Click either image for much larger (and prettier) versions. Photos taken with iPhone 5s Sunday afternoon.
Yesterday’s Photos
Top 100
Joe Posnanski continues his eclectic, anecdotal, wonderful profiles of baseball’s Top 100.
March 23rd
Handel’s oratorio Messiah premiered in London on this date in 1743.
On this date in 1775, Patrick Henry spoke to the Second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church, Richmond. The last paragraph:
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace–but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Lewis and Clark began their return from the Pacific on this date in 1806.
the rained Seased and it became fair about Meridean, at which time we loaded our Canoes & at 1 P. M. left Fort Clatsop on our homeward bound journey. at this place we had wintered and remained from the 7th of Decr. 1805 to this day and have lived as well as we had any right to expect, and we can Say that we were never one day without 3 meals of Some kind a day either pore Elk meat or roots, not withstanding the repeeted fall of rain which has fallen almost Constantly Since we passed the long narrows on the [blank] of Novr. last
Excerpt by Clark from the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
It Ought to Be a Holiday
Sweetie Reidie is 8 today. Below his NMK birth announcement.
Grandpa has a brand new Sweetie today — Reid Fisher, third son of Jill and Byron. Reid and Fisher are both fifth generation family names.
The little guy was two weeks early, but weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces, and is 19 inches long. He and his mother are both doing fine.
Photo taken about three hours after Reid’s birth.
Each of the six of Grandpa’s Sweeties have, oddly enough, been born on days of the month that are prime numbers: 7, 13, 13, 19, 23 and 31. Thought you’d want to know.
Of course, born since is grandchild seven, Sweetie Sam, now 3, born on an unprime 25.
And a newer photo of Reid, taken one week ago.
24 Teams Left
Little Bighorn Battlefield Montana
… was designated a national monument on this date in 1946.
This area memorializes the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indians last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, died fighting several thousand Lakota, and Cheyenne warriors.
More than half of the 7th Cavalry survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn. About 350 soldiers under the command of Major Reno and Captian Benteen survived five miles south of where Custer and five companies were annihilated.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn did not end on top of Last Stand Hill as been traditionally suggusted. According to warrior accounts the fight ended in a ravine, 300-400 yards below the hill today, known as Deep Ravine.
The Gospel of Awesome
This post is from four years ago today. I thought it was awesome.
At The Book Bench at The New Yorker Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn lists some of her favorite awesome moments from The Book of Awesome:
-When cashiers open up new checkout lanes at the grocery store.
-Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row.
-Bakery air.
-Waking up before your alarm clock and realizing you’ve got lots of sleep time left.
-The smell of crayons.
-Finally remembering a word that’s been on the tip of your tongue for so long.
-Putting potato chips on a sandwich.
-When you nudge the person snoring next to you and it makes them stop.
-The shampoo head massage you sometimes get at the hairdresser.
-Moving up a shoe size when you’re a kid.
-The smell of books.
What would you add?
March 22nd
Stephen Sondheim is 84 today. Sondheim has an Oscar, Tonys, Grammys and a Pulitzer. I’d be happy having written just one of his lyrics, “Send in the Clowns” for example, but there are “I Feel Pretty,” “Maria,” and “Tonight” just to name three from West Side Story.
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is 66. Webber has an Oscar, Tonys, Grammys and a knighthood. Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera. Webber composed the music; Sir Tim Rice was the lyricist.
Wolf Blitzer is 66.
Bob Costas is 62.
Reese Witherspoon is 38. William Shatner is 83.
And Edith Grossman is 78. Grossman is the translator of Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, Spaniard Julián Ríos, Cuban-Puerto Rican Mayra Montero, and all of Colombian Gabriel García Márquez’s books. She has also translated Don Quixote, still considered by many the greatest novel ever.
