Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art One-half Banana Stems

Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art One-half Banana Stems - www.kevindayhoff.com Address: PO Box 124, Westminster MD 21158 410-259-6403 kevindayhoff@gmail.com Runner, writer, artist, fire & police chaplain Mindless ramblings of a runner, journalist & artist: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, technology, music, culture, opera... National & International politics www.kevindayhoff.net For community: www.kevindayhoff.org For art, technology, writing, & travel: www.kevindayhoff.com

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Elton John News: Farewell Guy Babylon (December 20, 1956 – September 2, 2009)

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Guy Babylon, from New Windsor, long-term keyboardist for Elton John has passed away Wednesday evening, September 2, 2009 http://explorecarroll.com/obituaries/3374/babylon/ http://tinyurl.com/n264f5

Picture credit: http://www.eltonjohnitaly.com/guybabylon.html Retrieved September 13, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/nlprpu

Guy Babylon, from New Windsor, long-term keyboardist for Elton John has passed away Wednesday evening, September 2, 2009 http://explorecarroll.com/obituaries/3374/babylon/ http://tinyurl.com/n264f5

Picture credit: http://www.eltonjohnitaly.com/guybabylon.html Retrieved September 13, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/nlprpu
September 3, 2009 By Kevin Dayhoff http://www.explorecarroll.com/ http://tinyurl.com/n264f5

Guy Babylon, 52, died Wednesday evening, September 2, 2009, in Los Angeles, California, according to family sources and Elton John’s official website.

He was born on December 20, 1956, in New Windsor, the son of Graham and Mary Babylon, owners of the Babylon Vault Company, a Carroll County business that has manufactured burial vaults since 1930.

After he attended Francis Scott Key High School he earned his BFA in music composition from the University of South Florida.

Read more: http://explorecarroll.com/obituaries/3374/babylon/

Click here for another image of Guy Babylon: http://twitpic.com/geb34

See also: Farewell Guy Babylon (December 20, 1956 – September 2, 2009)

http://eltonjohnnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/farewell-guy-babylon-december-20-1956.html

Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
http://twitpic.com/geb34 Guy Babylon pic: http://tinyurl.com/lfgjvl longterm Elton John keyboardist has died http://tinyurl.com/kuyrrz

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/09/guy-babylon-from-new-windsor-long-term.html http://tinyurl.com/kuyrrz
For pictures and more information: http://twitpic.com/hkleo; and http://twitpic.com/geb34. Elton John News: Farewell Guy Babylon (December 20, 1956 – September 2, 2009)http://eltonjohnnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/farewell-guy-babylon-december-20-1956.html

http://twitpic.com/geb34 GBabylon http://tinyurl.com/ktz857 piccred http://tinyurl.com/nlprpu EltonJohn keybrd http://tinyurl.com/mo7pds

GBabylon http://tinyurl.com/ktz857 EltonJohn keybrd http://tinyurl.com/mo7pds http://twitpic.com/geb34

http://twitpic.com/geb34

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/09/elton-john-news-farewell-guy-babylon.html http://tinyurl.com/ktz857

sdosm 20090913
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My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Recent Explore Carroll columns by Kevin Dayhoff

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Recent Explore Carroll columns by Kevin Dayhoff

http://www.explorecarroll.com/

http://explorecarroll.com/search/more.php?f=news&y=0&p=1&s=Dayhoff

search home results for "Dayhoff" 1-10 of 138 articles
Dayhoff Media Explore Carroll, Dayhoff writing essays, Newspapers Explore Carroll

http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2009/09/recent-explore-carroll-columns-by-kevin.html

President Eisenhower shared Carroll County's love of farming
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3371/eaglearchive/
Published September 6, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... regarding Finksburg with the Carroll County Genealogical Society and the Carroll County Historical Society. When he is not roaming around Gettysburg, Kevin Dayhoff may reached at kevindayhoff AT gmail.com or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/. ...

