(08/11/12) Family Celebration

 

A lazy morning today after my requested "Sutter Sleepover" night. Our routine is to let him settle and then I unhook his collar and brush out his entire chest and neck with a brush. He sleeps like a baby. Having his furry orange back pressed against the full length of my spine while I dream feels like a hot water bottle. When he decides he's done for the day, he is placid as can be but he does kick his legs and whimper in his sleep, so dear. Of course, as soon as he "detects" someone is awake, he is whining and squealing and digging us out from under the duvet. He does not wake up slowly.

We drank coffee, ate a very late breakfast, read in bed, played hall-ball (tennis ball fetch in the house pitched down the hallway from our bed) and generally lazed around until it was time to get ready to leave. Left Frederick around 2 PM in parents' car with Dad driving and the dog snuggled between George and I in the backseat. Emily had asked that he come along for the visit, so crammed in the backseat we rode.

Mom had made/ prepped our dinner this morning. When we got down there, I had to wait with the dog on the stoop so Emily could finish wrapping presents. Finally let inside, Sutter made a big impression on my sister's two cats, Pearl and Juno! Mom cooked while Emily and I wandered her house chatting and looking at what's changed. Emily decorates and re-decorates frequently, switching pieces to other rooms and retiring others to her basement, a fluid process. I have found myself the lucky recipient of a few things that she tired of that are now proudly displayed in our house. My philosophy differs from hers in that I build an ultimate vision and add pieces slowly, content to let a wall be empty until I find the things that are meant to ultimately be there. After 7-8 years of living here, most of the walls are full and I have begun to make changes and shifts of pieces. Emily has one wall in her house that I love, in the living room. The pieces have changed over time, but the space is huge and she has it filled and balanced nicely. I covet the cat in the middle, a silkscreen designed by Marushka. 

After our dinner of corn on the cob, field greens salad, grilled steak kabobs and potato salad, my parents cleaned up and Emily, Jeff, George and I took a walk with Sutter over to Patterson Park. Back when Emily first moved in, we actually found a cache high in a hole in a tree up near the Pagoda. We didn't walk that far today, only going to the Duck Pond.

What a neat, unexpected urban space! Water lilies, cattails and a boardwalk made this quite the oasis. The natural depression of the land and the growth of the plants made it possible to disregard the fact that you are completely surrounded by the city. We enjoyed our walk and watched the water, murky from recent rains, for little fish. We did see two 12+ inch carp, one orange, one white, swimming at the water's edge. On a past walk, Jeff saw a Blue Heron, walking atop some benches, but none today. Unexpectedly, it started to rain. Jeff has checked his weather app on his phone before we left and there was no rain forecast. So, we hid out under a tree, waiting to see if this was just a momentary shower. Along came an ice cream truck down a park path and wouldn't you know it, but my sister knows the driver! The truck stopped and a free ice cream cone came out the window! We passed the cone around, but by this point we were soaked. We called Dad to come and get us and dashed for the edge of the park. We made it back to Emily's house, but needed dry clothes for a surprise... so Emily's boyfriend hooked us up with some dry duds while ours tumbled downstairs on the "High Heavy" setting. Well friends, I can now saw that I have worn my sister's boyfriend's boxer shorts. Sigh. 

Changed into dry clothes, we trooped downstairs for presents and cake. My mom is amazing and made us a gluten-free birthday cake, chocolate with peanut butter icing. All four young people are gluten-free at the moment, so it was perfect. Dad is allergic to chocolate and does not like peanut butter, but he was gracious and skipped dessert. I can honestly say that you truly could not tell it was gluten-free. I do not know why there were 7 candles. I am 32 and Emily is 28. I cannot figure out that math...

Emily gave me a few pieces of Native American pottery for my collection, nifty big earrings, a multi-strand necklace and a Maurice Sendak print for my office that she found at a thrift store. From me, she got two pairs for earrings I found in thrift stores on our trip, two pairs of earrings from a Navajo craftswoman I met at Crazy Horse and a pair of Yogo Sapphire earrings. Originally, I had wanted to get a pair for myself, but when we got to the store, I decided to buy them for Emily instead. Emily gave George a Best Buy gift card and we all had a laugh remembering the Christmas a few years ago when Emily went to buy George's Best Buy gift card and the only ones they had left were "Happy Birthday" gift cards. Clever Em took a black sharpie and added to the front design so that the card read "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus". My parents gave George a Redskins t-shirt which he opened proudly and announced "we are currently undefeated". Sigh. They also got him an electric leaf blower. Ah yes, the "grown-up present" giving has truly begun. Do you remember that first gift that made you happy but was not "fun" at all? What was it?

