Fort Ward

On Sunday I helped again defend Fort Ward Park in Alexandria Va from the dreaded Redcoats. As part of the George Washington Birthday Celebration there is a small Revolutionary War skirmish at the Park. I was part of the Maryland Militia again on the Patriot's side (our motto: one volley, then run). We were 8 strong, led by Captain Ted. There were 2 casualties, me and Nick, Ted's son. Once again, as usual, the Patriots won.

Huzzah For George!

Good Reads

Well, I finally gave in: after repeated beatings by my peers at the Large Western Area branch where I work, I signed up for a Good Reads account. It looks like fun, I can post the books I am reading, I have read and I might read. ( a lot on the Civil War because of the recent trip to Gettysburg). Also I can link to friends and see what they are reading and they can see my page. Now I have a new way to productively procrastinate.

Will you be my friend?

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2041304

On visiting Gettysburg in the Winter

Last Weekend my lovely and talented wife needed some sewing items to finish a colonial era dress. The best location for these items was a store close by Gettysburg PA, so off we went on a cold and blustery day. After buying said items, and a book on Civil War cooking, we went to the National Park's newish visitor center to eat lunch and cruise the book shop. (I picked up a new book on Irish Americans in the Civil War) We talked about seeing the rehabbed cyclorama, but found out that there was a lecture about one of my favorite Americans: Dan Sickles!!. Dan, among other things to his credit(???), almost lost the battle of Gettysburg for the Union. He also lost his leg at the battle, had it saved after being cut off and then visited it after the War. (You can still see it at the Medical Museum).

Anyway after a great lecture on Dan that hit the high points (low points??) we went on the auto tour around the battlefield. Now I have been to Gettysburg in the Summer, but visiting in the winter is as good. There are less people and with no leaves on the trees you can a great view of the battlefield. We only made up one of the Observation tours, really cold and windy, but Gettysburg is still a moving experience. Even for a die hard Unionist like me(ask me about living in Columbia S.C. some time), you can still stand at the Virginia monument, with Massa Robert on Top, and feel the ghosts of Pickett's and Pettigrew's soldiers starting out across the fields toward the Union lines. To misquote Faulkner: to every Southern boy it is still early in the day on that July morning with the world in the balance. Go you will not regret!!

Book Suggestion's from your friendly neighborhood historian/librarian:

Killer Angels: Michael Sharra. The best novel on the battle, probably the best novel on the war. Ken Burns read it! Ted Turner read it! Started the hero worship of Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine (its monument went from one of the least visited to maybe the most visited).

Hallowed Ground: James McPherson. A great short tour of the battlefield and overview of the battle by America's best Civil War historian.

American Scoundrel: Thomas Keneally. Dan Sickles in all his glory. The title says it all.

My favorite monument? Probably the Irish brigade's with its Irish Cross and Irish Wolfhound. Look for it in the Wheatfield.

Huzzah for the Union!

2009 maryland is 375 years old!

We were down to Historic St Marys City on Saturday (MD's first capital) and were reminded that next year, 2009, Maryland will be celebrating its 375th birthday.

St Marys City will celebrate this on March 25th, Maryland Day!, and on the weekend of June 20 & 21st. My lovely and talented wife and I were approached about helping out with the June 20 & 21st, more later.

here is the website for St Marys City:

http://www.stmaryscity.org/

Colonial Games or high tech?

You might have seen these pictures in the programming blog, but I wanted to take a different way to see them. The children pictured are having fun playing with simple toys, not high tech toys. At the program we had several different board games, hop scotch(pictured), and other games of agility and coordination. Early games taught agility, coordination and social interaction. While today's high tech video games might teach coordination and agility, they do not do much for social interaction. Children do not need the latest video games to have fun, none of the games we played needed a computer or electricity, just some metal or physical effort.

idiot boxes for cars

We were just on vacation down in the Clearwater area of Florida, staying with friends(another story there). While in the area we played tourist and visited local small towns; a couple of state parks to shell, bird and see the area. The male half of our friends lent us his Garmin Nuvi, so we would not get lost.

We could program in an address and most of the time it worked, but reduced driving and exploring to the lowest common level. It would speak directions, turn left at next light etc.

My lovely and talented wife, a food historian, wanted to see the remains of a sugar mill. We looked the location up on the web and programed in the address. The only problem was the address was for the hdq of the park in the next town, not the actual site. Luckily, I can still read and use a map, a lost art with these devices, and was able to get to the mill despite the Garmin telling us that the site was 20 miles further down the road. On the way back, the Garmin got confused and kept saying we were some place else(different reality?)

Look, I have driven for a number of years in a variety of places, including England using maps, atlases and my brains. The Garmin dumbs down the process, making you subject to its flaws rather than thinking for yourself.

Let just say a Garmin will not be on my Holiday list (though the bottle of Single Malt still is!)

Fun with technology

Well, it was 9:24 the babies and their caregivers are arriving and I can not get the @@***!!! power point to load. As a project here at this large western area branch I am putting our rhymes, songs, finger plays on a power-point, so we can display them for programs. I worked on this and checked my results on my desk PC, no problem. Saved it on my jump drive, checked that, no problem. Tried to load it into the lap top, big problem, it would not load. MANY BAD WORDS IN A ROW!!!!quickly went back to pod, loaded word program with rhymes onto jump, loaded that and used it.

After programs were over conferred with computer person, found out that somehow(computer gods having a joke? St Bill striking me down?) I had saved the program in PP 2007 on a machine that had office 2003!!!!So it opened on desk PCS, but not laptop??!!! Ah well, computers make your life simpler and easier!