Guy Babylon of New Windsor, long-term keyboardist for Elton John
http://explorecarroll.com/obituaries/3374/babylon/
Published September 4, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
Guy Babylon, 52, died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, Calif., according to family sources and Elton John’s official website.He was born on December 20, 1956, in New Windsor, the son of Graham and Mary Babylon, owners of the Babylon Vault Company, a ... ...

Spiritual and historical pilgrimage to the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3333/spiritual-historical-pilgrimage-seton-shrine-emmitsburg/
Published August 30, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... for a spiritually moving and truly meaningful experience. For more information go to setonshrine.org. When he is not on the road exploring local history, Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/...

Dayhoff: Mythologizing the great unwashed self-importance of Woodstock
http://explorecarroll.com/opinion/3356/woodstock/
Published August 27, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... Me, I was moved to watch a lot of the Food Channel.When he is not listening to Jimi Hendrix, Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/...

Appetite for history and cuisine both satisfied in Union Bridge
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3324/eaglearchive/
Published August 23, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... Inn. Just tell them a "well-rounded" writer and artist from Westminster sent you. When he is not eating, Kevin Dayhoff is asleep. Nevertheless, he may be reached at ... , or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net. ...

Shriver remembered for Special Olympics and also for a connection to Carroll
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3295/shriver/
Published August 16, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... ; and the mother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, it is through the Special Olympics that she will live on through the ages. Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

Not a great president, but Harding sure was a busy guy
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3258/not-great-president-but-harding-sure-was-busy-guy/
Published August 9, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... his death was caused by a heart attack, triggered by complications of exhaustion. Gee, I wonder why? When he's not feeling sorry for Mrs. Harding, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

Dr. Ira Zepp, 79, McDaniel College and Westminster civil rights leader, dies
http://explorecarroll.com/news/3252/zeppobit/
Published August 4, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
The Rev. Dr. Ira Gilbert Zepp Jr., professor emeritus of the religious studies department at McDaniel College, died peacefully at his home on Aug. 1. He was 79.In a memorial tribute by McDaniel College president Joan Develin Coley, she recalled that Dr. ... ...

Charles Carroll influenced world view of 'Democracy in America'
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3240/cedayhoff0802/
Published August 2, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... Maybe we inherited it from our namesake. Or maybe we've just read enough of "Democracy in America." When he's not channeling Charles Carroll, Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

High winds in Sykesville might not be a twister
http://explorecarroll.com/news/3230/cestorm0727/
Published July 27, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Eldersburg Eagle
SYKESVILLE — Strong winds whipped through Carroll County’s rolling hills Sunday evening was enough to cause damage to homes, but the National Weather Service says that it did not appear to be a tornado.The storm downed trees and power lines, damaged cars ... ...

Lighting the faces of children, and a dark day for taxation
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3217/lighting-faces-children-dark-day-taxation/
Published July 26, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... of state and national government, we may be feeling "very blue over the outcome" for many years. When he is not feeling blue over taxes, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at ... , or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net. ...

Hoby Wolf advocates for things the county has already done
http://explorecarroll.com/news/3224/celaxtonletter0726/
Published July 26, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... on this project.They have. On Feb. 26, 2007, Commissioner Michael Zimmer visited Harford County's facility (along with Eagle columnist Kevin Dayhoff.) Then, the board traveled to York, Pa., on April 30, 2007, to view that operation. They have also been to ... ...

Westminster council meeting details city improvements and comprehensive plan
http://explorecarroll.com/news/3228/westtownmeet/
Published July 25, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... for the annual Christmas parade.With that, council president Damian Halstad gaveled the meeting to a close and folks quickly paraded out the door.Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/...

