Monthly Archives: March 2013

Long May She Wave

Old Glory, By Night

Old Glory, By Night



 

I picked up Dorothy and a few of her friends this evening and while I was waiting for them, I took some photos of flags waving in the cool winter breeze. Most of the pictures are of the Maryland flag but I decided to go full patriot and post one of the US flag instead.

 

Hurrah for the flag of the free!
May it wave as our standard forever,
The gem of the land and the sea,
The banner of the right.
Let despots remember the day
When our fathers with mighty endeavor
Proclaimed as they marched to the fray
That by their might and by their right
It waves forever.

John Philip Sousa

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Collyn and Keith

Collyn and Keith

Collyn and Keith

I freely admit that I have a lot of favorite people. That’s because I know so many wonderful folks that I can’t leave many off the list. Cathy and I were at the school for the benefit auction this evening and as you would expect I took one or two pictures. I got a few that are pretty good but looking through them with Cathy and Dorothy it was unanimous that this was the best. What a cute couple they are. It’s hard to believe it’s already been nearly three years since they got married. I’m glad to say that they are still one of the cutest couples around.

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Burning Log

Burning Log

Burning Log

I’ve built fires in out fireplace the last couple days and this afternoon I took some pictures of the fire. I love the deep red and orange colors of a fire as well as the smell of wood smoke (in limited quantities). The colors are here but I don’t think I can convey the smell. Funny how strongly smells can bring back memories. There are certain smells that take me back to my childhood or to some of our travels more than any picture or sound.

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Peppermint Sunrise Mints

Peppermint Sunrise Mints

Peppermint Sunrise Mints

They are not as colorful as the Gummy Bears Sour Patch Kids that I photographed a month ago, but they are bright, sweet and minty, which is something, anyway. I think perhaps they might look better if they were not individually wrapped but they are certainly more sanitary this way. Actually, I noticed that one of them is unwrapped. Can you spot it?

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Vettes

Nine Corvettes

Nine Corvettes

Our friend Bob loves Corvettes. At least that’s how it seems. He has one in his driveway (yellow), but also has model Corvettes inside. Here are nine assorted models. I must admit that the top center car, the red and white 1956-7 model is by far my favorite. The others are nice but that’s the model I’d really love to have. The slightly newer model to the right of it would be a close second, and I suppose there’s something to be said for having one that’s the same model year I am. Even then, I’d want the red/white combination, which is just “right.”

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Snow Storm

Falling Snow

Falling Snow

It wasn’t exactly the storm of the century. If the forecasts were of quantity of snow that fell, they might have been considered reasonably good. If, on the other hand (and I think this is what they were) they were of snow accumulation, then they were pretty poor. We never got more than about an inch on the grass and there was never more than a little slush on our sidewalk. The snowfall itself was quite pretty, it just didn’t amount to much.

Still, it was a good excuse to stay home and work from here. I also decided, in honor of the silliness in Washington, to release some CO2 that had been sequestered for the last quarter century or so. That is to say, I built a fire.

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Urban Bar-B-Que

Urban Bar-B-Que

Urban Bar-B-Que

When you mention barbecue, I suspect that most people don’t think “Maryland!” This isn’t exactly a mecca for BBQ aficionados. With a father from Memphis and a mother from North Carolina, I have a somewhat equivocal view when it comes to what’s best. On the one hand, pulled pork, to me, means North Carolina and I prefer the vinegar based sauces typical of that style. Ribs, on the other hand, make me think Memphis. A good dry rub and proper cooking and they don’t need sauce (although a little for dipping won’t do you any harm). My favorite, though, is tender brisket, cooked long and slow and with just a little sauce after serving. I care less for the overly sweet barbecue that’s dripping with sauce, but that’s not to say I’d turn down a good set of Kansas City ribs.

Anyway, all that is to say that there is a place in Maryland (places, actually) where you can get barbecue the way it was meant to be. On the way home this evening I stopped at Urban Bar-B-Que and picked up dinner. If you’ve never been, I recommend it. Actually, if you have been, I still recommend it. http://www.urbanbbqco.com/

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Dark Sunset

Dark Sunset

Dark Sunset

It was an interesting and ominous sunset this evening. I don’t think I got a picture that really conveys what it looked like, but it’s close. Down close to the horizon it was quite dark in the sky with dark but very red highlights.

I took a few pictures through the trees first. Then I went out into the back yard so I could get a clearer view of the sky. Pretty. It’s nice that sunset will be an hour later after Saturday.

