Inauguration Day, 2005

Mom and Dad taught me: if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.









I hope folks are bundled up for the parade. I hope they don't get too cold.

Let It Snow

We finally got snow in Delaware. I welcome it, though I was saddened to learn that there was a fatal wreck on Route 113 today, caused by the weather.

This has been an odd winter. Conditions have been all over the weather map, from 60s one day to 30s the next. Our collective sinuses are taking a beating.

Today's snow was light, only a dusting really. But it was a pretty snow. The cold that finally settled over us in the last few days brought the ground temperatures down low enough that this snowfall stuck and did not melt. It also fell as fine light snow, rather than the clumpy wet stuff we often get in this part of the world where winters are generally warmer.

Above is a shot from late afternoon, looking north up Route 30, towards Milford. I pulled over in an old parking lot about halfway between Milford and Milton to see if I could get some sort of photo. It was my only chance to stop on my way to get Christina from her dance class, so I took the best shot I could.

I realize that this just isn't much snow, after all, I learned my snow-driving skills in central Maine. But for Delaware, especially downstate. A snow like this, especially given hat it quickly covered the roads and packed down, is a rare chance to slip and slide.

The drive home was slow and cautious. People here are not used to driving in snow, though they get some practice. About half of folks drive way too slow and the other half way too fast. I try to lead by example; not so slow as to be an obstacle but not so fast that I can't plan ahead, slow down and stop without having to slam on the brakes or yank on the wheel.

It's all about control.

A Day at the Circus

Sunday evening, Karen and I took the girls to the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center (such a grand name) in Salisbury to see the new Hometown Edition of "The Greatest Show on Earth!" This is a one-ring version of the classic Ringling Brothers circus, scaled to smaller venues and designed to involve more of the audience in the experience.

This "Greatest Show" starts with a chance to meet and greet with the performers for an hour before the show actually starts.


This is a view across the one ring to the entrance/exit to backstage. The "orchestra" sits above, with several levels for the clowns and ring-master to play with.


In this circus, the ringmaster was also a snake-handler and alligator wrangler. This is a baby snake -- a python? -- that he whipped out of a basket just by our seats. The folks two rows ahead of us immediately sprang from their seats and headed for the exit when this snake came out. Here, the snake calmly regards Christina, who had the aisle seat.


There were just a few clowns, but they were very talented. This fellow had a recurring musical theme and, at one point, brought a young girl out of the audience, dressed her in a red hat and tailcoat, and had her play along. No, I didn't get a good picture.


They made a great point of talking about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Center for Elephant Conservation. There were only two elephants in this circus, a few trained dogs and three or four horses. They seemed happy enough. There were protests earlier in the run, by local students concerned for the animal's well-being. We did not see any protestors on Sunday night.


A good time was had by all.

The Terrible Towel Miracle!

I have a new favorite sportscaster, at least for the moment: Myron Cope, color commentator for radio broadcasts of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I'm a huge fan of Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgenson, who broadcast the Redskins. As a lifelong 'Skins fan, I won't be abandoning Sam and Sonny anytime soon, but I will adopt Myron for this year's play-offs. After all, the Redskins just aren't there yet.

I enjoy listening to sports on the radio. I had a brief radio career, so I know something of the art, and I got started in that career running the board for a small station in Waterville Maine for radio broadcasts of Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics games in the early 80's. What I know of baseball I really learned from listening to Jon Miller, back when he was a radio man.

I stumbled on Myron Cope by accident last night during a parenting odyssey across south-central Sussex County. Christina was due at a birthday party from 5 to 8 in Selbyville. Colleen was invited to another from 7 to 10 about half an hour north in Millsboro.

So, of course, we left Lewes at 4:00, picked up one of Colleen's compatriots (Miriah, who's Mom would handle the late-night pick-up and bring-home), and drove to Selbyville. We dropped Christina in a garage booming with loud country music in Selbyville for a 9th birthday party, with dancing. We took Colleen and Miriah up to Millsboro where we had a gala dinner before dropping the two at a 14th birthday party in a garage booming with rock music. Then we drove back to Selbyville where we picked up a danced-out Christina, and so back home, at about 9:00 p.m.

Somewhere in there, I started wandering the AM radio dial looking for the Jets/Steelers game. That's when I heard Myron. Myron Cope has that raspy/gravelly western Pennsylvania accent that I first heard from my Father-in -Law John Hudack. I always enjoy watching ball games with John because his take on the games is no-nonsense, straightforward, and of the "Look-a that, willya?" variety.

That's Myron Cope. Except with Cope you add a crazed hyper-excitement. This was doubly true at the end of the Jets game. We got to hear the Jets try a long field goal with time running out to break a tie; it missed, just outside. And Cope went nuts. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone in broadcasting get so excited that he went entirely beyond human language, but Cope did.

To get a general idea of the sound, have a listen to some of the samples on Arlin's Copeisms and Exclamations page. Yoi! He credited the miss to the magic of the terrible towels being waved by fans throughout the stadium. That magic, he explained, is really reserved for play-off games. It seemed to hold through overtime as the Steelers went on to win, 20 to 17.

It was all terribly exciting. Now I have an AFC team to root for. I guess I'll have to root for the Eagles in the NFC and hope for an all-PA superbowl.

And Then the Fog Lifted

The fog finally lifted this morning. We got up close to 70 degrees today, which is absurd for January, but there was some sunshine, and some patches of welcome blue sky.


This is the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR) Center, just outside of Dover. I was here for a meeting for most of the day. The DNERR is a state/federal partnership to preserve a large estuarine area for research and recreation. This is on the St. Jones River, where is winds through a broad tidal marsh and out to the Delaware Bay. It's a beautiful site.

