The Sunrise Run

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Panatheniac Stadium, 8 Dec 2018.

Two years ago yesterday, I landed in Athens early in the morning on a flight from Kyiv. I checked into an Airbnb, dropped off my stuff, and went on a run to the nearby Panatheniac Stadium. This was the site of the original Olympic Stadium and a venue for the first modern Olympics in 1896. When I arrived at the stadium I was the first one there. The guards let me in and I had the whole place to myself for the first thirty minutes before other early morning runners arrived. I completed a mile loop around the track and then explored the grounds and the stadium museum.

I'm a little surprised that I haven't covered this before on the blog. Looking back, I did post a photo from the stopover, and I have shared more photos on Instagram from that 24 hour stay. This is a reminder that I should write more about unique experiences like my time in Athens, and I'll need to revisit this during the holiday break.

Ancient Art and Modern

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural in Del Ray. 5 Dec 2020.

On Saturday while walking the dog I captured a photo of a recent mural in our neighborhood. The cave art-inspired mural is by an artist who painted another mural around the corner for a local sushi restaurant. This seemed timely after reading about the enormous murals painted by prehistoric artists in the Colombian Amazon 12,000 years ago (see the articles in Smithsonian and The Guardian). It's amazing that ancient art of the type found in the Amazon can still be discovered.

Christmas Lights in Brussels

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Grand Place, Brussels. 4 Dec 2019.

This shot was taken a year ago today while I was visiting the Brussels office. Last year at this time I was starting a multi-country trip through Iceland, Belgium, Hungary, Romania and Turkey. After a day of meetings, my colleagues and I enjoyed a lovely dinner in a local pub and checked out the Christmas market at Grand Place. Maybe next year we'll be able to do this again.

History Repeats

 

El Paso Herald, 25 Oct 1918

Revisiting New Orleans Connections

 

New Orleans City Directory, 1908.

Yesterday I looked back at the address where my great-grandfather Harry O'Brien lived when he was in New Orleans between 1906 and 1911. The 1908 City Directory had his name misspelled as Bryant instead of O'Brien. A closer look at the marriage record for Harry and Marguerite Barba revealed some names that I missed previously but now recognize as closely associated with the Barba family. Their marriage was witnessed by E. J. Barba, O. E. Soderstrom, and Mrs. F. L. Fuller. I'm not sure yet who E. J. Barba was, but Mrs. F. L. Fuller was Marguerite's sister Leonora. O. E. Soderstrom was Oscar Soderstrom, son of Adolph Soderstrom of Pascagoula, Mississippi. Marguerite's mother Margaret visited the Soderstrom family in 1920.