Springtime Blossoms

Bleeding Hearts in My Garden

The bleeding hearts are in bloom and bushing-out as springtime deepens. 

The leaves have become visible on the trees and are beginning to provide shade to the lawn that I really need to mow, but it was too cold and windy last evening. 

There are 15 bags of mulch ready to be placed in the gardens and many more hours to spend cutting wood. Why does it seem that there are many more projects than hours to accomplish them?

I looked longingly at the pool cover thinking that it might be time to open the pool and then the 51 degree evening temperature brought me back to reality. 

All in good time.

Tonight, the baseball team has its second game of the year! Here is hoping for a better result. We will be playing under the lights as the game ends.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - April 15, 2019

1. It is Monday April 15, 2019, and that means it is Tax Day! Are your taxes done? After that, adjust your withholding so that you don't have to pay as much.

Hillsborough Winery
April 14, 2019

2. Easter and the beginning of Passover occur during the same period this year. May your thoughts turn to things that are normally outside of our daily experience and give you hope for the future.

3. While visiting wineries yesterday, we discovered a a bucolic scene in northern Loudoun County.

4. It was a rough start for our Under 12 baseball team on Saturday. We dropped our home opener 12-6. But, the game was much closer than the score. A very few small things could have cause the score to be reversed! Next game is Tuesday night!

Lt Col (ret) Dick Cole

5. Retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole, the last surviving member of the Doolittle Raiders who rallied the nation’s spirit during the darkest days of World War II, has passed away. Cole, who was then-Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot in the No. 1 bomber during the daring 1942 raid to strike Japan, was 103. His passing reminds us of the lopsided struggle against the forces of Imperial Japan during the early days of World War 2 and how this band of 80 men who participated in this spring raid raised the spirits of America and got the country back on the road to eventually triumph against the forces of oppression. Read more in The Air Force Times. 

6. I am happy to be back home in Maryland after a week of travel. Maybe I will be caught up by Wednesday.

7. While I am not a fan of rain on the weekends, at least the rain yesterday meant that I did not feel guilty for visiting some wineries instead of working in the yard! I have 15 bags of mulch ready to be places and a lawn that actually needs to be mowed. I believe i will be very busy this evening.

8. Let me wish all of you a Happy Easter and/or a blessed Passover.

9. Today in History. On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African-American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years. Exactly 50 years later, on April 15, 1997, Robinson’s groundbreaking career was honored and his uniform number, 42, was retired from Major League Baseball by Commissioner Bud Selig in a ceremony attended by over 50,000 fans at New York City’s Shea Stadium. Robinson’s was the first-ever number retired by all teams in the league.

Headlines

Tiger Woods, in a Stirring Return to the Top, Captures the Masters at 43 - The New York Times

Is America Becoming an Oligarchy? - The New York Times

A man kept one of the ‘world’s most dangerous’ birds on his farm. Then it killed him. - The Washington Post

Exclusive: U.S. waters down demand China ax subsidies in push for trade deal - sources - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

A grade school class in Somerville, Massachusetts, recently wrote me to say, ``We studied about countries and found out that each country in our world is beautiful and that we need each other. People may look a little different, but we're still people who need the same things.'' They said, ``We want peace. We want to take care of one another. We want to be able to get along with one another. We want to be able to share. We want freedom and justice. We want to be friends. We want no wars. We want to be able to talk to one another. We want to be able to travel around the world without fear.''

And then they asked, ``Do you think that we can have these things one day?'' Well, I do. I really do. Nearly 2,000 years after the coming of the Prince of Peace, such simple wishes may still seem far from fulfillment. But we can achieve them. We must never stop trying.

The generation of Americans now growing up in schools across our country can make sure the United States will remain a force for good, the champion of peace and freedom, as their parents and grandparents before them have done. And if we live our lives and dedicate our country to truth, to love, and to God, we will be a part of something much stronger and much more enduring than any negative power here on Earth. That's why this weekend is a celebration and why there is hope for us all.

Thanks for listening, and God bless you.

Radio Address to the Nation on the Observance of Easter and Passover, April 2, 1983

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Tail End

Ethan
April 13, 2019

The end of the family birthday season has arrived. It is a long season, beginning during late-September and concluding in April during which there are ten specific celebrations.

