Author Archives: John M

Changing it up with some local walks

Posted on June 18, 2013 by John M

After driving a few hours to the Shenandoah Mountains for a hike 2 weeks ago, it was time to do some local walks for a change. Every walk doesn’t have to be an adventure, after all. The remains of Tropical Storm … Continue reading →

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Crossing the Styx

Posted on June 9, 2013 by John M

I was driving around in northern Virginia last week and heard this news story on the radio: 11-Yr-Old Suspended From School For Merely TALKING About Guns Martin Di Caro, WMAL.com, June 3, 2013 OWINGS, MD — The father of a … Continue reading →

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Dark Hollow Falls/Hawksbill

Posted on June 6, 2013 by John M

Hiking in the Shenadoah National Park is great, but it’s such a long drive! Skyline Drive is  cool (in the Ultimate Driving Machine), but the entire distance is a 2 1/2 hour haul each way. Whenever I go up there tagging along with … Continue reading →

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Catching up: Sky Meadows

Posted on May 24, 2013 by John M

I’ve been so busy out walking around over the past week or so that I haven’t taken time out to write about any of them! Back on May 12 I organized a 5-mile urban walk along the Bluemont and Custis Trails … Continue reading →

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Azaleas!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by John M

Last Saturday I went with a group on an early morning walk though the azalea gardens in the US National Arboretum in Washington, DC. If you live anywhere nearby, it’s worth the effort to drag yourself out of bed early and beat the rush … Continue reading →

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Elementary

Posted on April 27, 2013 by John M

“Elementary, my dear Watson.” A familiar quote, but one Sherlock Holmes never actually said in any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories! But this is about a different Holmes – Holmes Run — and an “elementary” walk with a local hiking group. The … Continue reading →

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Going out on a limb

Posted on April 10, 2013 by John M

Just the other day I was reading a story in which the housing market has apparently rebounded so well that the administration is going out on a limb, pushing banks to overlook weaker credit ratings in granting mortgages to prospective homebuyers: The … Continue reading →

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Atrocious Hideousness

Posted on March 27, 2013 by John M

Many American numismatists may have heard this expression, used by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in a 1904 letter to Secretary of the Treasury Leslie Mortier Shaw to describe US coins: “I think our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness. Would … Continue reading →

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Feel the pain

Posted on March 24, 2013 by John M

Yesterday I walked around the Tidal Basin in Washington DC and found out that the little buttons they hand out as souvenirs every year at the for the National Cherry Blossom Festival aren’t available this year “due to the sequestration.” … Continue reading →

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Joy

Posted on March 22, 2013 by John M

Now and again during our troubled journey through life we reach little oases of almost perfect happiness, set jewel-like here and there in the thorny wilderness of time. Sometimes these are hours of mere animal content. In others they are … Continue reading →

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