...and a very nice tunnel under Silas Creek Parkway. Thursday evening's walk was a classic: it featured a dead end, a house that Jon once considered buying, and a tunnel. We used Path Tracker with Jon's iPhone, and if you check out our walk you can see how accurate Path Tracker is - note our little excursion through the tunnel and back.
Pampered Wake Forest professors were invited to dine and wine in the formal part of Reynolda Gardens in celebration of the last day of the semester. The affair was a pleasant as it looks in Jon's photo.
It turns out that Wake Forest has two mini-serpentine walls of its own. The location is the Elizabeth Scales Garden outside of Starling Hall. The garden and its wall date from 1985. Note the tasteful inclusion of a Japanese maple in the Scales Garden.
This lovely brick serpentine wall (lower photo) is part of the gardens of the Burton Craige House in the Washington Park area of Winston-Salem. The house dates from 1860, but the gardens were designed by Thomas Sears in 1928-29, around the same time as the grounds of Reynolda House and Graylyn. The serpentine wall is a replica of Thomas Jefferson's wall at the University of Virginia. It seems unlikely that conservation of bricks was on Sears' mind, as was purportedly the case with Jefferson! The upper photo is the original, photographed in 1952.
The blog saw David Gordon Green's George Washington at the River Run Film Festival on Friday night. It delayed wine, and we had to watch a previously recorded version of the Capitals' loss to the Canadiens, but it was worth it because the film is wonderful.Wikipedia's description of the film's setting, however, (see title of blog post) seems a bit harsh given that the setting is Winston-Salem...
Susan has found the Japanese maple of her dreams, and relocated it to her front yard so that she can view its perfection many times every day! "Acer palmatum Mikawa Yatsubusa." "Arguably one of the top three maples in the world today when it comes to bonsai." "Dwarf tree that when pruned has near perfect structure." "Rare and in demand." Jon, the seeds are ready to be harvested when they are brown, so as my photo shows you'll have to wait.
It's film festival time again In Winston-Salem, and the blog attempted to see an Irish film on Sunday evening. But it arrived too late to be seated, and accepted tickets to a Finnish film in compensation. Several scenes in Letters to Father Jacob have a backdrop of towering birch trees. Jon was reminded of Chekhov, and Susan was reminded of the trees at Horizons Park in Forsyth County last fall.
...and the blog is STILL walking and talking in Winston. The blog celebrates its first anniversary today. Devoted readers are urged to join the celebration by re-reading the April 19, 2009 entry. During the winter months the blog walked less than it should have, but its sense that it will never tire of exploring Winston-Salem remains undiminished. So many questions remain unanswered. For example, in a little strip of land behind Reynolda Church there are RUINS. What happened here, and when? Jon, it's time to get back to the cul de sacs!
...taking care of Jon's bees.
All who know Erin are appropriately proud. Now Susan has someone to practice the secret handshake with. Phi Beta Kappa is one of those silly/meaningful academic things - in the end it's sort of cool to join a society founded December 5, 1776.
The lack of punctuation bothers the blog.
A comparison of a photograph from the Old Deerfield Burying Ground and Jon's set for Brother Brian, Sister Kathleen (Virtual Theatre Project, Gascon Theatre, Los Angeles) shows how childhood visits to historic sites leave an indelible mark...I need to consult the Wake Forest library's copy of Graven Images: New England Stonecarving and Its Symbols, 1650-1815 by Allan I. Ludwig.
And I need to find a copy of North Fork Cemeteries by Clement Healy so that I can compare my memories of Long Island (particularly of Jamesport) with Jon's of Deerfield...
"Farewel Dear Babe, till we Do meet, Within the Gate of Zion's _________." Sweet? Street? I can't quite make out the last word of the inscription at the bottom of this grave marker. I am assuming that the first letter of the last word is long s.
It was Bee Day 2010 on Saturday (which means that the lab picked up about 20 lbs. of bees and 12 queen bees at Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in Moravian Falls, NC). Jon now has his own hive!
Jon has some things to say about18th century grave markers, but we have not had a moment to discuss them since we returned from New York. This is a foretaste of a posting to come.
This is one of Jon's photos from the blog's March trip to New York City. Any Philadelphian knows what a curbstone is, but the blog was unfamiliar with the term "curbstone brokers." The phrase was first used in Manhattan in the 1830s to refer to brokers who traded stocks on the street. Curbstone brokers often specialized in stocks of small or new companies, and traded using an elaborate system of hand gestures that enabled them to reliably transmit information from window to the street. The historic reference to outdoor trading persisted on Wall Street until 1953 (long after the action had moved indoors), when the New York Curb Exchange changed its name to the American Stock Exchange.
Dino Gaudio is out as Wake Forest men's basketball coach...he couldn't get his team to "value the ball," but there were many happy moments over the past couple of years. This photo is from this past season's overtime win over Xavier in the Skip Prosser game.
The iconic flowering tree of Winston-Salem in the spring is the weeping cherry. They are perennially included on "top 10" tree lists, including this top 10 list of flowering trees.
Jon could not come because he was working on the spring production of Moonchildren. Abe was in town after visiting grad schools in DC. Susan is developing an irrational affection for this little Blue Ridge town. She checked out a little bit of local history. The first wave of development came after the Civil War. The mountains were apparently regarded as safe, so Scotch and Irish settlers in the area sent their families into the hills while they went off to fight. Returning soldiers settled in the area, and the town was incorporated in 1889 when it reached a population of 300 people. There's been some growth since then - the population in 2008 was 1490!
...it's spring in Winston-Salem. Susan's camellias are presented here as evidence.
Overwork and technical difficulties knocked the blog off its feet, but it is back. This sign commemorates an undergraduate neuroscience conference Susan hosted with her colleague, Wayne Silver. She really liked the meeting logo until Jon told her that it looked like bird beaks. Thanks, Jon.
...and a very nice tunnel under Silas Creek Parkway. Thursday evening's walk was a classic: it featured a dead end, a house that Jon once considered buying, and a tunnel. We used Path Tracker with Jon's iPhone, and if you check out our walk you can see how accurate Path Tracker is - note our little excursion through the tunnel and back.
Pampered Wake Forest professors were invited to dine and wine in the formal part of Reynolda Gardens in celebration of the last day of the semester. The affair was a pleasant as it looks in Jon's photo.
It turns out that Wake Forest has two mini-serpentine walls of its own. The location is the Elizabeth Scales Garden outside of Starling Hall. The garden and its wall date from 1985. Note the tasteful inclusion of a Japanese maple in the Scales Garden.
This lovely brick serpentine wall (lower photo) is part of the gardens of the Burton Craige House in the Washington Park area of Winston-Salem. The house dates from 1860, but the gardens were designed by Thomas Sears in 1928-29, around the same time as the grounds of Reynolda House and Graylyn. The serpentine wall is a replica of Thomas Jefferson's wall at the University of Virginia. It seems unlikely that conservation of bricks was on Sears' mind, as was purportedly the case with Jefferson! The upper photo is the original, photographed in 1952.
The blog saw David Gordon Green's George Washington at the River Run Film Festival on Friday night. It delayed wine, and we had to watch a previously recorded version of the Capitals' loss to the Canadiens, but it was worth it because the film is wonderful.Wikipedia's description of the film's setting, however, (see title of blog post) seems a bit harsh given that the setting is Winston-Salem...
The blog kicked off the 2010 walking season by visiting all of the homes on the 2010 Washington Park Spring Home and Garden Tour. All of the homes in this former "streetcar suburb" were interesting, but the most appealing to the blog (details in the photos) was the Reed-McKaughan House on Cascade Avenue. The house was built in 1913, and is a mixture of Craftsman and Colonial Revival styles. A new kitchen and back porch have eased the transition to the 21st century.
Susan has found the Japanese maple of her dreams, and relocated it to her front yard so that she can view its perfection many times every day! "Acer palmatum Mikawa Yatsubusa." "Arguably one of the top three maples in the world today when it comes to bonsai." "Dwarf tree that when pruned has near perfect structure." "Rare and in demand." Jon, the seeds are ready to be harvested when they are brown, so as my photo shows you'll have to wait.
