Book Review: Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 30 by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo Volume 30: Thieves and Spies by Stan Sakai, art assistance for "The Bride" by Jennifer Kagawa

More adventures from the rabbit ronin!

The Thief and the Kunoichi--Usagi gets in a Yojimbo situation when he winds up dealing with two female friends who oppose each other. The thief Kitsune robs a merchant's home late at night. At the same time, Chizu is also stealing from the merchant. They discover each other and try to fight silently. Well, Chizu, formerly of the Neko Ninja, wants to fight. Kitsune is a con artist by trade so she dodges. They eventually rouse the merchant's guards, forcing them to flee. They run into Usagi on the street, who get embroiled in the caper. He does not want to choose sides since he suspects both of them. The story is fun, with the usual twists and action.

The One-Armed Swordsman--Usagi runs into a one-armed swordsman who is ambushed outside of town by some robbers. The swordsman tells Usagi that he lost his hand to a sadistic opponent named Te who chopped it off after defeating the swordsman. He now wanders doing odd jobs as bodyguard for shadier characters. They part ways but have a reunion six months later, when they both happen upon a crowd gambling on sword fights. The main fighter is Te, so a showdown happens. The ending of the story is so good, this is definitely a favorite Usagi story for me.

The Distant Mountain--Usagi is leaving town when a huge retinue comes through in a rush. They carry a palanquin. Since they are traveling in his direction, Usagi trails along behind. The entourage is attacked by bandits. Usagi jumps in to help, though the result is the death of everyone but Yoshi, the entourage's leader. He tells Usagi that they are taking a valuable stone to Lord Akagawa, something that cost a quarter of his fortune. Usagi does not see how the stone is so special but joins Yoshi in his task. The story has a nice twist that makes it very satisfying.

Death of a Tea Master--An Iberian nobleman (who has no nobility) wants to experience all of Japanese culture. He beats a lord's samurai and demands as his reward to see a ritual suicide. Not just any suicide, but the death of a tea master who slighted him earlier. The lord reluctantly sticks to his word, though Usagi is in the area and gets pulled into the drama. This is another well-written, exciting adventure.

The Bride--Usagi runs across the carnage of a huge retinue with dead guards and bandits all over the place. He investigates the palanquin, finding a young woman who is traveling to a nearby city to be married. She is the daughter of a soy brewer. The brewer is marrying her off to another brewery family to consolidate the business. But she is not really in love. Usagi volunteers to guide her to her destination when the husband-to-be shows up. Complications ensue. At first, I thought this was going to be a rerun of "The Distant Mountain." But the story is quite different while still having a surprising twist at the end.

This is another great collection of stories.

Highly recommended.

Movie Review: The House on Haunted Hill (1959)

The House on Haunted Hill (1959) produced and directed by William Castle

Millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) invites five guests to a haunted house that he has rented for the night. The plan was his wife's (Carol Ohmart). She's his fourth wife, the previous three dying under mysterious circumstances. She's young and pretty and wants to inherit the millions, something Frederick is very aware of though hardly frightened by. She wanted it to be just him and her but he invited people desperate for money, offering them ten thousand dollars to survive the night. One guest, Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr.), is the owner. He explains all the horrible deaths that have happened in the house and all the spooks who will come after the guests. He also gets increasingly drunk as the night goes on. The rest of the guests fill out the stereotypical roster: brave-guy astronaut Lance (Richard Long), smart-guy psychiatrist Doctor David (Alan Marshall), socialite/reporter Ruth (Julie Mitchum), and screaming-pretty-young-thing Nora (Carolyn Craig). They go through a regular assortment of jump scares and creepy set pieces as the story winds its bloody way to a conclusion.

Director Castle was famous for his lower-budget but highly-theatrical fare. This movie involves a skeleton rising up out of a vat of acid in the wine cellar. Back in the original theatrical release, it was shown in "Emergo" with a plastic skeleton floating out from the curtains of the darkened theater at the appropriate moment. It's a fun house gimmick that fits the vibe of the film. While many elements are corny, the atmosphere does have some dread and the twists are satisfying. Price is great as always, with able support from Cook's slowly drunkening paranoiac and the rest of the cast, who take the show seriously enough to keep it from sinking into nothing but silliness and camp.

