Neither snow nor rain nor dark of night.......

     .....shall stay Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. from their dogged pursuit of all things cultural.  He is pleased to report that last Thursday evening's concert by the Baltimore Symphony was not cancelled on account of snow (unlike almost every other event in the region) and they were among the handful of the faithful who were able to mush on over to the Meyerhoff to hear a terrific concert featuring a young artist named Augustin Hadelich who played the heck out of Brahms's only violin concerto and then favored us steadfast concert-goers with a dazzling performance of one of Paganini's show-off pieces for unaccompanied violin. A night to remember for sure.
      The roads were clear enough by Saturday to venture downtown to the fabulous Landmark Theater (how many movie theaters do you know that have a full bar?) where the sleeper movie of the year was playing----namely "The King's Speech".  It took guts to make a movie about a king's speech impediment but it turned out well enough to rake in a dozen Oscar nominations and will fight it out for top honors with "The Facebook"  which is also a first-rate flick.
      Sunday afternoon they were lucky enough to find a parking place among the snowdrifts just a block from the Fell's Point Corner Theater where they saw an excellent performance of a play called "Mauritius" which is about the unlikely subject of stamp-collecting.  Actually it is about human foibles like greed and avarice in the context of what seems on the surface to be a rather benign activity but it made for a really gripping play even though nobody was shot or stabbed and there were no explosions or car chases.
     Uncle Jack exhumed another chestnut from the archives this morning and has attached it below for those who may be snowbound and unable to reach the library this week.

                             Clothes Make the Man?

Sometimes Uncle Jack wonders why he never amounted to anything
even though he is a high school graduate and also enjoyed many
other advantages including a nagging mother.
   Here he is entering the stage of advanced decrepitude with
hardly enough money to buy a bloodworm when the spots are running
and all around him he sees people half his age pulling $20,000
boats behind their $40,000 4WD pick-up trucks and living in
$400,000 houses and going off on vacations to places Mrs.
Stonebreaker never even mentioned in geography class.
   Uncle Jack knew he must have done something wrong somewhere
along the way but he didn't know what it was until last week
when he read this article in the paper about clothes.
   This article had a lot of good advice in it for people who
want to amount to something and it is too bad Uncle Jack didn't
read it 45 years ago because he might have been a success today
instead of not having two nickels to rub together.
   This is one thing Uncle Jack did not know:
   "For any kind of business career, one needs, at minimum,
three good suits. They do not have to be tailor-made, but you
should go to some trouble to make sure they fit. If you can
find a good custom tailor who will do alterations, it's worth
the time and effort."
   You can see what Uncle Jack was up against right there because
he can tell you he has never owned more than one suit at a time
in his whole life and he has never owned a suit that fit.
   Every suit Uncle Jack ever bought from J.C. Penney or Sears
Roebuck seemed to fit o.k. when he was standing in front of
those triple mirrors in the store but as soon as he got home
and he bent over to get a beer out of the bottom shelf of the
refrigerator his suit would try to cut off his arm at the armpit.

   Also it would always turn out that the pants were too long
and Uncle Jack could not afford to go to a tailor so he would
fix the cuffs with paper clips.
   According to this article you cannot make a very good
impression in most business circles if you go around with paper
clips holding up your cuffs.
   "Shirts should be white or plain light blue; cotton is best.
They should not have contrasting collars, oddly shaped collars,
or French cuffs."
   Uncle Jack was glad to read that about shirts because shirts
were one thing he thought he did right. Most of the time he
wears a light blue shirt made of l00 per cent cotton that does
not have any strange kind of collar or cuffs.
   Wearing the right kind of shirt does not seem to have done
him any good in the business world, though, and he would hate
to think it was just because his light blue l00 per cent cotton
shirt has "I Got Crabs at Austin Fish Company" written on the
front.
   "Shoes should be simple, too. Plain black lace-up shoes
without fancy stitching or thick soles are all one needs; and
they should be meticulously polished."
   Uncle Jack really goofed when it comes to shoes because he
usually wears plastic shower clogs from Taiwan except when he
is going out to a fancy restaurant like Sam and Omie's he puts
on his fake Nike running shoes from the shoe department at Ace
Hardware. Neither one of them takes a very good shine, either.
   Most of the time, though, he goes barefoot and the newspaper
article says this is definitely not the way to get ahead unless
you are Jimmy Buffett.
   "If you want to get ahead you should dress for success. To
my knowledge nobody objects to a dark blue suit, a plain shirt
and a dark tie."
   If you want to know the truth Uncle Jack is not so sure he
wants to be a success any more since he read that article in
the newspaper.
   If the price of success is having to wear a dark blue suit,
a dark tie, and black leather shoes all the time he thinks maybe
there is something to be said for being a failure.