It's film festival time again In Winston-Salem, and the blog attempted to see an Irish film on Sunday evening. But it arrived too late to be seated, and accepted tickets to a Finnish film in compensation. Several scenes in Letters to Father Jacob have a backdrop of towering birch trees. Jon was reminded of Chekhov, and Susan was reminded of the trees at Horizons Park in Forsyth County last fall.
...and the blog is STILL walking and talking in Winston. The blog celebrates its first anniversary today. Devoted readers are urged to join the celebration by re-reading the April 19, 2009 entry. During the winter months the blog walked less than it should have, but its sense that it will never tire of exploring Winston-Salem remains undiminished. So many questions remain unanswered. For example, in a little strip of land behind Reynolda Church there are RUINS. What happened here, and when? Jon, it's time to get back to the cul de sacs!
All who know Erin are appropriately proud. Now Susan has someone to practice the secret handshake with. Phi Beta Kappa is one of those silly/meaningful academic things - in the end it's sort of cool to join a society founded December 5, 1776.
A comparison of a photograph from the Old Deerfield Burying Ground and Jon's set for Brother Brian, Sister Kathleen (Virtual Theatre Project, Gascon Theatre, Los Angeles) shows how childhood visits to historic sites leave an indelible mark...I need to consult the Wake Forest library's copy of Graven Images: New England Stonecarving and Its Symbols, 1650-1815 by Allan I. Ludwig. And I need to find a copy of North Fork Cemeteries by Clement Healy so that I can compare my memories of Long Island (particularly of Jamesport) with Jon's of Deerfield...
"Farewel Dear Babe, till we Do meet, Within the Gate of Zion's _________." Sweet? Street? I can't quite make out the last word of the inscription at the bottom of this grave marker. I am assuming that the first letter of the last word is long s.
It was Bee Day 2010 on Saturday (which means that the lab picked up about 20 lbs. of bees and 12 queen bees at Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in Moravian Falls, NC). Jon now has his own hive!
Jon has some things to say about18th century grave markers, but we have not had a moment to discuss them since we returned from New York. This is a foretaste of a posting to come.
This is one of Jon's photos from the blog's March trip to New York City. Any Philadelphian knows what a curbstone is, but the blog was unfamiliar with the term "curbstone brokers." The phrase was first used in Manhattan in the 1830s to refer to brokers who traded stocks on the street. Curbstone brokers often specialized in stocks of small or new companies, and traded using an elaborate system of hand gestures that enabled them to reliably transmit information from window to the street. The historic reference to outdoor trading persisted on Wall Street until 1953 (long after the action had moved indoors), when the New York Curb Exchange changed its name to the American Stock Exchange.
Dino Gaudio is out as Wake Forest men's basketball coach...he couldn't get his team to "value the ball," but there were many happy moments over the past couple of years. This photo is from this past season's overtime win over Xavier in the Skip Prosser game.
The iconic flowering tree of Winston-Salem in the spring is the weeping cherry. They are perennially included on "top 10" tree lists, including this top 10 list of flowering trees.
Jon could not come because he was working on the spring production of Moonchildren. Abe was in town after visiting grad schools in DC. Susan is developing an irrational affection for this little Blue Ridge town. She checked out a little bit of local history. The first wave of development came after the Civil War. The mountains were apparently regarded as safe, so Scotch and Irish settlers in the area sent their families into the hills while they went off to fight. Returning soldiers settled in the area, and the town was incorporated in 1889 when it reached a population of 300 people. There's been some growth since then - the population in 2008 was 1490!
...it's spring in Winston-Salem. Susan's camellias are presented here as evidence.
Overwork and technical difficulties knocked the blog off its feet, but it is back. This sign commemorates an undergraduate neuroscience conference Susan hosted with her colleague, Wayne Silver. She really liked the meeting logo until Jon told her that it looked like bird beaks. Thanks, Jon.
