Recent History (October)
Here are some late fall flowers that were hanging
in there on my balcony
Several family members and high school friend
Karen were in DC for Dana's concert. We went to
the National Gallery East Wing to see a Munch
exhibit and then had lunch at the American Art
museum.
This is a magical little causeway going from the
backstage area of the dance theater to the front
entrance. It seemed like a secret.
Environmental
I participated in a
photography project (not contest) at my work
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - GSFC). The
instructions were to take photos around the
center during a particular week and then the
photos would be featured on the GSFC website as
Pictures of the Day and on their Flickr site. So
on my way to a meeting I took along my camera and
took some shots. I submitted one of the photos
but so far it has not shown up anywhere. The
project was open to all employees and was widely
advertised so I am sure many people participated.
I am not sure why they are not posting the pics
Anyway here are some pictures I took but did NOT
submit but I kind of like. GSFC is actually a
beautiful "campus" with forests and ponds, wild
and not wild flowers, deer, geese, fox,
woodchucks and bunnies. The buildings are fairly
boring and are named boringly, eg. Building 1,
Building 2. The most recently built building is
named Building 34. I work in Building 22. But
many buildings have interesting satellite/radio
dishes on top so my idea was to show the nature
and the technology.
The moon and some sort of tower. An electrical
station with birds.
Dish on top of Bldg 8 framed by cars and a tree.
Flower in same shape as dish on top of Bldg 23.
Exhaust pipes on Bldg 22
Below is the photo I submitted. I crouched behind
some planted wild flowers that were being blown
rather harshly by the wind and took a picture of
the dish on top of Building 8.
Have you given up on me?
Austin and William hosted a wonderful Fish Fry at the end of July. Graeme was here for Camp DC and Lenore and my parents came for the event.
We had a wonderfully special dinner the night before with Woody and Patrick at Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca, an Italian restaurant downtown. Word got out that I had a recent birthday and I was surprised by a fancy dessert. I can't remember if the waiters sang or not.
Austin's Fish fry was
fun. Tracy's son and his family, Ellen and Sam,
Mark and Allen, Earnest and Pam, Craig were there
for the great food and fun.
Tracy, Justin and Austin frying. Sam and Ellen
pose with the dishwasher.
Ellen knitting and Ingrid rocking
Fun kitchen scene. Talking movies.
Pam and Ernest
Rachel and Ethan
Shortly after this
party Kevin's seizures became more frequent and
he had to be hospitalized. He is currently in a
coma. The family is as hopeful as possible. It is
truly heartbreaking. We are keeping Kevin in our
thought and prayers.
Museum of Medicine at Walter Reed
One of the first electron microscopes and
creepily wonderful child skeletons
Below are some sites in the neighborhood and
around town
A week in July - Edisto 2010
As in the past couple of times we've gotten together David served up amazing vintage cocktails and as in the past 10 years (for me; it goes back to the 80s for the Susans and David) we updated our "Lust List". In the past we have done nature walks, some more successful (ie, less mosquitos) than others but this year we found a true gem in Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management Area.
It is a large piece of land that once contained two plantations. The owner left the land to the state when she died and they have made it a wonderful place to drive/walk through and explore. We saw snakes, alligators, huge frogs and many birds. The plantations are no longer there save a few bricks, some small buildings and a well but the marsh, ponds, fields, forests and beach are amazing.
Highlights:
- A new and improved rental house - filled with light and a bit bigger than the one we've stayed in the last couple of years.
- Keeping one eye on the alligator in the middle of the pond as we ran around taunting the huge kitsch-like frogs.
- Maddy actually getting Hunter to eat a vegetable or two
- Eating fried fish and drinking at two local restaurants. At one we befriended a shy young lady named Carson.
- Listening to staffer Bruce's stories of hanging out with movie stars as they were filming at Botany Bay - Tim Roth, Jude Law to name two (there may have been only two)
Here are the drinks David made us.
- Bijou (gin)
- Floridita (rum)
- Clover Club (gin)
- Last Word (dry vermouth?)
- Fairbanks (gin) - my favorite
- Argentine Cocktail (gin)
- Mulata (rum)
- Agri Dolce (tequila) - group favorite
Check out more pictures at my Gallery
A week in July Part 1
It was a wonderful visit. Karen and Zach are wonderful hosts. We talked about then and now and everything in between. Karen and I looked through year books. When you have not seen somebody for 30 years most of the details go away but the defining memories remain. I remember Karen's smile, I remember that she drove her dad's old mercedes. I confessed to her that I thought I wasn't as cool as she was in high school and she said the same thing about me. Ahh, teenagers.
We had a nice mexican dinner at Tios near the
campus where the waiter was from Mongolia
Where the ducks and hens hang
Karen with fresh eggs and their cat Smoke
Sunday morning Zach and Karen fixed me fresh eggs
from their hens and ducks and sent me on my way.
i headed down I-95 to Savannah to visit Tommy,
Sandy and Little T in their newly renovated
place. My parents, Lynda and Graeme were also
there. We all agreed that rhe changes made their
place remarkably more spacious and filled with
light. We ate warm chicken salad, bean casserole
and Sandy's famous pound cake and watched a live
video feed of the robots trying to plug the leak
1 mile below the surface in the Gulf on Mr. Pin's
computer. We headed to Edisto early evening and
got there in time to watch the sun set.
