Ready for the Holidays!

It's just Halloween but already Macy's has the spectacular holiday light show almost fully installed and ready.

Happy Halloween!

Our neighbor Melissa has a nice pumpkin display on her steps.

Germantown Garden

Dan took these photos of the garden at Grumblethorp, an 18th century house in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Excellent Movie: HBO's "Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight"

If you subscribe to HBO...watch this excellent movie about the U.S. Supreme Court case surrounding Muhammad Ali's conscientious objector status.

Trailer

Historic Germantown, PA House Tour

On Tuesday we visited three historic 18th century houses in the Germantown section of Phialdelphia. Germantown used to be separate in the 18th century, but was probably incorporated into the city in the 19th century. It's full of wonderful colonial and Victorian houses, but much of the area (until Chestnut Hill) is run down. For Mornings Out, member Paul Jablonsky organized a tour. The houses themselves were very interesting--Stenton was the oldest, built in 1730, and it was out in the countryside. James Logan (who they named Logan Square after, etc) was one of the wealthiest men in the city, friend to Bejamin Franklin, etc. Part of the house was public--as he also ran a business there--and parts were private. There was a big porch in the back, for the servants, including the slaves. One of the slaves saved the house in the Revolutionary War, by lying to British officers. The family erected a metal plaque in her honor. After the first house on the tour, Paul talked about Gernantown. (He lives there.) Then we all drove to the second house, Grumblethorpe. This was owned by the Wister family, who were Quakers. It's all red brick and some of the furnishings are colonial, others Victorian. There's a big garden in the back that local school kids help keep up. The Quakers had a dilemna: they were supposed to live simply, but the ones whose homes we saw had much money, and so also often nice furniture and other belongings, like silver and china. The third house, Wyck, was owned by a different branch of the Wistar family. The last few occupants, before the house was turned into a museum, were old maiden aunts who saved everything. This house was complete with toys (for nieces, etc), medicine bottles, tons of china, sewn 'samplers' on the walls and paintings from different eras. Wick was originally two separate houses, joined in an ingenious way by the great architect William Stickland in the 1840s or so. He put adjoining doors that open up to form a long hallway through this narrow big, white house. - Dan Evans

Bradley On The Island

Bradley enjoyed his walks on Fire Island this past weekend during house closing.

Autumn In The Pond

This pond is located at the west end of the Fire Island Pines.

Asleep Until Spring

Liberty Bell cottage on Fire Island is closed until April.

October Glorys

I planted these morning glorys on our deck in Cherry Grove in the Spring. They grew all summer but never bloomed...until October!

Fall On Fire Island

Friday afternoon Bradley and I went for a long walk. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon.

Neighboorhood Pumpkin Art

This nicely carved pumpkin sits on a stoop in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia where we live in wintertime.

Medical Tests

Time for my annual echocardiogram and chat with my cardiologist...this time at Temple University hospital where he overseas the department.

Counter-protesters Outnumber Skinheads At Philly Hate Rally

Members of the Keystone State Skinheads were far outnumbered by counter-protesters at their Leif Erickson Day celebration yesterday in Fairmount Park.

Kids In Dresses Counter-protest Skinheads

Some of the counter-protesters making a point about gender at yesterday's white supremacist rally held in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.

Ugh! Skinheads & Nazis

Philadelphia area skinheads and neo-nazis are rallying today in Fairmount Park...Bradley and I are with the counter demonstrators.

Butternut Squash & Pumpkin Soup

Gotta love fall soups! This one I had on York, PA on Wednesday evening.

Views Of York, PA

Early evening pre-sunset downtown and spooky decorations at York's Bistro 19 bar and restaurant.

Nutcase Tea Party Republicans Should Form Their Own Political Party

Listening to far right talk radio blowhards Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity after the Republican capitulation on the shutdown, you have to wonder why they seemingly harbor a death wish for the Republican Party. In an interview, Sarah Palin told Hannity that like minded tea party fanatics may need to form a third party. Sounds like a good idea to me. It would be a positive development for anyone who thinks that our political system is best served by having two rational political parties. The nut cases should have their own fringe party. That would guarantee that they would be marginalized and therefore be unable to do further harm to the country. Conservative NY Times columnist Ross Douthat is angry at the Cruz tea party coalition:

However you slice and dice the history, the strategery, and the underlying issues, the decision to live with a government shutdown for an extended period of time — inflicting modest-but-real harm on the economy, needlessly disrupting the lives and paychecks of many thousands of hardworking people, and further tarnishing the Republican Party’s already not-exactly-shiny image — in pursuit of obviously, obviously unattainable goals was not a normal political blunder by a normally-functioning political party. It was an irresponsible, dysfunctional and deeply pointless act, carried out by a party that on the evidence of the last few weeks shouldn’t be trusted with the management of a banana stand, let alone the House of Representatives.

York, Pa. Fall Toy Train Meet

Enjoying seeing some friends and looking at toy trains.

At Lincoln Center and Midtown On Sunday

There is a nice display of sculpture in the plaza at Lincoln Center. The photo of Dan was taken at Japan East restaurant on 55th street, one of our favorite eateries in New York City.

Road Trip: NYC Ballet

On the train headed to the big apple.

Hotel Carpaccio, Venice

Located on the Grand Canal...we stayed there in 1989.

Another Early Holiday Display

At Macy's Philadelphia.

Downtown Day

At Macy's Starbucks in the Wanamaker building in Philly.

Reading Terminal Market

My grandparents took me here when I was a child. They liked to shop at the Amish food stands that are still there to this day.

With Friends At Doma Japanese Restaurant

On Saturday after the HD opera performance we had a tasty dinner and a delightful time with our friends Rick and Mark at Doma restaurant in Philadelphia.

At The Met Opera HD Broadcast of Eugene Onegin

With friends Mark and Rick.

Beautiful Corsica

Photo by Dan, August 2013...the Prunelli Gorges area of Corsica.

Great Free Concerts!

Every day, twice a day, there are free 45 minute concerts at Macy's downtown Philadelphia store featuring the magnificent Wanamaker organ. Usually there are a handful of devoted fans present to applaud the organist. But I'm always surprised that there are not more people at these concerts. The sounds that this instrument emits are truly glorious.

Signs of an Early Holiday Season Start

The display department at Macy's downtown Philadelphia store has a jump start on the decorations for the holidays.

First Downtown Day of Fall

Enjoying the fabulous Wanamaker organ free lunchtime concert from a comfortable seat in Macy's women's shoe department.