Author: Jaclyn

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Scenes From “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” at the Renwick Gallery

If you’re in DC and not living under a rock, you’ve heard plenty of chatter about the No Spectators exhibit at the Renwick Gallery (part of the Smithsonian system, for my out-of-town friends).  The exhibit features art pieces from Burning Man and has been going on for months now.  For a time, it encompassed the entire museum – the gallery isn’t huge – and while the first floor exhibits have closed down, there’s still plenty to see on the second floor, which is remaining open until mid-January, 2019.  I’d been meaning to go for months – and of course was kicking myself for missing the lower floor exhibits – and last week my dear museum-going friend Susan and I slipped away from our desks for an hour of wandering amongst the huge installations.

 

The first room we walked into had a pile of cozy-looking beanbag chairs underneath a giant suspended star on which images of the galaxy were coming into and out of focus.  I sort of wanted to lay down on the beanbags and watch from under the star, but I felt awkward.  (I should have just gone for it.  The whole point of the exhibit was to interact with the art.)

I could have watched the display for hours, but since this was a sneak-away-at-lunch visit, we moved on to check out the rest of the installation.  The next room featured Shrumen Lumen, by Foldhaus Art Collective.

We both gasped in delight at the luminescent folded mushrooms towering over us.

Each mushroom featured a small circle at its base, and visitors were invited to interact with the art by stepping on the circle when it turned green and watching the mushroom change shape and expand overhead.

Gorgeous!  Susan and I moved on to the next room but noticed, glancing back, that the mushrooms started to change colors, taking on reds, oranges, yellows and greens instead of the relatively sedate blues and purples we had been watching – so we rushed back in to watch a bit more.

 

So beautiful!  Again – I could have stayed in this room all day.  But the next large installation was the one that I most wanted to see, so – onward.

We moved through a room with a few smaller pieces – including the replica of the Man in the picture at the top of this post – and I think my heart skipped a beat, or maybe two or three, when we found ourselves standing in the midst of Hyperspace Bypass Construction Zone (HYBYCOZO), by Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu.

The installation was made up of three geometric steel structures, lit from within by mirrors and lights that were constantly changing color, throwing an array of lacy shadows over the entire room of the gallery.  I wandered from structure to structure and back again, basking in the light and shadows and snapping pictures from every angle and with every new color combination.  I couldn’t get enough!

The display was hypnotic and the intricate shadows on the wall were pure magic.

The next room featured memorabilia and explanatory placards about the phenomenon that is Burning Man – definitely interesting, but we moved through it fairly quickly as we were running short on time and wanted to spend a few minutes reflecting quietly in the Burning Man chapel.  The chapel was an entire room of the most intricately-carved wood I’d ever seen.  All over the walls were scrawled messages to departed loved ones, and visitors to the gallery could add to the wall via small wooden cards.  Susan and I wandered through the room, reading the messages and gazing at the carvings until we agreed – in hushed voices – that it was time to break the spell and head back to the office.

I’m so glad that I made time to see No Spectators, even if I missed out on the first floor exhibits – it was still worth every minute spent wandering through the incredibly creative, inspiring installations, and I hope I’ll have the chance to go back at least one more time before the second floor shuts down.  And maybe I’ll have to add Burning Man to my bucket list – I never had a desire to go before seeing this exhibit, but I was so blown away by these pieces in a museum that seeing similar art under a star-filled desert sky might be a new life goal.

What’s the most creative art exhibition you’ve ever seen?

 

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 29, 2018)

Here we go again – Monday is back, and round and round it goes.  This is my last Monday at my current job and I’m having surprisingly bittersweet feelings about leaving.  I’ve known for awhile that this job wasn’t for me, and in fact, that’s why I set the word “begin” as my 2018 word of the year – because even as far back as January, I was craving a new beginning in my professional life.  (I can now also explain that the super-secret-not-a-baby project I’ve been working on all year has been a turbocharged job search.)  Anyway, I’ve got a new job at a new firm, I’ve accepted and cleared all the pre-employment hurdles and I’ve given notice to my current firm and now I’m unexpectedly sad about it all.  It’s the right thing to do for my career, but I’ve made some wonderful friends at my job and I’m going to miss them.  The good news is, I’ll only be a few subway stops away, so we can keep in touch.

Anyway, I wanted a laid-back weekend going into what I know is going to be an emotional last week at my current job.  We started the weekend with a date night on Friday.  Why didn’t someone warn me how sad “First Man” is?  On Saturday, we didn’t do much of anything.  We lazed about the house, I read, and the kids watched The Incredibles 2 – finally.  I took Nugget over to the soccer field at the neighborhood elementary school to hit his t-ball for a little while, and then we played on the school playground.  Sunday was more eventful, because it was the nicer of the two days and we saved all of our outdoor fun.  In the morning, we drove out to Loudoun County to pick our pumpkins for the season.  The kids had a blast charging around the pumpkin patch and sitting on all of the (non-rotten) pumpkins, reciting lines from Curious George: A Halloween Boo-Fest all the while.  After we’d loaded the trunk of the car with pumpkins and a(nother) dozen apple cider donuts – ’tis the season – we headed to a nearby nature sanctuary for a picnic lunch and a bird-spotting hike around a meadow.  Then home – via the library, naturally – to carve our pumpkins and have a cozy evening.  I made ravioli with veggie Bolognese, and we ended Sunday evening as we always do – the kids tucked up in bed, parents hanging out on the couch with a book (me) and the remote (Steve).  Yes – cozy.

