Always fun to go back and visit the last grade school I attended. If it’s not peering into classrooms and seeing wall charts teaching skills that adults take for granted – remember what life was like before you learned how to tell time – it’s taking a walk around the school grounds and realizing how…
A year ago yesterday, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others were shot at the “Congress on Your Corner” that she was hosting in Tucson. Six people died. The past few days have been filled with various tributes to the victims. And the big buzz around town was that Rep. Giffords would be attending the candlelight…
When I was growing up, Westtown was that hippie-freak Quaker school at the end of the street. The long hair and love beads crowd were quite the contrast to the buttoned down, straight-laced kids in my neighborhood. I can remember one of the moms making jokes about “Westtown’s finest” whenever she saw students heading away…
Nothing like a backed-up septic tank to enliven an eastern Pennsylvania family’s Christmas Eve. The family in question would be mine. And this story’s almost a carbon copy of the one I blogged two years ago. Once again, a call to Hickman Sanitation, and out comes owner Dave Hickman (below) with one of his employees….
A Christmas holiday visit to family in Pennsylvania reveals a timeless truth about the Keystone State’s winter weather: It varies. On one day, it’s cool enough for a jacket. Perfect weather for my mother to stroll around the neighborhood with Buddy the Labrador Retriever… Looks like Buddy’s found another interesting scent. This one merits very…
Being the owner of a middle-aged house that I’m slowly fixing up, I’ve had the need for more than a few tradesmen and women. Many of them have arrived in huge pickup trucks. Imagine my surprise when I heard about a local arborist who plies his trade by bicycle. Time to do something about that…
This past Saturday was one of those gray, windy days that offered more than a hint of rain. By Tucson standards, it has been a wet month — almost an inch of rain so far — so looking for more wasn’t out of the question. Fortunately, the rain held off until after the weekend. And…
Well, it’s mid-November in Tucson, and that means it’s time for another bike swap meet. Yesterday, thousands of bicycle enthusiasts converged on 4th Avenue for a day of buying, selling, and trading bikes and accessories… Does your bike need a crankset? Plenty to choose from at the swap… Or maybe your taste runs more toward…
Yesterday was one of those cool, breezy days that offered a hint of the Tucson winter to come. And since it was the first Sunday of November, it was time for Tucson’s annual All Souls Procession. This year’s edition featured a new route: From 4th Avenue and University Boulevard, go straight down Fourth to Congress…
My recent visit to the Phoenix area included a hike at White Tank Mountain Regional Park. My hiking host, Judy Vorfeld, selected the Waterfall Trail, a two-miler. Being an Arizonan who’s quite concerned about our state’s long-term drought, I was curious to see how the native desert plants have been holding up. Sorry to say,…
There’s something about visiting the zoo. You can’t help but wonder who’s being more closely scrutinized, the animals or the humans. Let’s begin our tour at the pelican beauty parlor. Nothing like preening with a whole crowd watching. Not that this pelican cares… If you’re a giant iguana, you can pretty well forget about having…
My two previous posts covered Vermont’s annual fall color extravaganza and the impact of a (we hope) once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Time to look at some other aspects of the Green Mountain State. My visit to Vermont coincided with the peak of the fall colors. It also rained just about every day that I was in the…
During the final weekend of August, Hurricane Irene was approaching the eastern United States. Since I have family back there, I called to make sure that everyone was all right. The phone conversation with my Aunt Jean in Vermont had a very worried tone. About Hurricane Irene, she said, “It’s as big as Europe!” After…
Just got back from visiting family in Waterbury, Vermont. October in the state of Vermont means one thing: Fall Foliage. The aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene was very much in evidence, but it didn’t stop the annual party thrown by the trees. Let’s start our fall foliage tour at the Waterbury Public Library… The library…
This past Tuesday, the 2011 monsoon season busted loose with its last hurrah. Which prompted a photographic frenzy around here. First stop on the frenetic home front picture tour: The garden. Is it raining out there? Yes!!! I’m looking forward to the day when the seedlings (which are still too small to see in the…
I’ll start this post with yet another lament about Tucson’s 2011 monsoon season. It’s been a real hit-and-miss sort of thing. Take, for example, this approaching storm. Looks like it’s going to dump buckets of rain at my place, right? It didn’t. But Tucson’s South Side got almost three inches of rain. So much for…
September 2015 update: This website is no longer online. The HBCU Mid-Atlantic Professional Science Master’s (PSM) Alliance is a group of predominantly Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. These universities are developing and offering new Professional Science Master’s (PSM) degree programs. PSM degrees offer science and/or mathematics…
For the past week, Tucson’s weather has done a pretty convincing imitation of the Pacific Northwest. We’ve had nearly 2.5″ of rain. As I write this, thunderstorms are moving into the area. Many of our recent storms have started slowly. Subtly. You don’t think that much will come from them. Take, for example, this dampening…
When I was in my early twenties, I set the goal of bicycling through all 50 of the United States. I accomplished this over a twelve-year period, traveling more than 15,000 miles in the United States, plus a bit of Mexico and Canada. Traveling without the protective bubble of a vehicle provides a wonderful opportunity…
On August 20, 1775, a bouncing baby city was born. Its name? Tucson. It’s been 236 years, and the Old Pueblo still has quite a bit of bounce. It was certainly in evidence at one of the biggest events in the month-long celebration of Tucson’s Birthday. The big event? 2nd Saturdays Downtown, which brings tens…
Well, the monsoons have been with us for more than a month, and count me as unimpressed. I was hoping for giant storms with lots of rain, loud thunder, and bright lightning. And I’m still hoping. So far, our rainfall has been scanty, and the sound and light shows have been lackluster. In the meantime,…