All Hallows Eve

I hope everyone is enjoying their Halloween. My plans for this evening consist of drinking beer and handing out candy. This weekend we've got Sam Adams Irish Red and Spaten Oktoberfest in the fridge. I gotta say, the Sam Adams Irish Red makes Killians look like child's play; it's GOOD! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the All Hallows Eve and All Saint's Day holidays (if you celebrate them, that is). I have a feeling this will be a very laid back weekend.

The Frailty of Man

I was shocked today when I saw the story about Rick Beard's firing from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Though I have never spoken with Mr. Beard one on one, I have sat in on panel sessions he has conducted at a number of professional meetings over the past few years. His reputation as a historian is very good, and he has had, by all accounts, a stellar career in the museum field. He has held high-profile positions at several equally high-profile museums such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Atlanta History Center, and the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, just to name a few. It is sad to see such an exemplary career end in such a strange, yet pedestrian manner. It would be nice to think that Mr. Beard will be found innocent of these infractions, but that won't salvage what has already been lost. If these allegations are true, I hope that Mr. Beard can get the help that he obviously needs. This just seems like one of those "I never saw that coming" moments.

Updates

It doesn't seem like a week has passed since my last post. We had a great time at the New Bern Ghost Walk last weekend. Though our skit got a bit tedious when the groups were bunched closely together, we got through it and it was very enjoyable. We also enjoyed some time for fellowship amongst the crew members who attended, which is always nice.

I received a little unexpected gift in the mail today - a complementary copy of the new Dram Tree Books title Potter's Raid: The Union Cavalry's Boldest Expedition in Eastern North Carolina by David A. Norris. Thanks to the author and publisher, Jack Fryar for that copy!

I have also been asked to write another review for the Nautical Research Journal on the new biography of Gustavas Vasa Fox by Ari Hoogenboom. Also, in case I didn't mention it, I am awaiting the receipt of Hugh Rankin's The North Carolina Continentals to review for another journal.

It looks like I have a lot of reading to do between now and year's end. The week of Thanksgiving and the two weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year's will probably find me holed up in my library at the house, listening to music, enjoying my coffee, smoking my pipe, and doing lots of reading. Sounds like some perfect winter days ahead!

Ghost Walk this Weekend

Our merry little band, or at least a few of us, will be playing ghosts this weekend at the New Bern Ghost Walk. Friday and Saturday night, we will be portraying the crew of the famous NC privateer Snap Dragon. Captain Otway Burns was the ship's skipper, and was the most successful privateer from the Old North State during the War of 1812. Though Burns was from Beaufort, he recruited crew members in New Bern. We will be doing a brief skit portraying an auction of captured goods, while townspeople jeer and call us pirates. A narrator will give each tour group a brief history of privateering during the War of 1812, Otway Burns and his ship, and a description of the items possibly being auctioned. This will be the first time I get to wear my brand new 1812 duds, so I'm excited. Unit members Ken and Pam Sewell are graciously hosting us in their New Bern home. It should be a fun weekend.

Anniversary

Five years ago today, Lori and I were married in the ruins of St. Philip's Anglican Church at Brunswick Town-Fort Anderson State Historic Site. It was a perfect day, with beautiful weather and the church ruins were decorated with fall flowers and pumpkins. The guest list was small (not more than 25-30 family and close friends). A college friend of mine who became a Lutheran minister performed the ceremony, and my best man was Dr. Chris Fonvielle.Since Lori has a policy of not allowing me to post her photo on the blog, here's a photo of Chris Fonvielle and me on the wedding day

As I was looking at my Mariner's Book of Days this afternoon, I found that we share this anniversary. On this day in 1851, Herman Melville's Moby Dick was first published.

Heading to Alamance Tomorrow

Tomorrow afternoon I will load up the van with all my 18th century living history gear and head out to Burlington, NC. I will be assisting Alamance Battleground with their Colonial Living Week event on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This is a week-long event during which the site hosts about 1,500 local school children and home schoolers. Having only two full-time staff members at the site means that they need lots of help to do this program. I will set up a colonial sailor display for the three days I am there, as well as helping with artillery demonstrations. My shipmate Mike Williams will be joining me on Monday, so it should be a good time.

Small Accomplishment

Take a look at the What I'm Currently Reading section on the right hand side of the page and you'll see some updates. I gave up on finishing the Gordon Wood book; I've got so many other books in the hopper that I'll never get around to finishing it. I did finally finish Patriot Pirates this evening. It is well worth the read, though my one complaint is the organization of the book. It skips around a lot, but if you stick with it the book is pretty good. Once I finish the Gordon McKinney biography of Zeb Vance I'll put up a new list in the Currently Reading section. Be on the lookout because I hope to finish that book by the end of next week.

Another Addition to the Blogroll

Check out another new addition, North Carolina Miscellany. This one is run out of the North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill and features a variety of posts about all things North Carolina, from football rivalries to Jesse Helms. Lots of interesting stuff to look at here.

