The Old Ball Game

Looking through my links on my Boston Walking Tours post I came across listings in the Historic New England calendar for vintage baseball. I’ve long wanted to check out the historic reenactment of baseball as it was played in the 19th-century.  Much better than Civil War battles, in my humble opinion.
With a little web [...]

Book Review: The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox by Stephen Budiansky

One of R.E.M.’s early albums is entitled Fables of the Reconstruction. That could easily be the title of The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox (2008) by Stephen Budiansky. The accepted history has it that the Reconstruction of the South following the Civil War failed due to a vindictive Republican government saddling the helpless [...]

I’m a Twit

So, I finally gave in and registered for Twitter even though I really do not understand the practical purpose of the tool. I mean I understand what it’s for - telling people what you’re up to at every minute of the day - I just don’t know what it does for a shy guy [...]

Greeting Cards for Sisters

Every year around this time, I come upon the same problem. Any greeting cards for sale in the “Birthday — Sister” category are entirely from the perspective of a card to a sister from a sister. Usually the card will have an archival photo of two girls in dresses or a pencil-sketch of [...]

Book Review: A Game of Brawl by Bill Felber

A Game of Brawl (2007) by Bill Felber tells the story of the 1897 National League pennant race between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston franchise unofficially nicknamed the Beaneaters. Felber present this as one of the greatest pennant races of all time and it certainly was a doozy. It also was a culture [...]

Lilac Sunday, YEAH!

First, an explanation of the title. Lilac Sunday is an annual event at Arnold Arboretum celebrated this year for the 100th time. 8 years ago Susan and I were walking through Central Square in Cambridge talking about going to Lilac Sunday and maybe sending lilacs to our mothers for Mothers Day. At [...]

Podcasts Always Come in Threes

Three more episodes of podcasts worth listening too:

“Disgustingly Adorable” - Colonial Williamsburg: Past & Present covers the annual spring lambing, a big event for Phi Pi fans. Previous sheeplore: Fuzzy Pigs and Out Like a Lamb.
“News from Lake Wobegon” - A Prairie Home Companion is a classic radio show, although it’s a bit [...]

Book Review: The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle

Over the past decade or so, while the US economy has gone down the toilet, the dollar has crashed and burned, and xenophobia blossomed to the point of building fences on our borders, Ireland has become a prosperous nation built on new industries, the strength of the European Union, and the rising Euro. As [...]

Radical Love: the Haley House documentary

Haley House is a great place in Boston where people create community around food. You can call it a soup kitchen, a bakery, and an organic farm, but it’s the people who count. Both poor and privileged come together to share their gifts and learn from one another.
Via Anna at Isak, I’ve learned [...]

Book Review: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. Volume I: The Pox Party (2006) by M.T. Anderson begins like a science fiction story, reminiscent of The Baroque Cycle. Young Octavian lives with his mother Cassiopeia and a crowd of Natural Philosophers who go by numbers instead of names. Octavian and [...]