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Great Falls, Maryland

Great Falls, Maryland

Great Falls, Maryland

We went from a winter storm, even a poor excuse for a winter storm, to a wonderfully beautiful spring day between Wednesday and today. The sky was a pure, clear blue. The Potomac was a clean, green color. As you would expect, there was a good crowd at Great Falls, but it’s nice to see so many people enjoying such a nice day.

A great blue heron flew past and I got a few pictures of that, as well as an immature red-tailed hawk that landed on a tree right over our heads. I took pictures of water, of rocks, of reflections, and of trees but in the end I decided to go with a standard picture of the falls. Pretty place, Great Falls. We really should go there more often.

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Scilla mischtschenkoana

Scilla mischtschenkoana

Scilla mischtschenkoana

Unfortunately I cannot put my hands on my garden drawing that tells me what is planted where. Still, I’m fairly sure this is Scilla mischtschenkoana, otherwise known as Mishchenko squill, early squill, or white squill. It’s a pretty little thing and the more lovely for blooming now, when most things are brown and dull.

It foretells of spring and the coming of many other little bulbs. I’m looking forward to the Scilla Siberica and the various Muscari and Chionodoxa varieties, most of which have blue or purple flowers, which are such delightful little things. I have Chionodoxa forbesii and C. luciliae as well as Muscari armeniacum, M. neglectum, and M. latifolium.

Soon. Very soon.

I should also say, I enjoy words that can manage seven consonants in a row, like mischtschenkoana. You have to stop and think about it before you say it.

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Cutting Iron

Cutting Iron

Cutting Iron

I have an iron bar, an inch and a half wide by a quarter inch thick and three feet long. I needed to cut about six inches from that. I wasn’t worried about the cut being particularly smooth so I used a cutting wheel on my rotary tool (I call it a dremel but that’s actually a brand name and mine isn’t that brand, but you know what I mean). I love cutting metal. A hack saw would have worked by it would have been a lot more tiring and not nearly as bright. A little while after I started I decided to take a few pictures. The problem is that the sparks are pretty bright compared to the rest of the scene and getting that balanced would be easier in daylight. Anyway, this one turned out nicely. The disc in this picture is only about an inch in diameter, in case you’re wondering.

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Dorothy and Friends

Dorothy and Friends

Dorothy and Friends

I was at the school today to set up for a demo in second grade tomorrow. Dorothy had play practice until 5:00 so I went to take a few pictures of that and then was out in the hall taking pictures of some of the students as they waited for a part of they play in which they were needed. This is, from left to right, Michael, Lauren, Hannah, Dorothy, Garrett, Abigail, Rachael, and Justin. Note that Garret has Abigail on his back and then Rachel on Abigail’s back.

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Simple Machines

Jaynna Gives Collyn a Lift

Jaynna Gives Collyn a Lift

It was my day to come visit the second grade today with a few simple machines. We started off with a little teeter-totter and I showed them how, by moving the fulcrum closer to one end, you can multiply the force supplied. One of the second graders was able to life me off of the ground. Then they each pulled a nail out of a board with a big crow bar. They agreed that it was a lot easier than trying to pull them out by hand. We talked about the threads on a screw and I showed them how threads can be cut but I’m not sure how much they got out of that part. We might skip that next year in favor of an inclined plane (a.k.a. a ramp) and a wedge.

The most fun, as always, was when the students hoisted their teacher up into the air using a block and tackle (pulleys and a rope). A few of them were close to being too light even with their weight being multiplied, but they were all able to get her up to about head height. After they were done, I handed the rope to Collyn and she pulled herself up into the ceiling, which they thought was wonderful. Hopefully they won’t forget the day they picked up their teacher.

Collyn reminded me of the quote of the day, when Jaynna said, “I can’t wait to grow up and be a teacher so that I can do this too!” Perfect.

No teachers were harmed in the making of this photograph.

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Large Ant

Large Ant

Large Ant

When I got home today I noticed this ant on the flagstone walk leading to my front door. It was quite cool out and he was moving pretty slowly on the cold stone. I got my bean bag and took a few photos. I’m not going to pretend to know which of an estimated 22,000 species this is. I imaging with a little work I could narrow it down to under 1,000 but for now, I’ve simply identified it as a drone (male) ant, e.g., a member of the Formicidae family.

Update: I posted two pictures of the ant on BugGuide.net (here and here) and James Trager identified it as being Camponotus castaneus, also known as the reddish carpenter ant.