Much has happened since Uncle Jack last visited the Johns Hopkins library worksite more than two weeks ago.  Lots of concrete has been poured for one thing and much of the sub-surface early work has now been obscured by this slab.

It looks like the dirt floor in the background is also being prepared for another layer of concrete.  It can't be much fun working outside like this when the temperature never gets above freezing.  Sleet and freezing rain are forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  That should add to the fun.

Uncle Jack's admiration for architects, engineers and builders has blossomed since he started watching this project take shape a few months ago.

Happy New Year

      Uncle Jack is happy to report that both he and Mrs. U. J. are alive and well and enjoying a lengthy sojourn in South Nags Head in spite of the fact that it is too cold to leave the house.  They have been here for almost a week but still haven't set foot on the beach where icy winds take all the fun of walking.  A warming trend is predicted for the weekend (it could get up to 50F) but until then they will stay inside by the fireplace and catch up on their reading.
      They did get to Manteo Monday and visited Manteo Booksellers where Uncle Jack was delighted to discover that Steve had a copy of a book that he has been wanting to read ever since he first heard about it, namely Simon Winchester's "Atlantic" which, as you might expect, is about the Atlantic Ocean which has played such a major role in the history of the Outer Banks. He has greatly enjoyed every Simon Winchester book he has ever read and this one promises to be no exception.  It's a doorstop of a book so it will keep him enjoyably and profitably occupied for a long time no matter which way the temperature goes.

                                                    Recent sunset in Bawlmer.


Anyway Uncle Jack will be back with some beach pictures in a few days if the temp goes up, the wind goes down and the sun continues to shine.  In the meantime a belated Happy New Year to all members of the tiny band of diehard readers who check in from time to time to seek proof that he is still alive.  He appreciates your efforts and hopes to continue to appear in this space from time to time when the spirit moves.

Progress continues on the Johns Hopkins library addition.  Concrete walls and support beams were poured last week.  Working outside like this in freezing temperatures can't be much fun but they're getting her done in spite of the cold.

Bopping around Baltimore

    Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. have been taking advantage of a spate of perfect fall weather to explore some parts of Charm City that have eluded them until now.  Even though they have lived in Baltimore for almost two years now they realize they have hardly begun to to get acquainted with this fascinating city.  With the help of a growing library of books about Baltimore, past and present, they are learning more about the its history  and at the same time scoping out future walking trips. They will be spending the next couple of weeks in Nags Head but stay tuned for further adventures in the Monumental City when they return.

    Union Square, a once-lovely neighborhood a few blocks west of downtown, was one of our recent destinations, primarily because it was for most of his life the home of  Henry L. Mencken , the Sage of Baltimore.  The rowhouse at 1524 Hollins Street (above) is where he lived with his brother, August, after the untimely death of his wife, Sara, after only five blissful years of marriage.  The house is now owned by the city but is kept up by a group of people dedicated to the preservation of this historic house which is opened a couple of times a year for meetings of the Mencken Society, of which we are proud members.

     Mencken is memorialized by this mosaic on the exterior wall of the Hollins Street Market only a few blocks from his house.  This is one of a series of mosaics done by a group of  students from the neighborhood junior high school.  The Hollins Street Market is purported to be the oldest of the several public markets still operating which date back to the early 19th century.  Unfortunately the neighborhood is not quite as elegant as it was in Mencken's time.  Even he began to complain about the deterioration that had set in during World War II when thousands of unlettered people began to pour into Baltimore from the hills of Virginia and West Virginia to work in the factories. Today the lovely park across from Mencken's house shows obvious signs of neglect and some of the nearby neighborhoods are among the city's diciest.  Sic transit.

