Blogroll Maintenance, Again

Here we are starting another month. Time to look over the blogroll and see what needs to be deleted.

Gerry Fulcher's Delaware Views Journal still says that it will start having content on August 1. Gerry? I'll keep it on the roll for now, but... Gerry?

Education and Community News from Home Town Delaware has been quiet for a month.

So, for that matter, has William Slawski's Newarking.

Meanwhile, I've added a few new links to Delaware-related or -located blogs. I've mentioned The Delaware Way, of course, but I have also recently found my way to Paul Bowman's Daily Life, Galaxy Girl, Project Gannon, and Zzardozz News and Satire.

Filed in:

• blogroll
• maintenance

Ninth Golf Game of 2006

Andy Southmayd and I played a round at The Rookery this afternoon. It was hot. Very hot.

The Rookery is a great course. It is wide open, in places, with a variety of challenges, lots of water, and strategically placed trees.

I played like, well, crap. I have a pull, a knot, a strain, or something in my left shoulder. My range of motion is affected, though I thought I'd be able to swing without too much trouble. Not so much.

Either I was topping the ball, which I thought I had cured, or I was hitting weak shots with odd, counter-productive spin. I think I was unconsciously correcting, over-correcting, for my shoulder.

Several shots were not bad, but it was not a memorable round. At least not for any good reason.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I did sink some long putts that I would be crowing about if it weren't for the fact that the best, longest putts I sank were all in the service of horrendous, blow-up hole scores.

"Woo-hoo! Great putt! Way to read that green! What'd you get?"

"An eight."

Filed in:

• golf
• 2006

A Symphony Orchestra Concert at Lewes

We celebrated our hometown's history yesterday evening at a concert by the Delaware Symphony Orchestra at the College of Marine Studies' Virden Center, here in Lewes.

The concert was part of a year-long celebration of the 375th anniversary of our town, which began in 1631 when a group of (Dutch) Europeans attempted to set-up a trading post that they called Zwaanendael.

From that small, and ultimately futile beginning (the settlers failed to get along well with the established population and were eventually attacked and destroyed), flow almost four centuries of history. Based on that settlement, we lay claim to being the First Town in the First State. It all started here (You're welcome).

We used to have a symphony concert in Lewes every summer. For some years the concert was part of a larger Summer Arts Festival which included some great acts. One year, before the girls were born, we got to see the folk-singer Odetta.

A feature of the festival each year was a pops concert by the Delaware Symphony. It always ended with a rendition of the 1812 Overture, performed with a battery of historic iron cannon blasting away in the finale. If you have never heard the 1812 Overture with real cannon, you are missing a wonderful musical experience.

I still remember the first time we attended the concert. It was held at that time at Cape Henlopen State Park and as the show started, a thick fog rolled in from the Atlantic. By the time the cannon were fired, we could no longer see the orchestra. The cannons' muzzle-flashes lit the fog all around us. It was like being inside the thunder-head cloud during a major thunderstorm.

This weekend's concert was in a large field alongside the Virden Center. We all brought lawn chairs and blankets. Many people enjoyed picnic dinners and gatherings of friends and family.

Karen and I packed a light supper of pita and hummus with carrots and zucchini. We sat and chatted with Andy and Lynn, who joined us for the show, and then sat back to enjoy the music.

The evening was fine. The week's heavy heat and humidity finally broke with an evening breeze, clear skies, and a hint of thunderstorms on the northern horizon. It was perfect evening to put your feet up and listen to the music.

The Delaware Symphony has new leadership since the days when they used to come down for a concert each summer. The program was still "Pops," but I think it was a more adventurous set than had been the case in the past. They started with Fanfare for the Common Man, which Karen and I both love, and continued with a set of variations on America by Charles Ives. Ives was one of America's first great composers and his approach to music -- standing it on its head, warping, twisting and resculpting familiar tunes -- appeals to my musical tastes.

There were also Sousa marches, but they threw in a Sousa dance number, described by the conductor as a "Victorian Tango." That's an interesting notion, isn't it?

The 1812 Overture was well-played, even without the cannons, and they finished with a traditional Stars and Stripes Forever, guest-conducted by the Delaware Secretary of State, whose budget helped support the event.

After a brief pause to let the sun settle, there was a fine fireworks finale. A good time was had by all.

Filed in:

• Lewes
• Delaware
• history
• anniversary

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Miss Nancy!

Nancy Willing, often a blog commenter, is the newest to join the ranks of the Delaware bloggers.

Nancy has launched The Delaware Way.

She has been a consistent commenter on this and other blogs. She takes a dim view of the incumbent office-holders.

The Delaware Way is how our politicians use the system for their own personal gain. Let's turn the tables and game them for once.