The last gift was actually for my mom and it was a surprise that everyone was "in on" except for (obviously) her. We were originally going to have dinner on a weeknight, but Emily found out that a bluegrass band that my mom loves was going to be playing on the 11th. Emily got my mom to change the date and when Mom called to tell me, I was a poop about it. Em bought the tickets and mom opened them and was like "Oh, how nice - I love these guys". And she asked when we were going and we said tonight in ten minutes. Mom was so excited! The venue - The Patterson - was right up the street from my sister's house so we walked! It was pretty small, about 120 seats, so it was an intimate concert. The Honey Dewdrops played with local, Caleb Stine, and other people came up from the audience to join them for various songs with other instruments. The second half of the show was a neat twist - they played the entire Beatles' album "Please Please Me" from 1963. It was a hoot to hear bluegrass crooners hitting high falsettos and playing guitar notes on a mandolin and harmonica. My mom was thrilled that (1) she got a surprise (2) she got to see one of her favorite groups perform and (3) her family was together. I also bought her two new CDs to take home. 

We got home very, very late, but I was glad that George decided to come with us. I tucked him in and set out his bathroom stuff and coffee for the morning. The little note I left by his mug to find in the wee dark hours when he awakens for work read "I had such a good time tonight. Thank you for being there." Thank you for always being there.

(08/10/12) Chesapeake Beach

George and I have been working hard trying to get things done around the house knowing that next week and the week after will be full to the very brim with busyness. We managed to get the office under control and find the surface of our desk, no small feat if you saw it before we cleaned. All three vehicles needed attention of one kind or another. The Joey had a flat tire. And the beat goes on... er, I mean list...

Last night, George was able to sit down to watch the Redskins pre-season game versus the Buffalo Bills. I had a lot of nervous energy and I do not like watching football, so I worked on our basement. I ran the vacuum and put away all the things that I have carried down the stairs and dumped for the last few months. After about two hours of maniacal tidying, I had had enough! So, I grabbed a loaner copy (thank you, Emily) of Real Simple magazine and sat with George to "watch" the game. Well, the Redskins did something amazing - they won. It's just too bad that it doesn't actually count. Poor George. He just can't give up hope no matter how bad their record is. I think part of his genetic makeup is "eternal optimist". 

We woke up this morning with no particular task to do. Sure, we needed to vacuum out the cars and use the upholstery shampooer on the seats. Yes, we actually own our own upholstery shampooer! If this surprises you, you must not know me well. I want to wash the kitchen floor by hand before school starts. We both need new sneakers and George needs work shoes. But who really deep down wants to do any of those things? We decided to blow it all off and have a leisurely afternoon. What to do, what to do?

We picked Chesapeake Beach, a small town in southern Maryland. I had been there once in college with some friends to spend the day at the water park. We had taken a brief tour of the area while completing the Maryland Municipal League Geotrail with caching friends, Danny and Danielle. One of the caches that we did while in the area was at a place called "Brownie's Beach". The guys found the cache and Danielle and I walked the shoreline, ultimately finding 7 total shark's teeth. I tucked this little gem away in the back of my mind for a later date, which turned out to be today.

Picked up the pooch from my parents' house. He needs lots of opportunities for exercise and we enjoy letting him tag along so he is not bored at home. Left to his own devices, the furry monster would sleep all day, every day! Lots of traffic on the beltway slowed us down. Multiple broken down cars, cops with people pulled over and my favorite -- a poor Asian lady driver behind the wheel of her stopped compact car in the 3rd fastest lane on a curve near the Mormon Tabernacle Temple. At least she had on her flashers! 