Reading.  It’s also been a cozy reading week.  I blew through I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life on Monday – love a book about books.  The rest of the week was taken up with The Floating Admiral, a team-written mystery novel by the original Detection Club (including such luminaries as Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, and Anthony Berkeley).  It took me the week to get through because I was leaving my beautiful Folio Society edition at home during the days – I don’t trust the ravages of the Metro – and listening to Educated on my commutes instead.  Anyway, I finally finished The Floating Admiral on Sunday morning, and the same day started two new books – The Mothers, which I have out from the library, and Hallowe’en Party on my kindle, because it seemed like the thing to do going into Halloween week.

Watching.  Sort of this and that.  Steve had plans with friends one night earlier this week, so I watched an episode of The Great American Read – I’m slowly catching up.  (I know results are out, so please, NO SPOILERS.)  Otherwise, we are almost done with the second season of The Good Place and it’s still SO good.  And, of course, First Man on Friday night – two movie dates in a month, who dis?

Listening.  As noted above, it was an earbuds-heavy week for me as I listened to Educated, my book club book for this month, on Audible during my commutes every day.  I’m down to just about four hours left in the audiobook.  It’s hard to listen to, but I’m already looking forward to an excellent discussion with my book club.

Moving.  I bike-commuted last week!  I rode in on Monday morning and then, because it was soooo cold, left my bike in my office overnight and rode it home on Tuesday afternoon (warm, sunny and gorgeous).  I enjoyed biking to work and would definitely like to make it part of my routine, but I think the weather has pretty much turned now and so it might be awhile until I ride in again.  Other than the exciting bike commute, it was the normal movement – some city walks during the week and some toddler-chasing and easy hiking on the weekend.  Definitely need to fire up the Barre3 online workouts again.

Cooking.  It wasn’t as big of a batch-cooking weekend this week, as I still have a lot of food left over from my cooking extravaganza last weekend.  But I added to the stores with one meal’s worth of ravioli and Bolognese, plus two extra containers of Bolognese and a big tin of roasted pumpkin seeds – my favorite!

Blogging.  I have a great week in store for you.  On Wednesday, I’m going to show you pictures from the most incredible museum exhibition I attended last week with my friend Susan.  (Local friends, take note: this is one you don’t want to miss.)  And on Friday, I’m finally going to share the pictures from the final hike of our Adirondack vacation – yes, the one I keep teasing and then flaking on.  You’d be quite justified in shaking your head and saying never gonna happen, but I swear it’s for real this time.  The pictures are out of the camera (what an ordeal that was) and the post is written and scheduled.  I hope it’s worth the wait.  (It’s not, but what can you do?)

Loving.  I started following Oceana on Instagram last week and you guys, I seriously can’t get enough.  Adorable baby polar bears!  Penguins holding hands!  Whales galore!  If you’re a fan of marine life, go check it out immediately.  The sea otters snoozing in their kelp blankies will melt the coldest heart, I promise.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

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An Introvert Starts a Book Club

One of the things that my reading friends find most surprising is my confession that – up until very recently – I’ve never belonged to a book club.  The closest I got to a book club-type environment was in college, junior year, when I volunteered to lead a freshman book discussion group as part of a pilot program that my university was rolling out with the idea of having every freshman participate in a class-wide reading event.  The book was going to be provided to each freshman as part of their admissions package, and I didn’t see why they should get a free book and I didn’t, so I signed up as a discussion leader.  The joke was on me, because the book was Guns, Germs and Steel, and I spent the better part of my summer slogging through it.  The only fun I had with that book came when I brought it on vacation and my friend Adam attacked the “Speedboat to Polynesia” chapter with a red pen, crossing out the word “speedboat” everywhere he saw it and writing in “jetski” instead.  But I digress.

Anyway, I’ve never been in a real book club – one that meets regularly, drinks wine and dissects popular fiction and nonfiction titles.  My mom is, and her book club has been going strong for more than seven years now.  Those ladies have it figured out.  Sometimes I pass them a recommendation through my mom and wait eagerly to hear whether they liked my choice or not (generally, they do).  But I’m not local to the area, so I’m not in the club – alas.  I’ve considered asking if I could join from afar and participate by FaceTime, and I bet they’d let me.  But it just wouldn’t be quite the same.

So as you can see, I’m not opposed to the idea of a book club.  I love the idea of a book club.  But it never seemed to be an option for me.  I didn’t know how to find one, and the introvert in me didn’t particularly want to start one – nor did I know how to go about recruiting members – or to be in charge of things like setting rules and expectations, admitting (or not admitting) new members, or anything else that might make me unpopular.  So I participated in online readalongs when I could and dreamed of a book club falling, fully formed, into my lap.  They’d be wine-drinkers and classics-readers.  We’d sip rosé and debate things like “Henry Tilney: mansplainer or not?”  This was never going to happen.

Then along came the Buy Nothing Project.  For those not in the know, BN is a national network of hyper-local neighborhood gifting economies.  It’s generally managed through Facebook, and in order to get into your local group you have to prove that you live in the neighborhood.  Without getting too deep in irrelevant details, it’s basically a gift exchange where people give and receive gifts – of time, goods, instruction.  Some people do more giving (seeing the group as a way to purge and declutter), and others do more receiving.  There is a very defined set of rules for how gifting is supposed to work, and a pretty particularized culture that grows up around the gifting economy.  I was a little nervous about getting involved, but I wanted to unload baby gear and a number of other things, and I liked the idea of giving to – and hopefully getting to know – my neighbors.  We had just moved back to the DC area after three years of feeling very isolated in western New York, and I was craving a community – and that’s what I found.  My first “Buy Nothing friend” was a woman named Allison.  I gave her a set of bookends and we were fast friends after that – we took long neighborhood walks while she was pregnant, she accompanied me to a friend’s jewelry trunk sale, and we enjoyed many sessions of tea, banana bread and marathon chats.  I delivered four large boxes of toddler girl clothing to her after her daughter was born.  She loaned me her expertise as an educator when I needed to bounce school-related frustrations off of someone, and she picked up and held mail for me when our family went out of town unexpectedly.  She’s a terrific neighbor and an even better friend.