I would say "welcome to the fray," but Nancy has been here a while. Now she has her own bit of Blog-Estate... Blog-Turf... Blurf?

Filed in:

• Delaware
• blog
• politics

Flower Surprise

This is Lily that is growing in my side garden. It's somewhat squeezed between a huge Butterfly Bush and a mass of Four O'Clocks.

Early in June, I thinned the Four O'Clocks back from this plant and was rewarded with several pretty flowers when we returned from up north.

I took a macro-setting close-up the other day. I cropped in close and adjusted a few brightness and contrast settings.

I like the result.

Filed in:

• flower
• garden

Seventh and Eighth Golf Games of 2006

Andy Southmayd and I were able to get out for two rounds of golf while we and our families were in Vermont.

North Country Golf Club
Early in the week, we headed across the islands at the top of Lake Champlain to Rouse'’s Point, New York, for 18 holes at the North Country Golf Club. We've played here each of the last several summers. We meet Andy's old friend and former Milton neighbor Rich, who vacations about the same time each year, just a bit farther south on Lake Champlain.

The North Country Golf Club is close to the Canadian border and seems to have members from both sides. One of my favorite hats is a North Country cap I bought a few years ago. It has crossed US and Canadian flags. Often, out on the course, we meet up with folks whose cursing (it is golf, after all) is in French.

About a week before we played, the club had hosted the Labatt's Invitational. In chatting with the bartender after our round, we heard that the Labatt's tournament, and for that matter, the Bud Light Tournament, always fill up quite quickly. I think we were told that the Labatt's featured 200 golfers and 400 cases of beer. Or something like that.

I had a few pars and was hitting some shots just they way they are meant to be hit. But I was still having a few "blow-up" holes. There was rain in the area, and our round wasn't completely dry, but we got in all 18 holes.

Alburg Golf Links
Late in the week, we set up a foursome from among Tyler Place guests and planned to play Bakersfield Country Club, a mountainside course in far northern Vermont that I love. But Bakersfield was going to have a tournament that day, so we made a visit instead to Alburg Golf Links, on one of the Champlain Islands.

Andy and I had played a Tyler Place Golf Scramble at Alburg five or six years back. It has since changed hands and I think has improved. We were joined on this occasion by Tim, with whom we'd played before, and Bob, a new friend on his first visit to the Tyler Place.

It was raining determinedly as we left Highgate Springs that morning; it often rains when I want to play golf in Vermont. I don't think any of us were convinced that we'd get many holes in, but as we came around a bend in the road and to the entrance to the course, the skies brightened and the rains stopped. We were able to play all 18.

Alburg looks like a wide-open course; it has sweeping views of Lake Champlain and a variety of elevations. It is a links-style course in some places and a mountain-meadow style in others. All holes feature an impenetrable rough. There is water, but most balls are lost in 10-inch grass.

I started out well, with good drives and a decent short game on the first few holes. I was going along swimmingly until Andy helpfully pointed out how often the universe acts to humble you when you start out a round so well. Sure enough, the third hole was a disastrous blow-up. After at, I had some good holes and some awful holes.

It was all quite fun, though a few holes on the back nine featured an astonishing number of biting flies.

I like playing in different areas, and I've now had my Lake Champlain golf fix for the year.

Filed in:

• golf
• 2006
• vermont
• newyork

Oh, Goody. We're in the News Again

The New York Times yesterday included a story on the Indian River School District school prayer issue: Families Challenging Religious Influence in Delaware Schools (NYT Registration Required).

The story includes a quote from WGMD's Dan Gaffney. I'm sure he'll be pleased with the exposure.

I notice, looking at the Times' web site statistics this morning, that this is (as of 8:30 this morning) the sixth most e-mailed story and the fourteenth most blogged on their site.

I'll be curious to see whether this Times story is picked up in the larger blogging world.

Filed in:

• Delaware
• school
• prayer
• IRSD

Vacation Report, Part 3: At The Tyler Place

After our visits to the Statue of Liberty and Mystic Seaport, we headed to Highgate Springs, in northern Vermont, and the Tyler Place Family Resort. This is the eighth summer that we've spent a week at the Tyler Place, and we're not tired of it yet.

The Tyler Place is a large campus on the Vermont shore at the northern end of Lake Champlain. It sits about a mile south of the US/Canada border. There is an Inn, a wide variety of cabins, clubhouses, a pool, boat dock, tennis courts and more.

You stay a week, and pay a flat rate that covers accommodations, food, and most activities. The children have counselor-led group activities from early morning through early afternoon and again from late afternoon through early evening. It is very like summer camp, but with parents along to stay with at night and to play with for part of the afternoon.

While the kids are "at group", the adults are free to laze about, explore, or join in a variety of organized activities. Karen and I traditionally try to make the canoe trip, the mountain hike, and the kayak trip.

