Happy Halloween 2015

And so ends the month of October.  From a walking perspective, it was a bit of a tough row to hoe.  I ended up with just (and I mean just) over 310 miles coming in 33 miles short of my original goal of an 11 mile per day month.  Don't get me wrong...after I adjusted my goal down to 10 miles per day sometime during the Bourbon Chase weekend, things clipped along smoothly, and I feel pretty good about the final result.  I did reel in the last couple of miles for the month escorting the kiddos on their round of Trick or Treating, and that seems like a new tradition that I'll try to keep moving into the future.

At any rate, October is passed, but i did manage to capture quite a few images of the sun rising over the Severn River this morning.  The day turned out to be a spectacular success from a weather perspective, and once again, I'll leave you with some images that attempt to convey the grandeur that I encountered earlier today.

Sunrise over the Severn just beginning to manifest itself from the top of Strawberry Hill

This shot has the clearest picture of the now abandoned ELF radio towers on the end of Greenbury Point.  I like to think of these towers as casualties to the end of the Cold War, but I strongly suspect their function has just been replaced with a more reliable capability.

Sunrise over the Severn Continues from a little farther down the Hillside

As I was walking down Strawberry Hill, I remember being concerned that I'd missed the most striking part of the sunrise.  There was very little cloud cover, and the pink hued clouds that I'd seen from the back side of the hill had mostly faded by this point in the sequence.  Happily, my unduly pessimistic predictions ended up being a touch inaccurate.

Sunrise over the Severn as seen from the Sea Wall on the River Side of Forrest Sherman Field

As the pink faded away, the cerulean blue of the sky deepened, and the reflection of the rising sum began to reflect off the windows of Nimitz Library and the water to the left.  There is also a ship that is very difficult to see at this level of zoom that was reflecting the sunlight off its midbody side as she rode at anchor oriented in a north-south direction at the mouth of the River.

Sunrise over the Severn Reflected in the Starboard Side of an Anchored Ship

This blown-up shot shows the sunlight reflecting off the starboard side of the anchored tanker.  There's a little graininess due to the level of magnification, but I continue to be amazed at the capability of the digital camera associated with my phone.

Sunrise over the Severn...Just About There

Down to one remaining photo, and I'm grateful that I got to spend a fantastic twenty minutes or so watching the unfolding of the start of another great day.

Sunrise over the Severn...Last One

And so ends October 2015.

Driving

Lest you start thinking of me as a one dimensional character with all the talk of walking, I thought I'd let you into some of my observations about driving.

Not too many months ago, my commute to and from work were the worst two hours of my existence.  I was generally irritated if not completely irate that up to 1/12 of my life five days a week was being consumed behind the wheel of a car, surrounded, apparently, by idiots intent on making the time even worse than it already was through their behavior clearly directed at adding as much angst to my life as possible.  I sat in my car, in terrible traffic, and stewed in my own sauce while listening to the radio.  It was a real pity party, and there was certainly an untamed element of ego that peppered my thinking.

Sunset in the Rearview Mirror

Fortunately for my own sanity, much of unproductive and undisciplined emoting is receding in the rearview mirror.  By slowing down my pace (literally) in other areas of my life, I was able to begin to develop what I think is a more balanced outlook on that 1/12 of my life five days a week that is still used during my commute.

One of the first things I realized was just how glorious it is to be in a car.  Climate controlled and out of the rain, wind, cold, heat, etc. and zipping along at a blistering clip, I really didn't have very much to rue.  I also realized that those idiots around my that I egotistically imagined were going out of their way to inconvenience me were actually a bunch of other folks just like me.  That had their own worries, their own stresses, their own joys and challenges.  They weren't thinking about me at all.  I stopped the imaginary competition for the speediest route, the optimal lane placement, and the quickest line and started looking around and just enjoy being in my little steel encased environment.

About this time, I also realized that I had a phone, and I could reach out and interact with the people that I did know.  I now routinely spend just a little less than 50 hours a month on the phone with Rory Conlan, the bulk of which is during the commuting time that I used to dread.  We talk about whatever happens to strike our fancy.  It's not always entertaining, but I do always learn something.  I don't know if it's the best way to dual task during the relative downtime during commuting, but I do know it is almost infinitely better than thinking about how I've been wronged by the universe and feeling sorry for myself.

Today on the drive home, I noticed yet another sunset that begged to be captured in pixels.  The sun glinted in the rearview mirror, off the glossy white paint of the car, and was double reflected in the mirror and the rear driver side window.  The reflections were what really struck me, and I find myself often finding scenes worthy of being called art (rendered by nature) in the myriad of reflective surfaces that surround us all every day.  I didn't used to see these subtle, but beautiful splashes of color and drama.  I was moving too fast and was far to inwardly focused on my own darkness to appreciate the forces of light that were all around.

Slowing things down a little has given me the freedom to appreciate that the universe isn't out to get me.  On the contrary it's conspiring to make me successful every moment that I allow that realization to break through my own hardheadedness.  It's a better way of living...hell, even my pictures have gotten more colorful over time.  Just hit the label "Commute" and judge for yourself.

