In Which I Have Trouble Keeping Up With Life
Life's been very busy of late (long hours at my day jobs and long hours working for DF as he got ready to go off to England), so here's a summary of what I've been up to:
-Friday, March 30: The Steiner Lecture on the St Matthew Passion, given by Christolf Wollf, was very good, and made me really want to see it live again.
-Saturday, April 1: Slavice food festival in Arbutus with Will, and then down to NoVA for dinner with his parents.
-Sunday, April 2: Lovely Palm Sunday service with Will's parents, brunch, and then in to DC to visit the Georgia Ave thrift store (Will got a Harris tweed jacket to replace his ancient, ratty one), then on to the cathedral to hear the St John Passion. A lovely concert in a lovely setting, though too much to take in, really, and we ran into Piotr Axer and his fiancee sitting behind us.
Tuesday, April 4: Sculptey craft night with my coworkers. I had a bag of several pounds of polymer clay left over from when I was in middle school and we spent a fun evening making stuff (pendants and beads mostly for me, and a millefiori coaster). It got pretty addicting pretty fast.
Saturday, April 7: Up to Berkeley Springs to see my grandad at the rehab center. He's looking much better, though he had a near-thing of it (pneumonia, blood clots, and generally being old) last week. We brought him a chocolate chip cookie and talked for a while. Had lunch in town, soaked our feet in the stream, and then went back to visit again and see grandmom and Uncle Rodney. Then down 522 to Winchester to walk around the pedestrian mall for a while, and then out 50 through the beautiful countryside to have dinner with the Knights and watch To Kill a Mockingbird afterward.
Sunday, April 8 - Easter service at St Andrew's was lovely, and we were invited to the choir brunch with Will's parents afterward. Then we drove up to my mom's for Easter luncheon with my mom's side of the family, and I spent the afternoon outside playing Easter Egg hunt with my cousin Charlotte. I also met a neighborhood friend from childhood whom I hadn't seen in a good 12 years. She's a hair stylist with a kid and looking pretty great. Will was in a 3-piece suit with a flower in his buttonhole, and I was in my English silk sundress dress with my tall white heels, diamonds, big Jackie O sunglasses, and a large white hat held onto my head with a white sheer silk scarf tied under my chin - it felt great to show off. We went in and said hello to her parents, and visited more with family before heading back to Annapolis for the WFRP game.
Tuesday April 10th - I took my car in to Will's mechanic, whom I trust, for an oil change and check-up, and found out it has some severe structural corrosion in the sub frame and isn't safe to drive fast because the engine could fall out if I hit a pothole, and fixing everything will cost twice what the car is worth. I was distraught at first, but now I'm looking forward to selling my car (which I barely drove anyway - I really couldn't justify the expense), getting a little money for it, and not having the expense of a car for a few years as I save for another one (I'll probably buy Will's 2008 Matrix off him when it hits 100,000 miles). So that worked out well, but I don't have a car now that I feel safe driving more than a few miles from home so I'm a bit less mobile.
Thursday, April 12 - attended a great talk at the National Archives - "Made in the USA: Early Bound Records at the National Archives" that really got me pumped for working on my own research paper. Fun fact: of the 50 people who attended only 3 were men.
Friday, April 13 - attended Scott Husby's talk on "Traveling Texts: What Bookbindings Tell Us About Early Printed Books", sponsored by the Potomac Chapter of the Guild of Bookworkers at the Folger. Very exciting talk about late 15th and early 16th century book trade routes and the dissimation and binding of printed works. Then I headed back to Annapolis with the conservation lab's intern (an Italian girl from north of Venice), to take her to WV for the weekend.
Saturday-Sunday April 14-15: In the morning I took Ketti on a drive around Annapolis in the lovely sunshine to see Eastport, the old historic mansions, the State House, St John's, and so on before we had breakfast and headed out to WV. Once we got west of Frederick we took Alt-40 through the little Pike towns down the Sharpsburg for fresh baked goods at Burkholder's, and then to lunch in Shepherdstown. We took the backroads out to my parents, said hello, and went down to visit my grandfather and grandmother. Will's parents were on their way out to WV by way of the Paw Paw tunnel and the infamous Green Spring Bridge, and they stopped by to say hello while we were there. Then we went back to the farm to hike in the woods - we showed Ketti deer and raccoon tracks, bear poop, a turkey feather, fresh oak galls, and butterflies, and Will told her the names of all the trees. We made dinner at my parents and my parents had a really good time telling stories about their days flying around the world in the Air Force in the 70s-90s - my dad had spent a lot of time at the air base near where Ketti is from. Then we got into my dad's pickup truck and drove back to the farm and up into the upper field to watch the deer and listen to the spring peepers. When we returned we had cake and wine we went to bed, and I think Ketti really enjoyed getting out into the countryside.
On Sunday we were up early for church, and then after church we helped my mom get food for Fellowship dinner ready and I went down to my grandparents to drive my grandparents to church (I think they were very proud to have their granddaughter chauffering them). Fellowship dinner was nice - lots of vegetarian dishes, surprisingly enough - and we drove down the valley, over the mountain at 45, and took 50 back to Washington. We visited the Goose Creek Bridge, walked around Middleburg, and dropped Ketti off on Capitol Hill, and then headed home. All in all it was a lovely weekend and a lot of fun to show off America. I think we talked her ear off about religion, politics, and history.
