Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise

I took a little trip down Appalachia way to visit my friend Brett in Whitesburg, KY. It had all the fixings for my favorite type of travel. Good food, good people, no itinerary, and a little bit of exploring.

We went over to Joel and Amelia's house the first night for a delicious home-cooked meal. Amelia is a wonderful cook. And it was great to listen to records, drink wine and chat with the other Appalshop affiliates. You'll have to guess who the impostors are in the beard picture Rebecca took below.

Over the four years I've known Brett, most of his stories have begun with "This one time me and my buddy Steve . . . ". Steve was also visiting Whitesburg for the first time, and it was great to finally meet him.

On Tuesday we went on a little 'splorin' trip over the mountain, through Cumberland and on into Lynch. Lynch was once the largest coal camp in the world. It was plotted as a company town and grew to 10,000 people in the 1940's. Coal production stopped more than 40 years ago, but the buildings and much of the machinery still remain. It was erie to walk along the quiet tipple that at one time moved 500 tons of coal an hour.

Transition

Wiqan, Suk, Kai, Erik and I went to Grendel's Den in Harvard Square to witness history yesterday. Strangers felt like friends as we clapped, cheered, drank champagne and listened to Aretha sing "My Country 'Tis of Thee".

It's enough to make someone feel patriotic.

Little Man

Work

I work from home. Brooke works from work. So each morning she heads off into the world, and I'm left to be productive with a variety of distractions and no one to keep an eye on me. I do my best. And I enjoy it. But one of the greatest parts of my day is when Brooke comes back home.

The New Yorker

Yoon grew up all over the world. But he spent enough formative years in New York City to make it a big deal to purchase a Red Sox hat this morning. There was a good amount of inner turmoil.

We had talked over breakfast at the Eastern Standard how much we've enjoyed living in Boston. Afterwards we walked to Fenway Park, and Yoon pulled the trigger.

He hopes his New York friends will still welcome him back.

Archive: Noah's Last Day

I think this is taken in 2003. It was Noah's last day in Columbia. He was the first one to leave.