Two New Blogs on the Blogroll

I wanted to say a bit about two blogs I added to the list this afternoon. World Changing 101 is a blog by David Lamotte and Christine Kane's blog is linked from her website. David and Christine are both very talented musicians/singer-songwriters. I first became familiar with both of them in the summers of 1994 and 1995 when I worked at Montreat Conference Center, near Asheville, NC. I suppose both would be considered folk artists, though their talents run much deeper. Though I've never met Christine personally, I have seen her perform. Luckily, I was able to get to know David a bit better, have seen him perform many times, and have many friends and acquaintances in common with him. I realize their blogs are outside of my normal realm of history and sports related stuff, but I think they are worthy for the blogroll nonetheless. I have every CD David has recorded, but I need to catch up with Christine as I've not picked up her last three or four. Their music is great and all of their songs have meaning. It certainly isn't your normal radio air play stuff, but it's well worth a listen.

Weekly Quote

From the Mariner's Book of Days:

Can anyone in five minutes' inspection of a boat weigh the various merits of a thousand and one odd thoughts that go into a design? ~S.S. Rabl

Back from the Mountains

We returned from the mountains this afternoon, after a pretty good trip. Yesterday's plans for hiking and disc golf went by the wayside early, as Lori opted for shopping and eating instead. There are plenty of great places to do both in Black Mountain. I hit up one of my favorite spots, Black Mountain Books, after seeing a copy of my buddy Bert Dunkerly's book, The Battle of King's Mountain: Eyewitness Accounts in the window. I don't always find something I want in Black Mountain Books, but on this day I bought not only Bert's book, but two relative classics as well, Nearby History by David Kyvig and Myron Marty, and The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840 by Jack Larkin. Speaking of book stores, I also had a chance to visit The Captain's Bookshelf in downtown Asheville. This is one of my all-time favorite used book stores, though I rarely buy anything there. The prices are usually a bit out of my range, but it's a lot of fun to browse at this place.

There are a ton of good places to eat in the Asheville area, but we did all of our dining in Black Mountain. With the variety available there, you have a good bit to pick from. My Father's Pizza is a simple Italian place with great pizza and stromboli, plus a number of traditional pasta dishes and a decent beer list. No trip to Black Mountain is complete for us if we don't eat some German food at the Berliner Kindl, which has a great beer selection and fairly extensive menu, not to mention a deli featuring German meats, cheeses, and other goodies. Camino's is a fairly new Tex-Mex/southwestern style restaurant and we enjoyed our first visit there. There are a number of other restaurants, coffee shops, and a couple of bars in town as well.

We did manage to get in some disc golf on the return trip today. We stopped in Burlington and played the Wellspring course at Cedarock Park. There are two courses at this park, Wellspring and Cedarock. Wellspring is a wooded course, with short, but fairly tight holes. Cedarock is a "grip it and rip it" type of a course, wide open, but long (and I mean long) holes. I don't care for wooded courses that are too tight, but Wellspring ended up being pretty fun. I hit two of the longest shots I've ever made today, one from about 60 feet and another from approximately 150 feet. I was pretty stoked about that.

So the brief vacation/anniversary trip is over. Tomorrow its back to work, but I enjoyed the weekend and Lori did too. We are planning another trip to the mountains for Christmas. We are going to take my stepdaughter and do the Biltmore thing, and whatever else strikes us.

Weekend Getaway

I am in the mountains. Black Mountain to be exact. Thursday night Lori decided this was a good weekend for a getaway. Our 5th anniversary is in two weeks and we were planning on coming up here then, but with the stepdaughter headed to her dad's house in Wilmington this weekend Lori decided it was now or never. So while she was taking the kid to school yesterday I was making last minute hotel reservations and packing. The leaves haven't really started turning yet, but that's OK, it's still very nice up here. Last night we strolled around downtown Black Mountain, which is a great little town if you've never been here. We had a fabulous dinner at the Berliner Kindl German cafe here in town. Today it's more downtown strolling (mainly to take a gander in the used book store and eat at My Father's Pizza) plus a bit of hiking and playing a disc golf course in Asheville. Tonight we'll eat at the Stoney Knob Cafe, a great Mediterranean restaurant. It's definitely an action packed trip, so I better get ready for the day's activities.

Reunion Tour

Great news! The jam band Phish is reuniting for at least a few shows. I've seen them twice (back in my grad school days), both times at Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh. They put on a hell of a show!

Deskbound for Now

Well, it appears that my traveling days may be over for awhile. Our outgoing governor has called for all Departments to cut their budgets by 2%. This may not sound like much, but a vast majority of our department's budget is tied up in salaries so cuts have to come from other sources. Probably the hardest hit area of our budget is travel. I'm awaiting word on a number of trips I had scheduled and fear that they may all, or nearly all, be cut. I have plenty to do around the office, but I have to admit that I feel like a bird whose wings have been clipped.