What does this have to do with book club?  Okay – I’m going on and on about Buy Nothing.  But you see, it’s inextricably bound up in our neighborhood book club.  One day I logged into Facebook and navigated over to the BN page for my neighborhood to post a gift.  Longtime readers may remember that I used to have a subscription to Book Riot Quarterly boxes: one month, I somehow received a duplicate box and that box had moved with me twice now.  It was time for it to go.  So, I posted it.  BN encourages participants to have a little fun with choosing to whom they will gift an item, so I asked interested neighbors to tell me their favorite book – and the responses poured in.  In the end, I chose a woman who said her favorite book was The Master and Margarita, which is a book I also love – but I had never met anyone who shared my appreciation for it.  (I only know one other person who has read it, and she disliked it.)  After I chose my gift recipient, I made the offhand remark that there were so many readers in the group, we should start a book club.

The idea took off immediately, and the Buy Nothing book club was born.

We met for the first time back in April.  I hosted the meeting, which was a get-to-know-you meeting.  We gathered on my couch, sipped wine (just like in my dreams!) and talked about our families, our jobs, our other interests, and our reading lives.  We agreed on certain parameters for the group – we’d rotate hosting, the host would choose the book that we’d be discussing at her meeting, and we’d try to stick to books that were older so that people could get them at the library easily, or at least obtain an inexpensive paperback – since forcing people to buy a $27 hardcover each month in order to be part of the book club went pretty directly opposite our gifting economy ethos.  (The library system in our town is wonderful, but we’re a city of hardcore readers and any popular new title is guaranteed to have a waiting list no matter how many copies the library orders.)

The book club took off immediately.  I hosted the second meeting as well, and we discussed Northanger Abbey.  (The club mostly hated it.  I cried into my wine a little bit.)  We spun out into a separate Facebook group after our group chat became too popular and unwieldy for me to manage.  Little traditions started to emerge.  One woman brought rice krispie treats to every meeting – now we all look forward to them.  Someone always has a gift to exchange.  One member brought a “Pete the Cat” puzzle for my kids; another loaned me some mason jars (which I need to return – oops).  I handed off two big bags of toddler boy clothes at the third meeting.

This is not to say we haven’t had our hiccups.  We’re a new club, still getting our feet under us as a unit and getting to know each other as individuals.  Our preference for inclusivity has led to something of a revolving door of new members who come and go while the core of the group stays relatively stable.  We’re still figuring out our system for choosing books – we’ve had one book that needed two meetings, because it was so long, and a couple of new releases that violated our self-imposed rule against $27 hardcovers.  (Including this month’s pick, Educated, by Tara Westover – a 2018 release.  It’s excellent and I know our discussion is going to be really rich – I’m especially interested to hear what the other girls have to say about unreliable memory – but we’ve had to scramble to make sure no one had to purchase a copy if they didn’t want to do so.)  We also have a hard time staying on topic and the conversation often veers away from the book and on to neighborhood issues, the BN community, decluttering and parenting talk – shared areas of interest for many of us, but not what we are meeting to discuss.  (I often am the one struggling to keep the group on subject.  My mom mentioned that her book club has a rule that they eat first and talk about whatever they want to discuss while they eat, but once the food is put away they only discuss the book.  I may propose that to my group, but I don’t want to seem dictatorial.)

Which brings me to wonder: how on earth am I in this position?  Yes, I’ve wanted to join a book club for years – but as an introvert (and one who is generally retiring with people I don’t know well and especially in groups) I wanted to slip into a fully formed book club, spend a few meetings just listening, and not be in charge of anything, ever.  My working life requires me to counsel managers through personnel matters on almost a daily basis, and while I love what I do, I didn’t want to boss my book club.  I wanted to ring the doorbell with a book and a bottle of wine in my hand, curl up on someone’s couch, and let other people run the show.  So that’s what I’m allowing myself to do now, and it’s nice to cede control.  When it’s my month to host, I try to keep the group focused, but otherwise I am content to sit and enjoy my neighbors’ company.  Sometimes we veer off subject – okay, we always veer off subject – but I couldn’t find a better community.

Are you a member of a book club?  How do you keep them on subject?  (Asking for a friend.)

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 22, 2018)

Monday, you’re showing up too soon as always!  I am particularly sad to bid goodbye to this weekend.  Nothing especially exciting happened – it was just a nice, relaxing couple of days.  I decided that I wanted to be mostly analog, so I almost completely unplugged from my phone and it was glorious.  On Saturday morning I took Nugget out to run errands – we got him a haircut, returned a jacket to Target, and did a big grocery stock-up run at Wegmans.  Once we got home, I spent a few hours doing a big batch-cooking marathon, then we headed out for a family walk.  We’d intended to walk down to the river, but only made it as far as the playground.  Oh, well!  Sunday was more of the same – with the addition of a hike in Rock Creek Park in the morning.  A few of the trees are just starting to show color, but our peak foliage is still a week or two away.  In the afternoon – more batch-cooking (the fridge is loaded) and then I took Nugget for a bike ride to the playground.  It was very simple, and just right.