We finally got in the vicinity  of our destination around 3:45 this afternoon, where I promptly announced "I'm hungry". Fortunately, George was too. Unfortunately, I was a poor planner and had packed absolutely nothing to eat. No worries, though! This is the EAST coast -- food can be found within 10 minutes of almost anywhere. Out west, you can drive for an hour and not see a single possibility of sustenance. 

We leashed up and headed off down the boardwalk to see what there was to see. Well, this is a small town, so the answer was: not much. We were about to turn around when we spied a restaurant/ bakery on a corner, Sweet Sue's. We lamented that bakeries are not the source of joy they once were now that gluten is our nemesis. George read the menu in the window faster than I and proclaimed that this place had some gluten-free items. He found a seat outside and I went in to investigate. I was thrilled that they had rolls, cookies and even peanut butter creme-filled, chocolate iced gluten-free eclairs! Two chicken salad sandwiches and two chocolate chip cookies (all gluten-free) later, we were full and happy. Back to the car we headed, weaving our way through the farmer's market vendors setting up for the evening. Of course we made a stop in Doggiestylez pet boutique to let Sutter pick out a new snuggly. I can't tell if it is a sheep or a cow, but the construction is of multiple materials (burlap, twine, thread, baby washcloth fabric, fleece) and the ears crinkle!

We drove down to our spot. Lots of looking on the internet found that this place is called many things. The town has named it "Bayfront Park", which is the official name. But it is also called Randle Cliffs and Brownie's Beach. There is an access fee for the area, but we could find the box to put the money in! Fortunately, a local came along and told us that after 4 PM and on rainy days, the town doesn't worry about it. I wonder if they station someone in the parking lot to collect money?

Walk down about 400 feet to the end of the paved gated-off road and you are there! We arrived right after low tide, which is always advantageous. There were only 10 other people on the beach with us, a family of 4 and three pairs. While the beach is not very big, we had some room to ourselves and within a half an hour, we were alone on the beach!

Even though it was not the plan, we found a great deal more sea glass at this spot than we did at either Tolchester Beach or Rock Hall. But we weren't there to hunt glass -- we were after shark's teeth. And find them we did! 45 to be exact, and 5 skate teeth, too! We also picked up sea glass as we came across it and got quite a little pile. The day was overcast, only about 85 degrees and with the lovely breeze coming off the bay, it was actually pretty nice out. There are lots of different "techniques" for finding these teeth. George liked to kneel in front of the piles of debris away from the shoreline and sift for teeth missed by other hunters. It worked. I liked to slowly walk the shoreline and find a gem here or there, but this made the dog nuts because he could not understand why I was walking so slowly if we were on a walk! I finally ended up standing just below the water's edge in the water in my flip flops and watching a 3 foot square spot as the waves washed in and knocked stuff loose from the shoreline. It worked really well. I would hit-hit-hit and then nothing. Ten teeth in a minute and then nothing. So it worked, sort of. We had such a good time and both want to come back again. On the way home, we were passing IKEA and needed an add-on for an incomplete shelf that is in our basement so that we can downsize from a huge monster that is heavy and old and half-empty. We wedged Sutter's water bowl in a cup holder, topped it off and set our cell phone timers for fifteen minutes. With all the windows down, it was cool inside the car, but I still was not comfortable leaving him for any longer. As it was, we were in line to pay when time ran out and I left George and went to find the dog... asleep in the backseat on his blankie. He was fine. But we still snuggled and waited for George to come with the cart.

I was storing my sea glass in a chemistry flask given to me as a graduation present, but while we were in IKEA, I snagged a big glass jar with a close-able lid. Looks pretty empty right now. I guess I have some work to do. 

(08/06/12) My 32nd Birthday

"The woman who tells her age is either too young to have anything to lose or too old to have anything to gain." -- Chinese Proverb

I suppose this doesn't account for those of us who simply do not care. When I started teaching, I was one of the few young librarians (yeah, I prefer that title to Media Specialist) and it made me unique. I held on to being "the baby" quite strongly figuring that perhaps that alone made me relevant. Now, after ten years, there are more than a few young 'uns and I am one of many and these "kids" talk about and do things that I don't even know about. So, it has bothered me to age professionally. It has never bothered me to age personally with the exception of my metabolism slowing down. Ah, to be able to eat like a 20-year-old!

