1:30 p.m.

It's been snowing since about 11:00 a.m. Just returned from Milford and the SAT's. A fine, but not quite powdery snow. Quickly coating the roads. The main road, State Route 1, was mostly snow-covered. Some places (where the road crews are better, I guess) were more wet than snowy. Saw only one vehicle in a ditch; an SUV, of course.

The SAT!

Wow. This morning I dropped Colleen at Milford High School to take the SAT. She's only in seventh grade, but is taking the test as a part of her application for the Academic Challenge program.

The school lobby was loaded with high school kids there to take the test in their normal course of college applications. Luckily, the test administrators called all the seventh grade takers over to one side and set the kids up fairly quickly in their own testing rooms.

It was a strange feeling to leave her there to take a test that I still associate with that period in my life when I was making the transition into adulthood. She's still a kid, but she's very bright and she's more grown-up every day.

And I get older too.

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.

This is Minor Stuff Now, Given the Tsunami

Still, I wanted to say again at this moment in American political history:

Poop.

When Did We Become a Cargo Cult?

The other day Karen, the girls, and I went to a movie and stopped by the local Cracker Barrel for dinner. Yes, I know. Consider, though. We have young(ish) kids and need a place to eat that we can get everyone to agree on. At least we don't have to go to McDonald's as often as in the past.

Anyway. As I stood in line to pay our check, I found myself looking up at all the stuff they hang from the ceiling and walls. They have boat motors and lard presses and lanterns and instruments and and a great deal more. Even, if you are lucky, cranberry sorters. This is a key part of their business. There's a guy in charge of all this and they do an admirable job cataloguing it all on-line.

And it's not just Cracker Barrel that decorates in American detritus. Consider Applebee's. Or Ruby Tuesday's. Or TGI Friday's -- just to stay in the restaurant realm. American diners seem to like to surround themselves with evidence of our consumer history.

I couldn't helping thinking, as I stood there, of the Cargo Cults I read about as a child in National Geographic Magazine. These were quasi-religious groups, on small Pacific Islands, that developed a certain level of worship around the astounding wealth of modern materiel dropped onto their Islands by the military during World War II. The military moved on, but the stuff remained and became a center of culture, if not religion, on the Islands.

Now, here we are. Decorating our restaurants with our left-over stuff. I guess I rather like it; I feel like I am eating in an almost museum.

Then I noticed the antique iron hanging above the customer part of the cashier's station. I decided to pay quick and get out of there.

A Walk in the Park to End 2004

Matt, Bob and I took our kids for a ramble in Cape Henlopen State Park on New Year's Eve.


The Cape is the southern shore of the entrance to the Delaware Bay. In World War II it served as a part of the coastal defense system, as Fort Miles.


Delaware's State Parks folks are working to restore parts of Fort Miles as a living-history museum, much as they have done so well with the Civil War prison island of Fort Delaware, further up in the Delaware River. At the moment, there are just a few guns and deteriorating barracks buildings.


Guns, as mechanical artifacts, are cool.


I would guess that this 155mm Howitzer, with Carriage, dates from 1955.


The Cape is dotted with watch towers, from which spotters would be able to guide the fire of the big guns. One is still open to the public. It provides a wonderful view of the Cape, the Bay and breakwaters, lighthouses, and Lewes.


Back in the woods there are a number of WWII-era bunkers. I believe these were used to store the ammunition for the large coastal defense guns.


The Walking Dune is one of the Cape's most interesting features. It's one of the largest dunes on the east coast.


Cape Henlopen State Park provides a fine example of what the flora and fauna of this area is supposed to look like.

Tsunami

It occurs to me that I have written nothing about the Tsunami that struck people all around the Indian Ocean this week. The simple fact is that the fact of this tragedy is so permanently in our minds this week that it seemed un-needed to point it out. Also, the scale of this loss of humanity is so huge that I have not really felt able to get my mind fully around it.

I could offer links to news feeds about the situation. I could offer links to sites gathering donations to help the people of the region. All that is available elsewhere. You don't need my help to find information or opportunities to help.

After several days with the story, however, I think it's time for a moment of reflection. I can't help thinking back to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. I found myself wondering this week whether our reaction to this disaster measures up to our reaction to those attacks.

The loss of life is so much larger in this case, but the September 11 attacks were here, in our land. The dead in 2001 were victims of attacks by other human beings, while the Tsunami was an act of nature, an impersonal fact of life on a planet with tectonic plates, earthquakes and oceans.