Jackson's death created a wave of empathy in Westminster
http://explorecarroll.com/opinion/3144/jacksons-death-created-wave-empathy-westminster/
Published July 19, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... our citizens on hearing the mournful intelligence of Jackson's death ..." When he is not listening to the music of the "Jackson 5," Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at ... , or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

Hampstead man arrested for setting Greens Apartments fire
http://explorecarroll.com/news/3125/cearsonarrest0713/
Published July 13, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... s damage is estimated at $450,000, according to fire marshals.Kevin Dayhoff contributed to this report....

DAYHOFF: 11th Air Cavalry Troop memorial recalls service of Carroll natives
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3120/11th-air-cavalry-troop-memorial-recalls-service-carroll-natives/
Published July 11, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... to help honor these men and their families, as well those others named on the memorial who paid so dearly in the service of their community and nation. Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... , or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

Bringing Corbit's Charge, and Douglass, back to Westminster
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3099/bringing-corbits-charge-douglass-back-westminster/
Published July 5, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... for his age," Crutcher responded that Douglass has "rested a lot" over the years. When he's not traveling back in time to the 1800s, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

DAYHOFF: Margaret Mitchell wrote what she knew; the rest is gone with the wind
http://explorecarroll.com/opinion/3087/dayhoff-margaret-mitchell-wrote-what-she-knew-rest-gone-with-wind/
Published July 2, 2009 by Westminster Eagle
... And that is all I know for right now. Hope you and your family have a great Fourth of July weekend.Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

Westminster was all abuzz for the great fly roundup of 1914
http://explorecarroll.com/community/3071/westminster-was-all-abuzz-great-fly-roundup-1914/
Published June 28, 2009 by Carroll Eagle
... reminds me that it was Groucho Marx who once said, "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." When he is not swatting flies, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at ... or visit him at http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/....

DAYHOFF: Hoffa Field and the Sheathing of the Sword
http://explorecarroll.com/opinion/3058/dayhoff-hoffa-field-sheathing-sword/
Published June 23, 2009 by Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle
... . Lightner and the June 1922 American Sentinel newspaper article have left us with an extensive and fascinating account of the “The Sheathing of the Sword.”Kevin Dayhoff may reached at ... or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net....

20090912 sdosm Recent Explore Carroll columns by KED

Also see: Recent Explore Carroll most read http://tinyurl.com/pd3kyp

http://explorecarroll.com/most/

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/09/recent-explore-carroll-most-read.html



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Recent Explore Carroll most read

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Recent Explore Carroll most read

most read: http://explorecarroll.com/most/
Dayhoff Media Explore Carroll, Newspapers Explore Carroll

http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2009/09/recent-explore-carroll-most-read.html

Ecker says he'll retire after 2009-10 school year
Posted: September 10th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle, Eldersburg Eagle, Westminster Eagle

Guy Babylon of New Windsor, long-term keyboardist for Elton John
Posted: September 4th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle

Spiritual and historical pilgrimage to the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg
Posted: August 30th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle, Westminster Eagle

Sykesville officer injured at terrorist-themed party
Posted: September 8th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle, Eldersburg Eagle

Freedom Optimists host sock hop Sept. 11
Posted: September 7th, 2009 in Eldersburg Eagle

Bypass turning into Hampstead speedway
Posted: August 14th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle

County road maintenance hardest hit by state cuts
Posted: September 6th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle, Eldersburg Eagle, Westminster Eagle

High School Football: Young Guns
Posted: September 6th, 2009 in Eldersburg Eagle

President Eisenhower shared Carroll County's love of farming
Posted: September 6th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle

HOBY: Tidbits of ire, from the county airport to my own 'holding pattern'
Posted: September 6th, 2009 in Carroll Eagle, Eldersburg Eagle

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff

Recent Explore Carroll most read: http://explorecarroll.com/most/

20090912 sdosm Recent Explore Carroll most read


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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Ghosts in The Alley

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Ghosts in The Alley

September 5, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/hijcb

20090905 The Alley (2)b

http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/2009/09/ghosts-in-alley.html http://tinyurl.com/p28yor

http://twitpic.com/hijcb Ghosts in The Alley http://tinyurl.com/p28yor
Recent columns in The Tentacle http://tinyurl.com/8vjaaq by Kevin Dayhoff http://tinyurl.com/m3466e

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Some people feel the rain

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Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.