Recommended for a fun, spooky time that's not too heavy.

Cute Kid Pix June 2026

More photos that didn't make their own post...

My youngest had a field trip to Days End Farm Horse Rescue. It was a fun and informative visit. The school year was winding down, so the trip was not tied to any academic unit. One of the teachers volunteers there.

Brushing the horse

The other side

The first Sunday in June this year was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, known in Latin as Corpus Christi. Our church had a procession through town (which I missed) earlier in the week but there was still some decoration outside the church.

Corpus Christi graffiti

We saw an ad for a community chess day and decided to check it out. Our youngest is a fan and has gone to several chess summer camps. He had fun playing with adults and kids, though the kids were tougher opponents. 

Getting a board ready

For Father's Day, we went to Sapwood Cellars, where I tried their speciality beer Liquid Incantation, aged in whiskey barrels with dried and whole plums. It was a bit too sour for me. I also tried Golden Door, a wheat ale, that was much more satisfactory. The brewery has a taco-themed kitchen providing appetizers and meals. Their menu includes bison, so I had to try that. It was okay, nothing special, which surprised me.

Liquid Incantation and soft pretzel

Golden Door almost closed

President Lincoln's Cottage, D.C.

When President Abraham Lincoln first took office, outgoing President Buchanan made a recommendation to him. The federal government had recently purchased a home with a lot of land about two miles north of the District of Columbia's populated area. It was a nice retreat from the growing city and the very busy life of the president. Lincoln tucked that idea away in the back of his head. 

The house was built by the Riggs family, prominent bankers in the District. So even though it is referred to as a "cottage," the house was built to the highest standards and had enough bedrooms to accommodate the nine children in the Riggs family. In the 1850s, they sold it to the Federal Government, which planned to turn it into a soldiers' home for veterans of the Mexican American War. The first soldiers to arrive lived in the house but moved into a large dormitory constructed nearby on the grounds. The house was used by Buchanan as a summer White House and a place to get away from the heat (literal and metaphorical) of the city. The house is on a hill that overlooks downtown. From the back porch, people could see the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building being finished.

Lincoln brought his family to live there after their son Willy died, to get away from the attention. Mary Todd Lincoln was especially sensitive to the loss. They lived there for three summers (1862, 1863, 1864), hauling a lot of furniture and books from the White House so Lincoln could work and live comfortably there. He still commuted to the White House, about 35 minutes on horseback. Initially, he rode back and forth on his own until one day he came back to the cottage without his hat. When people asked about it, he said it wasn't important. Some soldiers went to investigate the path he took and found the hat with a bullet hole in it. They then insisted that Lincoln have an escort, which he would often try to dodge by leaving early. That commute was his only "alone time" to think and have a break from the pressures of being a war-time president and a grieving father. 

Now known as President Lincoln's Cottage, it was opened to the public in 2008. The buildings nearby still house military veterans (so the rest of the area is not open to visitors). An extensive cemetery, similar to Arlington National Cemetery, is nearby. When we visited on Juneteenth, we were able to park outside on the street. Getting in requires government photo ID since the veterans' part is off-limits. The visitor center and the cottage are not far from the entrance.

Fancy entrance

Visitors Center

Visitors can buy tickets to tour of the cottage at the center, if they haven't bought the tickets online previously. The building also has a gift shop and some exhibits about the Lincolns' life at the cottage. A nice mural is in the foyer.

Click to enlarge the mural

Looking at a 3D view from the time

The exhibit above has a 3D viewer that my children enjoyed. The write-up describes it as a type of View-Master. We had to explain to our children what a View-Master was. 

Portrait of the family after the death of Willy

The matriarch

The boys

A Lincoln statue

Informational signs explained Lincoln's relationship to the military, some of whom were camped at the cottage, partly for Lincoln's safety, partly for the veterans. He interacted with both groups, the young soldiers and the aged veterans.

