someday i'll post about something besides what i did over the weekend
...i just had the worst craving for chinese food. what the hell.
anyone got some shrimp dumplings?
anyway. classes start next week at the u so i expect this week will be quieter than usual from people taking time off while they can. next week students will be back which means the building won't be so desolate. yay.
i had a great day off on friday, speaking of. i slept in and went to the diesel for breakfast (altho it was closer to lunchtime) and read a lot of the excessive submission for writing group and ran some errands and came home and sat on the front porch and it was just so relaxing and the weather was so nice. and on saturday my sister and i drove to and then up mt washington which was three and a half hours away and despite it being home to the world's worst weather [1] it was actually a lovely day. however the drive up is harrowing - it's, you know, a mountain and there are no guardrails and the mountain goes up on one side of the car and drops away to nothing on the other side. it was my idea so i drove and while i'm not afraid of heights - and there's a sign down at the bottom that says basically if you're afraid of heights you might not have a good time on the mountain - the lack of guardrail was pretty nervewracking. my sister couldn't even look. there are turn-offs so you can stop and admire the view - and if you're driving back down there are signs telling you to pull off and cool your brakes - and the road is wide enough for cars in both directions altho the corners did make me a little nervous and it wasn't terrifying the entire way up but it was terrifying enough.
the view from the top is fabulous, tho. there's a little cog railroad that you can take instead of driving, or you can hike (there were a non trivial number of folks at the top wearing backpacks and carrying hiking poles), and then you get to the top and just... look at all the smaller mountains around you. and clouds. and sky. there's an observatory which was closed and a gift shop (of course) and the tip top house which was built in 1853 and is thus the oldest building on the mountain. it was sadly also closed. (the road up, the auto road, was first opened in 1861 when i guess it was more of a horse road.)
i drove down verrry carefully and because it was almost time for dinner we started looking for a place to eat and ended up at i guess an irish place where i had (of all thigns) a shrimp po'boy. it was yummy. and then i got home late because did i mention mt washington is three and a half hours away? plus dinner was like an hour. it was a good day tho, and now i can say i've done it. :D
my cousin k who lives in north carolina was in town so last night my sister and i went to cousin p's for dinner. (cousin p who lives in salem and is cousin k's sister.) cousin p's dog is very cute but a bit of an attention whore and kinda pushy when you're trying to eat. but did i mention cute? food was good (cousin p made pizza and a delicious caprese salad with tiny tomatoes and mozzarella balls), company was fun, it's always nice to see cousin k and her husband who also likes to be the center of attention actually listened to me and my sister! without interrupting or making the conversation about him! holy cow. i may or may not have eaten too much. ahem.
for dinner tonight i made honey balsamic chicken (1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup honey, six cloves of garlic) that smelled so good the upstairs neighbor came down to find out what it was. she said it smelled like a restaurant. i said thank you. so easy, so yummy.
[1] definitely the world's windiest weather - the highest velocity wind observed by humans was measured at 231 mph at the top of the mountain in 1934. apparently because it's the tallest thing around there's nothing to stop the wind so when it hits the mountain it can hit hard.
anyone got some shrimp dumplings?
anyway. classes start next week at the u so i expect this week will be quieter than usual from people taking time off while they can. next week students will be back which means the building won't be so desolate. yay.
i had a great day off on friday, speaking of. i slept in and went to the diesel for breakfast (altho it was closer to lunchtime) and read a lot of the excessive submission for writing group and ran some errands and came home and sat on the front porch and it was just so relaxing and the weather was so nice. and on saturday my sister and i drove to and then up mt washington which was three and a half hours away and despite it being home to the world's worst weather [1] it was actually a lovely day. however the drive up is harrowing - it's, you know, a mountain and there are no guardrails and the mountain goes up on one side of the car and drops away to nothing on the other side. it was my idea so i drove and while i'm not afraid of heights - and there's a sign down at the bottom that says basically if you're afraid of heights you might not have a good time on the mountain - the lack of guardrail was pretty nervewracking. my sister couldn't even look. there are turn-offs so you can stop and admire the view - and if you're driving back down there are signs telling you to pull off and cool your brakes - and the road is wide enough for cars in both directions altho the corners did make me a little nervous and it wasn't terrifying the entire way up but it was terrifying enough.
the view from the top is fabulous, tho. there's a little cog railroad that you can take instead of driving, or you can hike (there were a non trivial number of folks at the top wearing backpacks and carrying hiking poles), and then you get to the top and just... look at all the smaller mountains around you. and clouds. and sky. there's an observatory which was closed and a gift shop (of course) and the tip top house which was built in 1853 and is thus the oldest building on the mountain. it was sadly also closed. (the road up, the auto road, was first opened in 1861 when i guess it was more of a horse road.)
i drove down verrry carefully and because it was almost time for dinner we started looking for a place to eat and ended up at i guess an irish place where i had (of all thigns) a shrimp po'boy. it was yummy. and then i got home late because did i mention mt washington is three and a half hours away? plus dinner was like an hour. it was a good day tho, and now i can say i've done it. :D
my cousin k who lives in north carolina was in town so last night my sister and i went to cousin p's for dinner. (cousin p who lives in salem and is cousin k's sister.) cousin p's dog is very cute but a bit of an attention whore and kinda pushy when you're trying to eat. but did i mention cute? food was good (cousin p made pizza and a delicious caprese salad with tiny tomatoes and mozzarella balls), company was fun, it's always nice to see cousin k and her husband who also likes to be the center of attention actually listened to me and my sister! without interrupting or making the conversation about him! holy cow. i may or may not have eaten too much. ahem.
for dinner tonight i made honey balsamic chicken (1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup honey, six cloves of garlic) that smelled so good the upstairs neighbor came down to find out what it was. she said it smelled like a restaurant. i said thank you. so easy, so yummy.
[1] definitely the world's windiest weather - the highest velocity wind observed by humans was measured at 231 mph at the top of the mountain in 1934. apparently because it's the tallest thing around there's nothing to stop the wind so when it hits the mountain it can hit hard.