For a larger image click here: http://twitpic.com/hi8yg

20090911 Some people feel the rain

20090911 SummerRain (4)d

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/09/some-people-feel-rain.html http://tinyurl.com/qpmoe8

http://twitpic.com/hi8yg Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet. http://tinyurl.com/qpmoe8
Dayhoff Art, Dayhoff Daily Photoblog, Dayhoff photos, Dayhoff photos rain, Dayhoff photos Westminster, Dayhoff photoshop, Weather rain
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Friday, September 11, 2009

Spiritual and historical pilgrimage to the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg

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Spiritual and historical pilgrimage to the Seton Shrine in Emmitsburg

http://explorecarroll.com/community/3333/spiritual-historical-pilgrimage-seton-shrine-emmitsburg/ http://tinyurl.com/la5yjf

Eagle Archives By Kevin Dayhoff Posted 8/30/09 (489 words)

(Enlarge) EAGLE ARCHIVE

Last Sunday my family and I went on a history exploration trip to nearby Emmitsburg to visit the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

We are fortunate in Carroll County to have so many great places to visit nearby.

This summer, instead of a big vacation, we opted to spend our time -- and money -- close to home to the benefit of our local economy.

Day trips may be as simple as exploring the history of a local town or traveling to national and international destinations -- such as the Gettysburg or Antietam Civil War battlefields, or the Eisenhower National Historic Farm, also in Gettysburg.

Other great history excursions here in Carroll include the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Shriver Homestead, in Union Mills, the Historical Society of Carroll County, in Westminster, and the Strawbridge Shrine -- birthplace of American Methodism -- also in New Windsor.

Because Carroll has such a large Catholic population, many folks are familiar with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, or simply Mother Seton as she is more often referred to locally.

For those who are not: Mother Seton is the first native-born U.S. citizen to be named a saint. She was canonized by Pope Paul VI on Sept. 14, 1975.

For everyone who has benefited from a Catholic school education, Mother Seton is the spiritual founder of Catholic school education in the United States,

Of course, for television trivia aficionados, the plot of the old television show starring Sally Field, "The Flying Nun," centered on a fictional nun who belonged to Mother Seton's order. The show even contained an occasional reference to Emmitsburg.

Read the entire column here: http://explorecarroll.com/community/3333/spiritual-historical-pilgrimage-seton-shrine-emmitsburg/

20090830 SCE Spiritual historical pilgrimage to Seton Shrine sceked
Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/hak44

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Never Forget

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college

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I spent time over the Labor Day holiday with family members who work at the West Point United States Military Academy. They are quite proud that “Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college.” See this article in “Inside the Army” News…http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/08/07/25619-forbes-ranks-west-point-as-nations-top-college/ Show more results from www.army.mil

I had taken note of the Forbes’ accolades a month ago, yet figure it deserves yet additional attention…

Kevin Dayhoff September 10, 2009

Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college

Aug 7, 2009

By USMA Public Affairs

WEST POINT, N.Y. (Army News Service, Aug. 7, 200) - A report released Wednesday by Forbes magazine ranked the U.S. Military Academy as the top college in the country in their America's Best College review.

"Marked by an intense work ethic and drive to succeed on all fronts, the West Point undergraduate experience also allows graduates to leave without a penny of tuition loans to repay," Forbes stated in its release.

In the Forbes rating, West Point outpaced other highly-ranked schools such as Princeton (#2), Cal Tech (#3), Harvard (#5) and the U.S. Air Force Academy (#7).

"All of us at West Point are very proud that Forbes has rated us as the number-one college in the nation," said Brig. Gen. Patrick Finnegan, dean of the Academic Board at West Point. "This ranking recognizes the exceptionally high quality of a West Point education. It is always exciting to be validated by independent organizations."