Reading.  It was a pacey reading week, even for me.  I started the week back in John Moore’s Brensham, visiting with old friends like Mr. Chorlton and Pistol, Bardolph and Nym, and meeting new ones like William Hart – The Blue Field is the final volume of Moore’s Brensham trilogy, and I’m sad to leave that world behind.  Next up, I blazed through the latest Lady Georgianna mystery – Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding.  Georgie can’t seem to make it through a month without stumbling on a dead body or a conspiracy!  Finally, over the course of Saturday and Sunday, on the recommendation of my friend Zan, I read the heartbreakingly powerful The Girl Who Smiled Beads, a memoir of life as a refugee after the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s.  At press time, I’m not sure what will be next – but I’m definitely looking for something lighthearted.

Watching.  We’re still working our way through The Good Place, season two.  It’s just as fantastic as the first season (except for not enough Bad Janet! the people demand more Bad Janet!).  My brother told me that he and his wife tried to watch and couldn’t make it through the first episode.  WHAT?!?!

Listening.  I was switching back and forth between Audible and podcasts this week.  I’m listening to Educated on audio, as it’s my book club book and the audiobook was the only free (well, I spent a credit on it) version I could get ahold of.  We’ve definitely fallen off the wagon of trying to pick things that are in the public domain or at least out for a few years so that folks don’t have to spend money to get the book.  It’s hard to listen to, but I do think we’re going to have a lot to discuss at book club.  The rest of my earbud time has been spent with podcasts – mostly Speak Up for Blue, but I also listened to the fall top ten list from Sorta Awesome.

Making.  Per the above, it was a very cooking-heavy weekend.  Maybe it’s the arrival of cold weather (which I can’t celebrate – I know lots of people are jumping for joy, but I like heat and I’m in deep mourning for my flip-flops) but I just felt compelled to stock my fridge this weekend.  In addition to the usual chopping of cucumbers and fruit for the week, I made red wine-braised lentils; coconut tofu curry; roasted butternut squash; tofu, apple and butternut squash breakfast hash; and homemade cinnamon applesauce.  We will be eating well this week.

Blogging.  Talking about book club on Wednesday, and then (hopefully) sharing pictures of our final hike of vacation on Friday.  (They’re all still in my camera, and I need to dig out the USB cord so I can get them uploaded.  Here’s hoping.)

Loving.  After my marathon cooking weekend, I have to give shouts to my favorite All-Clad soup pot – similar to this one.  It’s my go-to cooking vessel and it’s called into service several times a week and still looks brand-new.  This weekend I used it for the braised lentils, the tofu curry and the applesauce.  It wasn’t inexpensive, but I’ve been using it regularly for almost ten years now and man, do I love it.  There’s something about the sight of soup, stew or curry bubbling away in that gleaming stainless steel – it’s as comforting as it gets.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

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ADK Adventure 2018: In Town and On the Water

While the primary purpose of our Adirondack vacation was to get into the mountains and hike, we did other things too!  We specifically decided to make Lake Placid our home base, so we’d have access to water activities and Adirondack town fun.  I’ve always loved Lake Placid Village, and I was looking forward to introducing Steve to its charms (he grew up near here, but randomly had never been).  For our lodgings, we chose an Airbnb right on the lake.  The location was perfect – midway down the main street in town – and you can’t beat that view!  My only complaint was that I wished there was a balcony to sit on after the kids went to bed.  But you can’t have everything.  We had a fabulous sun porch and we enjoyed it all week.

Especially in the mornings!  The kids wake up before the crack of dawn, and I found myself getting up at 5:30 with them every morning and watching the sun come up over the mountains.  Spectacular.

We went out for dinner most nights of the trip, and it was easy to find restaurants – we just walked out the door and wandered along until we hit upon something that looked good.  We checked out the other sights in town along the way.  I always find the library!

 

Drinks and lunch on the peaceful lakeside deck of The Cottage, just before leaving to head back to Nana and Grandad’s house on our last day.  I’m planning to do a travel guide to Lake Placid with young kiddos in tow, since that was something I never found during my vacation-planning research – not all in one place, and not for the summer, at least.

The Village of Lake Placid is situated on Mirror Lake – Lake Placid itself is just over the road, less than five minutes away – and no matter where you find yourself in town, you will probably catch at least a glimpse of sparkling water.  There’s nothing like a mountain lake, right?

Mirror Lake has a beautiful public beach area, and we found ourselves wandering over there several times during the trip.  The beach has been recently improved – and it was lovely even before the improvements – and the soft sand and shallow waters made for a perfect place to take the little ones.  Nugget, in particular, is a beach boy – Peanut is more of an indoor child and can run lukewarm on the idea of swimming in something that’s not a pool, but Nugget (Pisces!) can’t get enough beaches and water.  Oceans, lakes, he’s not picky.

Peanut enjoyed wading in the shallows, too, and she even did a little swimming.  In general, though, she was happy to dig in the sand.

The beach also provides a couple of launch points for kayaks and paddleboards.  I was hoping to get out on the water a lot – both kayaking and SUPing – but the way the schedule worked out, we were only able to kayak once.  I made it count, though.  Mirror Lake is fairly small, and I paddled end-to-end (and back again) with Steve, then dropped Steve off back at the beach, picked up my mom, and paddled the kayaks back to the Airbnb to leave them on the grassy lakefront area.

Getting ready to launch!

I took Nugget out for a spin with his little paddles.  It wasn’t our most successful ride – we can fit in a single kayak together, but he got strangely afraid once we paddled out past the beach.  He’s never been scared to kayak before, so I don’t know what that was about.  The season is over now, so I guess we will find out next summer if it was a fleeting thing or an off day, or something that is going to continue.

I love paddling with this guy.  (Look at him, so responsible in his life jacket!  I stowed mine.  I couldn’t flip one of these kayaks if I tried – and I’ve tried – and I can swim.)