Then a Latin American writer whom she translated, Julián Ríos, told her: “Don’t be afraid. Translate it the way you translate everybody else because he’s the most modern writer we have.” And besides, she realized, “Don Quixote is not essentially a puzzle for academics, a repository of Renaissance usage, a historical monument, or a text for the classroom. It is a work of literature.” And so she went to work on it.
Brackets
There were eight “upsets” among the 32 games Thursday and Friday in the NCAA Tournament.
Among the 16 teams seeded 1 through 4, only Duke, a 3-seed, lost.
Three 5-seeds lost (Cincinnati, Oklahoma and VCU), two 6-seeds (Ohio State and Massachusetts), one 7 (New Mexico), and one 8, though that’s barely an upset (and wasn’t a surprise at all in this case, Pittsburgh over Colorado).
March 21st
Benito Pablo Juárez García was born on this date in 1806. Juárez was five times President of Mexico, the first indigenous national to serve. He was a reformer, resisted the French occupation in 1865 and is considered one of Mexico’s great political leaders.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, on this date in 1685. “Music…should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamor and ranting.”
A Tale of Two Freds
“Fred Phelps, the hatemonger who picketed Mr. Rogers’ funeral, died on Mr. Rogers’ birthday.”
A Good Rant
“How does CNN expect to be taken seriously when they’re running on a ‘report first, ask later’ strategy?”
Please Explain to Me
Why today is not a national holiday.
Fred McFeely Rogers was born 86 years ago today.
Today is also the birthday of —
… of Carl Reiner. He’s 92. From the Encyclopedia of Television:
Carl Reiner is one of the few true Renaissance persons of 20th-century mass media. Known primarily for his work as creator, writer and producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show–one of a handful of classic sitcoms by which others are measured–Reiner has also made his mark as a comedian, actor, novelist, and film director.
Reiner is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/carlreiner.
… of Barney Miller, who’s 83. That’s Hal Linden.
… of Hockey hall-of-famer Bobby Orr, 66.
… of four-time Oscar nominee William Hurt, 64. He won best actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Two-time Oscar nominee Shelton Lee is 57. His mother called him Spike.
Holly Hunter is 56. Miss Hunter has been nominated for an Academy Award four times, twice for best actress and twice for supporting actress. She won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Piano in 1993. She has also won Emmys for Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom and Roe vs. Wade.
Best Line from Three Years Ago
“Life is like a maze – you turn left, you turn right and just when you think you’ve found the right way, there’s Jack Nicholson with an axe.”
Navajo National Monument (Arizona)
… was proclaimed on March 20, 1909.
Navajo National Monument preserves three intact cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people. A visitor center, museum, three short self-guided trails, two small campgrounds, and a picnic area provide service to travelers.
Descendants of the Hopi people who built these places are called Hisatsinom. Zuni, also pueblo builders, know that several of their clans began in this area. Later, San Juan Southern Paiute, famous for their baskets, moved into this area and lived near the cliff dwellings. Today, this place is surrounded by the Navajo Nation, as it has been for hundreds of years.
Yosef
Today is the feast day for Saint Joseph, the second J in the JMJ I put at the top of endless assignments, quizzes and tests through 10 years of Catholic schools.
Yosef — the name Joseph would have heard during his life — appears only in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
(Yeshua is how Jesus would have been known — in the Greek of the New Testament it became Iesous, or Jesus in English. Miriam was Mary’s name in life — Μαριάμ in Greek, Mary in English.)
Matthew, Chapter 1, 18-25:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Luke, Chapter 1, 26-36:
… [T]he angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.
Luke, Chapter 2, 1-7:
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Church hold, however, that Joseph was a widower and that he and Mary never had marital relations; Jesus’ Biblical siblings were children of Joseph and his wife Salome, or cousins of Jesus. This is based on a document from around A.D. 120, the Protoevangelium of James. Mary had been dedicated to the Lord of the Temple as a 12-year-old. That is, she was a nun. The much older Joseph was appointed her protector.
