May 16th Elkridge Library Groundbreaking

    Next week is the time that Elkridge moves closer to having its new expanded library and senior center with the groundbreaking.  Soon you might be able to borrow that seldom used tool from this DIY library.  Howard County has come a long way from the first library building pictured below.



Nowhere is this progress in library buildings than the Miller Library below.


    Word is that the new Elkridge Library/Senior Center complex will be named for a past County official.  Come out to the groundbreaking to find out who.

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Pie Five pizza opens in Dobbin Center

    It seems like we have another pizza place opening every week in Howard County.  Recently Pie Five opened in Dobbin Center.  This restaurant seems to be following the restaurant trend of letting the customer individualize their meal with choices of crust type, sauce type, cheese type and topping choices.

    Pizzas are cooked in a broiler similar to Pizza Hut in a few minutes

So how is the pizza at this place?

    The pizza not surprisingly is similar to Pizza Hut pizza.  I would only give it a C- as the crust and sauce were poor.  The topping choices was the only good thing about the pizza.

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Most beautiful building in the US

   We live so close to one of this Country's most beautiful building- the Library of Congress.  According to the Library:
   "By the 1970s elaborately decorated spaces were subdivided by partitions, and dropped ceilings concealed the murals above them. Offices filled corridors, corner pavilions and the second-floor galleries of the Great Hall, compromising the beauty and integrity of the building. Its restoration was made possible by the 1980 opening of the third library building, the James Madison Memorial Building, to which some staff, collections and services could be moved."
    The move of many of the offices to the James Madison Building allowed the original building to be restored to its original splendor.

"Restoration of architectural surfaces, decorative painting and murals was based on historical research and archival photographs as well as on sampling of paint layers. The decorative painters cleaned and repainted intricate plaster reliefs and moldings. They cleaned gold leaf and, in some cases, replicated the aluminum leaf toned to look like gold or copper. They also re-created intricate painted classical patterns and designs."

  "The goal of the mural conservators was to uncover and preserve as much as possible the original work of 19 artists, each of whom used different materials and techniques. No two cycles of murals presented exactly the same problems. Many were black with grime and soot or covered with yellowed coatings. Some were flaking, others were damaged by abrasion or leaks, and a few had been repainted."

   "Today, surfaces once dark gray are again gleaming white. The graceful figures and rich colors of the murals can again be enjoyed, and the carefully planned harmony of colors in murals, wall decorations and mosaic floors or ceilings is once again clear. Long-dulled gold leaf now shines. Parquet, marble and mosaic floors, for years covered with carpet, tiles or linoleum, have been uncovered and restored." 

"Blackened light fixtures covered by awkward modern shades are bright, showing their bouquets of light bulbs, and intrusive modern hanging lights have been removed. As a result of the restoration and renovation, the architectural and artistic beauty of the first Library of Congress building now shines. The work performed has ensured that, in addition to the information it houses, the magnificence of the Thomas Jefferson Building can be appreciated for generations to come."

  

Above is the main reading room of the Library.

Among the famous books in the Libray's collection is one of the few Gutenberg Bibles

    The other famous books in the Library's collection are some of the original books that Thomas Jefferson gave to the Library after the British burned the Capitol in 1814 and destroyed the original books in the Library's collection of books.

    The balcony of the Libray has one of the great views of the Capitol and the Mall.

P.S.

We have all been watching the restoration work on the Capitol from the outside but the inside is also under renovation.  The work is to be done by the time of Hillary Clinton's inauguration in January. 

LGBT/Bain 50+ Center film event

    

    The culture wars today are often played out with LGBT rights being under attack in many of our conservative states.  Target's decision to respect the choices of  the transgender community is now getting the expected push back from the political right with their campaign to boycott Target.  We know how this political debate will turn out because we saw the same arguments decades ago against the civil rights efforts.  Even in our present day it seems that fear and anxiety about our differences still cause some to deny rights to others who differ from them.  However, expanding rights will always win out in the long run against those who want to discriminate and deny rights to individuals.   That's what we call progress.  
     What is often overlooked in the campaign for expanding rights for the LGBT population is that the struggle has been fought by many people who are now senior citizens.  Often they faced much stronger pressure to "stay in the closet" than what is faced today.  Unfortunately staying in the closet only delayed the progress that we see today.
    On Thursday May 12 at 6:00 pm at the Bain Center the LGBT Older Adults Task Force of Howard County is showing the movie "Cloudburst" starring Olympia Dukakis as Stella and Brenda Fricker as Dotty.  Doors open at 5:30 with refreshments.  This film is about a lesbian couple from Maine who embark on a road trip to Nova Scotia to get marred after Dotty is moved into a nursing home by her granddaughter.  On the way they pick up a young male hitchhiker.
    A discussion will follow the film addressing the issues of family dynamics, aging, loss and love.  To learn more about the LGBT Older Adult Task Force check out their Facebook Page.

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Rain barrel hooked up

     With the predicted rain for this week I finally got my rain barrel hooked up this past weekend.  This was one of the free barrels given away at Greenfest.

  Saturday night's rain filled the entire barrel.  The screen shown is to stop the leaves from getting into the barrel.

   The overflow tube was already channeling the excess water away into the yard.

   The two valves at the bottom can be hooked up to a garden hose and used to water a garden or flowers. 

    The pressure from the water and gravity from being on an elevated deck should be enough to use a hose with a regular nozzle.

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