UNCLE JACK'S WEBLOG
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| Saturday, July 04, 2009 | | Oh say can you see?---Friday July 3, 2009 | With the Fourth of July impending what could be more appropriate than a visit to Fort McHenry in Baltimore's outer harbor. This hallowed ground, now a National Park, is where, on the night of September 13, 1814, British warships unleashed a fearsome bombardment in an attempt to clear the way for an invasion of Baltimore. The fort held fast through the perilous night and in the morning a young American lawyer named Francis Scott Key, who had observed the action from the deck of a ship on which he had been detained, was moved to write a poem which, as every American schoolchild knows, became our national anthem. (Blame Herbert Hoover for that).
Fort McHenry is a beautiful park in a spectacular setting. Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. spent several hours on Thursday strolling around the grounds, reading historical plaques and enjoying the magnificent views in the company of a handful of other tourists. It will be a mob scene on the Fourth so they're glad they went early. If you do get to Fort McHenry one day don't miss the excellent movie in the Visitors Center.
Happy Fourth to all, wherever you are.
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click for larger image | The Brits came from thisaway---Chesapeake Bay. That's the Francis Scott Key bridge barely discernible in the haze. |
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click for larger image | This colossal statue of the Greek god Orpheus, complete with lyre, stands in front of the visitor center. Presumably symbolic of Key, the lyricist. |
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click for larger image | Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry at the time of the siege. Welcome Center, soon to be replaced, in the background. |
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posted by Uncle Jack at 8:02 AM |
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| Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | | Sherwood Gardens redux (again) Tuesday June 30, 2009 | Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. last visited Sherwood Gardens a couple of months ago when the tulips were in full bloom (go to April 24 in the archives if you want to take another look at that spectacular display). They walked over there again yesterday to see what has transpired since the tulips faded and as you can see from the pictures it was worth the effort. Every flower bed has been restocked with new varieties that are appropriate to the season and the park looks as stunning as ever, as does the Guilford neighborhood in which it's located.
Walking is their major (but definitely not their only) physical activity these days and Baltimore provides an almost unlimited number of possibilities in the perambulation department. This morning they set out for a shopping area on Cold Spring Lane (a bit more than a mile through the upscale Roland Park neighborhood)where they checked out what is reputed to be the best video store in all of Bawlmer, Video Americain, and then repaired to a popular restaurant called Miss Shirley's for lunch.
The DVD store is incredible and they hope to plunder its vast collection of foreign films, documentaries, English TV series, and the like right up until the day they go out of business. The owners are nothing if not realists and they know their days are numbered due to fierce competition from online video distributors like
Netflix,streaming video online, and the increasing sophistication of "on demand" movie channels on cable TV.
Miss Shirley's is a keeper. Mrs. U.J. had what she described as the best softshell crab she has ever eaten in a restaurant (this does not include the divine softshells she has consumed at Suzanne Tate's table on many occasions) while Uncle Jack pigged out on superb fried green tomatoes and corn fritters. He could hardly walk home but it was worth the struggle.
June is departing in fine fashion and the Fourth of July impends. They have been reliably informed that the fireworks in the inner harbor are visible from their seventh floor condo's south-facing windows and that is as close as they want to get.
Baltimore is still Baltimore, after all. Especially after dark. |
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click for larger image | Sherwood Gardens is a private/public park. He has no idea who pays for all this but he's glad it's free and so nearby. |
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click for larger image | A lot of work goes into this lovely place every year. Uncle Jack is glad he is not called upon to do any of it. |
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click for larger image | The Guilford neighborhood is about a hundred years old and the foliage has reached near-jungle proportions in many places. Many trees are three feet or more in diameter. |
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click for larger image | Hydrangeas are everywhere in Roland Park, another upscale neighborhood near Uncle Jack's condo. |
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click for larger image | Roland Park is not quite as snazzy as Guilford but there is nothing shabby about this house. Note the absence of particle board. |
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click for larger image | Miss Shirley's looks like a standard strip-mall eatery from the outside but the food attracts knowledgable eaters from all over Bawlmer. |
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posted by Uncle Jack at 4:26 PM |
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| Sunday, June 28, 2009 | | City lights, Sunday June 28, 2009 | Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. are firmly back in the city groove after their week in the hinterlands of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The night after returning they dined in an Afghan restaurant downtown which is owned and operated by the brother of the present leader of that unfortunate country, Mohammed Karzai. The place is called The Helmand and it's one of the most popular restaurants in town, possibly because the food and service are excellent and the prices unbelievably reasonable. Uncle Jack could not begin to pronounce his entree but it was a delicious concoction of lamb, beef, rice and vegetables which returned to wreak vengeance in the middle of the night, possibly in retaliation for the errant drone attacks which have killed so many Afghan civilians in recent months.
They emerged from the Helmand at about 9 p.m. to find a group of young people with a boombox dancing at the foot of the Washington Monument. They learned later that it was one of the many spontaneous tributes to the Gloved One that sprung up all over the country in the wake of his death.
Bizarre is the word that comes most readily
to Uncle Jack's mind.
The Saturday Farmer's Market is now in full swing with new veggies and fruits coming into the stalls each week. Local strawberries were in for the first time along with radishes, carrots, beets and a whole lot of other good stuff. They will eat well this week for sure. Michael Pollan would be proud of them. (He was in town last week to give a talk at the Pratt Library).
This morning's aerobic walk took them to a part of the JHU campus hitherto unexplored. The major discovery was Dunning Park, a lovely bower filled with amusing animal sculptures by Benjamin Bufano, an American artist who died in 1970. They have taken a beating over the years as children love to climb on them but they retain their charm nonetheless.