How did I spend the day? For the most part, quietly. George was approached by the bosses last week and asked to work some extra hours. Smart hubby did a horse-trade and traded for half the day off on my birthday! Clever man!

The morning was mostly standard: slept in a little, coffee, food, ran some errands with mom until after lunchtime. By then George was home and napping. I snuggled in bed next to him finishing a book, The Life of Pi,  that I just could not make it to the end of the night before only because of drooping eyelids. 

George woke up and we just lounged and talked. Decided in honor of my birthday, that the cats could have a special feast dinner tonight. We try to do this for them at least once a month. "Feast" is when we take a smaller scoop of their dry kibble and sprinkle it atop mashed wet cat food on a plate. Smells to high heaven, but they love it. The girls know the word, "feast" and chase us as we prepare it, Rose, spinning and twirling with excitement.

I called my parents to join us for dinner. They suggested a place we had not been before, Dan's in Boonsboro, Maryland. Dinner was lovely; our waitress' family is gluten-free so she was not perturbed at all by my asking her to check on ingredients in things. The menus were novel -- pages were printed on velum paper and placed over a lighted panel that illuminated when the menu is opened. George has decided to go gluten-free for two weeks to see if it helps his fatigue, so he got to experience my troubles of handicapped entree-hunting. Everybody ended up happy with their meals. I had loaded pub nachos, George has a Strawberry Chicken Salad, Mom had a Gorgonzola Pear Salad and Dad had a NY Strip steak. Service was excellent, but kitchen to table time was super slow, nearly an hour, but we weren't in a hurry, so it didn't matter.

After dinner, George took me to go "do something", which is what I had asked for as my gift. This could be anything from a hike to a movie to dancing lessons (hasn't happened yet, but I am not giving up hope, please, please please!) Tonight's fun was one of my most favorite activities -- mini golf. We are enthusiastic, but not frequent, mini-golf players. Games between us are friendly, but fierce and we are actually pretty good. Last night, we played the 24-hole course at the Family Recreation Park east of Hagerstown, Maryland. This place also has an 18-hole course, but we are cuckoo for putt putt and always play a longer course if we can. The bigger course is older and not well maintained. Some of the wooden sides have fallen apart and been replaced by bricks here and there. The pond was completely skimmed over with algae and only had one of the waterfalls working. There was litter in a number of places, but we had the course to ourselves -- George is a smart one! 

Well, the scorecard shows I won by one stroke! My dad thinks George let me win. I don't think so! I had one hole-in-one, George had 3. I was 10 strokes under par for the course, George was nine. Victory was mine! I did not gloat... too much. I had also asked for a banana split for my birthday "cake" since a cake is difficult. By the time we finished our golf game, every place was closed, so I got a rain check for another night this week. When we got home, George let me start reading his book, Wolf Wars, even though he is not quite done with it himself. (He knows I'll have it done by tomorrow anyway!)

All in all, it was a great day. I got to spend it with people that I love and that love me. I got to have a dinner and a fun evening. I am very lucky. 

My family will actually be celebrating this Saturday with a cookout at my sister's house in Baltimore for all our recent birthdays: George (July 6), my sister, Emily (August 18) and me (August 6). Let the good times roll on!

(08/05/12) Flotsam Reading

I never notice a theme forming with my reading or in my life. It is only after the concept is fully formed, do I clue in. A few months ago, I read Moby Duck. During the winter of 1992, a monstrously big super-freighter lost a few shipping containers off the deck during an even bigger storm. Inside one of these containers was a shipment of 28,800 children's bath toys, frogs, beavers, turtles and ducks. This diminutive flotilla of tub toys collected in the Pacific gyre, a giant whirling current, and were periodically spat out to make their way towards a coast. A reports of the toys' landings came in, scientists were able to learn a great deal about ocean currents. The book does talk about plastic pollution in our seas as well as beach-combing. Admittedly, I will periodically check for one of these floatees on eBay because I could use it for... work. Tax deduction! 1 day of the year I could show it off and 364 days, it could sit in my office at home by my monitor, smiling the wise smile of a world traveler. I have never found one for sale; George is relieved. How high might I bid? (We only need one kidney, right? Oh darn, that's right. There is no value in human body parts... hmm... Plan B...)