8. … And when she was twelve years old there was held a council of the priests, saying: Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with her, lest perchance she defile the sanctuary of the Lord? And they said to the high priest: You stand by the altar of the Lord; go in, and pray concerning her; and whatever the Lord shall manifest unto you, that also will we do. And the high priest went in, taking the robe with the twelve bells into the holy of holies; and he prayed concerning her. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by him, saying unto him: Zacharias, Zacharias, go out and assemble the widowers of the people, and let them bring each his rod; and to whomsoever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall she be. And the heralds went out through all the circuit of Judæa, and the trumpet of the Lord sounded, and all ran.
9. And Joseph, throwing away his axe, went out to meet them; and when they had assembled, they went away to the high priest, taking with them their rods. And he, taking the rods of all of them, entered into the temple, and prayed; and having ended his prayer, he took the rods and came out, and gave them to them: but there was no sign in them, and Joseph took his rod last; and, behold, a dove came out of the rod, and flew upon Joseph’s head. And the priest said to Joseph, You have been chosen by lot to take into your keeping the virgin of the Lord. But Joseph refused, saying: I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl. I am afraid lest I become a laughing-stock to the sons of Israel. And the priest said to Joseph: Fear the Lord your God, and remember what the Lord did to Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah; how the earth opened, and they were swallowed up on account of their contradiction. And now fear, O Joseph, lest the same things happen in your house. And Joseph was afraid, and took her into his keeping. And Joseph said to Mary: Behold, I have received you from the temple of the Lord; and now I leave you in my house, and go away to build my buildings, and I shall come to you. The Lord will protect you.
13. And she was in her sixth month; and, behold, Joseph came back from his building, and, entering into his house, he discovered that she was big with child. And he smote his face, and threw himself on the ground upon the sackcloth, and wept bitterly, saying: With what face shall I look upon the Lord my God? And what prayer shall I make about this maiden? Because I received her a virgin out of the temple of the Lord, and I have not watched over her. Who is it that has hunted me down? Who has done this evil thing in my house, and defiled the virgin? … And Joseph stood up from the sackcloth, and called Mary, and said to her: O you who hast been cared for by God, why have you done this and forgotten the Lord your God? Why have you brought low your soul, you that wast brought up in the holy of holies, and that received food from the hand of an angel? And she wept bitterly, saying: I am innocent, and have known no man. And Joseph said to her: Whence then is that which is in your womb? And she said: As the Lord my God lives, I do not know whence it is to me.
Equinox
The first Equinox of 2014 is tomorrow, March 20th, at 10:57 AM Mountain Daylight Time.
Turn Your Clocks Back 96 Years
Congress approved Daylight Saving Time on this date in 1918.
La Posada
I’ve been through Winslow, Arizona, many times and even stopped to eat there once or twice. Somehow until just a few years ago I missed the existence of the La Posada Hotel and The Turquoise Room and Martini Bar, it’s exceptional restaurant. They are a national treasure; a must see — at least a meal, better yet a stay.
Owned by the Santa Fe Railway, managed by Fred Harvey and designed by Mary Jane Colter, the preeminent Southwest architect — then and forever — the La Posada was the last and greatest of the railroad hotels. They estimate that it would take $40 million in today’s dollars to build the hotel and gardens that cost $2 million in 1929.
The hotel was open from 1930-1957 (and vacant for 40 years after that). Among guests were John Wayne, Bob Hope, Albert Einstein, the Crown Prince of Japan. It was that kind of hotel.
And it is beautiful again; so seemingly out of place that it was almost magical.
The food was terrific, the service delightful, with full Harvey Girl regalia.
Earl Warren
… was born in Los Angeles on this date in 1891.
Among the decisions the Supreme Court made under Warren as Chief Justice were those that:
- Outlawed school segregation.
- Enunciated the one-man, one-vote doctrine.
- Made most of the Bill of Rights binding on the states.
- Curbed wiretapping.
- Upheld the right to be secure against “unreasonable” searches and seizures.
- Buttressed the right to counsel.
- Underscored the right to a jury trial.
