October days at the Addy Sea

For years I wondered about the name of this Bethany Beach bed and breakfast. When Pam and I first stayed there, I learned that the house was originally a family beach house owned by the Addy family, but the name still seemed odd. For a variety of circumstances it dawned on me when we were there last week that the name could be a pun on the Odyssey, but I don't know if that's correct. Whatever the origin of the name, we always enjoy our visits.

 

In addition to a big spread for breakfast, the Addy Sea offers an afternoon tea. Pam took this picture of Friday's dessert to go with the tea:

 



Paint Branch Creek in early autumn

Water level is low because it hadn't rained in a month before week got a brief drizzle today. I thought the scene displays the verdancy of the surrounding woods.

Maryland Football

For some time, the University of Maryland has been better known for its basketball teams rather than football. This year the football team got off to a good start, but hopes that the new coach had been able to quickly make significant improvements were dashed Friday night when Penn State came in and routed us 59-0 showing that the program still has a long way to go.

Penn State in Maryland territory early:

Once again we see the visitors about to score:

The crowd was big, probably the largest in recent years:

The pond in late September

 

Downtown Brunch

Last Sunday we took the subway downtown to meet daughter Rebecca and Son-in-law Sean for brunch. Sean's parents, who we had visited the day before, also joined us. The restaurant was in the Conrad Hotel, and the skylight in the lobby attracted me:

Pam's tomatoes

We've had a steady supply of small tomatoes because of the plants she put in the garden. She photographed this collection:

Pam's bug pictures

In going through her photos, I took note of these three, all taken in the yard:

Swamp sunflowers

In the park:

Exhibition on human migration and refugees at the Phillips Collection

Friday night Pam and I met my art history class to see an exhibition titled "The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement. "The class is on art and war, so the exhibition was an appropriate assignment since many people have been uprooted from their homes by warfare although economic and environmental factors have also been important in creating refugees.

The exhibit consists of paintings, photographs, sculptures, films, and videos and was too much to fully take in during the time we were there. Even so, what we saw has given me plenty to think about since. Apparently the other students felt much the same because we spent an hour in class yesterday discussing the exhibit. I shared with the class my thoughts on the part that made the biggest impression on me--the inclusion of Dorothea Lange's photos taken during the Great Depression.

"Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange

I've felt that the antipathy towards immigration was largely a result of xenophobia, racism, and perceived economic threat. What was so striking about Lange's photos is that the people who fled the Great Plains for California during the 1930's were largely native-born Protestants whose families had been in the country for generations. I know from John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, which is considered an accurate portrayal, that they encountered hostility from Californians, generally people from the same ethnic stock, when they arrived. "An Okie used to mean you were from Oklahoma," one of Steinbeck's characters said, "Now it means you're scum." Obviously, racism and xenophobia can be ruled out as causes for this antagonism, and it's hard to lay the blame purely on competition for jobs since the migrants took the lowest paying jobs as agricultural workers, jobs that most Anglo-Californians spurned.

From the class discussion that followed, I conclude that it seems to be a common human reaction to object to the arrival of newcomers, whatever their ethnic composition. The professor pointed out that when Germany was reunited at the end of the Cold War, West Germans complained about East Germans. I later recalled being part of a merger between two large American corporations where the employees of one of the legacy companies complained about the employees of the other legacy company. We were all American businessmen, but those from the other company became "the others," just as foreign as if they had arrived from another world.

 

Labor Day baseball

The Nats lost to the Mets, but Pam and I had a good time anyway. Great seats provided by our neighbor, Jim Cooke.

 

The same egret?

Probably the same that I spotted on August 18 was still around on August 31.

The pond in late August

Sunset series seven from last night

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset number six

I realize I've taken many sunset pictures recently, but on these hot days it's a pleasant time to walk around the pond.

I believe that serious photographers look down on these type photos as clichés. I don't care because the sky always looks different to me, and I like the beauty of sunrise and sunset. Once in a while at the beach I'll manage to get out early for the sunrise, but other than that it's going to be sunsets. Besides, it's my blog so I don't care what anyone else thinks.

This one was taken last Friday.

Sunset number five

 

Egret spotted on Paint Branch

 

Sunset number four

 

 

Nats Game on Wednesday

I go to one or two games a year, and it seems like each time the Nationals lose. The first picture shows Sean Doolittle taking the mound in the tenth inning against the Braves. Although Sean has been our most dependable relief pitcher, he gave up the game-winning homer.

Earlier in the game I took this picture of Anthony Rendon at bat:

Comparing the two photos above, I notice the bluer sky later in the game. The bluer sky also brought more sunlight and higher temperatures. Still, I had a good time, and I'm glad I went.

Visit to Oakland, Maryland

Spent a few days visiting relatives.

In back are Pam and her sister Kathy. Between them is Kathy's granddaughter Anabelle, and the shortest in front in granddaughter Nora. All Winters women although none of them carry that last name.

On the trip we also visited the Garrett County Museum below.

The train station also caught my eye:

Sunset number three

Dogs enjoying Paint Branch Creek

Lately Barry who is originally from South Africa has been joining in my morning walks. He likes to let his two Britany Spaniels cool off in the stream on hot days.

Visit to National Cathedral

Saturday Tim and Zenny, Rebecca's in-laws, joined us in visiting National Cathedral.

I'm not certain if the above is called a chapel or an altar, but it sure looked pretty.

Yesterday at the Pond

Above photo taken in late afternoon. Photo below taken a few hours later.

Summer activity for old college students

I've written about the Golden ID program at the University of Maryland. One of our members has been organizing summer events, and Monday we toured the Riverdale Mansion which I described last summer when I attended a musical event there. The mansion was built in 1802, and the estate once included lands that became part of the University.

Inside the mansion:

Two more photos from Beach Week

Sean took this one of Pam and me:

I meant to include this one on the previous post. During the season Bethany often has evening band concerts. We heard this band performing some excellent covers of Queen and the Dooby Brothers:

Clouds over the pond

All pictures taken at various times yesterday.

 



Beach Week with Rebecca and Sean

Despite the negative forecasts, we had nice weather at Bethany Beach last week. Daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Sean are always great company.

Here they are a Mickey's Crab House which is a standard stop during our visits:

 

It has also become traditional to bring some complicated jigsaw puzzles. Rebecca is the most obsessive about working on them which I think might be because she finds it relaxing for her vacation brain.

 



 

We've been vacationing at this beach since 1987, staying in various houses. This was the first time for this house, and we liked it.

Park sunset picture number two

 

The Feral Detective, a novel by Jonathan Lethem

The protagonist, a thirty-some woman named Phoebe, travels from New York City to Southern California to search for the daughter of a friend. The missing woman left her college dorm and cut off communication with her mother, and the only lead is her fascination with the singer-poet Leonard Cohen who died when the results of the presidential election of 2016 were determined. The shock of that election hangs over Phoebe as she enlists the help of a detective who specializes in such cases, and their search takes them far from modern Los Angeles to the city's wild edge of mountains and deserts among people who live off the grid.

Phoebe as the first-person narrator gives the reader an early sense of where the novel goes when she says "The story involves a missing person, and it could well be me. Or you or practically anybody." Or as the detective puts it, "Who's not missing?" It's a good question for anyone who had their assumptions about the American people and American politics shaken at that time.

The witty and talkative Phoebe contrasts with the laconic and mysterious detective, and the New Yorker cannot help expressing her wise-cracks even though she realizes they are falling on the unappreciative audience of the detective and the people living in Manson-like communes in the desert. Her comments, however, provide levity to an often tense story.

I enjoyed this book very much although, judging from the mixed reader reviews, many did not react so positively.