We particularly enjoy the mountain hike, as it includes a picnic lunch at The Three Holes, a swimming area in Montgomery Vermont that features a crystal clear, cold mountain stream cascading into three deep pools in a sunlit glade.

And we swam, in Lake Champlain and the Tyler Place pool. The lake swimming area includes a float, with a tall tower and slide on it. It is traditional for us to start our visits to the Tyler Place by sliding on this slide. Great fun, but the tower sways when you climb it, especially as a dozen kids frolic on the float below.

This year, since I have a new digital camera, I was brave enough to take my old digital camera out on the Lake in a kayak for a photoset from water-level. I spent a lot of time on, and in, the water this summer. I tried out a small hobie cat sailboat. It was fitting, as I brought two novels from the Aubrey/Maturin series along for the week. My internal dialogue, as I sailed along, was all in 19th-century sailing terminology. It's a good thing no one was along to hear that.

I got out for two rounds of golf with Andy Southmayd. We played the North Country Golf Club, in Rouse's Point, New York, and the Alburg Golf Links, on one of the Champlain Islands. I'll write them up for my Golf in 2006 series, of course, but for this report, suffice it to say that it was great fun, even if my game was not great in itself.

In the evenings, the kids would head off to group again and we would gather in the Inn's spacious lounge for a gentle cocktail hour, followed by leisurely, excellent dinner. One of the things we particularly love about the Tyler Place is the opportunity to meet new folks. We had a ready-made group, of course, with Andy and Lynn along and with my brother Bob and his wife Karen. But we took advantage of the evening social events to find new friends. Each night, we tried to add new people to our large dinner table. We met some really cool people.

I could go on. And on. Let's finish this the way we ended many of our dinners, with a sunset over Lake Champlain.

Filed in:

• vacation
• travel
• summer
• vermont

Vacation Report, Part 2: A Mystic Tour

After a comfortable night at a small hotel just south of the Tapanzee Bridge, we headed north Friday morning (July 14), across southern New York and into Connecticut.

Our day's destination was the historic town of Mystic, where we spent a morning at the Seaport and an afternoon at the Aquarium.

I love Mystic Seaport. I am a fan of sailing ships and the sea. I repeatedly devour historical, tall-ship novels. I love to wander among old sailing ships, wood, cordage and canvas.

Karen and the girls are less enamored, but they were good-natured about it. At one point, I was explaining the working of a ship's windlass to Christina. Her eyes lit up and she started to tell me about a scene in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But she stopped short, remembering that I had not yet seen it. I saw the movie after we returned and there are, indeed, several scenes that make use of a windlass. I'm glad I was able to explain that to her a bit.


After lunch, we made the short drive to Mystic Aquarium. A well-put-together, if small and tourist-y place. Here we all were fascinated.

Christina is a budding naturalist and Colleen loves the grace of many kinds of fish. She's always seen the beauty in jellyfish.

I love to watch the girls when they are deep into something like this. Their pleasure is a joy.

When we left the aquarium, after a full afternoon of touristicality, we cut across country to Hartford and up into Massachusetts.

We had dinner in Holyoke, near were my parents met as college students.

We headed north from there, towards our night's stay in southern Vermont.

Filed in:

• vacation
• travel
• summer

Vacation Report, Part 1: At Liberty

We left on our northern trek on Thursday, July 13. We were due at The Tyler Place, in northern Vermont, on Saturday, but decided to ease our way up the eastern seaboard over a few days, playing tourist as we went.

We took the Cape May/Lewes Ferry over to New Jersey and drove up the Garden State Parkway to our first stop: Liberty State Park, across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

We took the Park's ferry to Ellis Island and then to Liberty Island. I think it would have been better had we driven the evening before, stayed somewhere close, and arrived at the Park in the early morning, rather than just after lunch, as we did. Then, we might have been in time to go into the Statue of Liberty. As it was we were only able to wander around the statue and Liberty Island itself.

Ellis Island also would have rewarded more time. We saw the Registration Room and some of the immigration museum. The girls were interested and I think we all would have enjoyed doing a search for those members of Karen's family that came through Ellis Island a few generations back. Next time.

We did enjoy watching the other tourists; there were folks from all over the US and around the world.

Liberty Island was very cool. I took advantage of the grounds to photograph the statue from all sides and to try some close-up shots and artistic shots.

The day was partly cloudy. But enough sun broke through to light New York City with the clouds as a backdrop. I was impressed with the beauty of Manhattan from the Hudson.

We'll need to go back to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty some day when we have more time.

We left there late and drove through horrific afternoon rush hour traffic to the Palisades Parkway and north to a hotel just over the New York/New Jersey border.

Filed in:

• summer
• vacation
• liberty
• NewYork