There's a story on Delaware political blogs in the News Journal today. JL Miller's article, Bloggers hope to generate Del. buzz, looks at the question of whether or not Delaware's political blogs -- right-leaning or left-leaning -- are likely to make a difference in any of Delaware's political races this fall.
It won't be for a lack of effort.
Monday, September 4, 2006
Saturday, September 2, 2006
Pastoral Interlude
After a stormy night (Tropical Storm Ernesto passed over us yesterday), here's a bit of an interlude from Patrick O'Brian's The Reverse of the Medal.
It is early in the 19th Century. Stephen Maturin has come down from London, where he found his wife had left him and the country, to visit his particular friend Jack Aubrey, Royal Navy Captain, at Jack's home in the country.
Stephen takes the overnight coach and is let out, just before dawn, at a small ale-house from which he will walk overland the rest of the way.
It is early in the 19th Century. Stephen Maturin has come down from London, where he found his wife had left him and the country, to visit his particular friend Jack Aubrey, Royal Navy Captain, at Jack's home in the country.
Stephen takes the overnight coach and is let out, just before dawn, at a small ale-house from which he will walk overland the rest of the way.
For the first mile his road was a lane between high banks and hedges, with woods on the left hand and fields on the right - well sprung with wheat and hay - and the banks were starred all along with primroses, while the hedges had scores of very small cheerful talkative early birds, particularly goldfinches in their most brilliant plumage; and in the hay a corncrake was already calling. Then when the flat land began to rise and fall this lane branched out into two paths, the one carrying on over a broad pasture - a single piece of fifty or even sixty acres with some colts in it - and the other, now little more than a trace, leading down among the trees. Stephen followed the second; it was steep going, encumbered with brambles and dead bracken on the edge of the wood and farther down with fallen branches and a dead tree or two, but near the bottom he came to a ruined keeper's cottage standing on a grassy plat, its turf kept short by the rabbits that fled away at his approach. The cottage had lost its roof long since and it was filled tight with lilac, not yet in bloom, while nettle and elder had overwhelmed the outbuilding behind; but there was still a stone bench by the door, and Stephen sat upon it, leaning against the wall. Down here in the hollow the night had not yet yielded, and there was still a green twilight. An ancient wood: the slope was too great and the ground too broken for it ever to have been cut or tended and the trees were still part of the primaeval forest; vast shapeless oaks, often hollow and useless for timber, held out their arms and their young fresh green leaves almost to the middle of the clearing, held them out with never a tremor, for down here the air was so still that gossamer floated with never a tremor at all. Still and silent: although far-off blackbirds could be heard away on the edge of the wood and although the stream at the bottom murmured perpetually the combe was filled with a living silence.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
It Does Appear That We Have Become a Very Litigious Society
The dueling Yellow Pages both arrived within a few days of each other recently; the Yellow Book and the Verizon Yellow Pages.
Both are slavered with ads, of course, but one had a 3-by-3-inch square refrigerator magnet loose-glued to its cover. It features a smiling Kelly Gelof under the large red question -- INJURED? -- and phone numbers for several offices of the law firm Tunnell & Raysor.
I can't blame Tunnell & Raysor for advertising their services. And there's nothing at all wrong with the services they offer. I just can't help wondering what tale our refrigerator magnets tell about us.
Toilet fouled? Here's the plumber's number.
Lights flickering? Call the electrician?
Flue feeling sooty? Dial-a-chimney sweep.
Auto accident? Wrongful death? Personal injury? Call Kelly!
Both are slavered with ads, of course, but one had a 3-by-3-inch square refrigerator magnet loose-glued to its cover. It features a smiling Kelly Gelof under the large red question -- INJURED? -- and phone numbers for several offices of the law firm Tunnell & Raysor.
I can't blame Tunnell & Raysor for advertising their services. And there's nothing at all wrong with the services they offer. I just can't help wondering what tale our refrigerator magnets tell about us.
Toilet fouled? Here's the plumber's number.
Lights flickering? Call the electrician?
Flue feeling sooty? Dial-a-chimney sweep.
Auto accident? Wrongful death? Personal injury? Call Kelly!
More Blog Updates
I'm home from work today, at least for part of the day. With Colleen already in school, and Karen at pre-school-year in-service days at her school, we are left with Christina, who doesn't start her school year until next week and is too young to stay at home alone all day. Several days this week, she stayed with a somewhat older friend, but that friend started Academic Challenge today and so is off at Delaware Tech for the day.
So I have taken a vacation day. I'll drag poor Christina into the office at mid-day, though. I have a meeting that I can't miss. So we'll hit Dover for some shopping, a lunch in the "big city," my meeting, and whatever else strikes our fancy this afternoon.
Meanwhile, I have an hour free to play with Blogger and other toys.
I have added another link-roll to the sidebar. Recent Items of Interest is a short list of things I've found on-line that I wanted to highlight, but may not have a chance to blog about.
I have also added two links to my on-line photo collections. One is to my main flickr page which has my photos listed. The other is to the mapped presentation.
I imagine that this sort of fiddling, and golf, and photo-wandering, are what my retirement may be like.
So I have taken a vacation day. I'll drag poor Christina into the office at mid-day, though. I have a meeting that I can't miss. So we'll hit Dover for some shopping, a lunch in the "big city," my meeting, and whatever else strikes our fancy this afternoon.
Meanwhile, I have an hour free to play with Blogger and other toys.
I have added another link-roll to the sidebar. Recent Items of Interest is a short list of things I've found on-line that I wanted to highlight, but may not have a chance to blog about.
I have also added two links to my on-line photo collections. One is to my main flickr page which has my photos listed. The other is to the mapped presentation.
