Blogs from Baltimore, Maryland, United States, North America

Named after a mythical bird in a famous poem, the new NFL team in Baltimore became the Ravens "evermore" team on Friday, March 29, 1996. "In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; ...Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." --Edgar Allan Poe, 1845 The naming process for the expansion Baltimore NFL team began in mid-February, as soon as owner and president Art Modell received permission from the league office to move his franchise from Cleveland to Baltimore. One of his first actions was to approach the Indianapolis organization about their mascot "Colts," but Indy team officials refused to part with the name. After extensive research, exhaustive panel discussions, focus groups, and fan polling, the name Ravens continued t... read more

Three months left, where should we go? As much as we wanted to visit Newfoundland, top on our remaining “love to see” place’s in North America, we calculated it was about 2000 miles away and, although 3 months may seem like a long time, we knew from experience every journey takes longer than anticipated. As the Motor home, and therefore us, would be leaving from the east coast, we decided to stay that side of the USA. Newfoundland would have to stay on our “to do list” Our next stop was Nashville, where we hoped to meet up with Margie, we had been threatening to do this since the beginning of our trip. We sent an email to see if she was around, No, she was in England but would be back in time for us ... read more

We could have gone to The Parade. We both had Thursday off and Keith asked me if I wanted to go into Philadelphia for the Eagles Parade. Sure, I wanted to go, but practically, I didn’t. I had way too much to do to get ready for our trip and I knew if we went I would be up half the night finishing up everything, plus Keith had a lot of things he had to catch up on, so we passed. I did watch some of it online when I could and had it on the radio. I had friends who went who thoroughly enjoyed it, so I am glad for them. I wonder if Jason Kelce's line of " We're from Philly, (expletive part censored since this is a rated G blog), No one likes ... read more

Earlier this year I wanted to plan a trip to Chicago for Paul to see the Cubs play, but it was hard to find tickets and so expensive. My brother suggested we check Cubs games at Camden Yards in Baltimore, and turns out, there was a series this week! Also, my brother lives here in Baltimore which makes it all the nicer! That's when plans took off. I had to do a lot of sneaking and clearing browser history so he didn't see what I'd been doing online! I gave him the surprise on his 40th birthday - he knew I was up to something but nothing like this. Stay tuned for updates of our travels! Funny happening in the Minneapolis airport- I got through security fine and was waiting for Paul and I heard him ... read more

For several decades in a Baltimore cemetery, someone has been dressing up, walking over to Edgar Allan Poe's grave, drinking a glass of cognac and leaving the rest of the bottle and flowers for the poet Edgar Allan Poe. Happy Birthday Poe, long dead but still getting cognac every year. Post-life goals! The 'toaster' has never been identified. His last appearance was in 2010 has left space for 'faux toasters' who have carried on the tradition. Some people complain that they have not carried on the original toasters secretive nature and will walk through crowds of people and not leave the flowers in what has been described as a 'distinctive' pattern. I've never been a huge fan of poetry (except for one of my friends who writes hilarious dirty haikus), and have honestly never read any ... read more