Cute Kid Pix February 2026

More pictures that didn't get their own posts...

Scout Sunday was early in February and our scout carried the troop flag in the Presentation of the Colors just before Mass started.

Scout Sunday

We joined a local indoor pool which has "Wibit Sundays" with inflatables in the pool to make it more exciting.

Very exciting

For Mardi Gras, we made our own King Cake. It was very tasty and fun to make!

Decorating the cake

I went over to Virginia for a board game swap. On the way back I stopped off for some geocaches. One was at Lock 8 on the C & O Canal. The canal connects Georgetown in the District of Columbia with "way out west" Ohio as an early form of cheap transportation before railroads went in. It's not in use anymore but has been turned into a national park with hiking and biking trails along with historical locations. This lock has seen better days but it was fun to visit and the cache was easy to find.

Lock 8 and me

Another geocache is on the grounds of Glen Echo Park, though it is a virtual cache, so no actual container to find. The park was an amusement park back in the day, with bumper cars, a carousel, a ballroom, and other attractions. The carousel still runs on weekends in good weather and the ballroom hosts dance lessons and social dances. People would take the trolly from downtown DC for a fun afternoon in the country.

By the defunct pool

I was surprised to see some art literally on the ground. Complacency is a depiction how people are sinking into the ground since they don't care about climate change. A bit preachy, and maybe not entirely accurate.

Art with a message

We went for another hike along the Savage Mill Trail, which has plenty of scenic view of the Patuxent River.

Hiking along

No picture, please!

The river

Book Review: The Ghostly Tales of Delaware by Carie Juettner

The Ghostly Tales of Delaware by Carie Juettner

This book has a set of thirteen tales about hauntings and other creepy events that have happened in the state of Delaware. A bunch of the unsettling sites date back to the American Revolution or the Civil War, though slightly more contemporary tales are included. A map at the front shows where the spots are, organized roughly north to south throughout the state. One or two of the stories are really heart-breaking, in addition to being chilling.

The book is adapted form Haunted History of Delaware, which is aimed more at adult readers. This is kid-friendly, so it's not really gory (except for Delaware's Headless Horseman) and won't leave you lying in bed at night in a cold sweat. Maybe we'll explore some of the spots in our wanderings--two or three are at the capital, which I bet has ghost tours (and geocaches!).

Recommended for some spookiness.

Udvar-Hazy Museum Visit 2025

We visited the Udvar-Hazy Center again (though the last visit was in 2015--ten years ago!). It's part of the Smithsonian Institute, specifically an off-shoot of the downtown DC Air and Space Museum that is the most popular of all the Smithsonians. Udvar-Hazy is split into two main areas, the Aviation Hangar and the Space Hangar., with some other parts too. We went through some of the Aviation Hangar first.

The Boeing FB-5 Hawk is a US Navy fighter plane from the 1920s (a hundred years ago!). It served on the USS Langley and the USS Saratoga, early aircraft carriers.

Boeing FB-5 Hawk

Interacting with a display

From early aviation history is the Nieuport 28C.1, a single-engine biplane from 1917 that the French sold to the Americans because they wanted something better during World War I. That didn't stop the USA from using the planes both in the military (they were used by the Navy in the first attempts to launch a plane from a ship, so before the Boeing above) and the private sector (Hollywood got a hold of some and used them in films).

Nieuport 28C.1

The Langley Aerodrome A looks like something cribbed from Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbooks. Stephen Langley's early attempt (1903) to build a human-size aircraft was based on much smaller models that worked and he thought he could just scale up the size. The result was a disaster that would not take off.

Aerodrome A

Front view

Probably the most famous airplane in this exhibit is the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, the bomber that was used to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.

The Enola Gay

Cockpit of the Enola Gay

A lot of "stunt" planes are on display and posed in very acrobatic poses. In the back of this picture is the Concorde, the first supersonic passenger plane put in service. A collaboration of Aerospatiale of France and British Aircraft Corporation, it began service in the late 1970s, crossing the Atlantic in under four hours. The high speed was valuable to some customers but also very costly, making it economically difficult to keep going. Concordes eventually stopped transatlantic flights in the early 2000s (so still a long run).

Fun planes and fast plane

One of the extra parts of the center is the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, where many planes are refurbished and cleaned up for display here and at the downtown museum. My daughter was especially interested since they have machine shops and other tools a crafty person would love to use.

Restoration in progress!

The Space Hangar is dominated by the Space Shuttle Discovery, one of the fleet of American spacecraft that was the backbone of NASA activity from 1981 to the last flight in 2011. This was the last shuttle to fly and had the longest flight record, with 39 mission and over 150 million miles traveled. 

Space Shuttle Discovery

Back of the shuttle

Toward the back is a display of various satellites from various countries.

Too many to name!

