Steve Atkinson – Page 4 – View From the Shore

The New Plan, Same as the Old Plan

Here we are. Day one of the latest Order by Governor Larry Hogan that “states that no Maryland resident should leave their home unless it is for an essential job or for an essential reason, such as obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention, or for other necessary purposes.”

Funny thing, I don’t feel like it is affecting me any different. Not yesterday, not last week, in fact for around 2 weeks. I have been staying at home, and only leaving for those listed purposes.

Even though I could go out to parks, and other nature locations to take photographs, I have been staying home. Taking a few photos of my front and back yard is all that I have been photographing.

The only human contact has been my wife, son and one brief trip to visit my brother just to be certain he is doing ok, since he lives alone.

The only other human contact I have had has been via tele-conferencing. I have a bunch of Networking Associates and we have been having virtual meeting these past two weeks. So I have been having my human contact.

What I am missing though are my community theatre friends. This weekend was to be the closing weekend of a show that I had been working on as a photographer and planning to help back stage. Of course that show has been put on hold, and may not ever be seen by an audience. And there the next show, which was to begin rehearsals a couple of weeks ago and scheduled for opening in June. Whether we will do that one is WAY up in the air. I hope we do!

2020 May be Known as the Year that Wasn’t

For me when the year began I was recovering from a minor health issue, a couple of costly repairs needed on the house, and a delay on a new project that I had planned on launching during the first couple of weeks of January.

March began with the launching of that project, all the repairs had been made, and I was feeling that I had fully recovered from the health issue. I was looking forward to spring beginning and getting out.

Even though there was some mention of the coronavirus not many, including myself, was thinking that in just a few days our lives would be changing.

Now as March is coming to an end, there is no clear signs on when the dangers of the coronavirus will be behind us. Events that I would normally be looking forward to attending and photographing have been cancelled. A few have been postponed, but will they be postponed again. I’m starting to think so, even those that have been postponed to mid-may. I’m not thinking that any events will be held before the end of May and even then, they will be much different.

So far we have missed the NCAA basketball championship, the NBA and NHL may not return. Baseball is on hold for who knows how long. Movie and TV productions are at a standstill. New movie releases that had been scheduled to this time have been postpone to later dates. Broadway is dark. Will we have any more sport championships in 2020, or even award shows. When all is said and done and we look back on the year 2020, we may remember it as the year that wasn’t.

Basically I have self-isolated myself at home and only getting out virtually. My financial situation is such that the economy is not hurting as bad for me as it has for others. I am feeling sorry of those who don’t have that and are worrying about what’s going to happen to them.

The Baltimore Colts Move

When I was doing “6 Things to Consider” I put together pieces on each of the NFL teams. I did the baseball teams as well.

Since today is the Anniversary of the Colts leaving Baltimore, I thought I’d republish the one I did for the Colts.

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The Baltimore Colts were created in 1953 out of the failed NFL franchise Dallas Texans. There were two other football teams in Baltimore prior to 1953 to use the name Colts. In 1947 the Miami Seahawks of the All-American Football Conference moved to Baltimore and took the name Colts. In 1950 the AAFC merged with the NFL and played for one NFL season before folding.

In 1958 the team led by Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas won the NFL championship 23-17 over the New York Giants. It was an overtime contest that many call ‘the greatest game ever played’. This game is credited with helping to make football the game it is today.

The Baltimore Colts were in 2 of the first 5 Super Bowls. They lost to the AFL New York Jets, a team with much less talent, but led by Joe Namath, in Super Bowl III. After the AFL merged with the NFL after Super Bowl IV, they moved to the AFC and won Super Bowl V against the Dallas Cowboys.

On July 13, 1972 Carroll Rosenbloom, owner of the Colts, exchanged ownership of franchises with Robert Irsay, owner of the Los Angeles Rams.

At the end of the 1982 season, the Baltimore Colts had the number 1 draft pick and selected John Elway. Elway refused to talk with the Colts, threatening to play baseball instead. They traded Elway to the Denver Broncos for 2 players and Denver’s 1984 1st round draft choice.

On March 28,1984, on a snowy morning, the Colts packed their belongings into Mayflower trucks and moved to Indianapolis. The Baltimore region was so angered with the move that many fans and former players completely disassociated themselves from the Colts.

You Oughta Know

I am taking the advantage of spending my time at home catching up on some TV shows that I have missed over the past few years. Since 2016 I have spend many evenings out working on productions with my local Community Theaters. As photographer, stage manager and even on a couple of shows as a part of the cast.

Even with it being called one of the best shows on TV, one of the shows I have missed is “This is Us”. I am now nearly finished season 2, and I have to agree it’s an amazing show telling the story of the Pearson’s. Even not watching it, there has been parts of the story I knew from reading about it. But there has been a lot of heart touching items that has hit me like the proverbial ‘lead ballon’.

Last night I watched the episode when Jack and Kate discussed music. Kate was off to a record store to see Alanis Morrisette. An musical artist that spoke to her through the album “Jagged Little Pill.” Of course her father, Jack, was into Bruce Springsteen and couldn’t get into it.

