Brian Jay Jones's Blog, page 33

The One in Which I Win An Award…

I am thrilled to announce that I have been elected to receive the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence from the St. Nicholas Society of New York.  I'll be receiving the medal at the organization's Winter Stated Meeting in New York in early February.

It's a genuine honor to receive this award — past recipients include David McCullough and Ron Chernow — and the fact that the organization, and the award itself, are affiliated with Washington Irving makes it that much more special...

Drumroll, please…

Happy holidays!  I hope your holidays have been, and continue to be, all you hope for.  It's hard to believe there are only two days left in the first decade of the 2000s.  And like many who worry about such dumb things, I'm struggling with what to call the last ten years.  Is it the 'Aughts? The 'Oughts? The Zeros?  The Zilches?  Beats me.

Also, several months ago I mentioned that I had some neat news regarding Washington Irving that I would announce as soon as I could.  I now can — but I'll...

Dreams of St. Nicholas (and Santa's First Appearance in American Literature)

"And the sage Oloffe dreamed a dream–and lo, the good St. Nicholas came riding over the tops of the trees, in that self-same wagon wherein he brings yearly presents to children, and he descended hard by where the heroes of Communipaw had made their late repast. And he lit his pipe by the fire, and sat himself down and smoked . . . And when St. Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hat-band, and laying his finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van Kortlandt a very...

One For The Record Books…

Well played, meteorologists — you got one right.

A huge snowstorm whooshed through the DC area all day yesterday, dumping record amounts of the snow in the region, the largest December snowstorm in 70 years.  We woke up to snow flurries, which turned into a near-blizzard by late afternoon, and finally wore out as a nice gentle snowfall by 10 last night before petering out.  We ended up with about two feet of the stuff here in our corner of Maryland, and we spent most of our morning shoveling...

Incoming…

Well, wouldn't you know it.  The day after I bump down the snow pictures, the weathermen are telling us to brace for a big one here along the eastern seaboard. 

All right then.  On my way into work this morning, I stopped at Home Depot to restock my supply of ice melt (I picked up something called "Blizzard Wizard," as opposed to the salt I normally throw down.  We'll have to see how it does.) Despite the forecast, Home Depot was a ghost town, though they're obviously bracing for the rush, as...

Here's To You…

Sorry for the lack of updates lately — I've been plugging away to take care of some things for Project Blue Harvest. But I didn't want the snow pictures to be the most recent post on the blog, since a brief rain storm (and temperatures in the high 40s) washed most of the snow away.  Now it's just cold and dry, which makes for Great Fun and Games with Static Electricity.

With the holidays just around the corner, I can't vouch that I'll be checking in over the next week or so.  But if I don't...

Let It Snow, Let Snow, Let It Snow…

The first winter snowstorm strolled lazily through the area over the weekend, dumping about ten inches of wet, heavy stuff here in central Maryland.  The cold and wet combination was just right enough that the snow didn't stick to the roads — making it easy for Barb and I to clear the driveway by just pushing the snow to the side — yet still glued itself to nearly every surface. 

The snow was still coming down as I took this picture through our back window, where the crow's nest of the...

December 1, 1859: An Icon Is Laid To Rest

One hundred and fifty years ago today, American writer Washington Irving was laid to rest at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York. 

Irving had died at his home at Sunnyside three days earlier, felled by a heart attack on the evening of November 28, 1859, at the age of  76. News of his death traveled rapidly down the Hudson River, and was carried by the newly installed telegraph to newspapers across the country.  "Washington Irving is dead!" wrote the editors of the Milwaukee Sentinel. "Who is...

Making Magic: Hey Bulldog

As you know, I love looking behind the scenes at how people work.  What you'll see below isn't quite a making of video, nor is it a music video per se — but it's one of the few existing bits of color film showing the Beatles at work.  In this case, they're recording "Hey Bulldog," a  1968 song that was scotched as a potential single then shelved for The Beatles before finally appearing on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack in 1969. 

There's a strong group dynamic at play here– John Lennon and...

Institutional Memories: Robert C. Byrd

Earlier this week, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia became the all-time longest serving member of Congress, racking up 20,774 days —  that's 56 years, 320 days — that Byrd has been either a Congressman or Senator.  That makes him the Cal Ripken of Congress, and it's an impressive record, a testament not only to the 92-year-old Byrd's stamina and health, but to his unswerving commitment to the people of West Virginia, who thanked him by returning him to the Congress and the Senate...