What’s this on the water?

Just an Adirondack loon.  No big deal.  (!!!!!)  I couldn’t believe how big these birds were, and how much they didn’t care about my kayak.

Steve and I paddled all the way down to the Mirror Lake Inn, one of the fancy expensive hotels in town.  We sent my parents here for their fortieth anniversary and have bought them gift certificates for the past few Christmases.  One of these days, I’ll get to stay here for myself!

Steve and I turned around and headed back to the beach, and I picked up my mom to deliver the kayaks to the Airbnb.  As it turned out, we didn’t make it back out on the water again – my parents did, but we didn’t.  But at least we got out there once!

By the end of the vacation, we were all a little wiped out.  What’s better than a lakeside park for napping?

Next week: the final hike of vacation.  Check in with me then!

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52 Hike Challenge – Update the Fourth: Hikes #31-40

I’m falling way behind on this challenge – less hiking than anticipated this summer, and now I’m trying to make up for it just as I cruise into the busiest season of the year.  Between back-to-school meetings and obligations, a parade of September birthday parties (including throwing one ourselves), and powering through to the end of the fiscal year at work, it’s total craziness and hiking is taking a backseat – I’m pretty mad about that, but what can I do?  I need a few weekends of back-to-back hikes, and I’m finding myself dreaming of a situation in which I would have a week to catch up on trail time.

Hike 31: Monument Falls and Ausable River (North Elba, New York), August 25, 2018 – With time for just one more hike and to grab lunch before heading out of town at the end of our vacation (sob), we took in the views of Monument Falls, a pretty little waterfall with views of Whiteface Mountain, and then wandered up a trail alongside the Ausable River for a while, where we saw chickadees and a blue jay.

Hike 32: Lake Burke (Burke, Virginia), September 2, 2018 – Back in Virginia after vacation, and I was craving some time at one of my favorite local parks.  We strolled along Lake Burke, waved to dogs, tracked imaginary forest creatures and discussed holiday plans.  And it was refreshing.

Hike 33: Great Falls Park (Great Falls, Virginia), September 3, 2018 – A Labor Day weekend hike with some new friends who just moved to Virginia from California.  They’ve gone native already, and I am crediting Great Falls with some of their falling in love with NoVA.  The kids splashed in a little creek, the moms chatted about work, breastfeeding, hiking and more, and we all saw some awesome birds.  At the end of the hike, all three of the bigger kiddos (our friends have a kindergartener and a baby) earned their Junior Ranger badges.  It was the perfect way to kick off the school year.

Hike 34: Mason Neck State Park (Lorton, Virginia), September 16, 2018 – Such a lovely late summer day at one of my favorite area parks.  Belmont Bay was sparkling in the sunshine, the turtles were out in force, and the kids trucked along cheerfully and only bickered a little bit.  A  good day.

Hike 35: Jones Point (Alexandria, Virginia), September 22, 2018 – We only had time for a very short hike in between chores, (fun) obligations, and other weekend bustling.  But I wasn’t willing to give up on trail time all weekend – Jones Point it was.  You GUYS, this hike was buggy.  I even got bit by a mosquito, which is how you know they were everywhere – because I am usually disgusting to them.

Hike 36: George Washington’s Mount Vernon (Alexandria, Virginia), September 29, 2018 – Wandered all over our favorite places, including the nature trail, the farm and the upper and lower gardens.  (I count Mount Vernon as a hike when we include the nature trail in the wanderings.)

Hike 37: Huntley Meadows Park (Alexandria, Virginia), October 6, 2018 – Fall has come to the wetlands and brought with it ALL the birds!  We saw a green heron, several great blue herons, and at least three snowy egrets – gorgeous.  The only downside was that the park was crawling with people, including some large and rather shouty family groups.

Hike 38: Piscataway Park (Accokeek, Maryland), October 7, 2018 – We got moving too slowly to make it to a park outside of the metropolitan area, but the consolation prize was the most adorable piglets and a hike on the story trail at Piscataway Park.

Hike 39: Bears Den Overlook (Bluemont, Virginia), October 8, 2018 – Just a quick hike after apple-picking with friends, but the views of the Shenandoah Valley were stunning.

Hike 40: Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park (Luray, Virginia), October 13, 2018 – My birthday request was to finally explore Big Meadows, and I was not disappointed!  The meadow in fall was a beautiful kaleidoscope of greens, reds and browns – completely spectacular.  What a way to spend a birthday!

Just one more update to go – I’m nearing the finish line here!  This update contains what I’m sure will become some of the highlights of the year – from hikes with friends at Great Falls and Bears Den to a birthday in one of the most beautiful spots in my beautiful state, every hike brought fresh joys.  Onward to 52!

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 15, 2018)

