The Push of Spring

March of the Wooden Ducks

Egyptian Pendant

Currently

Listening to: Amy Winehouse. She's Dinah Washington in Motown with a punk attitude. Great voice!

Reading: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Growing up in the Fifties in the Midwest with some words you no longer hear: stenographer, dime store, canasta, Cinerama, mimeograph, Sputnick, daddy-o.

Watching: Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, House

Looking forward to: a summer of beer and hardshell crabs

Pulling for this Final Four: Georgetown, Florida, UCLA, Ohio State

Still Laughing About: Some scenes from Borat

Sick to Death of: Cable TV news. Can you stand another story about Anna Nicole Smith

Things People Actually Said in Court

Q: What is your date of birth?
A: July fifteen.
Q: What year?
A: Every year.
______________________________

Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?
A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
Q: How long has he lived with you?
A: Forty-five years.
________________________________

Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke that morning?
A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q: And why did that upset you?
A: My name is Susan.
________________________________

Q: Sir, what is your IQ?
A: Well, I can see pretty well, I think.
______________________________

Q: The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?
_______________________________

Q: How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?
_______________________________

Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A: Yes.
Q: And what were you doing at that time?
_______________________________

Q: She had three children, right?
A: Yes.
Q: How many were boys?
A: None.
Q: Were there any girls?
________________________________

Q: You say the stairs went down to the basement?
A: Yes.
Q: And these stairs, did they go up also?
________________________________

Q: Mr. Slatery, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon, didn't you?
A: I went to Europe, Sir.
Q: And you took your new wife?
______________________________

Q: How was your first marriage terminated?
A: By death.
Q: And by whose death was it terminated?
_______________________________

Q: Can you describe the individual?
A: He was about medium height and had a beard.
Q: Was this a male, or a female?
________________________________

Q: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
________________________________

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?
A: It is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.
_________________________________

Q: You were not shot in the fracas?
A: No, I was shot midway between the fracas and the navel.

Rural Pennsylvania

Heikes Covered Bridge, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Shazam!

Harper's Ferry, WVA

"On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac (Potomac), in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea...This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."
~ Thomas Jefferson

Word Origins for 200, Alex....

The term square meal comes from British sailors on warships in the 1700s. The phrase referred to the third - and last - meal of the day which was the only one that included meat and was served on a square tray.

Along the C&O Canal

Definitive 20

From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "Definitive 200" list, the first 20:

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
3. Thriller - Michael Jackson
4. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
5. Joshua Tree - U2
6. Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones
7. Tapestry - Carole King
8. Highway ’61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
9. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
10. Nevermind - Nirvana
11. Ten - Pearl Jam
12. Abbey Road - The Beatles
13. Supernatural - Santana
14. Metallica - Metallca
15. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
16. Purple Rain - Prince
17. Back in Black - AC/DC
18. Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
19. Doors - Doors
20. American Beauty - The Grateful Dead

Attitude

Warrington Meeting House

Site of Friend's meeting house since 1745. This building was erected in 1769. Ross and Rachel were married here in 1998. The Chandler Bing outhouse stands nearby.