June into July
I did not include this nice picture of Graeme and Lynda's cat, Willow.
The local farmers market started. It is a block
way. The first weekend I was front and center
buying squash for our favorite chipotle squash
casserole (which is like the Go Green and Gold!
(high school colors) casserole we used to make in
high school only with that pepper twist). Here is
my favorite vendor.
I have not updated
this blog recently because I was busy doing a
music collage and video for Dana's new piece that
was shown as one of the evening performances at
the Smithsonian Folklife festival. The
performance went well. Here you can see a bit of
my video work on the TV. The piece is called
"Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love". The other
picture is of his piece "Island" that I took from
side stage. I love that big fan!
I took this picture of Dana's rehearsal
mistress's baby Marie Elizabeth (my two middle
names!) at one of Dana's rehearsals. She might be
about 10 months old.
This past week/weekend I bought four new tires,
cycled twice, took two long walks, did a little
shopping, swam, watched fireworks from the
balcony, saw 3 bats flying around near the
balcony 2 nights in a row and prepared for my
trip to Edisto next week (yay!).
Insincere Gay Guy
We dropped by yesterday after not visiting for a couple of years. Susan recognized us, smiled us and said "Hi Guys". Insincere Gay Guy mumbled a greeting. I quickly found a Tshirt I had to have and was forced to ask Insincere Gay Guy if there was a larger size. He somewhat sarcastically showed me the label and explained that the cryptic writing let me know that it comes in Small and Medium and that the Small was there but the Medium was in the back. (he has gotten a little grumpy) I just smiled and asked if I could see the Medium. He said "of course" and went and got it for me. Joe was browsing nearby and said he was glad to see that things have not changed. I suspect that Susan heard at least part of the interaction and came over to tell me about the Tshirt artist and that I could try it on in the back room if I needed to. I bought the shirt and love it.
Here is a pic from the artist's site. The design is called Octopus Robots
Speaking of art the little girl on the 3rd floor
has a new installation up on her door. I am not
exactly sure what the point is but had to
document it.
Multi-Purpose weekend
Saturday we went into Charleston to check out the farmers/craft Market at Marion Square and attend the Dragon Boat Festival. It was hot but at the river the breeze made it bearable. We ate chili at the George (my parent's in-town condo) and then went to see Graeme starring as Cornelius in Hello Dolly. Very enjoyable. Check out the videos on youtube.
Sunday we made potato pancakes for all the mothers - some with and without onions, some cooked in bacon grease, some in vegetable oil - all delicious. Sunday dinner was Lenore's birthday celebration with steak and poppy seed cake.
At some point we had a beer tasting with a selection from the local Piggly Wiggly. I think the New Castle Ale was the favorite
And we saw a squirrel resting in a tree and a
chameleon.
Check out more pics.
Evil little brother
Early Spring
Shrimp fries!
Ellen and Sam's friend Arthur joined us as well. And it was during dinner when Lyla and I were explaining to Sam about how our mother was Latvian and our father was Irish that Arthur stood up and quietly walked around the table to where Lyla and I were sitting, stood between us and asked if we said Latvian. After we turned, gave him a puzzled look and said "yes" he kissed us both on the cheek and said "Sveiks". As you can imagine we were amazed that someone knew the official Latvian greeting. It turns out Arthur used to date a Latvian girl. Alas it did not work out but he gained a clear understanding of what is important to Latvians. It also turns out that Sam and Arthur know another Latvian that swims at their pool.
After dinner we stood around and re-arranged T-shirts on the floor to help Tracy plan his Grateful Dead quilt that Austin is making. We also watched Apolo Ohno win a another medal. Ellen and Sam have a big rottweiler named Pepper who was very friendly and joined in the fun while we were there but started growling when we left. This was quite odd. I can only think that as a rescued dog he has abandonment issues, even with relative strangers.
But it was another wonderful event with Sam and Ellen.
Shrimp fries!
Ellen knitting and William taking a photo for his
contacts list
Sam serving a nice bottle of wine. Lyla and Tracy
with tulips.
Austin's veggie dish. Lyla points her chopsticks
at Arthur.
Planning Tracy's Grateful Dead T-Shirt quilt.
Pepper the friendly rottweiler with a pal
Ellen's frog collection.
Hearts and Action Figures
Gifts from the heart:
The heart is about 4.5 inches tall. SRK is about 12 inches tall.
Taking it to the Streets
Street walkers and a cute girl eating her lunch
Hidden park benches and a birch tree among the
evergreens
Joe's pictures are below
An inexperienced cross-country skier in a crazy
blue coat and a little boy having fun
An inexperienced cross country skier (luckily I
wasn't trying) in a yellow coat and a snow plow
with an emblem - a mouse next to the words "Big
Papa".
Snow Season
Burning Christmas trees
There are more pictures here.