That someone could willingly act to murder several thousand people still seems a larger fact than the reality that when the oceans rise, tens of thousands die. I mourn more for the larger group of victims, simply because there are more victims of the Tsunami. But my grief over the fact that the ability to murder on a mass scale exists among humans is just as large.

Finally, we should all remember to be humble in the face of the power of nature.

Work, Work, Work

I've just republished my main work web site, the web site of the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination.

I've been working on transferring the content of the site over to the new page design all this week. This week, the slow time between Christmas and the New Year, is always a great week for me to do the sort of job that is best done when the phone is not ringing quite so much. I can multi-task, but some jobs are best done with a single-minded sort of craziness. This is one of them. It's dull, head down, locked to your PC, slog-through-it work, but satisfying when you come out the other end with a newly updated and fresh-looking site.

For this update, I have adopted the "common look and feel" web templates created by the folks in the state's Government Information Center. They manage the state's web portal and have tried to come up with a standard web page design that gives visitors a sense that they are on a web site that represents the whole of state government, while maintaining a sense of individual agency identity.

I have long designed my own sites, and I take pride in creating sites that look professional and work for the visitor. There comes a time, however, when pride should be set aside. In truth, I'm only setting aside my pride as a graphic designer, which is not my greatest skill-set anyway. I still take pride in providing a site that is rich in content and constantly updated.

Using Blogger, and its perfectly workable templates, have helped remind me over the last few months that it really is all about the content, more than the design. It's a lesson I learned early in my career, but often forget. Bells and whistles really only serve to deafen us and block out the important things. Heaven knows there are enough web sites already that prove this true,

So. I have tried to maintain the most useful pages, and to improve several pages. A site redesign is a rich opportunity to prune and reshape and I'm working on that part now that the main pages are up and functioning.

Hopefully, when everyone else comes back to work, they'll have a pleasant surprise.

I'm Very Proud of My Nephews

Jimmy and Andrew Mahaffie have published a tale of martial arts magic on the webpage of Yong Studios. My favorite part?

They had never seen a dog teaching class before, so all of the parents fell on their backs and fainted.

Jimmy and Andrew are cool.

Tale From a Christmas Eve

Karen, the girls and I spent this Christmas Eve in what has become our traditional fashion. We were in Rehoboth Beach for the Christmas Eve services at Epworth United Methodist Church. And we met our Friends the Southmayds at Nicola Pizza for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner (Nicobolis, of course) between services.

This year, Christina is part of the Children's Bell Choir. They performed at the earlier service. Colleen filled in to help out. They played very well. Another feature of the early service was the smaller children of the church presenting a puppet show version of the Christmas Story.



Here we have Shepherds, sheep, barn animals, Joseph and Mary, and a trio of Angels as the Baby Jesus (a Little Bear Doll) lies in the Manger. I have to confess that when Mary and Joseph first appeared, I had this vision of Joseph, as Sesame Street's Count von Count, saying "now I vill count the mangers here in Bethlehem. Ah-Ah-Ah. One! One manger here in Bethlehem! Ah-Ah-Ah!"



Yes, it sounds sacrilegious, but I mean it in the kindest way. This was a very cute version of the Christmas Story, the kids were great, and everyone got a charge out of it. It was a wonderful way to involve all ages in the service.

After our Nicoboli break, we were back in church for the later service. Both Karen and Colleen were playing with the adult bell choir. Colleen has graduated from the kids group to status as a frequent stand-in for the adult group. There's a real shock of pride, as a dad, to look up and see your daughter standing among a group of adults, almost their equal in height, almost a full adult, holding her own in that social setting, and playing music with great skill.

Christina and I contented ourselves with belting out traditional Christmas carols from the congregation. That's one of my favorite parts of the season.

The Epworth service, like many others I'm sure, ends with a quiet singing of Silent Night as the lights are dimmed and a flame is passed from person to person, all holding small candles and singing together.

I treasure the tears on Karen's face at this point each Christmas Eve.

I Find Myself Thinking About...

Summer, in Vermont. Here's a shot from a hike Karen and I took this past summer on our annual stay at the far north end of the Green Mountain State.


Each summer, we spend a week at The Tyler Place, in Highgate Springs. We've already planned our summer 2005 visit, and I've been thinking back on our stay in 2004.