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Daffodils

Daffodil 'Tete-a-Tete'

Daffodil ‘Tete-a-Tete’

Spring is starting to accelerate. The snow drops have been up for some time, the Eranthis flowers are drying up. The Lenten rose has been blooming for a while. I had a picture of Scilla on Sunday (four days ago). Crocuses are coming up and the daffodils are starting to open. This is a sweet little division 12 daffodil (that’s the miscellaneous category) called ‘Tete-a-Tete.’ They do tend to bow their heads a bit rather than looking up at you, but they are still such a cheerful yellow that you can’t help but smile when you see them. More flowers to come, it’s that time of year.

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Eggs In Toast

Eggs In Toast

Eggs In Toast

The concept of a fried slice is somewhat out of fashion these days. Nevertheless, cutting a hole out of a slice of bread and cooking an egg in it turns out to be quite tasty. You get the crispy bread, the runny yolk, all wrapped up together. I made this for Dorothy this evening for dinner. She likes it best with strawberry jam on top, which sounds strange but it’s really a very good combination. Try it sometime. You might like it.

Of course, it doesn’t look quite as fancy as this once you flip the eggs, but it still tastes good. For a real treat, cook bacon first and fry the toast and egg in a little of the fat from that. And bacon goes really well with the sweetness of the jam.

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Overtime

Dorothy, Kendra, and Briannah

Dorothy, Kendra, and Briannah

Twice a month (or there abouts) a family opens their home for the youth group at “that other church” that Dorothy sometimes goes to. Actually, it’s one of two “other churches” that she goes to. Anyway, Overtime, as they call it, was this evening and Dorothy went. Rather than simply going to pick her up when the time came, I went a little early so I could take a few pictures, including this one of Dorothy with two of her friends, Kendra and Briannah.

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Dorothy and Abigail

Dorothy and Abigail

Dorothy and Abigail

Dorothy is blessed with so many friends, I’m just glad I can keep them all straight. Actually, I know most of them reasonably well so it’s not a problem, although I have this probably rational fear that I’ll mislabel someone in a picture. Their self-esteem will plummet, their grades will probably drop, and their whole life will be ruined. Or they’ll be embarrassed, anyway.

In this picture, we have Dorothy and Abigail. I’m not worried about getting the names wrong in this picture, anyway. The two were heading out for a few hours of fun for the afternoon.

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Service Awards Dinner

Maureen, Linda, and Cathy

Maureen, Linda, and Cathy

Our company doesn’t bother recognizing 5, 10, or 15 years of service in any particular way (except of course they pay you, which is pretty nice). Because we do well at keeping people for a long time, the first big recognition is at 20 years. Every three years they have a dinner for those who reached the 20 year milestone during the preceding three years. Cathy reached that point about a year ago and was recognized, along with 95 others and 5 who had reached 40 years, at an intimate dinner with about 950 of our closest friends. I brought my camera and took a few nice pictures, including this one of Cathy with two of her fellow honorees, Maureen and Linda.

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Dorothy

Dorothy

Dorothy

I took senior portraits for a friend this afternoon. I won’t steal her thunder by publishing one of them now. That’s really her business. Instead, this is a picture of Dorothy that I took at the same location. I hadn’t realized the potential for portraits here before today. I think we’ll be back for more pictures in the weeks and months ahead. Dorothy said that at least one more of her friends would like me to take her pictures, which I’m happy to do, of course.

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Wintery Day

Wintery Lake Needwood

Wintery Lake Needwood

Although many people hold to the convenient fiction that spring starts on the equinox, I tend to consider March a spring month (and December the first month or winter). That’s not to say we don’t have wintery days in March (or November, for that matter). Today was such a day. After some decidedly spring-like days, it was cold and blustery this morning, with snow blowing around. It wasn’t really cold enough for the snow and Mother Nature gave up trying after a very little while. On the way to work I stopped for a few pictures as I crossed Lake Needwood. This panorama is made from five images taken with a 24mm lens (which is the equivalent to a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera). Often I’d try to increase the contrast in an image like this but this time I left it as it was to help convey the cold, flat light of the morning.

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Touring The Solar System

Fifth Grade, Standing on Earth

Fifth Grade, Standing on Earth

I visited the school again today, this time to take the fifth graders out on a tour of the inner solar system. We started out by walking to the sun (don’t worry, we didn’t burn up because we went at night).