It took me back to the mid-90’s. My favorite period of is the 70’s, which I think would be the same for Jack. At that time I was busy living live, and not doing really listening to much music of that period, and when I did it was usually County Music. Tanya Tucker has been a long time favorite and I was enjoying Garth Brooks.

The Grammy Awards was one of the Award Shows I still always watched. By that time there were many artists nominated that I didn’t know. One of them was Alanis Morrisette and her Grammy nominated Album “Jagged Little Pill”.

When she performed “You Oughta Know”, I was blown away. After she won Four Awards that night, ironically she didn’t win the award for New Artist, that went to Hootie & the Blowfish, I had to hear more. The next day on my way home from work I purchase the CD. This was a time when music could only be heard on the radio, seen on MTV (when they were still playing music) or buying the CD.

I wasn’t a young girl, nor a young man. I was approaching 40. But I loved the album. I actually credit the album as the one that brought me back to listening to Pop music again.

Here is that Grammy Award performance. The arrangement is a bit different than the album version. And the best one that I have seen.

Don’t Fear the Fear

Beginning today, March 26, 2020, I have been self-isolated for a week. The last time I went out of my house for anything other than a trip to the grocery store was last Wednesday.

Since that day there has been plenty of things to fear. But if we follow the simple guidelines of only going out for essential trips, such as going to the grocery store and work, if your job fall under the essential category, I think that the only real fear is fear itself. And listen over listening to the news, for me is one way that I see fear arising.

When you look outside the window, spring is fast approaching. Changes are happening every day.

Beginning on St Patrick’s day I have been posting a “Photo a Day” of the scenery seen on the Delmarva Peninsula on my facebook page “ShoreToBeFun Photographs”. Most of these photos have been ones I’ve captured over these past few years. One or two, like “Spring Arrivals” posted here is a recent one. It would be great if you follow me there. Or on my Instagram at SGAtkinson_Photographer.

While it’s true that many people will be hurt by what’s going on, the one thing we all know is that things will change. Some for the worst and others for the best. I hope that I’m not one that comes out hurting.

As for me, I am going to venture out today for the first time in a week and enjoy the scenery. I will maintain social distancing and maybe capture some beautiful scenes.

Maryland will be 400 in 4 years

Maryland formally recognizes March 25th, as the day of its founding. It was on that day in 1634 that the first settlers sent by Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore established the first settlement in land chartered to the Calvert’s.

Mathias de Sousa, listed in records as a Mulatto, was of probable African and Portuguese descent. He was one of nine indentured servants at that first settlement. His indenture service ended in 1638 and he became a full free member of the colony becoming a mariner and fur trader. As a freeman he was allowed to participate and vote in the colonial assembly.

When those first settlers arrived there were already pockets of settlers on lands that would become Maryland. In August of 1631 William Claiborne, a resident of the Virginia colony of Jamestown, founded a settlement near the southern end of the the largest island of the Chesapeake Bay. The trading post bore his name and was established with the purpose of trading with Native Americans. He named the island Kent Island after his birthplace of Kent, England.

For the first 150 years of the English settlement the peninsula colonial borders were questioned. Maryland felt that the entire peninsula north of the Potomac parallel should be part of the Maryland Colony.

When Cæcilius Calvert was given the grant for Maryland in 1632, the charter stated his control was eastward to the Delaware River and Bay on lands not already settled by Europeans. The Dutch settlement of Hoerekil was founded in 1631, near Lewes, Delaware and was one of the first settlements of Delaware. In fact it’s because of this settlement that Delaware is not part of Maryland.

Near the town of Lewes lies Cape Henlopen. It’s the southern Cape of the Delaware River. Originally spelled Cape Hinlopen, Cape Henlopen is named after Thijmen Jacobsz Hinlopen. This spelling caused confusion with another Cape Hinlopen located about 24 miles south at Fenwick Island. Cape Hinlopen was decided to be the beginning of the Transpeninsular Line, as surveyed by Mason and Dixon and established the southern border of Delaware to Maryland. The Calvert’s intended for the Lewes’ Cape to be the start of the line. Had it began at Cape Henlopen at Lewes, Delaware would have been about 1000 square miles smaller.

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This was also published at ChesaDel Crier – Art and Entertainment Between the Bays

St Patrick Day

St. Patrick is considered the Patron Saint of Ireland, but he was born in Britain. He was born near the end of the 4th Century to wealthy parents and was abducted by Irish Raiders and held in captivity in Ireland for 6 years. During this captivity he became a devote Christian.

He is believed to have died on March 17, 460 AD and it is on this day that the Irish and those once a year Irish celebrate St. Patrick Day.

Even before St. Patrick, who is credited as banishing all snakes from the island, there were no snakes in Ireland. He couldn’t have banished any.

St. Patrick Day has a celebrated history of parades. The first St. Patrick Day parade was not in Ireland, but in New York City. On March 17, 1762 Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through the city. Although this year, 2020, with the coronavirus scare the parade in New York and elsewhere were canceled.