Sunset

On my evening walk today, this is what I saw, and I think I'll let it speak for itself.  These are in the chronological order in which they were taken.

Sunset on the Anacostia behind the Display Ship the ex-USS Barry

Same Sunset looking down river toward Nats Stadium

Capitol Hill Sunset

Capitol Hill Sunset Take 2

The Day Breaths its Last on the Anacostia River

Seeing all this...I'm truly left without words to adequately describe how grateful I am to have experienced these moments.

Memorializing War and Some Thoughts on Priorities

Earlier this afternoon, I was just starting out with my walk with a little side jaunt through Admiral Willard Park at the Washington Navy Yard.  There are a number of interesting displays of ordnance, armor, the titanium pressure sphere from the deep submersible Alvin, guns, and a propeller or three.  One of the major pieces on display is the Mk 1, 14"/50 caliber railway gun pictured below:

Mk 1, 14"/50 Caliber Railway Gun used in France during WWI around 1918

This gun is one of eight produced at the Washington Navy Yard of eleven Mk 1 naval railway guns built for service during WWI.  Five of these guns saw combat action in France near the end of WWI.  The other six guns were delivered to the Army, and were never deployed in combat operations.  

This gun, without a doubt is an impressive memorial to the engineering and production techniques that were employed near the beginning of the 20th century, but seeing it here caused me to ponder the things that we as a society choose to memorialize.  Washington, DC is a city that is full of memorials, and all of them are impressive displays of accomplishment.  I do think it's worth noting that many of these memorials center around keeping the memory of one war or another alive in the minds of the viewers.

This large volume of memorialization of activities and equipment associated with war is not inherently bad, but I think the sheer number may represent a level of imbalance that I'm not entirely comfortable with given some of my life experiences. 

While it is possible to find memorials to US accomplishments in the area of space exploration (for instance), one has to go searching for these memorials.  For the most part, they're located in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museums (both the Jefferson Street facility and the larger hangar at Dulles Airport) and to a lesser degree at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  Again, this is not necessarily bad, but I do believe that our initial forays (and they are very embryonic at this stage of development) into space will likely prove more valuable in ensuring our security and survival of a species than their current under-representation in the public memorials currently recognize.

I can't help but wonder what sort of challenge is going to have to manifest itself for our country and international partners to renew and reinvigorate the pioneer spirit that contributed to the founding of this nation and once again truly stretch our legs towards the stars.

Like walking, this interest that I have with manned space travel just doesn't seem to be waning.  Like the walking, on the surface, this appears to be a relatively "crazy" idea for one person to choose to joust at windmills over.  Like walking, the idea just won't go away.  I'm concerned that it's a pretty big hill to climb, but I'm also concerned that it's getting to the point that I may have to do something about this thought...this notion...this crazy idea that just won't go away.

Expanding Darkness

The days are growing shorter and shorter.  Today I walked in relative darkness both this morning and this evening.  I really don't mind the dark, although it will make getting pictures a little more difficult.  The rising of the mostly full moon was about the best I was able to capture today.

Moonrise over the Severn River

The weather was perfect with a cool dry breeze and just enough sun to give a feeling of toastiness when wearing a long sleeved shirt.

We'll see what tomorrow reveals.  

Some New Trails

Today, I walked a slightly different variant of my four bridges route.  Not only did I discover some new things about the area that I live around, but I picked up a compliment on my quads (?) from some folks participating in the walk to end Alzheimer's.  All in all, a pretty good day.

Gate 3 at the United States Naval Academy

This is the street where a scene from Patriot Games starring Harrison Ford as CIA Analyst Jack Ryan was filmed.  Just up the street from Gate 3, the Annapolis campus of Saint John's College, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the United States awaits.

Saint John's College Croquet Greensward

The Saint John's College Greensward is the site of the Annapolis Cup, a croquet match between the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen and the Saint John's College Johnnies.  This annual spring event, usually scheduled in April, has been played every year since 1983 with 26 wins for the Johnnies and 7 wins for the Midshipmen.  It's a great event to go visit if you happen to be in Annapolis on the weekend in question, but arrive early as it's become quite a popular way to send the "Dark Ages" packing.

Cannon similar to those used in the War of 1812 keeping watch
on Saint John's College.  This cannon was placed here in 1914 by
the Daughters of the American Revolution in honor of Saint John's
Alumnus Francis Scott Key, the author of the National Anthem

I learned today that Francis Scott Key was an alumnus of Saint John's College.  This War of 1812 cannon is a memorial to his contribution of authoring the words to the National Anthem and the pride he brought to the College.

Naval Academy Chapel as seen from King George Street

As long as I've lived in Annapolis, and as many times as I've been along this route either on foot or in a car, I've never really appreciated the fantastic skyline that I finally noticed today.

Sunset behind Hospital Point

In keeping with the ongoing tradition of including a sunset or a sunrise panoramic shot courtesy of Google Photos, I'll leave with with this great view looking back over Hospital Point (formally Strawberry Hill).  It was a quartet day for Google Photos, and like all other times, the photos don't quite completely capture the grandeur of the real life events.  Put yourself in the way of beauty...Get out and walk.