This particular story of the squeaky armada was not news to me, as I had already become familiar with it though various children's books.

And of course, I thought of Flotsam by David Wiesner, which I adore and which talks about a beach-combing fantasy adventure, not just bath toys.

George and I receive quite a few magazines in the mail. We rarely buy them off a newsstand. Arriving to our house are Reader's Digest, National Parks magazine, Wend magazine, Audubon magazine, Distinctly Montana and Popular Mechanics. We also read magazines on our e-Reader devices (Time and Popular Science). After we finish with them, we pass them along in our family network of readers. I trade my parents to get their issues of Smithsonian magazine, Yankee magazine and Better Homes & Gardens. My mom is a newsstand buyer, so there will occasionally be other random things in the mix. My sister hooks me up with her back issues of Real Simple. And when I get my originals back, I take them to school and put them on the coffee table in the front lobby. Maybe someone waiting will need something good to read... But I NEVER give away my back issues of National Parks magazine. I loan them, but always get them back. They are saved and I pour over them from time to time looking for ideas and inspiration.

My recent obsession with sea glass hunting actually had little to do with these books/ ideas, although at the time, I bookmarked a ton of related websites using my Diigo account. What spurred my obsession was my current issue of National Parks magazine.

The cover article details a California couple, Judith & Richard Lang, who make amazing pieces of art from flotsam that they gather while beach-combing. Their idea was so wonderfully simple. They would walk a one mile stretch of their local beach at Point Reyes National Seashore (which I have been to, thanks parents!) and they would gather up all the trash. Back home, they organize and sort it all and then use bits and pieces here and there to make a masterpiece. Watch this video to learn about them, their creative process and why they do what they do.

 
So initially, I just had this want to clean up some trash, but I needed a reason to drive 2 1/2 hours over the bay bridge other than to clean up a beach. Enter sea glass. While I sometimes have spur of the moment flashes of genius, sometimes, I have to let things rattle around inside me and pick up chunks of other things before I notice it and give it some thought. I guess sea glass gives me the chance to pick up some trash and make the great outdoors a little bit better for the next explorer while giving me a purpose to hold on to and a twinkly little thank-you from the shoreline.

(08/04/12) Seaglass Hunting on the Eastern Shore

While there is a ton of stuff for us to do at the house and more than enough errands to fill a day, George and I need some time to talk about life things and the easiest way to get that time is to get away from our house. That way, we can't run errands or do chores. It usually doesn't matter what we go and do, as long as we go, for we can always find something interesting. Today, I had asked that we go for a ride over the Bay Bridge and look for sea glass on some of the rocky beaches of the inner Eastern Shore. We found three pieces of "city" sea glass on the shores of Upper Waterton Lake while on our trip. I had searched earlier this week for some beach suggestions and had found two that I thought were promising. The first place we went was Tolchester Beach, Maryland.

Back near the turn of the last century (not the recent one), there was a resort at the Tolchester Beach location. It was located in Kent County, just north of the still prosperous town, Rock Hall. The resort was open from 1877 until 1962 and you could reach it by land and by sea; steamer ships would make the trip down from Baltimore daily. Twenty thousand tourists could swamp this place on any given day, so a lot of rubbish was generated. Glass fragments from that rubbish have been tumbling in the sea ever since and becoming pieces of sea glass. Tolchester Beach was ranked as an "excellent" beach (6-20 pieces found per hour) by one beachcomber to "poor" (0-2 pieces found per hour) by another beachcomber. All this shows is that some people are better at finding things than others and that there is glass to be found on Tolchester Beach! So, with an open mind, we headed out in the car, bound for the Bay Bridge with Sutter asleep in the backseat. We were stuck in Bay Bridge traffic for more than 80 minutes, before we even got to the tollbooths! We got to see a fellow in the car ahead of us driving while shaving his head. Wow. Hazardous driver alert!

All of the traffic made us run a lot later than I had hoped. Initially, I had timed our drive to put us at the beach 40 minutes before low tide, giving us a longer window in which to search the greatest amount of beach. We got there 40 minutes after low tide, which meant the water was slowly on its way back up/in. I don't know what I was expecting for the beach, but I was not expecting a sign reading "Private Beach" at the parking area.