The sun, in our scale model, is an orange disc about 54.5 inches in diameter, scaled down from it’s actual size of 1.39 million kilometers (our scale is just over 1 billion to 1). You can see the sun in this picture on side of the gym building. This picture was taken after we traveled the equivalent of 150 million kilometers (489 feet in our scale model) to the earth. Of course, there wasn’t room in our model for all of us to stand on the earth, which is only a half inch in diameter at this scale. Nevertheless, we had a good time and who knows, some of the students may have actually learned something.

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Dorothy and Her Uke

Dorothy and Her Uke

Dorothy and Her Uke

X-Factor has started up again for the spring and once again, I came armed with my camera to take pictures of the youth. Dorothy spent some of the time working on a homework assignment that’s due tomorrow. Fortunately she can draw and socialize at the same time. Later, I got this picture of her relaxing with her ukulele.

Update: Dorothy commented that this isn’t her Ukulele. Sorry for any confusion.

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Light Late Snow

Snow on Pachysandra Leaves

Snow on Pachysandra Leaves

We had a light dusting of snow overnight and it was cold again this morning. Not enough snow to make a difference — the road wasn’t even wet — but it was pretty on the leaves of the Pachysandra around the house.

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Those Canaan Days

Raise your berets, to those Canaan days

Raise your berets, to those Canaan days

This evening we went with some good friends to see a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Covenant Life Church. The cast are high school students and they have a lot of talented kids. The production was very impressive and it was a lot of fun, made all the more so by knowing a few of them.

In this picture, Simeon sings Those Canaan Days, as they contemplate the famine and their fate before going to Egypt and their ultimate reunion with Joseph.

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Sprinkle

Sprinkle

Sprinkle

We were out for a bit today, doing some shopping but not actually buying anything. On the way home we decided to stop at Menchies for some frozen yogurt. I took some pictures from our table of the paintings on the wall, among other things.

This character, sort of the Cousin It of Menchies, is apparently named Sprinkle. I wasn’t sure what she was (and I don’t know for sure why I think she’s female). Odd creatures painted there, but the yogurt is good and we enjoyed ourselves.

Other characters include Kiwi (a monkey with a sliced kiwi fruit for a face), and Mellow (made out of marshmallows and kind of creepy looking). Silly.

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Crocus

Crocus

Crocus

The crocuses have been up for a while and I’ve been meaning to go out and get a photo or two. Today I actually managed to do it, probably not a bit too soon. They are starting to fade a but, although the color is still pretty good on this purple flower. It’s lying on its side, though, so it’s not what it was. I really love the combination of the bright orange stigma against the deep purple petals of this crocus flower. I also have white crocuses, which are also in bloom right next to the purple. They are coming up through Vinca minor (periwinkle), which is also starting to bloom.

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Surprising Snow

Snow in Tree Branches

Snow in Tree Branches

We’ve had some late snow this year, although the &#x201cbig” snow we were supposed to get on March 6 was a big dud. We had a dusting again four days ago and I posted a picture of the Pachysandra in our back yard with a little snow on it.

Today, however, we got a real snow. It wasn’t a blizzard, by any stretch and I still went to work and had no trouble on the roads, but when I woke up there was already an accumulation of about three inches and it continued snowing for most of the morning. While it wasn’t a problem in terms of traffic, and while it didn’t affect school, since they’re on spring break anyway, it was quite beautiful. It’s hard to get a great picture of snow, though. It’s so white. These are the trees to the south of our house, covered with snow.

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Plato, Aristotle, Bacon

Plato, Aristotle, Bacon

Plato, Aristotle, Bacon

Because everything goes better with bacon…

I took Dorothy and her friend Karlee on three college visits today. The first was a school I knew very little about but we were going to be in the area and it turned up in a list of schools. West Chester University of Pennsylvania is in, not too surprisingly, West Chester, Pennsylvania. Our hotel was also in West Chester, so it couldn’t have been more convenient. I’m glad we gave it a visit, although Dorothy wasn’t too keen on, it in the end.

Still, any school that recognizes the empirical importance of bacon can’t be all bad. I think Francis would agree.

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Villanova

St. Thomas of Villanova Parish

St. Thomas of Villanova Parish

The second of our three college visits today was Villanova. It’s a much different place to West Chester and for a number of different reasons. First, rather than being a state school, it is a private school, founded in 1842 by the Order of St. Augustine. Second, and it’s clear that they have a good deal of money. Considering the tuition at the two schools, there’s no question why. Villanova isn’t a cheap school, by any stretch of the imagination.

Dorothy and Karlee liked the campus and it had “good vibes.” It’s a big enough school (about 6,600 undergraduates) although not huge. It seems to take its Augustinian roots seriously, which I think is a good thing.