- Barred racial discrimination in voting, in marriage laws, in the use of public parks, airports and bus terminals and in housing sales and rentals.
- Extended the boundaries of free speech.
- Ruled out compulsory religious exercises in public schools.
- Restored freedom of foreign travel.
- Knocked out the application of both the Smith and the McCarran Acts–both designed to curb “subversive” activities.
- Held that Federal prisoners could sue the Government for injuries sustained in jail.
- Said that wages could not be garnished without a hearing.
- Liberalized residency requirements for welfare recipients.
- Sustained the right to disseminate and receive birth control information.
(Source: The New York Times)
Warren’s parents were born in Norway (father) and Sweden (mother). Elected governor of California three times (1942, 1946, 1950), Warren was so popular he won both the Democratic and Republican primaries in 1946. The darkest mark against Warren’s public service was the wartime internment of Japanese Americans.
President Eisenhower appointed Warren chief justice in 1953; he retired from the Court in 1969. NewMexiKen considers Warren the most significant historical figure I’ve ever seen in person (briefly at the 1964 New York World’s Fair) — and I’ve seen five presidents.
Homestead National Monument of America (Nebraska)
… was authorized on this date in 1936. The park includes the 160-acre claim filed by Daniel Freeman under The Homestead Act of 1862. It is one of five National Park Service Units in Nebraska.
It is the purpose of our government “to elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial burdens from all shoulders and to give everyone an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.” President Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861.
The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. By granting 160 acres of free land to claimants, it allowed nearly any man or woman a “fair chance.” Homestead National Monument of America, located in Southeast Nebraska, commemorates this Act and the far-reaching effects it had upon the landscape and people.
One of the first people to file a claim under the Homestead Act of 1862 was Daniel Freeman. The site of his claim is now the site of Homestead National Monument of America. This site commemorates the lives and accomplishments of all pioneers and the changes brought about by the Homestead Act. Legend has it that Daniel Freeman filed his claim 10 minutes after midnight at the Land Office in Brownville, NE on January 1, 1863, the first day the Homestead Act went into effect.
John Updike
… would have been 82 today (he died in 2009).
“A novelist, short-story writer, poet and critic, Updike is, to borrow a phrase he has used about others,’one of the chief glories of postwar American literature.'” The New York Times
In 2004 Updike wrote an essay about Thoreau’s Walden.
In a time of informational overload, of clamorously inane and ubiquitous electronic entertainment, and of a fraught, globally challenged, ever more demanding workplace, the urge to build a cabin in the woods and thus reform, simplify, and cleanse one’s life – “to front”, in Thoreau’s ringing verb, “only the essential facts of life” – remains strong. The holiday industry, so-called, thrives on it, and camper sales, and the weekend recourse to second homes in the northern forests or the western mountains, where the pollutions of industry and commerce are relatively light. “Simplify, simplify,” Walden advises, and we try, even though a 21st-century attainment of a rustic, elemental simplicity entails considerable complications of budget and transport.
In 1967 Updike was interviewed by The Paris Review.
Updike is a fluent talker, but obviously not a man who expects talk to bridge the distance between others and his inner life. Therefore, the final stage of this interview was his revision of the spoken comments to bring them into line with the style of his written answers. The result is a fabricated interview—in its modest way, a work of art, and thus appropriate to a man who believes that only art can track the nuances of experience.
Zion National Monument (Utah)
… was proclaimed on this date in 1918. It incorporated Mukuntuweap National Monument. On November 19, 1919, Zion National Monument became Zion National Park.
Massive canyon walls ascend toward a brilliant blue sky. To experience Zion, you need to walk among the towering cliffs, or challenge your courage in a small narrow canyon. These unique sandstone cliffs range in color from cream, to pink, to red. They could be described as sand castles crowning desert canyons.