 A neighborhood surrounds the beach and apparently has decided to enforce the "everyone must wear a permit tag" this year. While I understand that a community could be frustrated by the traffic and littering that public access can undeniably bring, privatizing the beach is ridiculous. Technically, individuals can own the shoreline, but not the land underneath the water. If tide goes in and out, this leaves several feet that are public land. I've actually been run off a beach before by a neighborhood watch -- Cove Point community in southern Maryland near the Calvert Cliffs Power Plant. I had parked in the neighborhood and approached on foot. They were justified in asking me to move my car and leave. However, if I had accessed their beach via kayak, they would have had no leg (or beach) to stand on, as long as I did not venture up onto their imported sand. I was only in the area to photograph the Cove Point Hollow Lighthouse, only visible from the beach. Sigh.

 So, we parked anyway and asked some locals what the deal was. We were told not to worry about it and to have a good time. Apparently, there is some dissension within the community itself about the privatization of their beach! We took a little baggie for the finds, a big baggie for litter and Sutter, on a leash. The beach was a very rocky one. Most rocks were between the size of a dime and a tennis ball. Sutty liked standing in the water, but when the very, very little waves came in, he would lean away from them. He tried to drink the water a few times and tried rolling in a dead fish carcass. We found 10 pieces in an hour. 

 After we finished at Tolchester Beach, we headed to Rock Hall, Maryland. A  very different terrain awaited us. This beach was sand and pebbles, with big jetties to break any incoming waves. There was a big "no dogs" sign, but there was a couple with their dog on the beach and a town worker in the area who did nothing about it. Sigh. Sutter was tired, so he happily slept in the air conditioned car while we made a quick sweep of the beach. Finds of clear glass here were tricky! There is a lot of quartz in this sand and even though we had a whole bag full of finds, when we got home, it had dried, and we realized some of our treasures were... rocks. I know. So after sorting the men from the boys (er, I mean the glass from the rocks), here's what we got from Rock Hall.

(08/03/12) A movie and our dinner

Such a quiet day today. Slept in and played with the kitties. We had to trim their talons this morning, no easy task. Rose will stand it as long as you feed her a never-ending stream of treats unfortunately, that turns this into a two-man job. I have my hands full holding the cat, squeezing the paw and trimming the claw. George tries not to lose his fingertips while getting chewed on. Maggie is not as good about thing. She snarls and growls and huffs her breath. She's only bitten me (in the face)... once. I made the commitment not to de-claw Maggie (cat #1) after a friend in college sent me a PETA newsletter detailing the process with pictures. Gulp. Soooo... that ended that. I couldn't do it because there is no medical benefit for the procedure, just human convenience. I feel strongly if you don't like the inconvenience, don't get a cat. Pretty simple. I provide them with cat-things to scratch on and just accept that my girls will claw on my things from time to time. 
 
George dropped me off at 1:30 at Westview Cinemas  in Frederick so I could meet up with The Carusos Emmy, Annabelle and Trisha) for a showing of Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3. I was excited to give them things we had picked out on our vacation and to see how big the girls had gotten. Annabelle was unbelievably tan and so was Emmy. Some people bronze in the summertime, but not George and NOT me. I turn lobster red and then it fades and I peel a little, or a lot, depending on the shade of red. The movie turned out better than I had expected. I liked it a lot. I had not seen the first two movies in the series, so I had no idea what I was in for. I laughed a lot (and laughed at Trisha's infectious laugh too) and watched the main character, Greg Heffley, drag himself through his life that was part bad luck and part general teenage awkwardness. As scenes in the movie unfolded, I remember similar things happening to me as a kid and as a teen and I am sure I visibly winced more than a few times in the darkened theater.
 

After the movie, big splatty raindrops were starting so I hopped back into my waiting car. George had killed time at Barnes & Noble over at the mall. As we drove home, the rain kept sprinkling big drops, but the storm never broke. At home tonight, we made dinner together -- roasted red pepper and tomato soup (from a carton), garden salad (leftover from dinner at George's mom's the night before) and black bean linguine with butter and Parmesan cheese. Next time, I need to use just butter because the cheese and black bean noodle did not gel together in taste. A nice early bedtime tonight because tomorrow we have big plans.