[…]

West Point was founded in 1802 as America's first college of engineering. Its mission remains constant: to educate, train, and inspire cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of duty, honor, country and prepared for a career of service to the nation as an officer in the U.S. Army.

To see the complete college rankings go to www.forbes.com.

Read more here: Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college

20090807 Forbes ranks West Point as nations top college

Click here for other posts on Soundtrack about: Military Army United States Military Academy (USMA) West Point

20070711 "90 seconds" or click on http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/07/20070711-90-seconds.html

Click here: 20070610 The United States Military Academy at West Point for a number of pictures from my recent visit to West Point… or click here: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2007/07/20070610-united-states-military-academy.html

Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff

http://twitpic.com/h6cvq Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college http://tinyurl.com/mmeygc

http://twitpic.com/h6cvq - Forbes ranks West Point as nation's top college http://tinyurl.com/mmeygc

http://twitpic.com/h424s - Joan Didion “Her prose is her servant” http://tinyurl.com/le6r5e1 minute ago from TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/gxqc0 - Dec 11 2006 The family at “Le déjeuner des canotiers” Renoir 1881 http://tinyurl.com/kw3glb2 minutes ago from TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/gvupg - An ebullient porch http://tinyurl.com/kw3glb3 minutes ago from TwitPic

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Joan Didion “Her prose is her servant”

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Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/h424s

Joan Didion “Her prose is her servant” http://tinyurl.com/le6r5e

Technically, Didion is immaculate and original. As early as 1963, literary critic Guy Davenport could say, "Her prose is her servant" (371). She understands grammar as a source of "infinite power":

To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.... The arrangement of the words matters, and the arrangement you want can be found in the picture in your mind.... The picture tells you how to arrange the words and the arrangement of the words tells you, or tells me, what's going on in the picture. (Didion 1986, 7)

“If I could believe that going to a barricade would affect man's fate in the slightest I would go to that barricade, and quite often I wish that I could, but it would be less than honest to say that I expect to happen upon such a happy ending” Joan Didion, Morning, After the Sixties 1979 p208

From “Joan Didion” by Sandra Braman
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~despey/didion.htm
Retrieved September 9, 2009
20090909 nd Joan Didion by Sandra Braman
http://twitpic.com/h424s Joan Didion “Her prose is her servant” http://tinyurl.com/le6r5e

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/09/joan-didion-her-prose-is-her-servant.html http://tinyurl.com/le6r5e
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The Historical Society of Carroll Co Antiques Appraisal Day is coming

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"Something's coming, something good!"

The Historical Society's

9th Annual Antiques Appraisal Day




Saturday, September 12, 2009 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
American Legion, Carroll Post 31
2 Sycamore Street at Green, Westminster, MD
Expert appraisers offer verbal estimates of value
$20 for the first item $10 for the second item
$5 for the third item
[Limit of three items per participant]
Our own version of the popular Antiques Road Show but with
· Comfortable seating for you with a table for your items
· Shorter wait times
· Good fellowship
· Lunch available from the Legion's Ladies' Auxilary
· Perhaps some happy surprises on the value of your own hidden treasure
See below for our appraisers and sponsors
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL US AT 410-848-6494

APPRAISERS

Aloysia C. (Nini) Hamalainen, ISA, AM, ASEA
Montgomery Appraisal Group
Olney, Maryland
Fine & Decorative Arts, Furniture, Dolls & Toys, Pottery, Porcelain, Rare Books & Ephemera

Lyndi McNulty
Gizmos Art
Westminster, Maryland
Paintings, Prints, Primitives, Toys, Glassware, Brass & Tin, Antique Automobiles

Michael Merrill
Michael A. Merrill, Inc.
Timonium, Maryland
Coins, Silver, Watches

Todd Peenstra
Peenstra Antique Appraisals
Annapolis, Maryland
Fine & Decorative Arts, Furniture, Silver, Glass, Ceramics, Toys, Musical Instruments