    A story in this month's "Urbanite" magazine featured this magnificent building on Baltimore's east side which has recently been rehabilitated and is now the headquarters of a non-profit social work organization called Humanim.  Built in 1887 it was the main building of the American Brewing Company, then the largest brewery in the city.  It closed during prohibition but under new ownership beer was brewed here into the 1960's when it closed and began a long slide toward near oblivion.  Preservationists managed to assemble a $26 million fund to restore it with the hope that it will serve as a catalyst for redevelopment of what had become one of the worst neighborhoods in the city.

We were fortunate to meet the maintenance supervisor who proudly took us on a grand tour of the five-story main building.  The view from the roof in all directions is fantastic.  That's downtown in the distance, about a ten minute drive from the brewery.

It's even closer to the Johns Hopkins Medical Center which is actually within walking distance to the south. You wouldn't want to walk there today but the time may come when this is once again a safe and attractive area to live in.

Looking northwest it becomes obvious that there is a lot more of Baltimore to explore.  Unfortunately a large segment of the population has fled to the suburbs so many of the buildings in this picture stand empty in various states of disrepair.

Looking north toward Johns Hopkins University and Uncle Jack's neighborhood called Charles Village.

On the day we visited Mencken's house we had lunch on a park bench in Federal Hill overlooking the harbor where we were treated to the sight of a two-masted sailboat coming in under sail.  That's the National Aquarium right behind it.

We also walked around in Seton Hill, an almost perfectly preserved enclave of early 19th century homes and other buildings just north of downtown on Paca Street.  This was the home of  Mother Elizabeth Seton who became the first American saint in the Roman Catholic Church for her lifetime of work on behalf of others.  Along with her chapel nearby it is the anchor for this lovely neighborhood.

This plaque in front of the house tells a bit about her career and about the house as well.  Click to enlarge.

These beautifully restored rowhouses are typical of many in the elegant Seton Hill neighborhood.

This amazing trompe l'oiel painting adorns a house in the Butchers Hill neighborhood north of Fells Point which has also undergone extensive renewal in recent years.  Once the home of several slaughterhouses it is now a highly desirable place for urban homesteaders to buy and fix up houses, partly because it adjoins Patterson Park, a huge and well-kept city recreational area and also because it is close to downtown.

These twin houses are next door to the one with the mural.  The one on the left has been re-sided with an imitation rock product called Formstone which has been the bane of preservationists all over the city because of its phoniness. These workers houses would have sold for perhaps $500 a hundred years ago but after renovation and modernization they bring tidy sums now, even after the collapse of the housing market.

This massive Greek Orthodox church built of stone occupies most of a square block in Butchers Hill which has been home for many ethnic groups over the centuries.

This elegant dwelling is one of the largest in Butchers Hill.  It, too, has been elegantly restored and has a fine view of Patterson Park and the harbor beyond.

Rainy day in Charm City

     What to do on a rainy Monday in Bawlmer? Not a problem if you like museums.  Bawlmer has enough interesting museums to divert ennui from now 'til Armageddon (which actually may not be too long the way things are going).   Every guide book touts the B & O Railroad Museum as perhaps the world's finest so it has been high on Uncle Jack's list of  places to visit on rainy days ever since they moved here almost two years ago. Yesterday he and Mrs. U.J. drove over there and they are here to tell you that it is one fine museum.
      When the B & O started up in Baltimore in 1827  it was America' s first railroad.  It grew to be a colossus before the decline of  U.S. railroads began after WW II when the interstate highway system boosted the fortunes of  freight-hauling truckers and the airlines wrecked the passenger business. Today the B & O Railroad is but a memory but those memories are in good hands at the museum.

This beautifully preserved roundhouse is only one of several buildings and outdoor displays that make up the whole 100 acre facility.

