Queen's on a winter night (not Photoshopped - this is how it really looked)

Queen's University in Belfast. I don't know if it is always illuminated at night, or just for Christmas. The queen in question is Victoria. The university is not as old as Wake Forest (1834), as it only offered its first classes in 1849.

Brooklyn and Belfast

The blog knew something about the murals of Belfast before its recent travels there, but just discovered the school wall murals of Brooklyn.

POBAL is an organization that lobbies for the Irish language community: "Scátheagras phobal na Gaeilge." Interestingly, once again Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure Nelson McCausland's personal blog offers an interesting perspective. He makes the point that there are two indigenous minority languages in Northern Ireland - Irish and Ulster-Scots - and notes similarities to the situation in Scotland, where Scots and Gaelic are the minority languages.

Aftermath II: December 29, 2009

Same place, behind Speas School.

Aftermath I: December 26, 2009

Behind Speas School.

The Coal Shop

Susan's friend Martine has started The Coal Shop: Brooklyn Workshop Gallery. "A gallery committed to fine expression in crafts and fostering the next generation of craft artists. Brooklyn Workshop Gallery explores the use of an atelier space as a mini-museum as well as community outreach and education." (December 23, 2009)

People's Republic of ...

The People's Republic of Brooklyn turned out to be a neighborhood restaurant, locally famous for its $15 "all you can drink" brunch. Mimosas, anyone? Nate, December 23, 2009, in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Snowstorm in Maryland

This is the end of the big December 19, 2009 snowstorm. Susan was trying to spot her car from the 13th floor of Grosvenor.

Back to normal, with memories

After a short stint as international bon vivants, the blog is back in Winston-Salem and will resume regular blogging (it promises). The production of Belfast Blues at the Brian Friel Theatre of the Queen's University was a success. Check out the very nice description in the blog of the Minister of Culture, Arts, and Leisure for Northern Ireland. The upper photo, taken by Abe, shows the blog in the alley outside of the Duke of York pub very late at night and very happy after the first performance.

'Tis the season...

Taken at Heathrow Airport on the way to Belfast.

Third Night

Abe and Nate celebrate Hanukkah with their grandfather, Dan.

Grosvenor

Abe and Nate's grandfather, Dan Robinson, has lived at Grosvenor for many years. Susan likes the fact that the Red line of the Metro stops right there, but it's the blue balconies she really loves.

Travel is fun

Here's what Jon saw at Heathrow Airport on his way to Belfast.

Travel is educational

Here's what Jon saw in the Philadelphia airport on his way to Belfast.

Christmas in the South

Some Winston-Salem residents decorate remarkably well for the season.

The blog is irresponsibly headed to Belfast for a few days. In fact, half of the blog is already somewhere in the UK while the other half had a quiet Friday night at home packing and drinking hot chocolate (not wine) before turning in.

Headed toward the shortest day

The blog is busy grading and getting ready to go to Belfast, where the days are even shorter than they are now in Winston-Salem...

Late 2006

This sign has been posted behind the Robinhood Road Starbucks for a while...say, about 3 and a half years. (The original Mount Tabor is in the Lower Galilee. It's already developed.)

R/W = right of way marker

Jon found a surveyor's web site with a helpful photo gallery that pretty convincingly supports the hypothesis that the R/W markers we see around Winston-Salem are survey markers. But when were they placed? What boundaries do they mark?

Wait Chapel Moravian Lovefeast 2009

This is the 45th annual Christmas Lovefeast at Wake Forest. Nate and Susan's fifth and Erin's fourth. The first lovefeast celebrated in North Carolina took place not far from the site of present day Wake Forest in 1753.

This obviously is...

...a marker for something. But what?! These R/W posts are not common, but they are also not too rare around Winston-Salem. The blog has been unable to find out what they mark, despite numerous Google searches. This example was photographed on our Thanksgiving day walk. If you know what they are, please post a comment!

Is garage-centrism dead?

The blog recently received the postcard shown above. It is from Eastwood Homes, and it left the blog feeling quite cheery! Buyers of value-priced new homes, there are alternatives to garage-centric design. You don't HAVE to buy an ugly house. Jon, to see a development by Eastwood ("Cheslyn"), we need to walk the entire length of Spicewood Drive, which connects Olivet Church Road to Yadkinville Road. Olivet Church is a Moravian church that started as a Sunday School in 1851. A chapel was built near Spicewood Drive in 1878, superseded by a church completed in 1929, which has since been completely renovated and considerably expanded. Lots of useful information on this church's web site.

Deerfield in Winston

The leaves are now off the trees, and the blog's walk on Thanksgiving down Paddington Lane in Sherwood Forest provided an opportunity for the blog to look at familiar houses in Jon's neighborhood afresh. One blue house stands out because it is so unlike all the others. Upon seeing it Jon's mind wandered once again back to Deerfield, Massachusetts, this time to the reconstructed "Indian House". The 1929 reconstruction is now a children's museum. The building we see today is a replica of the 17th century Ensign John Sheldon House. The artist George Washington Mark painted the original shortly before it was demolished in 1848. Note the tasteful placement of the detached stable (ok, garage) in the Winston replica.