Monday, March 21, 2011
Kelly's Parade
Uncle Jack can't remember the last time he was in town for Kelly's St. Patrick's Day parade but it must have been at least 20 years ago which would have made it the first or second one. He never would have guessed then that it would grow from such humble beginnings (two or three fire trucks and Kelly riding in a green convertible) into the extravaganza he watched in awe as it rumbled down the beach road yesterday afternoon. As promised he took some pictures but the Sony's battery went dead very early on so he missed some great photo ops later on. The Outer Banks Voice's crack photographer was better prepared as you can see by going to http://outerbanksvoice.com/2011/03/20/photos-st-patricks-parade-is-a-grand-celebration/#more-29311 The whole thing was a hoot and he thanks Mike Kelly for making it all possible.
Part of the Town of Duck's bloodhound investigative unit. Why does the Town of Duck have a bloodhound investigative unit? Presumably because they have more money than they know what to do with, sort of like Dare County.
Uncle Jack believes this may have been part of the crack South Nags Head White Trash Drill Team but he's not sure.
Here they are from the front. A very impressive organization, ready to defend South Nags Head from all intruders with the possible exception of Mother Nature.
A harbinger of a big bash to come this summer; Nags Head's 50th Birthday Party. Stay tuned.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Sunrise in Sonag
It's been a long time since Uncle Jack last took a picture of the sunrise from the beach in South Nags Head but here is proof that he did it this morning. It was already sixty degrees F at 7 a.m. and that helped. Looks like good weather for Kelly's annual St. Patrick's Day parade tomorrow so he will try to get out there and capture some of the excitement with his little Sony Cybershot. Stay tuned.
7 a.m.
7:10. Right on schedule.
Mrs. U.J.'s azalea bush is in bloom with dozens of buds waiting for the next warm day to pop out. It was 70 F in Nags Head on Friday.
Jennette's pier house is an imposing structure which looks to Uncle Jack like it is daring Mother Nature to take her best shot.
The windmills were spinning like crazy in a light breeze on Friday.
Ciao.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Such a week!
How much culture can one old retired person absorb in a single week? Uncle Jack was put to the test this past week and he seems to have survived unscathed in mind and body. It started on Monday with a tour of several historical parts of the Johns Hopkins Medical Center, one of the world's greatest centers of medical research and treatment for over a century. Some of the original 1889 buildings are still in use, perfectly preserved in their original state, and provide a link to the pioneering efforts of the founding doctors (see picture below). The highlight of the visit for Uncle Jack was meeting Dr. Patrick C. Walsh, retired director of the James Buchanan Brady (aka "Diamond Jim") Urological Institute who literally "wrote the book" on prostate cancer. Lucky for Uncle Jack he read "the book" ten years ago when he was diagnosed with stage one cancer of the prostate and had to decide what to do about it. Thanks to Dr. Walsh's advice he decided to do nothing other than start a strategy of "watchful waiting", thus avoiding potentially harmful surgery that might have made the last ten years of his life a lot less enjoyable than they have been. It was a thrill to have a chance to thank him in person. (Dr. Walsh explained that the Brady Institute was named for the flamboyant "Diamond Jim" after he made a huge monetary contribution to the hospital following his successful treatment for prostate cancer back in the 1920's. Contrast that with Al Capone's gift of three dogwood trees to Union Memorial Hospital after they treated him for syphilis.)
On Wednesday night Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. attended a fascinating two-hour lecture on the architecture of Baltimore by a young Johns Hopkins professor whose name he forgets. (He forgets almost everything these days)They have been doing a lot of exploring around the city on their own over the past couple of years and it was interesting to learn about how some of the extraordinary buildings they have visited fit into the history of the city.
Thursday's free noontime concert at the Peabody Conservatory was exceptionally enjoyable because it featured "ancient" music of the 17th and early 18th centuries played on period instruments by some very talented student musicians. (When was the last time you ever heard somebody play a theorbo?)
Friday night's Baltimore Symphony concert featured music of Ireland replete with step dancers and Irish tenors singing "Danny Boy" and whatnot. Uncle Jack stayed home, drank a Guinness and watched basketball on his 52 inch you-know-what and Mrs. U.J. said he missed a great concert. (And she missed a great basketball game in which the Miami Heat cooked the L.A. Lakers).