We spent the whole day in this building, working our way through a technical document on water quality. It was a good and productive meeting, but I do wish we'd had some reason to wander the nature trail here. A warm day in January. Sunshine. No bugs.


I did have a few moments, as the meeting broke up, to try a few artistic shots out in the parking lot.

A Foggy, Foggy Day

It was a foggy day today in Delaware. This was the countryside west of Dover at about noon.

It was so foggy that our local TV newscasters dedicated fully the first five minutes of their 10:00 p.m. newscast tonight to video of the fog, a special weather report, and several reporters along several fog-bound roads across Delmarva telling us gravely to slow down, be careful, and watch out for puddles.

Yes, it was a major weather story in our area tonight. Not as serious as tens of feet of snow, as in the mountain west; mudslides, as in California; or a tsunami. But a serious story none-the-less.

Fog!

Fare Well, Tim Fannin. And Thanks!

Arts school principal planning move to Florida (Delaware Wave Newspaper)

Here's a story on Tim Fannin's pending retirement from his position as principle at the Southern Delaware School of the Arts (SDSA).

Tim's been there since the school started seven years ago. So has my eldest daughter Colleen; she's now a seventh grader. My youngest, Christina, is a third grader and my wife Karen is in her second year at SDSA as a special education teacher.

Tim's a good man, and I think he's been a good principle. We probably don't agree on much in most parts of life, Tim and I, but I think we mostly agree on education. At least the on-the-ground, in-this-school-building ones.

I can say that my child has blossomed academically and artistically in the school he's run for seven years.

I wish him well, and say "thanks" for helping start what is a wonderful, successful school.

Serenading the State House

Today was the first day of the 143rd Delaware General Assembly. Colleen helped open the proceedings in the state House of Representatives as part of the Southern Delaware School of the Arts 7th and 8th grade choir. Karen was along as teacher, chaperone, and sound engineer. I took time off from my job across the St. Jones River from Legislative Hall and wandered over to listen, watch, and take pictures.

That's what Dads do.

The kids came up by bus and, after they cleared security, cooled their heels in a meeting room just off the House Chamber. When I got there, some of the other parents were wandering around wondering how to get into the Chamber to watch.

The House Sergeant at Arms and his crew were fairly stressed trying to make sure that the families of all 41 of the elected Representatives had a place to sit in the Chamber or in the Gallery above to watch their wives, husbands, moms, dads, daughters, or sons sworn-in to their two year terms.

There were no seats to be had and no standing in the back. In the end, we were able to watch quietly from the doorway of the room in which the kids had been kept. We were off to the side and way in the back, but able to listen, watch, and take pictures.

That's what Dads do.

The kids opened with the Star Spangled Banner. They sang Amazing Grace, and a Broadway tune. They closed with a medley of patriotic favorites. They sang well, despite the cramped and crowded conditions. They sounded very good.

Credit is due to their music teacher, Lou Ann Hudson. I enjoyed watching her helping the kids through the music. At one point, she had to slow down a group of boys with good voices but a tendency to rush the tempo. She reined them in and prodded the rest of the choir back into rhythmic line and brought them home in one piece.

Normally, Legislative Hall on opening day is the last place I want to visit. The first day is a day of ceremony; a time for the Senators and Representatives and their families. The real work begins the next day.

But with Colleen and her classmates performing in the House I had to be there. To listen, watch, and take pictures.

It is, after all, what dads do.

We Return to Oak Orchard

Saturday, Colleen was off at a church youth group sleep-over, so Karen, Christina and I decided to try a new restaurant. We chose Serendipity, a new restaurant on Indian River at Oak Orchard. On this aerial photo/map, the restaurant is located along the shoreline, somewhere between the labels for Riverdale Park and Oak Orchard.


(Map created using the Delaware DataMIL).

We had heard good things about this restaurant, and we always try to check out the new eateries during the off-season, so we headed out Route 24 from Lewes towards Millsboro and down to Oak Orchard. The place was very nice. The decor was classy, the room was comfortable, and the food was very good and very plentiful.

This is a restaurant I would like to return to; especially during daylight hours when I think the view across the River will be rather nice. The place does breakfast and lunch, and may be far enough from the main drag of the beach resorts to make it a possibility at least in the early part of the summer season.

It was interesting to head back to Oak Orchard. I had been through there a few times doing "field" tours when I was at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Oak Orchard is home, further inland, to the annual Nanticoke Indian Powwow and remains a region of Sussex County that is home to members of that tribe. The Nanticoke Museum is just up the road. We've made it to a few of the annual Powwows and I have gotten to know some of the leadership of the tribe through work.

I also understand that the area was home to a thriving orchard industry in the early part of the twentieth century, before chickens and tourists became the dominant economic sectors in eastern Sussex County.

What I found fascinating driving through the area this week-end, though, is the extent to which this place has remained a small waterfront village, even in the face of exploding development all around it. A major, gated community, the Peninsula, is going in just to the east, on the other side of Emily Gut. And, if I remember correctly, there was a site plan under review in 2004 for a development (The Moore Farm Project, 196 residential units on 56.71 acres ) on that rectangular farm field covered by the label for "Captain's Grant Mobile Home Park" above.

And yet, the waterfront remains pretty much as it was. I wonder how long it will last?

Joe McHugh, I Salute You!

I see that Bethany Beach Mayor Joe McHugh has decided to step away from the helm after seven years leading the town and twelve total on the town council.

Working in the State Planning Office, I'm privileged to get to know a number of elected officials in Delaware, and occasionally to work closely with various Mayors.

Mayor McHugh has been a class act and a very nice guy to work with. I'm sorry to see him go, but glad that he gets a chance to enjoy his retirement more fully.

Bethany Beach has been well served by Mayor McHugh. I wanted to take a moment to applaud him, and wish him well.