The lesson of history
I think the lesson of history is that we don’t learn from the lessons of history.
Present Duties
This is framed quote that’s been hanging on my family’s walls since sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s way more positive than the other things I was thinking of posting in these dark times…
Figure 1: “Present Duties” by William Penn paraphrasing Jesus is in fact not copyrightable, Charles Scribners’s Sons claims c.a. 1897 notwithstanding.
When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will
When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will.
That is all.
George Washington Slept Here
Hiking yesterday in the Shenandoah Valley I discovered that I was on part of “Morgans Road”, which is a road George Washington had built into the hills to allow his army to retreat from the British in case things got really bad. “George Washington Planned To Sleep Here If Things Got Really Bad”. That was enough at the time of the bicentennial (1976) to put up another George Washington marker.
This includes a longish list of Washington sites I’ve run across, including a couple with family connections.
Figure 1: “George Washington Planned To Sleep Here” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0
It seems like a good day for some Russian opera
Below is some text from Rimsky-Korsakov’s last opera, where the people mockingly pledge loyalty to the Russian King (Tsar)
King Dodon, a lazy and gluttonous ruler, is greatly worried by his warlike neighbors.
It seems the Kremlin’s website is having some issues right now…
Figure 1: “Kremlin Website, Nothing To See Here, Move Along” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0
Hiking and Art
From Eagles Rock you can look back east and see the Massanutten range and pretty much all of Shenandoah National Park. From Tibbets Knob there is a nice view of a valley and “Big Schloss” which is a rock formation and the destination of another popular local hike.
Figure 1: “But is it art?” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0
Oh, Little Town of Harpers Ferry, How Still We See Thee Lie
Harpers Ferry: a quaint little town, vegan restaurants, a national park, Appalachian Trail headquarters, great place to hop a train to DC or Pittsburgh, a Kansas album cover or a great place to start a civil war? It’s all in how you look at it, who’s looking, and when.
This is a picture I took on a hike above the town on Loudoun Heights Saturday and the painting of John Brown in the John Brown museum.
Figure 1: “Harpers Ferry” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0
Oh, you gotta get a glory in the work you do
I’ve been reading a lot of poetry lately. A snatch of a poem my grandmother used to quote about finding meaning in work came to mind:
Oh, you gotta get a glory
In the work you do;
A hallelujah chorus
In the heart of you.
Paint, or tell a story,
Sing, or shovel coal,
But you gotta get a glory
Or the job lacks soul.
Berton Baley
Even Google and Duck-Duck Go don’t know much about it, so here it is in my grandmothers handwriting. From cleaning houses, to taking care of kids, to canning beans she NEVER did anything halfway.
The mighty Casey has struck out
I watched the Super Bowl last night, in which a second Ohio team just missed a national championship in a year. There is no joy in Porkopolis. I don’t know any good football poems, but…
Figure 1: “Joy in Mudville” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0
Ἰλιάς
The Iliad and Dr Seuss have nothing to say to us today. “One fish, two fish”? Really. Recent translations of liner-A tablets reveal that it was a faceBOOK post that launched 1000 ships.
Figure 1: “Oracle headquarters, Delphi, Greece AUC MMDCCXLII” by George Jones is licenced under CC SA 4.0