A Savage Geocache

We went for a spring-time hike to Savage Mill. The mill dates back to pre-Civil War days and was built on the rapids of the Little Patuxent River. The mill processed cotton and by the Civil War days was making canon covers and tents for the Union Army. The railroad already ran through Savage but the remaining landmark of the locomotive era is the Bollman Iron Truss Bridge built in 1869.  The design by William Bollman was used on over 100 bridges built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The bridge at Savage is the last one still standing.

Approaching the Bridge

On the bridge

Blowing bubbles off the bridge

The other end of the bridge

We had printed out information on A Boy's Bridge Cache from the Geocaching website. The cache is a mystery cache, meaning we had to find some information on the bridge and use that to figure out the final coordinates. The new coordinates led us down a trail along the Little Patuxent for about half a mile. The walk was long, especially for the toddler, but we were able to make the find.

Walking down the trail

River rapids

Near the cache

On the way back, we admired the view of what's left of the Savage Mill, which has been turned into eclectic retail shops, including our favorites The Family Game Store, Bonaparte's Bakery, and Ram's Head Tavern.

Best view from our side of the river (good thing it was early spring!)

Back by the bridge

Seeing the mill from the bridge

The old water-wheel house

TV Review: Doctor Who The Movie (1996)

Doctor Who The Movie (1996) directed by Geoffrey Sax and written by Matthew Jacobs

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) is transporting the remains of the Master to their home world of Gallifrey. The Master isn't quite fully dead and manages to escape his locked urn as a puddle of goo. The goo messes up the TARDIS, forcing it to crash land in 1999 San Francisco. The Doctor leaves the TARDIS and is caught in gangland crossfire. He's taken to hospital where cardiologist Grace Holloway fails to save him since she can't figure out his internal workings (you know, the two hearts and all). His body is carted off to the morgue where he regenerates as the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann). He's got a bit of amnesia which slowly recovers as he has more interactions with Dr. Holloway. Meanwhile, the Master in goo form has infested the ambulance driver and plans to take the Doctor's body for his own as well as hijack the TARDIS. Action and mayhem ensue.

The production values are quite high for the old Doctor Who series. The editing is well done--as the Doctor regenerates, the morgue attendant is watching TV on which the Boris Karloff Frankenstein come alive. This is further intercut with the Master taking over the driver. The plot still has some big holes which are made up for by quirky little moments with side characters. The music is too obvious and over the top. McGann is good as the Doctor and probably would have had a good run with a full series. The Master looked a bit too much like The Terminator, making him more cheesy than threatening. Grace is an interesting companion and shows lots of potential. Too bad they did not keep going with a full series.

All in all, a fun story worth at least one watch.

More Shrine of Saint Anthony (Outside)

A year and a half ago, I posted about the lovely grounds of the Shrine of Saint Anthony in Ellicott City, Maryland. That trip didn't let us see everything outside. Here is some more of the grounds.

The first picture from last time

The outdoor shrine to Saint Maximilian Kolbe is part of a garden path. The shrine is a simple covering for a statue of the saint.

Start of the short path to the shrine

The shrine

Inside the shrine

Saint Maximilian was born in 1894 and joined the Conventual Franciscans. He had a special devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary and promoted that devotion. He founded monasteries in Japan and India but was forced to return to his native Poland in 1936 because of illness. The Germans invaded and eventually sent him to Auschwitz. There he volunteered to take the place of a family man who was selected to die of starvation. Maximilian died on August 14, 1941.

Further along the garden path is a recreation of the grotto where Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubrious at Lourdes.

Lourdes grotto

Our Lady

Bernadette

As a fourteen-year-old child, Bernadette went out with her sister to gather firewood. They came to a small cave where she had a vision of a lady dressed in blue and white. The apparitions continued for about two weeks and caused quite a stir in the town. A spring began flowing at the spot and is now a popular pilgrim destination. Bernadette did not like all the attention focused on her and joined the Sisters of Charity in Nevers. She worked as an infirmary assistant and a sacristan. She died in 1879.

The driveway has a large statue of Saint Anthony and a donkey. The story goes Saint Anthony went to a town where a heretic denied that Christ is present in the Eucharist. Anthony told the man (who was a farmer) not to feed his donkey for a week. After the week, the farmer came back with the donkey and a basket of feed. Saint Anthony had the Blessed Sacrament with him and the donkey walked past the basket and knelt down before the Eucharist. Anthony told the farmer if a donkey could understand than he could too!

