The Ayrabs find a home. Maybe.

Back in 2005, the City of Baltimore, aka my Old Hometown, in its Infinite Wisdom(tm)*cough* declared the historic Ayrab stables on Retreat Street a Menace and a Danger and condemned the joint. At that time, the City promised the Ayrabs that it would help them rebuild. In earnest of its promise, the City first moved the horses to Bowie Race Track in Prince George's County, which was...stoopid, even for municipal work, then to Pimlico Race Track, which was...somewhat less stoopid, and finally to tents under the Monroe Street Bridge. The Mayor of Baltimore then announced that the Ayrabs needed to pull themselves together, write a business plan, and get a loan; the City was through coddling them.

The Ayrabs are part of my childhood. They were for a hundred years or more the primary source of fresh fruit and vegetables for the people living inside the deep city. I still remember hearing them come down the alley, the clop of the pony's hooves, the guy singing out for STRAWberrrEEs, CANlope, KOHN! FRESH kohn!

So, anyway, I was sad, when I learned the Ayrabs had been evicted from Retreat Street (which isn't a street at all, but a grubby alley down in a neighborhood you really don't want to be walking in), and hoped that the City would make good on its promise. Mind you, it wasn't really a surprise to find that the City hadn't made good on its promise, 'cause Baltimore is...not a promise-keeper, historically. Especially not the promises that it may from time to time make to its less-than-completely-white citizens.

Well, it turns out that the B&O Railroad Museum has offered to lease the City a choice bit of land for $1/year if the City will build the Ayrabs a permanent stable there. It appears as if the deal will be going down, though one should never underestimate the capacity of the City of Baltimore to weasel out of commitments.

Read all about it here (with thanks to kinzel for the link). And do watch the video. Dat man, he do talk lak home, so he do...

Save a word

From the Usual Suspects.

Each year, hundreds of words are dropped from the English language. Your job, should you choose to accept it--save one. Just hit the adopt-a-word link, and go from there. Warning: The desperate little voices may not be work-safe.

My word is bimarian adj -- of or pertaining to two seas. "At the time of the mutiny, the captain had just completed a bimarian voyage." Kin-words: bimarine -- between two seas -- and bimarical -- of two seas. I shall use it, and them, proudly.


The new UPS is charging behind me, sigh. I have Outlined More, and finally gotten Aelliana to put all of her things into the right pockets. Stubborn, stubborn woman.

Steve leaves for Boskone tomorrow morning, and I hope to turn most of these notes into chapters over the weekend. So far, it's looking like good times ahead.

Oh, and for mbarker:

She blinked. "Can -- is that by Code?"

His lips twitched. "Oddly enough, it is. Korval's interest in pilots is well-known. It falls well within my honor to offer Korval's protection to an endangered pilot." He tipped his head. "Such an action will, perhaps, not please your delm, but it will freeze all of the pieces on the board, for however long you choose."

*smooch*