It was also great to visit with my old friend Pedro, whom I haven’t seen in far too many years. Thanks for having lunch with us.

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Swarthmore

Scott Outdoor Amphitheater

Scott Outdoor Amphitheater

Cloister at Clothier Hall

Cloister at Clothier Hall

Jonathan, Karlee, and Dorothy

Jonathan, Karlee, and Dorothy

Our third college visit today was Swarthmore. It is possibly not so well known as Villanova, at least partly because it doesn’t have a basketball team that features in the NCAA tournament. It’s also a fairly small school with enrollment between 1,500 and 1,600. For all of that, they have a surprisingly broad variety of courses of study.

My contact with the school has been mostly through two friends and two cousins. The two friends were Carol and Erik, a sister and brother who were very good friends of mine in high school. My cousin, David, went there, as well and his son, Jonathan is a freshman there now (and is in the third picture presented here). All four of these folks were on the science end of things (engineering and physics) so I think of it as an engineering school but they have good programs in the social sciences and arts, as well. I just don’t know much about them.

Erik is now a professor of engineering at Swarthmore and he gave us a private tour, which was very nice. We started by walking through the science center and then down past the Scott Outdoor Amphitheater, where graduation is held. What a nice place for a graduation ceremony, unless it’s raining, of course. We walked through a few other buildings including going into a few art studios, which was nice. The second picture here is a cloister that’s part of Clothier Hall. Clothier Hall is built to look like a church but in fact it houses the college bookstore, a snack bar and café, the Intercultural Center, offices for various campus organizations. We also got a slightly different tour with Jonathan, who took us to see his dorm room and a few other places we hadn’t been. He seems to be doing well and obviously likes Swarthmore quite a bit.

The campus is quite pretty and in a few weeks, when everything starts to bloom, it’s going to be really something. There is a lot of space for a school with so few students, so it’s fairly quiet. Dorothy didn’t think it was the place for her, and I think she’s probably right. Still, I’m glad we visited and it was good to see Erik and get caught up a little.

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Serious Dessert

Dessert, After

Dessert, After

Dessert, Before

Dessert, Before

After a long day of visiting schools, we picked up Cathy at the end of her first of two days of training at the Microsoft office in Malvern. After a short rest we headed to the King of Prussia Mall and found a place to eat. The girls all had burgers of one stripe or another and I had mac and cheese with blackened shrimp, which was very good. Comfort food of the first order.

We were all hungry enough, though, and the desserts looked good enough, that the four of us split two of these brownies with ice cream. Seriously rich, seriously chocolaty, and seriously good. As you can see, the girls had no trouble finishing off theirs. The one Cathy and I shared was treated similarly and we went back to our hotel full, happy, and tired.

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Drexel University

Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

Continuing our two day college visit tour, we dropped Cathy off at her training and then took the train from Malvern into Philadelphia. It’s a short walk from the 30th Street station to the Admissions office at Chestnut and 32nd. What a beautiful building that is. Both the train station and the administrative building are great, actually. They don’t build them like that any more, and that’s a pity.

The girls got signed in and we had a chat with Maggi, who pointed us to various buildings we should visit. Unfortunately Drexel is on spring break, so the campus didn’t really have much of a campus feel. The Chestnut Square buildings are being renovated so they are covered with scaffolding. They are fine inside, but of course, without people, they are just buildings. We did like the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design building, which is one of the places Maggi suggested we see.

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University of Pennsylvania

College Hall

College Hall

Dorothy and LKarlee on Locust Walk

Dorothy and LKarlee on Locust Walk

The last of our five college visits was to the University of Pennsylvania, or simply Penn, the only Ivy League school we’re likely to consider. Two of Dorothy’s cousins went to Penn, I have a couple friends who went there, and my grandfather earned his Ph.D. in applied mathematics there, about 100 years ago. I was a little (but only a little) surprised to find that there are more graduate students at Penn than undergraduates (11,092 vs. 10,324).

Like Swarthmore, I think of Penn as an engineering and science school, but only about 1,700 of their undergraduates are in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, with 6,344 in The College at Penn (School of Arts and Sciences).

There is no question that it’s a beautiful campus. It is very different to Swarthmore in being an urban school rather than in a quiet, tree filled, suburban setting. For all of that, though, there is a surprising amount of open green space. While Drexel fills city blocks with buildings, Penn seems to have eliminated (or never had) every other street, filling the space with a quad, either green or paved. This produces a much more pronounced campus feel. The fact that Penn was in session, while Drexel was on spring break contributed to this difference, of course. Penn was teaming with people, Drexel was not, making the comparison somewhat unfair.