Their walking tour ended in the student activities building which is loaded with every kind of amenity including weight and exercise rooms, swimming pools, gymnasiums, a spectacular climbing wall, running track, etc. The JHU tuition is over $40,000 a year now but the students can't complain about their activities center---or the campus either which has to be one of the prettiest in the country. And it's right across the street.
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click for larger image | Uncle Jack didn't expect to see blossoms like this so far north. Baltimore has been full of surprises. |
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click for larger image | Or better yet, this camel. Mrs. Stonebreaker taught him the difference between bactrian and dromedary camels but he no longer remembers which is which. |
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click for larger image | This shot putter stands in front of the athletic office. A similar discus thrower flanks the entrance. |
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click for larger image | Mayor Bloomberg's impact on JHU is seen everywhere. This is just one of several buildings he has endowed. |
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posted by Uncle Jack at 4:12 PM |
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| Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | | You CAN go home again, Wednesday June 24, 2009 | Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. have returned to Charm City after a week-long sojourn in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota which turned out to be both enjoyable and spiritually uplifting. They spent four days in Brainerd, Minnesota visiting his brother and sister and numerous others of his extended family including a number of nieces and nephews who were calling him Uncle Jack even before he adopted his nom de laptop.
His brother Don and wife Idelle (he is Swedish and she is Norwegian which makes theirs a mixed marriage in Minnesota) whomped up lots of meals featuring the sublime ethnic foods of his childhood including potato sausage, Swedish brown beans and Swedish rye bread of which he ate entirely too much at every sitting. He also partook of walleyed pike, the Minnesota equivalent of rockfish, which no restaurant in that state dares not to serve (cooked at least three ways). All of this glorious food was washed down with the incomparable beer of his childhood, Leinenkugel's Old Style Lager.
They tore themselves away from food and family for a couple of days to visit Uncle Jack's old home town, Ashland, Wisconsin which is about a 3.5 hour drive from Brainerd over roads that have been vastly improved in the past 50 years. When John F. Kennedy visited Ashland on a campaign tour fifty years ago he described it aptly as a "classic example of an economically distressed community"---which it was. The lumbering industry was dead due to lack of any more trees to cut down. The ore-shipping industry was defunct for lack of iron ore. The paper mill was on its last legs due to foreign competition and obsolescence, and the tourists couldn't think of any reason to visit Ashland when there were so many nicer places to go.
Well Uncle Jack is here to tell you that a social and economic miracle has happened in his old home town and his bosom swells with pride to tell about it. Due to the hard work and vision of a coterie of its citizens, including a number of politicians, Ashland has transformed itself into a singularly attractive community whose future looks bright even in these parlous times.
The amazing mural project is probably the most attention-grabbing part of this renaissance but really no more important than the spruced-up stores on Main Street or the newly refurbished houses all over town fronting on newly paved streets. Some of the dozen or so murals are pictured below and more are on the way. They are extremely well done by a local artist and are sure to become a tourist attraction in their own right as the word gets around.
The title of one of Thomas Wolfe's books suggests that you can't go home again but Uncle Jack did it last week and he plans to do it again next year if for no other reason than to see the new murals. Stay tuned.
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click for larger image | Ashland was once a mighty iron-ore-shipping port but the ore ran out many years ago. The only remaining dock is built of reinforced concrete which would cost a fortune to tear down. The pedestrian/bike path in the foreground is several miles long. |
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click for larger image | The Chequamegon Hotel is an antique-filled replica of a 19th century hotel that burned down many years ago. The classiest hostelry in Ashland for sure. |
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click for larger image | The first of Ashland's wonderful murals. The entire wall is trompe l'oeil. The gent in the white shirt is Ashland's founder, Asaph Whittlesey, who walked a hundred miles on snowshoes to attend a meeting of the state legislature. |
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click for larger image | Each of these lumberjacks is identified by name. Nobody seemed to know why the woman was in the picture but Uncle Jack has a theory. |
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click for larger image | This faux street contains actual representations of shops that once existed on Main Street. (Some are still there). There is not one empty storefront anywhere in the downtown area at this time. |
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click for larger image | For over a hundred years the Black Cat was a favorite hangout for the drinking class, including Uncle Jack. Now it's a coffee shop. Sic transit gloria mundi. |
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click for larger image | This small Marina in front of the Chequamegon Hotel is presently Ashland's only boating facility. Uncle Jack has a hunch this is going to change dramatically in the future. Look at all that water. |
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click for larger image | The home place, still standing after more than a century. Termites can't live in this climate which probably accounts for its longevity. |
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click for larger image | Uncle Jack's sister Phyl, still cheerful after 87 winters in northern Minnesota. Flanked by her short brother, Don, 77, and her tall brother, 79. Their Aunt Esther lived to be a hundred so there's hope for them yet. |
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posted by Uncle Jack at 9:11 PM |
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| Monday, June 15, 2009 | | Hiatus, Monday June 15, 2009 | | Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. are leaving for Minnesota bright and early tomorrow morning and will be gone for a week during which it is unlikely that he will be able to post a weblog entry. His brother lives out in the country where cable TV and broad band are not yet available and Uncle Jack doesn't remember how to do dial-up so he will be taking some time off. Save some wear and tear on your mouse and stop looking for anything in this space until the 24th or thereabouts. He hopes by then to have many pictures of lakes and pine trees and other flora and fauna native to the upper midwest. In the meantime read a good book of your choice. Ciao. |
posted by Uncle Jack at 8:25 PM |
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click picture for more | | Uncle Jack usually blogs from his home in South Nags Head when he has not gone somewhere else in his MiniCooper. Right now he is in Baltimore, Maryland where he is giving serious thought to spending the rest of his life. Stay tuned. |
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