My Advent Calendar Begins!

It's becoming a tradition, now... For anyone who is not familiar with the back story behind the tradition, please feel free to read this post.

Yesterday I was having a bad time concentrating on anything. Plagued by the blue devils. So I started listening to the classical podcast I have in iTunes. After a couple episodes, I serendipitously found one:

So I tried to listen to carols in between having a very difficult day. It would have been better if I could have listened to the whole thing without any interruptions, but I'll do that another time.

The podcast covers earlier Christmas music by the male choir "Lionheart." I really like it, but then I enjoy listening to medieval (i.e. historical) carols.

Historical Architecture in the Colonial Period - A Book Review

Where We Lived: Discovering the Places We Once Called Home by Jack Larkin

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


A fascinating picture of early houses and their regional characteristics. I've frequently been surprised by how humble the more common varieties were. Unfortunately, many of the houses mentioned in the text are unaccompanied by photographs, plans, or other images. The photographs that are included are invaluable to understand what these houses looked like, when a reader does not have the background to understand terminology such as "gables" and .

I would be interested to know how the American Indians fit into the landscape of early housing and architecture. Descriptions of slavery and slave quarters interesting - especially to note the careful line trod by the author when discussing the varying quality of slave quarters. I would also have enjoyed learning more about the distinctions between early English-style houses and other European styles.

Some of the photographs do not seem to be located on the most relevant pages - some photos of churches are placed on pages that discuss houses, instead of on those that discuss churches.

Overall this book was incredibly interesting and a very good resource for a beginner to learn about early colonial architecture. The images are fascinating and essential. The language was very accessible, though occasionally overly simplified. The quotes from travelers are well-integrated. I found them to be some of the most interesting sections in the book. Primary sources are invaluable in understanding "how things were." Furthermore, the author provides backgrounds, assumptions, and biases for the sources.

The Missing Link In Your Family Tree

If humans have souls, and if the lemur is an ancestor of humans, does that mean lemurs have souls?

Meet Ida. She's from Germany. You could be related.

I actually find this fascinating. Not that that's surprising in any way... Try this, to learn more about Ida's time period (she lived in the Eocene Era, apparently).

Philadelphia, Revisited

The truth is, I'm finally reading through my WaPo and NYTimes emails, and am coming across some very interesting articles in the WaPo travel section.

The second one comes mighty close - geographically and ideologically - to my recent trip to Philadelphia - while there, I visited Penn Manor, and the question of Quakers came up in a chat with one of my coworkers. It's also, might I add, related to this year's bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth (you know, the tall guy, with the tall hat and beard, who abolished slavery in the (just) United States).

Getaway to the Great Smoky Mountains

Is anyone else eager to get away for a weekend vacation? I know, I know, I just came back from L.A., and before that, Philadelphia, but this article here makes me want to get away again - more cheaply, this time.

A weekend getaway to the Great Smoky Mountains would roll several of my interests into one vacation: a bit of a road trip, wildlife, outdoors (particularly hiking) and history - I love the idea that visitors can just walk through peoples' former homes! Although it does feel a little intrusive, the article describes the remains of houses still in nearly the same condition in which they were left, 70-odd years ago. With the addition of a few more layers of dust and some decay, I'm sure.

And that's only one National Park.