I got some good news for my writing in the last couple of weeks that I’ve played close to the vest until one more thing happens, but over the weekend I’ve noticed that I’ve told enough people about it that I wanted to let my readers know the good news for them in what’s happening. more “There’s Good News For People Looking For More Writing From Me”
With Friday’s ruling from the US Supreme Court that made same-sex marriage the law of the land there has been a lot of blowback, with a lot of it saying they were either changing the definition of the word “marriage,” something that’s been with us since time began, and/or saying the Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman. Except as I heard the ongoing coverage this morning it got me to wondering about the etymology of the word “marriage.” And the more I look into it the more I realize that some of the claims about that word simply don’t hold water.
(Updated at 1350 ET to include the sources I used to write this, as I meant to do before I published it.)
Please note: I’m not looking at whether same-sex marriage is right or wrong. That’s a rabbit hole that I’m staying away from because of the passion on either side of the debate. I’m looking at the word itself and I hope we can have an adult, rational discussion on that level. more “Thinking about the word “marriage””
I’ve long been a listener of the NPR show Car Talk, and with the retirement of Tom and Ray Magliozzi I’ve become a regular listener of The Best of Car Talk on WBUR (the show’s home station). For those unfamiliar with the show, every week they start with Tom reading something funny that a listener sent in. This weekend’s show, however, was very different. Tom didn’t have anything to read this week and begged listeners to send him something to read.
more “Top Ten Reasons We May Need New Car Talk Shows”
The Saturday following Mother’s Day every year the Franklin Park Coalition, Boston Parks & Recreation and Boston Bikes host a Kite and Bike Festival and this year they were joined by Discovery Roxbury as hosts for this year’s fest on the Playstead in Franklin Park. It was the second year on the Playstead after moving to the Shattuck Picnic Grounds on the Resting Place while the Playstead field got refurbished.
Full Disclosure: I filled my phone’s storage room taking these pictures. As I was trying to remove pictures I knew I wasn’t going to use I accidentally deleted all the images by mistake. I was able to retrieve copies of my pictures, but they were smaller than the original images and lost the notes I had included in the filenames. For some of the images I also lost some of the very bottom of a few pictures and had to crop it off. All of the images are the usual size I post here, but this time the source images I started with weren’t the full size images I prefer to work with. I decided I’d rather post the pictures with an explanation than not post the pictures at all.
more “TestPics: 2015 Franklin Park Coalition Kite and Bike Fest”
Earlier this year I posted four possible logos to use both here on my site and on my books and asked for comments. The gist was to try to get my initials digitized since that’s what I was wanting to do and try again. I’ve finally gotten a new version for you to see.
more “I have an updated possible logo for my books. What do you think of it?”
Back in December and January I took over 50 pictures on Scarboro Hill (some were duplicated over different trips) but due to a combination of tech issues and time shortages I wasn’t able to post them yet. I plan on taking new pictures soon, but I want to ask if I should post the old pictures or just take new ones.
more “[Poll] Should I post Scarboro Hill pictures from January?”
I use Smashwords to distribute my ebooks, but there’s always been one store that’s been missing: Google’s Play Store. After several requests to Smashwords about the problem with no response, I went ahead and put my ebooks on the Play Store myself. more “My books are now in the Google Play Store”
When I got to my local branch of the Boston Public Library last Thursday I found out the IT folks were updating all of the laptops available for loan. I go to the library every day and the first thing I do each day is to get one of their laptops to work on. When the techs were done updating the laptops I found I could no longer mount my external hard drive, which is something I had been surprised to be able to do in the first place. My external drive was formatted for my old Linux laptop and needs special drivers to be mounted on Windows computers like the library has available for patrons to use. Not being able to install the drivers essentially destroyed my daily workflow because I can no longer access any of the files I used every day to get things done online. I’m still trying to figure out how much I can and can’t do, but if it weren’t for the WiFi-only Android phone a friend is letting me use I wouldn’t even be able to take new pictures, let alone post them.
When I walked out the door Sunday morning, 19 April, I wasn’t planning on taking any new pictures, partly because I don’t have a memory card for the phone so I’m usually short on space for new pictures. As I was heading to the clubhouse for Franklin Park’s William J. Devine Golf Course to use the free WiFi to check my email, I took the turn off Circuit Drive/Jewish War Veterans Drive to go to Schoolmaster Hill, only planning to see how things looked now that all the snow has melted.
When I finally left the Schoolmaster Hill Terrace to go to the clubhouse there were 26 new pictures on my phone. As I started writing this post I realized I had missed taking some pictures so I went back yesterday and took five more pictures.
Just a note before the jump: Most people refer to the area as simply “Schoolmaster Hill,” but I found out the original name is “Schoolmaster Hill Terrace” so that’s the name I’m going to use most of the time. I’ve also found there are other names for the Forest Hills Corner and the hill where the Wilderness Scenic Overlook so I’ll be going back in the next week to update the posts to show the proper names of the sites.
If you walk into Franklin Park via the Williams Street entrance you’re in my favorite part of the park. You’re in the Wilderness, Frederick Law Olmsted’s replication of a typical New England woodland (despite the blacktop on the path) with a forest to explore on your left and a stream on your right, with two benches for you to sit on to take a pause if you’ve been walking a while or even just to sit on and enjoy the area. Of course, you also have the Ellicott Arch as the path cuts under Jewish War Veterans Drive, but right after the benches you will find a path cut off to the right. Christine Poff of the Franklin Park Coalition tells me the historic maps call it Juniper Hill, but she calls it Forest Hills Corner so that’s what I call it.
These pictures were taken on 4 April 2015, shortly before a combination of a warm stretch and some rain got rid of just about all the rest of the snow that Mom Nature dropped on Boston during our record setting winter.
(The screenshot on the right was taken in the free version of MyTrails, the Android app that I use to track my walks through Franklin Park, as well as to note where I take some of my pictures. The placemark on the right of Jewish War Veterans Drive is where I take pictures of the white oak in Ellicottdale, and the one above it is the Wilderness Overlook where I took the first TestPics. .)
From what I was told last evening my surgery went well and quite to my surprise I am, in fact, happy my arm is in a sling.
https://instagram.com/p/0bQpYmJvDw/
more “It’s the day after my surgery, and my left hand is still attached”