Immutable yet ever changing, the cliffs of Zion stand resolute, a glowing presence in late day, a wild calm. Melodies of waters soothe desert-parched ears, streams twinkle over stone, wren song cascades from red rock cliffs, cottonwood leaves jitter on the breeze. But when lightning flashes water falls erupt from dry cliffs, and floods flash down waterless canyons exploding log jams, hurling boulders, croaking wild joyousness, and dancing stone and water and time. Zion is alive with movement, a river of life always here and always changing.
Everything in Zion takes life from the Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. Water flows, and solid rock melts into cliffs and towers. Landscape changes as canyons deepen to create forested highlands and lowland deserts. A ribbon of green marks the river’s course as diverse plants and animals take shelter and thrive in this canyon oasis. From the beginning people sought this place, this sanctuary in the desert’s dry reaches. The very name Zion, a Hebrew word for refuge, evokes its significance.
NewMexiKen photo, 2005. Click image for larger version.
March 18th
 Today is the birthdate of John Caldwell Calhoun, born March 18, 1782, in Abbeville, South Carolina. Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the United States, serving under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He was the 16th Secretary of State, serving President John Tyler. He was the 10th Secretary of War, serving President James Monroe. He was twice United States Senator. He was a U.S. Representative, 1811-1817. Early in his political career, Calhoun was a nationalist. After 1840, he was an ardent states-rightist. Slavery corrupted Calhoun every bit as much as it did the most brutal slave-trader or overseer. |
 Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, on this date in 1837. Cleveland was elected in 1884 and 1892. He also had the most popular votes in 1888, but as we know, the winner of the popular vote isn’t always elected. Cleveland was a pro-business Democrat, somewhat a reformer, known for his honesty. Republicans found that Cleveland had fathered a child outside of marriage while a lawyer in Buffalo, New York, a decade earlier. He was greeted with chants “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?” Cleveland admitted he had paid the woman child support (though whether he actually was the father is uncertain). After the election the chant became, “Ma, ma, where’s my pa? Gone to the White House, ha ha ha.” |
Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister known for his appeasement of Hitler before World War II, was born on March 18, 1869. Chamberlain, a Conservative, was prime minister from May 1937 to May 1940. He was succeeded by Winston Churchill. The concessions with Hitler were signed at Munich in September 1938. It permitted the German annexation of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland.
The actor Edward Everett Horton was born on March 18, 1886. Horton’s career lasted from 1906-1970. Primarily a supporting character actor, he was in many films with Fred Astaire. Horton was the narrator of “Fractured Fairy Tales” on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
Ernest Gallo was born on this date in 1909. With his brother Julio he founded the Gallo Winery in 1933 with $5,900. Ernest Gallo was a billionaire when he died in 2007. His wife of 62 years was Amelia Franzia.
Andy Granatelli would have been 91 today. Granatelli was a major player in auto racing and CEO of STP. He died in December.
Charlie Pride is 76. The country singer will appear in Albuquerque next month (Isleta).
Wilson Pickett would have been 73 today; he died in 2006.
Wilson Pickett brought the gruff, throaty power of his gospel-trained voice to bear on some of the most incendiary soul music of the Sixties. Some of his best work, including “In the Midnight Hour” and “634-5789,” was cut in the mid-Sixties at Stax studios in Memphis and released on Atlantic Records. Pickett also connected with the crew of house musicians at Muscle Shoals, where, beginning in 1966, he cut such memorable soul smashes as “Land of 1,000 Dances,” “Mustang Sally” and “Funky Broadway.” Pickett enjoyed a steady run of hits on Atlantic, leaving behind a legacy of some of the deepest, funkiest soul music ever to emerge from the South.
Pickett’s forceful style was nurtured in the Baptist choirs of his native Prattville, Alabama, and on the streets of Detroit, where he moved with his family as a teenager.
Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry’s is 63 today. Queen Latifah (Dana Elaine Owens) is 44.
Best Line of the Day by Someone Born on This Date
“Mankind has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars, and so on — while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.”
Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Adams was born on March 11, 1952. He died from a heart attack in 2001.