Kim Prehn
Unique Jewelry
Westminster, Maryland
Jewelry

Bob Riley courtesy of Gizmo's Art
Westminster, MD
Rugs

N. Kenzie Smith
N. Kenzie Smith & Sons, Inc.
Frederick, Maryland
Clocks

Fred Winer, ISA, CAPP
Parting with Possessions, Inc.
Towson, Maryland
Fine Art, Toys, Coins, Antiques & Decorative Arts

Gold Sponsors:
BB&T
Herman Construction
Lehigh Cement
New Windsor State Bank
Tevis Oil/Modern Comfort Systems
WTTR Radio

Silver Sponsors:
Carroll Community College
M&T Bank
Bronze Sponsors:
Airpark Animal Hospital
Antrim 1844
MSK Partners
PNC Bank
Sundance Consulting Services

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Monday, September 07, 2009

An ebullient porch

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September 5, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff

It was the evening before the annual Sunday family get-together over the Labor Day weekend. The sun had gone down and a slight breeze cooled the broad expanses of the old wrap-around porch that so functionally adorned the centenarian three-story shingle-style merchants’ home.

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/gvupg


Earlier the porch had the scene of kind and matronly aunts, sisters, and grandma scurrying about as they prepared with great anticipation.

They had all retired to the kitchen where they continued planning and preparing.

As I sat upon the porch my thoughts drifted about like the clouds. I’ve been told artists dream of castles in the clouds, writers live in them and psychologists are the landlords that charge rent.

At my advanced age, I’m comfortable with the concept that my cloud is my castle and I own it and I’m too tight to pay rent.

Although fall is just around the corner, the katydids and the crickets are still out in force in a cacophonous chorus of southern gothic musings and it is still hot enough to remind even the oblivious that Maryland still has one foot in the old south.

I thought of the title of the 1989 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, “The Remains of the Day.” The novel is about post-war Britain. The main character considers his past and is forced to come to terms with the gravity of the sacrifices he has made in the name of duty.

The plot, at the moment, is not why my mind wonders to the novel. It is the title, “The Remains of the Day,” which refers to a quiet evening when a person takes time to reflect the day's work.

It could also reflect pondering being older and looking back to take a tally of life work. In the novel, “The Remains of the Day” is also a metaphor for the last vestiges of England’s grand homes – and its waning position as a global power.

Although I was pre-occupied with the theme “porch,” my thoughts did not include the 1991 grunge tune, “Porch,” by Pearl Jam. I’m not sure I ever understood the song: “All the bills go by, and Initiatives are taken up, By the middle, there aint gonna be any middle any more, And the cross Im bearing home, Aint indicative of my place, Left the porch…”

Whatever.

It’s Labor Day weekend, a throwback to an ebullient era in the United States when one’s labor was the meaning of the person.

I am reminded that the porch – and the home – were built around 1910 at the end of what the local historian Chris Weeks called an “enthusiastic” period in Westminster, from about 1865 to 1910. He wrote in his 1978 architectural reference book, The Building of Westminster,” that it was an era when Westminster and “the entire nation was reveling in itself and its accomplishments…

“The city was beginning to attract heavy industry; there was a marked shift in population and economics…

“The citizens and their fathers had created a town in the middle of nowhere by using nothing but their own will and work…”

Mr. Weeks cites an excerpt of an address by Dr. J. W. Herring, at the Semi-centennial Rally in Carroll County on April 11, 1887:

“This ebullient era was neatly and succinctly summed up in an address by Dr. J. W. Herring… some of the Doctor's remarks are pertinent and valuable today:

‘Prominent, as we think, among the sources of the prosperity which followed [the settling of the county], and perhaps underlying them all, was the conservative disposition of the people…

‘Labor is not only honorable, but it is the legitimate and necessary law of our being… They [the early settlers] exhibited in large degree the virtue of self-reliance, without which no success can come, either to an individual or to a nation…

‘The prosperity which has marked our country's history and which we enjoy today is in great part due to the fact that our fathers depended upon themselves. They did not believe in the doctrine of 'delegated powers' as it represents one's own business.

