

In the end, it took almost exactly 5 months to read all 20 novels. It was great fun. In another 5 years or so, I think I'll do it again. 

I started this trip through the series in late August of 2011, almost exactly five years later. And I swear I did not realize it until just now.

For Comparison's Sake

Winter beach, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

This is what Lewes looked like one year ago today. We'd had snow enough to lightly cover the roads and there was a dark-sky snow squall in the afternoon when I went to take the Christmas tree to be recycled into mulch at the state park.

Birthday Cake!

Birthday cake, a photo by mmahaffie on Flickr.

I turned 50 years old today. It's not something I ever really thought about doing; being 50. It's one of the landmark birthdays, I guess. But I find I measure progress in life more by the movement of my daughters through life. They are now young women, people with opinions, and bright futures. I'm very proud.