Yawwwwwwn.  I’m even more unready for Monday than usual.  I stayed up late on Saturday night (well, late for me, which means a little after 11:00) and on Sunday-into-Monday I was up for a few hours in the middle of the night – so I’m feeling extra sleepy this morning.  It was a lovely weekend, though.  My birthday fell on Saturday this year, so we had a big weekend of celebrating on the trails.  I don’t love having a big deal made out of my birthday these days – all I want is a day or two of quality time with my three favorite people, bonus points if it’s mostly outdoors.  And that’s exactly what I got, so I was well contented.  On Friday evening, I came home and the kids gave me my birthday presents early – an(other) adopted southern resident killer whale (J-26 Mike! he’s always been one of my favorites; he’s GIGANTIC) from everyone; the 25th anniversary Automatic for the People on vinyl from Steve; and a homemade card from Peanut (“HAPPY BRTHDY FAMLY MOM”) which I absolutely loved.  She was upset that she didn’t have a present for me, but I assured her that cards are my favorite presents, this one is the best one I’ve ever gotten, and I’ll treasure it forever – all true statements.  On Saturday, we were up and out the door to Shenandoah National Park – my birthday request.  We packed a picnic of homemade vegetable and bean soup, fresh baguette, sliced veggies, my goat cheese and sundried tomato pesto spread, and apples from our apple-picking trip last week – yum.  We knocked out two hikes in the park – Big Meadows and the Story of the Forest Trail – and it was chilly but beautiful.  We started Sunday with another hike, this time at Fletcher’s Cove, where we like to go kayaking in the summertime.  Turned out there was a beautiful trail down by the river – beautiful, but insanely muddy.  We all fell in the mud, then rushed home to clean up and welcome Zan and Paul over for football and friend time.  The guys watched the Bills game while Zan and I ate soup, caught up, and took Nugget to the library.  Ended the weekend as I always do – curled up on the couch with a book.  It was all delicious.

 

Reading.  My reading week went from charming to interesting but unnerving, and back to charming again.  I finished my re-read of Queen Lucia last Tuesday, then turned to Fear: Trump in the White House (the new Bob Woodward book for those who’ve been living under a rock).  It may be different elsewhere, but in my community of Washington, DC and NoVA, everyone is talking about the new book and I felt compelled to read it.  It was chilling.  After that, I obviously needed some comfort reading, so I picked up the final volume in the Brensham Trilogy of lightly-fictionalized memoirs about English life in a country village in the middle of the last century.  It’s basically the literary equivalent of a thermos of hot tea, and I’m loving every minute.

Watching.  The second season of The Good Place dropped on Netflix, so all other viewing has been pretty much suspended while we laugh until we cry at the antics of Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, Michael and Janet.  (“No, this is good!  He’s having an existential crisis!”)  I did branch out one night last week when Steve had plans, and watched the fall kick-off episode of The Great American Read (yes, I’m woefully backlogged).

Listening.  The best listening was to my vinyl of Automatic for the People on Saturday night!  That was a very cool gift.  Other than that – lots of podcasts, mainly Speak Up for Blue and Marine Conservation Happy Hour.

Making.  Is there anything more comforting than starting the week with a huge container of homemade soup in the fridge?  I threw together one of my odds and ends soups and it ended up particularly good, featuring tricolor carrots, broccoli, orange cauliflower, brown rice and navy beans, and lentils.  Yum!  A very good way to fuel up before hiking and to welcome friends over, and I’ve got enough left over for a week’s worth of delicious lunches.

Blogging.  Mixing it up this week.  I’ll have my third (and penultimate) 52 Hike Challenge update for you on Wednesday, and on Friday, instead of sharing our sixth and final day in Lake Placid, I’ll show you a few snaps in town and on the water.  (We’ll do the last day of vacation next week – I’m not ready to be done!)

Loving.  Like I said above, birthdays aren’t really a big deal to me anymore (at least, not my birthday – I do make a big deal out of the kids’ special days).  But I felt really loved all weekend.  Between lots of time on beautiful trails with my family, the thoughtful gifts my sweet ones gave me, tons of love on Facebook and an absolutely hilarious card from my work wife – it was just a nice way to celebrate surviving another trip around the sun.  I feel pretty great about the people in my life, and that’s a nice place to be.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?

 

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ADK Adventure 2018: Heaven Hill

With two stiff parents, still sore from hiking Big Slide the day before, and two kids ages six and under, we were looking for a nice, easy, short shake-out hike on Thursday of our vacation week.  We found one, but apparently we were cursed, because it was the unluckiest hike I’ve ever taken.  Beautiful!  But unlucky.

Backing up – we got a late start in the morning, after sleeping in and then bumming around the Airbnb for awhile (and frankly, longer than I wanted to bum around, but the rest of the family was maddeningly slow-moving).  Plan A was to hike the circumference of Heart Lake, over by the Adirondack Loj.  I’d heard it was a nice, easy, flat trail, and that sounded darn good to me.  But when we arrived at the Loj, we discovered – unlucky event #1 – that all of the hiking trailhead parking lots were full.  (The Loj is the starting point for a great many Adirondack trails, including the trail to Mount Marcy – we had a lot of competition.)  The closest overflow parking was a mile down the road, which was clearly not happening on our post-Big Slide legs and with two generally uncooperative children.  So we moved on to Plan B – Heaven Hill.

I’d wanted to hike Heaven Hill, but was planning to save it for Friday.  No matter – Thursday it was.  We arrived, found parking, and let the kids sit in the trunk of the SUV to eat their snacks.  Don’t mind the underwhelmed expressions on their faces.  They were tickled to have snack back there.  What is it about kids and the trunk of an SUV?  I used to LOVE sitting in the “way way back” of my parents’ Explorer.

Once they finished eating, we hit the trail.  Heaven Hill is a community preserve, owned and operated by a private foundation, so it’s marked and maintained a little differently from the trails and herd paths of the state park.  (Not better or worse – just differently.)  Since it is still the ‘dacks, there are still tree roots, which led to unlucky event #2: Nugget, who was at the time (and is still) going through a running-ahead-of-the-pack phase, tripped over a root and face-planted on the ground.  Ouch.  Poor guy!

A piggyback ride from Dad helped.

Our goal was the Orchard Loop, around a large-ish meadow with gorgeous mountain views.  To get there, we followed the orange “Old Orchard Connector” trail markers.

To distract Nugget from the effects of his fall, I pointed out the sights of the wooded connector trail – including a pretty mushroom growing out of a tree stump.  Finally, we arrived at the meadow, and…

WHAT A VIEW.  I was in awe – it was absolutely breathtaking.

