HoodedHawk

2012 Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya (showing glyph date on left)

Last Saturday I went to an all-day symposium, “Under Cover of Darkness: The Meaning of Night in Ancient Mesoamerica” sponsored by the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C. While there, Professor Mark Van Stone was signing copies of his book, “2012: Science & Prophecy of the Ancient Maya. What was really neat is that he signed my copy by writing the current date in Maya glyphs. Really neat!

maya date glyphs

Jojo Garza of Los Lonely Boys

Tuesday night I went to see Los Lonely Boys at Ram’s Head in Annapolis, MD. They sounded great! I really enjoyed the concert – the three brothers definitely put on a good show. They only played about an hour and 20 minutes, with no opening band. The short concert may be due to the bass player/lead singer Jojo having some problems with his vocal cords (the band appears to have cancelled some dates last month due to medical issues). But I certainly didn’t notice anything wrong with his voice! I do hope all is well. Definitely a band worth seeing live.

Los Lonely Boys

Los Lonely Boys

Last Saturday Kirsten and I went to see Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest, a play by Tom Ziegler and directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. We absolutely loved it! This coming weekend is the final weekend. Grab tickets and go, you won’t be disappointed. It is basically a one-woman play (Kimberly Schraf plays Mrs. Kemble).

The Fascinating story of Fanny Kemble; one of the most famous actresses to grace the 19th century American stage, an early feminist, and abolitionists. This evening is her farewell tour, as her extraordinary solo performance of the Tempest interweaves with episodes from her own tempestuous life. –(from www.baltimoreshakespeare.org)

Kimberly Schraf as Mrs. Kemble in Mrs Kemble's Tempest

There is another actor (no speaking role, but very good) who plays the part of Mrs. Kemble’s onstage pianist. Ms. Schraf was just wonderful; I’m always amazed when an actor can pull off a single-person play like this. How do they ever memorize the whole shebang? Anyway, I was mesmerized by the story and the acting.

The venue itself is great – an old church (St. Mary’s in Baltimore) with good acoustics and seating.

Mrs Kemble's Tempest at the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival

Let’s hope for a scholarship: Just got an alumni email from Dartmouth (my graduate school alma mater, at left), and the undergraduate tuition, room/board/fees for next year total $52,275.00.

For grins I also checked my my undergrad alma mater (Boston College, below). BC is now at $50,970.00.

Mind boggling, the cost of college these days; nevermind what it will be in 18 years…

Over two feet of snow, and more coming down. Oh, the joy! At least we still have power (fingers crossed!) and plenty of food. This is a record for Maryland; from what I’ve been told, this is the most snow at one time since ~1950. Normally we get ~18 inches over the course of the winter. So far we’ve had that much dumped on us just in December, and now this current storm is in itself over 26 inches so far…

Just a bit South of here (DC) and East had actual “blizzard” conditions last night. We just had a major snowstorm. :)

Click any picture for slideshow.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Two feet.

Over 2 feet- taller than Olivia

Snow Storm 2-2010: Two feet, and he's not going to be much help shoveling...

Snow Storm 2-2010: Two feet.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Our Mailbox

Snow Storm 2-2010: Preparing for the arctic.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Preparing for the arctic.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Actic Trail left by explorers

Snow Storm 2-2010: In the arctic.