Saturday afternoon's concert at Evergreen Museum unexpectedly turned out to be the highlight of the week. It featured a young Colombian harpist named Edmar Castaneda whom Uncle Jack had never heard of but who has now entered his personal pantheon of great musicians---not just great jazz musicians but musicians, period. Rarely has he heard such an electrifying performance on any instrument let alone the Colombian harp. If you ever get a chance to hear him play don't miss it. Here's a small sample from Google that really doesn't do him justice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhgdynmtZo
Yesterday afternoon's concert by the excellent Peabody Symphony was not too shabby either. Any program that includes both Beethoven's Emperor piano concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, both extremely well played, is not to be missed. At $8 a ticket for seniors this is another excellent reason for music lovers to live in Baltimore.
Uncle Jack somehow found time to watch some college hoops over the weekend, as much as he abhors the rotten business it has become. He suffered a bit from ambivalence as he watched Duke carve up Maryland but he hasn't lived here long enough to get very upset about it. More important, he returned to the hardwood himself last week after finally getting his pass to JHU's magnificent O'Connor Recreation Center across the street from his condo. He was a bit rusty at first and could hardly lift his arms the day after his first outing but this morning he was back in the groove and popping three-pointers with gay abandon. Mrs. U.J. went swimming in one of the two gorgeous pools which she pretty much had to herself for half an hour. Too bad the students are too busy studying to use these opulent facilities.
Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. are off to Nags Head again on Wednesday 3/16 for a week of sun and fun. He promises pictures.
The "Big Four" of Johns Hopkins medicine: William Welch, William Halsted, William Osler and Howard Kelly, portrayed by John Singer Sargent in London in 1905. For more information about these incredible men go to http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/history/history5.html Find out which one was a drug addict.
The Johns Hopkins library addition grew to eye level this week in spite of some inclement weather that shut everything down for a day.
The mammoth construction crane has now been incorporated into the structure. One of these days it will have to go or this is going to be a very funny looking building.
On Wednesday night Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. attended a fascinating two-hour lecture on the architecture of Baltimore by a young Johns Hopkins professor whose name he forgets. (He forgets almost everything these days)They have been doing a lot of exploring around the city on their own over the past couple of years and it was interesting to learn about how some of the extraordinary buildings they have visited fit into the history of the city.
Thursday's free noontime concert at the Peabody Conservatory was exceptionally enjoyable because it featured "ancient" music of the 17th and early 18th centuries played on period instruments by some very talented student musicians. (When was the last time you ever heard somebody play a theorbo?)
Friday night's Baltimore Symphony concert featured music of Ireland replete with step dancers and Irish tenors singing "Danny Boy" and whatnot. Uncle Jack stayed home, drank a Guinness and watched basketball on his 52 inch you-know-what and Mrs. U.J. said he missed a great concert. (And she missed a great basketball game in which the Miami Heat cooked the L.A. Lakers).
Saturday afternoon's concert at Evergreen Museum unexpectedly turned out to be the highlight of the week. It featured a young Colombian harpist named Edmar Castaneda whom Uncle Jack had never heard of but who has now entered his personal pantheon of great musicians---not just great jazz musicians but musicians, period. Rarely has he heard such an electrifying performance on any instrument let alone the Colombian harp. If you ever get a chance to hear him play don't miss it. Here's a small sample from Google that really doesn't do him justice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGhgdynmtZo
Yesterday afternoon's concert by the excellent Peabody Symphony was not too shabby either. Any program that includes both Beethoven's Emperor piano concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, both extremely well played, is not to be missed. At $8 a ticket for seniors this is another excellent reason for music lovers to live in Baltimore.
Uncle Jack somehow found time to watch some college hoops over the weekend, as much as he abhors the rotten business it has become. He suffered a bit from ambivalence as he watched Duke carve up Maryland but he hasn't lived here long enough to get very upset about it. More important, he returned to the hardwood himself last week after finally getting his pass to JHU's magnificent O'Connor Recreation Center across the street from his condo. He was a bit rusty at first and could hardly lift his arms the day after his first outing but this morning he was back in the groove and popping three-pointers with gay abandon. Mrs. U.J. went swimming in one of the two gorgeous pools which she pretty much had to herself for half an hour. Too bad the students are too busy studying to use these opulent facilities.
Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. are off to Nags Head again on Wednesday 3/16 for a week of sun and fun. He promises pictures.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Cold comfort
Uncle Jack came down with one of the worst colds of his entire life earlier this week and he is still trying to shake it off. He is gradually learning that the older a person gets the longer it takes to recover from whatever ails him, and he also learned that it is not a good idea to babysit with a two-year-old who is spraying toxic germs and viruses in all directions no matter how cute and lovable he is.
