Over at Random Jottings, Elaine is writing about harbingers of spring including pictures of tulips. Unfortunately here in New Jersey there is a winter storm watch in effect for Sunday night into Monday with the threat of 8 inches of snow. Carol and I are just back from visiting Paul and Sarah in Massachusetts where the prediction is up to 20 inches - as Carol said, "we are out of here!" On these visits we stay in Concord which is famous both for its revolutionary war history and for the famous writers who have lived there over the years - it is a very nice place and well worth visiting.
On Friday, we took a side trip to Harvard (or as DT calls it - the St. Leo's of the north) to visit the Lincoln exhibit at the Houghton Library. To me the most interesting thing in the exhibit was part of Lincoln's reading copy of his first inaugural. The first draft of the speech was written in Springfield and printed so that Lincoln could work on revisions which he did during his long journey to Washington. This is also the speech that was greatly improved by some suggestions by William Seward - Lincoln's Secretary of State. On display was the first and last page - the last page was key because it showed the famous peroration of the speech ("the better angels of our nature"), handwritten on to the printed copy.
We had our usual dinner and breakfast with Sarah and Paul which was very enjoyable and both of them are doing well. Paul and I made a visit to a local independent bookstore to talk about a possible book signing regarding "The Major League Pennant Races of 1916." While the owner was certainly pleasant, he wasn't very optimistic so it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it - ultimately it is up to Paul.
While there we did establish some basic parameters for a 2009 baseball marathon. We were introduced to this idea a number of years ago by two of my cousins who are basically professional fans. Our most memorable marathon was in 2001 when Paul and I went to California and saw seven games in five cities over a seven day period. The 2009 marathon will be somewhat more modest. The focal point will be seeing both the Cubs and White Sox play in Chicago and a side visit to Milwaukee to see the Brewers. We have been to Wrigley Field before, but the other stadiums will be new to our list. I think Paul has been to over 20 stadiums while I am in the high teens. The aforementioned cousins have been to 49 major league stadiums - I said they were professional fans.
Paul and I also talked about the possibility of working on another book together, possibly a history of the 1889 baseball season. This is before the American League was founded when the National League and the American Association were the two major leagues. There were close pennant races in both leagues - the Dodgers and St. Louis in the American Association and the Giants and Boston Beaneaters in the National League.
Any such project wouldn't start until the second half of 2010 and I am not at all sure it will happen. I have been thinking a lot about future books and since I don't have unlimited writing years left, I have focusing on what books do I especially want to see completed. Right now the two main ones are a book about early baseball in New Jersey (1855-1870), no book about that period has been written and it should be. The other one is a book about Shakespeare's history plays - this is something I have a lot of passion about - the premise that these plays have important messages for all time and the idea that they very enjoyable - simply a lot of fun. No decision has to be made at the moment, but that's where I am at the moment.
So it is farewell to February and hello to March. I have a talk about the 33rd New Jersey coming up plus I am scheduled to teach a class about the 33rd at the Life Long Learning Program at Caldwell College. And, of course, there is the New Jersey Historical Society, St. Paul's Church and NJ Civil War 150 - all of which will keep me plenty busy. Retirement is great, but I continue to work far too hard!
On Friday, we took a side trip to Harvard (or as DT calls it - the St. Leo's of the north) to visit the Lincoln exhibit at the Houghton Library. To me the most interesting thing in the exhibit was part of Lincoln's reading copy of his first inaugural. The first draft of the speech was written in Springfield and printed so that Lincoln could work on revisions which he did during his long journey to Washington. This is also the speech that was greatly improved by some suggestions by William Seward - Lincoln's Secretary of State. On display was the first and last page - the last page was key because it showed the famous peroration of the speech ("the better angels of our nature"), handwritten on to the printed copy.
We had our usual dinner and breakfast with Sarah and Paul which was very enjoyable and both of them are doing well. Paul and I made a visit to a local independent bookstore to talk about a possible book signing regarding "The Major League Pennant Races of 1916." While the owner was certainly pleasant, he wasn't very optimistic so it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it - ultimately it is up to Paul.
While there we did establish some basic parameters for a 2009 baseball marathon. We were introduced to this idea a number of years ago by two of my cousins who are basically professional fans. Our most memorable marathon was in 2001 when Paul and I went to California and saw seven games in five cities over a seven day period. The 2009 marathon will be somewhat more modest. The focal point will be seeing both the Cubs and White Sox play in Chicago and a side visit to Milwaukee to see the Brewers. We have been to Wrigley Field before, but the other stadiums will be new to our list. I think Paul has been to over 20 stadiums while I am in the high teens. The aforementioned cousins have been to 49 major league stadiums - I said they were professional fans.
Paul and I also talked about the possibility of working on another book together, possibly a history of the 1889 baseball season. This is before the American League was founded when the National League and the American Association were the two major leagues. There were close pennant races in both leagues - the Dodgers and St. Louis in the American Association and the Giants and Boston Beaneaters in the National League.
Any such project wouldn't start until the second half of 2010 and I am not at all sure it will happen. I have been thinking a lot about future books and since I don't have unlimited writing years left, I have focusing on what books do I especially want to see completed. Right now the two main ones are a book about early baseball in New Jersey (1855-1870), no book about that period has been written and it should be. The other one is a book about Shakespeare's history plays - this is something I have a lot of passion about - the premise that these plays have important messages for all time and the idea that they very enjoyable - simply a lot of fun. No decision has to be made at the moment, but that's where I am at the moment.
So it is farewell to February and hello to March. I have a talk about the 33rd New Jersey coming up plus I am scheduled to teach a class about the 33rd at the Life Long Learning Program at Caldwell College. And, of course, there is the New Jersey Historical Society, St. Paul's Church and NJ Civil War 150 - all of which will keep me plenty busy. Retirement is great, but I continue to work far too hard!
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