Nugget and I walked up a little ways and checked out the waving grasses and the tall wildflowers, with the incredible mountains all around us.  We made it probably about a quarter to a third of the way around the meadow when unlucky event #3 happened–

PEANUT WAS STUNG BY A BEE.  Apparently the thing about a meadow full of wildflowers is that it’s also full of pollinators.  Yikes.  A bee was buzzing around, very interested in Peanut in particular.  Steve and I were talking her through as we do with the kids – telling her to stand still, don’t make any sudden movements, etc.  The bee landed on her back and we cautiously guided her forward, very slowly, until it flew off into the wildflowers.  Hoping that was the end of it, we continued our hike, but realized quickly that something was wrong, beyond the fear that the bee would come back.  Peanut was complaining about her foot, so we sat her down and took off her shoe and found – a bee sting.  OUCH!  Poor kiddo – it seemed that before it made its way to her back, the bee had gotten stuck in her sandal and had stung her as a warning.  It was a bumblebee, so it didn’t lose its stinger after pricking her.  What a brave kid she was – walking calmly away from the bee even after it had stung her foot.  After a hurried whispered adult conversation, we decided that she didn’t seem to be having an allergic reaction more than the standard human reaction to a bee sting, so the ER was not in order.  We asked her what she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to go get ice cream, so naturally, we went and got ice cream.  Hardcore ninja Peanut gutted it out on her bee sting foot all the way back to the car and was rewarded for her bravery with a BIG scoop from Emma’s Lake Placid Creamery.

Heaven Hill!  You were beautiful, and I’d love to come back some day – but maybe after bumblebee season.

Next week: our final hike of the vacation, along the iconic Ausable River.  Check back! 

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Reading Round-Up: September 2018

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby. I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book. Here are my reads for September, 2018…

The Woman Next Door, by Yewande Omotoso  – I had to read this book after I heard it described on the Book Riot Podcast as “Golden Girls, but woke and in South Africa.”  It was a lot of fun.  Hortensia and Marion are next-door neighbors, rivals and frenemies.  Both successful businesswomen, both fairly recently widowed, when they are thrown together by an unexpected event they find that they have more in common than they originally thought – and maybe, just maybe, the seeds of a friendship are there?  I enjoyed this, and it was a fun read, but I didn’t find myself particularly drawn to either of the main characters.  I suppose that’s to be expected, since they were both written to be crotchety old ladies.  But I would have enjoyed it more if at least one of them was slightly less caustic.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple – It was my month to host book club, and therefore my turn to choose the book.  Trying to keep my fellow clubbers’ preferences in mind (they had trouble getting through Northanger Abbey) I went for something more modern this time – but still one of my favorite books.  I can’t count how many times I’ve read Bernadette, and I find something new in it each time.  This time, it was interesting to hear my book club’s perspectives on it.  Most of them loved the book but found Bernadette herself to be irritating – to me, it seems clear that Bernadette has severe untreated postpartum anxiety and no support system, and my heart breaks for her.  It’s an incredibly moving portrayal of a broken woman who finds peace, sneakily disguised as funny chick lit.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, by Reni Eddo-Lodge – I’m not sure if I’ve only just realized it or if it’s really a recent phenomenon, but there are so many wonderful memoirs about race, written by black women, these days.  Eddo-Lodge’s book is a worthy addition to that shelf, and is a little bit different in that Eddo-Lodge is British.  I try to make sure I am acquainted with racial issues and current events, but my perspective is necessarily American-focused, because I am American.  It was an important experience for me to read about the racial history and current attitudes faced by people of color in Britain, too.

Slightly Foxed, No. 6: Taking the Plunge, ed. Gail Pirkis – I am slowly reading my way through the back issues of Slightly Foxed, and reaching for one whenever I need some comfort reading.  This was a good, relaxing read between two searing memoirs of race issues.  Slightly Foxed is like a large cup of tea with a good friend – always a pleasure.

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors – I have seen this on other book lists and it caught my eye on an endcap at the library, so I grabbed it and read it in a day.  Khan-Cullors is one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, that has become such an iconic presence in our current landscape.  Her memoir of growing up in Los Angeles and finding both a place in the world and her political voice – inspired by the treatment she witnessed her disabled brother endure in prison and at the hands of police – is powerful and searing.

The Modern Guide to Witchcraft: Your Complete Guide to Witches, Covens and Spells, by Skye Alexander – ‘Tis the season!  I was in a witchy mood and had such a fun time learning to hex you.  (Am I kidding?  Do you want to find out?)  Seriously, though – the different theories and styles of witchcraft were fascinating to read about.

Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living, by Nick Offerman – I listened to this one (read by the author, naturally) on Audible and it was a lot of fun.  I’ve been a big fan of Nick Offerman’s since first starting to watch Parks and Recreation years ago, and Paddle Your Own Canoe was a great – excuse me, delicious – time.  Offerman writes about his childhood in Minooka, Illinois; his raucous days in the theatre department at the University of Illinois; his move to Los Angeles and navigating the Hollywood scene; his marriage to Megan Mullally, and more.  My only complaint was that he didn’t get around to talking about Parks and Recreation until the last chapter, and even then it was only about half of the chapter.