Imagine the consternation when, in 2004,  a 28-inch snowfall accompanied by high winds caused the roof to collapse and damage many of the meticulously restored engines and other displays in the roundhouse. The roof has been completely rebuilt using modern engineering techniques and all but a couple of the displays have been restored.  Train buffs from all over the country contributed to the expensive repairs. The new roof easily withstood last winter's massive snowfalls.

A comely tourist provides scale for this picture of the largest steam locomotive in the collection.  These behemoths were able to haul enormous loads of freight, including coal, over the steep grades of the Appalachians and to and from the midwest.  The magnificence of this machinery can only be experienced up close which is something the museum makes possible through a network of ramps and walkways.

A view of the engineer's compartment of a steam locomotive.  Almost as bewildering as the cockpit of a modern airliner.

A few of the ancient steam locomotives used in the early days of the B & O.  They supplanted the horses that pulled the trains in the earliest days.

                                                           Some were rolling works of art.

Peter Cooper's "Tom Thumb" was built in Canton, the neighborhood last explored by U.J. and Mrs. U.J., three years after the founding of the B & O.  Cooper got very rich on the success of the railroads and so did a lot of early Baltimore investors.  Railroad stock was the place to be in the early 19th century.

                                       This '37 Buick was converted for use by track inspectors.

The larger and most elegant part of this passenger car was for white travelers only.  All others were confined to the small compartment in the foreground in front of the baggage section.  Jim Crow rode many a train in the south right into the 60's.

The museum sports two wonderful model train layouts.  This picture shows the former site of  Camden Station and its switching yards, now the site of Orioles Park at Camden Yards, the neatest baseball park in all the world. The big red brick warehouse still stands and provides offices and other amenities for the team.

The first B &O office building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1904 along with dozens of other buildings. The replacement still stands in all its opulence even though it houses other companies now.  U.J. and Mrs. U.J. had lunch in the B & O Cafe in this building.  It was not nearly as impressive as the chandelier.

Beautiful Bawlmer

      A number of their acquaintances told Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. that a day trip to Rehoboth Beach on a golden Saturday in September would be foolish in the extreme so they have postponed that outing until some as yet unselected weekday later in the fall.  Apparently the traffic woes of  the Delaware beaches, including the gridlock-prone Bay Bridge, are infinitely worse than those of the Outer Banks at this stage of their development. Proximity to the D.C.-Baltimore colossus is not an unalloyed blessing except for over-the-top monstrosities like Ocean City which welcomes all comers.
      So they used their sunny Saturday for further exploration, on foot, of another of  Baltimore's charming neighborhoods called Canton which was once a bustling waterfront hub of all kinds of manufacturing including shipbuilding, canning and beer-brewing.  Like so many of Charm City's waterfront neighborhoods it has metamorphosed into a fairly upscale residential area whose residents have found proximity to the water to be an irresistible drawing card. Forty years ago one could buy a decent house in Canton for practically nothing but not any more as the pictures suggest.

            Click on the pictures to make them larger.

Many of Canton's old warehouses and factories have been expensively recycled into lavish apartments and condos with magnificent views of the Outer Harbor.  Fort McHenry is directly across the river from Canton. Downtown Baltimore can be seen in the distance, reachable by water taxi or bus or bicycle in only a few minutes.

Wealthy Cantonese can park their boats right in the front yard.  Isn't that nice?

The boatless enjoy another form of recreation on the waterfront---fishing for perch and bluefish as well as crabbing.  This brick promenade continues along the waterfront for eight miles, all the way to downtown.

The cute little sailboat in the center foreground was visiting from New Bern, N.C.  last Saturday.

This historical marker in O'Donnell Square offers a thumbnail sketch of the town.  It was also the home of the American Can Company which produced zillions of cans well into the 20th century,  many of which were used to can Chesapeake Bay oysters, when Chesapeake Bay still had oysters.

Captain John O'Donnell lords it over his eponymous square in the heart of Canton.  He named the town for his favorite port in China whence he imported very profitable goods.  George Washington was one of his favorite customers.  The square is surrounded with well-preserved old rowhouses, many of which have been converted into funky saloons and upscale restaurants.