One item that caught my eye was the Mobile Quarantine Facility. Four of these were built for the Apollo program, specifically to quarantine astronauts returning from the Moon in case they brought back "lunar pathogens." Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were "in residence" for 60 hours while NASA made sure they brought back nothing harmful for the rest of the Earth.

Mobile Quarantine Facility

Back in the Aviation Hangar, we saw the Wisk Gen 3 prototype of a eVTOL, or Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft. It's a prototype only there for a little while.

Electric air vehicle!

The only plane in the whole museum that visitors are allowed to touch is a Cessna 172. Two volunteers help visitors get in and out of the vehicle. They also provide information about the plane, a popular personal aircraft. We were amazed that it had back seat, especially since there seemed to be no leg room. The guys explained that usually the seats are taken out and owners use the back for cargo.

Trying out a Cessna

Our kids also tried out a flight simulator which rotated them 360 degrees horizontally. They were supposed to be piloting, so maybe it was their fault? We parents were glad to be outside and, shamefully, enjoyed hearing their shouts of dismay as their simulated flight flipped.

The last plane we saw was the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a stealth plane used starting in the 1970s as a supersonic reconnaissance plane. This particular plane served for 24 years in the United States Air Force and was delivered to the Smithsonian in 1990 after breaking a speed record flying from Los Angeles to Washington in a little over an hour. 

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

The final part of our visit was to the Observation Tower. Seven stories up, visitors can see planes landing and taking off from the nearby Dulles International Airport. 

A plane headed to the airport

Entrance and parking lot

Dulles Airport

The roof still had a lot of snow in early February 2026

Book Review: Usagi Yojimbo Book 26 by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo Book 26: Traitors of the Earth written and drawn by Stan Sakai

More adventures of the rabbit ronin...

Usagi and the Kami of the Pond--Youthful Usagi hears a tale from his sensei that he thinks is going to have a boring moral. Once it's told, Usagi does draw a boring moral but the sensei gets a much subtler point out of it. The twist is nice and enjoyable.

Cut the Plum--Youthful Jotaro would like to perform a sword trick--cut a plum that is balance on Usagi's nose. Usagi refuses, using a pumpkin on a road sign as a substitute, with some comical results. This is a short joke story that is entertaining.

Traitors of the Earth--In pursuit of a seeming harmless charm, Usagi is drawn into a much bigger conflict that involves an undead army. The story is very exciting and full of action and some historical depth that Sakai is so good at. 

What the Little Thief Heard--Kiyoko is helping Usagi since her master Kitsune is ill. Her help involves stealing from merchants so the law is after her. She hides in an old dusty temple where she overhears a plot to kill a local merchant who is quite wealthy. She wants to sell the information but Usagi only wants to protect the merchant's life. The merchant scoffs at the threat since he is beloved in the community. Things are not what they seem and play out with a foreseeable twist. Nevertheless, it's an interesting story.

The Hidden Fortress--Usagi comes upon a field full of dead fighters with one still alive. The survivor explains that he is a bounty hunter after a famous bandit. The bandit and his gang ambushed them, leaving a field of death. The survivor has a leg wound and can't travel far. He knows about a hut nearby where they can get aid. Usagi helps him out but there's more to the story. After some nice twists, the finale ties together some previous narratives in an enjoyable way.

A Place to Stay--Usagi is on the run from the vengeful bandits and winds up hiding out in the hut of some poor farmers. When they take their produce to town, they hear the bandits threatening to kill whomever provides shelter for Usagi. They race home, determined to cast him out before they get into trouble. It's another tough moment for Usagi, who comes out of it as a hero should.

The Death of Lord Hikiji--Usagi runs into an old companion, a samurai of Lord Mifune. They both fought at the battle where Mifune died. Now the companion is solely focused on assassinating Lord Hikiji, the villain who defeated Mifune. Usagi reluctantly joins the plot as a matter of honor. Things do not turn out well. The story has a bit of melancholy but is riveting.

The book ends with a one-page gag of Usagi fighting Groo the Wanderer, a comic take on Conan the Barbarian. It made me laugh, so I guess it worked.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Vampyr (1932)

Vampyr (1932) directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer based on In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan le Fanue

Allan (Julian West) comes to a small town outside Paris. He's interested in the occult and some very strange things happen there, though he's not as happy about it as you would think. At an inn, he is met by an old man (Maurice Schutz) who has two daughters at his nearby home. He's worried about one who has been very sick and leaves a packet with Allan to be opened if he dies. Of course, he dies and Allan reads the book inside the packet which describes vampire lore and activity, some bits of which eerily mirror what is happening in the town. Allan comes into conflict with the titular creature and its minions, but barely has enough strength to fight back when he has to give a blood transfusion to one of the daughters.

The story is intriguing and Dreyer's direction is very surreal and otherworldly. There's fog and shadows, lots of shadows. Reality seems to be slipping away from the characters. The film is a "talkie" but it is more like a silent film. Long stretches have no dialogue and a lot of exposition is given in images of pages from the book, like the silent films' title cards. 