With the troops

Map skills

When our tour time came, we gathered in a side room where the guide let us know the various rules about the cottage, including two chairs we could not sit in (too fragile). The house has plenty of other benches and furniture that we used. She also said we could not take pictures inside the cottage, so that's a bummer for the blog, more so for you, dear readers.

Some Lincoln quotes prepping us for the visit

The cottage was built in the Gothic Revival Style, with plenty of room for plenty of people. At one point, Secretary of War Stanton came and stayed with his family while the Lincolns were there. The home was a good spot for meetings where fewer prying eyes and spying ears could get information to print in the papers or to sell to the Confederates. 

The tour took us to various rooms, ending in the Lincolns' bedroom. That was where Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation. The furniture from the room is still in the White House (in the Lincoln bedroom, of course) though they recreated Lincoln's desk to display in the cottage bedroom. I was sorely tempted to take a photo but did not. I have bragged that I was in the Lincoln bedroom, however.

Front of the cottage

A door on a side wing

Connecting a wing

The back of the cottage

Back around by the front

Just across from the cottage is a life-size statue of Lincoln. He stood six-foot four-inches, still the tallest president of the United States. His hat was fourteen inches, adding another foot or so to his height. No wonder he's taller than the horse!

Lincoln statue

Nearby is a gazebo that was put in later but I thought it was nice, so I took a picture.

The tour guide said they get a lot of school visits but otherwise the cottage is not as popular as downtown sights. Hopefully they get more attention in the future! It is definitely worth visiting to get a more personal understanding of the Lincolns. And you could say you were in the Lincoln bedroom too!

Book Review: The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation by J. Hennessey et al.

The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation written by Jonathan Hennessey, art by Aaron McConnell, and lettering by Tom Orzechowski

Using the Gettysburg Address as a framework for telling the story of the American Civil War is the conceit governing this book. The premise intrigued me so I picked it up off the library shelf. The narrative starts off with a quick look at the horrors of the Civil War before zeroing in on the Gettysburg Address as an encapsulation of the major issues involved and as a signpost pointing both forward and backward in history. The narrative moves from the American War for Independence all the way into the middle of the twentieth century with the great successes of the Civil Rights Movement. 

But the book has a lot of problems.

 

The book establishes a false division between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Their claim is that the Declaration is full of philosophical “unionist” ideas that are different from the Constitution's concepts that the states contractually join a union that they can leave (the defense made by the "secessionists"). The book asks where did States Rights go in the Constitution, a question that implies that the Constitution is more "unionist" than the Declaration. The authors completely leave out the Bill of Rights, the tenth of which explicitly says "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The two documents are not in opposition. The Constitution is an outgrowth or a fruition of the Declaration of Independence, especially after the disastrous Articles of Confederation, which crafted a too weak federal government that clearly was not working. This book does talk about the Articles of Confederation but fails to draw the line between the Declaration and the Constitution that runs through the Articles.

The book also does a great disservice to Abraham Lincoln. They insist that he always harbored the idea that the slaves should be freed and sent to another country, their own country. He did consider this scheme but quickly rejected it as impractical and unjust. Also, after quoting Lincoln saying, "There is no reason in the world why the Negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence--the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," [p. 97] the authors claim that Lincoln thought of these as Civil Rights and did not want the former slaves to to have Political Rights, i.e. the right to vote, hold office, and serve on juries. The whole point of the Declaration is that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are rights held prior to, above, and beyond the political system under which people live. They are natural rights, not granted by a civil or a political body. Men and women possess these rights because of their basic humanity (just as the white men possess these rights). Lincoln clearly argues that a government denying these natural rights is wrong.

I liked the idea of this book but was very disappointed in the execution.

Not recommended.

