St. Louis Style Ribs

Photograph taken on Sunday, August 17, 2025 by Henry
St. Louis Style Ribs

St. Louis Style Ribs

I smoked two racks of St. Louis style ribs today. We had our good friend Jean and her mom Phyllis (who is also a good friend) as well as Dorothy and her friend Lydia (whom we count as our friend, as well, but Dorothy had her as a friend first). In addition to the ribs, I melted cheddar cheese over some cauliflower and also made a deconstructed salad. That is, I had all the ingredients for a salad and let everyone make their own. That includes a big bowl of greens and smaller bowls with chopped cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, diced pears, diced onions, and sliced almonds. Finally, I made mashed sweet potato with honey, butter, and cream. We had a really nice time and I think the ribs turned out well for my first attempt. I don’t think they needed the sauce that I added near the end, but no one complained.

Categories: Food/Drink | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on St. Louis Style Ribs

The Pond

Photograph taken on Saturday, August 16, 2025 by Henry
The Pond

The Pond

We were at the farm today with Dorothy and her crew. Their non-profit had two residents the last two weeks and we went up to help them celebrate the end of that. One thing I did that I’ve been meaning to do for a while is identify a bunch of the trees that dad planed in the picnic field. I took latitude and longitude readings on my phone and wrote down the species (if I knew it) or an identifying name and corresponding photographs for those I wasn’t so sure about. I’ll need to come back with a key to the oaks for a couple of them, although I knew more of them than I expected. I’m hoping to make metal tags with information about the trees so this exercise doesn’t have to be repeated.

Later in the day I took this HDR photo of the pond. The color is a little more intense that reality, but it was a very pretty day.

Categories: Miscellaneous | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on The Pond

Sistine Chapel Puzzle

Photograph taken on Sunday, August 10, 2025 by Henry
Sistine Chapel Puzzle

Sistine Chapel Puzzle

We did another hard puzzle, this time of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The repeating patterns were both a blessing and curse for this one. My plan of attack was to pick one repeated feature and find all the pieces that included part of that feature. Then I worked on finding which version of that feature they all went to. One issue was that there isn’t really a ‘right way up’ for this puzzle. When you’re in the chapel, you’d be looking straight up to see this. I still have vivid memories of being there in 1971, although I think The Last Judgment on the west end of the chapel, behind the alter, is even more impressive.

Categories: Miscellaneous | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Sistine Chapel Puzzle

McKee-Beshers Birds

Photograph taken on Saturday, August 09, 2025 by Henry
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)

Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

We had a nice walk at McKee-Beshers today. We first walked to fields 3 and 4, which were planted with sunflowers this year. It’s a bit of a walk, almost 7⁄8 of a mile, getting nearly to the river. The two big sunflower fields were well past peak bloom. The sunflower heads were there but almost all turned downwards. We heard quite a few birds but didn’t see all that many. We heard a lot of goldfinches and indigo buntings, as well as cardinals, but we also heard a yellow-billed cuckoo, which was a treat. I’d have been surprised if we had actually seen that. I got this photo of a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) circling overhead and a few nice photos of this eastern wood-pewee (Contopus virens). We returned to the car and then want to the shallow ponds at the western end of Hunting Quarter Road where we saw this green heron (Butorides virescens).

Categories: Creatures | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on McKee-Beshers Birds

Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis

Photograph taken on Friday, August 01, 2025 by Henry
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

Cathy and I drove to the eastern end of Ocean Isle this afternoon. First we went to the pier at Ferry Landing Park. This area was closed for renovations after Hurricane Isaias damaged the pier in 2020 and didn’t open again until the very end of 2024. After a short visit there, we parked and walked on the beach. Between November 2021 and April 2022, a groin was constructed perpendicular to the beach at the eastern end of the island. This has dramatically improved the beach stability. We looked for (and found) some pieces of coral as we walked. I carried my long lens and took a few pictures, including some of a double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) at the end of the groin and a few of this flying brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis).

Categories: Creatures | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis

Annual Family Beach Photo

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 31, 2025 by Henry
Annual Family Beach Photo

Annual Family Beach Photo

As mentioned, we had our annual family beach week. It was quite different without mom/grandma there, but we had a good time together, both being with each other and remembering her. Dorothy was not able to stay for the full week, flying home Thursday afternoon, so we took our annual family group photo that morning. As you can possibly see, there was a little fog still on the lens or the sensor when I took this. That’s a common issue when we come out from the air conditioned indoors into the hot and humid outside.

Dorothy had originally planned to fly from Myrtle Beach Airport, where she flew into on Sunday. She found an earlier flight leaving from Wilmington and changed her reservation so she’d get home earlier and have time for band practice. It turns out she needn’t have bothered. The weather in Maryland and Pennsylvania was stormy enough that her flight was delayed and she got home considerably later than she would have on her original flight (although for all we know, that flight might have been delayed even longer). But she did get home eventually.