Tuesday the 17th was bulk trash night. It was a warm evening and the mood was convivial - lots of people out 'shopping'. I got 10 cut glass drawer pulls, a pile of 2x4s to build a bench for the front porch, and two folding chairs.
18 - chanty sing at Galway. Didn't lead any songs, but had a very good time nonetheless and learned some new songs.
19 - Stopped by some friends of David's for a glass of wine and some good talk - they were sending him off to England in style. Met a friend of DI's from MA who knew me by reputation as half of that young couple who was going to drive him to the Red Lion Inn two summers ago - small world.
Saturday the 21 - Marching Through Time at Marietta Mansion in Bowie. The weather stayed warm and sunny, though the crowds were small. I turned out with Lord Grey's. Cut my right index finger open with a razor sharp knife and had to have Will drive me to an urgent care clinic. Nothing like showing up dressed like a weirdo, covered in your own blood. Six stitches; the nurses were fascinated by my clothes and wanted to bring their kids to MTT next year. In and out in 90 minutes - back in time to eat our roasted Cornish game hens. Sunday was cancelled for predicted heavy rains so we struck camp and Will and I headed back to Annapolis to spend the evening drinking wine and playing whist with Myron and Charles - a very satisfying night.
Sunday the 22nd - breakfast with Myron, napping with Will, and then off to run errands in the rain - groceries with Dan, out to Audrey's Plantmania to pick up seedlings ($20 for 6 tomato plants, 2 comfreys, 2 zucchini plants, a handful of basil plants, and a free butternut squash plant and a bunch of foxgloves), to Home Depot for purple petunias and potting soil, and then home to cook dinner (broccoli yogurt soup and mint quinoa salad). A slow evening of Deadwood and Game of Thrones with the guys, and then to bed.
Tuesday 24th - An absolutely sublime concert by Primum Mobile (two Josquin Des Pres motets - In Te Domini Speravi and Ave Maria, then L'Homme Arme and finally Des Pres's Missa l'Homme Arme). Breathtaking, especially the duets in the Sanctus. Followed by bulk trash night in Eastport with my mom (got two wicker porch chairs)
Wednesday 25th - repotted plants at last, and got the front porch cleaned off and rearranged! My garden is shaping up.
My finger is healing well so far, though it's meant no going to the gym this week, which is disappointing, and the stitches itch occasionally. Looking forward to Croquet this weekend.
-Friday, March 30: The Steiner Lecture on the St Matthew Passion, given by Christolf Wollf, was very good, and made me really want to see it live again.
-Saturday, April 1: Slavice food festival in Arbutus with Will, and then down to NoVA for dinner with his parents.
-Sunday, April 2: Lovely Palm Sunday service with Will's parents, brunch, and then in to DC to visit the Georgia Ave thrift store (Will got a Harris tweed jacket to replace his ancient, ratty one), then on to the cathedral to hear the St John Passion. A lovely concert in a lovely setting, though too much to take in, really, and we ran into Piotr Axer and his fiancee sitting behind us.
Tuesday, April 4: Sculptey craft night with my coworkers. I had a bag of several pounds of polymer clay left over from when I was in middle school and we spent a fun evening making stuff (pendants and beads mostly for me, and a millefiori coaster). It got pretty addicting pretty fast.
Saturday, April 7: Up to Berkeley Springs to see my grandad at the rehab center. He's looking much better, though he had a near-thing of it (pneumonia, blood clots, and generally being old) last week. We brought him a chocolate chip cookie and talked for a while. Had lunch in town, soaked our feet in the stream, and then went back to visit again and see grandmom and Uncle Rodney. Then down 522 to Winchester to walk around the pedestrian mall for a while, and then out 50 through the beautiful countryside to have dinner with the Knights and watch To Kill a Mockingbird afterward.
Sunday, April 8 - Easter service at St Andrew's was lovely, and we were invited to the choir brunch with Will's parents afterward. Then we drove up to my mom's for Easter luncheon with my mom's side of the family, and I spent the afternoon outside playing Easter Egg hunt with my cousin Charlotte. I also met a neighborhood friend from childhood whom I hadn't seen in a good 12 years. She's a hair stylist with a kid and looking pretty great. Will was in a 3-piece suit with a flower in his buttonhole, and I was in my English silk sundress dress with my tall white heels, diamonds, big Jackie O sunglasses, and a large white hat held onto my head with a white sheer silk scarf tied under my chin - it felt great to show off. We went in and said hello to her parents, and visited more with family before heading back to Annapolis for the WFRP game.