Movie Review: Reagan (2024)

Reagan (2024) directed by Sean McNamara

This bio-pic of President Ronald Reagan (Dennis Quaid) covers his whole life, from small-town middle-America to the White House and beyond. The story is framed as the reminiscences of a modern-day former KGB agent (Jon Voigt) who tells one of his Russian juniors how the Soviet Union fell. Almost all the credit goes to Reagan, though they do mention contributions from Pope Saint John Paul II (who is only seen in stock footage) and Margaret Thatcher (played by Leslie-Anne Down). The main focus is on Reagan's political conflict with the Soviets, arguably his largest contribution to history.

Quaid gives a very good performance as Reagan. He shows the integrity and strength of character through all his years for his involvement in the Screen Actors Guild to California politics and the presidency. The movie rushes a bit, trying to cover too many things in too little time. His complicated, evolving relationship with unions in California could make its own interesting film, or his years as governor of California, righting the economy while dealing in tough ways with civil unrest. The drama of his campaigns could make their own compelling narrative, as could the Iran-Contra scandal or his negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev. This movie is more like highlights of what happened without digging deeper into the rich details. The film is just okay when it could have been great.

Mildly recommended--this is a good overview of Reagan's life and impact without getting into the depths of the man.

Frederick Douglass Geocaching Trail, Easton, Maryland

During our Easton trip in June 2026, I got up early Saturday morning, before everyone else, to find all the caches for the Frederick Douglass Geocaching Trail (see info about the kick-off event here). Douglass spent a lot of time in town, since he was born a slave in Talbot County in 1818. The town is proud of his influence, as is seen by Douglass's statue in front of the town courthouse. 

Frederick and me

I started the trail at the Easton Point docks, the original port for the town. Douglass arrived at this port in November 1878. He was a celebrated public figure and had a state room on the ship. He stayed at the Avon Hotel (more about that below). Both were precedents for a black man who had fled the area in the mid-1800s as a slave. Douglass may have taken a boat from here to go north to Baltimore on his way up the Underground Railroad. Now he was back with honor and respect.

The docks are a launching point for local sailors. They don't look like anything special.

Approaching the port

The main launch area

In town is a mural dedicated to the life and influence of Douglass. He is shown with his wife Anna Murray. The mural represents Douglass's impact through educational and military service. He encouraged President Lincoln to have a United States Colored Troop to fight in the Civil War. Many of Douglass's descendants served in the military.

The mural was created in 2021 by Michael Rosato who also made a mural of Harriet Tubman in Cambridge.

Douglass mural

The mural is on a rails-to-trails trail, so a nearby building commemorates that.

A nearby mural

The Avon Hotel in town was replaced with the Tidewater Inn. Douglass's last stay in Talbot County was in 1893, where the newspapers followed him around, reporting his every move. He also received visitors in the hotel's dining room and was generally treated as a celebrity.

Tidewater Inn, former site of Avon Hotel

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest A.M.E. church on the Eastern Shore and was rebuilt in 1878, celebrating its 60th year. That same year, Frederick Douglass also turned 60 and was present to dedicate the church. They still have the same pulpit that he used almost 150 years ago. I was unable to go inside since it was before 7 a.m. on a Saturday.

Bethel A.M.E. Church

During his 1893 visit, Douglass went to the Easton Colored School where he told the students of an orphan boy who had to sleep on cold floors but he taught himself to read and speak, eventually holding public offices and gaining some wealth. That young boy was Douglas and those children had the same opportunities to improve themselves. Afterwards, the building became the Moton High School and is now an apartment building.

Original Easton Colored School

Back by the courthouse is the site where Douglass was jailed in 1836 for attempting to escape slavery. Two years later he successfully escaped. The building was torn down and a new jail built in the same spot in 1881.

Former Talbot Jail

Not far away is the Talbot County Free Library. This branch of the library has a Frederick Douglass Room with paintings of the man and many of his writings and other artifacts. I visited later in the day but the room was closed.

Talbot County Free Library

The library is one of the places that geocachers can pick up the commemorative coin for finding all the caches. I chatted with the librarians while they went and fetched my coin!

Frederick Douglass Geocaching Trail coin obverse

Frederick Douglass Geocaching Trail coin reverse