Dorothy liked Penn the best of the five schools we visited. I know the Director of College Placement at Dorothy’s school will be excited to hear of Dorothy’s interest. Of course, getting in and paying for Penn is not a given. It’s a tough school to get into and a tough school to succeed at. It’s also not a cheep school, although it’s hard to know how much any school will cost, since few people actually seem to pay the sticker price any more. Still, at about $60,000, that sticker price is pretty scary.

I have mixed feelings about so many schools and about the Ivy League in particular. Intellectual diversity and intellectual curiosity are not encouraged in most departments at most schools. There was a time when “question everything” was a popular idea. Now, questioning the liberal orthodoxy can cost you your education and even your career. And I’m supposed to send my daughter there to learn. And to pay dearly for the privilege. Scary.

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Chionodoxa Forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

Chionodoxa Forbesii 'Pink Giant'

Chionodoxa Forbesii ‘Pink Giant’

There are a lot of things coming up in the yard now. I’m afraid that you are going to be seeing a lot of flower pictures in the next few weeks. I guess there are worse things. Today’s flower is a pink version of the usually blue Chionodoxa Forbesii, appropriately called ‘Pink Giant’. Note that giant is relative. This thing is tall enough to stand out above the pachysandra but that’s about it.

Very pretty.

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Chase and Amelia

Chase

Chase

Amelia

Amelia

My friend and co-worker, Katie, brought her two children to work this morning. I asked Amelia if she would let me take her picture if I went and got my camera and she said that she would. I took a few picture of her before her brother got back. She’s had her picture here before, on Monday, March 05, 2012 and she is a little less shy than a year ago.

When Chase came, I asked her if she’d get him to let me take his picture with her. I think that helped him be a bit more comfortable with a total stranger. We took a few with both of them but frankly, I like the pictures I took of them separately better. They are both quite adorable and we had a fun time.

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Little Spider

Little Spider

Little Spider

I know it looks sort of big in this picture but that’s only because I was pretty close to it. This spider is only about a half to three quarters of a centimeter long. I had been working in the yard and took a break to photograph some flowers (I may post one of those later on). I had set my camera on the glass table on the patio and when I came back to pick it up, this little spider was nearby. I was able to get a few good pictures from the front and behind (as it turned to run away) so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get an identification before too long. I think it may be some sort of jumping spider (Family Salticidae) but I’m really not too sure. I’ll update the post if I get it figured out (or more precisely, if I find someone who can figure it out for me).

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Chionodoxa

Chionodoxa

Chionodoxa

Since not everyone is fond of spiders, I thought I’d post this photo in addition to the spider picture posted earlier. This is Chionodoxa, which I planted on the south end of our house about two and a half years ago. They have bloomed each of the last two years but this year there are quite a few more flowers.

I really like blue flowers and these are among the best of the early blooming sort. I can recommend them highly to anyone who wants an early splash of blue. They are pretty short, so you can’t plant them where there is much else of any height, but otherwise, they aren’t all that particular.

I planted two Camellias this morning. In the front of the house I put in a C. japonica ‘Mrs. Lyman Clarke’ that I expect to replace a dogwood seedling that’s much too close to the house. The other was C. sasanqua ‘Cleopatra’ which I planted against the fence at the north end of our back yard. This is a large shrub with simple and small (for a Camellia) pink flowers. It’s also one of the hardiest. Hopefully I’ll have pictures of flowers some day that I can post here.

Update: I had this post labeled as Scilla Siberica ‘Spring Beauty’ but that’s not what it is. For some reason, I have some tendency to identify Chionodoxa as Scilla. This is the former, not the later. I still haven’t found my drawing showing where I planted bulbs but it is either C. forbesii or C. lucilae.

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At the Cosmos

Dorothy and Hannah

Dorothy and Hannah

After a sunrise service and a regular Sunday service (well, a “regular” service with the addition of a 25 piece orchestra), we went with Cathy’s mom and Dorothy’s friend, Hannah, to the Cosmos Club for a late lunch. We didn’t have a table until 3:00 PM and we got there a little early so we had a chance to wander a bit. Dorothy enjoyed showing Hannah, around.

After we ate we went out into the little back garden and I took some pictures of the girls with a beautifully blooming camellia behind them. I also took one of the girls throwing flowers (that they picked up off the ground) at each other. A nice time was had by all.

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