Cathy and I went to the New Hanover County Arboretum in Wilmington, which we really enjoyed. I’d definitely stop in again if we were in the area.

Categories: People | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Annual Family Beach Photo

Kites, Ocean Isle Beach

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 by Henry
Kites, Ocean Isle Beach

Kites, Ocean Isle Beach

I made a point of having my camera outside for a little while before we went down to the beach where the kids were going to fly their kites. It’s been quite hot this week and we’re all very grateful for air conditioning (even if some would have wanted it a little less cold inside). One down-side to air conditioning, though, is that when you take a camera from a 70°F environment to something over 90°F with very high humidity, it fogs up immediately and takes a while to unfog. But I planned ahead and was able to get some nice pictures of the kids running around with their kites. There was also a nice sunset.

Categories: People | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Kites, Ocean Isle Beach

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 29, 2025 by Henry
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

After going to Alligator Pond (see previous post), we continued just into South Carolina to Vereen Memorial Park. This is a relaxing little park with trails through the woods and boardwalks through the marsh to two islands. I got some nice photos of a great egret (Ardea alba). Then, as we were out on the first of the two islands I hear a painted bunting (Passerina ciris) and found it in the top of a small tree. It’s tricky to get a good photo of a bird against the bright sky, but this one turned out reasonably well.

We also saw (and I photographed) eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), a downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens), a Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus), and heard but did not see a brown-headed nuthatch (Sitta pusilla).

Categories: Creatures | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 29, 2025 by Henry
Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)

Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)

We went to Alligator Pond (a.k.a. the Carl Bazemore Bird Walk) again today. We saw the anhinga again but not close. We did, however, see an alligator as well as an adult and juvenile common gallinule (Gallinula galeata). They were moving around quite a bit but I was able to get close enough to get a pretty good photo of each of them. This is the adult bird. Of the two alligators we saw, one of them was quite close, lying on the surface in a clump of weeds and very well camouflaged. But it was close enough we weren’t going to miss it. I got some photos of that, as well.

Categories: Creatures | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)

Eloise’s Birthday

Photograph taken on Monday, July 28, 2025 by Henry
Eloise's Birthday

Eloise’s Birthday

In years past, we always celebrated my Uncle George’s birthday at the beach, because (obviously) that’s when it fell. With him no longer being with us, it’s nice to have a birthday to celebrate. As you will probably figure out from the candle, this is Eloise’s fifth birthday, and my cousins and their families came over to have cake and ice cream. It was a fairly raucous time with all the ‘littles’ running around and enjoying themselves. But it was a happy, little-kid type of raucous.

Categories: People | Tags: , | Comments Off on Eloise’s Birthday

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 27, 2025 by Henry
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

Cathy and I went to the Carl Bazemore Bird Walk on what we call Alligator Pond on Shoreline Drive, west of the bridge to Sunset Beach. We saw a few alligators in the distance as well as a few birds. The most interesting thing was this anhinga (Anhinga anhinga), catching fish quite close to us. The first fish we saw it catch was small. Then, however, it landed a pretty good size fish (it looks like a bluegill). I got a few shots of it swallowing the fish, so I can confirm that it was an entirely successful catch.

Categories: Creatures | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

A Smaller Family Reunion

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 26, 2025 by Henry
Family Reunion

Family Reunion

There are certain things that make me think of my mom more than normal. The annual family reunion in northeastern North Carolina is high on the list. We’ve been going to that for years and in recent years it’s just been my mom and me, driving down the morning of the reunion, spending the night with my cousin, and then driving home the next day. This year, it was just Cathy and me and we drove down the day before. It was also on the way to our annual beach week, which is how it used to be but hasn’t been for a few years. There was a much smaller group this year, with only 26 of us able to get together. We usually try to get photos of the generations but with only 26 people there, we decided just to take a single group photo (well, we took three of them, but they’re all basically the same). In spite of the smaller size, we had a really nice visit with some of my favorite people. I’m already looking forward to next year’s reunion.

Categories: People | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on A Smaller Family Reunion

Ferns

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 20, 2025 by Henry
Ferns

Ferns

We walked a 3​2⁄3 mile loop today at the Patuxent River State Park, just upstream from Triadelphia Reservoir. We started at the parking area on Georgia Avenue (MD 97) where it crosses the Patuxent River, taking the trail closest to the river (the ‘Yellow’ trail) almost to Howard Chapel Road. The trail then loops to the south and west and we turned onto the ‘Red’ trail, crossing Howard Chapel Road, looping around and then returning to Howard Chapel Road near the Howard Chapel Cemetery. On the way back through the woods I took the only photo taken on the walk, of these ferns.