The Fortnight in September, by R. C. Sherriff – I’d been saving The Fortnight in September for months, intending to read it in September, and it ended up taking me about a fortnight.  That’s not a knock on the book, which was a delight; I was just in an extremely distractible mood, I guess.  Fortnight follows the Stevens family – parents Ernest and Flossie and children Dick, Mary and Ernie – through their annual vacation to Bognor.  It’s one of those books in which nothing much dramatic happens, but every word is a joy and as fresh as a sea breeze.  I loved it.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson – I am proud to report that I understood two whole sentences of this book!  Okay – to be honest, I tried really hard, and I have a decent working knowledge of how things work in the universe, but I found this to be so far over my head it was almost funny.  I was hoping for something more approachable.  Tyson uses layman’s terms for the most part, and there are some funny asides, but mostly, I guess I was in too much of a hurry?

Class Mom, by Laurie Gelman – Final read of September was my book club book for October, fluffy chick lit about a snarky kindergarten class mom at an uptight private school.  Apparently the author was inspired by Where’d You Go, Bernadette, but I personally didn’t find nearly as much substance here as I always find in Bernadette.  I also found the main character to be irritating and occasionally offensive – which I think was the point, but it was too much.  The storyline about her wild past with rock stars also seemed contrived.  I just wasn’t a fan.  The other ladies in the book club enjoyed the book more, I think, and they wanted me to tell them how true to life it is (being a current kindergarten class mom) but we really didn’t get into discussing the book, because there was very little to discuss.

Some September!  I thought I was having a slow month, but looking back, it seems I was pretty busy after all.  My highlights were Bernadette and Fortnight, as you’ve probably already discerned.  I also had a lot of fun listening to Nick Offerman on my commutes – who wouldn’t?  Looking ahead to October, I have a stack of most excellent library books and plans to read through the Mapp and Lucia novels.  Check in with me again soon!

What did you enjoy reading in September?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 8, 2018)

Loooooooooook at that adorable face!  Oh, and happy Monday to all of you, too.  (That FACE!)  Happy Columbus Day to my friends who are lucky enough to get the day off, as well – but the kids’ school is closed, so I took the day off and we’re going apple-picking with friends.  Hey-o!  Steve has to work, so it’ll just be me, the munchkins, and my friend Katherine and her daughter.  We’re planning to pick a couple of bushels and then take the kiddos for a hike.  That should burn the whole morning, so hopefully Steve is able to get some work done.  This weekend was pretty low-key.  We hiked both days – at Huntley Meadows on Saturday, where there were so many herons and egrets that I lost count, and at Piscataway Park on Sunday, where we visited with turkeys, chickens, and the most darling bunch of precious piglets.  I was hoping for a hike a bit farther afield – at least to Sky Meadows, if not Shenandoah River or Bull Run – but we were too slow in the mornings and it didn’t happen.  We still had fun – more fun than I was anticipating, as it happened.  Afternoons were spent puttering around, digging in the sandbox, running errands and reading – nice and slow.  And actually really relaxing.  I’m still me, so I spent a decent amount of time panicking over a decision I’m going to have to make soon (tell you all about it once it’s a done deal) and hiding in the bathroom while the kids bickered.

  

Reading.  I’ve had a nice, relaxing reading week.  On Monday, I finished up The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and then I dove into some good, old-fashioned comfort reading.  I picked up Miss Mapp, the second in the Mapp and Lucia series – which I’ve been meaning to get back to, and which is on my rebooted Classics Club list – and enjoyed every second over the course of the week.  I finished it up on Saturday, then realized that I’d also intended to re-read Queen Lucia, the first of the series.  So I’m reading a bit out of order for the moment, but once I finish with Lucia, I’ll be back on track to read in the proper order.  I’ll have to take a short break from E.F. Benson though, because my library holds came in – and I have Fear, the new Bob Woodward book.  There are about 800 people on the wait list after me, so renewals are not going to be an option.  I think that’ll have to be my next read.

Watching.  I don’t think I actually watched anything until Sunday night, when Steve realized the second season of The Good Place is now available for streaming.  Yes, please!  We watched two episodes, and it’s just as much fun as the first season – moving at a breakneck pace, though.  I can’t wait to see where this is going to go…

Listening.  Lots of podcasts again this week.  The highlight was an old episode of Speak Up for Blue, in which Andrew interviews a fellow marine biologist about the experience of researching orcas in the Antarctic.  WOW.  I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I’d like to go to Antarctica someday, and now it’s sort of in the front of my mind.  What an amazing experience that would be, huh?

Moving.  Well, there were those two hikes I mentioned above, and I also registered for Barre3 online.  At $29/month after I finish my free trial, it’s not free, but it’s a heck of a lot less expensive than actually attending classes (I do love Barre3 classes, though…) and hopefully this will be the sweet spot of not too expensive, but enough of a financial outlay to motivate me to try and get my money’s worth.  I’ve done a couple of workouts through the online system and I’m definitely sweating!

Blogging.  September reading recap coming to you on Wednesday; I read more than I realized in the moment!  October is shaping up to be a good reading month, too – here’s hoping.  And on Friday, I’ve got a hiking recap to share – a beautiful, but very unlucky – hike from our Adirondack vacation

Loving.  I’ve certainly talked about my neighborhood before, but I’m feeling especially in love with it this week.  Fall is starting to appear in little nooks and crannies, and it’s just such a nice, relaxing place to be right now.  It’s recently hit me anew that we’re probably not going to live in this neighborhood forever (maybe…) and I’m really glad that I get to enjoy it while I can.  I love living in a walkable area and being able to just step out my door and pop in at the bookstore, grab a coffee from a local independent cafe, walk to the library and playground, or metro in to work.  Our neighbors are a joy, and this just feels like the right place for us to be right now.  Maybe knowing that something probably isn’t forever makes me appreciate the sweetness of it while I have it – I’ve been thinking a lot about that concept lately.  Anyway, enough rambling – I’m just really happy to live where I live.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?