I imagine that this sort of fiddling, and golf, and photo-wandering, are what my retirement may be like.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Blogroll Changes
I've been meaning to make some changes to how I maintain and publish my blogroll. I finally went for it this evening.
I have been using BlogRolling, which is a handy little service. I found it limiting though. I wanted to start classifying blogs and linking to them by type. That would have required the paid upgrade on BlogRolling. Sometimes I'm just cheap.
Meanwhile, I've been playing more and more with del.icio.us and getting excited about "tagging." There are some easy little javascript ways to post lists of tagged items from del.icio.us to your blog.
This evening, I went through my blogroll and tagged all of the blogs I link to with appropriate tags that let me create collections of Blogs in General, Delaware News Blogs, and political blogs On the Left and On the Right.
I think almost everything I had listed is still there. I did drop a few that are dormant or have lost my interest. Notably I have left Delaware Views Journal off the list. This blog is remarkable for never having had any content at all. I got tired of waiting.
Have a look. Let me know if anything looks wrong.
I have been using BlogRolling, which is a handy little service. I found it limiting though. I wanted to start classifying blogs and linking to them by type. That would have required the paid upgrade on BlogRolling. Sometimes I'm just cheap.
Meanwhile, I've been playing more and more with del.icio.us and getting excited about "tagging." There are some easy little javascript ways to post lists of tagged items from del.icio.us to your blog.
This evening, I went through my blogroll and tagged all of the blogs I link to with appropriate tags that let me create collections of Blogs in General, Delaware News Blogs, and political blogs On the Left and On the Right.
I think almost everything I had listed is still there. I did drop a few that are dormant or have lost my interest. Notably I have left Delaware Views Journal off the list. This blog is remarkable for never having had any content at all. I got tired of waiting.
Have a look. Let me know if anything looks wrong.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
And Now: High School
Colleen started high school this week. Here's her traditional "First Day of School" photo; the first in a few years without Christina at her side. Christina starts her journey through fifth grade next week. We'll take her "First Day" picture then.Colleen is now going to Sussex Technical High School. It started as a vocational/technical school, but has become one of the better academic schools in our area. We think it will work well for her.
Though school started yesterday, Colleen has been going to the school for a few weeks now. She had a two-week band camp to get acquainted with the school, as well as two "freshman days." She's playing bass in the Tech marching band.
Being part of that group, which includes kids from all grades, has been a great help. She is already part of a crowd.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Update: Where the Photos Are
I suppose I should have seen this coming. Today, flickr added its own geotagging and photo mapping tool, using the Yahoo Maps API. It's a nice tool; they've made it quite easy to add location to the attribute data for ones photos.I think this will replace, for me, the loc.aliz.us tool that I mentioned last week. It is simply more integrated into flickr. I was able to quickly import the geotags that I had individually added to some of my photos and easily add more photos to my flickr map.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Meet Mother Nature
We found ourselves a bit closer to nature in our otherwise suburban lives today.
This morning, I stopped at a WaWa for gas. After I started the pump, I walked to the front of the car to gaze out on the traffic on Route 113. When I turned back toward the car, I was startled by a bright green Praying Mantis posed on the newly red-painted bollard that's there to keep us from driving into the gas pumps.
I had to get out my camera and take a few pictures. It's not the first time I've found myself taking photos while pumping gas.
This afternoon, just after Colleen got home from school, a deer wandered through the neighborhood. Karen and the girls watched as it crossed our front yard. Colleen took this photo.
We've had deer in the neighborhood before, and I used to see a fox running around when we first moved here and there were only a few houses. But I hadn't seen anything like that for the last ten years or so.
A week or so back, a neighbor called one afternoon to tell Karen that a deer was headed through the back yard. It was gone by the time Karen got to the window.
I think this is due to the increasing development of the fields and farms in the around Lewes. Habitat is shrinking.
This morning, I stopped at a WaWa for gas. After I started the pump, I walked to the front of the car to gaze out on the traffic on Route 113. When I turned back toward the car, I was startled by a bright green Praying Mantis posed on the newly red-painted bollard that's there to keep us from driving into the gas pumps.I had to get out my camera and take a few pictures. It's not the first time I've found myself taking photos while pumping gas.
This afternoon, just after Colleen got home from school, a deer wandered through the neighborhood. Karen and the girls watched as it crossed our front yard. Colleen took this photo.We've had deer in the neighborhood before, and I used to see a fox running around when we first moved here and there were only a few houses. But I hadn't seen anything like that for the last ten years or so.
A week or so back, a neighbor called one afternoon to tell Karen that a deer was headed through the back yard. It was gone by the time Karen got to the window.
I think this is due to the increasing development of the fields and farms in the around Lewes. Habitat is shrinking.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Insert Gallic Shrug Here
Driving home this afternoon, I passed a small flatbed truck from Grand Rental Station. Painted on the side in black block letters: "NOT FOR HIRE."
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Too Loud? Or Too Sensitive?
This evening, we were waiting outside Big Fish Grill (a favorite restaurant) when a motorcyclist pulled out of the parking lot and headed south on Route One past the restaurant.
He, or she, was on a Harley Davidson. It had that distinctive, guttural roar. As it went past a white SUV with New York Plates, the rider shifted gears with an engine rev that set off the SUV's car-alarm.
We all just stood and stared as the motorcycle grumbled down the road and the white SUV whooped and wailed.
We were just about to head in and see if the restaurant staff could make an announcement. That's when the alarm stopped.
He, or she, was on a Harley Davidson. It had that distinctive, guttural roar. As it went past a white SUV with New York Plates, the rider shifted gears with an engine rev that set off the SUV's car-alarm.
We all just stood and stared as the motorcycle grumbled down the road and the white SUV whooped and wailed.
We were just about to head in and see if the restaurant staff could make an announcement. That's when the alarm stopped.
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