Ethan Conquering the Candles
April 13, 2019

Yesterday marked Ethan's birthday. The family gathered together to mark the event. It is the last birthday celebration until September. I hate to call it the "tail end" birthday, because he was the first grandson--but it is what it is. Everyone else managed to fit their birthday's somewhere in between. Not that any of us really had a choice.

I find Ethan's birthday to be special in a unique way. He shares a birthday with Thomas Jefferson! Most people are not aware of Jefferson's birthday, but by sharing it with Ethan at least our family is cognizant of the date.

Happy Birthday Ethan! May you celebrate many more!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

From Blizzard to Sun

Denver International Airport
April 11, 2019

The week of travel is over and I have thankfully returned home.

Somewhere over the Western U.S.
April 11, 2019

It was an interesting week given all of the places that I visited and sights that I witnessed. 

Thursday was an interesting day. I awoke in Denver in the aftermath of the bomb-vortex blizzard and headed to the airport to depart for sunny southern California. It was cold and the aircraft were covered with snow, as were the ramps and taxiways. 

But my flight departed on time, to the amazement of many,  and along the way I was treated to a spectacular scene somewhere over the western U.S. I wound up with a rare window seat in the aircraft, I almost always get aisle seat, but once we were underway, I enjoyed the scenery for a while. I loved this image because try as I might, I could not find any evidence of human affect on the land. There was not even a roadway in sight.

Morning Arrival
Los Angeles International Airport
April 12, 2019

I was happy to deplane in Los Angeles and enjoy the sun and palm trees. 

Although my stay in LA was only an overnight, I did enjoy the relative warmth after the blizzard and, of course, I always feel better when I see the palm trees. 

All-in-all the trip was a success and I am now happy to be home with the travel behind me. Amazingly, I was three-for-three in on-time flights crossing two different airlines. 

Time to get back into my normal day-to-day life.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Out the Hotel Window - Los Angeles, CA, April 2019

Out my LA Hotel Window
April 11. 2019

For the last evening of my trip, I wound up at a hotel with many stories between me and the ground overlooking LAX. I can hear the sounds of the aircraft engines as they run up in preparation for taxi or takeoff. 

The scene out my window is busy! There is traffic and there are aircraft. There are people scurrying too and fro. 

It is scene of life and activity. I am well about the chaos, but I can still hear the activity.

It was a much nicer day in LA on Thursday than I experienced on Wednesday during the Colorado Spring Blizzard! What a mess that was. 

Well, as I leave this morning, I am finally heading home and soon this trip will be a memory.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Los Angeles, CA

Out the Hotel Window - Denver, CO, April 2019

View of Pikes Peak on Wednesday Morning
Before the Weather Event
April 10, 2019

Unbelievable!

That is all I can really say about the weather I have faced during the lat 24 hours between Colorado Springs and Denver. 

Out the Hotel Window - Denver
April 10, 2019

Yesterday morning, I awoke to temperatures in the 40's with cloudy and an apparently beautiful day ahead--well, if I could forecast weather by liking at the sky. But then there was this thing called a Bullet Vortex! I decided to rain a blizzard down upon the region and drastically change everyone's early Spring plans. Well, we are almost a month into Spring.

The Road Ahead of Us
On the Drive to Denver
April 10, 2019

Well, the storm changed everything and I an my traveling party were lucky to get out of Colorado Springs as everything was being closed and make our way to Denver where we are staying the night in advance of our flight this morning.  

When I got to my hotel room, I snapped a picture out my hotel window--it was of snow and the gathering blizzard.

I hate snow--I just want to get that out there and make sure everyone knows. The scene out my hotel window last evening was not one of my preferred scenes--it was of snow and blowing snow. And cold!

I am happy to be leaving this out the hotel window scene behind!

I need some palm trees and blue skies.

Bob Doan, writing from Denver, CO

Bourbon Brothers Southern Kitchen

Sometimes, I run across unique places when I am traveling, and last night was one of those evenings. 

Lights in the Bourbon Room

We went to a Bourbon Brothers Southern Kitchen complete with a Bourbon Room for after dinner enjoyment. It was a different experience for me. 