He did take some comfort from the fact that his cold kept him inside and gave him even more time than usual to sit in his barcalounger and read which is one of his favorite pastimes. He needed some extra time because one of the latest books he acquired is a huge collection of letters written by H. L. Mencken, the Sage of Baltimore, who is one of his favorite defunct writers. He found this book in the sale bin at the Dare County library in Manteo a couple of weeks ago along with another Mencken book that had apparently belonged to the late Huntington Cairns of Southern Shores who was a friend of Mencken's. In fact, several of the letters in the collection were from Mencken to Cairns back in the 1920's when they were friends.
After the death of Mr. Cairns, who was a distinguished art historian and director of the National Gallery in Washington for many years, his personal effects were sold at auction from his beachfront home in Southern Shores and the two Mencken books somehow found their way to the shelves of the county library back in 1990 where they remained, uncirculated, until Uncle Jack bought them.
If anyone in Dare county had actually read them they might have been removed from circulation a long time ago because one of Mencken's favorite punching bags was Christianity, and for that matter all organized religions and their preposterous belief systems. He would have had a field day with a controversy now raging among evangelical Christians over the writings of a pastor named Rob Bell who
turned up in the New York Times yesterday, to wit:
In a book to be published this month, the pastor, Rob Bell, known for his provocative views and appeal among the young, describes as “misguided and toxic” the dogma that “a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.”
This was one of the biblical tenets that Uncle Jack had a hard time with back when he was studying Christianity under the tutelage of the Reverend John A. Houkom at Nidaros Lutheran Church in Ashland, Wisconsin so many years ago so he can readily understand why Pastor Bell might be having trouble getting his head around it. It is probably comforting to his critics to believe that he will surely burn in hell for his heresy.
Anyway this whole episode reminded Uncle Jack of a piece he wrote many years ago for the Outer Banks Current which he has dredged up from the archives, to wit:
The Lord Moveth in Mysterious Ways
This week started out like it was going to be Uncle Jack's lucky week. On Monday he got this very nice letter from the Reverend Ewing who is the minister of the Church by Mail in Atlanta, Georgia.
His letter was mixed in with a lot of catalogs from people who want Uncle Jack to buy truffles and smoked almonds and yachts and stuff like that but it really stood out and caught his eye because right on the front of the envelope it said "Dear Jesus, I pray that you will bless this home, Spiritually, Physically and Financially" and on the back it said "Bless the hands that open this sacred faith letter that can change their lives and give them the Desires of their Hearts," and all of this was underlined with a yellow magic marker so you could hardly miss it.
Uncle Jack could hardly get the Reverend Ewing's letter open because his hands were shaking so hard, just like they were when he got the letter from the Readers Digest last year that said he might already be a millionaire. He did finally get it open and the letter turned out to be more exciting than the envelope.
In the letter the Reverend Ewing said he felt the Holy Spirit leading him to pray for somebody at Uncle Jack's address and he said "Do you need help???? Do you need a continuous flow of money blessings?" and then he said he would send Uncle Jack a very nice Prosperity Cross that he could wear around his neck or put in his tackle box or whatever he wanted to do with it ABSOLUTELY FREE!!
Uncle Jack thought this was pretty amazing because he could not figure out how the Reverend Ewing, who lives way down in Atlanta, Georgia, could have found out that Uncle Jack is going to need a continuous flow of money blessings for the next 36 months which is how long it is going to take him to make the payments on the new secondhand Jeep he just bought.
Uncle Jack is pretty sure it was not just a coincidence that the Reverend Ewing's letter and the payment book from the bank came in the very same mail so you can bet he did not waste any time sending off for his free Prosperity Cross which he hopes will get here pretty quick because his first payment is due in about two weeks and also his Jeep could use a new stereo tape deck if you want to know the truth.
The only thing that worries Uncle Jack a tiny bit is that the Reverend Ewing's letter was addressed to "Boxholder, Rural Route 2, Nags Head, N.C." and Uncle Jack actually lives on Route l so he is wondering if maybe somebody else was supposed to get the Prosperity Cross.
If Uncle Jack did get somebody else's letter by mistake he will be glad to split the money blessings with them when they come but in the meantime he is just going to take for granted that the Lord really does move in mysterious ways just like the Reverend Hokum always said he did.
Uncle Jack only got over to the construction site once this week because of his cold and he can hardly wait to see what has happened in the days since these pictures were taken. All this black plywood is very mysterious.
Who knows what all this scaffolding is for. He can only hope that somebody knows.
He did take some comfort from the fact that his cold kept him inside and gave him even more time than usual to sit in his barcalounger and read which is one of his favorite pastimes. He needed some extra time because one of the latest books he acquired is a huge collection of letters written by H. L. Mencken, the Sage of Baltimore, who is one of his favorite defunct writers. He found this book in the sale bin at the Dare County library in Manteo a couple of weeks ago along with another Mencken book that had apparently belonged to the late Huntington Cairns of Southern Shores who was a friend of Mencken's. In fact, several of the letters in the collection were from Mencken to Cairns back in the 1920's when they were friends.
After the death of Mr. Cairns, who was a distinguished art historian and director of the National Gallery in Washington for many years, his personal effects were sold at auction from his beachfront home in Southern Shores and the two Mencken books somehow found their way to the shelves of the county library back in 1990 where they remained, uncirculated, until Uncle Jack bought them.
If anyone in Dare county had actually read them they might have been removed from circulation a long time ago because one of Mencken's favorite punching bags was Christianity, and for that matter all organized religions and their preposterous belief systems. He would have had a field day with a controversy now raging among evangelical Christians over the writings of a pastor named Rob Bell who
turned up in the New York Times yesterday, to wit:
In a book to be published this month, the pastor, Rob Bell, known for his provocative views and appeal among the young, describes as “misguided and toxic” the dogma that “a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.”
This was one of the biblical tenets that Uncle Jack had a hard time with back when he was studying Christianity under the tutelage of the Reverend John A. Houkom at Nidaros Lutheran Church in Ashland, Wisconsin so many years ago so he can readily understand why Pastor Bell might be having trouble getting his head around it. It is probably comforting to his critics to believe that he will surely burn in hell for his heresy.
Anyway this whole episode reminded Uncle Jack of a piece he wrote many years ago for the Outer Banks Current which he has dredged up from the archives, to wit:
The Lord Moveth in Mysterious Ways
This week started out like it was going to be Uncle Jack's lucky week. On Monday he got this very nice letter from the Reverend Ewing who is the minister of the Church by Mail in Atlanta, Georgia.
His letter was mixed in with a lot of catalogs from people who want Uncle Jack to buy truffles and smoked almonds and yachts and stuff like that but it really stood out and caught his eye because right on the front of the envelope it said "Dear Jesus, I pray that you will bless this home, Spiritually, Physically and Financially" and on the back it said "Bless the hands that open this sacred faith letter that can change their lives and give them the Desires of their Hearts," and all of this was underlined with a yellow magic marker so you could hardly miss it.
Uncle Jack could hardly get the Reverend Ewing's letter open because his hands were shaking so hard, just like they were when he got the letter from the Readers Digest last year that said he might already be a millionaire. He did finally get it open and the letter turned out to be more exciting than the envelope.
In the letter the Reverend Ewing said he felt the Holy Spirit leading him to pray for somebody at Uncle Jack's address and he said "Do you need help???? Do you need a continuous flow of money blessings?" and then he said he would send Uncle Jack a very nice Prosperity Cross that he could wear around his neck or put in his tackle box or whatever he wanted to do with it ABSOLUTELY FREE!!
Uncle Jack thought this was pretty amazing because he could not figure out how the Reverend Ewing, who lives way down in Atlanta, Georgia, could have found out that Uncle Jack is going to need a continuous flow of money blessings for the next 36 months which is how long it is going to take him to make the payments on the new secondhand Jeep he just bought.
Uncle Jack is pretty sure it was not just a coincidence that the Reverend Ewing's letter and the payment book from the bank came in the very same mail so you can bet he did not waste any time sending off for his free Prosperity Cross which he hopes will get here pretty quick because his first payment is due in about two weeks and also his Jeep could use a new stereo tape deck if you want to know the truth.
The only thing that worries Uncle Jack a tiny bit is that the Reverend Ewing's letter was addressed to "Boxholder, Rural Route 2, Nags Head, N.C." and Uncle Jack actually lives on Route l so he is wondering if maybe somebody else was supposed to get the Prosperity Cross.
If Uncle Jack did get somebody else's letter by mistake he will be glad to split the money blessings with them when they come but in the meantime he is just going to take for granted that the Lord really does move in mysterious ways just like the Reverend Hokum always said he did.
Who knows what all this scaffolding is for. He can only hope that somebody knows.
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