Mildly recommended--you need a taste for the surreal and the silent film vibe to get along with this one. I like those both but I wasn't wowed by them or by this film.

Mother Seton Shrine Grounds 2025

While visiting the Basilica and Museum at The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, I explored the grounds a bit while my wife sensibly stayed indoors and toured the museum exhibits. Unfortunately we visited just after the snows of February 2026 so a lot of things were less accessible than they should have been.

The snowy basilica

When Elizabeth Seton and her companions came to Emmitsburg in 1809, they moved into the Stone House. This was the first home of her newly founded order, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's (also known as the Daughters of Charity). It was originally a farm house and the group rather quickly outgrew it. The building was not open to visitors on our visit.

The Stone House

A nearby fountain features a statue of Mother Seton with some children, along with quotes from her in the pavement. At least, I was told there were quotes by and about her in the pavement. Not much was visible. On the up side, I did walk on water to get there...frozen water.

The fountain

Several bells used in the area are on display. The Academy Bell was used by Saint Joseph's Academy to summon students (both boarding and day pupils) to classes, masses, and leisure activities all the way up to 1945. The "Dinky" Bell came from a train that brought students, sisters, visitors, livestock, and supplies to Emmitsburg for the congregation. The Seminary Bell was used by the Daughters of Charity for prayer time, meal time, and study time. The bells were all rung in 1963 for Mother Seton's beatification. 

Historic bells

The White House is the first school building set up in 1810 for Saint Joseph's Academy, where the sisters taught. The interior is still decorated with 19th century furnishings, though I was not able to go in. The building is quite large and in great shape.

The White House

The front door

Nearby is the entrance to Saint Joseph's Cemetery where many of the sisters were buried. Mother Seton herself was buried here before her remains were moved to the Basilica. When they selected the site, the area was heavily wooded. Seton's sister-in-law Harriett picked out an oak tree where she wanted to be buried. Sadly, she died four months later. Her wishes were followed. After Mother Seton's death, her son William authorized the building of the Mortuary Chapel in the heart of the cemetery.

Cemetery entrance

Mortuary Chapel

The graves of the sisters

I definitely want to go back at some point and see the insides of the various outer buildings.

Book Review: Eclipse of the Sun by Michael D. O'Brien

Eclipse of the Sun by Michael D. O'Brien

In a sprawling narrative, the lives of several Canadian conservative Catholics are thrown into chaos by government interference. The State has clamped down on education, news, and civil liberties. After lethal raids on a commune and a cloister, Father Andre (chaplain for the slaughtered nuns) is on the run with Arrow (son of a woman killed at the commune). Their efforts to avoid the authorities brings them into contact with a variety of friendly and hostile people. Father Andre realizes that Arrow is the great-grandson of Thaddaeus who lives way in the backcountry. The journey takes a while (850 pages!) and has lots of reverses, setbacks, and moments of grace along the way.

The core story is very interesting and moving emotionally. Arrow is a tough kid and a survivor, though he does not develop a whole lot as the story proceeds. The other characters around him, both immediately and tangentially, make a lot of difficult and impactful choices that move the story along and develop their characters a bit better than Arrow gets developed. 

The story moves very slowly and becomes a showcase for everything that could go wrong with a government that opposes committed Catholics. The government covers up their attacks at the beginning, blaming the violence on far-right conservative militants. The government actively undermines parents' rights over their children throughout the story. The one good representative in the central government is barely effective in trying to save a woman who intervened on Arrow's behalf and was subsequently captured, hidden, and tortured. This side narrative takes up a substantial part of the book, reinforcing how bad the government has gotten. The detail of this and other side narratives is unnecessary and slows down the story (though, the main narrative has the same problem with overdescription of moving from one place to the next).

While a lot of the political complaints are legitimate, everything is taken to an extreme that gets less plausible as the story goes on. The writing almost revels in the oppression imposed on the characters, intended as a prophecy about the real world. In an afterword, the author says he will be happy if it turns out wrong. This novel seems like the right-wing equivalent of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, another narrative that wallows in the victimhood of its protagonists. While I enjoy a good, paranoid thriller, getting too far into the weeds turns the work into a laundry list of complaints, almost like getting lectured. The narrative just goes on too long and down too many rabbit trails. O'Brien's earlier novel Plague Journal managed to get the paranoia and thrills of running from an oppressive government without getting mired in excessive descriptions or piling on other characters' stories. 

It's a shame because O'Brien manages to weave in a lot of solid theology and beautiful moments, but then we get stuff like the politician going from his office to the parliamentary chamber to a pub where he meets with a journalist to an office meeting with other opposition party members and back to the chamber to make a speech. O'Brien needed some heavy editing for this book. Or maybe splitting it into two or three separate novels.

Not recommended--the good stuff gets buried in a lot of other stuff.