Unique and different places give me ideas for decorating, like the lights in the bar which I found to be unique. 

Dinner was good, the conversation was wide ranging. It was a good evening out in a new location. 

The place was decorated in a fun a visually stimulating manner and I definitely enjoyed the bourbon barrels ad decorations and the rustic old barn boards used to cover the walls in part of the restaurant.

I recommend this restaurant as an enjoyable place to share a meal.

-- Bob Doan, writing form Colorado Springs, CO

Out the Hotel Window - Colorado Springs, April 2019

Out the Hotel Window - Colorado Springs
April 8, 2019

Pike's Peak from Near the Hotel
April 8, 2018

It is springtime in the Rockies! While there is a great view of Pike's Peak from near the hotel, my room has not such a grand view. I wonder why I always get the "no view" side of the hotels that I stay in?

The view is not bad--it just isn't. Although the blue sky is refreshing after seeing clouds for the past day. Like I wrote before, I want to live somewhere where I grow tired of seeing blue sky!

The travel day came to a conclusion about 6:30 PM and then it was off to dinner. Fortunately, there was a place close that also had the National Championship game in the tv's to watch as a distraction. 

I was so tired that when I returned to my room I fell into bed and only barely saw the end of the game with Virginia winning in overtime. Then it was lights out--my eyelids closed and sometime during the night I woke up to turn the tv off. 

Today begins another day on the road. It will be an interesting day and I am looking forward to meeting a lot of people. 

It has been a while since I was able to add to my out the Hotel Window series, and I hope to have a couple more entries during this trip as I will be in a couple more hotels before the week is over!

But, that written, I am already looking forward to getting home.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Colorado Springs, CO

Monday Musings - April 8, 2019

1. The second Monday of April has arrived. The month is off to a strong start!

Carroll Park Hole 5
May Second Shot Came up
 a bit short
April 7, 2019

2. Busy days pass too fast.

3. Despite my thoughts to the contrary, I did make time to play a 9 hole round of golf yesterday at Carroll Park. I actually did pretty well finishing 8 strokes over par, which for me is a fantastic round since I'm more of a double-bogey player. 

4. The crisis of having multiple homes is that when there is a problem in one and I'm not there, it becomes a crisis out of proportion.

5. Why do things break when we are not looking? Why do plugs come unplugged when no-one touches them?

6. The weather is in a seesaw pattern right now--Cold/Hot . I'm pulling for the cold.

7. Today is a travel day, beginning another week of travel for me. At least I will have some additions to my occasional Out the Hotel Window series.

8. Question of the moment. When did my pets learn to tell time? They awaken me every morning just before my alarm clock goes off. 

9. Today in History. On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was with Aaron that night to cheer when he hit a 4th inning pitch off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing. However, as Aaron was an African American who had received death threats and racist hate mail during his pursuit of one of baseball’s most distinguished records, the achievement was bittersweet.

Headlines

Cheap Antibiotics Help Fuel Deadly Drug-Resistant Infections in the Developing World - The New York Times

Kirstjen Nielsen Resigns as Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary - The New York Times

A path back from the ruins of ISIS - The Washington Post

U.S. urges immediate halt to military operations in Libya - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

“If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.” 

 Excerpt from Ronald Reagan's 1964 speech to the Republican National Convention

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Watching the Dawn

Sunlight in the Trees
Elkridge, MD
April 7, 2019

Another day is dawns and I am fortunate to be sitting in my chair looking out the window as the sunlight makes it way down the still too bare trees. 

The tops are illuminated in bright light, but the ground is still in relative darkness as the sun has not fully risen. 

I see the jets out in the distance making their way to BWI as passengers who began their travels hours ago are nearing the end or a mid-point of their journey on this relatively weather-quiet Sunday morning and landing on Runway 10. 

I am not on a golf course and that bothers me a bit, but that is how it plays out sometimes.

I chatted with Chris and found it weird that we are both at home but we are separated by over 800 miles. I am still trying to get used to the idea of geographically separated homes. Chris returns to Maryland on Tuesday after enjoying an additional week in Florida without me. 

So I am sitting here watching the dawn and before the sun could grace the earth with its warm rays, the clouds covered it for a bit. But the day seems as if it is off to a great start.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD