What Makes an Icon?

Dolles is a candy shop on the Boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I've photographed those red letters up there a few times. This one is one of my favorites.

Scanning through photos from "my contacts" on flickr this afternoon, I noticed that salnunzio has also posted a nice shot of the Dolles sign.

It turns out that we're not the only ones.

It got me thinking about those images -- signs, views, vistas -- that have become icons. The Dolles sign is an icon for the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, I guess.

It's hard to think of the boardwalk without it.

Filed in:

• Rehoboth
• Dolles
• Sign
• icon

55555

This afternoon, driving home from work, I rolled 55,555 miles on my Prius. I rolled 50,000 back in June.

I've made a habit -- or tried to -- of snapping pictures when the digits line up. I caught it at 44,444. I missed 33,333. I captured 22,222, but I don't think I managed 11,111.

Maybe with the next car I can be a bit more obsessive.

It's Nice to Know That It's Not Just Around Here

I got a kick out of a blog posting on DenverInfill Blog about the naming of suburban developments.

In Guide to Suburban Denver Subdivision Names, Ken Schroeppel has created a sort of cheat sheet -- Chinese Restaurant Carry-out Menu-Style -- for the naming of subdivisions.

Thus, we might get "The Sanctuary at Hawk Tree Crossing" or "The Estates at Silver Gate Meadows."

I'm often amazed (appalled?) at the names tacked-on to the multitude of suburban developments here in coastal Sussex. And I see a trend similar to that Mr. Schroeppel notes.

We have more than a few subdivisions with pretentious names like "The Enclave" or "The Preserves." Near my home, you will find Wolfe Runne, which we here in town refer to as "Wolf-EE Run-EE." That's one that shares with places like "The Meadows" or "Red Fox Run" another trend: name the subdivision after that which it displaces.

My current favorite (and I use that word advisedly) is "The Ridings at Rehoboth." "Ridings," I guess to highlight the horsey-ness of our area. Actually, the horsey area is a bit farther west. But we'll let that go.

What gets me is that "at Rehoboth." This "Ridings" is west of Lewes, out on Beaverdam Road and about 8 to 10 miles from Rehoboth Beach. Depending on how you make the drive.

Some of what is between Rehoboth Beach and its "Ridings:" West Rehoboth. Midway. Five Points. Belltown. And Robinsonville.

Of course, naming something as "At Rehoboth" or "[insertname], Lewes" raises the price considerably.

There's a development down near Bethany Beach which has a fancy, gated entrance on one road that is never open. It has several other entrances on another road that are not gated and are always open.

I always wondered why that was.

A colleague who used to work in the County Mapping and Addressing office explained that a development with an entrance on the one road would get a Bethany Beach ZIP Code. An entrance on the other road would mean an Ocean View ZIP Code. Not that the development would be actually in either town; the only difference would be that ZIP Code and which named post office would be in their address.

Ocean View is a great little town. But a Bethany Beach address is worth several tens of thousands of dollars more. Never mind that the residents use the Ocean View Road.

Perception, it seems, is reality.

Filed in:

• growth
• development
• sprawl
• irony

Out From Under The Clouds

It's not that I haven't had anything to say the last few days. It's just that I have felt too cruddy to want to put together a blog entry.

My first cold of the new school year started Wednesday, and built to a crescendo of congestion, sneezing, and headache yesterday. I tried lots of fluids, some rest, and moderate medication. I awoke feeling a bit more human this morning.

Yesterday, feeling too lousy to get about much, I started playing with LibraryThing. It's not particularly new, but is new to me. It allows you to create an index of your library.

I did wander outside at one point while a crop-duster was working on one of the fields just outside of Lewes.

Today was nice enough, and I was feeling chipper enough, to get out and mow the lawn. I was finally able to get an almost decent photo of one of the many spiders that have set-up shop around the outside of the house.

This evening, while Colleen was exercising her horse, I got to play around with, and photograph, the new kittens at the barn.

Filed in:

• blogging
• health

Art From Ashes

Ever since I've had a blog-roll, I've had a link to Wooster Collective, a site "dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world."

The September 11 entry on Wooster is a bit of history; Wooster Collective: Our Story. The site founder explains that at the time of the attacks, he and his partner were living near the World Trade Center in the West Village.

He watched the second plane hit. He watched the towers fall. More importantly, he watched the city come together as a community.