‘And in this there is the suggestion of a valuable lesson… To produce, and not alone to consume, is the teaching which political economy would impress...’”

Whether our great nation still revels with pride in the values illuminated by Dr. Hering is for you to decide and the stuff of another musing for another time.

For now, as I sat on the porch in the dark, I daydreamed about my childhood days – - and the reclusive and enigmatic childhood friend of Truman Capote, Harper Lee.

Ms. Lee was born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama.

She is best known for her one and only book, which just happened to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” published in 1960, when she was 34 years old.

Earlier in the day, as I watched a cable news program, I kept wondering what Ms. Lee’s character, Charles Baker “Dill” Harris, would think of the caustic commentary about the breaking news momentary meaninglessness of today.

If you will recall “Dill,” who was based on Ms. Lee’s childhood neighbor, Truman Capote, was “Jem” and “Scout’s” summer friend, with an enormous imagination.

Dill - the porch - is my summer friend.

For those who have studied “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Dill represents the perspective of childhood innocence.

Some will argue that “Mockingbird,” like me, is an anachronism. I suggest that much of her commentary about the machinations of our contemporary society is just as relevant today – just different.

Nevertheless, for those of us who wallow in the loss of innocence five decades later, it is still a sin to kill a mockingbird.

In recent years, the summer months have almost been just as busy as the rest of year. Gone are the lazy southern Carroll County summers. However, growing up in Carroll County in the 1950s and 60s, lazy summer days were the opportunity to sit around and read and write all day.

From those long-gone lazy days, I usually associate “Mockingbird” with short stories like Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” “Rain” by William Somerset Maugham and “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth – and why I’m still traumatized by the word spatula – except when Rachel Ray says it on her cooking show.

I think of the film “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” by Robert Altman – of whom I was initially introduced to when he directed a number of episodes of “Bonanza.”

“McCabe” introduced me to Leonard Cohen – and later his song “Famous Blue Raincoat.” Remember: “It’s four in the morning, the end of December. I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better…”

I think of Carole King’s “It’s too late,” and Carly Simon’s “That’s The Way I Always Heard It Should Be” – “My father sits at night with no lights on. His cigarette glows in the dark…”

It was over forty years ago in the summer of 1967 that I first heard the song, “Ode to Billy Joe,” by Bobbie Gentry on WCAO on the AM dial of the car radio.

Remember, that was when we first learned from “Mama” that the nice young preacher, Brother Taylor “said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge. And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge.”

It was also in this time period that I became firmly hooked on the existential - “Southern Gothic” genre of storytelling.

Examples of authors of the Southern gothic genre of writing include William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Truman Capote, and Harper Lee.

Tennessee Williams once described the genre as stories that reflect “an intuition of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience.”

The stories these writers tell are fascinating as often they involve aspects of unexplained historical events, enigmatic dialogue, and inexplicable characters.

But it is the other prominent theme of the Southern gothic story that comes to mind these days in the cavalier manner in which folks today will often engage in character assassination in the pursuit of a particular agenda.

It is the particularly disturbing dynamic that much like contemporary commentary, the southern gothic tale peels away the layers of indifference that contemporary society shows towards our fellow human beings – or in the case of “Ode to Billy Joe,” the loss of life.

In the song the family of the narrator nonchalantly mentions the gentleman’s death: “Billy Joe never had a lick of sense/ pass the biscuits, please.”

Of course the narrator of the story cares: “Mama said to me, Child, what's happened to your appetite? I've been cookin’ all morning and you haven't touched a single bite.”

Other than that, they may as well been having a dinner conversation about the weather.

One wonders what it would be like to have the likes of a Margaret Mitchell breeze her way across the porch and strike up a conversation.