These modern rowhouses try to imitate the charm of the warehouse conversions and to a great extent succeed.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, work continues on the new JHU library.  Today was dirt removal day with two frontloaders and a couple of mechanical shovels loading a steady stream of dumptrucks.  Uncle Jack could watch this stuff all day.

Blizzard in Bawlmer

     Uncle Jack feels like he is back in northern Wisconsin again after yesterday's blizzard dumped two feet of snow on Charm City and environs. He has to say that blizzards can be beautiful when observed from the comfort of a 7th floor apartment by someone who doesn't have to go anywhere and who doesn't  have to look forward to many hours of shoveling snow after the stuff stops falling.  So far the only real consequence of the storm is that his Sunday New York Times is now over three hours late and he is in danger of going into withdrawal any moment.
      While he gazes at the beauty of the new-fallen snow beneath his living room window a crew of 700 snow-shovelers is working frantically to clear two feet of snow from the seats and playing field of M & T Bank stadium downtown so the Ravens and the Bears can play iceball this afternoon.  The kick-off  has been moved back from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to give the sweepers and shovelers a little more time to work so most of the game will be played under lights in sub-freezing temperatures.  Sound like fun?
     This has been a bad month for persons of Swedish descent like Uncle Jack.  First the news about Tiger Woods's multiple infidelities which came as a shock to all of us who know that he is married to a lovely Swedish woman named Elin Nordegren.  Uncle Jack's paternal grandmother's name was Elin so he felt personally violated by Tiger's unconscionable treatment of a fellow Scandinavian.  As a gesture of protest he promises that he will never buy another $20,000 Tag Heuer watch as long as he lives.
       As though the Woods caper were not enough the poobahs at General Motors announced yesterday that they are shutting down the Saab Motor Company for good, having been unable to sell the brand to any other automaker.  As a former Saab owner Uncle Jack would like to extend his condolences to the clever trolls of Trollhatten, Sweden who have been making these wonderful cars for many decades and who might have continued to do so if they had not been gobbled up by the GM monster.  Uncle Jack has many Saab stories to tell, like the night his brand new Saab caught fire on the way home from the dealer, but he will save them for another time.
      Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. will now wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or if that is not appropriate, at least a Happy New Year before they go into hiding for the next week or so.

        View from the seventh floor, Saturday noon.  About six inches had fallen by this time.

      Ditto Sunday morning after the snow had stopped falling.  The sun was blinding.

       Walking down the middle of a busy street is usually hazardous but not during a blizzard.

                                 The Ravens play the Bears here at 4 p.m. Sunday.  Maybe.

                Lucky for Uncle Jack the Mini spent the night in a warm, dry garage.

                          Blizzards can be fun, too.