And it was at this time, in the days immediately after September 11, that we discovered ephemeral art. Until then we had no idea what street art was. But the attacks of September 11th had made us hyper-aware of our surroundings. We began exploring Lower Manhattan like never before. We were now seeing the city in a completely different way, with new eyes and a new heart. Everything, and everyone, around us was now suddenly important. And it was in these days immediately after September 11th that we began noticing street art everywhere we went.

He started photographing. Eventually he put what he found on-line. It caught on, and Wooster Collective was born. I am paraphrasing. The full post is well worth a read.

It's heartening to find another positive result of the attacks of 9/11. It shows that humans are capable of creating good from evil. You have only to keep looking, and keep your heart open.

Filed in:

• art
• 911
• history

Yup. I Voted.

I did my civic duty today, just like I was asked to by the nice man from the party who called last night. I voted in the Delaware Primary Election this evening at the polling place of the 1st Election District of the 37th Representative District.

When I came down Savannah Road towards the old Lewes Middle School, where we vote, I saw lots of cars parked along the road. I was pleased, since I had heard that turn-out had been light. I was a bit surprised to see two young women in National Guard fatigues standing outside the front door. When I approached the door, they handed me a folded, xeroxed sheet.

I had gone to the wrong door. There was some sort of program scheduled in the school building. The polling place was the next set of doors down; the entrance by the cafeteria/auditorium. There was no one parked there.

In my defense, the door I first went to is one where the polling place has been set up at least once in the past.

When I got to the right spot, I found I was the only voter in the place. No waiting.

After I voted, the poll workers were kind enough (bored enough?) to let me take their group portrait.

They told me that they had seen about 200 voters by that point (around 7:00 p.m.). They said that that was about what they expected. There were only two races for that District, one each for Ds and Rs.

Filed in:

• election
• politics
• primary
• Delaware

Changes. Thanks, Ernesto.

Walking back to my car after voting this evening, I found myself looking at a scene that I'd photographed back in June. A lovely brick home with a wrapped porch, framed by mature trees. It looked different tonight. Several large tree limbs were on the lawn, and the house was no longer quite so shaded.

Here's how it looked back in June:


Now, after Tropical Storm Ernesto came through a short while ago, it looked like this:

Filed in:

• Lewes
• landscape

A Moment of Silence on 9/11

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Our Marriage Turned 18 Today

Eighteen years ago today, Karen and I called together her family and mine, and all our friends, at a Church in Potomac, Maryland, to witness our wedding.

Karen was raised in the Greek Orthodox Church, worshipping in Slavonic, and our marriage included some prayers and promises in that language. It was very high-church, with kneeling and crowns and incense and a procession three times around the alter.

I don't really know what was promised in some of that ceremony, but that was when I started following my Father's wise advice: "Do whatever your wife tells you to do." It's advice that has served me well, so far.

Whatever the details, I can say that we were pretty well completely married by the end of the ceremony.

The reception was at a country-club-type place out west of DC. Though we were the only sober people at that reception, I don't have a firm memory of what the place was called. I know that we missed most of our meal walking from table to table to meet and greet.

I asked my older sister to buy boxes of Animal Crackers for the head table; I had wanted to get a huge supply of just the Giraffe Animal Crackers, to put in bowls at every table. Karen is a Giraffe person. But I was unable to make that happen.

The band was traditional, playing polkas. At the crescendo of the evening, a huge ring danced around Karen while my youngest brother and Karen's sister collected cash donations for a shot of whiskey and a dance with the bride: The Bridal Dance. Mom still wonders at the sight she had that night of her youngest son cheerily sharing shots with one and all.

Karen was danced into a tizzy and by the time I broke through the ring to claim my bride ("Tradition! Tradition!" sings Tevye), we had collected several hundred dollars. That night, at the Admiral Fell Inn, on Fells Point in Baltimore, we counted our cash, laughed about our families, and started a life together that still includes laughter, joy, and lots of family.

I love my wife. She is a beautiful, kind, talented woman. I'm a lucky, lucky man.

Mazel-Tov! If I do toast so myself.

Filed in:

• marriage
• anniversary
• love

ax + by = gcd(a,b)

On cre.ations.net, there is a short video of a simple strobe-light-enhanced fountain, the Time Fountain. A fellow has added timed, strobing LEDs to a simple water stream to make art. The video posted on this page is neat.

A commenter on MetaChat, where I found a link to this site, tells us that this effect as a lot to do with the extended Euclidean Algorithm. I'll take his/her word on that. The EEA is beyond my ken, but the water drops sure are pretty.

Filed in:

• art
• water
• ExtendedEuclideanAlgorithm