Again this year they’ve set up this eclectic assortment of models in the County Attorney’s office window.
Connections
The James Burke TV show Connections arrived at just the right moment in my youth to really fascinate me. The idea that you could weave a story crossing vast reaches of human history with only the thinnest thread – and have the whole thing hold together – still gives me great pleasure. And makes me boring at cocktail parties.
Today, I happened across a copy of Volume I of the Annals of Brattleboro and came home to look it up to see how valuable it is. Since the text has been transcribed and made available for free, perhaps not as valuable as i’d hoped, but still.
Looking for my new treasure online, I discovered something that was phonetically similar enough to rank high in the hits: the Brattleboro Rat, a naturally occurring “knockout mouse” first identified in 1961, by Dr. Henry Schroeder, who surprisingly doesn’t seem to have his own Wikipedia article yet. About 40 years after that, I was deeply enmeshed in knockout mouse-related research helping build a nomenclature for murine bloodborne cancers, part of a career that led me first to Connecticut, and finally to Brattleboro.
Where I took an interest in local history, and a couple of intriguing gravestones, which led me to consult the Annals of Brattleboro…
Second crop in AeroGarden: we’ll have homegrown tomatoes and Thai basil all winter.
One way or another, Trump will be on Pennsylvania Avenue next year. Hopefully, only to visit this new hotel he’s developing. But I’m pretty sure he could run a zip line from that clock tower to the White House.
Kevin completed his second mug yesterday with a big celebratory bottle. The only thing better was going home to watch his Eagles win an unexpected victory over the Pats.
This weekend, Lee decorated inside and out, virtually singlehanded and it all looks great. The lions have mixed feelings.
Messiah Sing Along 2015, Brattleboro VT
We got the beet, we got the beet, we got the beet!
If you’re of a certain age, like me, your first reaction on seeing this is to hear a certain Elton John song. I follow that up with a realization that I don’t have any idea what the song is about. Who is this Levon and why is being Levon so epic?
And then, as you’re walking away, humming along to the tune now firmly stuck in your head, only then do you take the time to ponder whether it’s grammatically appropriate to believe “on” something. Or to stand “on” line as they seem to do in NYC.
And finally, as the moment passes, you can ponder which local business this car’s people might be in: the activist bookstore, the transgender-run daycare, the tattoo parlor? Oh well, you’re welcome in Brattleboro, whatever you believe on.
For the last hundred years or so, this clock has helped everybody in Brattleboro get where they need to be, when they need to be there.
Although I applaud the use of a coordinating green, I am concerned to see this landmark apparently held together with duct tape this week.
Manhole cover, Hartford CT. I like the simplicity of this one… like a prop from a Wes Anderson movie.
Putting the fun in fundraising… again this year, the Retreat included a photo booth in its Employee Giving campaign kickoff.
Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition 