Spring Potpourri

I apologize for this dropping late today.

I came home yesterday from a few days away to this glorious sight:

It had me thinking of spring, though there was a bit of a chill in the air. I’m gonna need to get out with the Roundup to take care of the grass and weeds in the gravel drive, an easy and enjoyable job performed usually while indulging in some history podcast or another.

Speaking of history, I attended the 14th Conference on the American Revolution just outside Richmond over the weekend. Here’s a shot of that magnificent event:

I’ve gone to this event for a few years now, and it is a little bit of wonderful for a history geek like me who is REALLY interested in the American Revolution. It includes a Friday night cocktail party and lecture (which I blew off), and lectures all day Saturday and half of Sunday. Each lecture is about an hour, and they consist of presentations of scholarly papers and or summaries of books. Here is the agenda from this year:

Saturday, March 28

8:30 a.m. Lorna Hainesworth Sponsored Scholar: Stephen L. Kling, Jr. “An Unappreciated Victory: Bernardo de Galvez’s Mississippi River Campaign Against the British in 1779”

9:45 a.m. Iris de Rode— “Something New to Think About: The Dutch in the American Revolution”

11 a.m. Denver Brunsman— “Prisoners, Press Gangs, and the Battle for Sailors in the Revolutionary War”

1:45 p.m. Todd W. Braisted— “’You must expect to hear me talked of as a monster of cruelty’: Colonel Francis Lord Rawdon and the Revolutionary War”

2:45 p.m. Charles P. Neimeyer— “Revolutionary Riverine Warfare: The War for Independence on American Rivers and Lakes”

4 p.m. Andrew Waters— “Backcountry War: The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton and Thomas Sumter”

Sunday, March 29

8:45 a.m. Richard “Rick” Bell—The American Revolution and the Fate of the World”

9:45 a.m. Short Refreshment Break

10 a.m. Mark Edward Lender— “War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution”

11 a.m. Short Refreshment Break

11:15 a.m. William “Larry” Kidder— “Defending Fort Stanwix: New York’s Frontier During the Revolutionary War”

There were some real highlights in there. I knew nothing of Galvez’s campaigns near New Orleans, Iris de Rode gave a great lecture on the role of the Dutch in aiding the colonies, and Rick Bell’s lecture was the class of the field, reminding attendees once again that the American Revolution—while colossally important to the world in and of itself—was just a small part of a global conflict that tied the British in knots and led to the French Revolution.

While near Richmond, I had dinner with two of my oldest friends in the world, Rob and Tom and then went back to watch hoops Thursday night with Tom and his family. Great seeing these boys.

Speaking of hoops, here are the current standings:

There are several folks still in contention, and I am not among them.

I’d like to talk for a bit about the Duke vs. UConn game. This was a little like the Iran/Iraq War (can’t they both lose?) for me, as Duke is just hateful, and UConn is coached by a Duke adjacent member of the Hurley family, who even if he weren’t related to “Bobby”, would be hateful just because. But I’m sorry to say, I was pulling for Duke out of a misplaced sense of league pride, after the ACC befouled itself with its performance in this tournament. I was generally ok with Duke’s 15 point halftime lead, but as the game went on, my Duke Hate manifested itself so that by the end of the game, I was pulling for the Huskies. The end of this game was wonderful to watch, and it will join the highlight reel of tournament moments of history.

For the record, UVA remains the last ACC team to win the tournament.