Donkey acknowledges God

Reverse view

Donkey's view

Near the main building is a statue of an unidentified saint. I thought it looked cool, so I took a photo.

Maybe more sombre than cool, what with the skull and cross

Book Review: Asterix the Gladiator by R. Goscinny et al.

Asterix the Gladiator written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo

The village bard Cacofonix is captured by the Roman Prefect for Gaul. The prefect needs a unique present to offer in Rome to Caesar. Cacofonix's singing is indeed unique (happily so--he is quite terrible) and the villagers aren't so worried when he's disappeared. As soon as they discover he's been kidnapped by the Romans, they start a rescue mission. The mission will take Asterix and Obelix all the way to the Circus Maximus in Rome to save their fellow villager.

The story is the standard mix of puns and jokes along with the mild, ridiculous violence that comes from an ancient tribe with a potion of undefeatable strength. This provides the standard good fun of an Asterix comic.

Book Review: Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage by Gerard B. Wegemer

Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage by Gerard B. Wegemer

This birth-to-death biography of Saint Thomas More has an interesting twist. As it goes through the personal history of More, it stops to review his various writings when he wrote them. Thomas More was the first great Christian humanist to write in English. He was close friends with Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutchman who was also a scholar and committed Christian. They studied and translated the Greek classics and both agreed that humor was a more persuasive weapon in the literary arsenal than dry logic or harsh rhetoric. More wrote poetic and literary works (the most famous being Utopia) as well as theological reflections (like his commentary on the Christ's Passion). As author Wegemer describes More's family life and career, he throws in chapters reviewing the contents and significance of works written by More. Having the literary output interwoven with the biographical history gives the reader a deeper understanding of More's character.

The book is a little bit repetitive. Sometimes the life story gets ahead of itself and is repeated later on. Favorite little anecdotes show up multiple times, such as More's desire "to think my greatest enemies my best friends: For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred." [p. 192, also p. 219] This is a reference the Book of Genesis. Jacob's son Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and taken off to Egypt where he eventually became a high official and was able to save his family from famine. The repetition is only a minor distraction and makes me wonder if some chapters were written as separate essays before the whole book was written.

Reading this after seeing A Man For All Seasons (the 1966 movie) is also fascinating. Many of the speeches in the movie are taken verbatim from the actual recorded words of Thomas. Some details in the movie are left out (like More's other children besides Meg or other charges More had to answer in his final trial), which is both typical and to be expected in a theatrical presentation of More's life. The book gives a fuller, even more inspiring portrait of this saint of great integrity, intelligence, and humor.

Highly recommended!

Cute Kid Pix March 2016

Here's another set of photos that didn't make their own blog post!

My son had a geography project at school. He worked with another boy to make a display of various geographic features, including mountains, seas, rivers, canyons, and vegetation. They decided to add a cave by folding over a strip of duct tape!

Reading about the display

The display itself

A favorite video series on YouTube is Nerdy Nummies. The host has an episode where she made Emoji Waffles. We tried it at home.

Sunglasses smiley

Ready to eat

Simple smiley face

Here's the video:



The toddler decided to use his new scribbling ability to write on the cover of the lap top, which explains why my daughter was erasing the computer!

Just don't erase the hard drive!

Granny visited and had fun reading to the toddler. He had fun too!

Fun reading

More fun reading and pointing!

My daughter and the neighbor decided to go Michelangelo on the outdoor shed.

Working on the doors

For Saint Patrick's Day, my daughter made a leprechaun trap for school. Naturally, they dressed in green to go to school.

Leprechaun Artist

Ready for school

Movie Review: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016) directed by Woo-Ping Yuen

Michele Yeoh returns as Yu Shu Lien, a middle-aged warrior whose life has been drawn to a sword called the Green Destiny. That sword was the point of conflict in the original movie. A new warlord wants to take the sword and use its unbeatable powers for himself. He sends minions to steal the sword. Yu Shu Lien teams up with Silent Wolf (Donnie Yen from Ip Man) to put a team together to defend the sword. The team includes a variety of skills (including a dart thrower and a big guy with metal arm bands) and has many fights as they try to keep the Green Destiny out of the warlord's hands.

The story is fairly basic and follows the typical arc seen in The Dirty Dozen or The Magnificent Seven. The actors are charming though the characters are not well-developed. The fight scenes are fast and fun (no gallons of blood or gratuitous bone-breaking). The movie doesn't have the depth or drama of the original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but is an entertaining wuxia action film. It's the sort of film you'd watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The movie is currently (that is, as of April 2016) available only through Netflix. Unlike Daredevil, I don't think this movie is worth subscribing for.