Months ago, my wife and I planned a weekend trip to New York to visit friends. We made dinner reservations, bought theater tickets, and arranged breakfast and drinks (but not drinking breakfasts) with friends.
But we all know what happens to the best laid plans. The massive snow and ice storm sweeping across the country required us to adjust our plans.
It was too cold to wander through Brooklyn as we like to do - but fortunately we were able to get last minute tickets to the Monet in Venice exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. See it if you can, but it’s only around for a few more weeks.
Fortunately, our theater tickets were for Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Our choice of shows covered a wide range. Friday night we saw All Out, a comedy show featuring Sarah Silverman. Saturday we saw Carrie Coon in Bug, a conspiracy-laced thriller written by her husband Tracy Letts.
When the Saturday matinee ended, we beat it back to Moynihan Train Hall and headed south. We arrived home about thirty minutes before the snow started to fall. We woke up to a few inches of snow and ice - and have watched it continue to fall throughout the day.
It may not have been the trip we planned, but it turned out well considering the weather, and we felt fortunate to wake up to snow instead of spending the day traveling through it.
The scale of the protest yesterday in Minneapolis was seriously impressive.
New York City showed its support with its own protest and march in support of fellow citizens in Minnesota. Democracy - and engaged activism - is not dead yet!
Wandered in to Mr. Boddington’s Studio in Brooklyn and found inspiration. I’m feeling the strong pull of analog in an AI-driven world.
Forecasters and weather nerds are excitedly tuned in to the impending “weather event” due to sweep across southern US into the mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, Dani and are packing for a long-planned weekend in New York.
If this storm is as predicted, getting to New York will be no problem. Getting home… now that’s another matter.
It’s going to be an interesting few days.
Lovely song, lovely sentiment from Marc Scibilia:
Why do the best ones rest in unmarked graves?
Why do the good ones never find the never find the front page?
I can’t help but think if that’s the case
I’ll be lucky when I go if no one knows my name.
—No One Knows My Name
Coming in for a landing.
On this Martin Luther King Day in the U.S., the moral arc of the universe may be long, and it may bend toward justice, but it sure takes its time and gives you plenty of reason for doubt. Just got to keep keep the faith.
As John Lennon said, “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.”
Looking for a Second Chance?
Yesterday I slipped across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to have brunch in Baltimore’s fun and funky Hampden neighborhood. On the way out of town, I stopped in to explore Baltimore’s Second Chance store - a warehouse covering three city blocks filled with deconstructed building materials, donated furniture, statuary and masonry - just an incredible collection of the discarded looking for, well, a second chance.
Fans of The Wire will recognize this statue of Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore and first proprietor of Maryland. It was created for the show and would look great in your garden.
Other oddities and treasures are scattered through the enormous warehouse space. It may not be on a list of Baltimore tourist spots, but it’s definitely a place to explore, a place where every piece of inventory comes with its own backstory.
Thought for a Saturday: Om Malik on algorithmic-driven conformity.
Gotta hand it to my wife - she’s prepared for winter.
Two weeks in and 2026 already feels ten years old. The torrent of news is exhausting. So for this Thursday I’m going deep in my photo library to conjure a (warmer) more tranquil state of mind.
My 2026 mantra: Scroll less. Read more.
Heading west, moving slow.
I think I’ve lost the plot here. Now that the US is “running Venezuela,” are we invading Columbia, Mexico, Cuba, Iran, or Greenland next? Or is it like that movie, “Everything, Everywhere. All At Once.”?
“The past no longer is, the future is not yet here; There is only one moment in which life is available, and that is the present moment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Ed and Charles Bumgarter were already looking forward to the next 2-for-1 sale at Kohl’s.
Shall we call it “Fine Arts Friday?”
"Who Am I? Why Am I Here?"
This is how Vice Admiral James Stockdale introduced himself to America 34 years ago at the start of the 1992 vice presidential debate. He was on the ticket with third-party candidate H. Ross Perot, sharing the stage with Dan Quayle and Al Gore.
Stockdale had all the presence of a confused grandpa who’d wandered out of his assisted living facility. Late night comedians savaged him, and he became the subject of one of SNL’s most famous cold opens.
The thing is, Stockdale wasn’t a demented grandpa. He was an American hero.
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Sometimes a carrot is just a carrot.
Ruby at her post, enjoying the early morning winter sun.
