On Vacation

Dave and I have been on vacation this week. It's been great to relax and take a break from our usual routines. We spent a couple of days in the mountains of southwest Virginia. The photo below was taken from the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469 mile highway that runs through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. The parkway is a narrow, winding, two-lane highway that climbs up and down the mountains. The speed limit is 45 mph, and there are numerous scenic overlooks. So, if you ever plan to drive the parkway, allow yourself plenty of time.



After we exited the parkway, we stopped by Natural Bridge, near Lexington, VA. This natural arch is 215 feet tall, 90 feet across and it supports a segment of US highway 11.



As passed below the bridge toward the Cedar Creek waterfall, I snapped a shot of a dogwood, Virginia's state flower, which grows on Dogwood trees. Dogwood flowers bloom in spring and are a welcome sign of nature's annual rebirth.



Today, we stopped by Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's beautiful mansion and plantation, located just outside of Charlottesville, in central Virginia. Jefferson designed this home and loaded it with many fascinating scientific instruments and inventions. The author of the Declaration of Independence, in which he proclaimed that "all men [sic] are created equal" couldn't figure out how to end slavery in his own lifetime. When he died, he freed five of his slaves in his will, but left more than 100 others in bondage to his family. His accomplishments are too many to list here, so I will just note here that, if you read more about him, you'll probably find him to be a fascinating character.



Stay tuned for more, as we still have some more outings planned for the remainder of the week.

Catch Up Post

This post should have been completed a week ago. I finally uploaded and edited these photos featuring various family members during Easter week.

Joshua and his doggie-niece, Ally, enjoyed their visit together. Ally even persuaded Joshua to take her for a walk!





A highlight of Easter week was our family's visit to my mother and step-father's place. Mom and Paul finally got to meet Maggie, and a good time was had by all.

Absurdity at the Old Ball Game

You may recall that I haven't had much interest in Major League Baseball since the 1994 strike (yes, I can hold a grudge for at least 15 years). I pay a scant bit of attention to the Washington Nationals sometimes (since they're 0-7 right now, there's very little incentive to keep track of their doings), but that's mostly because they're local and I need to know a little bit about them to keep up with conversations at work. Overall, though, I have very little interest in the world of professional baseball (a far cry from my childhood in which the Yankees dominated many of my thoughts and fantasies).

There are a lot of absurdities in the Major Leagues these days, but I think I came across the most ludicrous one tonight. A baseball fan is suing the New York Police Department and the Yankee Partnership because he was thrown out of Yankee Stadium during a game last year. Why are both of these entities being sued, you ask? Well, the police are being sued because they wouldn't let the guy go to the bathroom during the 7th inning stretch. To be more precise, they wouldn't let him go during the playing of the 7th inning stretch music - a performance of "God Bless America." The guy tried to keep walking and the police helped him walk right out of the stadium. The reason they wouldn't let him use the washroom during that hallowed moment brings us to why the Yankee Partnership is being sued: the group has "a policy that restricts fan movement during the playing of "God Bless America.""

They have got to be kidding! The man was not at a church service, nor was he at a classical musical recital - he was at a baseball game, a privilege for which he paid hard-earned money to purchase a ticket. The time between innings is when people traditionally stretch, buy refreshments and use the washrooms. The partnership's policy is ridiculous and the police behaved boorishly. I hope the guy wins a significant settlement. Religio-patriotism has reached absurd heights when people have to time their potty breaks not to coincide with the sacred 7th inning stretch.

March Madness, Ally's Announcement, Miscellanea

As we usually do at this time of year, Dave and I have been watching the NCAA tournament. Tonight, Dave is out of town on business (what else is new?), so Joshua is watching the final game of this year's NCAA season with me: the women's championship game between the University of Connecticut and Louisville. We were hoping the underdog, Louisville, would pull an upset, but that doesn't look likely right now. With less than twelve minutes left in the game, UConn has a commanding lead of 22 points.

We watched last night as the men's team from the University of North Carolina humiliated the men from Michigan State University. Well, I think Joshua watched until the end. I went to bed when it was clear that MSU was not going to pull the upset.

In case you're wondering why Joshua is watching basketball games with me, rest assured that he has not been kicked out of school. He's home on spring break. He arrived late Sunday night and will fly out again this coming Sunday morning. In between those two events, he's hanging around the house. Later this week, he, Jonathan, Maggie, Dave and I will be going to Pennsylvania to see Mom and Paul. He'll be back at school for a little less than a month before he returns home to start his summer break.

Before I forget to mention it, Ally asked me to make an announcement. The announcement is not that she recently turned four months old (and will turn five months old on American Tax Day - April 15). No. Rather than announcing such mundane items about herself, Ally is ecstatically pleased to announce that Jonathan and Maggie have made their engagement official. They have not set a date for the wedding yet, but they are making some plans. In the meantime, Ally is making sure that they faithfully attend weekly obedience classes with her. She visited us last week and demonstrated her mastery of several commands. She also showed us how fast she can run and how well she chews her doggie treats. All in all, she's growing into a beautiful, healthy and friendly dog (except that she needs a little more practice at not chewing forbidden objects - no offense, Jenn, but I really don't want her to be like her cousin Charlie in that department).



Since I've covered all the items mentioned in the post title, I figure it's time to say goodnight. So - goodnight.