When the shuttle flew into Dulles recently, I heard this topic come up on the radio. People were massed around… everyone holding up a cellphone or camera to take pictures. Quote from a Washington Post article:
“I wanted everyone to put down their cellphones and cameras and just look at the thing with their own eyes,” said Meghan Gordon, who ran out of her office just in time. “It gave me chills.”
The shuttle made three laps around the National Mall before departing for Dulles airport in Virginia. I spent the entire first lap with a camera up to my eyes before I realized that my husband wasn’t taking any pictures. Any at all. So I put my camera down and started actually *watching* the amazing sight before my eyes. And you know what? I think I appreciated it a lot more when I could look at it with my own peepers instead of a narrow lens.
I think there’s something to be said for not looking through a viewfinder or camera lens or at a tiny digital camera screen when there’s something special to be seen by just looking. Sure, pictures are nice, and even more satisfying when you get a good one yourself, but I agree with those who suggest forgetting the camera sometime to just enjoy a rare sight.
I didn’t make it down to Roanoke, but sure enough steam railroading returned to Roanoke, Virginia for the first time in a long time. Roanoke Rail Fest featured New Hope Valley #17 sporting a Norfolk & Western class A “hooter” whistle for a portion of the event. Little #17 sounds just like N&W 1218. If only…
Old Crow Medicine Show is a success story for Americana music. Starting off mainly playing raucous versions of classic old-time string band songs, they’ve evolved to writing quality original acoustic music. If you’re a new listener, I especially recommend the O.C.M.S. and Big Iron World CDs, but there is plenty of lively, fun, good music across their albums.
For 10 months, as he completed a solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the Americas aboard a 27-foot sailboat — a feat certified as unprecedented by the U.S. Sailing Hall of Fame — Rutherford had scarcely had any human contact.
Roanoke Rail Fest will kick-off the Museum’s year-long 50th Anniversary celebration by transporting rail fans to the Golden Age of Steam when locomotives ran under steam power. The New Hope Valley #17, coming to Roanoke from the North Carolina Railway Museum, will be powering the ever-so-popular train rides the Museum offers during special events.
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CDs, but there is plenty of lively, fun, good music across their albums.