Tuesday April 10th - I took my car in to Will's mechanic, whom I trust, for an oil change and check-up, and found out it has some severe structural corrosion in the sub frame and isn't safe to drive fast because the engine could fall out if I hit a pothole, and fixing everything will cost twice what the car is worth. I was distraught at first, but now I'm looking forward to selling my car (which I barely drove anyway - I really couldn't justify the expense), getting a little money for it, and not having the expense of a car for a few years as I save for another one (I'll probably buy Will's 2008 Matrix off him when it hits 100,000 miles). So that worked out well, but I don't have a car now that I feel safe driving more than a few miles from home so I'm a bit less mobile.
Thursday, April 12 - attended a great talk at the National Archives - "Made in the USA: Early Bound Records at the National Archives" that really got me pumped for working on my own research paper. Fun fact: of the 50 people who attended only 3 were men.
Friday, April 13 - attended Scott Husby's talk on "Traveling Texts: What Bookbindings Tell Us About Early Printed Books", sponsored by the Potomac Chapter of the Guild of Bookworkers at the Folger. Very exciting talk about late 15th and early 16th century book trade routes and the dissimation and binding of printed works. Then I headed back to Annapolis with the conservation lab's intern (an Italian girl from north of Venice), to take her to WV for the weekend.
Saturday-Sunday April 14-15: In the morning I took Ketti on a drive around Annapolis in the lovely sunshine to see Eastport, the old historic mansions, the State House, St John's, and so on before we had breakfast and headed out to WV. Once we got west of Frederick we took Alt-40 through the little Pike towns down the Sharpsburg for fresh baked goods at Burkholder's, and then to lunch in Shepherdstown. We took the backroads out to my parents, said hello, and went down to visit my grandfather and grandmother. Will's parents were on their way out to WV by way of the Paw Paw tunnel and the infamous Green Spring Bridge, and they stopped by to say hello while we were there. Then we went back to the farm to hike in the woods - we showed Ketti deer and raccoon tracks, bear poop, a turkey feather, fresh oak galls, and butterflies, and Will told her the names of all the trees. We made dinner at my parents and my parents had a really good time telling stories about their days flying around the world in the Air Force in the 70s-90s - my dad had spent a lot of time at the air base near where Ketti is from. Then we got into my dad's pickup truck and drove back to the farm and up into the upper field to watch the deer and listen to the spring peepers. When we returned we had cake and wine we went to bed, and I think Ketti really enjoyed getting out into the countryside.
On Sunday we were up early for church, and then after church we helped my mom get food for Fellowship dinner ready and I went down to my grandparents to drive my grandparents to church (I think they were very proud to have their granddaughter chauffering them). Fellowship dinner was nice - lots of vegetarian dishes, surprisingly enough - and we drove down the valley, over the mountain at 45, and took 50 back to Washington. We visited the Goose Creek Bridge, walked around Middleburg, and dropped Ketti off on Capitol Hill, and then headed home. All in all it was a lovely weekend and a lot of fun to show off America. I think we talked her ear off about religion, politics, and history.
Tuesday the 17th was bulk trash night. It was a warm evening and the mood was convivial - lots of people out 'shopping'. I got 10 cut glass drawer pulls, a pile of 2x4s to build a bench for the front porch, and two folding chairs.
18 - chanty sing at Galway. Didn't lead any songs, but had a very good time nonetheless and learned some new songs.
19 - Stopped by some friends of David's for a glass of wine and some good talk - they were sending him off to England in style. Met a friend of DI's from MA who knew me by reputation as half of that young couple who was going to drive him to the Red Lion Inn two summers ago - small world.
Saturday the 21 - Marching Through Time at Marietta Mansion in Bowie. The weather stayed warm and sunny, though the crowds were small. I turned out with Lord Grey's. Cut my right index finger open with a razor sharp knife and had to have Will drive me to an urgent care clinic. Nothing like showing up dressed like a weirdo, covered in your own blood. Six stitches; the nurses were fascinated by my clothes and wanted to bring their kids to MTT next year. In and out in 90 minutes - back in time to eat our roasted Cornish game hens. Sunday was cancelled for predicted heavy rains so we struck camp and Will and I headed back to Annapolis to spend the evening drinking wine and playing whist with Myron and Charles - a very satisfying night.
Sunday the 22nd - breakfast with Myron, napping with Will, and then off to run errands in the rain - groceries with Dan, out to Audrey's Plantmania to pick up seedlings ($20 for 6 tomato plants, 2 comfreys, 2 zucchini plants, a handful of basil plants, and a free butternut squash plant and a bunch of foxgloves), to Home Depot for purple petunias and potting soil, and then home to cook dinner (broccoli yogurt soup and mint quinoa salad). A slow evening of Deadwood and Game of Thrones with the guys, and then to bed.
Tuesday 24th - An absolutely sublime concert by Primum Mobile (two Josquin Des Pres motets - In Te Domini Speravi and Ave Maria, then L'Homme Arme and finally Des Pres's Missa l'Homme Arme). Breathtaking, especially the duets in the Sanctus. Followed by bulk trash night in Eastport with my mom (got two wicker porch chairs)
Wednesday 25th - repotted plants at last, and got the front porch cleaned off and rearranged! My garden is shaping up.
My finger is healing well so far, though it's meant no going to the gym this week, which is disappointing, and the stitches itch occasionally. Looking forward to Croquet this weekend.