Tale of Two Cities

            This has been a busy week in Charm City and in Nags Head, too, from what he has seen on the internet.  It was one of those weeks when he wished he could be in two places at the same time---and he almost was, actually, through the miracle of streaming video.
             On Friday morning he was surfing the web looking for pictures and accounts of the storm on the Outer Banks when he ran across a link to a website called hurricanetrack.com which sounded promising.  He clicked on the link and shortly found himself  looking at a live, streaming video of a car driving down a street that looked vaguely familiar.  It was when the car passed the South Nags Head fire station on the right that he knew exactly where he was---driving south on Old Oregon Inlet Road---virtually---and in real time.  The driver kept up a running commentary as he drove, mentioning that he was looking for "Oregon Street" where he wanted to make a video of an oceanfront  house that had apparently collapsed in that vicinity.
             Uncle Jack waited while he parked his car on the berm and went up to the beach to make a video with his camcorder and then suffered with him for at least twenty minutes while he struggled to upload the video to a server in the clouds whence it could be viewed later by storm fans like Uncle Jack.  After a while he turned around and headed north on Old Oregon Inlet Trail, resuming live, streaming video as he went---right past Uncle Jack's house at Ciltvaira street and on up to Cahoon's store at Whalebone Junction where he turned around again and headed for Manteo.  Uncle Jack stayed with him across the causeway and onto the Virginia Dare bridge where he apparently lost connection with the Sprint satellite.
            Needless to say, this was a weird, eye-opening experience for Uncle Jack.  It wasn't quite like being there but it was unlike anything he had experienced before.  The static webcams at places like the fishing piers and the S-curves in Rodanthe are fun to look at once in a while but driving around the Outer Banks in real time is something else.  (The trip that Uncle Jack dropped in on had actually started at the northernmost part of the Beach Road in Kitty Hawk and continued south through Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head before he joined it around milepost 18).  He still knows next to nothing about hurricanetrack.com but you can be sure he has bookmarked it and he recommends that you check it out at www.hurricanetrack.com  It's a great resource.
          Meanwhile in Bawlmer the cultural scene was almost as exciting as the northeaster in Nags Head.  Thursday last featured a doubleheader in the form of a jazz concert at noon by a quintet of very talented Peabody Conservatory students followed by all-Gershwin evening with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  The latter included two of  Uncle Jack's all-time favorite compositions, the Rhapsody in Blue and the piano concerto in F, both of which swing like crazy.
         Sunday morning they paid their first visit to a remarkable Baltimore institution called "The Book Thing". It's a short walk from their condo and it consists of a large, one-story warehouse full of used books---tens of thousands of them,  all free for the taking. (Limit---1500 books per day.  Just kidding---you can take as many as you want).  The Book Thing is a non-profit labor of love for a Baltimore man who cannot stand to see books thrown away so he asks people to donate them and with the help of  volunteers he sorts and shelves them and makes them available to all comers on Saturdays and Sundays.  Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. between them took home a dozen excellent books to put on their new secondhand bookshelf (pictured above) and they will surely be going back for more (as well as donating).
        Sunday afternoon they attended a free concert by the Pavel Haas Quartet from Romania at the Baltimore Museum of Art and yesterday Uncle Jack took the Mini in for its 70,000 mile required maintenance which should ensure a trouble-free trip to Nags Head on Saturday, four days hence, where they will spend Thanksgiving Week walking the beach, or what is left of it, in South Nags Head.  Check in again in about a week when Uncle Jack will blog again.

P.S.  They picked up the handsome mahogany bookshelf at a going-out-of-business store on "Antique Row".   They can now brag that their bookshelf is bigger than their TV (but not by much).
        
        
      

More Fall in Bawlmer

     This is Uncle Jack's first fall in Charm City and it has been a revelation.  For the first time in 40 years he doesn't have to drive out to the countryside to take in the splendor of Mother Nature's annual leaf-turning extravaganza.  All he has to do is go for a walk in the neighborhood which is what he and Mrs. U.J. did again this morning. The pictures below provide a small sample of what they saw but naturally they can't do justice to the actual scene.  For that you have to get in the car and drive to Baltimore.
     He confesses to being somewhat lackadaisical about posting new entries to his blog lately.  With so much going on in the culture department he has difficulty finding time to sit down and do his duty to his faithful readers who look for something new every day but seldom find it.  He has discovered that there is a mechanism built into the blogging apparatus that makes it possible for him to notify readers when a new entry has been posted.  If you would like to be added to the "notify" list he suggests that you use the "comment" button at the end of this blog entry.  Just put your email address in the space allotted for a comment and he will add you to the list. (Your email address will be visible only to him and he promises not to sell it to anybody). It could save some wear and tear on your mouse and he will feel less guilty about the infrequency of his postings. Thanks.

                                                   On the Johns Hopkins campus.

                                                   View from the back window toward Johns Hopkins

                                                                In Roland Park

   This ancient tree in Roland Park is almost leafless now making it possible to see the amazing array of   branches.  In person it is spectacular.

                                                  Typical street in Roland Park

                    A sidewalk carpet of fallen leaves.  Jackson Pollock would be envious.

    A typical house in Roland Park except that it is one of the few not hidden by trees

                                 Sunset from the balcony last night.