Leprechauns and St. Patrick are classic symbols of Ireland and are a natural combination. Leprechauns have their origins from old Celtic folklore and were cranky souls known for their trickery to protect their much-fabled treasure. It wasn’t until Walt Disney and the film Darby O’Gill & the Little People which introduced a cheerful, friendly leprechaun, that they became a part of the Irish celebration.

Many of us will have Corn Beef and Cabbage on St. Patrick Day, but this too is a fairly recent invention. Cabbage has long been a Irish food, it was usually served with bacon. That was until around the beginning of the 20th century when immigrants in New York City substituted corned beef to save money. This idea came from their Jewish neighbors.

Easter’s Relationship with the Full Moon and Spring

Recently as I was discussing with a friend about Easter, I recalled that Easter Sunday was related to the Spring Equinox and the Full Moon. It’s one of those random facts I discovered while doing “6 Things to Consider”. Here is that posting.

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Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

The first full moon after the Spring Equinox is also the date of the Jewish Holiday of Passover and is the first full moon of their year. It will also fall between March 22nd and April 25th.

The name “Easter” is thought to be derived from the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess called Eostre. Pagans held a Spring Festival in her honor.

The White House Easter Egg Roll is a popular event on the Monday after Easter. The tradition began when Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, 4th President of the United States felt that it would be good for the children of Washington DC to roll Easter eggs just like Egyptian children rolled colored eggs on the site of the Pyramids. Until 1877 the Easter Egg Roll was the grounds of the United States Capitol moving to the White House lawn in 1878.

In 1885 Tzar Alexander III of Russia commissioned Peter Carl Fabergé to create an egg as an Easter surprise for his wife Maria. The Tzarina so loved the gift that Fabergé was commissioned to make one each year, which he did until 1917 when the Tzar was overthrown. In all there are sixty-one eggs.

Handel’s Messiah is a work deplicting Jesus”life. It has three main sections. Even though it is mainly thought to be a Christmas piece the second section is for the Easter Passion. The “Hallelujah” chorus concludes this second part.

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About “6 Things to Consider”
Between 2016 and 2011 I published a site titled 6 Things to Consider. During those years I would put together 6 paragraphs on a random subject with new posts appearing 6 days a week. After five years of this, I stopped publishing new pieces. The site, while still online, became dormant for several years until the beginning of 2018 when due to a technical issue it was taken down. I have a backup of most of those posts and will randomly post them here as part of my “View from the Shore”.

Where has the time gone?

It seems as if it’s only been a short period since my last post, and it’s been almost two month. Where did those two months go?

I’ve been busy on a couple of other projects and have let this one just sitting idle. Even though I have been thinking about journalling and in a way that’s exactly what “View From the Shore” can be. Also it could be a part of those projects.

I have done a couple of Photo Posts on my Photography Web site, SGAtkinson.com, on what I have been calling, Drives With Steve. A pretty simple concept, either while on my dives to business functions, or take one with a purpose to take photos along the way. I’m now thinking that I may move that part of that Web site here.

But speaking about time, this past Sunday we spring forward to Daylight Saving Time (DST). I am on board with those who hate the change and would like to see the time change to stop. In Maryland there is a movement to keep DST all year. But as I have learned the Federal Law relating to DST allows state to not go to DST, it doesn’t allow them to stay at DST.

This year, unlike other years, I have had a hard time adjusting to the change. All day on Sunday the clock said one thing, but my mind and body kept saying it was an hour earlier. Then on Monday morning I woke up an hour, by the clock, then usual. I guess I was acclimated to the sun than I thought.

Time has me thinking about the song first recorded by the band Chicago in 1969 for their first album. Does Anyone Really Know What Time it is? The answer is can be either seen as we don’t or that we do. To really know all we need to do is understand the Sun, Moon and Stars.

Note:
The Daylight Saving Time post was pre-dated and put up after I wrote this one

Daylight Saving Time

We spring ahead an hour in the spring and fall backward one hour, in the fall. Some people mistakenly call it Daylight Savings Time, but it is Daylight Saving Time. Starting in 2007, with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that President George Bush signed into law in 2005, the new dates for Daylight Saving Time are for it to begin on the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November.

Daylight Saving Time is not a modern idea. Benjamin Franklin first mentioned it in a letter to the Journal of Paris in 1784. He didn’t really say that the clocks should be changed, but that to take advantage of the extra daylight, one should arise from bed earlier.

It wasn’t put into practice until the German government put it in place in 1916 between April 30 and October 1. In the same year the United Kingdom adopted it from May 21 to October 1st.

The U.S. Congress established it at the same time they formally adopted the Rail Road Time Zones in 1918, observing it for seven months in 1918 & 1919 It became so unpopular that the law for DST was repealed in 1919.

In 1942, during World War II, DST was reinstated in the U.S. although from the end of the war in 1945 until 1966, there wasn’t a Federal Law that addressed DST.

In 1966 DST was established and has been in place since, although the law gave states the capability to exempt themselves and a few, such as Arizona and Hawaii have. Many countries follow some sort of DST plan.