Teddy Sez:

“The credit belongs to those people who are actually in the arena…who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions to a worthy cause; who at best, know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, fail while daring greatly…so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

~Theodore Roosevelt

Ephraim Francis Baldwin

Baltimore architect, Ephraim Francis Baldwin, designed the roundhouse at the B&O Railway Museum in 1884, referred to as the closest thing in the country to "an industrial cathedral."




He also designed the magnificent B&O warehouse at Camden Yards....



and the appealing train station at Point of Rocks, MD.

Goose Graffiti

"An asp in the grass

is

An asp in the grass

but

A grasp in the ass

is

A goose"

Calla Lily

Tommy the Cat

Talkin' to Chuck

Schwab Investment Strategies

A Piece of Beach

FLAG DAY

"Whose broad stripes and bright stars..."

While making preparations for The Battle of Baltimore, Major George Armistead requested a flag "... so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance..." to be flown over Fort McHenry.

Mary Pickersgill of Baltimore was commissioned to construct the flag. With help from her daughter, Caroline Purdy, she sewed a woolen flag measuring 42 feet long by 30 feet high, a remarkably large flag.

The flag had fifteen stars and fifteen stripes. During the War of 1812 there were 15 states in the Union, Vermont and Kentucky having been added to the original 13. An early plan for the flag was to add a new star and a new stripe for each new state. With 15 stripes on the Pickersgill flag, which was 30 feet high, that meant that each stripe was 2 feet wide and that each star was also 2 feet across.

First-time Kayaker

So, I took my first kayak trip last Sunday on Muddy Creek, a beautiful stream in the southeast section of York County, Pennsylvania.

All the situations that a novice could get into, I got into – running aground, angling sideways over the rapids, taking on too much water, failing to correctly “read" the creek and always paying some kind of price for it.

Snagged on a tree branch, banged sideways, jolted forward, tipped precariously ...and then taking on water and BAM, flat out of luck. Dunked!

The creek would be tranquil for a stretch and then suddenly I would find myself slipping furiously through some rapids. Then, you realize that sometimes you control the creek and sometimes the creek controls you. And you realize too that even a small creek with slight rippling rapids has great strength and energy and can hurt you.

Certainly the notion that you could ride peacefully and stay dry on the creek was dispelled quickly. The reality is you become part of the creek (you are in the creek; the creek is in you). The kids understood this immediately. It took awhile for the old farts to get it.

The backdrop to all this floundering frustration and anxious angst was the nearly untouched beauty of the creek and environs. Traces of history (an old trustle bridge, stone abutments) and stunning rock formations almost made you feel you were in another world. For a mile or two, a majestic blue heron stayed about 40 yards ahead of the group moving downstream at its own leisurely pace.

At the end of the day, I felt thoroughly washed, tumbled and dried. My friend, T, put it best: “We got whupped up on today.”

Finally, a big thank you to the experienced people in the group who saved the rookies from themselves and made the learning experience halfway enjoyable.

Queen's Guard

Joke of the Day

Sent along by my friend, Timothy Francis:

Amish Buggy Warning

An Amish woman was driving her buggy to town when a highway patrol officer stopped her."I'm not going to cite you," said the officer. "I just wanted to warn you that the reflector on the back of your buggy is broken, and it could be dangerous."

"I thank thee", replied the Amish lady. "I shall have my husband repair it as soon as I return home."

"Also," said the officer, "I noticed one of your reins to your horse is wrapped around his testicles. Some people might consider this cruelty to animals, so you should have your husband check that too."

"Again I thank thee. I shall have my husband check both when I get home."
True to her word, when the Amish lady got home she told her husband about the broken reflector, and he said he would put a new one on immediately.

"Also," said the Amish woman, "the policeman said there was something wrong with the emergency brake."

Sunday Morning in the Park

Sunday morning
Red daggers shooting through the trees
Rolling through the park
Along the rocky stream
Spinning downhill fast
CRASH
Biker down
Still now on the ground
Bleeding
Teeth like dice beside him
Shock
Trauma
911
Gather round
DO NOT TOUCH
You may get AIDS
You may get sued

You may watch him bleed
You may hope and pray
He sees another day

But do not touch the helpless man.

Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.

Rock Creek

Boulder Bridge

Larry's Rio Samba

Found in the Tuscarora State Forest...