Categories: Flowers and Plants | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Ferns

Summer Games

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 19, 2025 by Henry
Summer Games

Summer Games

Dorothy and her friends hosted what they called the Summer Games this weekend in Pennsylvania. It was a pretty warm afternoon. Because I was taking pictures, I didn’t actively participate in most of the activities, although I did shoot an arrow (and did pretty well, if I say so myself). They had come up with a wide range of activities from a scavenger hunt, to a tug-of-war, a few races, both individual and team-based. This photo is of the first event, where the teams were to build a frame and carry one of their team members about a hundred yards. The green team (see the bandanas) won this race but the yellow team edged them out in the overall score for the day.

Categories: People | Tags: , | Comments Off on Summer Games

Rachel Carson Conservation Park

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 13, 2025 by Henry
Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula)

Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula)

indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea)

indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea)

We went to the Rachel Carson Conservation Park today and had a fairly hot and humid walk through the woods. We heard quite a few birds in the woods but saw almost none. We did see these Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), also known as ghost plant or ghost pipe. These are parasitic, non-photosynthesizing plants, getting their energy from Russulaceae family of fungi, which in turn get their energy from the roots of photosynthesizing plants. We also saw chanterelle mushrooms (Cantharellus species) and downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens).

Towards the end of our walk we were in the meadows nearer the parking area and I got some photos of the dreaded spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) in its final nymphal instar stage. There were also indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) singing all around and I finally found one that I could just see at the top of a tree and got a few photos of that.

Categories: Flowers and Plants | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Rachel Carson Conservation Park

Rachel and Michael’s Wedding

Photograph taken on Friday, July 11, 2025 by Henry
Michael and Rachel

Michael and Rachel

Cathy and I drove down to Raleigh, North Carolina this morning, getting there in reasonable time. We checked into out hotel and had time to visit a municipal rose garden before getting dressed and heading to the church for Rachel and Michael’s wedding. The wedding itself was quite beautiful. The music, not surprisingly considering this was Rachel, was particularly nice. After the ceremony, we drove to the reception location and after hors d’oeuvre (including an Italian ice cart provided by Rachel’s brother) and drinks, Michael and Rachel danced their first dance as husband and wife, before we had a lovely dinner.

Categories: People | Tags: , , | Comments Off on Rachel and Michael’s Wedding

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 06, 2025 by Henry
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

After church today, and before we visited Cathy’s mom, we stopped at the Agricultural History Farm Park and enjoyed a few minutes in the demonstration garden. There were Crocosmia in bloom, among other things. From the garden, we walked down through the meadow, which was rich with Helianthus and Monarda. I got one good bird photo, this time of a Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). It’s not the flashiest of birds, but, as the name suggests, it’s a songster with a varied repertoire. The heat of the day in the summer isn’t the best time for bird photography, but I’ll take what I can get.

Categories: Miscellaneous | Tags: , , , , , , | Comments Off on Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 05, 2025 by Henry
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)

Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)

Cathy and I took a walk from the Sandy Spring Friends Meeting to Sandy Spring this afternoon. We saw and heard quite a few birds today, which we don’t always do on this particular walk. In particular, we heard and then saw a Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) but my camera refused to focus on it so sadly I was unable to get a photograph. I did get this photo of an eastern kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), however, and I think it’s a pretty good one. I also got half-decent photos of an indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), a few red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), and a few pretty blurry photos of a nuthatch (not even good enough to know if it was red- or white-breasted).

Categories: Creatures | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)

Computer Carcasses

Photograph taken on Friday, July 04, 2025 by Henry
Computer Carcasses

Computer Carcasses

Over the years, I’ve collected a pretty impressive collection of computer remains. Some were my primary computer at one time or another. Others were given to me to see if I could repair them and turned out to be beyond repair. Still others were servers of some kind. One was a firewall, a few had been web or mail servers. All of them, however, were well past their sell by date and needed to be hauled away. I took the hard drives out of them and will deal with those separately. In addition to the 13 computers in this photograph, there was a large box of peripheral cards (including three 33.6kbps modems), another box full of cables, an old CRT monitor, and a few miscellaneous items. These all went to the electronic recycling station at our local recycling center.

Categories: Miscellaneous | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Computer Carcasses

Roadbody

Photograph taken on Thursday, June 26, 2025 by Henry
Roadbody (Dorothy, Andrew, and Vince)

Roadbody (Dorothy, Andrew, and Vince)

It was a busy day today, starting with work where I had a few long meetings as well as getting a copy of a website that we’re moving from government servers to ours (the company’s, not mine). These sorts of things take a fair amount of planning and that’s good, but it can also be draining.

Cathy and I then left at 5:00 and drove up to Gettysburg, where Dorothy, Andrew, and Vince (a.k.a. Roadbody) were playing at Ploughman’s Taproom on the square. We sat with Jeff, Anna, and Rachel and enjoyed the show. I prefer when Dorothy plays the acoustic guitar rather than the raspy electric guitar, since the latter tends to drown out her voice, which to me is a big part of her songs. Nevertheless, we know her songs reasonably well, so even when we could not hear her voice or make out the words, we could sort of sing along.

Categories: People | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off on Roadbody