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Pulgas Water Temple Photo by Dwight Green Another post on a local spot I like… Located in Woodside, California, the Pulgas Water Temple commemorates the completion of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct (more on that below). The original temple, erected in 1934, was replaced four years later with the current structure of fluted columns supporting a […]
General Jackson’s “Chancellorsville” portrait (Picture source) Stonewall Jackson, wrapped in his beard and his silence, Cromwell-eyed and ready with Cromwell’s short Bleak remedy for doubters and fools and enemies, Hard on his followers, harder on his foes, An iron sabre vowed to an iron Lord, And yet the only man of those men who pass […]
Come, stack arms, men! Pile on the rails, Stir up the camp-fire bright; No matter if the canteen fails, We’ll make a rousing night! Here Shenandoah brawls along, And burly Blue-Ridge echoes strong, To swell our brigade’s rousing song Of “Stonewall Jackson’s way.” We see him now, – the old slouched hat, Cocked o’er his […]
I’m in the process of finishing Bull Run by Paul Fleischman with my oldest son and we both really enjoyed it. The book covers the first major battle of the U.S. Civil War (and leading up to it) from sixteen different voices. Northern and Southern, male and female, black and white, young and old characters […]
Photo by Dwight Green In my previous post mentioning Saltscapes: The Kite Aerial Photography of Cris Benton, I posted one of Benton’s pictures of Drawbridge, California. I toured the ghost town, located in San Francisco Bay, in 1997. I thought a post on the history of Drawbridge might interest some of this blog’s readers. The […]
Our wonderful local bookstore, BookSmart, had a 20th anniversary sweepstakes recently. I ended up winning a copy of Saltscapes: The Kite Aerial Photography of Cris Benton (Heyday, 2013). It is a fabulous book with beautiful photographs of the south San Francisco Bay area, where some of the industrial salt evaporation ponds are being restored to […]
Last night I was watching 2013’s movie Now You See Me, a film about four magicians/illusionists who pull scams for the benefit of their audiences. After the first job (what appears to be a bank heist), the FBI comes to the illusionists’ suite to arrest them. The character played by Woody Harrelson is on the […]
We finished reading The Wind in the Willows today. Rarely has a book surprised me so much, maybe a result from what I expect to find in “children’s books.” Silly me, I feel like Toad. The last chapter gave a great chance to explain its title to the boys…why the allusion ties into what Odysseus […]
How could I have **not** read this book before now? The boys and I are thoroughly enjoying it. We just read “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” chapter and it has to be one of the most beautiful chapters I’ve ever read. The willow-wren was twittering his thin little song, hidden himself in the […]
I have felt down about a lot of things lately, and not being able to blog consistently has been a part of that. Fortunately, my wife constantly reminds me (through her actions) of the beneficial power of gratitude. I want to say a word of thanks to all those that have commented here and especially […]