Musical Wanderer

With all normal routines shot to hell of late by the virus this year, I, like many people, have found new or resuscitated old hobbies.  A dozen years ago, on a trip to Massachusetts for a wedding, we happened to drive past the WWII battleship USS Massachusetts  moored in Falls River, Massachusetts and ended up touring it.  On the way out of the museum shop, I bought a model of the ship on a whim, thinking I'd build it.  Buying and building it rekindled interest in a hobby I thought I put aside forty-something years ago.  I've built almost two dozen ships since, of varying difficulty and quality, the frequency of building depending on work and other commitments.  As much of my life outside of home has shut down during the pandemic, such as singing and volunteering, I've had time recently to build a couple more models. A model of anything is built to a specific scale, essentially the ratio between measurements on the model and measurements of the object bein...

Mitt Romney is held up as the conscience of the Republican Party, the last voice of truth in a national party which has sold its soul to Trump.   Thanks  to his personal wealth from birth and his own work in venture capitalism, he is not dependent upon politics for his livelihood and thus can speak and vote his conscience without worry about his future finances.  He was therefore the sole republican who voted Trump guilty in his impeachment trial.  He routinely criticizes the President's behavior, statements, and policies, sometimes finding himself alone in his criticism.  He is seen as the last light of sanity in a party which has descended into sycophancy, obliviousness to facts, and pursuit of wealth unconcerned with human and environmental cost. But consider his words eight years ago, when he was running for president. "All right, there are 47 percent who are with him (Obama), who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victim...

These days, people's lives are thoroughly documented.  A cursory review of instagram and facebook will find millions of photographs of last night's dinner, assorted dogs, cats, and children, and, if it weren't for the virus, millions of photos of attractive people drinking alcohol and smiling perfectly.  Folks under the age of 30 probably do not have to remember anything that happened in their lives since they were kids as there are plenty of photographs in the cloud or on computers and phones to remind them. As little as 15 or 20 years ago, photographs were somewhat more precious.  Before digital photography became common, photographs for most were of vacations or special occasions, as buying and developing film tended to be expensive.  So we took photographs hoping for the best, taking rolls of film to be developed after trips, waiting a week or so, and opening the sealed envelopes of prints with the eager anticipation of an awards show.  Some photos may...

Music.  Performing music and hearing people make music have been among my greatest joys in life.  Ever since I was a kid, I've been performing music.  Playing the trumpet badly in school.  Singing, somewhat better than playing trumpet, in school and then semi-professionally for the last three dozen years.  I have been lucky to perform regularly, mostly in the DC area but also across the the United States and in a couple countries in Europe.  I have also been lucky to hear symphonies, choirs, bands, singers, and even guys playing guitars on subways in the US, Europe, and Asia.  Frankly, music, and singing in particular, is part of my identity. Back in March, I was at a rehearsal at the church where I am a paid singer when the parish priest came into the rehearsal and announced the church was closed until further notice by the diocese, so no more choir.  At the time I was also rehearsing Durufle's  Requiem  and Bach's B Minor Mass (a pie...

It started when I was a kid.  Probably 1971 or 1972.  I was in the toy section of Lowen's in Bethesda.  For anyone growing up in southern Montgomery County in the 60s and 70s, Lowen's was Mecca for toys.  The place had every toy a kid would ever want. The store had a glass case with toy figures made of painted plastic with metal bases to keep them upright, a line by Britains toy soldiers called Deetail.  They were about 2 inches tall or 1/35 scale.  Cowboys and Indians.  Knights on horses.   Arabs and Foreign Legion.   Union and Confederate soldiers with cavalry and cannons.  World War II soldiers with vehicles.  What caught my eye at the time were the German soldiers and American soldiers from World War II. German WWII Soldiers American WWII Soldiers I loved the devastated trees that came with the package so a couple soldiers could have "cover." My friends liked cars and motorcycles, so they also caught ...

For the last few years, I've been volunteering Saturdays at the National Zoo at the Amazonia exhibit.  Though to be honest it was not my favorite part of the zoo when I first started, as Robin and I used to steer clear of the place when wandering the zoo if there were a lot of strollers parked outside.  But I've grown very fond of the variety of creatures in the place, as well as the folks who work and volunteer there.  It's the only place in the zoo where you can see fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals all in one place (and me on Saturday mornings).  Sadly it's closed with the pandemic, and they're not even letting volunteers help out at the exhibit. A keeper let me feed the roseate spoonbill his fish ration one day and one of the red footed tortoises was curious, as was one of the sunbitterns on the log.  The keeper couldn't resist taking a picture. The keepers are super folks, very committed to and very knowledgable about the critters....