According to a website devoted to the now-historic site where she lived on Peachtree Street in Atlanta Georgia, when she wrote the book, “Gone With the Wind,” Mitchell was born in Atlanta on November 8, 1900. Just like me, as a child, she was fascinated by Civil War stories.

The website biography explains that Mitchell was an “imaginative girl (who) wrote, produced, and directed plays, casting her friends, and inviting the neighborhood to the porch performances.”

It seems that Mitchell was a bit of a “free spirit,” who “scandalized Atlanta society by performing a provocative dance at a debutante ball. Two years later the headstrong flapper married Berrien “Red” Upshaw… a bootlegger…

“Financial pressures led her to begin writing for the Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine where she earned $25 per week. Their stormy marriage ended in divorce in 1924. Within a year she married John Marsh… an editor at the paper.”

Perhaps it may have been fun to imagine her visit during her “free spirit” days. If I were allow myself a brief farbissiner aside; it would be so refreshing to see Westminster being scandalized in some manner that does not involve narcissistically utilizing the cracked mirror by which much of the town now views its navel, in the name of progress.

Tomorrow – Sunday - will remind me of the scene on the balcony, or porch, if you will, of the Maison Fournaise along the Seine River in Chatou, France as painted in the 1881 classic painting, “Le déjeuner des canotiers,” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Of course, Caroline, Grammy and I once had a had a fête galante attending the “Luncheon of the Boating Party” with friends of Pierre Auguste Renoir on a balcony of the Maison Fournaise along the Seine River in Chatou, France in 1881.

http://twitpic.com/gxqc0

We went with Aline Charigot, a young seamstress, whom Mr. Renoir married in 1890. She is in the foreground of the above image playing with a small dog.

Behind Kevin in the yellow hat is Alphonse Fournaise Jr., who was responsible for the boat rentals. The woman leaning on the rail, wearing the yellow hat is Alphonsine Fournaise, the daughter of the proprietor.

She is talking with a gentleman, whom we cannot see, who is the former mayor of Saigon, Baron Raoul Barbier. Later he hit on Caroline. Not to worry, Caroline has had enough of mayors, she likes artists and writers.

Seated in the chair with the yellow hat in the right-foreground, is fellow artist and close friend Gustave Caillebotte who is talking with Angèle, an actress, in the blue dress, and Maggiolo, an Italian journalist.

I did talk with him some later. He also likes semi-colons. From right to left across the back is Jeanne Samary, an actress. She is wearing the blue dress and is behind Maggilo.

Hitting on Ms. Samary is the artist Paul Lhote and Eugène Pierre Lestringez, who is some sort of bureaucrat. All the way in the back, wearing the top hat is the editor of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Charles Ephrussi.

Editors are pretty cool and he was fun to talk with later. Here, he is talking with Jules Laforgue, wearing a brown coat and cap. He is a poet, critic, and Mr. Ephrussi’s personal secretary.

The dialogue tomorrow will be a collaboration of Tom Stoppard and Robert Altman and will, in part involve aspects of unexplained historical events, enigmatic dialogue, and inexplicable characters. The only thing missing will be the frilly – and manly – hats.

Maybe next year we could ask folks to wear hats… They go well with an ebullient porch. ( I also want to invite Anthony Bourdain – he won’t need an invite or a reservation.)

20090905 ked pubver An ebullient porch

Annual Labor Day, Art Artists Renoir, Babylon Family, Babylon Family Willis St, Dayhoff Daily Photoblog, Dayhoff photos, Dayhoff writing essays, Journalists Bourdain Anthony

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http://twitpic.com/gvupg An ebullient porch http://tinyurl.com/kw3glb

http://twitpic.com/gvupg An ebullient porch http://tinyurl.com/m26znx

http://twitpic.com/gxqc0 Dec 11 2006 The family at “Le déjeuner des canotiers” Renoir 1881 http://tinyurl.com/kw3glb

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*****

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