There is a nice small museum in the recreated Stoa in Athens. It includes items found in Athens, but also from elsewhere. Here for example are some beautiful alibaster bowls from before NT times. There is of course a lot of decorative vases and curios of various sorts, for example, look at this There are as well some nice statues and steles outside the museum in the corridor under the Stoa—- This is apparently Herodotus, but the statue was made... Read more

Here is the famous lighthouse on Cape Lookout. The diamond pattern is meant to be more visible from afar, for it is here that the cross currents and sandbars become so dangerous to ships. The little island where the lighthouse is is well maintained, indeed there is still a caretaker of the island and a caretaker’s cottage—- Yes that’s my 91 year old Mom, Joyce, walking up to the house. There have been horses on this island as well…. No... Read more

Just returned from visiting my Mom and Sis in Wilmington N.C., and as per usual we took a little road trip, this time up to Morehead City (stopped and ate at the Sanitary Seafood Market, not as good as in the old days) and then went on to two new locations— Harker’s Island and Cape Lookout. Cape Lookout is at the very bottom of the barrier islands called the Outer Banks, and it is the famous location of the graveyard... Read more

1966 was a long time ago, but it was when the era of great rock double albums began with Bob Dylan’s classic Blonde on Blonde. The Beatles followed with their own, more uneven double album, the so-called White Album, and we were off and running. I am offering here a list of the 20 best double lps, with a few caveats. Firstly, only on a few of these lps are there no mundane tracks, no unmemorable ones. The criteria for... Read more

Human sexuality and marriage issues as well as ordination issues have deeply divided our United Methodist Church, and instead of the divisions being healed, they have simply gotten worse over the last 20 plus year. What I’d like to do in the rest of this post is lay out the arguments I have heard to support a changing of the UM Discipline on these related matters, and explain why these arguments do not seem to be sound, and why most... Read more

We must start with saying this is one of the oddest, and most creative books I’ve read in a long time. Kudos to my son for finding it and sending it to me for Father’s Day. It is one part historical reflection on Mr. Lincoln and his grieving over the loss of his son, the day Willie died, and the next day. On the other hand, it is rather like walking into a seance when apparently the spirits of many... Read more

If you are looking for a quick (although there are some 400 or so pages), but in many ways troubling examination of the plight of students caught up in massive debt from their education, and suckered into some sort of for profit paper mill of an online or on campus school (think Trump University), then this is the novel for you. Here’s the summary on Amazon—- “Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make... Read more

Ant Man and the Wasp is one of the better summer action flicks this season. It runs 118 minutes, and there is really little or nothing in it that is not family friendly. No bad language, actually not much violence, nobody dies….. and if you like the characters, it’s a lot of fun. I am rather partial to this Marvel story line, and yes I enjoyed the Stan Lee obligatory cameo where he laments being so old, after so enjoying... Read more

James Patterson is a well known writer of thrillers, and many times on the NY Times and other best seller lists. This time he has teamed up with a surprise co-author. Bill Clinton! (Yes, that William Jefferson Clinton). I do not recall other previous presidents writing thrillers, but in any case, this one is a corker! I could not put it down, even though it weighs in at well over 500 pages. Here is the brief summary of the novel... Read more

Lindsey Davis is one of the most gifted writers about the Greco-Roman world, and in particular about Rome and its complexities that is out there. She is witty, has excellent prose style, makes the learning of that world fun, and has vivid and interesting characters dealing with the period of the late first century A.D. during the reign of the Flavians— Vespasian, Titus, and finally Domitian. This particular novel, set in the late 80s is the second one dealing with... Read more